""I am one of you"" - self-presentation of Tomio Okamura and Dawn of Direct Democracy, nationalist populist party in the Czech Republic
Abstract
Dawn of Direct Democracy of Tomio Okamura was established as one of the various reactions on austerity policies of the Czech right-wing government at the beginning of 2013. Its main figure is businessman in tourism of Czech-Japanese-Korean origin Tomio Okamura.
Party itself is of quite unusual structure having only 8 members but lot of supporters and being present in the Czech parliament right now after 2013 early election. Author of this contribution would like to examine how Tomio Okamura presents himself in media, on social media and also through his ideas about ideal governance caught in his books.
Main focus will be on construction of basic political identities (people versus elite) in his communication and also on his construction of the politics and democracy. Analysis of these constructions will be using Laclau's notion of populism and political identities.