The far-right movement has been spreading around the world… It’s perhaps most on display in the US right now, but it is a global threat.
Yeah, the rest of the world forgot about Italy getting a fascist government again REAL fast.
Same with all the far right people taking over in Eastern Europe, Marine le Pen as president of France being a realistic threat and a lot of new far right parties and movements cropping up (and existing ones gaining power) in Scandinavia, Britain and probably other places too.
I think Germany and Japan are going to have to re-militarize and conquer everyone back into a civil democracy.
I don’t like how we got here but that would be a hell of a redemption arch, does Italy not get to redeem itself?
In an interesting recent development, apparently Meloni (who’s very far right) was apparently integral in getting Orban to chill the fuck out and allow passage of the EU’s military aid package to Ukraine. So as much as I dislike her, I do have to give her credit for that.
That’s one of the important reasons that the far-right took over politics in Italy recently, the Italian right is very pro-Ukraine while the Italian left is anti-Ukraine for some godawful reason. Being pro-Ukraine alone got them a significant portion of votes the left would’ve gotten otherwise. Couple that with one of the primary issues in politics becoming LGBTQ rights, with (especially southern) Italy being largely very catholic and consequently anti-gay (in fact gay marriage is still illegal in Italy, you only have same-sex civil unions), and with the other primary issue being immigration (mostly as a guise for racism), the Italian public started voting very right-wing.
The fact that the left started infighting in Italy and were completely splintered at the time of elections spelled their doom. You can find a similar scenario in some other European countries in the past few years.
Now that the right is fucking basic shit up in Italy, a good amount of the public has slowly been starting to realize that they liked it way more when the leftists were in charge and making slow improvements, even if it wasn’t perfect… but it isn’t helping much to stop the rise of the right. Italy has always been aligned with highly conservative beliefs, it’s common to miss the “good ol’ days” when Mussolini was in charge and the economy was good, so it’s the norm for politicians to openly say borderline fascist things (well now it’s just flat out blatantly fascist speech).
TIL - that’s actually pretty interesting.
I am consistently infuriated by how far-left political parties have become Russophile/Sinophile/extremely anti-western, for no other reason than “Russia is the successor state of the USSR” (sorta, but not really, if we’re getting technical) and “the PRC is the only true socialist country!1!!one”(lmao no it’s fucking not).
Like, I’ve gone to rallies in my city run by the DSA and Socialist Alternative, and there’s always some dipshit up at the front with the big fucking Soviet flags with pics of Stalin, Lenin, and Mao on them, and I just want to smack them and beg them to read, like, literally any history on the atrocities they perpetrated. They’re not heroes. Socialism isn’t supposed to be about heroes. It’s supposed to be about equality, egalitarianism, and human decency, rendered through political and government policies.
It feels like a lot of these groups are actually far more enamored by the authoritarian components of the former USSR, and far less interested in the actual “socialist” aspects - particularly, in the ways that socialist ideas could be applied in western societies that are going through late stage capitalism, but in most cases were able to avoid being subjected to authoritarian “communism” (quoted so because the USSR was very, very far from what communism is actually supposed to be in an idealistic sense, even if you ignore the authoritarian part).
They’d have to get rid of that fascist bitch Meloni first.
They’re pretty unpredictable when it comes to sides.
Vatican? No.
Fair point but Rome is by far the city best positioned to take them out
On that front alone I feel kinda hopeful down here in Australia.
religiondispatches.org? Is this a reputable news organization?
They appear to be https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_Dispatches
Good deal. I’ve never heard of them before.
I don’t think so. Looks like some sort of blog that people can submit stuff to, with absolutely no disclosure about the owners. One of the stories is about aliens & meditation…
The author writes for Die Zeit and Tagesspiegel. Some of the most respected newspapers in Germany.
meaty bits that i need emphasis:
Critics of such measures in both countries claim that the will of the people supersedes everything, even if the result would elevate a candidate to a position of power that would enable them to destroy democratic structures from within—and do so using taxpayer money. However, both the US and the German constitutions have tools to protect themselves and their countries in such instances—by banning candidates who qualify as enemies to the democratic system from the ballot.
followed with this:
Those who had abolished the rule of law and democracy had come to power legally and through democratic processes. A logical conclusion from this was that the laws and constitution of the Weimar Republic had not sufficiently protected democracy and the rule of law. To counter this, a number of protective mechanisms were written into the Basic Law of the Federal Republic. One of these is the possibility of banning political parties.
I also like that they brought up Popper and intolerance and tolerance.
Great article.
This post was originally reported and removed as a poor source.
On further review, I’m restoring it:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_Dispatches
“RD has won three Religion Newswriters Association (RNA) awards for Excellence in Religion Commentary and Analysis, a Wilbur Award for outstanding work by secular communicators on religion, and a Science for Religion Writers award from the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).[4][5][6][7] The website was also recognized as an official Nominee for Webby Awards in the Religion & Spirituality category for the 2011, 2012, 2014 and 2015 Webby Awards, and as an official Honoree for Best Editorial Writing in 2016 and 2017.[8][9]”
the world is in decline and people want a strong man. i don’t see why we don’t give them one in the form a progressive. why can’t the good guys wield an iron fist too? the problem has always been that good people are weak pacifists.
I think there is more to this. Far-Right (at least in Germany) goes along with more of a populistic communication. In my opinion the far-right promises easy solution to seemingly easy problems. But in the real world the problems are difficult and complex. There are few easy solutions and many nuances. But nuances are much more unsexy than populism. Also democracy in my opinion thrives from discourse and spreading the power. Not one person in command. But of course that’s more difficult for society to grasp than one single voice.
I agree with your sentiment, and here’s why I think it hasn’t yet happened - a strong progressive leader wouldn’t be beholden to the types of bribery and corruption commonly used to control political figures. So, the corporate media (primary benefactors of the bribe money via advertising dollars), never platforms emerging progressive candidates. One, because they don’t have unlimited PAC money to spend on ads, and two, because they’re afraid the progressive would overturn the apple cart and change the system which presently benefits them tremendously.
Just imagine how easily a strong progressive could get elected if given 24/7 free media coverage like Trump gets! They won’t get that though, so I think the answer is to organize - we have to choose the right candidate to win, and rally around them years in advance of an upcoming election to get enough grassroots momentum and fundraising in place to break through. No small task, but I’m hopeful this will happen in the next couple of election cycles due to the growing discontent as more people realize just how badly we’ve been screwed and lied to by the establishment.
i certainly think that is one of many effective tools that should be in our progressive toolbox.
If VI Lenin was alive I’d write him in. Especially since Stalin isn’t, so he can’t repeat his worst mistake.
I think it’s because the progressives don’t have a unified front. It’s hard to sell a potential “better tomorrow”. It’s a lot easier to get upset about things that are happening right now. That seems to be the essence of the conservative platform.
