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. They involve subtle prohibitions derived from supposedly accepted common standards of behavior. They protect society from excess and bestow a sense of identity upon its… Continue reading “Taboo Breakers: How The Right Is Eroding Norms Of Decency”
Right-wing white nationalists are co-opting the language used by left-wing anti-corporate activists in order to expand their racist movement. ‘Corporate America doesn’t need to be destroyed, but just shown that they are on the wrong side of history. That if they don’t bend, they will break.’ These are the alleged words of the shooter in… Continue reading “The Radical Right Seeks To Recruit Among Anti-Corporate Activists”
John Tanton, who over 40 years almost single-handedly built the American anti-immigration movement around a core of rancid white nationalism, is dead. He was 85, and he left a legacy of racist opposition to immigration that, among other things, has been fully embraced by the president of the United States. Tanton died last week in… Continue reading “The Architect of America’s Racist Anti-Immigration Movement is Dead”
In May 2019, the Italian government approved an anti-immigration “decreto sicurezza” (or security decree). Among other nationalist policies, the new law foresees a fine against anyone who is found transporting a migrant into the country. In response, the students of Sicilian high school teacher Rosa Maria dell’Aria produced a short video that compared the decree,… Continue reading “Is freedom of expression at stake in Italy?”
Last month saw more than 900 million eligible voters at the ballot box in the world’s largest democracy. India’s national election once again resulted in the landslide victory of Prime Minister Narendra Modi of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). When visiting the UK last year, Modi stated that Brexit offers opportunities to increase… Continue reading “Why are British Indians more likely than other ethnic minority group to support Brexit?”
Unlike radical right-wing populism in Western Europe, Australia’s “Hansonism” is largely a one-woman show, almost completely dependent on Pauline Hanson’s personality and appeal. She has been called a “mischievous troublemaker, an “embarrassment” to the country, and just a plain racist. The referent of these diatribes is neither France’s Marine Le Pen nor Rocío Monasterio, the… Continue reading “Australia’s Own Brand of Radical Populism”
In the 2019 European Parliament elections, populist radical-right parties have further increased their vote shares. Academic scholarship and media coverage of the populist radical right has expanded considerably in the past few years, due to its rising prominence in global politics. In the 2019 European Parliament elections, these parties have further increased their vote shares… Continue reading “The Populist Radical Right Is an Electoral Threat That Is Here to Stay”
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 battle of Marathon and Salamis (490 and 480 BCE) represented civilisational encounters between Europe and the ‘barbarians’, west and east. The unlikely victory of… Continue reading “The far right’s weaponisation of history”
Today, the divide from which Marine Le Pen profits has reached alarming proportions, most recently with the eruption of the revolt of the gilets jaunes. There is a saying in German – Totgesagte leben länger, roughly but not quite accurately translated into English as “Presumed dead but still kicking”. To put it more precisely – kicking quite… Continue reading “The Return of la Marine”
The Christchurch mass murderer acted alone, but the core ideas in his manifesto are widely shared by Islamophobic actors in Europe and beyond. Almost eight years since the Norwegian terrorist Anders Behring Breivik, killed 77 people on July 22, 2011, his ideas and methods inspire right wing extremists in Europe and beyond. Despite the difference… Continue reading “Lone actors with shared ideas”