Gender studies challenge existing structures that are perceived as natural and enduring, and in doing so, they directly challenge the ideological commitments of the radical right. In August, an announcement was made by the Hungarian Prime Minister’s office that gender studies courses, as of September 2019, would not be funded or recognised by the government.… Continue reading “Gender (studies) trouble in Hungary”
The right-wing promise to protect “Hindu traditions” offers shelter to male constituencies troubled by the apparent threat of women’s professional and sexual independence in modern India. In his savage book, Capital: The Eruption of Delhi, on the nature of India’s capital’s transformation as a global metropolis, Rana Dasgupta describes the besieged forms of Indian patriarchy in the modern city… Continue reading “The Hindu Right’s War on Women”
In October Brazilians will vote for president in particularly troubled election. It is the first ballot after Dilma Rousseff’s controversy impeachment, which put into power the unpopular interim Michel Temer. Besides, Lula, the first candidate in the polls, is in prison and was barred from running the election. Finally, it is the first time that… Continue reading “Bolsonaro: Radical Right-Wing Populism reaches Brazil”
British politics is in a bad place at the moment, and not just on account of Brexit. Recent weeks have seen both major parties embroiled in scandals over anti-minority prejudice. Boris Johnson’s willingness to flirt with Islamophobia in the immediate aftermath of a meeting with Steve Bannon has raised concerns about the possibility of the… Continue reading “Antisemitism, Labour, and the Radical Right”
He punched a Polish nationalist with a rainbow-coloured Pride-flag. When superhero The Phantom(‘Fantomen’) in a recent Swedish episode of his comic-adventures (“The Golden Eagle”, 9:2018) made a bold statement against the European radical right and its ideological positions, the makers were accused of disseminating ‘left-wing extremist ideas’. Social media activism temporarily boiled over, lamenting that The… Continue reading “Pride Against Prejudice: Swedish Superhero Episode Strikes Against the Radical Right”
Richard Wilson Preston Jr. is not a nice guy. When the imperial wizard of the Confederate White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan came to the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, a year ago, he was spoiling for a fight. “I will go out and shoot you,” he fumes in one video. “I’m… Continue reading “The Curious Case of Daryl Davis, the Black Man Befriending Members of the KKK”
Four days after Enoch Powell gave his infamous ‘Rivers of Blood’ speech, The Timesquoted A.K. Chesterton, chairman of the National Front (NF): ‘What Mr. Powell has said does not vary at all from our views’.[1] In his speech Powell railed against Commonwealth immigration and indicted those who he believed responsible for the situation. While the… Continue reading “From Imperialism to Transnational White Nativism: The context of the Radical Right reaction to the “Rivers of Blood”
As media platforms evolve and mature, they give birth to new expressive forms shaped by the exigencies of their technological and political-economic regimes. The dramatic and affective flows of American television, for example, emerged in the twentieth century to suit an advertising-based profit model, which is itself the outcome of complex regulatory and commercial origins.… Continue reading “Analyzing YouTube “Rekt” Videos as a Vector for Radicalization”
The alt-right has been perhaps the most successful rebranding of fascist ideology since the Axis dénouement of 1945. Fascism has been a vexatious term for almost as long as fascist movements have existed, historically resistant to definition and typically now used as either an insult or political hyperbole. Yet the utility of the term as… Continue reading ““Just Joking” Is No Joke: How the alt-right really communicates online”
At this time of the year – August – I try to remember Janusz Korczak, who perished in the Treblinka death camp in the same month of 1942, along with the children of his orphanage and his staff. This is for them. Janusz Korczak was the pen name of Henryk Goldszmit, physician, writer and educator,… Continue reading “Remembering Janusz Korzcak and the victims of the Treblinka Extermination Camp”