Is the West Experiencing a Right-Wing Drift?

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And if so, why?

Mordy, Friday, 8 May 2015 17:18 (ten years ago)

I don't think so. The United States has a president, who, for all that leftists dislike him, is probably the most left-wing President since the 1970s. In England, the Conservative majority will be smaller than the center-right Conservative-LD coalition that was in charge before, and my sense is that the massive swing from Scottish Labour to SNP is in no way a move to the right. In Canada, NDP just took over one of the most conservative provinces in the country, and Liberals are polling way better than they were back in 2011 when Harper won his current majority; I don't think people are projecting he'll keep that majority in the upcoming election. I don't know much about Australia or France.

Guayaquil (eephus!), Friday, 8 May 2015 17:26 (ten years ago)

I don't think so either. Bibi's coalition not likely to last long, US drifting towards the left afaict. Europe's rightward drift seems largely driven by xenophobia (always with the petty regionalism/nationalism over there) which is sad to watch.

Οὖτις, Friday, 8 May 2015 17:35 (ten years ago)

I don't think Canada is more right-wing that it was 10 or 20 years ago. It's just that the more left-leaning vote is split between two parties. Also the Liberals have had terrible leadership in the last decade or so.

The conservatives have been pretty good at keeping everyone together and keeping internal dissent to a minimum.

silverfish, Friday, 8 May 2015 17:37 (ten years ago)

based on comments in this thread obv the answer is "hell yes"

vote yay! for constitutional monarchy (Noodle Vague), Friday, 8 May 2015 17:38 (ten years ago)

XP xenophobia of Scots towards the english, maybe

thoughts you made second posts about (darraghmac), Friday, 8 May 2015 17:39 (ten years ago)

other answer is "because the further right we go the further right people think of as 'left wing'"

vote yay! for constitutional monarchy (Noodle Vague), Friday, 8 May 2015 17:39 (ten years ago)

Renzi's performance in the Euro elections seemed significant. Huge victory for pro-austerity leader who was thought to be much more divisive. It's mostly fiscal conservatism on the rise in Europe. Despite the growth of the far right the mainstream tends to be more socially liberal I think.

Petite Lamela (ShariVari), Friday, 8 May 2015 17:41 (ten years ago)

dont forget Greece lol

thoughts you made second posts about (darraghmac), Friday, 8 May 2015 17:43 (ten years ago)

I guess if you look at the actual governments in place, they are more right-wing, but that feels more like the left not getting their shit together rather than the actual people being more conservative. I don't know. We probably don't have the best systems for electing governments.

silverfish, Friday, 8 May 2015 17:43 (ten years ago)

XP xenophobia of Scots towards the english, maybe

You're making the assumption that people who vote SNP are nationalists... for a start.

Cram Session in Goniometry (Tom D.), Friday, 8 May 2015 17:45 (ten years ago)

just playing with the yanks tom

thoughts you made second posts about (darraghmac), Friday, 8 May 2015 17:46 (ten years ago)

Suspected as much, but I remember them having difficulty understanding the concept to left wing nationalists during the referendum, bless 'em.

Cram Session in Goniometry (Tom D.), Friday, 8 May 2015 17:48 (ten years ago)

concept of

Cram Session in Goniometry (Tom D.), Friday, 8 May 2015 17:48 (ten years ago)

theyre some craic hey

thoughts you made second posts about (darraghmac), Friday, 8 May 2015 17:51 (ten years ago)

The United States has a president, who, for all that leftists dislike him, is probably the most left-wing President since the 1970s

lol, picked that decade due to that anarchist Jimmy Carter? (who ruled out reparations to Vietnam because "the destruction was mutual")

the last liberal POTUS was a man named Lyndon Johnson.

the increasing costive borborygmi (Dr Morbius), Friday, 8 May 2015 17:53 (ten years ago)

both houses of congress and most of the state houses in the u.s. are controlled by a class of republicans who are probably the most right-wing major faction in america since the southern democrats of the antebellum era. i think the u.s. actually is drifting to the left in a lot of ways, but it's not always perceptible in our elections.

(The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Friday, 8 May 2015 18:01 (ten years ago)

it seems hard to dispute that obama's the most progressive president since johnson, his foreign policy's certainly better.

(The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Friday, 8 May 2015 18:03 (ten years ago)

yeah idk if electorates are drifting right as much as right-wing oligarchs are just tightening their reigns of power

xp

Οὖτις, Friday, 8 May 2015 18:04 (ten years ago)

xp

well that's a high raw body count to match even when you bomb 7 Muslim countries

and have prosecuted more whistleblowers than all the other presidents in history

and

the increasing costive borborygmi (Dr Morbius), Friday, 8 May 2015 18:06 (ten years ago)

"progressive" sure is a versatile word is all im sayin'

the increasing costive borborygmi (Dr Morbius), Friday, 8 May 2015 18:06 (ten years ago)

I don't think Canada is more right-wing that it was 10 or 20 years ago. It's just that the more left-leaning vote is split between two parties.

Why do people always say this? The NDP has been around since 1961; before it, the CCF was winning seats in federal elections since 1935. The Liberals still managed to thoroughly dominate Canada in the 20th century, even with a single 'united' PC or Conservative party until the 90s.

In terms of economic policy, I still think the Liberals of the 90s were at least as right-wing as any other post-war federal government. I actually feel like the mood is shifting left these days (which the AB election demonstrates).

EveningStar (Sund4r), Friday, 8 May 2015 18:07 (ten years ago)

I specified "10 or 20 years" specifically because I didn't really follow politics before that. I think the fact that there were multiple right-wing parties in the 90s is a pretty significant reason as to why the Liberals were able to win elections with such large majorities back then.

Here in Quebec it definitely feels like we have shifted to the right. Every successive Liberal leader has been more right-wing than his predecessor.

silverfish, Friday, 8 May 2015 18:20 (ten years ago)

The West is definitely rightward leaning. The US left is more or less non-existent, beholden to the same corporate interests as the right. They dangle civil rights issues like gay marriage as a carrot to voters, because they know without those issues, nothing much separates their war-and-banks-driven governmental style from the right's. The hope that Obama will close gitmo is certainly worth more monetarily than him actually closing it down.

The question is: is this a recent development or a general tendency of US representative democracy? I suppose it began as representing mainly the interests of those who could legally vote (white male landowners/oligarchs), which you could say is a rightward position. Since then women have been granted the vote and minorities as well, but is their vote worth the same as the oligarchs that have always monopolized representation? No way in hell.

Perhaps in a way we have become more socially liberal, but the systems of control and oppression are working against that development in a way that greatly negates it. Corporate personhood imo continues to devalue "free speech" and the spits at the virtue of representative democracy.

©Oz Quiz© (Adam Bruneau), Friday, 8 May 2015 18:24 (ten years ago)

Going by Wiki numbers, the combined popular vote of the Reform and PC parties was still less than the Liberals' share of the popular vote in the 93 and 97 elections. The combined total of the Alliance's and PCs' share of the popular vote in 2000 was just under the Liberals' share and was well under the combined total of the Liberals and NDP. (I also doubt that all PC voters would have chosen the Alliance over the Liberals if they had to choose. Clark himself preferred the Liberals.) King's, St. Laurent's, Pearson's, and Pierre Trudeau's Liberals all managed to win elections (after elections) despite facing left-wing competition.

I get resentful about 'vote-splitting' arguments for a few reasons but especially because I feel that they are usually made by Liberals to unfairly marginalize/minimize/accuse any progressive alternative.

EveningStar (Sund4r), Friday, 8 May 2015 18:41 (ten years ago)

The Liberals lost in 2006 because they were corrupt, arrogant, and entitled. They haven't managed to convince the voting public since then.

EveningStar (Sund4r), Friday, 8 May 2015 18:56 (ten years ago)

for the record, I agree with you re: vote-splitting. I don't want any kind of NDP/Liberals merger and will most likely vote NDP in the next election.

Still, I think it's difficult to argue that the Conservatives being the only viable party right of center doesn't benefit them enormously, allowing them to form majority governments despite not being able to get beyond 40% support.

The real problem is a lack of any kind of proportional representation.

silverfish, Friday, 8 May 2015 20:21 (ten years ago)

I don't have the nuanced take on what is left wing, probably a bit dated & old fashioned. Indiscriminately killing civilians with drones and police does throw up some red flags though

xelab, Friday, 8 May 2015 20:49 (ten years ago)

most nuanced take

xelab, Friday, 8 May 2015 20:51 (ten years ago)

It is all shifted right in the context of most other Western countries.

©Oz Quiz© (Adam Bruneau), Friday, 8 May 2015 21:10 (ten years ago)

it seems hard to dispute that obama's the most progressive president since johnson

Obama Lashes Out at Liberal Foes of Pacific Trade Deal
By PETER BAKER 3:07 PM ET
At Nike headquarters in Oregon, the president lashed out at critics within his own party, accusing Democrats of deliberately distorting the impact of the trade agreement he is negotiating with Asia.

the increasing costive borborygmi (Dr Morbius), Friday, 8 May 2015 21:50 (ten years ago)

i didn't think it'd be terribly controversial to say that obama was more progressive than carter or clinton. but yes i'm aware that the guy isn't bernie sanders.

(The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Friday, 8 May 2015 23:44 (ten years ago)

you are also aware some people never get tired of criticizing him

the late great, Saturday, 9 May 2015 00:03 (ten years ago)

I don't think the left's popularity is waning. It's just that their appeal is becoming more selective.

Inf (latebloomer), Saturday, 9 May 2015 20:08 (ten years ago)

http://i.imgur.com/OGFBhT3.jpg

, Saturday, 9 May 2015 20:59 (ten years ago)

Here in Quebec it definitely feels like we have shifted to the right. Every successive Liberal leader has been more right-wing than his predecessor.

― silverfish, Friday, May 8, 2015 2:20 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Not only that, but like in many places across the West, our de facto left wing party has slowly and steadily become right wing.

Van Horn Street, Saturday, 9 May 2015 21:01 (ten years ago)

love the passive voice thread question

Vic Perry, Saturday, 9 May 2015 23:20 (ten years ago)

plz put the q in active voice for me

Mordy, Saturday, 9 May 2015 23:35 (ten years ago)

present progressive, not passive

bamcquern, Saturday, 9 May 2015 23:48 (ten years ago)

de facto left wing party

Had sort of a hollow lol when I realized that this probably refers to the PQ.

EveningStar (Sund4r), Sunday, 10 May 2015 12:31 (ten years ago)

seven months pass...

I'm not sure I understand what is meant by "shift in the percentage replying..." -- e.g. if 1000 respondents were surveyed from the United States in 1995 and 50 said "good or very good" then, does the chart mean that the number/1000 increased to 55 in 2014, or does it mean it increased to 150?

on entre O.K. on sort K.O. (man alive), Wednesday, 23 December 2015 19:03 (nine years ago)

i.e. are we talking percent change or percentage point change?

on entre O.K. on sort K.O. (man alive), Wednesday, 23 December 2015 19:04 (nine years ago)

the way i understand it, if in 1955 20% said army rule is good, and then in 2015 30% said so, there would be an increase of 10%? does that make sense?

Mordy, Wednesday, 23 December 2015 19:18 (nine years ago)

btw i think the premise of this thread is true more than ever right now.

Mordy, Wednesday, 23 December 2015 19:18 (nine years ago)

I don't think there's an overall rightward drift in the US. I do think there's a rightward drift on the right.

on entre O.K. on sort K.O. (man alive), Wednesday, 23 December 2015 19:23 (nine years ago)

xp that makes sense, as long as that's what vox means

on entre O.K. on sort K.O. (man alive), Wednesday, 23 December 2015 19:23 (nine years ago)

btw i think the premise of this thread is true more than ever right now.

― Mordy

I dunno. hard to say. to play devil's advocate:

likelihood is the United States will elect a democrat next year for the third election in a row.

Canada just voted out the conservatives in an election where the conservatives purposefully used wedge issues and stoked islamophobia as a vote-winning tactic.

The ruling party the conservative PP in Spain failed to return a majority in the election on Sunday.

Karl Rove Knausgård (jim in glasgow), Wednesday, 23 December 2015 19:35 (nine years ago)

I do think there's a rightward drift on the right.

^^^this

Οὖτις, Wednesday, 23 December 2015 19:46 (nine years ago)

otoh france has moved so far to the right that the socialists had to throw their support behind the republicans to keep the national front out of power

Mordy, Wednesday, 23 December 2015 19:50 (nine years ago)

terrorist attacks will do that

Οὖτις, Wednesday, 23 December 2015 19:54 (nine years ago)

It's also important not to treat the opinions of the youngest voters as the future, necessarily, because people's opinions can tend to moderate as they age.

on entre O.K. on sort K.O. (man alive), Wednesday, 23 December 2015 20:02 (nine years ago)

"moderate"

Coombesbat 18 (Noodle Vague), Wednesday, 23 December 2015 20:03 (nine years ago)

I do think that we've seen an increase in a kind of hyper-emotional style of politics that drives people away from grudgingly settling on the middle. I think the internet and social media actually have begun to break up the hold that mainstream news channels and the sensible-sounding center had on US politics, with both good and bad effects. I think Sanders' substantial support is evidence of that every bit as much as Trump's -- it has to be the internet and social media that have allowed Sanders to raise the kind of funds he has from small donors while being given little attention in old guard press and tv outlets.

I think as far as a worldwide rightward drift, though, that was actually happening from the 80s through 00's and now may have pulled back a bit. Maybe not in every country, but in the US and much of Europe (in spite of surges in right-wing nationalism), I think so. Obviously Israel has gone further right, maybe India has.

The responses on the army-rule question are not necessarily comparable between countries -- a heavily destabilized country like Iraq might have good reasons for seeing army rule as an alternative beyond any "rightward drift"

on entre O.K. on sort K.O. (man alive), Wednesday, 23 December 2015 20:09 (nine years ago)

India's internal politics don't track much with other countries afaict, lot of unique competing interests and circumstances there

Οὖτις, Wednesday, 23 December 2015 20:17 (nine years ago)

re France our republicans are to the left of your American republicans, tbh the Front Nationale is to the left of your republicans

droit au butt (Euler), Wednesday, 23 December 2015 20:18 (nine years ago)

sort of impressive india has never been under military rule

ogmor, Wednesday, 23 December 2015 22:11 (nine years ago)

in the United States there was a definite rightwards shift in center-left coalitions starting in the late seventies and peaking in the presidency of Bill Clinton.

The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 23 December 2015 22:40 (nine years ago)

i don't know if this phenomenon has as much to do with ideology as much as it has to do with structural changes in capitalism

starkiller based god (Treeship), Thursday, 24 December 2015 01:43 (nine years ago)

xxp 1858–1947

Coombesbat 18 (Noodle Vague), Thursday, 24 December 2015 01:44 (nine years ago)

fwiw i was arguing w my dad a month ago and he called me a progressive, which was weird, cos that's maybe the first time in my entire life anyone, let alone him, has said that. i blame Trump and Facebook.

AdamVania (Adam Bruneau), Friday, 25 December 2015 17:45 (nine years ago)

you should tell your dad that you're a La Follette Republican

a little too mature to be cute (Aimless), Friday, 25 December 2015 20:49 (nine years ago)

We all need to reach out to our Muslim family and friends, imo

lute bro (brimstead), Sunday, 27 December 2015 00:23 (nine years ago)

Maybe that's condescending? I hate this shit. My irl friends (yes I have a few) know how I feel.

lute bro (brimstead), Sunday, 27 December 2015 00:23 (nine years ago)

five months pass...

bump.

fingers crossed i don't have to bump this thread again in nov.

Mordy, Friday, 24 June 2016 14:17 (eight years ago)

while neocons like Kagan fundraise for Clinton, the more reliable War Pig.

helpless before THRILLARY (Dr Morbius), Friday, 24 June 2016 14:19 (eight years ago)

stfu dumbass

Mordy, Friday, 24 June 2016 14:20 (eight years ago)

lol, timely revive :(

They could have been Stackridge. (Tom D.), Friday, 24 June 2016 14:22 (eight years ago)

while neocons like Kagan fundraise for Clinton, the more reliable War Pig.

― helpless before THRILLARY (Dr Morbius), Friday, June 24, 2016 9:19 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

it's really remarkable how human-like this experiment in artificial intelligence is. it's almost as if a real person is up around the clock, posting the same ideas every ten minutes, couched in slightly different language, metaphors, and invective. whoever programmed this bot deserves more attention than she is getting.

wizzz! (amateurist), Friday, 24 June 2016 15:55 (eight years ago)

the same like 3 people bop in to respond to every single morbs post and you're one of them so who's the bot here

goole, Friday, 24 June 2016 16:00 (eight years ago)

http://www.theycallmedaymz.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/whostheboss.jpg

riverine (map), Friday, 24 June 2016 16:01 (eight years ago)

to answer the q idk if it's an overall drift but the right we've known is being eaten alive by the right we thought was dead

goole, Friday, 24 June 2016 16:01 (eight years ago)

big french election next year too. marie le pen looking pretty smug today.

Mordy, Friday, 24 June 2016 16:02 (eight years ago)

the same like 3 people bop in to respond to every single morbs post and you're one of them so who's the bot here

― goole, Friday, June 24, 2016 11:00 AM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i happen to read many of the politics threads, and morbs happens to post 400 times an hour in those, 90% of his posts variations on the same thing. sorry if once in a while i mock him for it. makes it every slightly more bearable, in the absence of a reliable post filter.

wizzz! (amateurist), Friday, 24 June 2016 16:03 (eight years ago)

sorry we're all engaging in hyperbole here. i don't respond to "every single" morbs post (that would be several full-time jobs) and he doesn't post "400 times an hour."

wizzz! (amateurist), Friday, 24 June 2016 16:04 (eight years ago)

Marine Le Pen's FN can count on 25% of voters but it's hard to see them breaking out beyond that.

I have a friend active in Mélenchon's Parti de Gauche who is hosting a Brexit party tonight. They're working toward a Frexit too, and they may be able to pick up 10-ish% of the vote next year.

So if there were to be an alliance of the Eurosceptic Left and the Right, it would at any rate have more of a voice in the legislature than French euroscepticism has had to date. But I don't see them winning the presidency.

droit au butt (Euler), Friday, 24 June 2016 16:47 (eight years ago)

quite intrigued to know what a melenchonian socialist brexit party ends up looking like

nakhchivan, Friday, 24 June 2016 16:49 (eight years ago)

marine le pen makes think ivanka trump is gonna run for some sort of office after her dad self immolates in november

carthago delenda est (mayor jingleberries), Friday, 24 June 2016 17:19 (eight years ago)

http://www.wsj.com/articles/spain-votes-in-election-rerun-1466930740

Mordy, Monday, 27 June 2016 00:46 (eight years ago)

Is Ivanka, deep down, a fascist? Xp

Treeship, Monday, 27 June 2016 01:09 (eight years ago)

sure why not

an alternate version of his real world dog (bizarro gazzara), Monday, 27 June 2016 04:01 (eight years ago)

one month passes...

This is primarily about Eastern Europe but is relevant and interesting:

http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/03/lee-kuan-yew-legacy-116317

On a Raqqa tip (ShariVari), Tuesday, 2 August 2016 08:19 (eight years ago)

three months pass...

bump

Mordy, Wednesday, 9 November 2016 02:44 (eight years ago)

maybe the accelerationists were right after all and this is good news

Mordy, Wednesday, 9 November 2016 02:45 (eight years ago)

even in worst case scenario countries have survived much worse

Mordy, Wednesday, 9 November 2016 02:47 (eight years ago)

This is worst than right wing drift, it is embracing sheer objective ignorance.

Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 9 November 2016 02:48 (eight years ago)

guess I better bookmark this again as well

sleeve, Wednesday, 9 November 2016 02:49 (eight years ago)

he's for sure more shit than most right-wingers but imagine how freaked the fuck out france is gonna be next may

Mordy, Wednesday, 9 November 2016 02:49 (eight years ago)

let's talk worst case scenario for a few minutes --

in terms of major geopolitical/domestic crisis this will not be as bad as ww2 or the civil war - much more tumultuous, likely far more death and misery at those times. domestic is not going to be great. it's hard to imagine they actually roll back roe v wade but that would obviously be simply terrible. economy likely going to take a major hit almost immediately. europe should probably be concerned about the NATO threats - maybe nat sec industry can impress on trump importance of backing agreements there and in asia. domestic light fascism - ramping up militerization of police - obv major problem. climate change probably fucked but as i constantly hear we're already absolutely fucked so maybe not a huge sea change there.

Mordy, Wednesday, 9 November 2016 02:55 (eight years ago)

us AG will OK voter suppression and no democrat will win nationally again

wizzz! (amateurist), Wednesday, 9 November 2016 02:57 (eight years ago)

very seriously going to renew my passport and get passports for my kids within the next few weeks depending on what happens tonight. i'm obviously going to wait and see before making any drastic decisions bc there's a range of misery within which it might be worth staying. like if emboldened white supremacists start bombing synagogues that'll probably be my cue - and i imagine v similar warning signs for other minorities who have seen something dark + potentially genocidal lurking behind trump's rhetoric and coalition

Mordy, Wednesday, 9 November 2016 03:01 (eight years ago)

I can think of some particular - uh let's call them territories - that Bibi would love to settle 3,000,000 new US olim I'm just saying.

Mordy, Wednesday, 9 November 2016 03:04 (eight years ago)

lol

definitely time to renew passports, I have mine but my wife's is expired I think

sleeve, Wednesday, 9 November 2016 03:36 (eight years ago)

glad i have mine. i might be moving to d.c. though? what the fuck

The times they are a changing, perhaps (map), Wednesday, 9 November 2016 04:12 (eight years ago)

i'm so scared right now

The times they are a changing, perhaps (map), Wednesday, 9 November 2016 04:13 (eight years ago)

France will likely elect a right winger in May but it'll probably be Juppé, not Le Pen.

droit au butt (Euler), Wednesday, 9 November 2016 04:17 (eight years ago)

conservatives not losing grip in england any time soon. i believe in the thesis statement of this thread more than ever.

Mordy, Wednesday, 9 November 2016 04:22 (eight years ago)

Feeling a brand new kind of fear and despair this morning

more fun than an Acclaimed Music poll (Noodle Vague), Wednesday, 9 November 2016 06:22 (eight years ago)

i feel scared

marcos, Wednesday, 9 November 2016 06:28 (eight years ago)

i think we live a very dangerous moment and i don't know if this post-ww2 period of relative equilibrium is going to hold much longer. i hope i'm just being hyperbolic but it seems like we're heading towards some scary times. what i learnt from my great-grandparents was that the bonds of society are tenuous and easily frayed and that when they collapse they can explode in danger + violence. i hope we get through the next few years + are able to minimize what could surely be the worst yet to come.

Mordy, Wednesday, 9 November 2016 06:31 (eight years ago)

We've been pretty lucky to have 7 decades of relative peacefulness. This, along with other election results this year, just really shows people don't really give a fuck anymore, because they don't think the consequences will be that bad...

Jill, Wednesday, 9 November 2016 06:39 (eight years ago)

Rome took like 10-15 terrible rulers before it really hit the shitter iirc

The times they are a changing, perhaps (map), Wednesday, 9 November 2016 06:57 (eight years ago)

i think there will be a lot of hyperbole in the next few days, or accusations of hyperbole and emotional showboating anyway. but a candidate who explicitly positioned himself as refusing to be bound by democratic process (or basic respect for human rights) is about to become Commander-in-Chief of the US military. not sure there's enough hyperbole to cover that.

more fun than an Acclaimed Music poll (Noodle Vague), Wednesday, 9 November 2016 06:58 (eight years ago)

I'm fairly certain we're not facing Syria or Venezeula and we're not facing 1938 Europe or 1860 America. Which isn't to say things don't look terribly bleak but it does make sense to put it into some context.

Mordy, Wednesday, 9 November 2016 06:59 (eight years ago)

the damage will likely not be so dramatic or immediate, sure. but i have a real feeling of not knowing how far this will go or where it can end

more fun than an Acclaimed Music poll (Noodle Vague), Wednesday, 9 November 2016 07:03 (eight years ago)

I'm more concerned about the Frank Gaffney / Peter Thiel dream team whispering in his ear than Trump himself. I'm not sure this will be a definitive break from GWB, just a horrible magnification of its worst excesses. And we're still dealing with the fallout from the first time around.

The only positive recently has been Polish women showing that if you withdraw your labour from the market, you can stymie parts of a regressive platform. Six million people going on strike forced the government to shelve even more restrictive abortion laws. That kind of tactic might have a value in the US and UK over the next few years.

Bubba H.O.T.A.P.E (ShariVari), Wednesday, 9 November 2016 07:04 (eight years ago)

The only positive recently has been Polish women showing that if you withdraw your labour from the market, you can stymie parts of a regressive platform. Six million people going on strike forced the government to shelve even more restrictive abortion laws. That kind of tactic might have a value in the US and UK over the next few years.

― Bubba H.O.T.A.P.E (ShariVari), Wednesday, November 9, 2016 2:04 AM (four seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Sorry if people couldn't be arsed to vote in large numbers against Trump why would they care for such tactics? Life in Williamsburg and in Silicon Valley will continue to be pretty great I'm certain.

Van Horn Street, Wednesday, 9 November 2016 07:06 (eight years ago)

People did vote in fairly large numbers against Trump, Brexit, PiS, etc, but not large enough to stop them. The common theme with all of them is that they had enough of the public vote to win but (and I think this will be true of Trump as well) a majority of economically active people voted the other way. They have a power over and above their vote. I don't think it will do much to stop the wider economic programme or foreign policy catastrophes but on single issues it might be effective.

Bubba H.O.T.A.P.E (ShariVari), Wednesday, 9 November 2016 07:15 (eight years ago)

if i thought there were techno-puppeteers whispering into trump's ears that would almost make me feel a little better but i don't think he plans to listen to anyone. i hope ppl in nat sec can prevail on him to not withdraw from the world stage, or that if he does that putin at least shows some resistance. annexing south ossetia we can probably live with. all of ukraine? moldova? one thing that concerns/interests me is that it seems like now, maybe more than ever before in history, there is zero moral authority in the world. if i were a dictator or a fascist or i had a neighbor whose land i coveted or an ethnic group that i thought it would be convenient to ethnically cleanse, this seems like the perfect time to do it. who is going to stop you?

Mordy, Wednesday, 9 November 2016 07:16 (eight years ago)

not sure we should hope the type of nat sec people who are likely to have his ear see their suggestions prevail

k3vin k., Wednesday, 9 November 2016 07:20 (eight years ago)

you want to strike a balance but i'd like some guys in there who are maybe like "hey let's not detonate any tactical nukes in the field that seems like a bad idea" or "you know that torture thing didn't work out too great last time maybe let's avoid that one" or "hey let's just reassure japan and the saudis and maybe dissuade them from getting nukes"

Mordy, Wednesday, 9 November 2016 07:21 (eight years ago)

wonder how bibi feels right now. probably nervous. bennett is gonna be knocking on his door in a few minutes asking when they can start annexing area C.

Mordy, Wednesday, 9 November 2016 07:22 (eight years ago)

Yglesias bad a sad tweet about the difference between trump and brexit is that brexit at least won a majority

carthago delenda est (mayor jingleberries), Wednesday, 9 November 2016 07:25 (eight years ago)

I strongly suspect that someone will sit him down over the next few days and remind him how many of his colleagues depend on the military industrial complex for their seats. The projection of American power is unlikely to go anywhere. How that power is expressed is anyone's guess but I suppose I can forget about doing any business with Iran over the next four years.

