# taz.de -- Spotlight Populism: Stop Using the Word
       
       > Societies slide towards those who give simplistic explanations and
       > promise easy solutions. Thoughts of a member of political party „To
       > Potami“.
       
 (IMG) Bild: Europe in Greece: A man checks bags in a kiosk at a market area in Athens
       
       Having lived my whole life in Greece and being a journalist for the last
       twenty years I think I am entitled to have an opinion on the issue of
       populism, as in my country we have blessed ourselves with certain
       unfortunate privileges
       
       We have a government of both left- and right-wing populists. We have
       elected far-right MPs who have their bodies covered in nazi tattoos. We
       even have an active shady organization with 200 local offices in Greece,
       owned by someone arguing that he has 600bn euros available to payoff the
       Greek debt. Obviously the guy is penniless, but still, with two hundred
       offices all over Greece, he has enough power to be considered dangerous
       enough – a strange cult fugure.
       
       In Greece, there is also an ever-evolving anti-european sentiment. Its
       advocates are trying to make people forget the positive impact the EU had
       on their lives. They claim that political isolationism and a national
       currency will solve all of our problems.
       
       They all rely on dishonesty, deceitfulness and demagogy. They all try to
       offer magic solutions to those most in need. However, all of them have
       different ways to express themselves and eventually different agendas,
       which makes the threat they pose, an asymmetric one, difficult to deal
       with.
       
       What I describe are all aspects and expressions of populism. Although the
       term has been used analytically in the past and is widely-used today, it
       doesn’t help the public debate much. In my view, it even causes
       mis-interpretations and deadends.
       
       Today, populism cannot be defined with the tools political science and
       analysis used in the past. Today, the issues at hand are raised in a
       different way, so we need different and novel answers as well. Using the
       term “populism“ for any “easy solution“ is oversimplifying and not enough
       to explain our era. The very fact that our era is a critical one, makes
       analyses even more difficult, thus finding a solution is more difficult in
       itself. We cannot take explanations for granted. We live in an era of such
       great changes and technological advances, that we cannot even fully
       realise, let alone interpret.
       
       So, unfortunately, societies slide towards those who give simplistic
       explanations and promise easy solutions. All in all, we are in a vicious
       circle: there is inability to comprehend, there is inability to explain and
       describe, and there is inability of the elites to confront populist
       interpretations that have the upper hand.
       
       I am not optimistic and I do not have an optimistic message to share. The
       battle against anti-rationalism will be a long one. However, the first step
       we should take is stop using the word “populism“.
       
       Christina Tachiaou lives in Thessaloniki, studied Law and since 2000 has
       been working as an editor, reporter, columnist and presenter of radio
       broadcastings in Greek media. She was elected Member of the Greek
       Parliament in January 2015 and served until September 2015 with the
       political party “To Potami“.
       
       18 Jul 2017
       
       ## AUTOREN
       
 (DIR) Christina Tachiaou
       
       ## TAGS
       
 (DIR) taz in English
 (DIR) taz international
 (DIR) Spotlight Populism in Europe
 (DIR) Populismus
 (DIR) Griechenland
 (DIR) Europa
 (DIR) taz in English
 (DIR) USA
       
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