Populism and Migration
Migration is a phenomenon that dates back to the beginning of time. From the beginnings of history, people migrated from Africa to Asia and Europe, across the Bering Straits from Asia to the Americas, and from ancient Egypt across the Red Sea to Biblical Israel.
Throughout, the mass migration of people has led to countless challenges, suffering and, at times, war.
Today, migration is creating many challenges not only to the cultures of the many societies that it is affecting, but also to the institutions of governance that are in many cases now endangered.
One of the major results of this phenomenon has been the rise of populism in many affected countries.
As migrants arrive bringing their own cultures, old established cultures feel threatened and, in many cases, react negatively. This is especially so in cultures that have had little or no experience in assimilating immigrants. Many seek solace in populist political leaders who promise simple solutions to complex problems.
"Populism seeks to deconstruct democratic institutions and concentrate power into the hands of a leader who claims to b society’s savior"
In an excellent article in The New York Times on July 17th, David Leonhardt noted that, as far back as 1896, U.S. presidential candidate Henry Cabot Lodge warned that immigrants could devastate the “mental and moral qualities which make up our race”. President Theodore Roosevelt praised the speech, telling a friend that he was worried about “the multiplication of Finnigans, Hooligans, Antonios, Mandelbaums, and Rabinskis”.
These sentiments have been echoed down through the ages by many and have brought us to this moment in which migrants and immigrants are vilified in many parts of the world by populist leaders offering easy solutions based on the fears of their frustrated voters.
Populism is a gateway to the past – a past in which life appeared to be better, in which values were secure and culture was not under real or perceived attack. It is usually a celebration of ignorance over wisdom, fiction over fact, and monologue over dialogue. A reverence for a uniform culture or race the “purity” of which appears to diminish when newcomers arrive.
Populism seeks to deconstruct democratic institutions and concentrate power into the hands of a leader who claims to be society’s savior. The leader is sold to the public as the only solution in a society that is in the grips of doubt and uncertainty. It preys on the most vulnerable – those who have been displaced by war, human rights abuses, or criminal violence, and are forced to seek refuge elsewhere.
Populists focus on finding someone to blame, and those who are different – within or outside their borders – are perceived to be valid targets. The creation of enemies is essential for the populist to win. In the case of rightist populists, the enemies are often those who are different – migrants or minorities. In the case of leftist populists, the enemies are the upper classes and the bourgeoisie who are blamed for the inequities present in their society.
The end result is the same – the persecution of “others” to satisfy a political end.
In the United States, we have seen Trump vilify Mexico as a serious threat to the U.S.. And his followers, preferring to believe that their economic and social problems are the result of the presence of documented or undocumented immigrants rather than by their own lack of preparation for 21st Century economies and technologies, are quick to pick up on his anti-immigrant messages.
In Europe we have seen the rise of authoritarian populism in many countries.
Brexit is blamed in part on the open borders and citizen mobility policies of the European Union. In France, Marine Le Pen’s National Rally continues to poll well with her party’s focus on the purity of the French culture and nation and its anti-Muslim policies and proposals. Germany’s Angela Merkel is leaving office in 2021 due in large part as a public reaction to her decision to accept over one million Syrian refugees. In fact, the extreme right-wing Alternativ für Deutschland is now the official opposition and has won its votes on an anti-immigration platform.
Hungary’s Viktor Orban continues to pursue the idea of a pure Christian Hungary through the creation of legal and physical barriers and is, in the process, weakening or dismembering democratic institutions. The ruling Italian coalition has taken a very hard line on refugees coming from North Africa, and refuses to allow refugee-carrying ships to land on Italian soil.
Migration is creating challenges for democracies as they try to balance respect for human rights and basic human compassion on the one hand with the effect that fear of losing their culture and heritage is having on many of their citizens on the other. This is leading many voters to question the ability of strong democratic institutions and legal systems to protect their culture and heritage, and address their concerns. The result is an attraction to simplistic populist solutions to complex challenges.
Is this a lasting situation or is it simply an aberration?
It has never been wise to count democracy out, and one hopes that newly emerging leaders over the next few years will have an inspiring narrative and concrete policy proposals for those groups who feel marginalized or dispossessed.
But what is happening in the United States and Europe can happen anywhere. Indeed, Latin America has a long history of populism, and populists continue to rule in a number of countries in the region. Maduro in Venezuela (and Chavez before him) demonized democratic institutions and replaced them with institutions of state run exclusively and incompetently by their cronies.
The result has been over four million Venezuelan refugees fleeing to Brazil, Peru, Colombia, and Ecuador. Hence migration can be both the cause and the effect of populism – the creation of massive flows of human beings escaping failing states run by authoritarian populist regimes.
Trump’s politics in the USA are also perceived by many to be populist. He fights the courts, delegitimizes the mainstream media, and bullies the Congress to do his bidding. He has legitimized the not-so-latent racism inherent in American society. African Americans, Latinos, and Muslims are the “others” in his view and in the minds of his core voters, and pose a threat to their “America”.
The cause and effect relationship between populism and migration is real.
How we deal with it will determine if we can successfully preserve our democratic institutions on the one hand and act humanely on the other.