Bubba H.O.T.A.P.E (ShariVari), Wednesday, 9 November 2016 07:30 (eight years ago)

ARPAIO OUT

brimstead, Wednesday, 9 November 2016 07:34 (eight years ago)

http://www.jpost.com/US-Elections/Donald-Trump/Likud-MKs-react-to-Trumps-victory-in-US-Presidential-Election-472088

After congratulating President-elect Donald Trump, and thanking defeated Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton for her friendship to Israel, Bayit Yehudi chairman and Education Minister Naftali Bennett said "the era of a Palestinian state is over."

"Trump's victory is an opportunity for Israel to immediately retract the notion of a Palestinian state in the center of the country, which would hurt our security and just cause. This is the position of the President-elect, as written in his platform, and it should be our policy, plain and simple," he wrote.

Mordy, Wednesday, 9 November 2016 13:33 (eight years ago)

this wolfgang munchau bit has also been doing the rounds

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CwzzYmNXEAAN6M8.jpg

ogmor, Wednesday, 9 November 2016 13:55 (eight years ago)

The world's most powerful person who is neither an authoritarian nor a nutjob is, as of this week, Angela Merkel. This is not good news.

Classic quote from German newspaper Die Zeit.

Wes Brodicus, Wednesday, 9 November 2016 15:48 (eight years ago)

yeah that is very sobering.

Van Horn Street, Wednesday, 9 November 2016 15:56 (eight years ago)

Huntington in 2004

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Cw1QafgXgAEI_MG.jpg:large

Mordy, Wednesday, 9 November 2016 17:04 (eight years ago)

In the Netherlands Wilders obv gloating about Trump's victory, calling it "another boost in the worldwide patriotic spring". We've elections in March next year. That will be fun :-/

Le Bateau Ivre, Wednesday, 9 November 2016 17:52 (eight years ago)

People will fight really hard to hold onto what they have, whatever shitty thing it is.

the last famous person you were surprised to discover was actually (man alive), Wednesday, 9 November 2016 18:14 (eight years ago)

The Netherlands got overrun by its more powerful neighbor the last time patriotic nationalism got up a big head of steam in Europe.

a little too mature to be cute (Aimless), Wednesday, 9 November 2016 22:07 (eight years ago)

It's so weird this worldwide international nationalism right I feel like we've barely touched on it but it's obv very real. Is it comparable to Germany Japan and Italy or is this some weird new thing? What do Russian patriots and US patriots and French patriots really have in common? It's really international white supremacism isn't t?

Mordy, Wednesday, 9 November 2016 22:10 (eight years ago)

Describing anything this complex as 'just' anything does not feel particularly productive.

Bubba H.O.T.A.P.E (ShariVari), Wednesday, 9 November 2016 22:17 (eight years ago)

Is it comparable to Germany Japan and Italy or is this some weird new thing?

the obvious difference is that this new nationalism seems more concerned with a kind of isolationism, retrenchment, and the like. WW2 Japan, Italy, and Germany were more or less embarking on colonial adventures, no? at the very least the whole "autarky" idea which drove hitler and his ilk is surely a player here but i have seen no desire for expansionism, or securing "lebensraum" or any of that. it would well be that this represents merely an internal momentum that will eventually turn outward but it's hard to say.

ryan, Wednesday, 9 November 2016 22:27 (eight years ago)

i have seen no desire for expansionism, or securing "lebensraum" or any of that.

Russian patriots were mentioned.

The Doug Walters of Crime (Tom D.), Wednesday, 9 November 2016 22:40 (eight years ago)

failure to integrate restive Muslim populations in Europe is obvious #1 driver, I think. maybe even in US too. there's a strong desire to make this problem "just go away"

not (yet) driven by desire for military adventuring, if anything the opposite

it me, Wednesday, 9 November 2016 22:42 (eight years ago)

maybe even in US too.

What, all 1% of them?

The Doug Walters of Crime (Tom D.), Wednesday, 9 November 2016 22:44 (eight years ago)

I thought the US has done an admirable job integrating our Muslim citizens and might have been a model.

Mordy, Wednesday, 9 November 2016 22:48 (eight years ago)

(Not to say there were no problems just comparably that the melting pot model might still be resilient)

Mordy, Wednesday, 9 November 2016 22:49 (eight years ago)

Possibly because there's so few of them?

The Doug Walters of Crime (Tom D.), Wednesday, 9 November 2016 22:52 (eight years ago)

i think as this century goes on we're gonna see ever greater pressure put on the distinction (increasingly explicit) between those are afforded the benefits of the security apparatus of the modern nation state and those who will be reduced, essentially, to barbarians at the gate. hope i shuffle off before it gets worse but it will.

ryan, Wednesday, 9 November 2016 22:54 (eight years ago)

Also they seem, from the the perspective of the UK, more middle class. More like the Indian community in the UK. (xp)

The Doug Walters of Crime (Tom D.), Wednesday, 9 November 2016 22:56 (eight years ago)

on an optimistic note, however, i think we're about to see, in the US at least, a real revival of progressive politics at the grass roots level--trump will have his own version of the tea party to deal with. whether this accelerates the rightward drift or slows it down is impossible to say.

ryan, Wednesday, 9 November 2016 22:57 (eight years ago)

World population predictions suggest you're right.

nickn, Wednesday, 9 November 2016 23:01 (eight years ago)

Re your first point.

nickn, Wednesday, 9 November 2016 23:01 (eight years ago)

yeah, and the "security" idea may be the key to really fleshing out how this differs from the 30s. this is about drawing the ladder up after you.

ryan, Wednesday, 9 November 2016 23:04 (eight years ago)

Possibly because there's so few of them?

also a lot more space, also geographically isolated: when the US pulls some shit in the middle east it is Europe that has to clean up after.

AdamVania (Adam Bruneau), Wednesday, 9 November 2016 23:08 (eight years ago)

What, all 1% of them?

not saying it's rational, but my sense is that an overwhelming majority of Americans want a complete stop to further Muslim immigration to the US, although can't/won't admit this in public. I think this is a wedge issue

other contributors, specific to US:

* dismay at recent riots, strong desire to keep crime rate low. Fear of a return to early 90s crime rates looms large in the minds of older Americans, especially property owners. yes it's racist
* street-level knowledge of Mexican black-tar heroin distribution rings and frustration at meaningful law enforcement efforts to curb them (think this underreported issue might have swung Ohio and PA)
* frustration with PC witch hunts, desire never to hear word "microaggression" again, don't want to lose job over a stray tweet
* visceral, gut-level hatred of HRC

it me, Thursday, 10 November 2016 00:00 (eight years ago)

also—and this is worldwide—a sense that the left no longer has any ideas, and indeed, that what's called the "left" is just a placeholder for centrist, technocratic, ineffective political management

it me, Thursday, 10 November 2016 00:08 (eight years ago)


* frustration with PC witch hunts, desire never to hear word "microaggression" again, don't want to lose job over a stray tweet

Think there has been a massive failure with this, it's true - failure to communicate the fact that most/all of us humans still have some level of sexism / racism / prejudice and that it's all of our duty as rational human beings to recognise and deal with that. There has been a tendency to pull out somebody's off-colour remark or bad-taste joke and go after them as "the enemy" - the (silent) reaction of many is going to be that they've said similar things before and are scared they will be next - witch-hunts do not lead to the needed self-questioning, and this needs to be recognised quickly. (Want to be clear that I'm not saying we should in any way compromise with genuine shitbags or give white males special treatment, in case anyone was wondering)

Camaraderie at Arms Length, Thursday, 10 November 2016 00:50 (eight years ago)

a placeholder for centrist, technocratic, ineffective political management

tbf, as government goes, this is one of the most benign formulations any of us is ever likely to live under. just about anything we exchange this for will be worse.

a little too mature to be cute (Aimless), Thursday, 10 November 2016 00:53 (eight years ago)

It's so weird this worldwide international nationalism right I feel like we've barely touched on it but it's obv very real. Is it comparable to Germany Japan and Italy or is this some weird new thing?

Key difference I suppose is that 30s Axis countries didn't have the same historical perspective on 30s Axis countries that we do. Well, duh. Obviously. But seems worth clarifying? Mussolini didn't have to deal with people comparing him to Mussolini, or have to sell himself to people who knew that Mussolini was a bad thing.

What do Russian patriots and US patriots and French patriots really have in common? It's really international white supremacism isn't t?

Well, re: Russia: in a country on a whole other scale to most, several decades of Soviet communism (never really tried before, a historically new thing) flat-out eradicate traditional bourgeois liberalism (its people, its institutions, the very idea itself). Then communism is wiped out, with no concern for what actually gets left over. Leaving what? Nationalism in a weird, purified form.

As to France, well. Assuming the 19th century situation underlies and to some extent determines the 21st century situation. The British Empire was paternalistic towards its subjects. Within that there is at least a route towards a genuinely fraternal relationship later. Compare to the French Empire ...? Going back further into the past of each country, could also compare our patchy, organic, wooly semi-secularism-or-is-it to France's one fell swoop highly abstract and centrally planned secularism (as influences on how things play out today).

Never changed username before (cardamon), Thursday, 10 November 2016 01:14 (eight years ago)

I was listening to an interesting interview with someone (possibly Alex Zaitchik) who said that a lot of the Trump supporters he spoke to saw 'political correctness' not as a tool for combating racism but as a shared language used by liberals both to mask their own racism and to exclude anyone who didn't 'get it' from polite society. It's a bad take but probably one that needs to be kept in mind.

Talking about "Russian nationalism" as 'a thing' is close to meaningless. Russia has a number of competing strains of nationalism. The government form does have some fairly traditional links to post-imperial anxiety, defence, declining birthrate, etc, etc, as well as harsh laws against undocumented workers but it's also the default party for millions of Muslim / non-white Russians, has built extremely strong alliances with Muslim power bases, has a Minister of Defence (and possible future leader) from an Asian Buddhist/Animist minority (though he is probably orthodox), has actively courted Jewish business and religious leaders and has good ties with Israel, etc. The capital-letters Russian Nationalism of Zhirinovsky, etc, is much closer to the traditional international far right but there's also a strain of what i interpret as white nationalism / antisemitism in a lot of the 'liberal' opposition to Putin (Navalny, etc) who resent what they see as un-European influences on the country.

What underpins most of the mainstream nationalism (in the anti-free trade, pro-nationalisation, Russia must be strong and independent, keep your nose out of our business, sense) is the complete, nightmarish failure of what was presented as internationalist liberalism in the 90s.

France has always had a vocal minority of people who have been happy to vote for a fascist Le Pen. Would Marine have as much support as she does now without that traditional racist / French exceptionalist strain? No. Would she have less support if France didn't have the same youth unemployment rate as Portugal - with a quarter of young people unable to find a job? Probably not.

It's possibly more interesting to look at the huge success of antisemitic / conspiracy-theorising Catholic revanchism in Poland where, if you look at the data, you'd think the economy has been performing substantially better than almost anywhere in Europe, the previous government was a model of efficiency, etc. One of the things that keeps getting called out is the fact that the rising tide has not lifted all boats - rural areas, low-skilled workers and pensioners have all had to deal with huge increases in the cost of living without seeing many of the benefits of the booming urban zones.

Does that explain Orban? Does it explain the Baltic state rehabilitating their Nazi war criminals? Is centering "whiteness" a mistake in itself given the rise of populist neo-Fascism in India and the Philippines? idk.

Bubba H.O.T.A.P.E (ShariVari), Thursday, 10 November 2016 08:38 (eight years ago)

Would Marine have as much support as she does now without that traditional racist / French exceptionalist strain? No. Would she have less support if France didn't have the same youth unemployment rate as Portugal - with a quarter of young people unable to find a job? Probably not.

That should have been 'probably', obvs.

Bubba H.O.T.A.P.E (ShariVari), Thursday, 10 November 2016 08:57 (eight years ago)

also—and this is worldwide—a sense that the left no longer has any ideas

Most of this thread is over my head but maybe the problem isn't that "the left" is out of ideas but that they've already all been rejected or made to seem so fringe-y that everyone has decided to stick with predatory capitalism or whatever system enriches the already powerful and is painted as more "reasonable" than open borders, universal basic income, participatory structures, socialism, etc etc....

If authoritarianism is Romania's ironing board, then (in orbit), Thursday, 10 November 2016 14:07 (eight years ago)

the left's place in mainstream politics has been aggressively and systematically co-opted. we saw a little of the friction caused by the left trying to reassert itself with sanders but much more exaggerated and transparent with the reaction to corbyn in the uk.

Roberto Spiralli, Thursday, 10 November 2016 14:18 (eight years ago)

just rehashing here but the "right wing drift" is in 2 parts, chronic rightward drift of the centre and acute rise of the extreme right as part of the overall reaction to the centre. the sidelining of the left is a big part of the former of course, but when the latter occurs it makes the rightward reaction more obvious and effective because the alternative of the leftward reaction is more obscure and marginalized

Roberto Spiralli, Thursday, 10 November 2016 14:24 (eight years ago)

The left has tons of ideas! Obamacare, single payer healthcare, free college, affordable college, universal basic income, police accountability, cap and trade, carbon taxes, investments in green energy, bolstering the epa, immigration amnesty, a three pronged approach, pacifist foreign policy, cautious foreign policy, leading from behind... The trumpist right is nearly down on ideas, in fact, they're down to one: Build a wall. But it's a big one. Problem is, the left has no one big idea anymore, instead it's a coalition of small ideas, but too many people treat their idea as the one big idea that should be more important than anything, and then go away and skulk when inevitably that fails to become universally accepted.

Frederik B, Thursday, 10 November 2016 14:45 (eight years ago)

lol most that stuff u just listed was pilloried as the crazy rantings of deluded Bernie Bros. who don't know "how government really works"

AdamVania (Adam Bruneau), Thursday, 10 November 2016 14:52 (eight years ago)

Yep, and I've also included a lot of clintonist compromise, which was pilloried as selloutism and just as bad as Trump. That's kinda my point.

Frederik B, Thursday, 10 November 2016 14:56 (eight years ago)

xp Yes that was my point above. Those are sound ideas afaict but have been pushed into the margins and discredited by...whomever could be said to control the space of discourse. Traditional media? Right and center-right electeds and Koch-funded interest groups masquerading as policy makers? Idk.

If authoritarianism is Romania's ironing board, then (in orbit), Thursday, 10 November 2016 15:14 (eight years ago)

a lot of the Trump supporters he spoke to saw 'political correctness' not as a tool for combating racism but as a shared language used by liberals both to mask their own racism and to exclude anyone who didn't 'get it' from polite society

I think the Trump supporters perceive this accurately, FWIW.

Indeed, the more I think about it, the more I think this is what sunk the left. Trump's ability to withstand a PC-witch hunt/economic blackmail was key to his early popularity, and it drove a lot of people to the polls.

On the other hand, self-congratulatory "political incorrectness" morphed into vicious, open racism by the campaign's end. I expect this will get worse before it gets better.

it me, Thursday, 10 November 2016 16:49 (eight years ago)

anyone who didn't 'get it' from polite society

Wtf constitutes polite society when all their discourse is shallowly encoded racism?? Letting ppl feel good about their bigotry because challenging it is "impolite"? Ceding over the space to talk about politics or policy because it's considered a private matter, so that ppl can never be confronted about their prejudice and hate?

If authoritarianism is Romania's ironing board, then (in orbit), Thursday, 10 November 2016 17:00 (eight years ago)

otm

his eye is on despair-o (Jon not Jon), Thursday, 10 November 2016 17:01 (eight years ago)

A friend of mine from another school says that what feels craziest to her--she knows some of her colleagues are Trump fans--is that instead of mourning together, everyone is very carefully not talking about it. The narrative for a lot of schools in NYC is being united and giving time to comfort children's fears, let students say what they feel, ask if their families will be safe, doing healing activities, and gearing up to protect our communities. But in places where not everyone is united (ie let's be real, places with exurban/suburban white ppl on staff), it's this big off-limits "controversial" topic lest any of our racist colleagues feel impugned.

If authoritarianism is Romania's ironing board, then (in orbit), Thursday, 10 November 2016 17:08 (eight years ago)

Letting ppl feel good about their bigotry because challenging it is "impolite"

There's a difference between this, which is constructive, and the co-ordinated public shaming campaigns that were a recurrent public feature of Obama's second term. There was a lot of bullying from the left, and a lot of hypocritical scolding. New York media was particularly bad, and I say this as a participating member. Academia was worse.

Anti-racist arguments must continue to be made. This is especially important now, with openly bigoted elements of American society in ascendence. But the tone has to change. There's proof it doesn't work.

it me, Thursday, 10 November 2016 17:12 (eight years ago)

I think I might be really far outside of whatever you're talking about. I can't think of anything I know of that qualifies as PC haranguing or hypocritical scolding or w/e, I guess outside of thinkpieces on like xojane or whatever crappy sources with low standards for content quality.

If authoritarianism is Romania's ironing board, then (in orbit), Thursday, 10 November 2016 17:15 (eight years ago)

I try to argue with friends and colleagues about racist and bigoted attitudes and policies. Have done it a lot since Brexit and try to do it respectfully and honestly. There is a swathe of people who are massively butthurt and angry at the mere suggestion that bigoted opinions are bigoted. How do you "reach" them? How do you hold a discussion with people who demand their entitlement to think in terms of prejudice and generalized hate?

more fun than an Acclaimed Music poll (Noodle Vague), Thursday, 10 November 2016 17:26 (eight years ago)

it feels like nothing works unless those people have to live and work and hang out with people of the groups about whom they are bigoted

his eye is on despair-o (Jon not Jon), Thursday, 10 November 2016 17:27 (eight years ago)

I think I might be really far outside of whatever you're talking about. I can't think of anything I know of that qualifies as PC haranguing or hypocritical scolding or w/e, I guess outside of thinkpieces on like xojane or whatever crappy sources with low standards for content quality.

I think this is otm, fwiw.

What's described as political correctness is overwhelmingly the kind of strong, critical, educationally-focused challenge to bigotry, both hard and soft, that should be taking place, imo. It's unequivocally a good thing and, for the most part, despite an over-reliance on academic jargon at times, done in the right way. The kind of performative talk you occasionally see from (white) clickbait commentators celebrating the demise of the white man as a relevant political actor is (obviously with hindsight) wrong and could barely be more counterproductive if it tried. The idea that white working class interests and the interests of minorities are necessarily in conflict, and no amount of learning or proactive attempts at forging solidarity can change that, is poisonous and needs to be confronted with almost as much vehemence as racism itself. It has a much wider reach than the kind of useful discussions taking place in schools, offices, etc.

I think there are broader / more common issues with the way that race is discussed in liberal circles but that's probably a discussion for a different day.

Bubba H.O.T.A.P.E (ShariVari), Thursday, 10 November 2016 17:34 (eight years ago)

i think an anti-PC backlash probably has something to do with the right-wing drift but i think it's a very very minor piece. after all the PC policing, no matter how annoying or misguided it may be, is a response to something already in the culture - the bigotry it's trying to address. it's like saying that blowing air canisters at the burning building caused the fire - at most they made the fire worse but they didn't light the match.

Mordy, Thursday, 10 November 2016 17:43 (eight years ago)

I've been surprised by post-election discussions with a priori "liberal" American friends, Sanders supporters, who are "I told you so"ing me that making the election a referendum on race or gender would backfire because white men people have "opinions" about those that may sound, but are not, problematic, and have not been addressed respectively enough. "Evidence": campus wars (that as a tenured humanities professor I seem to have missed), hate speech laws, people feeling bad about having weird feeling about trans people, etc. People got upset and voted Trump. Hmm.

So yeah, discussions of race and gender in liberal circles : a good topic : because "the left" contains multitudes here, and going forward we're going to need to find our ways through this.

droit au butt (Euler), Thursday, 10 November 2016 17:45 (eight years ago)

i have a five year old and when i harangue him or raise my voice or make him feel guilty, it backfires and it makes it worse. what works is when i quietly roll my eyes and adopt a gentle tone and say the same things but express them in a more positive way and talk him down. so i think maybe sometimes the way to talk to bigoted assholes is to talk to them like the children they are.

nomar, Thursday, 10 November 2016 17:49 (eight years ago)

like they deserve a tongue-lashing, but i always worry that it just makes them more angry and drives them away and into the waiting arms of breitbart and the like.

nomar, Thursday, 10 November 2016 17:50 (eight years ago)

The idea that white working class interests and the interests of minorities are necessarily in conflict, and no amount of learning or proactive attempts at forging solidarity can change that, is poisonous and needs to be confronted with almost as much vehemence as racism itself. It has a much wider reach than the kind of useful discussions taking place in schools, offices, etc.

― Bubba H.O.T.A.P.E (ShariVari), Thursday, November 10, 2016 12:34 PM (thirteen minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

otm.

Van Horn Street, Thursday, 10 November 2016 17:50 (eight years ago)

i have a five year old and when i harangue him or raise my voice or make him feel guilty, it backfires and it makes it worse. what works is when i quietly roll my eyes and adopt a gentle tone and say the same things but express them in a more positive way and talk him down. so i think maybe sometimes the way to talk to bigoted assholes is to talk to them like the children they are.

I agree with the impulse here but the basic condescension of this is exactly what ppl find insulting and dismissive! And yet, if you aren't supposed to "harangue" them (which I guess is anything that makes them feel embarrassed/persecuted/defensive??) and you're not supposed to patronize them, how the fuck are you supposed to interact with people who have said by their actions that racism and misogyny are acceptable or even desirable.

If authoritarianism is Romania's ironing board, then (in orbit), Thursday, 10 November 2016 18:04 (eight years ago)

ShariVari otm there

AdamVania (Adam Bruneau), Thursday, 10 November 2016 18:05 (eight years ago)

i'm not saying it would work, btw! i think racism is such a deeply entrenched thing that certain segments of the adult population are beyond repair and beyond hope.

nomar, Thursday, 10 November 2016 18:05 (eight years ago)

Also let's face it none of us has unlimited wells of emotional energy to hold these assholes' hands through this. I mean as white ppl it's our job to go out and corral our idiots and bring them into the light however we have to, but as individuals we have limits of how many times we can nod patiently at "It's not about race!" or some goddamn bullshit and be patient teachers. Personally I'm on the verge of tears 24/7 but I work with ppl who say things like "This school started to go downhill when the Black kids started coming here" and "No one helped my grandparents who spoke Italian, so why should we translate for immigrant families?" so that uses me up p much from jump.

If authoritarianism is Romania's ironing board, then (in orbit), Thursday, 10 November 2016 18:07 (eight years ago)

like i sorta said in one of the other half dozen threads about this miserable week, i think in an era where people have increasing access to media that tells them what they want to hear and only presents evidence that supports their beliefs, it only gets more difficult.

nomar, Thursday, 10 November 2016 18:07 (eight years ago)

i can't even look at any Facebook post which mentions the election and then i see 20 comments bc i know i'm going to read something exhausting and infuriating. i can't even talk to my cousins anymore.

nomar, Thursday, 10 November 2016 18:09 (eight years ago)

I don't believe this drift in question is going to be solved by hand-holding or outreach. It is a response to major global issues, population shifts, maybe climate change effects, changing economies, etc. If someone votes for Le Pen because they want all Muslims out of France there's no amount of soft-talk you can give them to change their mind. So if you find that kind of work exhausting - and I can understand why you would - I wouldn't even bother. At best it's a drop in the bucket but more likely it's just nothingness to fill the empty space of despair in a world where our actions seem to lack any real impact.

Mordy, Thursday, 10 November 2016 18:09 (eight years ago)

i feel like living in los angeles my voice has zero impact, i don't talk to anyone in person who needs convincing. everyone pretty much agrees on how shitty this all is. meanwhile, somewhere else everyone is agreeing on how awesome it is. and we'll only meet online and that never ends well.

nomar, Thursday, 10 November 2016 18:10 (eight years ago)

We're all caught in a tidal wave and some ppl are saying we just need to bail the water out with our little beach buckets and that'll keep us afloat. I posit a. we are at the mercy of an unfolding history that we can only observe not effect and b. that history is complex and we barely understand enough of it to even know what we're looking at. Actually I think Benjamin's thing is probably closer to what I want to express here --

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4b/Klee,_paul,_angelus_novus,_1920.jpg/240px-Klee,_paul,_angelus_novus,_1920.jpg

Mordy, Thursday, 10 November 2016 18:11 (eight years ago)

io is especially otm here but yes to everything posted in the last 30 mins. Even patient arguing feels like a privileged response

more fun than an Acclaimed Music poll (Noodle Vague), Thursday, 10 November 2016 18:12 (eight years ago)

The protoypical voter who decided this election was a white, middle-class Rust Belt independent who voted for Obama in 08 and perhaps 12, then switched to Trump in 16. (Think Ken Bone.)

These are decent people and not deliberately racist. However, they often hold certain unexamined assumptions that are startlingly bigoted. Obama was able to reach them, partly through patience, partly through even-handedness, and partly by simply embodying in his person an effective counterexample to many of their worst prejudices.

Clinton, who had a more imperial, entitled tone, was not.

it me, Thursday, 10 November 2016 18:18 (eight years ago)

tbqh, although personal outreach (particularly to friends and family) is useful wherever possible, it's never going to be sufficient. The idea that universal tolerance at an individual level would mean the death of racism is one the areas where i think a lot of well-meaning liberal analysis goes off track. As things stand, i don't really see much alternative to trying to proactively forge solidarity through mutual self interest - whether that's organised labour, breaking down barriers to education, healthcare, etc. It's obviously easier said than done but that has to be where the left's attention is.

Bubba H.O.T.A.P.E (ShariVari), Thursday, 10 November 2016 18:36 (eight years ago)

I think that's right. Approaching racism as an individual moral failing may be accurate but it doesn't address that a lot of it is driven by a zero-sum attitude towards access to dwindling resources. If your race is your one and only ticket to be part of the "in" group, the ones deserving of protection, then to attack a racist directly will in fact exacerbate that anxiety. You can't demand empathy from others unless you offer it first.

ryan, Thursday, 10 November 2016 18:48 (eight years ago)

Even patient arguing feels like a privileged response

Over here in brexit land, behind the racism is usually big personal problems/money problems/mix of that the person has and I wd say you shouldn't feel like you have to be able to tackle those problems if you aren't their psychologist therefore perhaps engagement on an individual level should be swapped for something else

Never changed username before (cardamon), Thursday, 10 November 2016 18:53 (eight years ago)

I should add: you are under no obligation to offer empathy to a racist

ryan, Thursday, 10 November 2016 18:57 (eight years ago)

That's fine, I have no intentions in that direction anyway.

The Doug Walters of Crime (Tom D.), Thursday, 10 November 2016 18:58 (eight years ago)

I rarely have political arguments with people I disagree with this much and there are people I know who it would take such a heroic effort to possibly convince them that you'd be throwing away your own life in the process, so I just end up barely talking to them at all. My brother has worn down my father about some things but it taken a very long time and they're always around each other.

Again, I'm not the most experienced but I'd suggest trying to appeal to people's compassion if they have any. There was a guy online I was friendly with who did this racial caricature on an art site and I asked him if he had any black friends and how they might feel about his drawing. He said that convinced him to take it down but if I called him a bigot I think he may have stubbornly kept it up. I'm not sure though.

Today I tried on another forum to get the Trump supporters to consider the non-whites who have been physically attacked by Trump supporters and they were incredibly dismissive and made a bunch of piss poor arguments, including a middle eastern guy with scary far right sympathies. It's going to be weird there because those Trump supporters are some of the most frequent posters.

