Florian I totally enjoy debating with you and there is not an ounce of aggression or one-upsmanship intended here (nor taken, as far as I can see).
So after this precaution let me point out that BLM is a Black -led movement, but not a minority one. Like the Civil Rights movement before it, but to much greater degree, it has brought people of all colors and classes to the streets, and it has already led to sweeping institutional change - not to mention the elevation of a Black woman to the vice-presidency. There are many definitions of populism, but most emphasize its pre-political nature. Populism refuses the mediation of professional political elites. It produces and shares utopian statements, such as "defund the police," "all cops are bastards," or, as I read one day in the newspapers, "there is no such thing as a bad protester." But it has done a lot more than that. Despite the populism, BLM has provoked institutional change at all levels, and if the Biden admin succeeds we will see much more. I am no expert where BLM is concerned, but I think the cross-race, cross-class nature of the movement is what has helped it go from pre-political utopia to transformative force in the real world. Now, BLM is also a platform movement with polarizing content, viral spread and charismatic influencers. In the beginning and for years thereafter its founders insisted you had to use the hashtag, #BLM, so it was a Twitter revolution. Back in the Arab Spring days much ink was wasted over the question whether Twitter revolutions were real, and if so, whether they were good. It looks to me like platform populism has become a fact of contemporary societies. The relevant questions are: What are the sociological characteristics of a given platform populism? To what other social routines or functions is it intimately connected? What are its chances of having significant and lasting effects? Finally, most relevant of all, the political question that goes beyond observation or analysis: Do I think those effects are good? If so, how can I join or support the movement? How can I - precisely through my diference and non belonging - help make this a political movement? The above are just initial ideas about platform populism, anyone can critique them, destroy them or make thrm better, as needed. Onwards, Brian On Thu, Feb 4, 2021, 3:12 PM Florian Cramer <flrnc...@gmail.com> wrote: > Finally, why not call BLM populist? >> > > BLM probably fits Laclau/Mouffe's definition and notion of populism as > agonistic. But since the movement is reclaiming minority rights, I don't > think it fits Müller's and Mudde's definition of populism as positioning a > majority of "the good people" against a small corrupt elite. Occupy's > slogan of the 99% would be populist according to that definition, the East > German 1989 protest movement with its slogan "We are the people", too, and > QAnon would fit the definition as well, but (in my opinion) not BLM and > other minority activism. > > -F > > >
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