Rise of Populism Is Dangerous But Delegate Voters Reject Warnings From Prominent Voices

 A debate on the rise of populism led delegate voters at the sixth Global Education & Skills Forum, to reject warnings on its growing prominence, which was decided through a swing-vote victory.

The motion titled ‘Is the rise of populism a dangerous thing for society?’ was chaired by Nick Ferrari, London-based LBC (originally the London Broadcasting Company) presenter. For the motion was two high-profile proponents – decorated historian Simon Schama, University Professor of History and Art History at Columbia University, New York, and Mina Al-Oraibi, Editor of The National newspaper in the UAE.

Schama began the debate with a rally call to delegates asking them to reject the politics of racism, hate and xenophobia.

Opposing the motion, Geoffrey Canada, President of the Harlem Children’s Zone in Harlem, New York, gave a plea to delegates that the populist wave across a number of countries needs to be understood and not just condemned.

He started with a posed question for the audience, “Why are people rejecting the status quo?” His conclusion was that the status quo had failed them with the 1 per cent getting richer and the bottom 50 per cent struggling, leading to a feeling of abandonment and a perception that whole majority of the electorate are being left behind.

Mina Al-Oraibi, Editor of UAE-based The National, outlined her defence of the motion by insisting populism was about rejection and not solutions.

She said: “The political class in democracies needed to review their practices and get to the very route of disenchantment and voter apathy. Politics needs to be attractive to ordinary people. Accountability, too, needs to be robust in confronting the populist threat; populists say one thing but do another and often mislead voters into thinking their message is one of substance.”