Hardly new concepts, anarchism and antifascism are often mistakenly associated with chaos and violence. In the midst of the global COVID-19 pandemic and antiracist protests, US President Donald Trump, whom scholars and journalists alike are finally coming around to openly discuss as fascist, declared that the United States “will be designating ANTIFA as a Terrorist Organization.” Trump blamed the looting… Continue reading “Is Antifa the Answer to Today’s Fascism?”
There are few countries in Western Europe where the radical populist right has been more successful in recent years than in Switzerland. Switzerland poses a fascinating puzzle to anyone interested in contemporary politics. It has a confederate system, which accords a great deal of autonomy and independence to its constituent units, the cantons. Its consociational… Continue reading “The Swiss People’s Party Versus COVID-19”
History shows that Americans, when asked to put political and economic differences aside to fight a common enemy, haven’t always succeeded. Dr. Jerome Adams, the surgeon general of the United States, made an announcement on March 23 warning Americans of the mounting death rate likely to occur over the next few weeks as COVID-19 spreads… Continue reading “Will COVID-19 Be Another Pearl Harbor Moment for America?”
Calls to sacrifice lives for the economy. Funding protests that endanger public health. The radical right is highlighting their “pro-life” hypocrisy. The so-called “anti-lockdown” protests around the USA have brought together a motley of groups and interests, from Proud Boys to pro-gun enthusiasts and Trump supporters. But the extremist element is the most consistently flamboyant and loud in exposing… Continue reading “Nihilism And Hypocrisy Is The GOP’s COVID-19 Response”
Sweden’s leftist coalition has taken an authoritarian approach to the COVID-19 pandemic that is more suited to governments on the far right. Sweden has dealt with the global COVID-19 pandemic very differently from the other Nordic countries. All but Sweden are led by women. The female prime ministers in Denmark, Norway and Finland closed down… Continue reading “COVID-19 Casts a Shadow Over Swedish Exceptionalism”
Neither widespread popular disaffection with the government nor equally widespread disenchantment with thhave helped Vox advance in the polls. Spain is among the western European countries hardest hit by the corona virus. By mid-May, the country had more than 270,000 COVID-19 infections, and more than 27,000 dead from the disease. Madrid metropolitan area accounted for… Continue reading “Spain’s radical right party might need some recovery from the coronavirus”
President Trump, GOP governors, and members of his base who are pushing to reopen too soon while Dr. Fauci warns of “needless suffering and death.” In an interview on Fox News (“ Tucker Carlson Tonight”) back on March 23, Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick expressed his willingness to give up his life in exchange for… Continue reading “Right-Wing Push For Premature Reopenings Will Prolong Pandemic”
The vicious cycle of suppression, spikes in migration, renewed hostilities and reintroduction of restrictive policies could continue for years after the pandemic. A dangerous cycle for immigrants has begun. On April 20, President Donald Trump announced that he would sign an executive order to temporarily halt immigration into the United States in order to curb the spread of… Continue reading “COVID-19 Will Have Long-Lasting Effects on Migration”
Germany’s far-right group PEGIDA is mobilizing weekly ‘virtual marches’ livestreamed on YouTube. On a Monday evening in early April 2020, around 1,000 users are waiting for a YouTube livestream, hosted by Lutz Bachmann, co-founder of the Dresden-based protest movement ‘Patriotic Europeans against the Islamization of the Occident’ (PEGIDA). For the second time already, Bachmann’s YouTube… Continue reading “Under lockdown, Germany’s PEGIDA goes to YouTube”
The COVID-19 conspiratorial cesspool is populated by both right-wing extremists and parts of the liberal left that views itself as woke, progressive and definitely anti-racist. In his recent article on openDemocracy, Matthias Wasser points out the fact that misinformation is not the prerogative of the radical right or the right for that matter. Indeed, the Covid-19… Continue reading “COVID-19 has exposed the odd conspiracy links between left and right”