Who speaks for the mainstream in France?
On 21 April 2021, the publication of an open letter in France about the threat of a “civil war” made waves. About 1,000 signatories from the armed forces blamed “fanatic partisans” for…
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Aristotle Kallis
9 posts
Has COVID brought about a far-Right dystopia?
If at the turn of the 21st century, the world already seemed decidedly ‘flatter’ and more compressed, after a year of closed borders, silent airports, ‘stay at home’ injunctions, and all sorts…
The ‘silent majority’: populist cliché or warning?
In the run-up to the EU referendum in Britain in June 2016, at a time when the Remain vote was apparently enjoying a modest but clear advantage, one of the…
Taboo Breakers: How The Right Is Eroding Norms Of Decency
The radical right has broken taboos in order to introduce harsh repressive norms that give them a license to pursue their regressive agenda. Taboos are complex social and cultural constructions.…
Is the World Undergoing a Deep Populist Transition?
The political momentum and social appeal of the current populist backlash illustrates the persistence of dark collective layers that the postwar transition was meant to have banished. In academia, we…
The return of fascism? Why this is the wrong question to ask
When a group of ultra-nationalist wannabes gathered in Milan in 1919 to hear firebrand leader Benito Mussolini speak, they became part of an infamous moment in history. There, Mussolini presented…
The far right’s weaponisation of history
At the age of twelve, my classics class at the high school devoted an entire week to the ancient war between the Persian Empire and Athens. We were told that…
The (un)intended consequences of the UK’s ‘hostile environment’ to immigration
Turning previously radical ideas, originally confined to the fringes of the party-political narratives and social attitudes, into mainstream orthodoxies is not as difficult as it is often assumed. The flutter…
Islamophobia, racism and the far-right … and the right … and the left …
How different was the world in 1997? That was the year when the Runnymede Trust published its landmark report on Islamophobia, drawing attention to the then growing threat of anti-Muslim…