A Creaking Populism Under The Strain Of Reality And Resistance

It would be foolish of anyone to say that the rise of a populist right hasn’t been disturbing. Watching the shadow of this most insidious of human psyches to some is a frightening spectre and one many had hoped was consigned to the days of genocide with political upheaval in a world still figuring out how now to kill itself. The world was complacent in the progress gained throughout Europe and its close alliances within and agreements outside.

Where complacency grew in Europe and the US in a wider world other fires still smouldered and burned and many of those lit by many of our own ill gotten gains. The continent of Africa continued to war within itself after old powers removed themselves from control something played out in all those places covering the world.

The world’s oldest ‘special relationship’ couple in the form of the US and the UK are themselves dealing with a similar version of that earlier mentioned complacency that allowed a culture of populism and blame of others to full on assault (figuratively and literally at times) on anyone or anything that dares stand in the way of the message. A message of lies.

If you were to look at the ‘special’ relationship it is more akin to a former abusive controlling lover thrown out but continues to hang onto that brief moment ”we’ll always have Plymouth Rock”. The relationship nothing more than that of a f*** buddy on a geopolitical scale. The British hanging on to that idea of a special relationship is quite pathetic and telling that one of these two once great superpowers are at the behest of those they once managed or controlled as the big guys on the block. The global world where they once called the shots is no longer something they can control.

In the big bad world they can only watch as the powers of the Chinese and others grow around them in terms of land and influence. The political world they created around themselves crumbling and cracking internationally and of course more urgently domestically.

You see with all that power and influence these two nations once profited freely and without worry. All that wealth not being fed back into the domestic machinations of any nation and their political upheavals at seeing these great gains for a few leaving the bitter taste of being forgotten or worse ignored. The result in both these cases is the presence of an angry populace with a gripe against anyone and everyone.

I say anyone and everyone and I say that as with unrest comes a need to be led, a need to feel part of something that aligns with those gripes. Take either nations of that special relationship less starred lovers and more a black hole sucking the life out of the nearest star and you had two populations ripe for the taking by the likes of Steve Bannon or Nigel Farage. Two multimillionaires with motives for all to see and neither with a care for those whose loyalty is unquestionable because they know those most loyal to this cause have their own reasoning. That reasoning more often than not is the manifestation of pure hate given a softer filter to vent out those most deeply held prejudices all hidden behind a political movement filled with other like minded and lost minds seeking that same vent.

Smouldering souls won’t burn forever and the smouldering anger that was given oxygen from those who needed to stoke up the old fires of hatred whose damage is being fought as we speak or read or listen……or whatever you’re doing. That oxygen is fast running out and that hate isn’t having the lasting effect for those who populist message has run square into the cold hard facts of reality..

When Rhetoric Meets Reality Populism Implodes…….

Throw a dart at a map of the world and there is every possibility you will hit and area that is dealing with a percentage of that population being hoodwinked and conned into believing that despite the democratic machinations that are in place.

The imperfections of a democracy tend to be known to all who participate in it and more often than not disregard those little imperfections because they are constantly and continually hit with a barrage of rhetoric to confuse and conquer. In this modern progressive world all politics aren’t always local and the radius of any vote or election can have serious ramifications for those beyond the boundaries of those voting within.

Over the last week I have watched this play out in real time in the continued mess of a Brexit that was one of those instances where the above is proven.

No one will argue that in 2016 the world seemed to lose its mind. The two massive earthquakes of the leave vote in the UK and of course the election of a criminal president.

Both movements had one thing in common. Both had the ability to openly lie to the public within the their campaigns, both used fear and lies to stoke up the almost extinguished minds of those who hate with ease and blame with no effort.

The UK has always had its extremes among the population and the same racist superiority complex of those in America. An arrogance that either ignores the entirety of history or does everything possible rewrite the more uncomfortable periods of that history.

In the UK during the second half of the 2oth century the colour and makeup of that society changed with the shrinking empire and the growth of those who resided in the former colonies. India, Pakistan the West Indies along with other places where the history of the British Empire and the taking of lands not theirs to begin with.

The hypocrisy of those who claimed prior to the Brexit vote that it was all about taking back control of borders and sovereignty and laws ignoring the many nations whose sovereignty and laws were not respected in the doctrine of the ‘White mans burden’. A doctrine that at its very core was the worst type of dehumanising racism and founded on the British mindset of being superior to those whose lands that simply took without asking. Great empires are never built upon anything other than invasion, subjugation and enslaving the conquered. When empires fall the subjugated and enslaved are left behind dealing with the ghosts of former rulers that often lead to terrible deprivation for the people.

In the present day, it is much more about the enslaved minds of those who bought into the idea that leaving the EU would be a simple process, a straight forward in or out vote.

A massive lie sold in the referendum vote. Many of those Imperialist British types who are the drivers of the current and ongoing Brexit mess are the very same people who took the chains off the types of racism their once great empire thrived upon.

Words like invasion and infestation regarding inward migration. A hatred towards Eastern Europeans coming in taking jobs that many wouldn’t do as those jobs were deemed beneath those who were born in the UK but think the world owes them a favour.

For those who wouldn’t do those menial tasks and basic paying jobs then proceeded to complain about not getting public housing because of the ‘foreigners’ getting housed ahead of those who see this as being forgotten (sound familiar?). The ease of which blame falls upon others who have done no wrong other than show up the lazed nature of those who feel entitled yet did nothing to earn such entitlements.

Bully tactics only last so long and the bully’s tactic here is to put anything and everything up for