TRUMP, MODI TRIPS SIGNAL THE RISE OF RIGHT-WING POLITICS
DONALD Trump is in India for his first official visit to the biggest democracy in the world. Dubbed “Namaste Trump”, the visit has been held amid much fanfare and is the mirror image of the “Howdy Modi” trip that Narendra Modi, India’s Prime Minister, made to the US in September 2019.
Historically, the Indo-American pact has been anchored on three main pillars: trade and economics, defence, and democratic values. However, the current pageantry seems to be driven by different factors: defence still finds expression, but is now coupled by the curtailment of China; and the camaraderie of the two main individuals represents the rise of populist, reactionary and right-wing politics.
One cannot also ignore the possibility that, in an election year, Donald Trump wants to court the vote of Indian Americans, of whom there are more than 4 million in the US.
The Indo-American pact is of great consequence to global politics. The US is the richest, most powerful democracy and India is the biggest democracy. However, there is a troubling ascent of right-wing democracy in both, likely to polarise relationships with the developing world.
It is not by happenstance that during his speech in Ahmedabad, Trump got the biggest applause for his promise to work in concert with India to fight “radical Islamic terrorism”. This resonated with an India whose ruling Bharatiya Janata Party has gained notoriety for its controversial treatment of Muslim citizens. Apart from targeting religious groups, mainly Muslims, the right- wing wave manifests itself through hostility to immigration, international institutions and fortification of racial conservatism.
In the UK, Boris Johnson, Nigel Farage and other proponents of Brexit show that insular politics are in vogue the world over and Africa will inevitably be involved. In South Africa, the most glaring embodiment of rightwing politics is AfriForum, an NGO that strives to secure the rights of the minority, mainly people of Afrikaner extraction. Internationally, AfriForum has found in US conservative circles a powerful and well-funded ally.
On his recent visit to Africa, the US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, could have been singing from the same hymn sheet as AfriForum when he warned that South Africa’s intent to amend the constitution and expropriate land without compensation could be “disastrous” for the economy and its people. Rhetoric such as that used by Pompeo, coupled with FW de Klerk’s bizarre denial that he did not know about apartheid being a crime against humanity, are likely to give groups such as AfriForum more confidence to amplify the voice of the right-wing.
To ignore AfriForum’s activities would stave off even further the chance for national reconciliation. One should not also ignore that AfriForum has a good legal record against opponents such as the EFF that present the opposite extreme.
In South Africa, right-wing politics can be exploited by both extremes of the colour line. While white conservatives are more likely to reject the expropriation of land without compensation, there are also black reactionaries who would have no compunction flouting the Constitution in order to distribute land, without much thought on the myriad consequences.
This stalemate needs a government that will provide leadership by convincing a polarised citizenry that justice should be served, but that in its commission, the people affected should be persuaded that what is afoot is a national project that in the long run will be of national benefit.
Right-wing politicians and activists should confront the fact that their politics carries danger for the less powerful
In the US, Trump is likely to be more reactionary politically because he has seen how the BJP in India improved its votes from 2014 to 2019.
In South Africa, if the ANC continues to blunder from one problem to another, it should be expected that groups like AfriForum will become even more strident in amplifying the influence of right-wing politics, with a thinly concealed implication that blacks cannot govern.
Monyae is the director for the Centre for Africa-China Studies at the University of Johannesburg.