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Brexit: Democracy or hoi polloi politics?
What is democracy? Supposedly it is rule by the people, or majority rule, but I reckon now it’s more like hoi polloi, a Greek expression that means “the many” but in English has taken on a derogatory or at least ironic meaning to express a distaste for the common people: the great unwashed, the plebeians, riffraff, the herd, etc.
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EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom (right) prepares to speak at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing July 11. (AP/Ng Han Guan)
L
ately we’ve been getting an onslaught of news and articles about Brexit (British exit) — the UK leaving the EU. The reaction is understandable because of the effect it will have not just on the UK, but also on the global economy and politics.
But did you know, Indonesia had its own “Brexit”? It stands for the Brebes exit, referring to the capital of Brebes regency in the northwestern part of Central Java. It made headlines because of the massive three-day traffic jam stretching 20 kilometers on the Brebes toll road that claimed at least 12 lives.
At the end of the Ramadhan fasting month, it’s customary for millions to mudik (return home) to their home villages, causing a mass exodus a few days prior and after Idul Fitri in Indonesia.
Despite the struggle, expense, risks and even threat to life, the exodus repeats itself each year. It’s the homing instinct — irrational, but primordially strong.
But what about casualties of the UK Brexit? Who knows how many people will faint and even “die” from the Brexit heat? It could be thousands, possibly millions — certainly more than 12.
It’s not just people, but also markets that will must absorb the political, social and economic uncertainties. As soon as the result of the referendum was announced on June 23, the pound sterling slumped, but it’s hard to predict the political and social maelstrom of Brexit in the long run.
As Brendan Donnelly, the director of the Federal Trust, a research institute on European affairs, wrote after Brexit: “The light at the end of the tunnel is several oncoming trains.” Boom!
Brexit is ironic, in more ways than one. The key reason Brits voted to leave was a desire to reduce immigration from other EU countries and keep England for the English (as in whites).
Britain has seen its population swell in recent years because of hundreds of thousands of new arrivals from the EU — widely seen as the reason for daily problems.
It’s scapegoating of course: blaming immigrants for the economic insecurity that their own policies are responsible for creating. Like Brexit, for example.
Ironically, these policies will only get worse. As The Independent daily pointed out: For the first time, they will have a prime minister who intends to make Brits poorer. How so? Controlling immigration will harm the economy and reduce people’s earnings as a whole. Aha, you didn’t think that out, did you?
The desire to Brexit reminds me of the “rivers of blood” speech by Conservative MP Enoch Powell back in 1968 criticizing the Commonwealth immigration and anti-discrimination legislation that was being proposed.
It led to his controversial dismissal from the Shadow Cabinet, but Powell’s perspective on race is considered to have been a contributing factor in the Conservative Party’s surprise victory in 1970. Obviously it had struck a cord with the majority of the electorate.
And guess what? Powell of the UK of the 1960s and ‘70s has been reincarnated in today’s Donald Trump. We’re only too familiar now with The Donald’s exhortations to ban Muslims from the US and to build a wall between the US and Mexico. As in the case with Powell, it’s precisely these racist remarks that make him popular with almost half of the electorate, according to polls.
It made me reflect on the state of democracy today. Not just because of Brexit, but also because of the recent coup attempt in Turkey, the increased incidents of terrorism in France, the rise of populist parties in Germany, France, the Netherlands, Hungary, Poland and even Scandinavian countries and also the xenophobic and “populist” tendencies in my own beloved Indonesia.
As Yascha Mounk, a political science lecturer at Harvard University, says, all of the above cases “reflect deep anxieties among many citizens about the functioning of their democracies and the openness of their societies”.
What is democracy? Supposedly it is rule by the people, or majority rule, but I reckon now it’s more like hoi polloi, a Greek expression that means “the many” but in English has taken on a derogatory or at least ironic meaning to express a distaste for the common people: the great unwashed, the plebeians, riffraff, the herd, etc.
Unfortunately, while the term was coined by those who saw themselves as the elite, maybe they have a point. In the face of the current “Eurosclerosis” — economic stagnation, high unemployment, rising inequality and poverty, lack of opportunity — the hoi polloi tend to express a mob frenzy fueled by panic, fanaticism, hatred, bloody revenge, lust of gain and just plain frustration with their lot.
Is it a primordial instinct to scapegoat? Perhaps not, but the instinct to survive is primordial. Unfortunately, it’s expressed in a negative, self-destructive, even suicidal way.
Only too often, the so-called “populism” of people like Powell (and his present-day compatriots like Nigel Farage, Boris Johnson, Liam Fox, David Davis and John Redwood), Trump, Erdogan (in Turkey), Marine Le Penn (in France), Frauke Petry (in Germany), Victor Orban (in Hungary) and Geert Wilders in the Netherlands gives rise to a kind of “autocratic democracy” and “democratic dictators” which is outright scary as it triggers precisely the things they are against, including terrorism.
Returning to Indonesia, how is it reflected here? Guess what: Amazingly, compared to the above cases, things aren’t so bad, relatively speaking. Sure, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo refuses to abolish the death penalty because this is what Indonesians want; the government too often gives in to Islamic conservatism, but our track record on dealing with terrorism is still good.
Corruption? It’s still pretty bad, but no worse than many other countries and now Tito Karnavian, the new police chief, has urged the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) to look into corruption in the police ranks.
Eurosclerosis and the rise of Trump in the US, actually reflect how the interests of ordinary people have been subordinated to those of the elite for too long. Ordinary people have had enough. Unfortunately they are relying on knee-jerk, primordial instincts rather than considered, thoughtful responses.
This is one of the rare moments I heave a sigh of relief that I am Indonesian. Watching the Brexit and Trump saga unfold, I reckon, we’re doing OK after all.
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The writer is the author of Julia’s Jihad.
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