analysis
Populism in SA: from Rhodes to Malema
The country today is no stranger to populism. But it’s no recent phenomenon. In the 1890s already Cecil John Rhodes was mobilising grievance and fomenting violence to serve narrow political interests
Over the past two decades populism has swept the world, bringing to power the likes of Viktor Orban in Hungary, Donald Trump in the US, Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil and Narendra Modi in India — and leading the UK into Brexit.
These elected leaders have, to a greater or lesser degree, advocated “illiberal democracy”, where the government tampers with the independence of the judiciary and attempts to centralise power. They’ve also engaged in what former Foreign Policy editor Moisés Naim calls “pseudolaw”: passing laws that undermine democratic constitutions, tampering with the separation of powers, and restricting voting rights. Many have initiated vexatious litigation to delay justice, if not entirely deny it. And, as Naim argues, they have all promoted xenophobia, played identity politics and propagated conspiracies — all with just the slightest whiff of violence on their breath...
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