The latest clash between populism and conservative elites can be seen by the military coup in Honduras. This needs to be compared to the military and conservative coup against Taksin's TRT government in Thailand. We also need to look at the clashes in Iran and Zimbabwe and the support for Zuma in South Africa. None of the situations are the same. However there are some common elements:
1. The poor and working class support Populism for good reasons, especially when the left alternative is weak. Judge not the actions of the workers and poor by the quality of the capitalist politicians that lead populist movements. We must relate to the rank and file, not the leaderships: eg Honduras, Thailand, South Africa. In the case of Iran we must understand why the poor voted for the conservative leader, but support the opposition movement for democracy while not supporting the opposition leader's neo-liberalism. That is similar to Zimbabwe.
2. A class analysis is vital and so is respect for the poor in all their faults.
3. A weakness of the left alternative, organised in a party, must be overcome by serious and long-term party building. Results won't be seen overnight, but we cannot sit on the fence waiting for a pure class struggle to happen!
Fight for democracy! Fight for Socialism!
To read and download my recent article on the Thai crisis, click on the pdf file here:
