Ece Temelkuran - From Tahrir to Trump: nationalism has hijacked the hope of the people
Between the words 'dignity' and 'pride' there is a world of difference, and that difference is at the heart of the
global political and moral mess confronting us now. The need for dignity is
inherent to being human, and connected to our love of humankind. Pride, on the
other hand, is a facade, it’s about a craving for exclusionary recognition and
an answer to the question of who is superior to whom. It is divisive. But when
crowds are desperate enough, it is easy for political actors to reduce the need
for human dignity to a vindictive clamour for pride. And this is what rightwing
populism does.
Thousands of people in Tahrir Square chanted the slogan: “Bread! Dignity! Freedom!” It was 2011, and the height of the Arab spring. Standing on my own in the crowd, I recalled a middle-aged worker I’d met in Buenos Aires a decade earlier telling me why he and his colleagues had taken over a factory during Argentina’s economic collapse. He rattled off reasons such as hunger, poverty and inequality. But then his voice changed: “And the boss … ” he said. “Well, he never said good morning to us and, you know, that destroys your dignity.”
Dignity is a
slippery word, almost too elusive a concept to be put in a social contract or
win inclusion as a demand from a new political movement. Yet it is the word
that best reflects how surviving economic hardship isn’t the only thing that
angers poor people. Being messed around, mocked and deprived of the last traces
of humanity makes the physical consequences of everyday poverty harder to bear.
It was a single mother of four living in one of the poorest neighbourhoods in
Istanbul, on a hill overlooking the Bosphorus, who taught me this. She wasn’t
furious when she told me her children went to bed hungry some nights, but she
was when she recalled her boss sarcastically saying “but then you do have a sea
view”. She quit her job after that, saying: “Oh yes, we dip bread in the sea
for our dinner!” Her proud face taught me that defending one’s dignity
sometimes tastes sweeter than the bread – yes, even when you’re hungry.
Tahrir Square in
Cairo, Gezi Park in Istanbul and Puerto del Sol in Madrid: not so long ago these and other
places were sites of protest and hope for radical democratic movements that
wanted to remake politics and restore people’s dignity. They were either
violently suppressed or absorbed into conventional global politics. Now, once again,
millions around the world are protesting. But the mood and the message have
changed. This time they are demanding respect for their “truths” and their
divisive political choices. The battle for dignity has been replaced by an
aggressive assertion of pride – in the nation, or in a particular version of
“the people”... read more:
