Healthy pandemonium

Neil Ascherson has long been one of the most perceptive observers of Europe (read his Black Sea and witness someone who truly has panoptic vision). Here’s his take on Fortuyn and the others:

“The populists have a loose jumble of vengeful ideas. But 2002 is not 1932. Nobody thinks that capitalism is collapsing because of Germany’s first big strike in seven years; nobody thinks that democracy has failed because Le Pen gave France such a fright. The only chance for the new populism to stay the course is to produce sparkling, charismatic whistle-blowers as its leaders. In government, and they will often win shares in coalitions, they will be sullen and ineffective. In the end, they may be just what their arch-enemies need. The new populist destiny could be just to blow holes in the grey, smooth surface of power and restore healthy pandemonium to politics.”