FROLITICKS

Populism is not easy to define since the roots of its success are varied, and its adherents do not represent a single ideology, even if they all criticize uncontrolled migration, especially of Muslims. However, the Europe Union (EU) is seeing a rise of populist movements in one form or another, unfortunately much of the ultra-right, nationalist and anti-migrant variety.  Four countries of the EU’s east that make one anxious — Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia — are all now led by populists of one stripe or another.  Last year in Austria, Sebastian Kurz became chancellor after running a populist campaign that even co-opted the anti-immigration message of the far-right Austrian Freedom Party.  He wants to place EU border guards in Africa in an effort to stop migrants from crossing the Mediterranean.

Even in the socialist democracy of Sweden, there is a growing right-wing populist movement. Supported by almost 20 percent of voters, the Sweden Democrats, a nationalist party with neo-Nazi roots, made major gains in the elections held on September 9^th.  The party’s platform is representative of those of other European populist parties.  They focus overwhelmingly on migrants, mainly from Muslim countries, who they blame for a surge in sex attacks on women, riots in the suburbs and extra pressure on the welfare system.  They also want to follow Britain out of the EU.

This follows earlier election results this year in Italy where about half of the Italian electorate voted for populist parties once considered fringe. Italian voters appear to be disaffected and angry, fearful of hundreds of thousands of recently arrived migrants from the other side of the Mediterranean and fed up with a lack of opportunities, the perceived corruption of elites and the inefficacy of the ruling centrist government.  However, the fact that Italy has vast economic problems — including the largest public debt in the EU and very high youth unemployment — may have more to do with the rise in its populist movement.

Other EU countries are by no means out of the woods. President Emmanuel Macron of France and Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany are in a tough fight politically to deal with the growth of populism within their own countries.  They both need support for fixing Europe’s fractured asylum and migration policies which are behind much of the popularity of the populist movements.  Unfortunately, the former region of East Germany has recently seen ultra-right neo-Nazi demonstrations which are illegal under existing German law.

In the meantime, while all this is going on in Europe, populist movements continue to grow politically in the U.S. and Canada following the election of President Trump. Moreover, Canada has recently seen the emergence of populist politics in some provincial electoral campaigns. Even at the federal level there is the potential of a new party questioning current support for policies encouraging multiculturalism and diversity.  Watch out Canada! Just pay attention to what’s happening south of our border and in Europe.