Be aware of freedom populism

As a result, populists now have a new opportunity to increase their political power by rallying people against a new rhetorical enemy: the authorities trying to ensure a controlled and safe return to normalcy.This “freedom populism” scored its first electoral victory in the recent election for the president of the community of Madrid – one of the seventeen autonomous communities of Spain.Incumbent Madrid Community President Isabel Diaz Ayuso of the right-wing Popular Party, who ran on a promise to “liberate” the people of Madrid from the COVID-19 management restrictions of Spain’s socialist government, won the regional election in a landslide.To understand the rise of “freedom populism” in Spain and beyond, we need to recall why populism has made a comeback as a successful political strategy in recent years, what is the difference between its right-wing, left-wing and digital forms, and why it always needs an “enemy” to succeed.In the last decade, populism returned as a viable political strategy in Europe in response to establishment parties increasingly supporting the technocratic management of public affairs in an effort to delegitimise ideologies and remain in power. This is especially true for right-wing populists in Italy, France and Spain who maintained a low profile during the height of the pandemic.And they are already reaping the benefits of their alleged resistance to “oppressive” governments arbitrarily limiting people’s liberty.Diaz Ayuso of Madrid was the first European politician to reap the benefits of “freedom populism”. She will now govern with the support of the extreme-right party Vox for at least two years.“Freedom populism” promoted by Diaz Ayuso and many others like her across Europe and beyond has the potential to be more lethal and destructive than the populism of those who were in power at the beginning of the pandemic.Freedom populists claim to be fighting against establishment politicians, experts and public institutions “using the pandemic as an opportunity to curtail liberties”.