While the price of the pound sterling erodes faster than the Amazon basin, we see an appreciation in the values of middle-class white privilege, having horrible views and being totally incompetent. I am of course referring to Trump, Johnson and Bolsonaro. We are no longer discussing right-wing politics as their views go beyond protectionism. Their policies are derived from laziness, convenience, self-interest and defiance of doing the right thing. So what exactly is going on in the world? How has it come to this in 2019?
I want to impress upon you how Trump et al are not simply laughable misfortunes we can shrug our shoulders at. An eclipse of rationality and reality has overcome us with deep scars impending on our social and ecological history. Of course in the three nations, different forces are at play. In the USA, fatigue of being told ‘you need to do the right thing’. Brazil’s vote was swung by appealing to the public’s desperation. Boris bucks the trend in that he was elected by party peers when Theresa May stepped down. At first glance, Boris seems the most harmless in his glory-seeking buffoonery. But a ruthless liar can only mean potential ruin for Britain.
We all know enough about Trump; but as a Brit, I feel a duty to inform the world of Boris’s incompetence. Despite being fired multiple times for dishonesty, Boris maintained his career as a journalist until entering politics. He then won an election to become Mayor of London. During which he failed to deliver on any of his responsibilities and betrayed promises. Most notorious of these lies is the promise of £350 million a week back into the U.K’s public healthcare system to win the Brexit campaign. This year, Boris was taken to court for these unsubstantiated lies but somehow left unscathed. Dishonourable mention for his 37 offensive public remarks including calling Black children of the commonwealth “flag-waving piccaninnies,” devout Muslim women walking “letterboxes,” likening gay marriage to bestiality and “f**k the families of 7/7″ bombings.
If you thought Boris was a farce, Bolsonaro says hold my caipirinha. His rainforest slaying is reported daily, this needs no introduction. He says Black people “are not even good for procreation” and should “go back to the zoo.” He said about an opposing female Congresswoman that she doesn’t even deserve to be raped. Recalling his earlier years on a public sector salary, he would spend his money on sex. So why would so many women and Black Brazilians vote for him? It is speculated that speaking to the electorate’s increasingly popular Catholic values and promises of a quick fix to the country’s crime and ailing economy won it for Bolsonaro.
An unsavoury but important question some of us are secretly asking: is White male privilege to blame here? Wealthy, supposedly educated White majority countries elect racist White men. In fact, a White man in Brazil has managed to deeply offend those of Afro-Caribbean descent yet astoundingly garnered the majority of their votes. Why are Trump, Johnson and Bolsonaro untouchable when they are awful human beings? Is it even fair to bring up the White male privilege cliché? Because let’s face it, if a person of colour or a woman held the same views they would not even be in the running, let alone be in office.
My answer to all the above is yes, because this generational phenomenon is the last ripple of imperialism and patriarchy. An act of revolt against liberalism is a revolt against today’s youth… a united youth who want to dissolve lines of socioeconomic class, race, gender identity, orientation and faith to work together. These values are a deep threat to old-world privilege.
We have reached shameful new heights for politics in the western world. I look forward to a future where any form of undeserving privilege is an artefact of our troubled history. I am confident that when generation X become the leaders of our world, they can turn some of it around. Let’s hope we haven’t lost the Amazon and our minds by then.
Similar Read: Fascism 101