Mohtarma Fatima Jinnah asked a question to President General Ayub Khan in 1964. She asked that American military aid to India was the talk of the town. And India would use this aid against Pakistan. "I want to know how it happened." America was your friend. Why did you lose this friend? Everyone living in the East and the West Pakistan wanted to get the answer to this question. This question came up in the early era of Ayub Khan when industrial development was fast taking place. Now it had become clear that this progress was due to Pakistan's support to America against Russia. In return Pakistan had secured economic aid from America. This aid was being spent on the construction of Tarbela, Mangla dams and many other projects. But the Indo-China war in 1962, changed the scenario. America turned its face on Pakistan and started to give military aid to India. On the one side, America was giving military aid to India on the other, India was annexing Kashmir to its territo
Democrat Bernie Sanders
and Republican Donald Trump are both described as populist candidates. But the
two are so radically different, how can they share the label of populism?
What does it mean to be
populist?
Well, populism is the political belief that the underdog, hard-working majority is undermined and
exploited by a small, elite minority. Populist politicians claim to represent
the interest of average or working-class citizens, and work to unite the population
against a common enemy.
For right-leaning
politicians like Trump, that’s immigrants and the Republican establishment. For
leftist politicians like Sanders, it’s Wall Street, billionaires and campaign
finance laws.
Throughout history,
populist ideas have often coincided with charismatic demagogues, as these
personality types are often successful at galvanizing the masses. In fact, one
of the earliest populists was Julius Caesar, who undermined Rome’s ruling aristocrats
by appealing to the underrepresented working class.
But populism isn’t
necessarily good or bad. Both FDR and Adolph Hitler were decisively populist
politicians, by appealing to the frustrations of their respective countries. Today,
populist rhetoric is pervasive throughout the world.
In Europe, it is
generally more popular on the ideological right, which believes that socialist
or left-leaning policies negate the collective will of the people. This was the
idea behind the 2016 Brexit referendum, as many working class Brits felt that
globalization provided by EU membership was not to their benefit.
Similar populist
sentiments have gained momentum throughout Europe in recent years, leading some
experts to predict a string of other similar referendums and, perhaps, the
gradual disintegration of the EU. In the US, however, populism is widespread. Liberal
voters tend to resonate with issues that affect the poor and working class,
like income inequality.
In fact, one of the
most recent notable American populist movements was 2011’s Occupy Wall Street,
which blamed corporations and the wealthiest one percent of Americans for
creating economic instability for the rest of the country. Conservatives like
Trump, on the other hand, have used populist sentiments to tap into voters’
frustrations with bureaucrats and general distrust of the federal government.
For instance, the Tea
Party Movement formed in the wake of the 2008 global financial crisis as a
protest against government overreach. So whether it be in the US or abroad,
populist politicians tend to operate the same way. That is, they choose a
popular enemy, like the establishment, immigration or criminals, and rally
voters to get behind that cause.
Oftentimes this has led
to popular movements and legal reforms. Other times it has cultivated in
widespread ultra-nationalism and nativism. Either way, populism is an extremely
effective political tool.
