Viewing Democracy

ADDED 03/08/2018

It could happen in Britain

FROM  | The Economist

BY Bagehot

British institutions may not withstand the authoritarian-populist wave. IN HIS dystopian novel of 1935, “It Can’t Happen Here”, Sinclair Lewis described the rise of an American Caesar, Berzelius “Buzz” Windrip. Buzz easily defeats Franklin Roosevelt for the presidency by promising to make America great again. He then sets about destroying the country’s system of checks […]

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ADDED 03/05/2018

FashMaps website tracks neo-Nazis in the US

FROM 02/12/2018 | Al Jazeera

BY Patrick Strickland

As Daily Stormer struggles to keep an online home, a new anti-fascist site aims to track neo-Nazis’ meetings in the US. A new anti-fascist website tracks the location and activities of people affiliated with Daily Stormer, one of the largest neo-Nazi websites in the United States. Launched on January 28, FashMaps is an activist-run initiative that seeks to […]

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ADDED 03/05/2018

Time After Capitalism

FROM 02/28/2018 | Jacobin

BY MIYA TOKUMITSU

A hundred years ago, the United States adopted daylight savings time in order to extract more profit from labor. How would we organize time differently if we were free from the demands of capitalism? Forget Karl Marx’s old saw about hunting in the morning, fishing in the afternoon, and criticizing after dinner — for many, […]

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ADDED 03/05/2018

The unwelcome revival of ‘race science’

FROM  | The Guardian

BY Gavin Evans

Its defenders claim to be standing up for uncomfortable truths, but race science is still as bogus as ever. One of the strangest ironies of our time is that a body of thoroughly debunked “science” is being revived by people who claim to be defending truth against a rising tide of ignorance. The idea that […]

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ADDED 03/05/2018

What is the Precariat | Guy Standing | TEDxPrague

FROM 02/16/2017 | TEDxPrague

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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ADDED 03/05/2018

Will the ‘Uzbek Gorbachev’ Succeed-or Be Allowed To?

FROM 02/27/2018 | Jamestown Foundation

BY Paul Goble

Since becoming president of Uzbekistan in September 2016, following the death of longtime authoritarian leader Islam Karimov, Shavkat Mirziyaev has taken steps to dramatically improve relations with his country’s neighbors and to eliminate some of the most noxious and repressive policies of his predecessor at home (see EDM, January 17, 19, February 8). Some of his critics say […]

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ADDED 03/05/2018

Oleg Sukhov: Tent camp crackdown is moving Ukraine back to Yanukovych era

FROM 03/05/2018 | Kyiv Post

BY Oleg Sukhov

Welcome back to 2013. The destruction of the protest tent camp in front of the Verkhovna Rada on March 3 was the latest sign that Ukraine is undergoing a counter-revolution, led by President Petro Poroshenko and Interior Minister Arsen Avakov. The events of March 3 recalled the era of the authoritarian kleptocrat Viktor Yanukovych. Freedom of assembly, […]

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ADDED 03/04/2018

Iraqi Communists and Shia Sadrists unite to tackle corruption and sectarianism

FROM  | Middle East Eye

BY Alex MacDonald

Iraqi Communist party leaders hail possibility of end of sectarian and ethnic coalitions in war-ravaged country. It is perhaps the most unlikely of political alliances, even for a country where electoral rules encourage strange bedfellows. As Iraq prepares for its first post-Islamic State elections, the Communists have thrown their lot in with the Shia conservatives […]

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ADDED 03/02/2018

Italy’s Messy Politics Are No Longer Local

FROM  | The Atlantic

BY Rachel Donadio

MILAN—The same day that left-wing groups and parties held an anti-fascist rally in Rome, protesting the apparent rise of the hard-right in Italy, the piazza in front of the Milan cathedral was filled with energized supporters of Matteo Salvini, the leader of Italy’s League party. The party is best known for its xenophobia and its flirtation with […]

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ADDED 02/27/2018

Recession and Renewal in European Democracy

FROM 02/26/2018 | Carnegie Europe

BY RICHARD YOUNGS, SARAH MANNEY

This is the first article of the Reshaping European Democracy Project, an initiative of Carnegie’s Democracy and Rule of Law Program and Carnegie Europe. There is widespread agreement that liberal democracy is in fragile health in its European heartlands. Freedom House’s recently published 2018 report, “Democracy in Crisis,” suggests liberal democratic values are now at serious […]

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