Robert Adam Gilmour, Thursday, 10 November 2016 18:59 (eight years ago)

I mean a crucial thing here is lots of these people believe that they are not racist (and that racism is a false charge always being leveled at them)

Never changed username before (cardamon), Thursday, 10 November 2016 19:06 (eight years ago)

So they're primed to dismiss these criticisms

Never changed username before (cardamon), Thursday, 10 November 2016 19:06 (eight years ago)

I don't think of arguing issues with people ad a solution so much as a question of moral honesty. I spend a lot of time, in pubs for example, with people I like and who want to talk about politics. Can't just nod and acquiesce.

more fun than an Acclaimed Music poll (Noodle Vague), Thursday, 10 November 2016 19:15 (eight years ago)

i understand your point and i myself exercise that (but not most of the time). but nodding does wonders for understanding the inner functions of a person's thoughts, especially over a pint

F♯ A♯ (∞), Thursday, 10 November 2016 19:29 (eight years ago)

My partner has profited from betting on Brexit and Trump now. I'm thinking of lumping on Le Pen just to jinx the fascist gravy train, or get myself out of the overdraft - not exactly win-win more like win-lose ore lose-win:(

calzino, Thursday, 10 November 2016 19:46 (eight years ago)

there are people I know who it would take such a heroic effort to possibly convince them that you'd be throwing away your own life in the process, so I just end up barely talking to them at all.

"Behind every woke straight man are 25 exhausted feminists" or something like that.

If authoritarianism is Romania's ironing board, then (in orbit), Thursday, 10 November 2016 19:54 (eight years ago)

in general I think you changes people's minds not through arguing points but by offering a more compelling picture of the world. the space and patience that requires are v difficult to find now that any attention space is saturated and there are so many stories out there that you can easily find an overwhelming tide of material to support any view. it's striking if you try to compare the rise of populist authoritarian politics now bears with the 20s&30s bc the people drawn to it now are living vastly more comfortable lives in much more stable polities. people are awful at realising in what respects they've got a good deal. an insomniac media doesn't help, and media/discourse/thinking in general is structurally predisposed towards alarmism and instilling a sense of crisis. this sort of politics depends on spectacle and society has become v spectacular, so it's easy to see why people's confidence in democracy has weakened

ogmor, Thursday, 10 November 2016 20:37 (eight years ago)

booming post

his eye is on despair-o (Jon not Jon), Thursday, 10 November 2016 20:42 (eight years ago)

Guys - I am not thread policing at all and I'm very happy if this thread can be used to give comfort of any sort to any/all of us working out our issues but I do kinda wonder if we could move more away from the question of "how to change things" to the question of "what is going on / why are things this way" and particularly with an eye on this as a global phenomenon as opposed to a uniquely American one. Because there are specific reasons Trump won that are unique to the US, but from a long view / as part of a trend / those unique reasons don't always follow. Or maybe the question of "how do you convince people not to be racist" would make more sense in broader terms if it was "how do you convince people not to be xenophobic" which is in some ways a much scarier question that is much harder to answer?

Mordy, Thursday, 10 November 2016 20:43 (eight years ago)

nb that I do think the Internet and social media news has a role to play in this as well tho I wonder if its more amplifying these other things rather than being the source

Mordy, Thursday, 10 November 2016 20:44 (eight years ago)

xxp I'm impressed you can even read it, at least today I can blame being so jumbled on being ill

ogmor, Thursday, 10 November 2016 20:45 (eight years ago)

What ShariVari and ryan say resonates with me: building class solidarity is the task going forward, across communities. Then there's another way forward besides fascism and neo-liberalism.

droit au butt (Euler), Thursday, 10 November 2016 20:45 (eight years ago)

Like I want to say is: what's going on globally is that communism remains discredited, but it's needed as an option more than ever.

droit au butt (Euler), Thursday, 10 November 2016 20:47 (eight years ago)

in general I think you changes people's minds not through arguing points but by offering a more compelling picture of the world.

I've tried really hard to do this with some white parents at my school w/r/t their feelings about both Black Americans and our immigrant families. I've offered them the chance to be on a winning side as our programs succeed. I've tried to celebrate them pre-emptively for supporting minority groups. I've shown that this is the only tactic that will result in their OWN success as a parent organization and how robust their group could be if lots of ppl pitched in, how much of a relief it would be to share the work, and more.

I never get anything more than tepid agreement for 10 minutes until a competing opinion/factoid is ranted by another person in the office. I've decided they don't actually WANT a better future. They like this one because it makes them victims and gives them something to endlessly complain and bicker about.

If authoritarianism is Romania's ironing board, then (in orbit), Thursday, 10 November 2016 20:50 (eight years ago)

xp the 'personalized feed' structure of facebook, twitter, etc. certainly enables people to create their own echo chambers which makes it harder to fight back against viral misinformation

ciderpress, Thursday, 10 November 2016 20:51 (eight years ago)

Like I want to say is: what's going on globally is that communism remains discredited, but it's needed as an option more than ever.

OTM the protectionism/victim-ism is coming from resource scarcity in ppl's lives and that is the fault of capitalism on an individual and a global scale.

If authoritarianism is Romania's ironing board, then (in orbit), Thursday, 10 November 2016 20:52 (eight years ago)

I was listening to an interesting interview with someone (possibly Alex Zaitchik) who said that a lot of the Trump supporters he spoke to saw 'political correctness' not as a tool for combating racism but as a shared language used by liberals both to mask their own racism and to exclude anyone who didn't 'get it' from polite society. It's a bad take but probably one that needs to be kept in mind.

I think this view is very widespread. I used to work in a call-centre, the staff overwhelmingly white, overwhelmingly working class, mostly female, the people running the place and making decisions were remote and rarely communicated with us directly, but were palpably more middle class, and overwhelmingly male. Pretty much the defining feature of the place was that we were constantly being ordered to carry out our work duties in ways which seemed obviously counterproductive, or which seemed to have been decided by people who didn't properly understand what was going on at the customer facing end of the business. Instructions on how to do certain tasks were constantly being changed or completely reversed, usually with no explanation to us of why, people were very aware that they were not judged important enough for it to be worth explaining why a procedure had been changed, they were just told to get on with it. The general atmosphere was one of sullen acquiescence and resentment. Every year we would have this mandatory diversity training course and it was the exact same thing: being talked down to by middle class people, my co-workers often (genuinely imo) did not understand why certain things we were warned against were offensive, but there way a sullen acceptance and knowledge that arguing about it would not make any difference, awareness that they were not important enough to be given explanations why certain things were wrong beyond "because I say so", and the griping in private after it was finished. News stories about some celebrity being censured for a politically incorrect gaffe would be received in a similar way, as some remote capricious authority coming down on people for not following a set of incomprehensible and nonsensical rules. And a lot, most, of these people did have ugly hateful, racist views that needed challenging, I don't know how you go about challenging those without reinforcing this resentment.

soref, Thursday, 10 November 2016 20:53 (eight years ago)

A lot of them had positive things to say about UKIP, though I get the impression that most of them thought the party was too incompetent to vote for. I imagine that a lot of them voted for brexit, and that this idea of a remote incomprehensible bureaucracy that was dictating their lives would have resonated with them.

soref, Thursday, 10 November 2016 20:54 (eight years ago)

Alternatives to neo-liberalism, ones that are more humane and people-focused, need a rebranding. In the US words like "communism" and "socialism" carry too much baggage, especially since they carry the legacy of failed states and atrocities. I remember joining the YCL in 7th grade in the 90s during my more idealistic days, and dropped out in high school because a lot of people won't buy anything with the word "communism" or "socialism" attached to it. It's dead the in water, it was back then, and it still is today.

What I realized back then, and I still think it's true now, is that something entirely new needs to be created with new terminology. Until that happens I doubt we'll get our better alternatives.

larry appleton, Thursday, 10 November 2016 20:58 (eight years ago)

it's striking if you try to compare the rise of populist authoritarian politics now bears with the 20s&30s bc the people drawn to it now are living vastly more comfortable lives in much more stable polities. people are awful at realising in what respects they've got a good deal.

been really fascinated by this idea for a while. how do you square the generalized anxiety in the air with the historically unprecedented levels of comfort and security? (this does not, obviously, apply to everyone but it does apply to most white people in, say, wisconsin.) the day to day experience of risk is low, and yet we are beset with overwhelming fears of catastrophic risk, system failure, encroaching dark futures. there's something about the current order that needs individuals to persist in a heightened state of alertness and anxiety in a way that i've been trying to track back to the protestant ethic but you needn't really get that academic about it. when people are pulled away from each other, when all we have is a cult of individual entrepreneurship, the result is this lonely anxious misery which inevitably finds its ready outlets. it's not just poverty imo, it's a kind of fear that and isolation that runs deeper.

ryan, Thursday, 10 November 2016 21:17 (eight years ago)

Isn't this why inequality (within a given polity) is more poisonous than a notional standard of living, expressed globally?

more fun than an Acclaimed Music poll (Noodle Vague), Thursday, 10 November 2016 21:29 (eight years ago)

I was talking to my therapist a bit about this last night. I experience tremendous anxiety despite living an extraordinarily comfortable life and I think some of it is that in my gut I realize how tenuous and fragile society and our stability is and so this comfort almost feels like a forgery or a mirage - it's illusory and I'm constantly waiting for the fog to lift and see that no, actually we now live in the apocalypse. I wonder how much that is true for a lot of people - that it's not /normal/ to be so safe and so it feels like it can't be real. The other big component I think is the West's cult of individuality and the general lack of sittlichtkeit that people have. It seems like so many ppl feel alienated from their families and their communities. You hear all the time about how it used to be that everyone knew their neighbors and now no one knows their neighbors, etc. That kind of loneliness I agree probably has something to do with it. I think maybe the third thing is just that we have failed to provide meaning for people - we have mostly let religion become a side project that is less and less relevant to people's day to day life and we don't have much in the way of national cohesiveness. I remember reading that Israelis have some of the highest reported rates of happiness in the world because they believe that where they are and what they are doing and what they are a part of is important and meaningful.

idk, ryan I think a lot of this overlaps with your post but some stray thoughts on the topic. I remember we discussed this question a little bit on the political philosophy thread not that long ago?

Mordy, Thursday, 10 November 2016 21:31 (eight years ago)

as an addendum: i don't know how afraid to be but the apocalyptic reaction on the left strikes me as possibly just feeding the same beast that's causing all this. i choose to be optimistic and see this moment as the traumatic birth of a new progressive political movement--hopefully a ferocious one. here, now, is a moment to articulate alternatives.

ryan, Thursday, 10 November 2016 21:33 (eight years ago)

I was listening to an interesting interview with someone (possibly Alex Zaitchik) who said that a lot of the Trump supporters he spoke to saw 'political correctness' not as a tool for combating racism but as a shared language used by liberals both to mask their own racism and to exclude anyone who didn't 'get it' from polite society.

this is not so far out of step with how the term was originally used by leftists

electric wight dorkestra (crüt), Thursday, 10 November 2016 21:36 (eight years ago)

that's all very well said, mordy. i lead a reasonably comfortable life too and suffer from lots of anxiety. part of my way of coping with it is to academically study the sociological roots of it. i'd like to go back to the likes of christopher lasch, auden's "age of anxiety," more weber, etc.

we need marxism without history, christianity without god, a pragmatism of compassion. not holding my breath.

ryan, Thursday, 10 November 2016 21:40 (eight years ago)

we have mostly let religion become a side project that is less and less relevant to people's day to day life

Or see it primarily as a weapon used by the right.

I absolutely get the lack of community as a driver of anxiety though - I live in a university town 2,000 miles from where I grew up. Nobody I know (primarily university faculty and staff) is from here originally, and the school is just big and well-known enough that everyone always has one foot out the door thinking they could end up somewhere even bigger or more prestigious; my wife is being recruited by two places right now, both much larger and one of them is probably top three in her field prestige-wise.

So nobody has any real long term community, or never puts down roots that go too deep. I know my neighbors fairly well, but they're all in the same situation - always pondering the next move. It makes me feel constantly edgy and unsettled despite having an objectively worry-free life.

joygoat, Thursday, 10 November 2016 21:52 (eight years ago)

"we need marxism without history, christianity without god, a pragmatism of compassion. not holding my breath."

or other ways of living those practices. See Charles Taylor's Ethics of Authenticity (originally The Malaises of Modernity) and A Catholic Modernity, and his A Secular Age for an even fuller story. Weber is important here.

droit au butt (Euler), Thursday, 10 November 2016 21:59 (eight years ago)

I imagine that a lot of them voted for brexit, and that this idea of a remote incomprehensible bureaucracy that was dictating their lives would have resonated with them.

I read a thing correlating Brexit voting with an external "locus of control", the belief that you don't have much control over the things that happen in your day-to-day life:
http://www.britishelectionstudy.com/bes-resources/brexit-britain-british-election-study-insights-from-the-post-eu-referendum-wave-of-the-bes-internet-panel/#.WCTq9_mLTIU

which I found interesting though I'm not sure how much can be read into it

(in general psychological terms I have a p. external LoC myself and kind of think "I have no control over the direction my life or anything else in this country is going in, so it would be nice if there was a structure outside this insane country to appeal to")

a passing spacecadet, Thursday, 10 November 2016 21:59 (eight years ago)

thanks Euler for the reccs! will check those out.

ryan, Thursday, 10 November 2016 22:03 (eight years ago)

yes - the death/absence of faith is v important. I feel like a patronizing dick when I tell people who have faith that I admire it but don't share it, but the problem I think isn't insincerity but an inability to articulate a secular equivalent. And I think we really need a secular equivalent

more fun than an Acclaimed Music poll (Noodle Vague), Thursday, 10 November 2016 22:06 (eight years ago)

yeah I mean I'm a practicing Catholic and I think secular alternatives are needed too

droit au butt (Euler), Thursday, 10 November 2016 22:11 (eight years ago)

I really hate to link to the_donald on here, so I'll just screenshot this to show you what they are up to today. Yeah, it's beyond grim.

http://i.imgur.com/lYCrktY.jpg

Camaraderie at Arms Length, Thursday, 10 November 2016 22:15 (eight years ago)

Thanks for sharing that. They understand that the stakes are worldwide so we should too. I've been doing a lot of thinking along the lines of what this means for the international order going forward. I feel like no one really bothered to think through it because no one really expected Trump to win. What will be the role of the UN and will it continue to exist / what is the new role of international authority / will all international relationships now boil down to might makes right. And what are the consequences of that for every major current geopolitical tension dormant and active? I think I read today that Trump was already making conciliatory gestures towards NATO and our Asian allies?

Mordy, Thursday, 10 November 2016 22:34 (eight years ago)

I think there's still an underlying assumption - and I'm probably clinging to it - that Trump will be reined in by the orthodoxy

more fun than an Acclaimed Music poll (Noodle Vague), Thursday, 10 November 2016 22:41 (eight years ago)

even the Republican orthodoxy though could seriously upend things. how long have they been calling for us to kick out the UN or withdraw funding? they like NATO because they like putting pressure on Russia but they dgaf about 99% of international diplomacy otherwise

Mordy, Thursday, 10 November 2016 22:44 (eight years ago)

i dont know about "reined in" but it's really less trump himself who scares me (i think he's a psychologically weak person and it's probably dawning on him at this very minute that he doesn't want this job anymore--he clearly has no capacity or patience for it) but the monstrous true-believer hacks to which he will delegate his authority. he strikes me as a fairly easy person to manipulate. he will be a weak president, but that doesn't mean his administration will be, unfortunately. the best case scenario strikes me as most likely: a really bad republican administration of the likes we have experienced before but one that will get rolled "bigly" in 2/4 years. (this is me bargaining with the future)

ryan, Thursday, 10 November 2016 22:48 (eight years ago)

(i mean, im no expert on this stuff, but there's certainly a way of interpreting the results of the election that spell major trouble for the GOP very soon. this crazy election was the 10% chance and it paid off for them...that kind of "luck" wont repeat itself) (again indulging myself here)

ryan, Thursday, 10 November 2016 22:52 (eight years ago)

another way of putting that is that it's hard to say it's a right wing "wave" when it's more or less the same minority of people who always vote republican who turned out. there was just inexplicable complacency on the other side. if trump pulled obama numbers i'd say otherwise.

ryan, Thursday, 10 November 2016 22:53 (eight years ago)

midterms not looking that great for gems http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/politics/ct-election-results-senate-20161108-story.html

incumbents usually win elections and in the next presidential election president trump will have the republican machine behind him 100%

we have no idea who the democrat candidate will be

harold melvin and the bluetones (jim in vancouver), Thursday, 10 November 2016 22:55 (eight years ago)

lol dems even

harold melvin and the bluetones (jim in vancouver), Thursday, 10 November 2016 22:55 (eight years ago)

Yeah don't get me wrong a lot of the Republican orthodoxy is definitely more noxious than Trump, this is cold comfort

more fun than an Acclaimed Music poll (Noodle Vague), Thursday, 10 November 2016 23:06 (eight years ago)

I'm not articulating fully cos I'm on my phone in the pub

more fun than an Acclaimed Music poll (Noodle Vague), Thursday, 10 November 2016 23:08 (eight years ago)

piaooc but its all <3

the kids are alt right (darraghmac), Thursday, 10 November 2016 23:27 (eight years ago)

I think there's still an underlying assumption - and I'm probably clinging to it - that Trump will be reined in by the orthodoxy

the opposite is more likely

it me, Thursday, 10 November 2016 23:29 (eight years ago)

I've been doing a lot of thinking along the lines of what this means for the international order going forward

fracturing of international alliances
controls on movements of capital, goods and people
less "interventionist" war, more straight-up "give us that" war (more war overall)
persecution of ethnic minorities worldwide
general abandoment of human decency

it's bad

it me, Thursday, 10 November 2016 23:39 (eight years ago)

the concept of nations allying will not end - there will be new/different alliances. maybe more isolationism but country's interests will continue to overlap.

Mordy, Thursday, 10 November 2016 23:49 (eight years ago)

this comfort almost feels like a forgery or a mirage - it's illusory and I'm constantly waiting for the fog to lift and see that no, actually we now live in the apocalypse

idk how far you can go with this before it becomes straight delusional. yr describing the plot of the matrix. idk I am not an anxious person at all and I think you can normally tell from hearing people mull over politics if they are. the idea that spiritual community performs a unique and essential role is politically conservative and imo deeply unhistorical. the social worlds my ancestors inhabited were much poorer, blander, restricted and fearful (they couldn't have any intercontinental back and forth like this for one). I don't think the fact that they would have considered themselves to be more in touch with god made their lives more meaningful. this seems like quite a tangent to a general rightwards drift in any case, I don't think it lines up very well with the demographics we're worrying about

ogmor, Friday, 11 November 2016 00:06 (eight years ago)

Maybe Matrix-like in the sense that living in such comfort while so much of the world does not is a kind of false reality about the nature of life [for most humans]. But that wasn't what I meant - I meant that society and civilization seem very stable. We go about our lives assuming that the government will continue to function, that the businesses will remain open, that the banks will have money. But we know that societies can crumble and quickly and almost without warning. Look around the world. Look at history. Stability is a rarity. That's what I was pointing to - not that this stability is fake; it is real. I was pointing out that this stability is fragile and foolish to trust as permanent. It's more like waiting for a second shoe to drop sort of dynamic.

Mordy, Friday, 11 November 2016 00:16 (eight years ago)

most of human history has been tediously stable, mainly just due the slow rate of change and development. people were understandably more aware of their mortality, but empires lasted over 1000 years, and for most of our history the whole idea of progress/development/the zeitgeist/the tech tree from civilization was absent.

it depends what sort of collapse you're worried about. the modern world has increasingly become m/l one big interconnected network over the past 500 years, and understanding the implications of that is where I part company with alt-right types who cling to some sort of essential human tribalism (which apparently operates on the level of westphalian sovereignty). there is more shared interest than ever before, and the population explosion also has the effect of further diffusing crises imo. I think any economic or political collapse would not be both global and sudden. the global system is too vast and complex. so I can worry about supernovas or nuclear idiocy but I think humanity has solved the barbarian issue and global totalitarianism would require an unprecedented and currently infeasible level of coordination

ogmor, Friday, 11 November 2016 00:55 (eight years ago)

Keep in mind I may have a drastically different perspective on the stability of human history than you bc of my background.

Mordy, Friday, 11 November 2016 00:58 (eight years ago)

My family didn't get here very long ago, it wasn't great where they were coming from and they didn't hadn't gotten there too much longer before that. It's not hyperbole to say that my grandparents' lives were far more turbulent and dangerous than I can even relate to.

Mordy, Friday, 11 November 2016 00:59 (eight years ago)

But even if you're family is from a long standing Western nation that is relatively stable WW2 was not long ago. Bloody revolutions throughout the Western world, from France to the US to Russia, are only a couple hundred years old. Before there are long periods of war and instability. I'm not sure I buy this notion of "most of human history has been tediously stable."

Mordy, Friday, 11 November 2016 01:01 (eight years ago)

your*

Mordy, Friday, 11 November 2016 01:01 (eight years ago)

yeah I appreciate that, & ofc I'm not saying there's no need to worry about nationalism or genocide. grand scale civilizational collapse being much more difficult than ever before obviously doesn't reduce individual, community, national or regional level risks

ogmor, Friday, 11 November 2016 01:08 (eight years ago)

I've been doing a lot of thinking along the lines of what this means for the international order going forward
fracturing of international alliances
controls on movements of capital, goods and people
less "interventionist" war, more straight-up "give us that" war (more war overall)
persecution of ethnic minorities worldwide
general abandoment of human decency

it's bad

― it me

otm :(

xiphoid beetlebum (rushomancy), Friday, 11 November 2016 01:14 (eight years ago)

this is a total tangent but trying to account for the pull (or lack of pull) of the idea of apocalypse is interesting. I think what makes modern atrocities so real and alarming to me is exactly the fact that they are so easily accommodated within the world system. knowing that people who have committed genocide are living lives in many ways v similar to mine is unsettling in a way remote historical atrocities can't be. in a sense that's similar to mordy's worry - that civilization is a facade that doesn't really insulate you

ogmor, Friday, 11 November 2016 01:31 (eight years ago)

I think any economic or political collapse would not be both global and sudden. the global system is too vast and complex.

OTOH, I have no problem believing in a sudden domino effect resulting from climate change. Sea water overrunning Bangladesh rice production, desert areas becoming uninhabitable from the heat. Pretty much anything we're talking about in the global warming thread could bring about rapid change.

Elvis Telecom, Friday, 11 November 2016 01:47 (eight years ago)

This movie to thread: The Act of Killing - 2013 Documentary

xp

Elvis Telecom, Friday, 11 November 2016 01:48 (eight years ago)

"we need marxism without history, christianity without god, a pragmatism of compassion. not holding my breath."

Ryan otm

For bodies we are ready to build pyramids (wtev), Friday, 11 November 2016 07:29 (eight years ago)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tobias-stone/history-tells-us-what-will-brexit-trump_b_11179774.html

seems plausible tbh

We should be asking ourselves what our Archduke Ferdinand moment will be. How will an apparently small event trigger another period of massive destruction. We see Brexit, Trump, Putin in isolation. The world does not work that way  —  all things are connected and affecting each other. I have pro-Brexit friends who say, “Oh, you’re going to blame that on Brexit too??” But they don’t realize that actually, yes, historians will trace neat lines from apparently unrelated events back to major political and social shifts like Brexit.

Brexit — a group of angry people winning a fight — easily inspires other groups of angry people to start a similar fight, empowered with the idea that they may win. That alone can trigger chain reactions. A nuclear explosion is not caused by one atom splitting, but by the impact of the first atom that splits causing multiple other atoms near it to split, and they in turn causing multiple atoms to split. The exponential increase in atoms splitting, and their combined energy is the bomb. That is how World War One started and, ironically how World War Two ended.
An example of how Brexit could lead to a nuclear war could be this:

Brexit in the UK causes Italy or France to have a similar referendum. Le Pen wins an election in France. Europe now has a fractured EU. The EU, for all its many awful faults, has prevented a war in Europe for longer than ever before. The EU is also a major force in suppressing Putin’s military ambitions. European sanctions on Russia really hit the economy, and helped temper Russia’s attacks on Ukraine (there is a reason bad guys always want a weaker European Union). Trump wins in the US. Trump becomes isolationist, which weakens NATO. He has already said he would not automatically honor NATO commitments in the face of a Russian attack on the Baltics.

With a fractured EU, and weakened NATO, Putin, facing an ongoing economic and social crisis in Russia, needs another foreign distraction around which to rally his people. He funds far right anti-EU activists in Latvia, who then create a reason for an uprising of the Russian Latvians in the East of the country (the EU border with Russia). Russia sends “peace keeping forces” and “aid lorries” into Latvia, as it did in Georgia, and in Ukraine. He cedes Eastern Latvia as he did Eastern Ukraine (Crimea has the same population as Latvia, by the way).

A divided Europe, with the leaders of France, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, and others now pro-Russia, anti-EU, and funded by Putin, overrule calls for sanctions or a military response. NATO is slow to respond: Trump does not want America to be involved, and a large part of Europe is indifferent or blocking any action. Russia, seeing no real resistance to their actions, move further into Latvia, and then into Eastern Estonia and Lithuania. The Baltic States declare war on Russia and start to retaliate, as they have now been invaded so have no choice. Half of Europe sides with them, a few countries remain neutral, and a few side with Russia. Where does Turkey stand on this? How does ISIS respond to a new war in Europe? Who uses a nuclear weapon first?

This is just one Arch Duke Ferdinand scenario. The number of possible scenarios are infinite due to the massive complexity of the many moving parts. And of course many of them lead to nothing happening. But based on history we are due another period of destruction, and based on history all the indicators are that we are entering one.

Mordy, Friday, 11 November 2016 18:19 (eight years ago)

definitely Russian expansion is a very worrying scenario that doesn't appear to be on a lot of people's radars at the moment

Al Moon Faced Poon (Moodles), Friday, 11 November 2016 18:46 (eight years ago)

Putin will def press his hand and outsmart Trump otoh he seems smart enough to not risk an actual nuclear exchange which he would have no hope of winning

Οὖτις, Friday, 11 November 2016 18:47 (eight years ago)

This is completely moronic for any number of reasons.

Bubba H.O.T.A.P.E (ShariVari), Friday, 11 November 2016 19:10 (eight years ago)

definitely Russian expansion is a very worrying scenario that doesn't appear to be on a lot of people's radars at the moment

It's on people's radars over here.

The Doug Walters of Crime (Tom D.), Friday, 11 November 2016 19:23 (eight years ago)

It's a shame to pluck one idiotic whimsy from the rest but the leader of Poland thinks every other leader of Poland since independence is a Stasi agent and Putin killed his twin brother. They are literally more anti Russian than Ukraine.

Bubba H.O.T.A.P.E (ShariVari), Friday, 11 November 2016 19:29 (eight years ago)

LOL, Poland pro-Russian, that'll be the day!

The Doug Walters of Crime (Tom D.), Friday, 11 November 2016 19:33 (eight years ago)

Even a rabidly right wing Hungary might take some convincing.

Matt DC, Friday, 11 November 2016 19:39 (eight years ago)

here are a few other things I could see happening longer-term worldwide

fair market systems superseded by patronage economies
co-ordinated misinformation campaigns + persecution of journalists
centralization of power, fewer congressional/parliamentary checks and controls
more direct-action environmental movements, maybe even violent ones(?)

it me, Friday, 11 November 2016 19:53 (eight years ago)

If Trump is basically allied with Putin and wants no part in any of this then why would anyone press the nuclear button?

Matt DC, Friday, 11 November 2016 19:53 (eight years ago)

South China Sea maybe

it me, Friday, 11 November 2016 19:56 (eight years ago)

two weeks pass...

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/29/world/americas/western-liberal-democracy.html

According to the Mounk-Foa early-warning system, signs of democratic deconsolidation in the United States and many other liberal democracies are now similar to those in Venezuela before its crisis.

Across numerous countries, including Australia, Britain, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden and the United States, the percentage of people who say it is “essential” to live in a democracy has plummeted, and it is especially low among younger generations.

Support for autocratic alternatives is rising, too. Drawing on data from the European and World Values Surveys, the researchers found that the share of Americans who say that army rule would be a “good” or “very good” thing had risen to 1 in 6 in 2014, compared with 1 in 16 in 1995.

