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ADDED 07/18/2018

Authoritarian rule shedding its populist skin in rural Cambodia

FROM 07/18/2018 | Open Democracy

BY ALICE BEBAN and LAURA SCHOENBERGER

We won’t know until the July 2018 elections whether this radical redrawing of the Cambodian political landscape is a ‘new normal’ of naked authoritarianism. What is happening is truly bad. In Cambodia, political violence in the run-up to the 2018 general election signals a move away from an explicitly populist authoritarianism towards a deeper authoritarianism. […]

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ADDED 07/15/2018

‘Fascist Tommy Robinson supporters’ attack RMT union boss after pro-Donald Trump march

FROM 07/15/2018 | Daily Record

BY Sam Blewett

A union chief was left bloodied and beaten in an “unprovoked attack” by supporters of jailed far-right leader Tommy Robinson and US president Donald Trump as tempers flared following a day of protests. Steve Hedley, senior assistant general secretary of the RMT, addressed a counter-protest to a rally in support of Trump and Robinson on Saturday. But […]

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ADDED 07/14/2018

Son of Jair Bolsonaro, Fascist Leading Brazil’s Presidential Polls, Tweets Fake Poster Linking LGBTs to Pedophiles

FROM 07/14/2018 | The Intercept

BY Glenn Greenwald

THE SON OF Jair Bolsonaro – the proto-fascist Congressman leading Brazil’s 2018 presidential polls if Lula (as expected) is barred from running – used Twitter on Friday night to post a fabricated poster in order to claim that LGBT groups are now explicitly advocating pedophilia. Carlos Bolsonaro (pictured, above), a Rio de Janeiro City Councilman with the Social Christian Party (PSC), is one of […]

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ADDED 07/13/2018

India turning into an illiberal, majoritarian democracy: Hamid Ansari

FROM  | The News Minute

BY Hamid Ansari

Former Vice President M. Hamid Ansari has said that India is feared to be turned into an illiberal, majoritarian democracy where religious minorities would not be equal citizens but “on sufferance” and underlined that democratic institutions have been “eroded very seriously” in the country. “The basic concept that I have used is what is a […]

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ADDED 07/11/2018

What does a middle-class democracy look like when it comes apart?

FROM 07/11/2018 | Letters and Politics - KPFA

BY Mitch Jeserich

Today, Mitch Jeserich is in conversation with Thomas Frank on US History and Politics. Guest: Thomas Frank is a historian and columnist and the author of such books as  What’s the Matter with Kansas and Listen Liberal.  His latest book is a collection of essays called Rendezvous with Oblivion: Reports from a Sinking Society.

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ADDED 07/10/2018

America the Failed State

FROM  | TruthDig

BY Chris Hedges

Our “corporate coup d’état in slow motion,” as the writer John Ralston Saul calls it, has opened a Pandora’s box of evils that is transforming America into a failed state. The “unholy trinity of corruption, impunity and violence,” he said, can no longer be checked. The ruling elites abjectly serve corporate power to exploit and impoverish the […]

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ADDED 07/09/2018

Higher Court Orders Lula’s Release. Moro Tries to Ignore Orders.

FROM 07/08/2018 | Brasil Wire

BY Brian Mier

Today, on July 8th, 2018, Brazil’s 4th Regional Federal Court Chief Judge Rogerio Favreto ordered ex-President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s immediate release from prison, ruling on a motion filed by Workers’ Party Congressmen Paulo Pimenta and Wadir Damous Filho. Judge Sergio Moro, a lower court judge and hero to the Brazilian far right who has been working […]

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ADDED 07/07/2018

Cambodia’s Hun Sen Steamrolls his way to this month’s elections

FROM 07/06/2018 | Niddei Asian Review

BY ATSUSHI TOMIYAMA

HANOI — A crowded field of 20 political parties will compete in Cambodia’s general election later this month, but Prime Minister Hun Sen is on course to retain his grip on power after eliminating the one that posed a real threat to his three-decade rule. Most Cambodians have watched in silence as the authoritarian government has […]

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ADDED 07/07/2018

Poland’s judicial purge another step toward authoritarian democracy

FROM 07/06/2018 | The Conversation

BY Brian Porter-Szücs

Since the elections of 2015, Poland has been ruled by the Law and Justice Party (Prawo i Sprawiedliwość, or PiS), a far-right nationalist group that has transformed the country beyond recognition. Poland had once been lauded as the great post-communist success story, with solid democratic institutions and a booming economy. Now, under PiS rule, Poland is steadily […]

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ADDED 07/06/2018

As it slides toward authoritarianism, Venezuela targets one of its last independent newspapers

FROM 07/06/2018 | Boston Globe

BY Rachelle Krygier and Anthony Faiola

CARACAS — By running stories of official brutality and corruption, this nation’s largest independent newspaper — El Nacional — threatened Venezuela’s mighty and defended its meek. Now the paper has found itself covering perhaps its most crucial story — its own fight to stay alive. A judicial case against the 75-year-old outlet — lodged by […]

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ADDED 06/27/2018

This Is Neoliberalism ▶︎ Introducing the Invisible Ideology

FROM 06/27/2018 | BarakalypseNow

BY Barak Bullock

If you’ve ever wanted to understand what neoliberalism is, this is the series for you. Neoliberalism is an economic ideology that exists within the framework of capitalism. Over four decades ago, neoliberalism become the dominant economic paradigm of global society. In this video series, we’ll trace the history of neoliberalism, starting with a survey of […]

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