How you can tell Emmanuel Macron is actually a populist – and why it matters
« (…) At the time, Macron presented himself as a defender of
liberalism against the dangers of populism. During his confrontational TV debate with Marine Le Pen, he described the democratic processes of the European Union as protection against populism.
(…)
It’s clear that Macron strongly opposes the ideologies that are
typically associated with populism today. The word “populism”,
however, has become a useful tool for liberals. It can be deployed to
automatically disqualify any ideologies that challenge the
fundamentals of liberalism. Macron can argue that he couldn’t possibly be a “populist” himself since he is defined by his opposition to it.
(…)
Which is the populist?
Our purpose in characterising Macron as a populist is not to discredit
him – as tends to be what is implied when most people use the word
“populist”. Instead, we believe that opening our eyes to Macron’s
populist strategy helps us to challenge received wisdom on
contemporary populism. It challenges the notion that liberals have a
moral high ground when it comes to who is and isn’t labelled a
populist.
This is important because the moral disqualification of some political
actors has only made contemporary polarisation worse. Those who are unhappy with growing inequalities are necessarily seen as illiberal, immoral or racist. Macron appears to be acting against all received wisdom on populism, by fuelling the dangerous polarisation between progressives and the far right. He is doing what Marine Le Pen does – lumping together the traditional parties of the centre left and right in her rhetoric, as though they are one interchangeable elite mass that has betrayed the people.
But he has taken it a step further by establishing a new centrist
liberal party that claims to be both centre right and centre left. He
has in fact created the very homogeneous lump Le Pen decries in her
fantasy of a “political establishment”. Under Macron’s reality, one
centrist party is all the establishment there is. It is the ultimate
“us” and “them” division.
The results of this approach were evident in the 2019 European
elections. Voters only had two real options – Macron’s party or Le
Pen’s. Instead of fighting populism, Macron seems to be reinforcing
populism by bolstering the liberal-illiberal polarisation of the
French political space around two populist alternatives. »
▻http://theconversation.com/how-you-can-tell-emmanuel-macron-is-actually-a-populist-and-why-it-