That trend is particularly strong among young people. For instance, in a previously published paper, the researchers calculated that 43 percent of older Americans believed it was illegitimate for the military to take over if the government were incompetent or failing to do its job, but only 19 percent of millennials agreed. The same generational divide showed up in Europe, where 53 percent of older people thought a military takeover would be illegitimate, while only 36 percent of millennials agreed.

Mordy, Thursday, 1 December 2016 21:07 (eight years ago)

i think i still believe in democracy but as of late it's not hard to see why ppl might find it unnecessary or even harmful

Mordy, Thursday, 1 December 2016 21:13 (eight years ago)

Worth noting that the party that leans anti-democratic in this country is also the one doing most of the gerrymandering and vote suppression.

the last famous person you were surprised to discover was actually (man alive), Thursday, 1 December 2016 21:15 (eight years ago)

i.e. a fuller commitment to democracy might actually have prevented a trump win

the last famous person you were surprised to discover was actually (man alive), Thursday, 1 December 2016 21:16 (eight years ago)

and a gop congress

the last famous person you were surprised to discover was actually (man alive), Thursday, 1 December 2016 21:16 (eight years ago)

As a term, "essential" is pretty open to interpretation tbf. If I were to take that sentence literally, it is pretty clear that democracy is not essential for people to live.

Spiritual Hat Minimalism (Sund4r), Thursday, 1 December 2016 22:34 (eight years ago)

i'm not sure that's relevant since it's tracking a decline over time. however the respondents interpreted the question they think it's significantly less essential now than it was since the 30s.

Mordy, Thursday, 1 December 2016 22:41 (eight years ago)

they got people to say how important democracy is on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being "essential", so the way they've formatted the results "people who don't think democracy is essential" = everyone who voted anything from 1 to 9, I think?

soref, Thursday, 1 December 2016 22:45 (eight years ago)

so there is a change corresponding with age, but probably less dramatic than it first appears

soref, Thursday, 1 December 2016 22:46 (eight years ago)

where do you see that they had people rate it on a scale from 1 to 10?

also that doesn't speak at all to the other troubling indicators such as

Support for autocratic alternatives is rising, too. Drawing on data from the European and World Values Surveys, the researchers found that the share of Americans who say that army rule would be a “good” or “very good” thing had risen to 1 in 6 in 2014, compared with 1 in 16 in 1995.

Mordy, Thursday, 1 December 2016 22:53 (eight years ago)

If I'm reading the graph correctly, it's not tracking a decline over time but tracking differences between age groups. 1930s-80s refers to DOB.

Spiritual Hat Minimalism (Sund4r), Thursday, 1 December 2016 22:54 (eight years ago)

(xp)

Spiritual Hat Minimalism (Sund4r), Thursday, 1 December 2016 22:56 (eight years ago)

yep. the graph is saying people born in the 1930s view democracy as more "essential" than people born in the 1980s

Karl Malone, Thursday, 1 December 2016 22:59 (eight years ago)

for some odd reason

Karl Malone, Thursday, 1 December 2016 22:59 (eight years ago)

where do you see that they had people rate it on a scale from 1 to 10?

I saw someone discussing it on twitter. there's some details on page 7 here:

http://www.journalofdemocracy.org/sites/default/files/Foa%26Mounk-27-3.pdf

soref, Thursday, 1 December 2016 23:00 (eight years ago)

(um, on page 4 on the pdf, rather. but it says page 7 at the top of the page)

soref, Thursday, 1 December 2016 23:01 (eight years ago)

I'm sort of playing devil's advocate, but it could just as easily mean that younger people are more critical and have been less conditioned by Cold War-era experiences and propaganda when it comes to i) how 'democratic' their own countries and the existing international order are and ii) whether the existence of other 'undemocratic' countries is actually going to lead to a nuclear apocalypse that will make life impossible.

Spiritual Hat Minimalism (Sund4r), Thursday, 1 December 2016 23:08 (eight years ago)

I got nothing re Americans' increased appreciation for military rule, though.

Spiritual Hat Minimalism (Sund4r), Thursday, 1 December 2016 23:08 (eight years ago)

because as americans we've been fellating the military steadily ever since 9/11

of all institutions in this country, the military is the only one polling over 30%

http://www.gallup.com/poll/1597/confidence-institutions.aspx

carthago delenda est (mayor jingleberries), Thursday, 1 December 2016 23:14 (eight years ago)

Because people don't serve in it.

El Tomboto, Thursday, 1 December 2016 23:25 (eight years ago)

I am pretty worried about what BRUMPXIT means for democracy, not just because I think Loomis is right about how McCrory is setting the example for other GOP incumbents to follow from here on out, but for the potential loss of faith in democratic systems that all this shit is causing in the young & impressionable.

El Tomboto, Thursday, 1 December 2016 23:30 (eight years ago)

I guess we'll see which way the pendulum swings on Sunday, when Austria has another opportunity to vote in the first far-right head of state since WWII. I'm not feeling hopeful.

That seventy-year gap seems to be an awfully big contributor to the rise of these sentiments. There's hardly anyone around anymore who had first-hand experience with this shit back in the day. History's boring! Democracy's lame! It's time for something new and fresh and exciting!

i need microsoft installed on my desktop, can you help (Old Lunch), Thursday, 1 December 2016 23:33 (eight years ago)

I think people's indifference runs a little bit deeper than "ugh, lame". democracy is increasingly appearing to fail people on many levels, from the economic to the actually feeling like they have a say in how their country is run.

brex yourself before you wrex yourself (Noodle Vague), Friday, 2 December 2016 11:35 (eight years ago)

"democracy" is too vague a term to usefully discuss in any detail imo

leaving aside the efficacy of voting, in the UK at least the scope of democracy i.e. the commons has been shrunk over the long term. I think you could make a good case that this has been inversely correlated with increased suffrage - even the likes of peter hitchens agree on this point. ppl sense that most aspects of the world they live in are beyond the horizons of party politics even though this is inevitably downplayed & not reflected by political rhetoric. without regular reform this is inevitable, but as far as I can tell all modern western govts are built more for stability than flexibility.

ogmor, Friday, 2 December 2016 14:30 (eight years ago)

Is it possible that people who respond that they'd be ok with military rule just have no idea what that means?

the last famous person you were surprised to discover was actually (man alive), Friday, 2 December 2016 14:33 (eight years ago)

It means the military RULES, duh.

how's life, Friday, 2 December 2016 14:49 (eight years ago)

democracy is increasingly appearing to fail people on many levels, from the economic to the actually feeling like they have a say in how their country is run.

yeah when I saw these results I didn't necessarily see it as a popular embrace of autocracy so much as perceiving that "democracy" as currently practiced fails on its own terms

lex pretend, Friday, 2 December 2016 16:41 (eight years ago)

The problem being that so many people who feel that way decide that attempting to fix a broken system has less appeal than smashing it to bits and replacing it with...I dunno, whatever! Because different is always better.

i need microsoft installed on my desktop, can you help (Old Lunch), Friday, 2 December 2016 16:58 (eight years ago)

Because the problems are largely caused by power differentials that the existing systems are set up to protect

brex yourself before you wrex yourself (Noodle Vague), Friday, 2 December 2016 17:10 (eight years ago)

Austria not going Nazi (yet!)!

https://twitter.com/AP/status/805445655539892224

flopson, Sunday, 4 December 2016 16:33 (eight years ago)

every election is going to be like this now

flopson, Sunday, 4 December 2016 16:33 (eight years ago)

Yeah, I felt more relieved about that than I would like to.

Spiritual Hat Minimalism (Sund4r), Sunday, 4 December 2016 16:42 (eight years ago)

http://i.imgur.com/GjnWi8x.jpg

Le Bateau Ivre, Sunday, 4 December 2016 17:48 (eight years ago)

Mr Mahdalik singled out Nigel Farage, the former Ukip leader, for contributing to the party’s defeat after he said on Fox News on Friday that Mr Hofer would hold a referendum on Austria leaving the European Union.

“That didn’t help us, it hindered us,” he said, saying that an overwhelming majority of Austrians support EU membership.

Casting his vote in his home town of Pinkafeld earlier on Sunday, Mr Hofer ruled out a referendum and said: “I would ask Mr Farage not to interfere in Austria’s internal affairs.”

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/12/04/austria-election-norbert-hofer-cusp-becoming-europes-first-far/

Le Bateau Ivre, Sunday, 4 December 2016 18:29 (eight years ago)

Some good news at last.

The Doug Walters of Crime (Tom D.), Sunday, 4 December 2016 19:43 (eight years ago)

It will be clearer in the next couple of days what happened, but voter turnout was extremely high. Woman, the young, and pensioners went VdB, men. the less well-educated, and older working people went Hofer. Super clear country-city split as well going the way you'd expect. I personally think that ultimately Hofer went too nasty in his campaigning even for conservative church ladies who think VdB's a communist.

Three Word Username, Sunday, 4 December 2016 20:16 (eight years ago)

Thought the men/women split was especially significant. 62% of women voted for VdB, versus 44% of the men.

Le Bateau Ivre, Sunday, 4 December 2016 20:23 (eight years ago)

Here's a good analysis (in German, but you and google should figure it out together): http://derstandard.at/2000048754159/Wer-wem-seine-Stimme-gegeben-hat

Three Word Username, Sunday, 4 December 2016 20:26 (eight years ago)

Renzi out.

Le Bateau Ivre, Sunday, 4 December 2016 23:38 (eight years ago)

I got nothing re Americans' increased appreciation for military rule, though.

― Spiritual Hat Minimalism (Sund4r)

they haven't experienced it and don't know what it's actually like. america is in a situation where a lot of people are thinking "man, it couldn't actually be worse than donald trump running the country, could it?"

of course it could and would.

xiphoid beetlebum (rushomancy), Monday, 5 December 2016 00:42 (eight years ago)

I'm disturbed by the reflexively martial tone of RW people expecting to be thanked for their military service or that of their relatives ALL THE DAMNED TIME. Is this a post-9/11 thing? Previous generations of military people did not shill for gratitude in this way. It's gross, especially when someone barges into a social media thread about BLM/guns/politics in the expectation that we'll all stop whatever we're doing to kiss some camo ass. Most of my friends are polite and do acknowledge them, but I'm suspicious of rightward drift in ordinary discourse and the role these people are happy to play to enable it.

jane burkini (suzy), Monday, 5 December 2016 08:53 (eight years ago)

only time i've ever thanked someone from their service was a Disney employee dressed as a green plastic army man from toy story when i was at disneyworld last year

i was informed by a passing floridian that i was 'disrespectful'

the criss angel's death song (bizarro gazzara), Monday, 5 December 2016 09:42 (eight years ago)

loooooooooooool

illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Monday, 5 December 2016 10:06 (eight years ago)

stephen colbert frequently thanks people for their service with non-military people presumably in order to mock the claustrophobic platitudinous imperative to do so with military people and also with military people because of that imperative or because he sincerely means it or both

conrad, Monday, 5 December 2016 10:16 (eight years ago)

xxp a+ would lol again

more like dork enlightenment lol (Bananaman Begins), Monday, 5 December 2016 10:21 (eight years ago)

This seems a very American thing to do.

The Doug Walters of Crime (Tom D.), Monday, 5 December 2016 10:48 (eight years ago)

Only in its specifics - see the UK tabloids' tic of referring to servicemen and women as HEROES whenever mentioned.

Andrew Farrell, Monday, 5 December 2016 10:59 (eight years ago)

Yes, that's just tabloidspeak, nobody really falls for that. In the UK, if somebody was to say "But I was in military" people would just shrug their shoulders and say, "So"?

The Doug Walters of Crime (Tom D.), Monday, 5 December 2016 11:01 (eight years ago)

I assume this is to do with the difference in patriotism between the USA and the UK and possibly numbers going into the services, which has always been fairly low in the UK. Also, in the UK, in the services, you are serving Queen and Country, the monarch comes first, so fuck that for, er, a game of soldiers.

The Doug Walters of Crime (Tom D.), Monday, 5 December 2016 11:04 (eight years ago)

the main thing that bothers me about 'thank you for your service' is the implication that active involvement in the military is inherently of value, which I've got a pretty fundamental problem with

the criss angel's death song (bizarro gazzara), Monday, 5 December 2016 11:13 (eight years ago)

UK people do this too, Help for Heroes isn't just a tabloid thing, but I agree it seems more memeified in the US. Always like to point out that if they're unhappy with the terms and conditions of their employment they should maybe consider getting unionized.

brex yourself before you wrex yourself (Noodle Vague), Monday, 5 December 2016 11:33 (eight years ago)

Well it is signing up to be potentially be killed on behalf of others (a bit like firefighting or being a police officer) - it's not fascist to recognize that

xpost

illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Monday, 5 December 2016 11:33 (eight years ago)

I haven't asked anybody to sign up and potentially kill others on my behalf tbh

brex yourself before you wrex yourself (Noodle Vague), Monday, 5 December 2016 11:34 (eight years ago)

http://www.theonion.com/blogpost/i-wonder-what-kind-of-message-im-sending-to-the-tr-11209

Bein' Sean Bean (LocalGarda), Monday, 5 December 2016 11:35 (eight years ago)

it's a career choice, get over yourselves.

brex yourself before you wrex yourself (Noodle Vague), Monday, 5 December 2016 11:35 (eight years ago)

Especially given well documented reports of rape and other abuse of power from some military personnel.

nobody really falls for that

not sure why you'd deny there's not a significant number of the 'back our brave boys' persuasion in the UK! Wootoon Bassett and all that - but maybe they're all cardboard cutouts.

nashwan, Monday, 5 December 2016 11:36 (eight years ago)

I read in the paper that a lot of the troops are complaining about the war, and want to come home. They're putting their lives on the line. It's my duty to support them, but I get confused. What message am I sending the troops if I read articles like that? For that matter, what kind of a message are those troops sending themselves? They are the troops, but it almost sounds like they're not supporting the troops!

I'm sorry. I didn't mean that last statement to sound anti-troops.

Bein' Sean Bean (LocalGarda), Monday, 5 December 2016 11:37 (eight years ago)

occasionally if I tell somebody what I do for a living I get this "oh that's wonderful" spiel and I have to point out that I get paid to do it

brex yourself before you wrex yourself (Noodle Vague), Monday, 5 December 2016 11:39 (eight years ago)

Well it is signing up to be potentially be killed on behalf of others (a bit like firefighting or being a police officer) - it's not fascist to recognize that

like nv says, it is signing up with the expectation that you may well have to kill others, and in some cases the hope that you will kill others, eg many who signed up in response to 9/11

the criss angel's death song (bizarro gazzara), Monday, 5 December 2016 11:41 (eight years ago)

xp thanks for your service noodle

the criss angel's death song (bizarro gazzara), Monday, 5 December 2016 11:41 (eight years ago)

it's ok, I get paid for it

brex yourself before you wrex yourself (Noodle Vague), Monday, 5 December 2016 11:42 (eight years ago)

I know people who I went to school with who would openly admit they took the queen's shilling for mayhem/violence/adventure and a higher earning potential, none of this bollocks about making it safer for us civilians.

calzino, Monday, 5 December 2016 11:45 (eight years ago)

http://ibdp.huluim.com/show_art/4266?size=900x350

cheers for this lads

brex yourself before you wrex yourself (Noodle Vague), Monday, 5 December 2016 11:47 (eight years ago)

the only episode of ultimate force i've seen included a shower scene where some of the male cast openly hung dong, which i thought was either a) weirdly progressive for the most otherwise knuckleheaded action show i've ever seen or b) a surprisingly total capitulation to its bulgingly homoerotic subtext

the criss angel's death song (bizarro gazzara), Monday, 5 December 2016 11:51 (eight years ago)

it feels increasingly incongruous but I'm not sure there's ever been an ebb in very earnest and zealous pro-military sentiment from certain sections since the days of empire. still strong enough, at least when combined with islamophobia, to trump freedom of speech in the luton case

ogmor, Monday, 5 December 2016 11:58 (eight years ago)

It's not even remotely comparable to the US.

The Doug Walters of Crime (Tom D.), Monday, 5 December 2016 12:01 (eight years ago)

god bless our jingoism-free nation

brex yourself before you wrex yourself (Noodle Vague), Monday, 5 December 2016 12:03 (eight years ago)

The British Army, in particular, has never really been that popular in Britain. Strangely enough.

The Doug Walters of Crime (Tom D.), Monday, 5 December 2016 12:05 (eight years ago)

I don't feel that's true - based on my experience of the media in this country in recent years.

Bein' Sean Bean (LocalGarda), Monday, 5 December 2016 12:11 (eight years ago)

That's the media, a bunch of public schoolboys trying to second guess the proles.

The Doug Walters of Crime (Tom D.), Monday, 5 December 2016 12:13 (eight years ago)

There probably a London / not-London split.

I live in a big military area and there's a combination of underlying respect (fundraising for the troops, military participation in local community events, etc) and an awareness that they cause half the drunken, late-night trouble in the wider area.

Bubba H.O.T.A.P.E (ShariVari), Monday, 5 December 2016 12:13 (eight years ago)

That's the media, a bunch of public schoolboys trying to second guess the proles.

You think decades of cheerleading from the papers has no effect on a significant number of their readers?

nashwan, Monday, 5 December 2016 12:17 (eight years ago)

you guys should get out of your metropolitan bubble of fruit juice-sipping quakers and meet some real patriots

ogmor, Monday, 5 December 2016 12:18 (eight years ago)

The British Army, in particular, has never really been that popular in Britain. Strangely enough.

i'd maybe agree they're the least-popular of the military trinity compared to the raf and the navy, but i've never felt they were anything other than a vital part of the 'our brave boys' continuum in public opinion. they're usually the ones talking with clear-eyed composure about their leg-shearing encounters with ieds and the like in those help for heroes ads / iraq documentaries etc which the great british public love so much

the criss angel's death song (bizarro gazzara), Monday, 5 December 2016 12:20 (eight years ago)

My son has autism and doesn't care much for observing minute's silences at football matches. I love the way it winds up some people if he is stimming and making a racket, some outraged patriot from a few rows back shouted Shut Up during the last one and this teenager who also refused to stand turned around and was grinning at Alex with approval for also not giving a fuck. Sadly though, most people where I sit are very much badge/t-shirt wearing Help For Heroes stans.

calzino, Monday, 5 December 2016 12:23 (eight years ago)

yelling 'SHUT UP' during a minute's silence in response to a misperceived slight is a perfect example of a partcular strain of britishness, i think

the criss angel's death song (bizarro gazzara), Monday, 5 December 2016 12:28 (eight years ago)

OUTRAGED Britain

calzino, Monday, 5 December 2016 12:29 (eight years ago)

My impatience comes from interacting with narrow minded people from home who are less than tolerant of others, but want a free pass for signing up to kill people.

jane burkini (suzy), Monday, 5 December 2016 12:32 (eight years ago)

for a while the whole wootton bassett rolling news thing seemed to be quite a big deal, maybe there needs to be a lot of not-quite children anymore dying meaningless deaths for people to get really excited about the army.

Bein' Sean Bean (LocalGarda), Monday, 5 December 2016 12:33 (eight years ago)

outraged despairing spiteful online-venting britain is the yin to stoic plucky wry superior britain's yang

ogmor, Monday, 5 December 2016 12:39 (eight years ago)

When I was growing up, the British Army were only occasionally killing Irishmen, that never excited the media too much. Then along cane Galtieri.

The Doug Walters of Crime (Tom D.), Monday, 5 December 2016 12:41 (eight years ago)

hey, that's royal wootton bassett to you son - the name was changed in 2011 in recognition of its role as a military cadaver sorting office xps

the criss angel's death song (bizarro gazzara), Monday, 5 December 2016 12:42 (eight years ago)

Wiltshire is the land of jingoism and forelock-grabbing - I spend Xmas there with a close friend whose Polish ex-POW dad was one of the few socialists in his town.

jane burkini (suzy), Monday, 5 December 2016 12:42 (eight years ago)

i apologise if my comments have disrespected royal wooton bassett, the military, the corpses which have travelled through the town, or the loyal subjects who gathered to watch the corpses

Bein' Sean Bean (LocalGarda), Monday, 5 December 2016 12:44 (eight years ago)

When I was at school you joined the Army and, if you were unlucky, got sent to Belfast. How much of a hoohah could you make about that?

The Doug Walters of Crime (Tom D.), Monday, 5 December 2016 12:44 (eight years ago)

aye, it's a much more exciting career now tom - if you're lucky you might get to go to the middle east on a modern-day crusade, and if you are horribly injured there's a decent chance your cutting-edge body armour will keep you alive so you can come home and appear in a help for heroes ad showing off your prosthetics

the criss angel's death song (bizarro gazzara), Monday, 5 December 2016 12:51 (eight years ago)

That's how the Sun editorial team sees it.

The Doug Walters of Crime (Tom D.), Monday, 5 December 2016 12:56 (eight years ago)

When I lived in San Diego I took the bus to UCSD each day, and almost every time there was also veterans taking the bus to the UCSD hospital, many of them on crutches, in wheelchairs. And the respect that they got was wonderful, with many many thank yous and people saying how grateful they was, and nobody ever complaining that the bus was almost always late because it took so long to get their wheelchairs on board, but I kinda kept thinking that perhaps there could be done something more helpful so wounded/disabled veterans wouldn't have to take the bus for an hour on their own to get healthcare?

Frederik B, Monday, 5 December 2016 13:21 (eight years ago)

that sounds suspiciously like socialism *narrows eyes*

the criss angel's death song (bizarro gazzara), Monday, 5 December 2016 13:29 (eight years ago)

fervent troop-supporters tend to support everything to help veterans apart from anything which might negatively impact on their own lives or finances

the criss angel's death song (bizarro gazzara), Monday, 5 December 2016 13:30 (eight years ago)

yeah i don't seem to see the same respect for disabled people in general nor the will to improve the crappy infrastructure that disables them

brex yourself before you wrex yourself (Noodle Vague), Monday, 5 December 2016 17:54 (eight years ago)

three weeks pass...

not technically the west but i've always felt like this should be a "developed nations" drift trend anyway:
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/437950/japans-new-fascism

Mordy, Thursday, 29 December 2016 18:16 (eight years ago)

(article is old, but i just read it for the first time today)

Mordy, Thursday, 29 December 2016 18:22 (eight years ago)

I remember there being quite a lot of Japanese fascist thinkers I had to study. I think, like Paxton, that to describe japan as fascist in the 30s-40s is wrong. But that aspect of politics was/is certainly there and influential.

Eallach mhór an duine leisg (dowd), Thursday, 29 December 2016 19:39 (eight years ago)

https://i.sli.mg/cCiEOa.jpg

Mordy, Thursday, 29 December 2016 21:41 (eight years ago)

She thinks that's her big vote winner does she? LOL.

Eats like Elvis, shits like De Niro (Tom D.), Thursday, 29 December 2016 22:34 (eight years ago)

The Prime Minister is understood to be backing plans to “lift and shift” human rights enshrined in the European Convention and write them into UK law.

this was her idea for Brexit as well. to literally take current EU law and emboss it into the very living weft of UK jurisprudence. which isn't quite what people voted for this summer, was it?

illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Thursday, 29 December 2016 22:36 (eight years ago)

i suspect the laws dealing w/ the permeability of borders will be more "shift" than "lift."

Mordy, Thursday, 29 December 2016 22:38 (eight years ago)

i really like the bit in the piece about Orban and Trump linked above where it says something that they both share is that they don't mind being hated - they thrive on it. 'Their two basic postures of “defending” and “triumphing” are impossible to perform without picking enemies.'

Can it finally be time for the Democratic Party to pick a few enemies? People who they don't mind being hated by? It's just so fundamentally lame when you see a 'leader' who tries to please everyone

illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Thursday, 29 December 2016 22:44 (eight years ago)

lol i'm pretty sure there are some deplorables we can unearth

Mordy, Thursday, 29 December 2016 22:48 (eight years ago)

yes except establishment Dems are HORRIFIED to be hated by them, which was sniffed out instantly

illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Thursday, 29 December 2016 22:55 (eight years ago)

seriously tho i think the trump coalition were mostly unified by feeling looked down upon and despised by the wealthier, better educated, woke democratic coalition

Mordy, Thursday, 29 December 2016 22:57 (eight years ago)

if only there were a famous historical figure the dem party could turn to for advice on being hated

difficult listening hour, Thursday, 29 December 2016 22:58 (eight years ago)

obv the real dem coalition is very broad and includes people from various levels of wealth and religious faith but in the culture war it's the universities/media vs. the middle class and their vulgar outsider billionaire benefactor

Mordy, Thursday, 29 December 2016 22:59 (eight years ago)

i disagree

i think there was a hardcore of trump voters who were probably unified by that sort of resentment - there is a racist hard right that feels this way in almost every country, but "coalition" is a very very generous term to use

i think democrats need to pick sides now and go ahead and be hated by that group. you're nobody without good enemies.

illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Thursday, 29 December 2016 23:02 (eight years ago)

this isn't really the thread for it i think (or maybe it is!) but i started noticing how every time ilx would discuss one of these culture wars locations they'd dismiss them as manufactured outrage, exaggerations, misrepresentations, etc, but then i'd see all these right-wing acquaintances post about them as tho they were real. i thought on the merits the right-wing case against transexual bathrooms was incomprehensibly dumb but then i'd see republicans get actually worked up about the topic so obv they were real to someone. it really feels like this election (which i've been trying not to discuss but it's very hard) was kinda more like the 2000 election. the economy is doing not terrible actually, we don't have a particularly pressing foreign entanglement, so there was a luxury to fall back on the culture wars.

Mordy, Thursday, 29 December 2016 23:03 (eight years ago)

like i think this is why evangelicals went so hard for trump. they thought the dem party and hillary in particular was anathema to their values and trump at least paid lip service to their faith. i do think she would've gotten some mileage out of talking about religion more outspokenly but i guess it's not really in her personality. they feel hated by us, i think. and then the nativist / white nationalist group which is probably larger than we think. in the end who did the republicans lose? maybe some neocons in new york like kristol and goldberg.

Mordy, Thursday, 29 December 2016 23:06 (eight years ago)

this is definitely not the thread for any of that nonsense

The beaver is not the bad guy (El Tomboto), Friday, 30 December 2016 03:28 (eight years ago)

two weeks pass...

I believe we might need a new thread separate from this one and the Trump / rolling politics thread(s), a Rolling Geopolitics As We Know It Into The Shitbin Thread if you will

http://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2017/01/trump-endorses-american-geopolitical-suicide

https://www.balloon-juice.com/2017/01/15/the-real-reason-the-us-supports-nato-and-the-eu/

The beaver is not the bad guy (El Tomboto), Monday, 16 January 2017 04:17 (eight years ago)

obviously would prefer to not have to start it until after the inauguration, as one does

The beaver is not the bad guy (El Tomboto), Monday, 16 January 2017 04:21 (eight years ago)

I'd be worried if Trump wasn't trying to undermine the EU, tbh. They need to work against him on Iran, Israel and broader Middle-East policy, China, climate change, the status of post-Brexit Britain, etc, etc. If they aren't going to try to reposition the EU as an alternate pole of political (and, if you like, moral) influence vs a neo-Fash US then there isn't much point in attempting to have any say on the wider world at all.

The gamble would be that Gove/Farage and Trump palling it up, and the ongoing trash fire of contemporary US politics, doesn't have the exact opposite effect. Trump was toxic in Europe before the election (something like 9% approval) and is likely to get more toxic as time goes on. In a best-case scenario, people look at Brexit and Trump, think there for but for the grace of god, and head in the opposite direction. In reality, it seems more likely that 'mainstream' parties look to incorporate Trump-lite domestic policy into their platforms (as Fillon seems to be doing) while defending the EU and its influence to the hilt.

