Left Right Right: The Shift of the Western World to the Right Wing
There was an episode in the Simpsons which showed Lisa Simpson as the incumbent president, having taken over from Donald Trump. This was in the year 2000. The reason why Trump was chosen was simply because the Simpsons’ creator Matt Groening believed he was “the most absurd placeholder joke name that we could think of”.
We thought it was a joke six months ago. Peek-a-boo, Uncle Sam does not think so. Looks like the US flag is going to be red, blue, and orange. At least for the next four years. The question is not whether he will make a good president or not (his speech post the result shows that he might not be misogynist-Kejriwal). It’s how we got it wrong, again. Except for the Scottish referendum (which would have broken the heart of William Wallace), we got the British diagnosis wrong, and now the American elections.
We clearly misread the math ahead and the math behind our times- our best judgement is just moon water.
In an interesting book titled “The future of (almost) everything”, the author looks at the word being governed by reactions and anti-reactions. At present, we are embracing the anti-globalisation phase with the right wing coming to power in every corner. In case of India, though we have a right wing government, it is arguable if it’s for the same reasons that the world is embracing this movement. (A plethora of factors including Congress’s own slew of scams)
The TIME magazine had multiple articles to take a peek into the lives of the supporters of this seemingly political misfit. The image is clear, people are fed up with a government which does not seem to care about Americans. A little kettle boiling with the coffee beans of the new American dream, making America great again. The good old days. Now here comes a man who ‘speaks the truth’. As one voter put it (paraphrasing him) “He says things that would be bar talk between two guys”. This same man believes that global warming is a hoax, Obama is a Kenyan muslim and other things that would make the internet guffaw.
The Brexit vote was won majorly in part due to the promise of culling the immigration issue, though it would have not been a major issue in the overall scheme of things. The rise of right wing parties in European nations are prevalent such as Germany (AfD), Austria (Freedom party), Sweden (Democrats party), Greece (Golden Dawn), France (National front). In fact the British UKIP party (United Kingdom Independence Party) grew to some prominence on the Brexit wave.
What we need to recognise is the emergence of a new sort of politics. Nationalism taking precedence over globalisation. Development being subverted by protectionism. The native is now the victim of this barrage of a foreign invasion. The Syrian crisis and the onslaught of immigrants is further pushing Europe and immigration into the US is pushing them into a shell. A shell which ossifies into some impenetrable fortress until one day we wake up to say “Funny thing just happened, Donald Trump is the president. Let’s go make America great again.”
Writer: Aditya Kovvali
Editor: Harshit Sarin
