Alexis Tsipras at an election rally, May 2014. Athens, Greece. Wikimedia Commons/DTrocks. All rights reserved.
This piece is a development of The Populist Moment, an earlier article recently published by democraciAbierta / openDemocracy.
It is for some time now that voices have warned us of the danger of populism, presented as a 'perversion of democracy'. However, with the victory of the Brexiteers in the UK and Trump's unexpected success in the United States, the denunciation of populism has become more strident. Members of the establishment have seemingly begun to worry about the potential for social discontent they have so far overlooked. We are hounded by alarmist statements claiming that populism must be eliminated because it constitutes a deadly threat to democracy. They believe that the demonization of populism and the fear of a possible return of 'fascism' will be sufficient to prevent the growth of parties and movements that call into question the neoliberal consensus.
