The politics of paranoia - The Kingston Whig-Standard | Canada News Media
Connect with us

Politics

The politics of paranoia – The Kingston Whig-Standard

Published

 on


Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson shamelessly played on the paranoia of certain segments of the British electorate during the Brexit campaign. He managed to win a thin majority in the Brexit referendum and three years later a majority in the House of Commons. (Jessica Taylor/Getty Images)

JESSICA TAYLOR / AFP via Getty Images

The Canadian Oxford Dictionary defines paranoia as “a tendency to suspect and mistrust others.” It is a fairly common mental health disease routinely treated by psychologists and psychiatrists. In some cases it can lead to a profound sense of insecurity. In others it can be a motivator for violent reactions. In recent years, it has come to the fore in the politics of major nations. Leaders have exploited it to defend themselves and to advance their agendas. This has been true in the United Kingdom, France, Russia, China and the United States.

U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson rose to fame and political power in the course of the Brexit referendum campaign of 2016. In the course of that campaign, he shamelessly played on the paranoia of certain segments of the British electorate.  One point of his appeal was to suggest that Britain was under threat from the faceless bureaucrats of the European Union based in Brussels. According to him, these officials were bent on depriving Britain of the last vestiges of its sovereignty and to reduce a once proud and powerful nation to a servile position in a European federation. The other part of his appeal was to portray Britons as being the victims of a political establishment of privileged people totally detached from the concerns of ordinary citizens. It was in pursuit of this that he chose to cast Prime Minister David Cameron and his associates as a group of upper class “toffs” who had never experienced the travails of the working class. (This was all a bit rich coming from a quintessential establishment figure who was a graduate of Eton and Oxford and who had worked as a journalist for conservative newspapers.) Using both of these tracks, Johnson managed to win a thin majority in the Brexit referendum and three years later a majority in the House of Commons. Exploiting paranoia certainly paid off for him.

Paranoia is also central to the politics of two movements in France. On the one hand, there is the National Front led by Marine Le Pen, who shamelessly exploits the fears of those French citizens who are hostile to the presence of immigrants in their country. She is particularly attuned to the concerns of those who see a threat emanating from the Muslim minority in France. For them, the Muslims are out to destroy French society and its Christian culture. She has built a political career on this and has managed to parlay it into a second-place finish in a recent presidential election. On the other hand, there is the rather inchoate “gilets jaunes” movement, which disrupted normal life in France for over a year. The members of this movement are convinced that France is run by a small cabal of graduates of the Ecole Nationale d’Administration for their own benefit and that of their friends. They feel discriminated against by this elite and vent their anger in often violent protests. Both the National Front and the “gilets jaunes” have done much to undermine rational political dialogue in France.

Then there is Russia, where President Vladimir Putin has fostered anti-western paranoia in his efforts to stay in power. Threats emanating from the West are, of course, a reality in Russian history. In the 18th century, Russia was invaded by the forces of Charles XII of Sweden, in the 19th by those of Napoleon Bonaparte of France and in the 20th by those of Adolf Hitler of Germany. Memories of that last devastating invasion in which 20 million Russians died are still very much alive today and are deliberately rekindled and exploited by Russian leaders. But it is more recent events that are also used by Putin to further his political goals. The eastward expansion of NATO in the past 25 years is portrayed as a direct threat to Russia. So, too, are western efforts to support democracy in Georgia and Ukraine. Putin puts himself forward as the only leader capable of resisting this western onslaught against Russia and its interests. And it has certainly helped to solidify his brand in the eyes of the Russian electorate.

In China, President Xi Jin Ping has also played on his people’s fears of the United States and Japan. In the rhetoric of the Communist party, the United States is portrayed as being bent on “containing” China, much as it did with the Soviet Union during the Cold War. Preventing China from becoming a highly successful country capable of challenging the primacy of the United States in world affairs is seen as a nefarious plot engineered by American decision-makers. Added to the mix is the United States’ friendship and support for Taiwan that the Chinese regards as an intolerable interference in their internal affairs since they consider Taiwan to be an integral part of the People’s Republic. Chinese leaders also evoke the memories of Japan’s brutal occupation of their country during the Second World War to foster hostility towards modern-day Japan, as part of a campaign to promote Chinese nationalism. Promoting fear of both the United States and Japan has become part of the stock in trade of modern Chinese leaders.

Firstly, there is that supreme practitioner of paranoia politics, U.S. President Donald Trump. From the very start of his political career, he has been engaged in promoting fear. During his election campaign in 2016, he made headlines by claiming that immigrants from Mexico were rapists, murderers and drug dealers and that they posed a threat to security and well-being of Americans. He then went on to promise to build a wall along America’s border with Mexico to keep out these undesirables and to have Mexico pay for it. When this promise was met with derision on the part of the Mexican government, Trump kept on repeating it, to the delight of his redneck supporters in southern states.

