Tools of a Populist

Tools of a Populist

"It is up to you to decide who to believe: the same people as usual or those who endanger their lives to save the country."

Rafael Correa

By: Erreh Svaia

Referendums are a populist's best friends, the Beatles used to complain in their early days about the deafening volume of their fans screams as it prevented the band for listening to themselves while they were playing, one of them even proclaimed that at one time each of them played a different song and none of their fans even noticed it, the Beatles cares more for their music than for popularity, so they stopped playing live in order to concentrated on music, but for a populist the deafening screams of the hypnotized masses are the perfect disguise for their empty promises and it helps them to shut their critics calls.

These days both South America and South Europe have it's on share of populism, with Rafael Correa in Ecuador and Alexis Tsipras in Greece, both of them using people's adverse feelings towards previous more traditional governments, in a way people are right, traditional politics have done a terrible job letting corruption corrode its base, but people desperation blind their capability of reasoning letting them exposed to a Flautist of Hamelin like approach of hypnotical rhetoric, messianic charisma, empty promises, magical solutions and in vogue outsider charms.

Latin culture loves drama, it comes from our roots, masses adore soap operas and in a way populist exploit popular feelings, and using manipulated public referendums as a political tool (Do you want taxes to rise? Who in their sane minds would answer YES? To a question like this), as a way of using the people feelings as a shield to protect themselves from their fiercest critics, and although masses could also be wrong, and in a way they are barely right sometimes, its approval strengthens the populist and helps them, instead of reason, to overcome the hard times.

Greeks tragedy shows in the government of Alexis Tsipras, an unfortunate combination of a previous unsustainable and illogical welfare state, radical politics, European Union pressure and Tsipras bad negotiator skills, precipitated Tsipras own fall, and the disintegration of his own Syriza party, left alone and leaving people puzzled, Tsipras reigned for his position and called for anticipated elections, a disguised referendum in order to restore his power and influence, again, using people as an anchor, instead of reason as his tool.

We must learn to read the signs of a referendum and the manipulation of its info that the populist try to use, given the fact that the referendums wouldn't be a surprise that reflected the anger of the people, not exactly their approval of the populist policies, the Greek's election might not be a definite sign of Tsipras exit of  Greece's political landscape but a reaffirmation of his rebel status and a possible door that opens towards a more authoritarian period based on people´s manipulated approval of his regime.

On other part of the world, Ecuador´s populist president Rafael Correa is having trouble shutting down the critical voices against his regime, in a way is a different authoritarian approach than the one set in Venezuela, because it lacks the military edge Chavez gave to his “Bolivarian Revolution”, Correa started waving the meritocracy flag making lots of promises like all populists, talking about economic growth based on technology and modernism, his “merits” ended up the same way as Chávez´s or Evo´s, building fast tangibles like schools, bridges and highways thanks to money coming from the oil bonanza of years ago, but little of it was well spent in long term goals and the “theater of progress” is quickly coming down in Ecuador, resulting in a cornered Correa invoking referendums in order to gain more popular approval and using it to get more political power, following obviously the route of weakening democracy and strengthen authoritarian power to stay as head of government.   

Society must keep eyes close to this referendums, as they are easily manipulated in favor of this merciless populist, Tsipras and Correa have failed on their promises and using this tools to perpetuate themselves in power is another proof of their wrong doings and personal obsessions with power.