Populism isn't a dirty word – it's time for the left to reclaim it

‘The ideology of small government and deregulation is impeding our response to accelerating climate change despite the clear warning signs in record high temperatures and the bleaching of the Great Barrier Reef’. 

‘A progressive version of populism would put
the interest of the common man and woman first.’ 

To many, “populism” is a shorthand term for pandering to people’s baser instincts, exemplified in Donald Trump’s presidency and the Brexit groundswell. It inflames a desire to blame ethnic and religious minorities; it is a lust for cheap popularity and it is a phony hostility to the establishment and to “the elite” – such is the common understanding. Populist leaders are seen to be posing as outsiders and as representatives of the underdog. Above all, populism is regarded as a rightwing phenomenon. But it’s not that simple – a progressive version of populism exists too.

'Neoliberalism in Australia has failed to produce a good society'

I first discovered populism when I began teaching investigative journalism in the late 1990s at university. Investigative journalism (originally called muckraking) began in the US around 1900 during what Americans call the Progressive Era. One expression of this was the emergence of a new political party, the People’s party, in 1890–91. It stood for the interests of ordinary people – farmers and workers – against the robber barons in the privately-owned banking, oil and railway industries. Friends and enemies alike described the approach of the People’s party as Populism and its supporters as Populists.

Read the story by David McKnight from The Guardian - “Populism isn't a dirty word – it's time for the left to reclaim it.”