Last week, according to Finance Minister Makis Keravnos, the criticism of the economy was labeled as populism of the worst kind.
This happened right after the government announced the reintroduction of zero VAT on diapers for both children and adults, as well as on sanitary pads.
Anyone who didn’t jump for joy at the news was immediately branded a populist. This week, we hear that the government is considering additional measures.
Perhaps it caved in to populism, or maybe it realised that not all citizens use diapers and sanitary pads, so not everyone would benefit from the price reduction (which, by the way, isn’t guaranteed—removing VAT doesn’t necessarily mean a reduction in what consumers pay. There’s always a reason, and usually some “magic” way for prices to go up instead).
Apparently, it’s also considered populism to question how the minister calculates the middle class. He claims it stands at 64.1%.
If we factor in the upper class, what’s left? The 29,000 children that, according to the Deputy Minister of Social Welfare, are at risk of poverty and social exclusion?
Because if the middle class is 64.1% of the population, that leaves 35.9%.
The 29,000 children aren’t hungry on their own; they live with the rest of their families. So, if we multiply that number by four, or even more, the math just doesn’t add up.
The President of the Republic also used the term “populism” when addressing the issue of inflation.
“I urge everyone,” he said, “not to engage in populism, exploiting the difficult – I acknowledge – conditions that some of our fellow citizens are experiencing.”
Everything, it seems, is populism. Criticism is populism. Anyone who doesn’t constantly applaud or expresses a different opinion is a populist.
As Dimitris Politakis wrote in Lifo, “The term ‘populism’ has become a buzzword, a curse, and a bogeyman that can encompass any view that doesn’t align with an increasingly narrow and authoritarian neoliberal agenda… Doubt is populism. Protest is populism. Appealing to emotions is populism. Memorial services are populism. Opposition is populism…”
Politakis wrote this in response to the reactions from politicians and pro-government media over a concert held in Athens in memory of the 57 victims of the Tempi train disaster.
He also recalled Obama’s warning about overusing the term: “I would advise everyone to be careful when labelling someone as a ‘populist’ just because they appear in a time of public anxiety.”
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