Bubba H.O.T.A.P.E (ShariVari), Monday, 16 January 2017 08:27 (eight years ago)

any thoughts on this

Most people in this country, certainly most members of the political class and especially its expression in Washington, don't realize what Donald Trump is trying to do in Europe and Russia. Back in December I explained that Trump has a plan to break up the European Union. Trump and his key advisor Steve Bannon (former Breitbart chief) believe they can promise an advantageous trade agreement with the United Kingdom, thus strengthening the UK's position in its negotiations over exiting the EU. With such a deal in place with the UK, they believe they can slice apart the EU by offering the same model deal to individual EU states. Steve Bannon discussed all of this at length with Business Week's Josh Green and Josh and I discussed it in great detail in this episode of my podcast from mid-December.

...Today in a new interview with the Germany's Bild and the Times of London Trump expanded on these goals dramatically. Trump leveled a series of attacks on German Chancellor Angela Merkel, suggesting he'd like to see her defeated for reelection and saying she'd hurt Germany by letting "all these illegals" into the country. Trump also called NATO "obsolete", predicted other countries would soon leave the EU, and characterized the EU itself as "basically a vehicle for Germany."

Trump and Bannon are extremely hostile to Merkel and eager to see her lose. But what is increasingly clear is that Trump will make the break up of the EU a central administration policy and appears to want the same for NATO.

My own view is that Trump and Bannon greatly overestimate America's relative economic power in the world. Their view appears to be that no European country will feel it is able to be locked out of trade with a US-UK trade pact. An America eager to break up the EU seems more likely to inject new life into the union. However that may be, Trump and Bannon clearly want to create a nativist world order based on the US, Russia and states that want to align with them. The EU and NATO are only obstacles to that goal.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/trump-s-and-putin-s-plan-to-dissolve-the-eu-and-nato

Karl Malone, Monday, 16 January 2017 18:19 (eight years ago)

However that may be, Trump and Bannon clearly want to create a nativist world order based on the US, Russia and states that want to align with them. The EU and NATO are only obstacles to that goal.

Sounds about right.

Eats like Elvis, shits like De Niro (Tom D.), Monday, 16 January 2017 18:22 (eight years ago)

LOL @ this tho:

Trump wants to empower Farage as its interlocutor with the United Kingdom. Given Farage's fringe status in the UK, on its face that seems crazy. But that is the plan. And it is a sign of how potent Farage's guidance and advice has become for Trump's view of Europe, the EU and Russia.

Eats like Elvis, shits like De Niro (Tom D.), Monday, 16 January 2017 18:24 (eight years ago)

lol at the idea that Farage's view aligns with Trump's, or lol that he has fringe status? i'm not very knowledgeable about farage, beyond the basics.

Karl Malone, Monday, 16 January 2017 18:42 (eight years ago)

LOL @ the idea that Nigel Farage has any actual political power and influence in the UK.

Eats like Elvis, shits like De Niro (Tom D.), Monday, 16 January 2017 18:45 (eight years ago)

did you hear that the uk has voted to become independent

conrad, Monday, 16 January 2017 18:48 (eight years ago)

So does Bannon want to re-do world war 2 and cobble together a nativist US-UK-French-Russian alliance against Germany?

carthago delenda est (mayor jingleberries), Monday, 16 January 2017 18:52 (eight years ago)

but you'll never guess the twist!

difficult listening hour, Monday, 16 January 2017 18:53 (eight years ago)

i don't think the part you excerpted claims that farage has much power and influence - it describes him as having "fringe status in the UK", and then says that nonetheless his guidance and advice is "potent" for Trump's views. but it is pretty sloppily written, so who knows.

xpost

Karl Malone, Monday, 16 January 2017 18:54 (eight years ago)

it says he has influence over trump. this is indeed lol from a certain extremely detached perspective.

difficult listening hour, Monday, 16 January 2017 18:54 (eight years ago)

I was LOLing @ Trump's Farage, as opposed to the puny reality.

Eats like Elvis, shits like De Niro (Tom D.), Monday, 16 January 2017 18:56 (eight years ago)

My own view is that Trump and Bannon greatly overestimate America's relative economic power in the world. Their view appears to be that no European country will feel it is able to be locked out of trade with a US-UK trade pact. An America eager to break up the EU seems more likely to inject new life into the union.

All of that sounds reasonable to me except this last bit which sounds like wishful thinking.

Mordy, Monday, 16 January 2017 19:18 (eight years ago)

Yes. A US-UK trade pact that works equally well for both parties also seems like wishful thinking, on the part of whoever in the UK supports the idea.

Eats like Elvis, shits like De Niro (Tom D.), Monday, 16 January 2017 19:22 (eight years ago)

The bigger issue is that Trump is confused about whose interests NATO and the EU serve but the idea that European nations, especially ones dealing w/ their own right-wing insurrections, would not be interested in following the US' lead is kinda silly once you understand why these institutions were developed in the first place. Trump likes to complain that Europe doesn't pay enough for its own defense + military but doesn't understand that was built in as a feature, not a bug. We wanted dependents.

Mordy, Monday, 16 January 2017 19:29 (eight years ago)

Brownie points for the first pundit to call any US-UK arrangement 'you-suck'.

jane burkini (suzy), Monday, 16 January 2017 21:59 (eight years ago)

Here we go again: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/angela-merkel-replaces-hillary-clinton-as-target-of-fake-news/

Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 17 January 2017 14:42 (eight years ago)

http://thephilosophicalsalon.com/donald-trumps-topsy-turvy-world/

If the difference between Clinton and Trump was one between liberal establishment and Rightist populist rage, this difference has shrunk to a minimum in the case of le Pen versus Fillon. Although both are cultural conservatives, in matters of economy Fillon is a pure neoliberal, while Le Pen is much more oriented towards protecting workers’ interests. In short, since Fillon stands for the worst combination around today – economic neoliberalism and social conservativism -, one is seriously tempted to prefer Le Pen.

give me one good reason france isn't going to elect le pen

Mordy, Tuesday, 17 January 2017 23:20 (eight years ago)

seems likely to me

Οὖτις, Tuesday, 17 January 2017 23:22 (eight years ago)

because +50% of French voters aren't going to vote for her

iatee, Tuesday, 17 January 2017 23:23 (eight years ago)

http://www.france24.com/en/20170116-pro-eu-macron-surges-french-election-polls-france

Eats like Elvis, shits like De Niro (Tom D.), Tuesday, 17 January 2017 23:27 (eight years ago)

If Theresa May can keep up the good work maybe Macron can surprise us all.

Eats like Elvis, shits like De Niro (Tom D.), Tuesday, 17 January 2017 23:28 (eight years ago)

Macron basically stand for economic neoliberalism and social liberalism doesn't he? that doesn't necessarily seem like a slam dunk as an election winning stance in 2017 either

soref, Tuesday, 17 January 2017 23:46 (eight years ago)

and pro-EU but he makes motions towards limiting immigration responsibly but why vote for the immigration restriction lite when you can get the real thing

Mordy, Tuesday, 17 January 2017 23:48 (eight years ago)

Maybe most people don't want heavy duty limits on immigration?

Eats like Elvis, shits like De Niro (Tom D.), Wednesday, 18 January 2017 00:00 (eight years ago)

Ségolène Royal has explicitly backed Macron (said he's the only candidate "of the left" who can win, though Macron describes himself as neither left nor right), and some ppl seem to be speculating that Hollande might do the same? don't know if that would be a help or a hindrance to Macron

soref, Wednesday, 18 January 2017 00:03 (eight years ago)

Yes, I think Hollande would do well to stay out of it tbh.

Eats like Elvis, shits like De Niro (Tom D.), Wednesday, 18 January 2017 00:09 (eight years ago)

Mordy are you trying to become the Frederik B of French politics on ILX?

droit au butt (Euler), Wednesday, 18 January 2017 14:30 (eight years ago)

I don't think so. The United States has a president, who, for all that leftists dislike him, is probably the most left-wing President since the 1970s. In England, the Conservative majority will be smaller than the center-right Conservative-LD coalition that was in charge before, and my sense is that the massive swing from Scottish Labour to SNP is in no way a move to the right. In Canada, NDP just took over one of the most conservative provinces in the country, and Liberals are polling way better than they were back in 2011 when Harper won his current majority; I don't think people are projecting he'll keep that majority in the upcoming election. I don't know much about Australia or France.

― Guayaquil (eephus!), Friday, 8 May 2015 17:26 (one year ago) Permalink

david bowie was still alive, etc.

^ 諷刺 (ken c), Wednesday, 18 January 2017 15:06 (eight years ago)

xp how so?

Mordy, Wednesday, 18 January 2017 15:24 (eight years ago)

I think some drift happened between then and now and I think people overstate the extent to which it's happened now but yes, overall, I would cahnge my answer at this point

Guayaquil (eephus!), Wednesday, 18 January 2017 15:30 (eight years ago)

I just meant that you speak very confidently about the national politics of a place you don't live, on a board where other people do live there, and do not share your confidence.

droit au butt (Euler), Wednesday, 18 January 2017 16:20 (eight years ago)

i think you misread my comment. i was sincerely asking for some good reasons why she won't win in light of these broader trends. note that the italics came from zizek, not from myself. i'm certainly not an expert on french politics and if you told me something like "france's history of left-wing revolutionary activity insulates it against the generally right-wing shift occurring in the West" i would probably believe you. but i'm more seeing things like that zizek article that posits that hollande v. marie le pen will shape up into a disaster, or caldwell on calais, or paris, which paints a pretty dystopian picture. nb that caldwell makes the pt that the very ppl who are insulated from the trends that are pushing a right-wing shift in france are ppl like you - members of the upper educated crust who are being catered by the new paris economy. whereas the right-wing voters are much like our trump voters - neither too poor or too rich, middle class and feeling squeezed out of the political social life of france. anyway, i disagree about the problem w/ fred b - it's not that he has opinions about American political life that Americans don't share (if that was it who would care - we clearly don't know shit about American politics even though we live here). it's that he's so fervent about his opinions and his remedies and solutions. i have no idea how to fix european right-wingism. that's like the very essence of this thread. is there a drift and if there is, why is it happening. not "there def is a drift" (tho tpbh there is) and "it's happening bc france isn't accommodating enough to immigrants" - that kind of didactic self-confidence being imho the ultimate issue w/ fredism.

Mordy, Wednesday, 18 January 2017 16:27 (eight years ago)

also if i can toot my own horn i started this thread b4 brexit & trump so maybe despite as intimate a relationship to french politics as you might have, i may be able to notice broader trends that are worth considering. even if you feel like le pen can't possibly win - i thought trump couldn't possibly win. and i had written this before the election:

bump.

fingers crossed i don't have to bump this thread again in nov.

― Mordy, Friday, June 24, 2016 10:17 AM (six months ago)

Mordy, Wednesday, 18 January 2017 16:32 (eight years ago)

I sincerely don't know who the author of that piece is, Zizek, though I've seen the name on ILX before; but I read over it and saw this:

"Now that Fillon was elected to be the Right’s candidate in the forthcoming French presidential elections, and with the (almost full) certainty that, in the second round of the elections, the choice will be between Fillon and Marine Le Pen, our democracy has reached its (till now) lowest point."

and I wonder what sense of "certainty" is at play here? for the situation is quite fluid. obv that runoff is a possibility but certainty? it's hard to take the article seriously...except as wish-fulfillment?

I don't know who Caldwell is either!

I live in ground zero of the Parisian migrant crisis---I can see a group of them looking out my window as I write this post---and am only insulated from the crisis inasmuch as I am a civil servant here. but I wait in the same immigration queues as all other immigrants, deal with the same opacity of process, experience the same indifference of the state toward our transiency.

French right-wing-ism is a reply to immigration. was there ever a time when immigrants have been welcomed by "the people", here or anywhere? Not in the America I know: my father was an immigrant to the USA in the 1960s and there were no lamps beside golden doors.

droit au butt (Euler), Wednesday, 18 January 2017 16:43 (eight years ago)

Mordy, if you only saw this right wing drift in 2015, 15 years after the Jörg Haider sanctions and 14 years after the populists came to power in Denmark, I don't think that's anything to brag about.

Frederik B, Wednesday, 18 January 2017 16:45 (eight years ago)

No idea Zizek lived in France tbh.

Eats like Elvis, shits like De Niro (Tom D.), Wednesday, 18 January 2017 16:46 (eight years ago)

i think comparing the current immigration crisis to previous hostility to immigration is a mistake. it seems different to me in kind + scale. for one, it's a very large group of people, coming over in a very short period of time, w/ radically different ideological + theological views from the countries to which they are immigrating, in the midst of ongoing large scale terror attacks by nominal [even if unfairly associated] coreligionists, and then w/ the added crisis of a total failure to assimilate them into the broader society - instead shoveling them out to banlieues. this is a vastly different situation than, say, immigration of latinos to the US who share the same religion, european language speakers, at least partial european descent, and social structure that looks a lot like america of 50 years ago. ie not a clash of civilizations in any kind of reasonable way.

zizek is a pop star continental philosopher who is often wrong or silly but sometimes has fairly insightful things to say. i'm not sure what you see as the wishful thinking in his article there. it's possibly to read out some kind of minor sympathy w/ le pen + right-wing populism (the closest he goes to stepping over this line is singing the social safety net praises of the current Polish gov) but he immediately repudiates it (on the basis of its xenophobia) and i think sees this more as just being a self-evident rhyme w/ these other dynamics playing out. ultimately after brexit and trump i think any one who looks at any election at the moment and writes off an anti-immigrant, anti-neoliberalism candidate for being too right-wing is not paying v good attention? like i wrote above, if france is somehow different culturally then that's the kind of answer i was trying to solicit. not sure that the idea that macron is going to come and save the day is particularly reasonable (i mean it might be true, but if we're talking about wishful thinking we should probably start here).

Mordy, Wednesday, 18 January 2017 16:54 (eight years ago)

and lol fred i can't get hit twice in the same conversation for predicting too much right-wing drift when the evidence doesn't support it /and/ not predicting it soon enough

Mordy, Wednesday, 18 January 2017 16:56 (eight years ago)

Can I then hit you on speaking very didactically and self-confident on immigration to France without mentioning colonialism and the Algerian War?

There's definitely a populist drift, btw. And that should have been clear to everyone for decades, and mostly was, at least in Europe. But whether or not that should be called a 'right wing drift' and include stuff like the conservatives winning the 2015 election is up for debate, imo.

Frederik B, Wednesday, 18 January 2017 17:11 (eight years ago)

Wish-fulfillment inasmuch there'd be some "charge" in seeing Le Pen take it all. accelerationism, is that what it's called?

Catholics were by no means welcomed to the USA as coreligionists.

I don't mean to say that I see the way forward for France, not at all.

droit au butt (Euler), Wednesday, 18 January 2017 17:15 (eight years ago)

no, bc you're confused [as per usual]. what does colonialism and the Algerian War have to do w/ what we're discussing? even if the conditions that led to the current crisis is 100% entirely France's fault, that does not change the actual implications today. you can't convince people to vote for the person you prefer by telling them that it's their fault in the first place. xp

Mordy, Wednesday, 18 January 2017 17:15 (eight years ago)

iow

"massive islamic immigration to europe is freaking out europeans and pushing them to vote for more right-wing parties"
"you didn't mention colonialism"

^ this is a non-sequitar

Mordy, Wednesday, 18 January 2017 17:16 (eight years ago)

Zizek is a troll not worthy of serious consideration

xp

Οὖτις, Wednesday, 18 January 2017 17:26 (eight years ago)

x-post: Quite a lot of the islamic immigration went to France because of colonialist past, just as England got a lot of Caribbean immigration. It's extremely important. But you seem to speak of it as if immigration is a recent development: 'a very large group of people, coming over in a very short period of time [...] in the midst of ongoing large scale terror attacks by nominal [even if unfairly associated] coreligionists'. It's kinda not.

Frederik B, Wednesday, 18 January 2017 17:28 (eight years ago)

yes you are correct, immigration has been happening for a while and only recently sped up. do u know how tedious it is talking to u.

Mordy, Wednesday, 18 January 2017 17:29 (eight years ago)

Why do you say it sped up?

Frederik B, Wednesday, 18 January 2017 17:37 (eight years ago)

obv this would be even more dramatic if it included data from 2016 as well

Mordy, Wednesday, 18 January 2017 17:42 (eight years ago)

http://i67.tinypic.com/alsro2.png

Mordy, Wednesday, 18 January 2017 17:45 (eight years ago)

That's refugees, not immigrants. And btw, most indicators I've seen says that it has tapered off in 2016, it was some quite specific circumstances that led to that shameful crisis. I can assure you, the populist drift in Europe did not begin with the Syrian war.

Frederik B, Wednesday, 18 January 2017 17:46 (eight years ago)

idk you might find a lot of interesting data here that might force you to complicate your narrative that the current immigration situation in europe is comparable + within the same continuum as french colonization of algeria: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_migrant_crisis

Mordy, Wednesday, 18 January 2017 17:47 (eight years ago)

What's the point you are trying to make Fred, other than being contrarian for the sake of it?

Le Bateau Ivre, Wednesday, 18 January 2017 17:47 (eight years ago)

you hear a lot of white Brits on the BBC news saying "there's too many immigrants but i have no issue with refugees and i clearly recognise the difference between the two categories" tbf

Rock Wokeman (Noodle Vague), Wednesday, 18 January 2017 17:47 (eight years ago)

To what extent has Macron been successful in presenting himself as a break with the past, rather than a defender of the status quo, as has been the problem with Clinton and other centrists?

In general 'sensible' neoliberal centrists have not done too well against neofascist populists but if Macron can adequately distance himself from the rest of the political class then that might help. I'd still like to believe that enough of the French electorate will vote for anyone but Le Pen, but I'm not confident.

Matt DC, Wednesday, 18 January 2017 17:48 (eight years ago)

That's refugees, not immigrants.

refugees are a type of immigrant btw

Islamic State of Mind (jim in vancouver), Wednesday, 18 January 2017 17:49 (eight years ago)

At the moment I'm trying to figure out what on earth Mordy is talking about, as it's really hard to know how to respond without knowing that. It's really really vague and most of what he is saying doesn't really fit together. Because yeah, it matters whether we are discussing the specific situation of the Syrian refugee crisis in 2015, which clearly hasn't shown it's full impact in European politics so far - and will probably impact Germany more than France? - or whether we're discussing the populist drift over the last few decades, which covers much more of the history of LePen and Front National.

Frederik B, Wednesday, 18 January 2017 17:57 (eight years ago)

If your argument with this thread is that the right wing drift is not new (and consequently has nothing to do w recent trends) then just say that. I don't think I've written anything complicated here and you can go back through the thread and see plenty of what I consider examples of this trend. I think an honest reading of the last few decades does suggest a new phenomenon at the moment but you're entitled to dig deeper for its roots as far back as you'd like to go.

Mordy, Wednesday, 18 January 2017 18:01 (eight years ago)

need to start from that point when Western democracies were really left wing

Rock Wokeman (Noodle Vague), Wednesday, 18 January 2017 18:03 (eight years ago)

Like can it both be true that EU skepticism and bilateral skepticism is on the rise while skepticism has always existed? Maybe we should be discussing boiling points acc to you but if you don't think Brexit and Trump are a break with recent history I mean that's a bit myopic no?

Mordy, Wednesday, 18 January 2017 18:03 (eight years ago)

tbh, I think with the benefit of hindsight there are probably significant stretches of recent British history when Brexit could potentially have won had anyone been daft enough to put it to a referendum. The press-led hostility to the European Union has been present for decades.

Bubba H.O.T.A.P.E (ShariVari), Wednesday, 18 January 2017 18:18 (eight years ago)

Also I'm kind of lol'ing at Mordy going from 'no no, I just ask questions, I don't pretend to know with confidence' to 'here's some wikipedia numbers that show you're wrong about the area where you live' in an hour and a half...

And I do value your opinion as an outsider, Mordy. I really do. But when you're ussplaining the recent refugee crisis, and doesn't use the word 'refugee' once, it's not really my fault that the discussion becomes tedious. How was I supposed to know which immigrant crisis you were talking about?

If you're discussing immigration and Brexit, then that's Eastern European immigration, ie. Christians, and terror doesn't really play into it. If you want to discuss the upcoming German election with immigration, then yup, the refugee crisis is probably the most important thing. Ditto Sweden, I'd wager, for specific historical reasons (Syrian immigration has historically been so large that Syrianska FC has played in the top tier football league since 2010, and a lot of new refugees went to places they knew to be welcoming already). But it's different all over Europe, and so much of it is connected to much larger historical reasons.

Frederik B, Wednesday, 18 January 2017 18:19 (eight years ago)

Fred I think you're very confused about my arguments in this thread. I said I can't say with confidence who will win the French elections.

Mordy, Wednesday, 18 January 2017 18:22 (eight years ago)

If you're discussing immigration and Brexit, then that's Eastern European immigration, ie. Christians, and terror doesn't really play into it

yeah this isn't entirely true. there is definitely an anti-syrian refugee tendency in britain which informs some of the brexiteers thought. "britain will be able to better control its borders when it leaves the eu, germany has taken in too many syrian refugees" etc.

Islamic State of Mind (jim in vancouver), Wednesday, 18 January 2017 18:22 (eight years ago)

Shit I'm sorry, Syrianska got relegated in 2014. Oh well, hopefully they've gotten a new influx of talent.

Frederik B, Wednesday, 18 January 2017 18:23 (eight years ago)

i.e. https://twitter.com/LeaveEUOfficial/status/812553447035834368

Islamic State of Mind (jim in vancouver), Wednesday, 18 January 2017 18:25 (eight years ago)

i didn't realize that the idea that europe was experiencing an immigration crisis that was emboldening the right-wing was even controversial tbh! i feel like it has been the main story of the last 2 years. otoh i'm not sure if that's even what fred is taking exception with. so.

Mordy, Wednesday, 18 January 2017 18:31 (eight years ago)

To what extent has Macron been successful in presenting himself as a break with the past, rather than a defender of the status quo, as has been the problem with Clinton and other centrists?

I've seen it argued that Macron's centrist/third-way positioning is convincingly a break with the past in a French context, in as much as the French Socialist Party never quite reformed itself into a pro-free market party the way most of its counterparts in other western countries did? though I remember people saying the same thing about Renzi and the Italian left.

soref, Wednesday, 18 January 2017 18:39 (eight years ago)

with the admission upfront that i don't know enough about french politics to give a definitive opinion on this-- isn't "third-way" centrism the very thing that left-wing political orgs (Clinton Dems, Blair Labour, etc) have attributed their continuing failures to? why would such an ideological position be a boon in france and not a major disqualification?

Mordy, Wednesday, 18 January 2017 18:41 (eight years ago)

well if the argument that soref is bringing up is correct it may be the fact that it offers change in france, whereas in other countries where pasokification and the failure of liberal centrism has occurred it's because it became the status quo and people wanted a rupture

Islamic State of Mind (jim in vancouver), Wednesday, 18 January 2017 18:43 (eight years ago)

isn't hollande the status quo and isn't he just another face of modern capitalist neoliberalism (and internationalism lite)?

Mordy, Wednesday, 18 January 2017 18:45 (eight years ago)

like a big talking pt in the US elections were that Clinton/Bush were two sides of the same thing - a consensus about international trade agreements, neoliberalism, free marketism, etc, with mainly cosmetic differences. that sounds applicable here as well.

Mordy, Wednesday, 18 January 2017 18:47 (eight years ago)

ussplaining

Οὖτις, Wednesday, 18 January 2017 18:51 (eight years ago)

also guys i think it's ok for ppl from other countries to talk about different countries and even to argue with ppl from those countries at times. if someone from denmark had kept telling ilx that trump was going to win we certainly would've gotten annoyed and ppl might've told them to shut up based on their being from denmark, but ultimately they would've been right and US ILX would've been wrong. just do it w/ a little humility and don't browbeat people with the same arguments over and over again. also there's a big difference between making ongoing moral arguments attached to a political narrative and amoral forecasting/interpretation. the former rubs ppl the wrong way whether you're from a different country or not. that's i think what annoys ppl about fred - not that he's not from the US but is interested in US politics. it's that he's annoying a good % of the time in politics threads and that he's not from the US is a convenient way to mock him but unrelated to the fundamental problems w/ his posting style.

Mordy, Wednesday, 18 January 2017 18:54 (eight years ago)

Hey, he's still here you know.

Eats like Elvis, shits like De Niro (Tom D.), Wednesday, 18 January 2017 18:58 (eight years ago)

"he hasn't gone away you know"

http://news.bbc.co.uk/media/images/38549000/jpg/_38549447_adams_bbc_238.jpg

Islamic State of Mind (jim in vancouver), Wednesday, 18 January 2017 19:01 (eight years ago)

I'm actually really glad you're saying that Mordy. I'm not going to stop talking about morality, btw, but I do agree that most of the hate thrown my way was xenophobic nonsense ;) I'm kinda upset that you ruined my chance for a good response to Shakey, but oh well.

Frederik B, Wednesday, 18 January 2017 19:04 (eight years ago)

Maybe something about reading comprehension too

Rock Wokeman (Noodle Vague), Wednesday, 18 January 2017 19:12 (eight years ago)

why start now

Οὖτις, Wednesday, 18 January 2017 19:13 (eight years ago)

i think you misread my comment. i was sincerely asking for some good reasons why she won't win in light of these broader trends

I think the problem is that you're reading this situation through the lens of broader trends instead of numbers

france is absolutely part of this western right wing drift, and le pen is part of that. but she is still nowhere close to getting 50% of france to vote for her + and unlike america, france is a place where you do actually have to get 50% of the population to vote for you. that's kinda the beginning and end of it.

iatee, Wednesday, 18 January 2017 20:02 (eight years ago)

yeah I worry about "the numbers" polls post Trump brexit but I don't see her support having risen enough since the crisis to take the pie. And I think her having been on the scene so long plays against her, like she's not really "change" either, she's another well-known electoral retread. That seems to be a main thing in Macron's favor right now.

droit au butt (Euler), Wednesday, 18 January 2017 20:11 (eight years ago)

Finns Party tanking in the polls having joined the government:

http://yle.fi/uutiset/osasto/news/finns_party_popularity_slumps_to_seven-year_low/9416414

Bubba H.O.T.A.P.E (ShariVari), Saturday, 21 January 2017 13:08 (eight years ago)

france is absolutely part of this western right wing drift, and le pen is part of that. but she is still nowhere close to getting 50% of france to vote for her + and unlike america, france is a place where you do actually have to get 50% of the population to vote for you. that's kinda the beginning and end of it.

Well not exactly. What you need is 50% of the population who vote. And the reason why I'm not very optimistic about our election is that there seems to be a lot of people who are no longer involved in politics, who feel left out and disgusted. And these people will either vote for Le Pen out of spite or simply will not bother to show up. If you look at young people especially, a lot of them do not vote at all and amongst the ones who do vote a majority vote for Le Pen. Before Fillon won the primary I've seen a lot of people saying that if it came down to Le Pen versus Sarkozy (as FN vs LR was and still is the most likely scenario, given how bad the PS and left are doing) they wouldn't bother because it's pretty much the same thing. Sarkozy is out but Fillon isn't that much better (might actually be worse) so that issue remains. Low turnout could lead to Le Pen being elected. I wouldn't say it's very likely but I'm not as confident as I would have been 10 years ago.

Dinsdale, Saturday, 21 January 2017 13:43 (eight years ago)

Do you mean people who don't even like Le Pen will vote for her out of spite?

Robert Adam Gilmour, Saturday, 21 January 2017 13:55 (eight years ago)

Obviously they're a minority but there are people like that for sure. "I don't like her ideas but I don't like the others either so I will vote for her just to fuck with them/the elites/the media". I know people IRL who say that. It's very possible of course that they do actually like her ideas but won't admit it so they're trying to frame it differently.

Dinsdale, Saturday, 21 January 2017 14:18 (eight years ago)

And that's nothing new, of course. There's always been people like that, from as long as I remember. But people seem to be more and more disgusted by "traditional" politics.

