When the world’s attention turned towards the burning Amazon rain forest, Brazil’s president, Jair Bolsonaro, did everything to turn himself into an environmental villain – of sorts. Why – in the face of an environmental crisis – did he lose control of his country’s image abroad and, above all, image as a ‘strong man’ leader?… Continue reading “The rise of a culture warrior: Jair Bolsonaro’s far-right revolution”
The cultural Marxism conspiracy is fundamentally anti-egalitarian because it portrays any form of social progress or economic equality as evil and poisonous. “Cultural Marxism” is a right-wing conspiracy theory that accuses the Frankfurt School — comprised of thinkers like Theodor Adorno, Erich Fromm and Herbert Marcuse — of emigrating to the United States of America in… Continue reading “The Cultural Marxism Conspiracy Thrives in Bolsonaro’s Brazil”
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 founding manifesto of an unlikely radical political start up. Its name was Fascio di Combattimento, the humble precursor of fascism that was adopted as… Continue reading “The return of fascism? Why this is the wrong question to ask”
In early September 2018, I wrote a blog post about Jair Bolsonaro, at that moment the frontrunner in the Brazilian presidential election, defending that he could be considered a populist radical right politician. He was elected and has been in power since January 1. In this post, I discuss the adaptation of Bolsonaro’s radical appeal… Continue reading “Bolsonaro’s first days of government: a threat to liberal democracy”
Fascism isn’t new to Latin America, and neither is the radical right. Jair Bolsonaro, a former military officer, is the newly elected President of Brazil and one of the most right-wing politicians in power in Latin America in decades. He thus joins the radical right-wing surge of politicians around the globe from Presidents Orbán (Hungary)… Continue reading “Brazil’s Bolsonaro Is The Latest Incarnation Of The Radical Right In Latin America”