When evidence began to emerge of Russian meddling in the presidential election, Trump chose not to blame the Russians but to launch attacks on the credibility of the United States’ intelligence and security agencies. He began to portray organizations such as the FBI and the CIA as being part of some “deep state” out to undermine his administration. Without any evidence to support his contentions, he repeatedly sought to undermine the credibility of the U.S. intelligence community, whether in connection with his dealings with Russia or his failed rapprochement with North Korea.

Trump’s ceaseless campaign against the mainstream media has also been an exercise in fostering paranoia. Describing the media as purveyors of “fake news” and as enemies of the people, Trump has played to the basest instincts of his often ill-informed and ill-educated supporters. Depicting the media as part of a liberal elite that has no sympathy for the plight of ordinary Americans, Trump has promoted his image as a populist leader under attack.

Trump’s relations with the Justice Department merit particular attention. Shortly after coming into office, he fired the acting attorney general because she refused to implement his unconstitutional and very obviously Islamophobic decree banning entry into the United States of immigrants or visitors from some Muslim countries. He then launched a very public campaign against Jeff Sessions, whom he had appointed as attorney general, because Sessions had recused himself from involvement in the inquiry into Russian interference in the election campaign. He then went into overdrive to attack the Mueller inquiry, which had been established by the Justice Department to look into the matter. Repeatedly describing the inquiry as a “witch hunt,” he portrayed himself as the victim of a hostile and out of control Justice Department.

Depicting themselves or their followers as victims of supposedly hostile forces has allowed leaders in many countries to enjoy a degree of political success to which they are not otherwise entitled. It is a rather sad commentary on the state of world politics today.

Louis A. Delvoie is a retired Canadian diplomat who served abroad as an ambassador and high commissioner.

Let’s block ads! (Why?)



Source link

Politics

Harris tells Black churchgoers that people must show compassion and respect in their lives

Published

 on

 

STONECREST, Ga. (AP) — Kamala Harris told the congregation of a large Black church in suburban Atlanta on Sunday that people must show compassion and respect in their daily lives and do more than just “preach the values.”

The Democratic presidential nominee’s visit to New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Stonecrest on her 60th birthday, marked by a song by the congregation, was part of a broad, nationwide campaign, known as “Souls to the Polls,” that encourages Black churchgoers to vote.

Pastor Jamal Bryant said the vice president was “an American hero, the voice of the future” and “our fearless leader.” He also used his sermon to welcome the idea of America electing a woman for the first time as president. “It takes a real man to support a real woman,” Bryant said.

“When Black women roll up their sleeves, then society has got to change,” the pastor said.

Harris told the parable of the Good Samaritan from the Gospel of Luke, about a man who was traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho and was attacked by robbers. The traveler was beaten and left bloodied, but helped by a stranger.

All faiths promote the idea of loving thy neighbor, Harris said, but far harder to achieve is truly loving a stranger as if that person were a neighbor.

“In this moment, across our nation, what we do see are some who try to deepen division among us, spread hate, sow fear and cause chaos,” Harris told the congregation. “The true measure of the strength of a leader is based on who you lift up.”

She was more somber than during her political rallies, stressing that real faith means defending humanity. She said the Samaritan parable reminds people that “it is not enough to preach the values of compassion and respect. We must live them.”

Harris ended by saying, “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning,” as attendees applauded her.

Many in attendance wore pink to promote breast cancer awareness. Also on hand was Opal Lee, an activist in the movement to make Juneteenth a federally recognized holiday. Harris hugged her.

The vice president also has a midday stop at Divine Faith Ministries International in Jonesboro with singer Stevie Wonder, before taping an interview with the Rev. Al Sharpton that will air later Sunday on MSNBC. The schedule reflects her campaign’s push to treat every voting group like a swing state voter, trying to appeal to them all in a tightly contested election with early voting in progress.

Harris’ running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, headed to church in Saginaw, Michigan, and his wife, Gwen, was going to a service in Las Vegas.

The “Souls to the Polls” effort launched last week and is led by the National Advisory Board of Black Faith Leaders, which is sending representatives across battleground states as early voting begins in the Nov. 5 election.

“My father used to say, a ‘voteless people is a powerless people’ and one of the most important steps we can take is that short step to the ballot box,” Martin Luther King III said Friday. “When Black voters are organized and engaged, we have the power to shift the trajectory of this nation.”

On Saturday, the vice president rallied supporters in Detroit with singer Lizzo before traveling to Atlanta to focus on abortion rights, highlighting the death of a Georgia mother amid the state’s restrictive abortion laws that took effect after the U.S. Supreme Court, with three justices nominated by Donald Trump, overturned Roe v. Wade.

And after her Sunday push, she will campaign with former U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., in the suburbs of Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin.

“Donald Trump still refuses to take accountability, to take any accountability, for the pain and the suffering he has caused,” Harris said.

