Reviewed by Rama Gaind.
By David McKnight, NewSouth, $29.99.
‘The Case for Progressive Populism’ has many aspects, there’s compelling all-round evidence and it must be heard because there’s nothing less than the survival of humanity at stake.
McKnight acknowledges having started to research this book in the “wake of the shock Trump victory and the vote for Brexit”.
The words populism and populist have no straightforward, logical meaning.
Like all key words, perhaps especially of political life, populist and populism are significant for what they direct our attention away from, for what they leave out and for what they state precisely or circuitously.
In his introduction, academic, writer and a well-known journalist McKnight asks,
“What do the following political figures have in common: Pauline Hanson, Bill Shorten, Donald Trump, Jeremy Corbyn and Bernie Sanders?”
Answer: all have been accused of populism. Whether they’ve bashed banks, billionaires or boat people, they’ve been damned as populists. Yet these political figures come from wildly different parts of the left and right.
Are they all populists? The response, however, is just not that simple. “Mostly, when I hear people damning someone as a populist, they are talking about a right-wing version.”
In this book, McKnight argues that a progressive version of populism exists too. “A progressive populism takes up the genuine economic grievances of everyday Australians without scapegoating migrants or minorities…”
“In fact, a progressive form of populism is the best way of defeating the racist backlash of right-wing populism because it addresses the social and economic problems which partly drive the rise of right-wing populism.”
Are the interests of ordinary people in conflict with those of the elite? Attitudes and action will provide the necessary people power to avoid the worst kind of changes in future. The movement is strong enough to win a just and healthy planet for all.
