Podemos supporter's banner reads.'I was part of the year of change.' Demotix/Marcos del Mazo. All rights reserved.It is a telling sign that we are living through one of those moments of rapid historical transition when political categories are being remade at break-neck speed, that the beleaguered term ‘populism’, long associated with xenophobic parties, from Lega Nord in Italy, to the Front National in France, and the FPÖ in Austria, is being reclaimed as a positive label by a growing number of left-wing activists in southern Europe and beyond.
For many people in what we could call the Mediterranean ‘purple wave’ of Podemos and Syriza--owing to the use of this colour in their symbols, and in analogy to the Latin America ‘pink wave’ of Chávez and Morales--calling themselves populist has become a catchy and provocative way to express the difference between their ideology and the one of the traditional Left.
But what do we actually mean when calling Podemos, Syriza and similar political phenomena ‘populists’ and more precisely ‘left populist’? What is the difference between them and more traditional leftist forces which have failed to exploit the political opportunities offered by the 2008 financial crisis and the politics of austerity?
