Crooked and unenlightened protectionists, deceitful populist disciples, double-dealing and double-faced nationalists, are all rapidly gaining political ascendency, globally. They come in different colours, shapes, sizes, and sexes. Many are severely hostile to Western-style liberal democracy.

Protectionist, populist and nationalist leaders share some common traits. Wherever they rise up in the world they always spew abracadabra-sounding answers to especially long-standing and very complex economic and social problems. Prior to taking power in Germany, for example, Adolf Hitler, singled out the Jews as the cause of all Germany’s problems. Hyperinflation was blamed on the Jews. Germany’s high crime rate was placed at the feet of the Jews, etc.

Protectionist, populist and nationalist leaders are often very charismatic. Recall Michael Manley here at home. He possessed a near-electric-type of charisma which endeared thousands to his message. Dopamine rushes in politics was his specialty. He choreographed his messages to the emotions. Populist leaders are also very skilled at tapping into historical grievances.

Just under five months ago I said, among other things, in this space: “Far-right leaders, like France’s Marine Le Pen, Hungary’s Viktor Orbán, Italy’s Giorgia Meloni, and Argentina’s Javier Milei, are not your regular garden variety political leaders. Orbán has mercilessly thwarted press freedom. Le Pen has overtly supported racist utterances. Meloni has put pressure on press freedom and women’s rights. And Milei is said to be South and Latin America’s salesman for far-right doctrinaire. These realities need to concern us in Jamaica.”

Discerning individuals should/would have noticed that, “Donald Trump met Thursday at his Mar-a-Lago club with Argentine President Javier Milei, the first foreign leader to meet with the president-elect since his victory in last week’s election.” (
Associated Press, November 14, 2024) Was this a mere coincidence? Well, is the Earth spherical in shape? Does gravity exist? Is water the universal solvent? The answer is obvious. Javier Milei’s credentials as a far-right doctrinaire are not secret.

Consider this from the mentioned AP report: “A short time later, Milei, a self-described ‘anarcho-capitalist’ and frequent recipient of Trump praise, addressed the America First Policy Institute gala at Mar-a-Lago. He spoke briefly in English, then gave a longer speech in Spanish, pausing to allow an interpreter to translate, in which he slammed left-wing ideologies and saluted Elon Musk, the owner of
X, saying his social media site is helping to “save humanity”. Milei criticised a political ruling class that he said was responsible for a system that used unfair tax systems to force “the redistribution of wealth at gunpoint”.

Does Milei, who is popularly known as el Loco (the crazy one), fit the bill as a far-right populist? Yes!

Consider this: According to the European Center for Populism Studies, “Right-wing populism, which is also called national populism or right-wing nationalism, is a political ideology which combines right-wing politics and populist rhetoric and themes. The rhetoric often consists of anti-elitist sentiments, opposition to the perceived ‘establishment’, and speaking to the ‘common people’. Both right-wing populism and left-wing populism object to the perceived control of liberal democracies by elites; however, populism of the left also objects to the power of large corporations and their allies, while populism of the right normally supports strong controls on immigration.”

Milei’s mentioned utterances are unmistakably consistent with far-right rhetoric.

Consider this too: Rural folks say, “Show mi your company and mi tell you who you are?” You are the company you keep.

Populists on the left, nowadays, call themselves progressives or the democratic left. Progressive is a euphemism for the failed brand called socialism. International benchmarks tell us there is no successful socialist country on the Earth. None! I seriously doubt there will ever be any, either.

Fixated at the extreme right or extreme left, populists are often rich and/or from privileged backgrounds. Sounds familiar? Do they spend and/or invest their personal fortunes according to the formulae that they put forward to consume other people’s resources and those of the countries that they fight tooth and nail to lead? No!

THE CONNECTIONS

Last week, Milei celebrated his one-year anniversary in power. Last November he won close to 56 per cent of the national vote in the decisive run-off ahead of his left-wing rival, Sergio Massa, with 44 per cent. According to the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) on November 20, 2023, he was “welcomed by like-minded politicians such as US ex-President Donald Trump, who said Milei would ‘Make Argentina Great Again’. Brazil’s former leader Jair Bolsonaro said that ‘hope would shine again in South America”.

In the run-up to last year’s election Milei made a mountain of promises which he said would remedy long-standing economic and social problems in Argentina. In a nutshell, he promised to make the lives of especially the ordinary Argentine better. Are there genuine signs that Milei is making the lives of the ordinary Argentine better? You decide.

Today, 52.9 per cent of Argentines are classified as living in poverty, according to the National Institute of Statistics (NIS) in Argentina. This means that just over half of the country’s 47 million people cannot afford to buy a basket of basic goods, put together by their NIS. These are goods that would support people’s caloric needs for roughly about a week. In 2021, just under 40 per cent, and in 2022, just under 38 per cent of Argentines were classified as living in poverty.

Check this, inflation in Argentina, in September 2024, was 209 per cent, the highest in the world. This is the worst inflation in Argentina ever, except for the last 9 months. Just five years ago, the Argentinian peso traded for just about 60 to US$1. Last week the Argentinian peso traded at 998.49 to US$1. Today, unsurprisingly, Argentina’s food prices are rising faster than any other country in the world. Incidentally, Argentina has a managed exchanged rate. I won’t say here what the black market rate for the US$ is. But you can use Google and find out.