Dinsdale, Saturday, 21 January 2017 14:25 (eight years ago)

It's strange who gets considered part of the elites. According to Yahoo UK commenters even minor celebrities live in "ivory towers".

Robert Adam Gilmour, Saturday, 21 January 2017 15:18 (eight years ago)

Finns Party tanking in the polls having joined the government:

http://yle.fi/uutiset/osasto/news/finns_party_popularity_slumps_to_seven-year_low/9416414

― Bubba H.O.T.A.P.E (ShariVari), 21. januar 2017 14:08 (three hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

This is key. The same thing happened to the Norwegian Fremskridtsparti when they joined the government. In Denmark, where the DPP is the biggest right-wing party now, they're still doing everything they can to avoid joining the government and taking responsibility. Of course it's different in first-past-the-post systems, but in most countries with parliamental models such as in Sweden and Denmark, I've felt for a long time it would do more good to oppose the populists every step of the way, and if they really win enough votes to govern, let them govern. The real problem comes when the left starts copying their faulty solutions, it just allows them to move further right, and keep on having power without responsibility.

Frederik B, Saturday, 21 January 2017 17:00 (eight years ago)

In a German beerhall today:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C2sOHGJWIAAiwSX.jpg

Le Bateau Ivre, Saturday, 21 January 2017 17:06 (eight years ago)

somehow the traditional parties of the left have been stuck holding the can for the ravages of global neoliberalism. htf did that happen??

the fact that we've allowed the right to claim they're the ones who will stick up for the little guy in an uncaring world is just fucking preposterous

illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Monday, 23 January 2017 14:07 (eight years ago)

otm

droit au butt (Euler), Monday, 23 January 2017 17:18 (eight years ago)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-38718286

so fucking stupid. might as well hand it to wilders now

left hand hierarchy (imago), Monday, 23 January 2017 18:40 (eight years ago)

Yep. He's trying to 'toughen up' his party to snatch Wilders votes. Instead left and right are roasting him right now. Rightfully so. And good that it takes a new fucking election to make him finally admit he thinks only white people can be Dutch.

The only good thing I can see coming from this is that the world better understands that our PM is a blackface loving, clueless-and-proud, post-vision-and-proud wanker.

Le Bateau Ivre, Monday, 23 January 2017 18:48 (eight years ago)

dean baker implicitly chides me for contending that it's 'globalization' that has left workers in france and italy mad about ting:

http://cepr.net/blogs/beat-the-press/it-s-austerity-not-globalization-that-is-making-workers-in-france-and-italy-unhappy

always good to be reminded that the forces of neoliberalism are not 'impersonal' (though it may feel like that) - they're the consequence of deliberate action taken by policymakers

illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Tuesday, 24 January 2017 08:04 (eight years ago)

i am happy about hamon. valls' statement could have been written by blairbots:

“There is now a very clear choice between certain defeat and possible victory, between unachievable promises and a credible left that takes responsibility"

among hamon's proposals: UBI, taxing robots, legal weed.

illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Tuesday, 24 January 2017 09:26 (eight years ago)

Christ, they really are shallow enough to think a mid-price suit and an NLP course will take them to power

jane burkini (suzy), Tuesday, 24 January 2017 09:37 (eight years ago)

they think it's still 1998

illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Tuesday, 24 January 2017 09:41 (eight years ago)

Just worked over here didn't it

The beaver is not the bad guy (El Tomboto), Tuesday, 24 January 2017 11:32 (eight years ago)

Heyoooo

The beaver is not the bad guy (El Tomboto), Tuesday, 24 January 2017 11:32 (eight years ago)

NLP = "tap 'em on the pussy" ?

crawling in (sic) (Noodle Vague), Tuesday, 24 January 2017 12:20 (eight years ago)

That's more or less what the guy from Whitehouse was promising from his NLP course.

Eats like Elvis, shits like De Niro (Tom D.), Tuesday, 24 January 2017 12:58 (eight years ago)

my problem with Hamon is that mentions of him remind me of this guy

http://img.20mn.fr/jHaz7H3NT8q73KEliE5n_w/2048x1536-fit_john-hamon-john-hamon.jpg

whose posters appear irregularly all over Paris. though I dunno, maybe that's why people voted for Hamon!

droit au butt (Euler), Tuesday, 24 January 2017 14:50 (eight years ago)

i feel bad for singling out the more headline-grabbing of hamon's proposals - he does have a lot of thought-through policies. but even the eccentric stuff is not that eccentric, and the left needs policies that cut through (i.e. fight for 15, etc)

illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Tuesday, 24 January 2017 15:03 (eight years ago)

also he was foursquare against any form of burkini ban and valls was for it so fuck valls forever honestly. that position should dog him to his grave.

illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Tuesday, 24 January 2017 15:05 (eight years ago)

i may have just heard this incorrectly on the radio but i think valls has said hamon will increase the likelihood of successful terrorist attacks against France.

illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Tuesday, 24 January 2017 16:57 (eight years ago)

lol at Fillon's wife getting paid a cool half mil for just being his wife. I'm not surprised, exactly. But it's an indicator of just how entitled and above the law these people think they are (and they're mainly right about this!) They really do think they're masters of the universe.

illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Wednesday, 25 January 2017 12:29 (eight years ago)

Hope to god this 1) Opens the race up 2) Does not swing support to Le Pen. These may be incompatible wishes.

illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Wednesday, 25 January 2017 12:30 (eight years ago)

i may have just heard this incorrectly on the radio but i think valls has said hamon will increase the likelihood of successful terrorist attacks against France.

I don't know if he actually said that but he and his side have been made not-so-subtle hints at this, calling Hamon an Islamo-leftist ("islamo-gauchiste").

Dinsdale, Wednesday, 25 January 2017 12:43 (eight years ago)

*have made

Dinsdale, Wednesday, 25 January 2017 12:43 (eight years ago)

"getting paid a cool half mil"

Never understood what "cool" means when people are talking about money. Surely it can't just mean that it's cool to have lots of money.

Robert Adam Gilmour, Wednesday, 25 January 2017 12:52 (eight years ago)

'cool' draws attention both to the amount and the casualness with which it has been dealt with imo

ogmor, Wednesday, 25 January 2017 13:34 (eight years ago)

-with

ogmor, Wednesday, 25 January 2017 13:34 (eight years ago)

it's only half a million euros - no big deal

conrad, Wednesday, 25 January 2017 14:23 (eight years ago)

what exactly is the FN position on taxing the rich?

droit au butt (Euler), Wednesday, 25 January 2017 16:43 (eight years ago)

from wiki:

Marine Le Pen denounces the current corporate tax as "a crying injustice". She claims that the main groups of CAC 40 only pay 8% of corporate tax whereas the small offices/home offices, the small and medium enterprises, the craftsmen and the shopkeepers fully pay 33.33%. She advocates to implement a flexible corporate tax according to the use of profits: heavier when the profits benefit the shareholders and lighter when the profits turn towards profit sharing, salaries, employment and productive investment, enabling a relocation of activities.[237]

from bloomberg:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2013-11-20/the-far-left-economics-of-frances-far-right

Le Pen says France has been “left alone, naked” to face unchecked globalization. She wants France to leave the European Union and pull out of the euro currency so it can keep tight controls on imports while devaluing its currency “to relaunch exports and employment.” The FN platform calls for a 3 percent tax on all imports that would be used to give a €200 ($270) monthly bonus to the country’s lowest-paid workers.

She also wants the government to play a stronger role in managing the economy—for example, by temporarily nationalizing banks and forcing them to “clean up” their practices. “We still believe in free markets,” she says. “The danger is ultra-liberalism, where financial markets impose all the rules.”

While Hollande has been raising taxes in an effort to narrow the budget deficit, the FN’s economic platform is packed with expensive crowd-pleasers, such as a 20 percent cut in the gas tax and a lowering of the standard retirement age to 60. (Then-President Nicolas Sarkozy of the center-right raised it to 62 only three years ago.) Le Pen says the government can save money by cutting waste, ending social benefits for immigrants, and eliminating payments to the EU.

She’s not an anti-tax campaigner, though. “I am for a social protection system, à la française,” she says. “In this country we are willing to pay a certain level of taxes in order to assure a certain standard of living.”

Mordy, Wednesday, 25 January 2017 17:01 (eight years ago)

Standard issue stuff for fascist parties until they actually get in power.

Eats like Elvis, shits like De Niro (Tom D.), Wednesday, 25 January 2017 18:29 (eight years ago)

https://s29.postimg.org/ij487u1xz/image.png

thx Douglas Murray

Bubba H.O.T.A.P.E (ShariVari), Friday, 27 January 2017 13:54 (eight years ago)

One of the BBC's favourite go-to pundits of course.

Eats like Elvis, shits like De Niro (Tom D.), Friday, 27 January 2017 13:57 (eight years ago)

Yes, along with Fraser Nelson.

Bubba H.O.T.A.P.E (ShariVari), Friday, 27 January 2017 14:02 (eight years ago)

And that woman from the Taxpayers Alliance.

Eats like Elvis, shits like De Niro (Tom D.), Friday, 27 January 2017 14:09 (eight years ago)

various Labour figures are also associated with Murray via the Henry Jackson Society (of which hey is associate director):

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/may/20/labour-cut-ties-henry-jackson-society

It wasn't so much integration that Murray wanted to talk about, however, but skin colour:

"We long ago reached the point where the only thing white Britons can do is to remain silent about the change in their country. Ignored for a generation, they are expected to get on, silently but happily, with abolishing themselves, accepting the knocks and respecting the loss of their country. 'Get over it. It's nothing new. You're terrible. You're nothing'."

soref, Friday, 27 January 2017 14:10 (eight years ago)

I knew Murray had bad opinions, but I hadn't quite realised that he's a full-on "white genocide" type

soref, Friday, 27 January 2017 14:12 (eight years ago)

He's a full-on scumbag.

Eats like Elvis, shits like De Niro (Tom D.), Friday, 27 January 2017 14:14 (eight years ago)

That Spectator piece by Murray is something else... Don't know where to begin.

Yet this time, there was a response to the rebuff. A new party — Forum for Democracy — arose out of the plebiscite. Led by one of Holland’s smartest and most prominent young intellectuals, Thierry Baudet,

Pour one out, I died laughing at "smartest and most prominent young intellectual".

Murray conveniently leaves out that Wilders has already had a seat at the table, supporting a minority cabinet. But he wasted his opportunity, retrieved support, the cabinet fell, and now no-one wants to govern with him anymore because he's proven to be deeply untrustworthy.

I'm not saying he won't be the biggest party (though he has lost four elections in a row up till now, mind) this time around. But Murray only pushes him more into the 'anti-establishment' position Wilders revels in. Together with two others, he's been in parliament the longest of all pm's: 18 years. That's how 'anti-establishment' and 'anti-elite' he is.

Le Bateau Ivre, Friday, 27 January 2017 14:51 (eight years ago)

"smartest and most prominent young intellectuals"

This is so obviously how Murray sees himself.

Eats like Elvis, shits like De Niro (Tom D.), Friday, 27 January 2017 14:56 (eight years ago)

Baudet is a querulant, who's biggest claim to fame to date is writing an atrociously bad novel, and promoting the work of those so-called 'pick up masters' (like Tom Cruise in Magnolia), saying "no doesn't mean no: women want to be overpowered".

Le Bateau Ivre, Friday, 27 January 2017 15:01 (eight years ago)

douglas murray: proof that white genocide must happen, and soon

the greg evigan school of improvised explosive devices (bizarro gazzara), Friday, 27 January 2017 15:03 (eight years ago)

A couple more weeks like this one and I'll ... go see if there's a Kickstarter I can fund.

Andrew Farrell, Friday, 27 January 2017 15:12 (eight years ago)

let us know, i'll set aside some cash now

the greg evigan school of improvised explosive devices (bizarro gazzara), Friday, 27 January 2017 15:13 (eight years ago)

one month passes...

16 days until the next big milestone in the West's march to the right - how are geert's odds looking?

Mordy, Monday, 27 February 2017 23:29 (eight years ago)

two weeks pass...

Famous last words, but with all the hype about Wilders, I thought he would be polling 30-35% or something like that. He is at 13% in the last poll I saw. That's less than what the DPP gets in Denmark. Is there anything about the Dutch election system I have missed, or is he pretty far from winning?

Frederik B, Wednesday, 15 March 2017 11:31 (eight years ago)

If Wilders gets as low as 13% then I'm a Dutchman. But here's hoping.

Thank you for your service, wasteman (Bananaman Begins), Wednesday, 15 March 2017 11:50 (eight years ago)

Can't blame you for thinking that. But he's far from winning. He'll likely end up with 15% tops of the vote. His 'party' lost four times in a row. Everyone seems to forget this, all the time.

Not downplaying it, still way too many people voting for him, but he'll be no factor in forming a government. And I hope both national and international media will finally pay attention and stop giving him this ludicrous amount of coverage, because he's simply not as big a danger as is made out to be. He did a p good job at marginalizing himself this campaign, too, tbh.

(He's definitely left a mark on this country, making the center and right parties move more to the right, but that's a different story)

Le Bateau Ivre, Wednesday, 15 March 2017 11:53 (eight years ago)

Honestly, I feel as if this won't end until the populists gets responsibility to do as they say, and fail miserably. That's what happened in Norway. The worst thing that happens is that all the other parties, spooked by the populist right, begins copying their politics with a 'respectable' sheen. In Denmark we have had 16 years and counting of populist immigration policy, and it's done fuck all to any problems. But the DPP won't go into government, even though they now are the biggest party on the right, so they still have a position where they get all the praise for being 'realists' on immigration, and everyone else gets the blame for all the shit they support.

Frederik B, Wednesday, 15 March 2017 11:56 (eight years ago)

It's exactly the same here. The Christian democrats (CDA) and conservatives (VVD) have shifted to the right a lot, copying slanderous words about refugees Wilders used four years ago. 'Respectable sheen' indeed... Like the DPP I think (but very different from Le Pen) Wilders simply does not want to govern. He doesn't want to be prime minister, because he'll have all to lose. He all but admits it when pushed on this.

Le Bateau Ivre, Wednesday, 15 March 2017 12:00 (eight years ago)

It might be because France is a presidential system and Holland/Denmark are parliamental?

Frederik B, Wednesday, 15 March 2017 12:04 (eight years ago)

Oh definitely*. But I truly believe he wouldn't even want to. He'd have to compromise regardless.

(* Dutch system 101: 150 parliament seats, you need 76 to form a government. Since no party ever gets 75 or more seats, forming a coalition is standard practice, sometimes of three or even four parties. Biggest party has dibs on the prime minister post. None of the parties want to form w/ Wilders.)

Le Bateau Ivre, Wednesday, 15 March 2017 12:10 (eight years ago)

Much like Denmark then. We currently have a three-party coalition (Liberals, Conservatives, Libertarians) supported by the Populists (who as I said is the biggest of the four parties). It's a lot of fun, they are at each others throat the whole time, while fucking up my future on a daily basis. Sigh. At least the left is leading in the polls at the moment.

Frederik B, Wednesday, 15 March 2017 12:19 (eight years ago)

I hear you. Left's not even leading here, they've collectively shrunk over the years. You know you're fucked when you kind of 'hope' our 'black face rules' Tory PM wins because he's not Wilders... It's a shambles tbh.

Wilders did have his chance in 2012, but he blew it. He supported a minority coalition but backed out, causing the gov to fall. He lost all credibility after that.

It's interesting that we'll likely have five parties (Tories, Chr.Dems, LibDem, GreenLeft, Wilders) with 16-30 seats each. Not had such fragmentation, without one huge winner, for a long time. My guess will be a four party coalition, the aforementioned ones without Wilders.

Le Bateau Ivre, Wednesday, 15 March 2017 12:55 (eight years ago)

At 13.00 the turnout in Amsterdam was almost double what it was at the same time in 2012 tho. That's incredible. Could be an interesting evening.

Le Bateau Ivre, Wednesday, 15 March 2017 13:00 (eight years ago)

Lol, so Wilders' actually had influence and failed miserably already. Not a lot his supporters can do when the mainstream parties - as in Sweden - refuse to include him in a coalition.

Frederik B, Wednesday, 15 March 2017 13:18 (eight years ago)

The danger there is presumably that Wilders will be leader of the opposition?

Andrew Farrell, Wednesday, 15 March 2017 15:32 (eight years ago)

Nope, we don't have opposition leaders in our system. Sure, he will be opposition and will be loud, but he's been like that for the past six years tbh.

Le Bateau Ivre, Wednesday, 15 March 2017 15:37 (eight years ago)

We don't have one oppo leader I mean, like in other countries.

Le Bateau Ivre, Wednesday, 15 March 2017 15:38 (eight years ago)

He'll be the largest though, might that not confer some legitimacy on him?

I realise that I'm speaking from ignorance - is there much history of criticism of policies from inside coalitions? I guess what I'm worried about is that he'll get to say "This is terrible, my untried alternative would be better" on any government policy that people don't like until the next election.

Andrew Farrell, Wednesday, 15 March 2017 16:00 (eight years ago)

I can see where you're coming from, but the latter is what he's tried to do for the last couple of years. To no avail. Ban the quran, close all mosques, exit out of EU, deport "criminal moroccans". All these untried alternatives will remain untried. He'll ofcourse have some legitimacy, but he'll be one of many (could run up to as much as 12 parties) opposition parties.

Seeing that his party's not gotten any bigger the last six, seven years (not losing a lot, but not gaining either... fingers crossed for tonight) keeps him pretty contained. No doubt this country is getting more and more rightwing though.

Le Bateau Ivre, Wednesday, 15 March 2017 16:08 (eight years ago)

(there'll likely be one or two small, new parties, closest to alt-right as we've known here, nibbling off some seats from Wilders, too)

Le Bateau Ivre, Wednesday, 15 March 2017 16:10 (eight years ago)

Fingers crossed that Trump might just be the beginning of the end for these right wing populist clowns.

Return of the Flustered Bootle Native (Tom D.), Wednesday, 15 March 2017 16:11 (eight years ago)

Otm. Unexpectedly anxious/excited abt tonight.

Le Bateau Ivre, Wednesday, 15 March 2017 16:59 (eight years ago)

Don't want to make you more anxious, make you think more about it, but can you give us a few signposts/things to look out for?

Frederik B, Wednesday, 15 March 2017 17:12 (eight years ago)

1. How big will Wilders be? He's got 15 seats now, and will likely get 25-27. Which sucks. If he gets less, he'll celebrate the won seats but it's not enough to boast about tbh. If he pulls a trump and becomes the biggest party the apocalypse will commence.
2. Tories (VVD) will likely be biggest, but lose some seats to PVV. If Rutte can get a margin of 5 or more seats opposed to Wilders, he'll be considered to have done reasonably well and fended off Wilders.
3. Most interesting will be the four parties after those two: D66 (Libdem), CDA (chr dems), GreenLeft, Socialist Party could all get between 15-30 seats, and are sitting around 20 in the polls. The Tories will prob need three of these to form a coalition. If D66 and GreenLeft do as good as projected, it could be a centred coalition with a hint of green (which, given the limited possibilities in this fractured landscape, I would applaud).
4. Labour will be decimated tonight. Whether they get 13 or as low as 8 seats (38 now), they're being destroyed which is quite a big thing for Dutch politics.
5. How many seats do the small/new parties scoop up? It won't matter a whole lot for coalition etc but it's interesting to see how many seats parties like FvD (alt-right'ish) could get. Party of the Animals, Pirate Party etc. The fucking elderly party.
6. And then there's Denk. This will be significant. Two ex Labour mps with a Turkish background campaign as the first party for immigrants. They also are very much behind Erdogan, which - given the row Hollands in with that bastard - is controversial. If they scoop up 5 or 6 seats that's still quite a big signal tho.
7. TL;dr let's hope Wilders won't be too big, but regardless, we'll have a center'ish coalition like we always do.

Le Bateau Ivre, Wednesday, 15 March 2017 18:19 (eight years ago)

Exit poll at 21 CET usually gives a pretty accurate view of the results.

Le Bateau Ivre, Wednesday, 15 March 2017 18:24 (eight years ago)

Thanks! Forgive me for asking all these questions, and just ignore me if you want to, but the coverage of the election has been pretty pitiful in Denmark. But I see on wikipedia that Wilders won 24 seats in the 2010 election, so he will more or less be back where he was before 2012? Is the Labour collapse perhaps the real story, and are there any big reasons for it, or is it the by now fairly typical faith of a minority coalition partner that we've also seen with the Lib Dems, the FDP in Germany, etc?

What happens if he becomes the biggest? In Denmark, we are currently ruled by the third-biggest party, because they were the ones who could form a coalition, but would it be different for you guys?

Frederik B, Wednesday, 15 March 2017 18:44 (eight years ago)

Fingers crossed that Trump might just be the beginning of the end for these right wing populist clowns.
― Return of the Flustered Bootle Native (Tom D.)

"Alternative für Deutschland" sounded fresh and modern before Kellyanne Conway. Now, not so much.

Wes Brodicus, Wednesday, 15 March 2017 18:54 (eight years ago)

Nae mind, Fred! You are correct, last time he plummeted from 24 to 15, so he would be at his old level. This would mean he gained some traction after the refugee crisis but not more than he previously had.
If he does become the biggest party (which would cost his most likely coalition partner VVD seats), he'd be unable to reach 76 seats without a third or even fourth party. All big parties have already ruled out forming a gov with Wilders, due to either being let down in 2012 or simply because he's a racist moron. Even if the VVD reconsider (I wouldn't put it past those bastards) they're not there yet: it's nigh on impossible, and after failing to form a gov other parties will try so, behind his back or not. Which is fair, too. So that's the same as in Denmark I think.
However, him being biggest or winning a lot is still highly problematic obv. It's not a country I want to wake up in tomorrow.

Labour collapsing just isn't a surprise anymore to be a big story. They suffer for ruling with the Tories. The Green Party, Socialists, and even LibDems probably benefit from it. The real leftie Labour voters feel they aren't left enough any more (which is true). Like in the UK it's a party deep in identity crisis tbh.

Real story is prob twofold: will Wilders rise be contained/turn out not be as big, and will the center and left parties (excluding Labour) win big? If that happens it's a reasonably good outcome imho, which will provide a fairly stable, center with a dash of green gov. If Wilders is hot on the Tories heels though, or even become biggest, it will suck big time.

Turnout is crazy high, but no one dares to project what that means for the result.

Le Bateau Ivre, Wednesday, 15 March 2017 19:02 (eight years ago)

Turnout is crazy high

Populists will do well then, surely? Unfortunately.

Ongar Is An Energy (Tom D.), Wednesday, 15 March 2017 19:07 (eight years ago)

xp What do you foresee would be the consequences of Wilders' becoming the biggest party assuming that you are correct that he would be unable to form a government?

Mordy, Wednesday, 15 March 2017 19:11 (eight years ago)

I think partly yes, and partly previously uninterested voters (people with migrant backgrounds). There's also been loads of initiatives by celebs etc to get the 800,000 youths who can vote for the first time to the polling stations. I've no idea tbh. Xp

Le Bateau Ivre, Wednesday, 15 March 2017 19:12 (eight years ago)

Mordy: then his hatred driven narrative will dominate the nation for four years again. You would not believe the amount of 'who are Wilders voters and what are they like?!' Thinkpiece sand long reads we've had over the last couple of months, even by the most progressive media. It's excruciating, this normalization of bigotry and racism. As I said, the conservatives, Christian democrats etc, they all adapted his repertoire to appeal to voters leaning towards Wilders. So he may not be prime minister, he's already leaving his mark. Which is a shit stain tbh.

As an opposition party, all he has done up to now is shout racist nonsense, create tension and chaos. If he is the biggest party, his megaphone will be even louder. Don't underestimate his power of division: having someone on the news every night hammering home that people with Turkish or Moroccan descent (his scapegoats), Muslims, do not belong here, leaves deep scars. Even with those able to see his political role realistically, friends of mine. It's poisonous.

Le Bateau Ivre, Wednesday, 15 March 2017 19:50 (eight years ago)

EXIT POLL

VVD 31 seats
PVV/Wilders 19
CDA/ChrDems 19
D66/LibDem 19
GreenLeft 16
SocialistParty 14
Labour 9

Whoa... This is p huge. Wilders nowhere near a big win.

Le Bateau Ivre, Wednesday, 15 March 2017 20:05 (eight years ago)

nice

sleeve, Wednesday, 15 March 2017 20:05 (eight years ago)

Yeah this is - despite obv 13% for Wilders being too much - really, really great news. He hardly won. Center parties like Green and LibDem profiting from Labour collapse (those could've also gone to Wilders/right wing, but that doesn't seem to be the case).

Green Party from 4 to 16 seats!

Le Bateau Ivre, Wednesday, 15 March 2017 20:11 (eight years ago)

i don't know how good your exit polls are but in light of the last couple of years i'd hold on for a little why before busting out the champagne

Pengest & Corsa (Noodle Vague), Wednesday, 15 March 2017 20:13 (eight years ago)

Even tho misery loves company I hope the exit polls are right. They were way off in Clinton/Trump and, iirc, Brexit.

Mordy, Wednesday, 15 March 2017 20:14 (eight years ago)

xp jinx

Mordy, Wednesday, 15 March 2017 20:14 (eight years ago)

iirc it was our 2015 general election where the exit poll called it wrong, i seem to remember there not being an official Brexit Exit Poll

Pengest & Corsa (Noodle Vague), Wednesday, 15 March 2017 20:16 (eight years ago)

i'd like to imagine PR makes exit polls more likely to be accurate than the fucked-up vagaries of the UK and US systems

Pengest & Corsa (Noodle Vague), Wednesday, 15 March 2017 20:18 (eight years ago)

The exit poll in the 2015 election pointed to a Tory majority - I remember the alert popping up on my phone in a pub toilet and immediately wanting to throw up.

Matt DC, Wednesday, 15 March 2017 20:20 (eight years ago)

Our exit polls are usually fairly accurate, but trust me, I'm not celebrating yet. I cant ever celebrate because Tories still rule this country but... Wilders not as big as projected, nowhere near, at least give me that to be pleased about guys. Give me something, I don't ask for a lot tbh.

Le Bateau Ivre, Wednesday, 15 March 2017 20:21 (eight years ago)

think maybe the 2015 poll called a wafer-thin majority compared to how it played out?

Pengest & Corsa (Noodle Vague), Wednesday, 15 March 2017 20:23 (eight years ago)

It's still a reasonably thin majority but yeah a similar error here in Wilders' favour would not be good.

Matt DC, Wednesday, 15 March 2017 20:30 (eight years ago)

Well, apparently a bad result for populists in Australia as well: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/global-opinions/wp/2017/03/15/australia-just-delivered-a-blow-to-its-far-right-populists-heres-how-we-did-it/?tid=sm_tw&utm_term=.05eb2dcdb262

Any Australians who can elaborate?

Frederik B, Wednesday, 15 March 2017 21:33 (eight years ago)

Re: the 2015 exit poll - all the major polls running up were pointing towards a hung parliament but the first exit poll that came out at 10pm that night predicted a Tory majority, and it was correct.

gyac, Wednesday, 15 March 2017 22:06 (eight years ago)

lol Pauline Hanson is a running joke, she never had a chance.

Stoop Crone (Trayce), Thursday, 16 March 2017 01:15 (eight years ago)

Already entirely sick of all the triumphant 'populism was defeated!1!' headlines. Populism wasn't defeated, it's been wholly adopted by the mainstream parties.

Le Bateau Ivre, Thursday, 16 March 2017 12:16 (eight years ago)

So the system works?

brat_stuntin (darraghmac), Thursday, 16 March 2017 12:17 (eight years ago)

I suppose.

Freddy B, hats off for the Danish newsreaders presenting a whole item in Dutch!

