Viewing Democracy

ADDED 10/17/2018

UN must declare Cambodia’s authoritarianism Illegal

FROM 10/17/2018 | Asia Times

BY SAWATHEY EK

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen has been met recently with a wave of protests by Cambodia’s diaspora communities living abroad, urging the international community to condemn his government as fake and illegal. These relentless and coordinated protests, starting from Australia, the US, South Korea and Japan, followed the July national election that the US government […]

see source

ADDED 10/16/2018

Book Review: Gord Hill tackles some difficult topics with The Antifa Comic Book

FROM 10/12/2018 | The London Free Press

BY STUART DERDEYN

Fighting Nazis is the right thing to do. At least, that was the perceived and often-broadcast consensus across the Western World following the Second World War. Or was it? In this informative and fascinating graphic novel history of fascism and those who fought it, Kwakwaka’wakw writer, artist and activist author Gord Hill (The 500 Years […]

see source

ADDED 10/15/2018

Then They Came For Me: Martin Niemöller, the Pastor Who Defied the Nazis

FROM 10/15/2018 | KPFA

BY Mitch Jeserich

A conversation with Matthew D. Hockenos about the controversial German pastor Martin Niemöller’s evolution from a Nazi supporter to a determined opponent of Hitler. Niemöller is well remembered for his quotation: First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and […]

see source

ADDED 10/15/2018

Members Of The Proud Boys Violently Beat Up Protesters And Weren’t Arrested. New York Police Won’t Say Why.

FROM 10/15/2018 | BuzzFeed

BY Julia Reinstein, Stephanie K. Baer

The far-right men’s organization “Proud Boys” violently beat two or three apparent protesters Friday night following a Republican event in Manhattan. About 30 members of the group — who describe themselves as “Western chauvinists” and have frequently aligned themselves with avowed neo-Nazis — participated in the beating, some screaming threats and slurs at the individuals, […]

see source

ADDED 10/15/2018

This New Feminist Antifa Group Is Taking on the Far-Right

FROM 10/15/2018 | Broadly

BY Bex Wade

When a right-wing group decided to march through London, the Feminist Anti-Fascism Assembly were there to hold them back. When a British far-right group announced its plans to march in London on Saturday, women on the left knew they had to push back. Enter: Feminist Anti-Fascism Assembly (FAF), a new feminist antifascist bloc made up of […]

see source

ADDED 10/15/2018

If You’re Not Scared About Fascism in the U.S., You Should Be

FROM 10/15/2018 | New York Times

BY Jason Stanley

When fascism starts to feel normal, we’re all in trouble. While calling President Trump a fascist may seem like an exaggeration, it might not be that far from the truth. Should we be worried? Jason Stanley has spent the past decade studying fascism, from Mussolini to Duterte. In this video op-ed, he argues that yes, […]

see source

ADDED 10/12/2018

Brazil’s Neo-Liberal Fascist Road to Power

FROM 10/12/2018 | Dissident Voice

BY James Petras

The decisive electoral victory of far-right Brazilian presidential candidate, Jair Bolsonaro startled politicians and analysts of the traditional parties of the left and right. The possible implications for the present and near future raises a number of fundamental questions whether it represents a ‘model’ for other countries or is the result of the specific circumstances […]

see source

ADDED 10/12/2018

Are women the last line of defence against Brazil’s authoritarian shift?

FROM 10/06/2018 | Open Democracy

BY ANA CERNOV and INÉS M. POUSADELA

In a matter of days, 2.5 million Brazilian women had gathered on Facebook to discuss how to best present their case against Bolsonaro and how to take their action offline and organize themselves locally. In the world’s most celebrated footballing nation – where ‘the beautiful game’ is akin to religion – it’s almost no surprise […]

see source

ADDED 10/10/2018

Do authoritarian regimes wish to be seen as crazily vindictive?

FROM 10/10/2018 | Scroll.in

BY Girish Shahane

Assassinations carried out in foreign lands can chill dissent, offsetting their costs. There are people who cannot take a win. Khabib Nurmagomedov is one. On Saturday night, Nurmagomedov, a Dagestani-Russian mixed martial artist, dismantled the defences of his Irish opponent Conor McGregor to retain his UFC lightweight belt, and improve his record to a remarkable […]

see source

ADDED 10/10/2018

Donald Trump, Brett Kavanaugh and the path to neoliberal fascism

FROM 10/10/2018 | Slate

BY Henry A. Giroux

Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation is not an isolated event, and in the current historical moment has dark meaning. Even in the darkest of times we have the right to some illumination. — Hannah Arendt The threads of a general political and ideological crisis run deep in American history, and with each tweet and policy decision Donald Trump pushes […]

see source

ADDED 10/09/2018

The Left and Opposition Unity: How Fascism Can Be Defeated in 2019

FROM 10/09/2018 | The Wire

BY Prabhat Patnaik

The real obstacle to understanding, or even recognising, contemporary fascism is alas, the memory of the 1930s. The fact that we have fascists in power in India, at the helm of a liberal bourgeois state, is indubitable: their organisation, the RSS, to which they belong and swear by, has made no secret of its admiration […]

see source

ADDED 10/09/2018

How to build an authoritarian regime — and how to stop one

FROM 10/09/2018 | Big Think

BY Timothy Snyder

First, we have to understand the internet. Then we have to understand the audience. Timothy Snyder: It’s normal that when a new medium comes along, a new communications technology comes along, that this is very disorienting to our own hardware. The same thing was true when the book came along. I mean the book, as compared […]

see source