One of the things that the mainstream media does is to simplify stuff, which you can understand since it makes complex issues easier to grasp, and for people not directly involved gives them little boxes in which to mentally file issues.
This has been brought home to me repeatedly over the last couple of weeks as the western media have run various pieces on the Romanian presidential elections (first round was 2 weeks ago, run off tomorrow). The favourite to win this election is Victor Ponta of the PSD. Now every media source I have seen from the Guardian to the BBC to the NYT, to DW to Der Speigel to Reuters and beyond, refers to him as the "centre left candidate". It's quick and easy, you stick him in the box marked centre left and allow the rest of the world to also mentally file him. His opponent, Klaus Iohannis gets the centre right box, obviously.
Now, as an outsider, I would look at those categories, and mentally cast my non-existent vote for Ponta, and then promptly forget about it. But as I'm not an outsider, I look at those categories and wonder where the hell they come from and whether there is anybody actually paying attention.
Ponta is a corrupt kleptocrat (which in itself makes him neither left nor right) and a xenophobe (which is definitely of the right). There is nothing remotely left wing about any of his policies. He is not even centre right he's very definitely a right wing candidate (and one which in some areas drifts into the far right). So, when you read an article about the election this weekend and see "Victor Ponta, the centre left candidate", trust me, this has no basis whatsoever in reality.
( I presume it comes from lazy journalism which sees that the PSD - Ponta's party- sprang from the ashes of the communists in 1990 (although so did all the other parties). They inherited the party machine, and the first post revolutionary president - Iliescu - was Ceausescu's right hand man before engineering the coup which overthrew him. Ponta is very much Iliescu's heir, politically, so lazily saying "OK, left wing" is a way of avoiding doing any actual research into policies and goals)
When he wins (as he will), Romania is fucked and we will go back to 1990. The 1990 of the mineriada and the nter ethnic violence. The 1990 of the consolidation of power and the locking down of dissent. Where Hungary has gone under Orban, Romania will follow under Ponta. For both of them their current political role model is Erdogan (and to a lesser extent Putin).
(Calling Ponta left wing is rather like calling Putin left wing actually.)
This has been brought home to me repeatedly over the last couple of weeks as the western media have run various pieces on the Romanian presidential elections (first round was 2 weeks ago, run off tomorrow). The favourite to win this election is Victor Ponta of the PSD. Now every media source I have seen from the Guardian to the BBC to the NYT, to DW to Der Speigel to Reuters and beyond, refers to him as the "centre left candidate". It's quick and easy, you stick him in the box marked centre left and allow the rest of the world to also mentally file him. His opponent, Klaus Iohannis gets the centre right box, obviously.
Now, as an outsider, I would look at those categories, and mentally cast my non-existent vote for Ponta, and then promptly forget about it. But as I'm not an outsider, I look at those categories and wonder where the hell they come from and whether there is anybody actually paying attention.
Ponta is a corrupt kleptocrat (which in itself makes him neither left nor right) and a xenophobe (which is definitely of the right). There is nothing remotely left wing about any of his policies. He is not even centre right he's very definitely a right wing candidate (and one which in some areas drifts into the far right). So, when you read an article about the election this weekend and see "Victor Ponta, the centre left candidate", trust me, this has no basis whatsoever in reality.
( I presume it comes from lazy journalism which sees that the PSD - Ponta's party- sprang from the ashes of the communists in 1990 (although so did all the other parties). They inherited the party machine, and the first post revolutionary president - Iliescu - was Ceausescu's right hand man before engineering the coup which overthrew him. Ponta is very much Iliescu's heir, politically, so lazily saying "OK, left wing" is a way of avoiding doing any actual research into policies and goals)
When he wins (as he will), Romania is fucked and we will go back to 1990. The 1990 of the mineriada and the nter ethnic violence. The 1990 of the consolidation of power and the locking down of dissent. Where Hungary has gone under Orban, Romania will follow under Ponta. For both of them their current political role model is Erdogan (and to a lesser extent Putin).
(Calling Ponta left wing is rather like calling Putin left wing actually.)
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