Le Bateau Ivre, Thursday, 16 March 2017 14:34 (eight years ago)

Lol. Danish people love Dutch, as it's a common held opinion that it's the only language in the world uglier than ours...

Sorry...

Frederik B, Thursday, 16 March 2017 14:39 (eight years ago)

This guy seriously looks like a Willy Wonka wannabe:
https://pbs.twimg.com/card_img/842366245093707777/3LF-CSXO?format=jpg&name=600x314

Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 16 March 2017 16:11 (eight years ago)

Or a last-minute Jimmy Page costume:
http://noisecreep.com/files/2014/01/Jimmy-Page.jpg

Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 16 March 2017 16:12 (eight years ago)

one month passes...

Starting to really believe that if the Brexit referendum had happened after Trump, the results would have been different.

El Tomboto, Monday, 24 April 2017 00:25 (eight years ago)

Of which?

Andrew Farrell, Monday, 24 April 2017 06:57 (eight years ago)

I really dunno about that. Brexit and Trump are lumped in together a lot in the media and amongst Remainers, but I don't know if many Leavers make the association (even with Farage advising Trump and etc.)

Daniel_Rf, Monday, 24 April 2017 09:32 (eight years ago)

It is probably a wash between 'the world is becoming more chaotic so we need the stability of old alliances' and 'the world is becoming more chaotic so we need the freedom and flexibility to create new alliances' depending on your existing biases.

We are about to hand a massive majority to a leader promising a much more extreme version of Brexit than was ever hinted at - on the assumption that she can work out a sweet deal with Trump.

Wag1 Shree Rajneesh (ShariVari), Monday, 24 April 2017 09:50 (eight years ago)

For much of last year, even the UKIP people who too regularly appear on QUESTION TIME would respond to questions about Trump by saying they disagreed with him and wouldn't vote for him if they were American.

I suppose this implies that for them, Brexit was much less extreme than Trump.

the pinefox, Monday, 24 April 2017 09:54 (eight years ago)

Also they knew that even their own supporters regarded Trump as a disaster.

Punnet of the Grapes (Tom D.), Monday, 24 April 2017 10:05 (eight years ago)

I was thinking that if Trump had won already, the voters who were soft on Brexit but showed up just to vote Leave out of spite might have chosen otherwise. I think Trump's win seems to have been an effective warning to moderates to turn out and vote for the sane option. Swinging the result two points in the other direction doesn't seem improbable.

El Tomboto, Monday, 24 April 2017 10:25 (eight years ago)

Of all the causes of the vote for leave in the referendum (of which there were many), I don't think what is or was happening in the US was very high up the list, and I don't think a change to the chronology would have made much of a difference to the result of the vote.

Neil S, Monday, 24 April 2017 10:35 (eight years ago)

Nor do I think Trump/Brexit had much to do with yesterday's French election. Neither of those results has had enough impact *yet* to persuade/dissuade voters concerned with, for instance, immigration.

droit au butt (Euler), Monday, 24 April 2017 15:16 (eight years ago)

It's impossible to say for certain of course but it's entirely possible that Trump's massive, world-famous incompetence at being president has taken the wind out of the sails of some of the people who think their country needs a fascist outsider to "shake things up a bit"

illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Monday, 24 April 2017 18:33 (eight years ago)

yeah our fascist outsider should be enough to shake things up a bit for everyone, for at least a while

El Tomboto, Monday, 24 April 2017 20:13 (eight years ago)

y'know Tracer given your triple threat of France/UK/USA affiliations I am kind of surprised you have not had some kind of health event over all this shit

El Tomboto, Monday, 24 April 2017 20:22 (eight years ago)

All his oafs in difference basketcases

virginity simple (darraghmac), Monday, 24 April 2017 23:39 (eight years ago)

one month passes...

This is definitely the wrong thread, but I wanted to ask something some place where the politically interested posters from many countries would see it. Because in Denmark we just had the end of yet another court trial against greedy bankers, and yet another complete acquittal and a lot of wasted tax payer money. So wanted to ask, has any other countries had more luck? Any good writing on what the differences has been in countries, what laws there were to defend against this, what strategies countries has taken.

Frederik B, Monday, 12 June 2017 14:36 (seven years ago)

More proper for this thread: Finns Party kicked out of Finnish governing coalition, and apparently, according to polls they've lost half their support since last election. From 17% to 9%.

Frederik B, Monday, 12 June 2017 23:50 (seven years ago)

Yeah I'm not entirely sure I get that. The two Finns I talk to had differing views on how much of a swing that was and what it meant.

El Tomboto, Tuesday, 13 June 2017 00:06 (seven years ago)

I would love to hear expert opinions about the swing, but personally I note that populist movements fall apart whenever they have to take responsibility. The lesson for me is to never compromise in the fight against populism, since even if we lose they will then fall apart themselves, while in Denmark and elsewhere, compromising has meant giving them power without responsibility.

Frederik B, Tuesday, 13 June 2017 07:57 (seven years ago)

We've not had any luck with bankers probably because it's all murky as fuck and they could justifiably (legally) argue that the system was rotten and they acted in good faith etc etc etc

Everyone cites Iceland as an example of how to do it I'm not convinced Iceland is a useful comparator for any other country in the world tbh

May o God help us (darraghmac), Tuesday, 13 June 2017 08:25 (seven years ago)

I note that populist movements fall apart whenever they have to take responsibility.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/06/12/italys-populist-five-star-movement-humiliated-municipal-elections/

Punnet of the Grapes (Tom D.), Tuesday, 13 June 2017 09:24 (seven years ago)

Great news! Some good examples this week, then.

Yeah, Iceland seems like a special case that has given everyone unrealistic ideas. I mean, fuck the guys in the Danish court case, the manager got payed a 10 million kr bonus right before they went under and their costumers lost everything, but it wasn't illegal at the time, and... I'm not sure it's constructive. x-post.

Frederik B, Tuesday, 13 June 2017 11:25 (seven years ago)

Oh, and the story in Finland seems to be that the membership of the party did a sort of coup when the old leader stepped down, and chose a much more radical candidate than expected. And the other parties just went 'nope'.

Frederik B, Tuesday, 13 June 2017 11:27 (seven years ago)

Lol, this just in: Old leader of True Finns now trying to make a new party with 20 other members, to stay in government coalition...

Frederik B, Tuesday, 13 June 2017 11:30 (seven years ago)

The lesson for me is to never compromise in the fight against populism

u unaccountably seem to have left 'right wing' out of that formulation

The Adventures Of Whiteman (Bananaman Begins), Tuesday, 13 June 2017 14:16 (seven years ago)

Ffs, the thread is named 'Is the West Experiencing a Right-Wing Drift'

Frederik B, Tuesday, 13 June 2017 14:22 (seven years ago)

"populist" has an almost exclusively right-wing connotation in europe, as i learned to my chagrin when i interviewed the then-head of the hackney empire and called his programming "populist" - he grew visibly and audibly incensed (which improved the interview tbh)

illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Tuesday, 13 June 2017 14:23 (seven years ago)

Seems otm

I mean left wing populism just dies on its feet as soon as anyone asks who's paying usually

May o God help us (darraghmac), Tuesday, 13 June 2017 14:31 (seven years ago)

I'm not so sure that's the case anymore.

a serious and fascinating fartist (Simon H.), Tuesday, 13 June 2017 14:42 (seven years ago)

Podemos, Syriza, *gulp* Corbyn...

Punnet of the Grapes (Tom D.), Tuesday, 13 June 2017 14:44 (seven years ago)

Fair to note that was more a comment on the debate shutting down but yeah

May o God help us (darraghmac), Tuesday, 13 June 2017 14:46 (seven years ago)

tbh I don't even know where the Five Star Movement is, ideologically, but any political party started by a comedian has to be resisted at all costs.

Punnet of the Grapes (Tom D.), Tuesday, 13 June 2017 14:49 (seven years ago)

aye, it could so easily lead to tyranny

pray for BoJo (Noodle Vague), Tuesday, 13 June 2017 14:51 (seven years ago)

I'd probably include Podemos and Syriza as unfortunate examples of my point about populist movements crumbling once they're unable to deliver as promised - though the circumstances are completely different, of course. Corbyn smart to make a fully costed popular manifesto that could hopefully begin being implemented as soon as he gets power in 2018.

Frederik B, Tuesday, 13 June 2017 15:02 (seven years ago)

Wait, sorry, I actually thought Podemos was in power. My bad.

Frederik B, Tuesday, 13 June 2017 15:05 (seven years ago)

as soon as he gets power in 2018

or sooner, the way things are going

a serious and fascinating fartist (Simon H.), Tuesday, 13 June 2017 15:07 (seven years ago)

Well, yeah, but I just wanted to use a cautious estimate ;)

Frederik B, Tuesday, 13 June 2017 15:12 (seven years ago)

first they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then they ripoff your messaging in a half ass attempt to hold onto power pic.twitter.com/uITiNNJrI8

— Adam H. Johnson (@adamjohnsonNYC) June 13, 2017

Supercreditor (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 13 June 2017 15:17 (seven years ago)

No one in the Democratic leadership–not Schumer, Pelosi or Perez–has congratulated Corbyn. Our Dems are tighter with Netanyahu than Corbyn.

— Chase Madar (@ChaseMadar) June 9, 2017

Supercreditor (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 13 June 2017 18:41 (seven years ago)

congratulations on not losing quite as badly as had been predicted

Mordy, Tuesday, 13 June 2017 18:46 (seven years ago)

I know I have no right to police this thread, especially since it was started by Mordy, but wouldn't it make more sense as a sort of trans-national discussion on left-wing / right-wing politics, rather than turning it into the latest forum for US Dem-bashing?

Can anyone point me to some really good analysis of the Labour manifesto, especially it's funding mechanisms? It was 'fully costed', but... How? I'm asking, because I got reminded of a Soc Dem manifesto from 2010, which was also supposedly fully costed, but through a gimmicky funding mechanism, which mostly was based on workers all working 12 min more a day, giving a massive boost to productivity. 'Give us 12 min, we'll give you welfare', that sort of slogans. It turned out, of course, to not really work, and not really being legal either, so it all fell apart, and they had a rubbish election where really they should have won decisively. (They still won, just not as big as they looked to do)

What I mean is, a lot of good politics lately has been 'policy wonk' stuff, moving bills around, trying to make them disappear. The idea of Paul Ryan as a great politician, rather than a stupid fraud. And it would be a good take away from this election, that the simple answer would actually be best: The money is coming from higher taxes.

Frederik B, Thursday, 15 June 2017 11:43 (seven years ago)

Or the latest forum for Corbyn-bashing by Mordy?

Punnet of the Grapes (Tom D.), Thursday, 15 June 2017 11:45 (seven years ago)

corbyn and mcdonnell have been quite explicit that the money would come from higher taxes on the top 5% of earners. the IFS says it would have to be more like the top 10% iirc but that's the gist. Labour would also introduce a "land value tax" which for the first time would tax land wealth.

illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Thursday, 15 June 2017 12:47 (seven years ago)

& corporation tax bumped back up a bit

ogmor, Thursday, 15 June 2017 12:53 (seven years ago)

My suspicion is that the US election was kind of watershed moment where a lot of other people in other countries sat up and went "this can't be allowed to happen here". There was bound to be backlash against all this shit sooner or later and we're in the early stages of that now.

Matt DC, Thursday, 15 June 2017 13:03 (seven years ago)

The fact that it was won by an absolute clown is possibly a blessing in that sense - standing with him has damaged serious politicians, though obviously existing dangerous clowns (eg Farage) haven't minded.

Andrew Farrell, Thursday, 15 June 2017 13:52 (seven years ago)

A high-level view is that, as Trump is riding the high point of various anti-progressive waves, his eventual ignominious departure will tie those attitudes to him - a Don Draper that you either hate or pretend you hate.

Like lots of high-level views it will be of no comfort for those getting it in the neck now and for some time to come.

Andrew Farrell, Thursday, 15 June 2017 13:56 (seven years ago)

if u believe that there are systemic reasons for the right-wing tide then trump may end up temporarily discrediting the notion but the underlying push isn't going to vanish just bc he's a buffoon.

Mordy, Thursday, 15 June 2017 14:31 (seven years ago)

But with the right-wingers being beaten left and right by everyone from Macron to Corbyn to, well, themselves in Finland, it's probably worth reconsidering what the 'systemic reasons' for the rise might be.

Frederik B, Thursday, 15 June 2017 16:23 (seven years ago)

if u believe that there are systemic reasons for the right-wing tide

I don't, really, I believe political motion of this kind is largely driven by fads which are arbitrary and contingent and for which we invent plausible explanations after the fact

Guayaquil (eephus!), Thursday, 15 June 2017 16:26 (seven years ago)

A lot of the "systemic reasons" that don't amount to straight up racism and bigotry can also work to the benefit of left-wing parties as well. That definitely happened in Britain last week.

Matt DC, Thursday, 15 June 2017 16:28 (seven years ago)

I believe there are systemic reasons for the current instability/discontent but don't think they need lead to a right-wing resurgence: they can benefit the left just as easily. The only ppl they cannot benefit is those too associated with The Establishment in people's minds - which is why even a centrist like Macron made his campaign about change, going outside the established main parties, etc.

xpost

Daniel_Rf, Thursday, 15 June 2017 16:32 (seven years ago)

Matt DC otm

Frederik B, Thursday, 15 June 2017 16:33 (seven years ago)

I wouldn't say systemic, but one of the factors is pushback from increasing progress along various axes - it's no coincidence that Trump comes after eight years of the first black president and the fear of the first female president.

Andrew Farrell, Thursday, 15 June 2017 16:46 (seven years ago)

caek posted this on the US politics thread but seems more relevant to this one imo

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/donald-trump-is-making-europe-liberal-again/

Οὖτις, Thursday, 15 June 2017 19:08 (seven years ago)

three months pass...

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/the_good_fight/2017/09/afd_party_enters_german_parliament_the_country_is_no_longer_immune_from.html

Never in Germany’s postwar history has a far-right party gained more than 6 percent in a national election. Today, the Islamophobic, anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) party pulverized that record, taking over 13 percent of the vote, winning a plurality in a significant number of districts, and establishing itself as the country’s third-biggest party.

The AfD won this remarkable victory even though a more radical wing of the party took over a few months ago. It won this remarkable victory even though one of its two new leaders used distinctively Nazi rhetoric when he expressed his hope that a competitor of Turkish roots would be “disposed of” in Anatolia. And it won this remarkable victory even though the other new leader said that members of the government are “just puppets of the victors of World War II,” implying that the current political system is illegitimate.

Mordy, Monday, 25 September 2017 19:40 (seven years ago)

increasing appeal of fascism/nationalism as the air and the oceans coincidentally warm is a dumb fad, germany. don't fall for it!

reggie (qualmsley), Monday, 25 September 2017 19:44 (seven years ago)

A friend pointed out that this is not really a remarkable victory, it's about average (a little low in fact) for the far-right across Europe. Which isn't good, of course, and there's a frisson from it being Germany, but it's not the end of the world.

"It is, frankly, hard to imagine better headwinds for an anti-Muslim, anti-immigration political party than Germany this election. IMAGINE the media and political response in the UK if Theresa May had opened the borders! (To avoid ambiguity, I think Merkel was basically right to do this and May's response to the humanitarian crisis has been outrageous.) Is the AfD's 13% really a seismic shock? And since they've tacked hard to the right to get it - to the point where their leader just walked out because the party's too extreme for her now - can they do any better?"

Andrew Farrell, Monday, 25 September 2017 22:02 (seven years ago)

After underwhelming results for the far right in various European countries when everyone was expecting the Trump/Brexit trend to continue, this does feel more like the tail end of a trend, but that might be dangerously misplaced optimism on my part.

Daniel_Rf, Monday, 25 September 2017 22:36 (seven years ago)

i am ok w/ ppl being terrified about 1 in 8 german voters thinking the nazi thing was good actually and they should do that again. i mean the only hope we have is that ppl remember that kind of shit and are horrified by it. would hope to rely on germans of everyone taking the lead in that particular discipline.

Roberto Spiralli, Monday, 25 September 2017 22:40 (seven years ago)

Sitting in a country where the far right scored 12% as early as 2001, it's hard to feel it's that seismic. But it's bad that they over performed polls, for the reason Daniel points out.

Frederik B, Monday, 25 September 2017 22:43 (seven years ago)

Sitting in a country where the far right scored 12% as early as 2001, it's hard to feel it's that seismic

to point this out for literally the 45th billionth time since you started posting here, maybe you're not that worried about it because you're a white person in a land of white people and the threat isn't directly against you

Karl Malone, Monday, 25 September 2017 23:20 (seven years ago)

Donald Trumpth billionth time

passé aggresif (darraghmac), Monday, 25 September 2017 23:25 (seven years ago)

he has even taken over the number system, we're dooooooooomed, he is the gray goo we were warned about

Karl Malone, Monday, 25 September 2017 23:30 (seven years ago)

karl malone otm x a billion

(The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Monday, 25 September 2017 23:31 (seven years ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHG0ezLiVGc

Frederik B, Monday, 25 September 2017 23:32 (seven years ago)

I never said I wasn't worried, but I don't think any of my immigrant friends are surprised at the far right doing 13% in Germany.

Frederik B, Monday, 25 September 2017 23:34 (seven years ago)

i am not surprised the giant vampire squid has a role in all this . . . but a lesbian???

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4917706/Lesbian-mother-two-set-Angela-Merkel.html

reggie (qualmsley), Monday, 25 September 2017 23:38 (seven years ago)

That shouldn't surprise anybody since at least Pim Fortuyn. But I guess I'm saying that because I'm white too.

Frederik B, Monday, 25 September 2017 23:42 (seven years ago)

so what's to keep afd from facing the same fate as the DRP or the FAP?

bob lefse (rushomancy), Tuesday, 26 September 2017 00:27 (seven years ago)

Whenever I see "AfD", I first think "Appetite for Destruction", which I guess is actually apt, but the reality is still doubly disappointing.

No purposes. Sounds. (Sund4r), Tuesday, 26 September 2017 12:26 (seven years ago)

Btw, the SNL sketch is funny but not really reflective of my experience.

No purposes. Sounds. (Sund4r), Tuesday, 26 September 2017 12:44 (seven years ago)

i am ok w/ ppl being terrified about 1 in 8 german voters thinking the nazi thing was good actually and they should do that again. i mean the only hope we have is that ppl remember that kind of shit and are horrified by it. would hope to rely on germans of everyone taking the lead in that particular discipline.

― Roberto Spiralli, Dienstag, 26. September 2017

To be fair, people who actually remember the Nazis didn't vote AfD. Less than 7% of people over 70 did.

Sadly, Germany's baby boomers' attitude towards fascism boils down to "we can't possibly be like Nazis coz we're not wearing swastikas"

Wes Brodicus, Tuesday, 26 September 2017 16:24 (seven years ago)

the npr piece on the election interviewed one guy (so small sample size) who of course started off why he voted for AfD with 'I'm not a racist, I'm not a Nazi, BUT...'

officer sonny bonds, lytton pd (mayor jingleberries), Tuesday, 26 September 2017 17:41 (seven years ago)

Hypocrisy and lack of self-awareness are as popular here as anywhere.

Wes Brodicus, Tuesday, 26 September 2017 20:49 (seven years ago)

Rewatching "The Nazis:A Warning from History" the last few weeks has confirmed in the belief that if you choose to affiliate with this shit you deserve to be forcibly reputed

be the cringe you want to see in the world (Noodle Vague), Tuesday, 26 September 2017 21:36 (seven years ago)

Repudiated, sorry

be the cringe you want to see in the world (Noodle Vague), Tuesday, 26 September 2017 21:37 (seven years ago)

Germany's favorite brand of history doc is the kind where you get shown the usual prominent Nazis over and over again, with menacing background music and a solemn commentary about what they just did or what they are about to do. Doesn't really get you to contemplate the causes and workings of authorianism.

Wes Brodicus, Tuesday, 26 September 2017 22:01 (seven years ago)

That '97 Nazi doc by the BBC is very good, but it just just didn't include the caveat that there is a risk that they might end up disseminating hate-speak and providing propaganda for far right regimes themselves, during the next right wing cycle. #trenchant warning!

calzino, Tuesday, 26 September 2017 22:21 (seven years ago)

Rewatching "The Nazis:A Warning from History" the last few weeks has confirmed in the belief that if you choose to affiliate with this shit you deserve to be forcibly reputed

― be the cringe you want to see in the world (Noodle Vague), Tuesday, September 26, 2017 10:36 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I watched this too over the summer, and was startled to learn that the dude who discovered after the fact that his dad was a Nazi, ended up going neo-Nazi himself iirc

Dr Keith Assblow (stevie), Wednesday, 27 September 2017 09:11 (seven years ago)

Before watching the Ilse Totzke segment from "The Nazis" I had no idea that the Gestapo went after random unpopular people as well. I'm sure AfD voters could get behind that: snitch on the neighborhood weirdos, have them shipped off to forced labor camps, no real harm done and everyone lives happily ever after.

Suffice to say that no Gestapo snitch was ever called out on German TV like that old lady on "The Nazis."

Wes Brodicus, Wednesday, 4 October 2017 17:14 (seven years ago)

oh aye, plenty of SS/Gestapo officers got plum government jobs in the post war FRG as well, never mind the snitches. It is very good is that bit though. Gotcha vindictive + evil snitch! I also watched Orphuls The Memory Of Justice recently. Excellent that was.

calzino, Wednesday, 4 October 2017 17:41 (seven years ago)

I'm just reading an incredibly depressing book called Savage Continent about all the post-war pogroms, genocides and ethnic cleansing, revenge killings throughout Europe after Fascism was defeated forever.

calzino, Wednesday, 4 October 2017 17:54 (seven years ago)

there's a particularly brutal Robert Kaplan book called Balkan Ghosts that I couldn't get through, similar topics but focus is just on the Balkans in the 90's

sleeve, Wednesday, 4 October 2017 17:56 (seven years ago)

It's unfortunately kind of inevitable that you can't hold fascism at bay forever based solely on historical memory -- historical memory dies out by its nature.

IF (Terrorist) Yes, Explain (man alive), Wednesday, 4 October 2017 18:47 (seven years ago)

I never realised that Jews were still getting persecuted and murdered in Poland after the war. I knew that much of the ethnic cleansing in Eastern Europe was encouraged by Stalin. Not that Tito needed any encouragement to wipe out the Ustashas, or other score settling where the oppressed became oppressors. But a lot of this stuff was happening shortly before the end of the Nazi regime or 18 months after even. It is a far cry from the victory parades and camps getting liberated and this "will never happen again" spiel.

calzino, Wednesday, 4 October 2017 19:08 (seven years ago)

reading Enemies, tim weiner's history of the FBI. the number and extent of semi-official "patriotic" vigilante snitch societies in America in the first half of C20, encouraged by the justice department, is breathtaking

illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Thursday, 5 October 2017 09:51 (seven years ago)

watching something about the Pacific War last night and I hadn't previously realised how openly the US had committed war crimes for which there were no post-war consequences

The Walter Mittyville Horror (Noodle Vague), Thursday, 5 October 2017 10:10 (seven years ago)

what's a little firebombing of civilians between friends

illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Thursday, 5 October 2017 10:45 (seven years ago)

guys openly talking about shooting captured Japanese soldiers because they were taking no prisoners

The Walter Mittyville Horror (Noodle Vague), Thursday, 5 October 2017 10:52 (seven years ago)

it's not a war crime if your side wins iirc

more bemused than human (bizarro gazzara), Thursday, 5 October 2017 11:07 (seven years ago)

(marine a to thread)

more bemused than human (bizarro gazzara), Thursday, 5 October 2017 11:07 (seven years ago)

of course bitter twisted misguided kneejerk bleeding heart me knew this, I was just surprised it was so openly conceded

The Walter Mittyville Horror (Noodle Vague), Thursday, 5 October 2017 12:42 (seven years ago)

State of this little twerp...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-41627586

Tom's Tits Experiment (Tom D.), Sunday, 15 October 2017 17:05 (seven years ago)

Mistah Kurz, I hope he soon dead

pulled pork state of mind (Noodle Vague), Sunday, 15 October 2017 17:10 (seven years ago)

Fortunately extreme right stagnated, and social democrats did well. (looking for silver linings here tbh)

Le Bateau Ivre, Sunday, 15 October 2017 17:42 (seven years ago)

Never change, Austria. Oh right, you weren't planning to.

IF (Terrorist) Yes, Explain (Bananaman Begins), Sunday, 15 October 2017 18:31 (seven years ago)

(xp) Yes, but Little Lord Fauntlereich wants to get in bed with them.

Tom's Tits Experiment (Tom D.), Sunday, 15 October 2017 22:36 (seven years ago)

Like fuck the extreme right stagnated -- Austria's "middle right" is Orban City. Also, the Greens have split in half, and the old party may not make it into Parliament -- the old white guy (who was kicked out for spurious reasons) went on a "foreigners are in fact shit, but we have to deal with them humanely" campaign and will be in. Which would leave Austria with exactly 0 parties not willing to describe immigration itself as a problem in the Austrian Parliament. Xenophobia isn't a left-right thing in Austria.

Three Word Username, Monday, 16 October 2017 07:06 (seven years ago)

Years of hating Football and hating Lads vindicated

https://www.facebook.com/VICE/videos/1854923958154978/?hc_ref=ARSetkcjlQu1EAz2JHuUSDR-8LXsVhB0ohEM79HCA8-iVUlWkvvqnwU-ze0s9h4HwsI

Andrew Farrell, Thursday, 19 October 2017 13:29 (seven years ago)

#notalllads

imago, Thursday, 19 October 2017 13:34 (seven years ago)

Are the Football Lads Alliance the next right-wing street movement or the "backbone of this country" simply standing up to terrorism?

gosh i wonder

midas / medusa cage match (bizarro gazzara), Thursday, 19 October 2017 13:42 (seven years ago)

ffs I'm off to join ISIS.

calzino, Thursday, 19 October 2017 13:53 (seven years ago)

http://tass.com/defense/959862

reggie (qualmsley), Thursday, 19 October 2017 14:17 (seven years ago)

donald trump colluding with vladimir putin to steal the 2016 US presidential sure is drifty and grifty, sure as a snowless kilimanjaro rises like an empress above the serengheti

reggie (qualmsley), Thursday, 19 October 2017 15:11 (seven years ago)

Years of hating Football and hating Lads vindicated

https://www.facebook.com/VICE/videos/1854923958154978/?hc_ref=ARSetkcjlQu1EAz2JHuUSDR-8LXsVhB0ohEM79HCA8-iVUlWkvvqnwU-ze0s9h4HwsI

― Andrew Farrell, Thursday, October 19, 2017 6:29 AM (three hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

best thing about being a celtic fan is that our lads are inoculated from far-right nonsense by all being into irish republicanism and the palestinian cause

-_- (jim in vancouver), Thursday, 19 October 2017 16:46 (seven years ago)

gordon hayward is sitting out on a season-long protest

reggie (qualmsley), Thursday, 19 October 2017 16:54 (seven years ago)

^^ This is prob something to expand on in an ILF thread, but I got schooled on Spanish football/hooliganism while I was living there this year. It's very interesting that the divide/rivalry between fans there is mostly political (as is everything in Spain, but still). Sociedad/Bilbao, though fierce local derby rivals, form a pact with likeminded clubs like Vallecano (the left club from Madrid), Seville and to a lesser extent Barcelona (who have a right wing group that's banned from the stadium, but is considered left-ish, as opposed to Espanol, the right wing club in Catalunya). They fight and align along political lines.