Since Milei took power a year ago he has closed many government departments. This means that additional thousands have been thrown on the unemployment heap. This is happening in the context of rapid economic collapse. Milei had promised to break the back of inflation quickly and bring back the good times. He has failed, miserably.

They are some important lessons here. Chief among them is beware of populist trickery!

Some who are absent-minded will, doubtless, bellow, “Cho, what is happening in Argentina cannot happen here!” Really? A similar social and economic débâcle did happen here in the 1970s and 1990s. Today, individuals with very similar thinking to that which nearly plunge Jamaica over a giant precipice in the 70 and 90s are telling us that they have easy solutions to especially long-standing and very complex problems which objective evidence shows were on the whole created by their ideological peers. Where is the mea culpa?

I have said here many times, but it bears repeating, there is no magic wand that any politician, anywhere, can suddenly wave and make our problems disappear.

Here at home the populist party is the People’s National Party (PNP). With only months to go before our 19th parliamentary election, PNP President and Opposition Leader Mark Golding is busy up and down the highways and byways promising a new heaven and a new Earth. For many months I have been asking in this space for Golding to explain to the Jamaican people how he will fund and operationalise his trailer-load of extremely costly promises. I am yet to see any credible and/or fundable evidence in the public domain. This is a great harbinger.

Well-thinking Jamaicans, especially, we, who have the knowledge of the economic collapse in the 70s and 90s, which almost reduced our country to social and economic rubble, must not remain silent, while trickery is wholesaled and retailed. We have a duty to warn our countrymen of the train wreck that is assured, again, if they succumb to tomfoolery of the cruellest kind.

We must be very wary of those who dangle fool’s gold before us. Those who sing that a whole heap of billions here and a whole heap a billions there is just what the doctor ordered, in my view, are seeking to play the equivalent of economic and social Russian roulette with people’s livelihoods and lives. Fatal results are assured from such mindless games.

GIMMICKS POLITICS

On the subject of mindless games, when Milei was campaigning last year to become the president of Argentina he brandished a chainsaw to symbolise his determination to quickly cut away the obstacles in the way of his country’s progress. Symbols are a big part of political theatre in any jurisdiction. Here at home, the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) has the bell and other paraphernalia. Scholarship shows, however, that, populist parties and leaders are much more dependent on and, simultaneously, are much more adept in the use of symbols which excite public emotions. Why? A primary reason is substance is not the forte of populists.

Recall that one of Manley’s political paraphernalia was a rod. It was used to mimic biblical figures such as Moses, Aaron and Abraham. “The cane, or rod, was given to him by Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie I during a visit to that country in 1970. When the PNP leader waved the ivory-tipped, ebony-bodied ‘Rod of Correction’ at meetings, it stirred the masses and added to his image of Joshua, the Old Testament figure who led the enslaved Jews out of Jericho.” (The Gleaner, July 18, 2007)

The brandishing of the rod by Manley triggered semi-orgasmic euphoria in some instances, according to other news reports at the time. I have seen footage of Milei wielding his chainsaw at campaign rallies. Crowds went wild during his act. It was all a performance. “Inna real life,” (in reality), as we say on the streets, efficiently managing a country’s economy and getting a country to grow and develop is not remotely like using a chainsaw to cut cardboard boxes in front of TV cameras.

Beware of gimmicks politics! Recently, Golding was in Portland introducing Isat Buchanan as the party’s standard-bearer for the Portland Eastern constituency. Golding described Buchanan, who has served time in prison for drug-related crimes as “a righteous yute”. Golding then poured high praises on Buchanan for helping dancehall artiste Vybz Kartel “to come ah road”. And he continued in that vein retailing balderdash. This is all gimmicks. We must not be fooled by nonsense. Pay attention to the fact that, in Golding’s entire presentation, he did not discuss a single, solitary fundable programme which he would implement to make the lives of Portlanders better, socially and economically, given that he is the prime minister-in-waiting.

Incidentally, before intellectual contortionists deflect and then conclude that I am being critical of Golding because he spoke in the vernacular, let me make it crystal clear, that I have no challenge with politicians, or anyone for that matter, speaking in the vernacular. You can express meaning with the use of our local language just as well as with the use of Standard English.

Anyway, gimmicks politics must be avoided like the plague. Anyone who believes that were Golding to become prime minister he will be able reduce food prices overnight; reduce electricity costs in a jiffy, and drive down murders in a wink, etc are in la-la-land. “Wake up to reality,” as Bob Marley, sang.

Garfield Higgins is an educator, journalist and a senior advisor to the minister of education and youth. Send comments to the Jamaica Observer or higgins160@yahoo.com.

PULL QUOTE

Recall that one of Manley’s political paraphernalia was a rod. It was used to mimic biblical figures such as Moses, Aaron and Abraham. “The cane, or rod, was given to him by Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie I during a visit to that country in 1970. When the PNP leader waved the ivory-tipped, ebony-bodied ‘Rod of Correction’ at meetings, it stirred the masses and added to his image of Joshua, the Old Testament figure who led the enslaved Jews out of Jericho.” (The Gleaner, July 18, 2007) The brandishing of the rod by Manley triggered semi-orgasmic euphoria in some instances, according to other news reports at the time.