Oxford Union debate on April 25 on populism
Introduction: Populism is not a threat to democracy. Populism is democracy. I now look to Mr. Winston Marshall to close the case for the opposition.
Winstson Marshall: Ladies and gentlemen, words have a tendency to change meaning. When I was a boy, woman meant someone who didnāt have a cock. Populism has become a word used synonymously with r****t, weāve heard ethnonationalist, weāve bigot, with hillbilly, red neck, with deplorables. Elites use it to show their contempt for ordinary people. This is a recent change, not Not long ago, Barack Obama, while still President at the North Americaās Leaders Summit in June 2016, he took umbrage of the notion that Trump be called a populist. How could Trump be called a populist? He doesnāt care about working people. If anything, Obama argued he was the populist. If anything, Obama argued Bernie was the populist. It was Bernie whoād spent five decades fighting for working people.
But with Trumpā¦ Something curious happens. If you watch Obamaās speeches after that point, more and more recently, he uses the word populist interchangeably with strong man, with authoritarian. The word changes meaning it becomes a negative, a pejorative, a slur. To me, populism is not a dirty word.
Since the 2008 crash, and specifically the trillion dollar Wall Street bailout, we are in the populist age. And for good reason, the elites have failed. Let me address some common fallacies, some of which have been made tonight. If the motion was that demagoguery was a threat to democracy, I would be on that side of the If the motion was that political violence was a threat to democracy, Iād be on that side of the House.
January sixth has been mentioned, a dark day for America indeed. Iām sure Congresswoman Pelosi will agree that the entire month of June 2020, when the federal courthouse in Portland, Oregon, was under siege and under i**********n by radical progressives, those two were dark days for America. Yes?
Nancy Pelosi: Itās not. There is no equivalence there. It is not like what happened on J****** 6th which was an i**********nā¦
Winston Marshall: So you donāt agree. Itās fine. You donāt agreeā¦
Winston Marshall: So you donāt agree. But youāll condemn those days. My point, though, is that all political movements are susceptible to violence and indeed, i**********n. And if we were arguing that f*****m was a threat to democracy, Iād be on that side of the house. Indeed, the current populist age is a movement against f*****m. Iāve got quite a lot to get through. Populism, as you know, is the politics of the ordinary people against an elite.
Populism is not a threat to democracy. Populism is democracy. And why else have universal suffrage if not to keep elites in check? Ladies and gentlemen, given the success of Trump, and more recently, Javier Mallet taking a chainsaw to the state behemoth of Argentinaās bureaucratic monster, youād be mistaken for thinking this was a right wing populist age. But that would be ignoring Occupy Wall Street.
That would be ignoring Jeremy Corbinās For the Many, Not the Few. That would be ignoring Bernie against the Billionaires, RFK Jr. Against Big Pharma, and more recently, George Galloway against his better judgment. Now, all of them, including Galloway, recognize genuine concerns of ordinary people being otherwise ignored by the establishment.
Iām actually rather surprised that our esteemed opposition, Congressman Pelosi, is on that side of the motion. I thought the left was supposed to be anti-elite. I thought the left was supposed to be anti-establishment. Today, particularly in America, the g*******t left have become the establishment. I suppose for Ms. Pelosi to have taken this side of the motion, sheād be arguing herself out of a job.
But itās here in Britain where right and left populists united for the Supreme Act of democracy, Brexit. Polls have shown the number one reason people v**ed for Brexit was sovereignty for more democracy. Thank you. What was the response of the Brussels elite?
They did everything in their power to undermine the democratic will of the British people, and the Westminster elite were just as disgraceful. As weāve heard, David Cameron called the v**ers Fruitcakes, Loonies, and Closet R****ts. The liberal Democrats did everything they could to overturn a democratic v**e. Kirstama(?) campaigned for a second referendum.
Elites would have us v****g and v****g and v****g until we v**ed their way. Indeed, thatās what happened in Ireland and in Denmark. Letās look at some of the other populist movements. The Hong Konger populist Revolt is literally called the Pro-Democracy Movement. The Pharma Revolt, from Netherlands to Germany, France, Greece to Sri Lanka, are taking their tractors to the road to protest ESG policy thatās floated down to us from those all-knowing infallible elites of Davos.
The trucker movement in Canada became anti-elitist when petty tyrant Prime Minister Justin Trudeau froze their bank accounts, not the behavior of a democratic head of state. The gilets jaunes in France, Ulez in London, working people, protesting policy that hurt them. And how are they treated? Theyāre called conspiracy theorists. Theyāre called far-right by the mayor as well. Ladies and gentlemen, populism is the voice of the voiceless. The real threat to democracy is from the elites. Now, donāt get me wrong, we need elites.
If-when President Biden has shown us anything, we need someone to run the countries. When the President has severe dementia, itās not just America that crumbles, the whole world burns. But letās examine the elites. European corporations spend over ā¬1 billion a year lobbying Brussels. Us corporations spend over ā¬2 billion a year lobbying in DC.
Two-thirds of Congress receive funding from pharmaceutical companies. P****r alone spent ā¬11 million in 2021. They made over $10 billion in profit. No wonder then that 66% of Americans think the economy is r****d against them for the rich and the powerful. And by the way, we used to have a word for when big business and big government were in cahoots.
Let Let me read you some mainstream media headlines.āØThe New Yorker the day before the 2016 e******n, āThe Case Against Democracy.āāØThe Washington Post, the day after the e******n, āThe problem with our government is democracy.āāØThe LA Times, June 2017, āThe British e******n is a reminder of the perils of too much democracy.āāØVox, June 2017. āThe two eminent political scientists say the problem with democracy is v**ers.āāØNew York Times, June 2017. āThe problem with participatory democracy is the participants.ā
Mainstream media elites are part of a class who donāt just disdain populism, they disdain the people. If the Democrats had put half their energy into delivering for the people, Trump wouldnāt even have a chance in 2024. He shouldnāt He shouldnāt have a chance.
Youāve had power for four years. From the fabricated Steele Dossier to trying to take him off the b****t in both Maine and Colorado, the Democrats are the anti-Democrat Party. All we need now is the Republicans to come out as the Promonicist Party.
Ladies and gentlemen, populism is not a threat to democracy, but Iāll tell you what is. Itās elites ordering social media to censor political opponents. Itās police shutting down dissenters, be it anti-monicists in this country or g****r critical voices here, or last week in Brussels, the National Conservatives Movement.
Iāll tell you what is a threat to democracy. Itās Brussels, DC, Westminster, the mainstream media, big tech, big pharma, corporate collusion, and the Davos cronies.
The threat to democracy comes from those who write off ordinary people as deplorable.
The threat to democracy comes from those who smear working people as r****t.
The threat to democracy comes from those who write off working people as populists.
And Iāll say one last thing. This populist age can be brought to an end at the snap of a finger. All that needs to be done is for elites to start listening to, respect it, respecting, and, God forbid, working for ordinary people. Thank you.
Via Winston Marshall.
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