online archive
4:00PM
SEP 21 2007
Counter-revolutionary populism
From Eurozine, "counter-revolutionary" populism in eastern central Europe is the reaction to the neoliberal destruction of the welfare state from a middle class afraid of becoming declasse; and unlike the extremist parties of the 1930s, new populist movements worldwide do not aim to abolish democracy: quite the opposite, they thrive on democratic support—there's a conflict between elites that are becoming increasingly suspicious of democracy and angry publics that are becoming increasingly illiberal; and alternatives to the anti-communism and national conservatism of Poland's two main rightwing parties are barely offered by a Centre-Left tarnished by corruption scandals. Good bye (S)Tallinn! After centuries of foreign rule, Estonians sang for revolution twenty years ago and found their freedom. The never-resting city emerges as a wireless boomtown – the "Baltic tiger". But some fall by the wayside.
