Widespread availability of the Internet and use of social media, loss of economic sovereignty of nation states, and spread of the idea of human rights across the world are the three main factors that have led to the success of Right wing political parties and far-right demagogues in democracies around the world, Arjun Appadurai, Emeritus Professor in Media, Culture and Communication at New York University and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences said at The Hindu Lit Fest 2024 here in Chennai on Saturday.
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Speaking on the topic ‘Democracy fatigue: Why the world is moving towards the Right?’, Professor Appadurai said, “The leaders of the new authoritarian populisms [Donald Trump in U.S., Vladimir Putin in Russia, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Turkey, Giorgia Meloni in Italy and few other similar far-Right leaders] have in common is the recognition that none of them can truly control their national economies, which are hostages to foreign investors and global agreements, transnational finance and mobile labour and capital in general. All of them promised national and cultural purification as a route to global political power.”
Professor Appadurai pointed out that they have no hesitation about repressing minorities, dissidents, stifling free speech or using the law to throttle their opponents. “In each of these cases, and in many of the populous pockets, there is a fatigue with democracy itself. And this fatigue is the basis of the electoral successes of leaders who promise to abrogate all the liberal, deliberative and inclusive components of their national versions of democracy,” he said.
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“The spread of the Internet and the social media, the availability of a web-based mobilisation, propaganda, identity building and peer seeking has created the dangerous illusion that we can all find peers, allies, friends, collaborators and colleagues, whoever we are, and whatever we want. The second is the fact that every single nation state has lost ground in its efforts to maintain any semblance of economic sovereignty. The third is the worldwide spread of the ideology of human rights has given us a minimum purchase to strangers, foreigners and migrants in virtually every country in the world, even if they face harsh welcomes and severe conditions wherever they move,” Professor Appadurai said, speaking of the three main factors.
Professor Appadurai said that all demagogues were angry but each was angry in his own way.
“Propaganda and demagoguery are connected. Since the circulation of propaganda is often associated with the rise of demagogues, propaganda is treated like the Other of truth just as demagogues are treated as a toxic subset of genuine charismatic leaders. But neither term has been thoughtfully analysed and both belong to the tradition of labelling in the preferential use of the term ‘ideology’ to malign the truth claims of one’s opponents, and these are all terms which thrive by being naturalised and treated as commonsensical, and evade critical examination,” he said.