Harris is a Baptist whose husband, Doug Emhoff, is Jewish. She has said she’s inspired by the work of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., and influenced by the religious traditions of her mother’s native India as well as the Black Church. Harris sang in the choir as a child at Twenty Third Avenue Church of God in Oakland.

“Souls to the Polls” as an idea traces back to the Civil Rights Movement. The Rev. George Lee, a Black entrepreneur from Mississippi, was killed by white supremacists in 1955 after he helped nearly 100 Black residents register to vote in the town of Belzoni. The cemetery where Lee is buried has served as a polling place.

Black church congregations across the country have undertaken get-out-the-vote campaigns for years. In part to counteract voter suppression tactics that date back to the Jim Crow era, early voting in the Black community is stressed from pulpits nearly as much as it is by candidates.

In Georgia, early voting began on Tuesday, and more than 310,000 people voted on that day, more than doubling the first-day total in 2020. A record 5 million people voted in the 2020 presidential election in Georgia.

___

This story has been corrected to reflect that the mobilization effort launched last week, not Oct. 20.

Source link

Continue Reading

Politics

NDP and B.C. Conservatives locked in tight battle after rain-drenched election day

Published

 on

 

VANCOUVER – Predictions of a close election were holding true in British Columbia on Saturday, with early returns showing the New Democrats and the B.C. Conservatives locked in a tight battle.

Both NDP Leader David Eby and Conservative Leader John Rustad retained their seats, while Green Leader Sonia Furstenau lost to the NDP’s Grace Lore after switching ridings to Victoria-Beacon Hill.

However, the Greens retained their place in the legislature after Rob Botterell won in Saanich North and the Islands, previously occupied by party colleague Adam Olsen, who did not seek re-election.

It was a rain-drenched election day in much of the province.

Voters braved high winds and torrential downpours brought by an atmospheric river weather system that forced closures of several polling stations due to power outages.

Residents faced a choice for the next government that would have seemed unthinkable just a few months ago, between the incumbent New Democrats led by Eby and Rustad’s B.C. Conservatives, who received less than two per cent of the vote last election

Among the winners were the NDP’s Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon in Delta North and Attorney General Niki Sharma in Vancouver-Hastings, as well as the Conservatives Bruce Banman in Abbotsford South and Brent Chapman in Surrey South.

Chapman had been heavily criticized during the campaign for an old social media post that called Palestinian children “inbred” and “time bombs.”

Results came in quickly, as promised by Elections BC, with electronic vote tabulation being used provincewide for the first time.

The election authority expected the count would be “substantially complete” by 9 p.m., one hour after the close of polls.

Six new seats have been added since the last provincial election, and to win a majority, a party must secure 47 seats in the 93-seat legislature.

There had already been a big turnout before election day on Saturday, with more than a million advance votes cast, representing more than 28 per cent of valid voters and smashing the previous record for early polling.

The wild weather on election day was appropriate for such a tumultuous campaign.

Once considered a fringe player in provincial politics, the B.C. Conservatives stand on the brink of forming government or becoming the official Opposition.

Rustad’s unlikely rise came after he was thrown out of the Opposition, then known as the BC Liberals, joined the Conservatives as leader, and steered them to a level of popularity that led to the collapse of his old party, now called BC United — all in just two years.

Rustad shared a photo on social media Saturday showing himself smiling and walking with his wife at a voting station, with a message saying, “This is the first time Kim and I have voted for the Conservative Party of BC!”

Eby, who voted earlier in the week, posted a message on social media Saturday telling voters to “grab an umbrella and stay safe.”

Two voting sites in Cariboo-Chilcotin in the B.C. Interior and one in Maple Ridge in the Lower Mainland were closed due to power cuts, Elections BC said, while several sites in Kamloops, Langley and Port Moody, as well as on Hornby, Denman and Mayne islands, were temporarily shut but reopened by mid-afternoon.

Some former BC United MLAs running as Independents were defeated, with Karin Kirkpatrick, Dan Davies, Coralee Oakes and Tom Shypitka all losing to Conservatives.

Kirkpatrick had said in a statement before the results came in that her campaign had been in touch with Elections BC about the risk of weather-related disruptions, and was told that voting tabulation machines have battery power for four hours in the event of an outage.

— With files from Brenna Owen

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 19, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

Source link

Continue Reading

Politics

Breakingnews: B.C. Conservative Leader John Rustad elected in his riding

Published

 on

 

VANDERHOOF, B.C. – British Columbia Conservative Leader John Rustad has been re-elected in his riding of Nechako Lakes.

Rustad was kicked out of the Opposition BC United Party for his support on social media of an outspoken climate change critic in 2022, and last year was acclaimed as the B.C. Conservative leader.

Buoyed by the BC United party suspending its campaign, and the popularity of Pierre Poilievre’s federal Conservatives, Rustad led his party into contention in the provincial election.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

Source link

Continue Reading

Trending

Exit mobile version