Continued from previous blog: Trump’s re-election Echoes of a Dystopian Past

A few weeks ago, I received a survey from YouGov regarding the theory of deep state and whether I believed it was a hoax mainly spread by the right-wing media about the conspiracy to prevent the right-wing nationalist parties’ ascension to power. Whilst I wasn’t very sure about the deep state coming in the way of the nationalists, I have no doubt that politicians and ministers are mere pawns in this game and that a deep state truly exists. What its raison d’être — we don’t know, but we know politicians do not have free rein on the governmental strategies. It could be the market, but the market is run by capital, and it’s interesting to find out the source of the capital that governs the market. The reason for introducing deep-state here is because running campaigns like Trump’s needs money, and whilst he’s not short of it himself, there were many other players who had a vested interest in the regime change, such as Elon Musk whose net worth went up in billions after the news of a Trump government. Winning elections means a lot more than winning over voters – you need a nod from a lobby that has enough clout over the market and capital. In fact, populist and nationalist movements across Europe have seen a vast amount of money pumped into their campaigns. The source of capital may not be the same, but it is still shocking to see these parties, which were either non-existent or sitting at the fringes of the main political spectrum, have suddenly been thrust into the forefront.

So what could the parties, or in a broader sense, institutions and individuals leaning to the Left do? I’m not sure if this is a term, but I refer to this period in history as a ‘Nokia moment’. Refer back to a time around 2005-2006. Apple was about to launch the iPhone. Google and others weren’t far behind. Yet, the market leader by miles at that time on mobile phones was Nokia, and they carried on experimenting with the proven interfaces and designs that had worked for them so far. Even after the launch of the smartphones, they didn’t adapt, and in the end, their lead in the market was wiped out. In politics, I see many occasions where the events seem like the Nokia moment — you adapt or die. As I mentioned before, populism is here to stay, and people are generally driven by fear — it’s about the herd mentality we inherited from our ancestors. Ultra-left, Communists, Socialists, Liberals, Leftists, Progressives — whatever name we associate to the spectrum who doesn’t want to follow that politics of hate and fear, we have to react to populism.

It’s not about debunking the misinformation spread by the opponents, nor about engaging in discussions, disagreements, and arguments on the digital sphere — this already is happening. What is really needed, and presently lacking, is being vocal about the issues, about the lies, about the problems that are not there and about the solutions that people are too blinded to see, and we need to be vocal about them within our own surroundings, including our friends, family, colleagues. We all can identify with a situation where we were part of a discussion when people spoke about their world view, and peddled the populist myths or their own twisted deductions from the misinformation that have been fed — and despite knowing it was completely wrong, we kept quiet, or came up with a mild retort about you don’t think that’s how things are, or the worst reaction where although you feel cringed, you say you see their point, or you kind of agree. They go away from the discussion with a feeling that they have been right in their opinion and have converted another person, and with a renewed zeal, they would engage in the same conversation somewhere else. We really need to be straight about our thoughts, backed up by facts, and categorically prove that they are wrong. It might make the other person see things from another perspective, and depending on how sold they are to the populist lies and conspiracy theories, they might start doubting their conviction or could see straight through the lies and dissociate themselves into the populist camp. As we talked about swing states in the US Elections, we need to see swing minds, where our decision to speak up without fear may change someone’s mind. There will be others who would be cases lost to the cause, and no matter what we say, it would make no difference, and to them, we would appear the same — ones they wouldn’t feel gloated about having cast any doubts in our minds. We both can part ways, knowing where we stand.

The biggest factor in the rise of populism is people’s faith in numbers. They start to follow the biggest crowd, and a large part of that big crowd is there because they have not been given or shown an alternative, the swing-minds. If we could be that voice and present that alternative with sufficient confidence, people can clearly see the two divides, and both will have pros and cons, which will make them reassess. There will be two opposing sides, each with people who made up their minds after being shown the alternatives. Gradually, each of those factions will split into smaller factions, each with their own views of the world, and people who think their views and expectations converge to the views of that faction — just how we slowly zero into the correct prescriptions at the opticians. With time, we will be in a world with many political views, and people subscribe to those views after making an informed choice — much like a democracy that we are in the process of killing off through populism. But to make it happen, we need a critical mass on both sides, a balancing out act because the scale at the moment seems to be completely lopsided towards the nationalist, right-wing populism. How quickly we react will depend on whether we can restore democracy or return to it many centuries later in a post-apocalyptic world, much like in The Planet of Apes. Trump’s re-election must serve as a wake-up call; it is the Nokia moment for the politics of hope. We adapt to the populism trend or become irrelevant, with great promise but nothing to show for it.