‘In South Africa, this is where the MK Party appears to be the new political attraction. As crass nationalists, they straddle a neo-conservatism that sees the centre held by the ANC and DA as a weak place’. Picture: Timothy Bernard / Independent Newspapers.
Global politics has moved beyond the idea that traditional democracies are the place of sensible politics. It has aggressively moved towards a conservative nationalism, carelessly also called patriotism.
This misdiagnosed patriotism is a populist narrative that promises God, jobs and life ‘as we always knew it’ but only to ‘people like us.’ It’s a dangerous religious and fascist nationalism that weaves politics and nirvana into messages delivered by powerful oligarchs.
They have seized the political throttle and ignored attempts to secure a society within systems of law, for they intend to make their economic-nationalist-religious ideology the system for all. This is indoctrination at a cult level.
This new conservative nationalism cancels personal political views, independent academic insights and critical thinking. Unquestioning loyalty is a far greater currency than academic and political credentials.
The architects of this conservative nationalism are building a political movement defined by crass capitalism, self-indulgent wealth amassment, a hidden intolerance of poor people and welfare, and censorship of views opposed to its conservative, nationalist and religious agenda.
In this movement, the poor and lower middle class have been persuaded to trust the messenger more than the system of laws and to accept the bellicose messages of crass conservativism that supposedly offers them security, even if they don’t have justice or jobs.
The collusion between religious conservatism with its exclusiveness and crass capitalism is possible because the poor and middle class – religious or not – have been raised in a society where saviours who bring a better world are fused with messages of how evil non-religious people are. And herein lies the key to its rising political popularity.
Promising to save already exploited people who are jobless or getting poorer each year and promising them both immediate heaven on earth and in the life hereafter, they shut down the need to think. Period. They give that power to a politician or oligarch. With this, the door is opened to the full assault on the existence of strong constitutional democracies, for from their podiums they say, ‘trust us, don’t trust them or their constitution.’
Constitutionalists have been woefully lacking in their understanding of what suffering people are going through.
They consume tons of fringe media more than engaging people and policies. They are terrible at practical governance which fixes things for suffering people. Their conservative capitalist colleagues are, sadly, much better at delivering government, even a nauseating one.
The vaunted constitutionalists would much rather go to a conference than fix a road, much rather deal with a fringe issue at the extreme of the political spectrum to appear to be enlightened, than talk to actual unemployed people and offer workable support.
In South Africa, this is where the MK Party appears to be the new political attraction. As crass nationalists, they straddle a neo-conservatism that sees the centre held by the ANC and DA as a weak place. They do not seek to please the pantheon of oligarchs. They believe that as they talk the language of the nationalists and impoverished middle classes, the oligarchs who want power will come to them. They understand that the politics of being nice is dead.
Future elections will be won by outright cult-like nationalist conservatism, without its obsessive moralism, with the sub-text that constitutionalists are political dreamers who do not deliver. The evidence, sadly, is there for all to see.
What is not seen is the disastrous future this crass religious, nationalism and crass conservative capitalism will deliver. If ever there was a message of the end of the world as we know it, this is it.
* Lorenzo is a leader and veteran in the social development space who has worked for decades to address SA’s stark inequities.
** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Media.
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