It has become clear that populism is on the rise worldwide. With presidents like Donald Trump able to whip up their followers with anything from modified representations of reality to outright lies, there is no denying it.
It is ironic come to think of it, that the man is perhaps singularly responsible for the fame of the concept of “fake news”.
Who better to pre-emptively allege fake dissemination of information than he who uses this very concept as a political strategy?
In an article published in the Washington Post, titled “President Trump has made more than 5,000 false or misleading claims” it is alleged that, “Trump’s tsunami of untruths helped push the count in The Fact Checker’s database past 5,000 on the 601st day of his presidency”.
Now that’s a feat for any human being, let alone a president, especially of perhaps the most powerful country at the moment. It is no wonder that the present day has been referred to as the “post-truth era”.
Meanwhile, the world seems to be in shock at the election of Jair Bolsonaro as president of Brazil. The man is a well known far-right wing populist, who is alleged to have made countless despotic utterances.
In 2014, he is reputed to have told congresswoman Maria do Rosario during an argument, that he would not rape her because she was not his type. However, even more shocking are his views on the Amazon rain forest.
Apparently he plans to roll back the protections in place for the rainforest and the lands of indigenous people therein.
He plans to cut up the rainforest and sell it, open up agricultural expansion to boost the Brazilian economy. Brazilians have put him in the presidency in spite of these destructive views.
The trouble which Bolsonaro’s presidency is likely to plunge Brazil into may be far worse than the trouble Brazil is in at the moment.
Even worse, his populist ideas may plunge the whole world into an unprecedented environmental crisis for one thing.
This state of global crisis, may not be too far off the global crisis being fomented by Donald Trump as he dismantles global agreements on all fronts. In his dishonest attempt to make “America great again,” he seems to be preparing the ground for more confusion, discord, chaos and possibly military conflict.
His comeuppance seems to be taking too long to materialise.
We in South Africa have fresh experience of the dire consequences of flirting with populist leadership.
We are still trying to untangle the web of corruption and parasitic tentacles which choked our nation during the tenure of the populist, Jacob Zuma.
It is a long and painfully slow process, whose success still rests on a precarious political atmosphere. We hold our breath as we wait for the actions of the current president to cross the tipping point and gain enough momentum to pull us far away from the precipice.
The cost of populism has been incalculable. Besides the lost monies which themselves may be impossible to quantify, we have lost time, we have lost confidence, trust and a sense of cohesion, things which are prerequisites to human development and advancement.
However, it must not be lost to us, that the conditions which are ripe for populism are often created by our societies, but especially by previous leaders.
The people who support populists view them as representatives who are their likeness, often after periods of perceived voicelessness and frustration. These supporters look beyond the obvious flaws of the populists, sometimes overlooking bare lies, because they view themselves as just as flawed.
All that matters to supporters is the voice of the “flawed”, which in these cases, they feel is their voice. So no amount of lies, or opposition, or ridicule may change their support for their “heroes” and the representation they purport to carry.
So perhaps it is time leaders stopped wasting precious time, dealing in the politics of things. Instead we must take consistent actions which produce real change in people’s lives.
Failure to do this creates extreme frustration which literally hands our people over to populists. We are not safe, populism is too abundant in our body politic.
The populist political lessons of the ANC have taken root and opposition parties like the EFF have taken a page of that script...