We have often talked about the rise of right-wing populism with fascist tendencies across the world. From US President Donald Trump to Nigel Farage and the Reform Party UK, Marine Le Pen in France to the AFD in Germany, political parties and leaders that are proudly anti-democratic, espousing hatred for ethnic, religious or sexual minorities, and scapegoating migrants and refugees have gone from the fringes to the mainstream. It’s not just the West. We can also think of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in India and Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil.

Make no mistake — the right-wing is winning, and winning big, both on the ground and at the ballot box.

At the same time, the popularity of the technocratic, neoliberal, so-called “centre” — represented by the likes of Emmanuel Macron, Joe Biden, Barack Obama and Keir Starmer — appears to be on a rapid decline, after four decades of rising inequality.

In response, something else seems to be emerging — or reemerging: left-wing economic populism. In other words, socialism. The likes of Zohran Mamdani are making waves in the US. Jeremy Corbyn is launching a new party in the UK explicitly on the platform of left-wing economic values and internationalism. Jean-Luc Mélenchon has seen a surge in popularity in France.

So, how are the likes of Zohran Mamdani cutting through in this political moment? And what does it mean that they are? What can progressives around the world learn?

We speak to Professor Peter Beattie, who’s a political economist and political psychologist at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Image Credit: Wikimedia / Creative Commons

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