Viewing Culture

ADDED 01/14/2019

The verdict is in: Aung San Suu Kyi is an authoritarian

FROM 01/11/2019 | Washington Post

BY Charles Petrie

Charles Petrie, former U.N. assistant secretary general, just returned from Myanmar, where he has been involved in the peace process since 2012, and had served as the U.N. Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator from 2003 to 2007. A Myanmar court has rejected the appeal of two Reuters journalists jailed for exposing crimes committed by the country’s military against […]

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ADDED 01/14/2019

Liberal laws, illiberal uses

FROM 01/13/2019 | The Shift

BY Ranier Fsadni

A lot has been said about the judge, Giovanni Grixti, who has ruled that information obtained from the Panama Papers is inadmissable in court. The commentary has focused on the implications for cases of money laundering. But there is a broader political aspect. The principle that evidence illegally obtained cannot be used in courts has a liberal […]

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ADDED 01/14/2019

The ‘Private Governments’ That Subjugate U.S. Workers

FROM 01/14/2019 | Truthdig

BY Chris Hedges

Corporate dictatorships—which strip employees of fundamental constitutional rights, including free speech, and which increasingly rely on temp or contract employees who receive no benefits and have no job security—rule the lives of perhaps 80 percent of working Americans. These corporations, with little or no oversight, surveil and monitor their workforces. They conduct random drug testing, […]

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ADDED 01/14/2019

Authoritarians, THE ANGLE, and Evangelism Apps

FROM 01/13/2019 | Patheos

BY Captain Cassidy

Hi and welcome to our new series on authoritarians! Last time we met up, we explored the fear that drives people into authoritarian personalities and groups. This time, we examine the main tool authoritarians use to soothe that fear: obedience. We’ll dive into a new breed of mobile apps that take advantage of authoritarians’ need for rules […]

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ADDED 01/14/2019

Report: Nigeria’s democracy just a step above authoritarianism

FROM 01/12/2019 | Today Nigeria

BY Brendan Umoren

Nigeria’s democracy has been ranked 108 out of the 167-country-and-colony in the Economist Intelligence Unit’s Democracy index. The country, which is Africa’s biggest democracy, has a slight improvement as it moved upward from 109 it was ranked in 2017 and 2016. The country was also ranked 108 in 2015. Nigeria was listed among 39 countries […]

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ADDED 01/14/2019

‘America First’ and the Origin of the Modern Jewish Conspiracy

FROM 01/09/2019 | Religion Dispatches

BY Eric C. Miller

Historian Paul Hanebrink discusses the origin and uses of the Judeo-Bolshevik myth as a grand conspiracy that inspired the Holocaust and how crucial parts of it survived under the umbrella of “Judeo-Christian civilization.” Among other concerning changes, the Donald Trump era has played host to a rise in white supremacy, anti-Semitism, and increasing incidences of […]

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ADDED 01/14/2019

Five Forces Driving the Rise of Fascism in 2019

FROM 01/13/2019 | Truthout

BY Michael I. Niman

The New Year’s Day inauguration of avowed authoritarian strongman Jair Bolsonaro as president of Brazil signaled an ominous start to 2019. Brazil, as the fifth-largest country by landmass (larger than the Australian continent), the sixth-largest by population (larger than Russia) and the ninth-largest economy (larger than Canada), represents global fascism’s biggest gain in recent history. The rise […]

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ADDED 01/14/2019

Authoritarians, Fear, and the Culture Wars

FROM 01/10/2019 | Patheos

BY CAPTAIN CASSIDY

Today, we begin a new series of posts centering on authoritarian personalities. This concept is absolutely crucial to understanding those worst-of-the-worst Christians: culture warriors. To start us off, I’ll define these terms so we can begin exploring the two subtypes involved here, examine what motivates them, and then start looking at why authoritarians are like that. NOTE: […]

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ADDED 01/10/2019

Secular democracy in peril

FROM 01/04/2019 | The Hindu

BY Mohammed Ayoob

India is literally at the crossroads with the very future of its secular democracy at stake. With five important State Assembly elections in various stages of completion and the general election around the corner, the political temperature is at boiling point. Competitive Hindutva has become the name of the game, with the ostensibly secular Congress party trying […]

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ADDED 01/10/2019

Serbia erupts in nationwide protests after assassination attempts prompt fears of fascist resurgence

FROM 01/09/2019 | Boing Boing

BY Boing Boing

Mass protests have wracked Serbia after critics of nationalist strongman president Aleksandar Vučić were attacked in a series of failed assassination attempts, compounding Vučić’s own human rights abuses and indifference to popular will. Among those who were attacked are Serbian Left president Borko Stefanović and two Serbian Left party activists, who was beaten with iron […]

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ADDED 01/10/2019

Haverhill High students’ assignment on Trump and fascism creates uproar; principal apologizes

FROM  | The Eagle-Tribune

BY Mike LaBella

A debate among members of the community has erupted on Facebook over a Haverhill High history class assignment in which students were asked to debate whether characteristics of fascism are exhibited by President Donald Trump. The postings on Facebook ranged from “I’m not sure I’m comfortable with it but at the same time our kids […]

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ADDED 01/09/2019

What is the Precariat | Guy Standing | TEDxPrague

FROM 02/16/2017 | Youtube

BY Guy Standing

We’d better have nightmares about the future of milions of people who stand on the brim of unsustainable debt. Guy Standing pracuje na School of Oriental and African Studies – SOAS na University of London. Je autorem mnohých knih, z nichž nejznámnější je asi „Prekariát: Nová nebezpečná společenská třída“, která byla přeložena do 16 jazyků. […]

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