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> Call me crazy, but this does sound like what the "anti-EU far right" takes issue with, more specifically the French-German political control of Europe, behold

> Call me crazy, but this does sound like what the "anti-EU far right" takes issue with, more specifically the French-German political control of Europe, beholden to their financial interests. The irony is that the "anti-EU far right" has helped pushed through this terrible law package. As mentioned in the article (emphasis mine): > the anti-EU far right is trying to seize this opportunity to promote their narrow-minded nationalist agenda – when in fact without the persistent support of the far-right ENF Group (dominated by the Rassemblement/Front National) the law could have been stopped in the crucial Legal Affairs Committee and in general would not be as extreme as it is today. The upcoming May EU elections will play a critical role in the future of the EU (and perhaps this law package). Please vote.

krageon 8y ago
It is the populists (which is what they are) core gambit to yell about something everyone thinks is bad and then just use that support to do whatever they want. If at this point in history we as human beings still cannot recognise this core tenet of how they operate we deserve what's coming to us.
- chosenbreed37 8y ago
  > It is the populists (which is what they are) core gambit to yell about something everyone thinks is bad and then just use that support to do whatever they want. If at this point in history we as human beings still cannot recognise this core tenet of how they operate we deserve what's coming to us. The mention of the word "populist" always puts me in a state of mild amusement coupled with a slight bewilderment. This word seems to have come into the public discourse relatively recently. Perhaps it's been there all along and I wasn't paying attention. More to the point I don't quite get what it means. It generally has a negative connotation associated with regardless of the context (e.g. Italy, Brazil, France, UK, etc). I consider the HN crowd to be enlightened. Perhaps someone can explain it to me in simple terms what exactly is meant by the word populist.
  - Radim 8y ago
    Wikipedia is a decent start. Including the (inevitable) discussion of democracy-vs-populism: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Populism#Democracy_and_populism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Populism#Democracy_and_populis...
  - agentcoops 8y ago
    In political science, the term populism has a long history of which I can only offer a small sketch. The paradigmatic cases are to be found in Latin American politics over the last century, especially the Argentinian leader Juan Peron [1]. In its classic form, the term is used to describe a wave of political parties who were neither pro-communist nor pro-capitalist, who found great success in countries that were both electorally democratic while also highly economically polarized. In countries that had traditionally been governed by a small cultural/economic/military elite, this new generation of political leaders began to win campaigns by vote-seeking from the disenfranchised through whatever means, typically through a combination of anti-status quo rhetoric and redistributive policies. This isn't just to suggest that they weren't "authentically" in favor of the poor or anything like that, but to understand how such a phenomenon can change the dynamics of democracies, where politicians are lead less by values (whether they be classically conservative, pro-market or socialist) than vote-seeking at any cost. It's also why we can find both "left-wing" and "right-wing" variants of populism, depending on exactly the types of rhetoric (anti-immigrant or anti-rich, for example) and policies (build the wall or tax the rich) that are employed. The phenomenon is heavily connected with what is called "clientelism", ie where politics becomes ruled by relations of patronage. Imagine a situation where a particular political party literally pays for membership, with the expectation of a vote and to mobilize for certain events. Such structures are not uncommon in rural areas of developing countries, where essentially feudal relations (think the same person, who conveniently owns all the land and employs everyone in an area, has been the mayor of a town for three decades) have been converted into seemingly democratic structures [2]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peronism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peronism or https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Populism_in_Latin_America https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Populism_in_Latin_America [2] https://u.osu.edu/laspoliticas/2016/10/30/clientelism-in-latin-america-case-study-of-mexico/ https://u.osu.edu/laspoliticas/2016/10/30/clientelism-in-lat...
  - 8y ago

krageon 8y ago

It is the populists (which is what they are) core gambit to yell about something everyone thinks is bad and then just use that support to do whatever they want. If at this point in history we as human beings still cannot recognise this core tenet of how they operate we deserve what's coming to us.

chosenbreed37 8y ago
> It is the populists (which is what they are) core gambit to yell about something everyone thinks is bad and then just use that support to do whatever they want. If at this point in history we as human beings still cannot recognise this core tenet of how they operate we deserve what's coming to us. The mention of the word "populist" always puts me in a state of mild amusement coupled with a slight bewilderment. This word seems to have come into the public discourse relatively recently. Perhaps it's been there all along and I wasn't paying attention. More to the point I don't quite get what it means. It generally has a negative connotation associated with regardless of the context (e.g. Italy, Brazil, France, UK, etc). I consider the HN crowd to be enlightened. Perhaps someone can explain it to me in simple terms what exactly is meant by the word populist.
- Radim 8y ago
  Wikipedia is a decent start. Including the (inevitable) discussion of democracy-vs-populism: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Populism#Democracy_and_populism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Populism#Democracy_and_populis...
- agentcoops 8y ago
  In political science, the term populism has a long history of which I can only offer a small sketch. The paradigmatic cases are to be found in Latin American politics over the last century, especially the Argentinian leader Juan Peron [1]. In its classic form, the term is used to describe a wave of political parties who were neither pro-communist nor pro-capitalist, who found great success in countries that were both electorally democratic while also highly economically polarized. In countries that had traditionally been governed by a small cultural/economic/military elite, this new generation of political leaders began to win campaigns by vote-seeking from the disenfranchised through whatever means, typically through a combination of anti-status quo rhetoric and redistributive policies. This isn't just to suggest that they weren't "authentically" in favor of the poor or anything like that, but to understand how such a phenomenon can change the dynamics of democracies, where politicians are lead less by values (whether they be classically conservative, pro-market or socialist) than vote-seeking at any cost. It's also why we can find both "left-wing" and "right-wing" variants of populism, depending on exactly the types of rhetoric (anti-immigrant or anti-rich, for example) and policies (build the wall or tax the rich) that are employed. The phenomenon is heavily connected with what is called "clientelism", ie where politics becomes ruled by relations of patronage. Imagine a situation where a particular political party literally pays for membership, with the expectation of a vote and to mobilize for certain events. Such structures are not uncommon in rural areas of developing countries, where essentially feudal relations (think the same person, who conveniently owns all the land and employs everyone in an area, has been the mayor of a town for three decades) have been converted into seemingly democratic structures [2]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peronism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peronism or https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Populism_in_Latin_America https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Populism_in_Latin_America [2] https://u.osu.edu/laspoliticas/2016/10/30/clientelism-in-latin-america-case-study-of-mexico/ https://u.osu.edu/laspoliticas/2016/10/30/clientelism-in-lat...
- 8y ago