See also this article. Don't know where else the divides and rivalry is dictated by left/right-wing politics. South-America maybe? I know too little about that. Fighting for the Palestinian cause would guarantee Celtic an alliance with the "left", anti-fascist Spanish clubs.

https://elpais.com/elpais/imagenes/2014/12/12/inenglish/1418379310_978569_1418400015_sumario_grande.jpg

Le Bateau Ivre, Thursday, 19 October 2017 17:00 (seven years ago)

that was an xp to JiV

Le Bateau Ivre, Thursday, 19 October 2017 17:00 (seven years ago)

Italy and Poland to some extent?

Wag1 Shree Rajneesh (ShariVari), Thursday, 19 October 2017 17:02 (seven years ago)

Yeah, that's probably otm. But it's interesting because in Northern Europe (UK included) I can only think of fan groups being right wing/fascist skinheads, at worst (dumbest), but never left-wing/radical/anarchist.

Le Bateau Ivre, Thursday, 19 October 2017 17:04 (seven years ago)

The real question obviously being which English club will be the first to embrace Radical Suk

Le Bateau Ivre, Thursday, 19 October 2017 17:05 (seven years ago)

St Pauli! And in Denmark BK Frem, a bit. Though they mostly express their anarchism through being relegated routinely for not following league rules...

Frederik B, Thursday, 19 October 2017 17:06 (seven years ago)

In Italy Livorno definitely and I think Atalanta are two clubs whose ultras have a leftist bent, but most ultra politics is fash as fuck.

IF (Terrorist) Yes, Explain (Bananaman Begins), Thursday, 19 October 2017 17:12 (seven years ago)

Anyone from, or knowledgeable about, New Zealand have any thoughts on new governing coalition between labour, greens and NZ First?

IF (Terrorist) Yes, Explain (Bananaman Begins), Thursday, 19 October 2017 17:14 (seven years ago)

St Pauli and Celtic have a strong connection. When I went to Prague recently I did a bit of research on their football teams, and Bohemians are virtually the only Czech team with 'a left wing ideology' (to quote Wiki) - also the play in green and white so a no-brainer for any Celtic fan who happens to be at a loose end in Prague.

Terry Micawber (Tom D.), Thursday, 19 October 2017 17:17 (seven years ago)

... also this:

Bohemians' mascot is a kangaroo, the legacy of a 1927 tour of Australia. Following the tour, the club was awarded two live kangaroos, which they donated to the Prague Zoo.

Terry Micawber (Tom D.), Thursday, 19 October 2017 17:18 (seven years ago)

St. Pauli and Atalanta are good calls!

Great tidbit on the kangaroos.

Le Bateau Ivre, Thursday, 19 October 2017 17:33 (seven years ago)

this is all v interesting, ta for the map

ogmor, Thursday, 19 October 2017 18:06 (seven years ago)

Roma’s ultras are supposedly mostly left wing/left leaning, and at least one of their high profile ultra groups (Fedayn) has communist origins. Though this article seems to call them anarchist too?

http://www.romatoday.it/cronaca/maroni-identikit-scontri-15-ottobre-2011.html

The club’s politics are interesting and there’s a very comprehensive piece on them here: https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2014/dec/11/roma-serie-a-alternative-club-guide

gyac, Thursday, 19 October 2017 18:43 (seven years ago)

the roma thing is quit weird with the left-wing nature of the ultras often being touted and as you say the communist origins of the fedayn. have read (on forum of the Celtic ultras group by one of their members who has left-wing pals in the Roma ultras and who goes over for games) that nowadays it's really a mixed bag with both far-left and far-right in the same end or curva and definitely not with left predominating anymore.

-_- (jim in vancouver), Thursday, 19 October 2017 18:48 (seven years ago)

Thanks for that article Gyac.

Not surprised about 'extremists' from both sides flowing over into one angry mob losing their political identity or class roots. I wen to the Anoeta stadium a couple of times this spring, Sociedad, with knowledgeable fans, and was genuinely pleasantly surprised to see the ultra's there carry banners and chanting for 90 mins against racism, fascism and their rival clubs, however easy it is to get swept up in that (and I was in a vip seat all the time; not my choosing, just saying they dictated the atmosphere with anti-fascism chants, which was a new one for me).

I mean all of Holland's "ultra's", or most fanatical fan groups, are just bigot, racist, boneheads whose ideology is best summed up with: our desire is to bash in the skulls of others because of no reason. As trite as this sounds, seeing a political undercurrent and having people who know tell me where that originated from (class struggles, obv Franco) was enlightening.

Le Bateau Ivre, Thursday, 19 October 2017 19:02 (seven years ago)

Centrists bashing centrists.

Le Bateau Ivre, Thursday, 19 October 2017 19:07 (seven years ago)

it's all islamphobia now, the train that cannot be stopped

imago, Thursday, 19 October 2017 19:10 (seven years ago)

't Is true. Though I'd love to pretend to live in a world where Charlton Athletic supporters chant Jute Gyte songs like tru bros and fuck with Das Kapital tbh. Make it so LJ.

Le Bateau Ivre, Thursday, 19 October 2017 19:44 (seven years ago)

Espanol, the right wing club in Catalunya

OK, that explains this...

http://i4.dailyrecord.co.uk/incoming/article9394097.ece/ALTERNATES/s615/IMG-20161203-WA0018.jpg

Terry Micawber (Tom D.), Friday, 20 October 2017 12:49 (seven years ago)

Roma's left/commie leanings perhaps explained by Lazio being far-right and Mussolini's team

André Ryu (Neil S), Friday, 20 October 2017 12:58 (seven years ago)

The founder of the Espanyol Rangers Supporters Club is a Spanish native with a Scottish mother and a Glasgow accent named Andy, who insists there are more similarities between the two clubs than initially meets the eye.

He lifts the lid on the origins of the link, explaining Espanyol supporters are mostly loyal to the Spanish union in a city where so many want Catalan independence.

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/how-rangers-became-espanyol-fans-9394051

Le Bateau Ivre, Friday, 20 October 2017 12:59 (seven years ago)

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2017/oct/20/roma-uefa-chelsea-antonio-rudiger-champions-league

Maybe not the day to be making any very strong claims for Roma's lefty credentials.

Tim, Friday, 20 October 2017 14:01 (seven years ago)

Yeah, I was under impression Roma lefty stuff was all way in the past.

IF (Terrorist) Yes, Explain (Bananaman Begins), Friday, 20 October 2017 14:05 (seven years ago)

ah okay, fair enough

André Ryu (Neil S), Friday, 20 October 2017 14:06 (seven years ago)

"Surprise"

IF (Terrorist) Yes, Explain (Bananaman Begins), Sunday, 22 October 2017 20:38 (seven years ago)

Anti-migrant policies of Czech socdems sure worked out for them lol

IF (Terrorist) Yes, Explain (Bananaman Begins), Sunday, 22 October 2017 20:53 (seven years ago)

Oh hey I'm in New Zealand, governing coalition is pretty damn left. In fact NZF went out of their way to go that way.

albvivertine, Sunday, 22 October 2017 22:50 (seven years ago)

Tu meke. Heard some unpleasant stuff about NZF, but if they've made a deliberate effort to dial down the nasty, that's great.

Although this means that after that Patrick Wasteman guy in austria last week, there's now another head of government who is younger than me, a disturbing trend.

IF (Terrorist) Yes, Explain (Bananaman Begins), Monday, 23 October 2017 10:15 (seven years ago)

three weeks pass...

‘Pray for an Islamic Holocaust’: Tens of thousands from Europe’s far right march in Poland

Le Bateau Ivre, Monday, 13 November 2017 09:01 (seven years ago)

one of only three nations standing up for that poor beleaguered minority -- the nazi

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-un-nazi-glorification-resolution-vote-against-free-speech-far-right-white-supremacist-neo-alt-a8066761.html

USA! USA! USA!

reggie (qualmsley), Tuesday, 21 November 2017 19:55 (seven years ago)

thought about bumping this with the collapse of merkel's coalition but it's still unclear to me how that's going to pan out

Mordy, Tuesday, 21 November 2017 19:58 (seven years ago)

Friends in Germany are confident that the far-right party has split its support in recent weeks. But who knows anymore?

"Taste's very strange!" (stevie), Tuesday, 21 November 2017 20:32 (seven years ago)

America votes against the resolution each year

come on i can only afford to worry about brand new shit.

Monogo doesn't socialise (ledge), Tuesday, 21 November 2017 20:52 (seven years ago)

i disagree that voting against that resolution is either an example of the US experiencing a right-wing drift or the West as a whole (who, except for the US, voted for the resolution).

Mordy, Tuesday, 21 November 2017 20:55 (seven years ago)

Good municipal elections in Denmark yesterday. The populist right-wing party lost votes for the first time in municipal elections ever, and didn't get a single mayoral post - which is quite impressive, as they are the second-biggest party nationally. A lot of new far right parties failed to go anywhere, the main one, which has had so much attention that 12 local politicians has switched over to them, lost 11 out of 12 seats.

Frederik B, Wednesday, 22 November 2017 19:29 (seven years ago)

nice!

illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Wednesday, 22 November 2017 21:47 (seven years ago)

This is good background on the Polish far-right March and associated issues:

https://newsocialist.org.uk/poland-2/

Wag1 Shree Rajneesh (ShariVari), Wednesday, 29 November 2017 19:42 (seven years ago)

one month passes...

https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/freedom-world-2018

more the world at large

Seventy-one countries suffered net declines in political rights and civil liberties, with only 35 registering gains. This marked the 12th consecutive year of decline in global freedom.

Mordy, Wednesday, 17 January 2018 15:12 (seven years ago)

This isn't the Dark Ages and the global backlash will be magnificient.

oder doch?, Wednesday, 17 January 2018 15:55 (seven years ago)

one month passes...

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/26/world/asia/china-xi-jinping-authoritarianism.html

The surprise disclosure on Sunday that the Communist Party was abolishing constitutional limits on presidential terms — effectively allowing President Xi Jinping to lead China indefinitely — was the latest and arguably most significant sign of the world’s decisive tilt toward authoritarian governance, often built on the highly personalized exercise of power.

The list includes Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt and Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, all of whom have abandoned most pretenses that they rule according to the people’s will. Authoritarianism is also reappearing in places like Hungary and Poland that barely a quarter-century ago shook loose the shackles of Soviet oppression.

There are many reasons for such moves by Mr. Xi and others — including protecting their power and perks in an age of unrest, terrorism and war amplified by new technologies — but a significant one is that few countries have the standing or authority, morally or otherwise, to speak out — least of all, critics say, the United States.

sleeve, Wednesday, 28 February 2018 15:50 (seven years ago)

not really the West surely

Daniel_Rf, Wednesday, 28 February 2018 15:55 (seven years ago)

true, but it draws parallels to corresponding trends elsewhere

sleeve, Wednesday, 28 February 2018 15:58 (seven years ago)

The list includes Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt and Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, all of whom have abandoned most pretenses that they rule according to the people’s will.


Not precise imo. In particular Erdoga and Putin are both explicitly drawing on the legitimacy of the people’s will to rule. They just aren’t doing so democratically.

Mordy, Wednesday, 28 February 2018 16:01 (seven years ago)

an awful lot of "dictators" have claimed a mandate based on the will of the people, especially from the 19th century onwards

https://cdn1.umg3.net/95/files/2018/01/BANNER.jpg (Noodle Vague), Wednesday, 28 February 2018 16:03 (seven years ago)

Rousseau doesn't advocate representative democracy iirc

https://cdn1.umg3.net/95/files/2018/01/BANNER.jpg (Noodle Vague), Wednesday, 28 February 2018 16:04 (seven years ago)

i just think it's important to note that w/ some of these guys we're talking about widely popular cults of personality. sometimes from the vantage point of the west we forget that there is more than one path to legitimacy and just bc it's not democratic does not mean that it's in defiance of the popular will.

Mordy, Wednesday, 28 February 2018 16:05 (seven years ago)

Not disagreeing per se, but is there some kind of objective measure for 'the people's will to rule' in undemocratic democracies?

pomenitul, Wednesday, 28 February 2018 16:09 (seven years ago)

xp

i agree, that's why i was saying there's a history behind this - a history that goes a very long way back if you think of the tensions in the ancient Roman polity and how people like Julius Caesar manipulated popular support without belonging to a democracy

https://cdn1.umg3.net/95/files/2018/01/BANNER.jpg (Noodle Vague), Wednesday, 28 February 2018 16:09 (seven years ago)

I mean, propaganda is a helluva drug precisely because it instills the notion that it's in your best interest to conform, regardless of whether you buy into it or not.

xp

pomenitul, Wednesday, 28 February 2018 16:10 (seven years ago)

and the measures for "people's will" are frequently contested even within representative democracies. the UK's Brexit referendum being a current shining example, with pol's queueing up to claim that only their path represents the electorate's choice

https://cdn1.umg3.net/95/files/2018/01/BANNER.jpg (Noodle Vague), Wednesday, 28 February 2018 16:11 (seven years ago)

saw this today: https://www.axios.com/china-leads-the-world-in-optimism-1513304665-e04fa0d2-8837-4604-957d-aeb6d779458d.html

ogmor, Wednesday, 28 February 2018 16:14 (seven years ago)

Erdogan isn't that popular

while my dirk gently weeps (symsymsym), Wednesday, 28 February 2018 16:19 (seven years ago)

I'm also reminded of this quote from Hannah Arendt's The Origins of Totalitarianism:

In an ever-changing, incomprehensible world the masses had reached the point where they would, at the same time, believe everything and nothing, think that everything was possible and that nothing was true. ... Mass propaganda discovered that its audience was ready at all times to believe the worst, no matter how absurd, and did not particularly object to being deceived because it held every statement to be a lie anyhow. The totalitarian mass leaders based their propaganda on the correct psychological assumption that, under such conditions, one could make people believe the most fantastic statements one day, and trust that if the next day they were given irrefutable proof of their falsehood, they would take refuge in cynicism; instead of deserting the leaders who had lied to them, they would protest that they had known all along that the statement was a lie and would admire the leaders for their superior tactical cleverness.

pomenitul, Wednesday, 28 February 2018 16:21 (seven years ago)

Sarkozy has some thoughts:

https://www.thenational.ae/uae/sarkozy-praises-uae-s-leadership-model-1.709755

“Where you see a great leader, there is no populism,” said Mr Sarkozy, who was president of France from 2007 to 2012. “Where is the populism in China? Where is the populism here? Where is the populism in Russia? Where is the populism in Saudi Arabia? If the great leadership leaves the table, the populist leaders come and replace him.”

Modern democracy “destroys” leaderships, he said, noting some of the world’s greatest leaders today come largely from undemocratic governments.

“How could we have a democracy and at the same time accept leadership?” Mr Sarkozy asked the audience. “How can we have a vision that could look into 10, 15, 20 years and at the same time have an election rhythm in the States, for instance, every four years? The great leaders of the world come from countries that are not great democracies.”

Wag1 Shree Rajneesh (ShariVari), Monday, 5 March 2018 08:24 (seven years ago)

great take, nick

while my dirk gently weeps (symsymsym), Monday, 5 March 2018 08:32 (seven years ago)

The Italian election is worrisome

while my dirk gently weeps (symsymsym), Monday, 5 March 2018 08:32 (seven years ago)

quel républicain

illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Monday, 5 March 2018 09:52 (seven years ago)

Sarkozy otm

Under the influence of the Ranters (Noodle Vague), Monday, 5 March 2018 09:56 (seven years ago)

Even the French ppl I know who tend right hate Sarkozy.

Daniel_Rf, Monday, 5 March 2018 10:59 (seven years ago)

His assessment of the crisis in representative democracy is correct, his worship of "benign" dictatorship infects most of his political chums anyway if they were only honest

Fuxk a leader, obv

Under the influence of the Ranters (Noodle Vague), Monday, 5 March 2018 11:06 (seven years ago)

i can so imagine Blair saying the same thing word for word

Under the influence of the Ranters (Noodle Vague), Monday, 5 March 2018 11:17 (seven years ago)

^^ frothing at the mouth

Google Atheist (Le Bateau Ivre), Monday, 5 March 2018 11:31 (seven years ago)

Putin is a shit-stirring bread & circuses populist all up and down the line.

The “leadership crisis” in western representative democracies appears to driven pretty strongly by the divisive inclinations of News Corp tentacles and their ilk, making basic governance into a zero sum game between conservative and liberal coalitions that can barely stand their own kind much less each other.

El Tomboto, Monday, 5 March 2018 11:38 (seven years ago)

Sarkozy's comments are representative of a pretty common fear that democracy has ceased to be the most efficient way to run a country. It's probably the logical conclusion of the theory that you need to run nations like you run businesses - you're constantly in competition with everyone else, you need a grand top-down vision of where you want to be in 10 years, along with the stability to deliver it, and the player with the lowest barrier to rapid action has the greatest advantage. I'm not sure that's going to change until the China growth model runs off the rails, if it ever does.

Wag1 Shree Rajneesh (ShariVari), Monday, 5 March 2018 11:56 (seven years ago)

It will. And if it won't, the populace will at some point demand more influence.

Frederik B, Monday, 5 March 2018 12:09 (seven years ago)

If the quality of live continues to improve relative to democratic countries, is that a given?

Wag1 Shree Rajneesh (ShariVari), Monday, 5 March 2018 12:10 (seven years ago)

*life

Wag1 Shree Rajneesh (ShariVari), Monday, 5 March 2018 12:10 (seven years ago)

most revolutions start with a burgeoning but relatively small middle class tbf

not that i'm saying this will happen but, it's rarely a purely "standards of living" thing?

Under the influence of the Ranters (Noodle Vague), Monday, 5 March 2018 12:13 (seven years ago)

democracy is often a luxury abstract value for the spare-time-having bourgies to get worked up about rather than the rest of us

Under the influence of the Ranters (Noodle Vague), Monday, 5 March 2018 12:18 (seven years ago)

That has certainly been true historically but idk whether the combined efforts of post-Soviet collapse, Singapore-style autocratic luxury and the ongoing malaise in Western democracy have changed things.

Wag1 Shree Rajneesh (ShariVari), Monday, 5 March 2018 12:33 (seven years ago)

yeah agree the past isn't a reliable predictor here

Under the influence of the Ranters (Noodle Vague), Monday, 5 March 2018 12:36 (seven years ago)

plus size of the country, differences in political/philosophical/religious traditions etc

Under the influence of the Ranters (Noodle Vague), Monday, 5 March 2018 12:37 (seven years ago)

This is tangentially relevant:

https://medium.com/s/story/the-singular-pursuit-of-comrade-bezos-3e280baa045c

Amazon as centrally-planned economy and the division between ‘efficient ‘ and ‘good’.

Wag1 Shree Rajneesh (ShariVari), Monday, 5 March 2018 13:16 (seven years ago)

The comparison is irresistible

ogmor, Monday, 5 March 2018 13:48 (seven years ago)

Trying to make sense of the Italian election, and the Five Star Movement is just as confusing to me as ever. Do they really belong being lumped in with the anti-immigrant/anti-EU parties, or are they something different? They have a strong green platform iirc.

a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Monday, 5 March 2018 14:44 (seven years ago)

Every country is different, but that is also why I'd put China in more danger of upheaval than Russia/KSA/etc. Chinas development has been based on industrialization and having low wages, and there's a limit as to how much that can continue to improve peoples lifes. Once the wages become to high, the factories disappear, and the infrastructure projects that make up for it are becoming more and more ludicrous. It's not as with Russia, where Gazprom money seems able to both finance a kleptocracy and a rising living standard. Those kind of countries don't seem to go full Venezuela unless they're completely mismanaged.

Frederik B, Monday, 5 March 2018 14:48 (seven years ago)

yeah, we keep waiting for resource extraction economies to shit the bed and they never do

however as a dude once said two hours ago the past isn't a reliable predictor here

El Tomboto, Monday, 5 March 2018 15:16 (seven years ago)

and a rising living standard.

citation needed

Dan I., Monday, 5 March 2018 16:10 (seven years ago)

http://www.worldbank.org/en/country/china/overview

Since initiating market reforms in 1978, China has shifted from a centrally-planned to a market-based economy and has experienced rapid economic and social development. GDP growth has averaged nearly 10 percent a year—the fastest sustained expansion by a major economy in history—and has lifted more than 800 million people out of poverty.

and in my opinionation, the sun is gonna surely shine♪♫ (Karl Malone), Monday, 5 March 2018 17:54 (seven years ago)

you can argue about whether or not it's really an improvement to start as an impoverished farmer and then "rise" to a factory worker with 16+ hour shifts making consumer electronics in unsafe conditions. but the textbook "rising living standards" in china, measured by overall GDP and GDP per capita, aren't up for dispute.

and in my opinionation, the sun is gonna surely shine♪♫ (Karl Malone), Monday, 5 March 2018 17:59 (seven years ago)

think Dan meant re: Russia.

by the light of the burning Citroën, Monday, 5 March 2018 18:01 (seven years ago)

Living standards in Russia tanked after the end of the Soviet Union and have substantially increased over the last ten or twelve years, though have plateaued a bit recently.

Wag1 Shree Rajneesh (ShariVari), Monday, 5 March 2018 18:07 (seven years ago)

oh, my bad, sorry dan!

the chart i was about to post is still relevant, though:

https://i.imgur.com/GDEVQlz.png

and in my opinionation, the sun is gonna surely shine♪♫ (Karl Malone), Monday, 5 March 2018 18:07 (seven years ago)

i can't bear to post a GDP chart without grimacing, though. hey everyone in the US, wasn't it great how we all doubled our GDP from 1995 until now? we're all doing twice as well as 1995, right??

but it does suggest that perhaps living standards in russia are not quite as stable as some are suggesting.

and in my opinionation, the sun is gonna surely shine♪♫ (Karl Malone), Monday, 5 March 2018 18:10 (seven years ago)

The 2014 / 2015 rouble devaluation affects USD charts hugely. It doesn’t mean irl domestic spending has been affected so dramatically.

Wag1 Shree Rajneesh (ShariVari), Monday, 5 March 2018 18:22 (seven years ago)

four months pass...

https://www.haaretz.com/world-news/europe/austrian-state-may-limit-kosher-meat-sales-to-registered-jews-1.6289229

this beggars belief

ogmor, Wednesday, 18 July 2018 19:32 (six years ago)

one month passes...

https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2018/sep/09/sweden-election-live

Scottish Country Tweerking (Tom D.), Sunday, 9 September 2018 15:28 (six years ago)

Fingers crossed!

Frederik B, Sunday, 9 September 2018 16:08 (six years ago)

Having to cross fingers at all is depressing enough.

Scottish Country Tweerking (Tom D.), Sunday, 9 September 2018 16:12 (six years ago)

can't believe there are fascists in Sweden

duplicitously Euroseptic tankie (Noodle Vague), Sunday, 9 September 2018 16:12 (six years ago)

There's always been a lot of fascists in Sweden.

Frederik B, Sunday, 9 September 2018 16:53 (six years ago)

Probably because they stayed out of WWII, so they never got discredited quite the way fascists did in Denmark and Norway.

Frederik B, Sunday, 9 September 2018 16:54 (six years ago)

https://i.imgur.com/U7Ghu2s.gif?noredirect

21st savagery fox (m bison), Sunday, 9 September 2018 16:56 (six years ago)

Oh, sorry, mistook Noodle Vague for an American.

Frederik B, Sunday, 9 September 2018 17:16 (six years ago)

Exit-polls say SD get's between 16-19%, which is below expectations. But exit polls were wrong last time.

Frederik B, Sunday, 9 September 2018 18:15 (six years ago)

Oh, sorry, mistook Noodle Vague for an American.

― Frederik B, Sunday, September 9, 2018 7:16 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

This is... something. Field day for NV.

18% is below expectations, but crazy high all the same. I'd be perfectly comfortable with the hanging of every single one of these yung guns playing politics. With their smug ties. Fuck 'em.

lbi's life of limitless european glamour (Le Bateau Ivre), Sunday, 9 September 2018 22:15 (six years ago)

Guillotine, hanging is barbaric.

Scottish Country Tweerking (Tom D.), Sunday, 9 September 2018 22:38 (six years ago)

I don't know, 18% is also the lowest out of any Nordic far-right party.

Frederik B, Monday, 10 September 2018 07:28 (six years ago)

when peak UKIP were maintaining a steady 12% vote share, it was still enough to push our cuddly One Nation Tories way further to the right and give the legitimate concerns posse in Labour a license to talk casual racism. I don't know how this works in Sweden though, but I presume there will be a similar reaction.

calzino, Monday, 10 September 2018 07:45 (six years ago)

Well, the interesting thing is that that is what happened in Norway and Denmark. When the populists hit double digits, they became perhaps the most influential parties in the country, and now everyone talks about 'legitimate concerns' and a broad understanding of a strict anti-immigration policy. The Social Democrats in Denmark has gone completely insane lately, and just tries to copy everything the populists said. Sweden has done it different, and even though Sweden Democrats hit 12% in the last election, the other parties refused to work with them. The assumption at least in Denmark was that that would only lead to much more people voting for them, and it might look like that is what has happened, but since it's lower than in other Nordic countries I don't think it works that well.

Frederik B, Monday, 10 September 2018 08:14 (six years ago)

It's really hard to overestimate how much the political world in Denmark loves to contrast ourselves with Sweden. This election has been absolutely ridiculous, everyone seemed certain that SD would get at least 25% of the vote, and there were these completely fabricated stories about how nobody in the debates would talk about a wave of car burnings that happened - it was the very first thing they discussed, the journalists missed the first part of the debate.

So in a certain way to me it underlines how much more crazy Denmark is than Sweden.

Frederik B, Monday, 10 September 2018 08:17 (six years ago)

was listening to Dimbleby hosted Danish QT panel yesterday. I don't know how representative of Danish society the crowd was, but every time that Henriksen was piping up about burkas or whatever there were boos and hisses.

calzino, Monday, 10 September 2018 08:27 (six years ago)

xp to Calz, 't was the same in the Netherlands, and I imagine it to be the same everywhere. Every party wants a piece of the racist pie if it gets them some votes.

lbi's life of limitless european glamour (Le Bateau Ivre), Monday, 10 September 2018 08:28 (six years ago)

Martin Henriksen is such an... Yeah, even among the populists, he is particularly unlikable. Quite fittingly, he is the guy on the far right:
https://www.information.dk/sites/information.dk/files/styles/700x/public/media/2018/09/06/df2.png?itok=F-qkpM1c

Frederik B, Monday, 10 September 2018 08:49 (six years ago)

Frederik, what can you tell me about the "ghetto plan" implemented in your country earlier this year? Where 22 areas or suburbs are placed under intense scrutiny and people from those areas can be punished more severely for an offense than people from outside those areas? This "Danish way" was posited and presented as an example by the Dutch conservatives all day. They are looking to Denmark and want to copy and implement this supposed "plan". No one really knows what they mean, though the left opposition called it "postal code racism", which seems otm.

How has this been working out? How is it even legal? I mean, how do you even find judicial grounds to punish person A more severely than person B, for the very same offense, just because person A is from a "ghetto"? (that word, thank god, hasn't entered our political vocabulary yet but I trust it won't be long)

It sounds illegal, ill-informed, abysmal. At best.

lbi's life of limitless european glamour (Le Bateau Ivre), Wednesday, 19 September 2018 17:07 (six years ago)

It's postal code racism, and it's even worse, because they've changed the definition of 'ghetto' to underline that it is a place with many immigrants. So even if it's poor and crime-riddled; if there are no immigrants, there's no tougher penalties. Yeah, it's abysmal.

Frederik B, Wednesday, 19 September 2018 17:39 (six years ago)

That it's apparently technically legal says a lot about how toothless the EU court of human rights is.

Frederik B, Wednesday, 19 September 2018 17:39 (six years ago)

the US has been finding judicial grounds for it for a long time, it just isn't codified*

* or codified anymore, I wouldn't be surprised to learn that it used to be / is still on the books somewhere

aloha darkness my old friend (katherine), Wednesday, 19 September 2018 17:59 (six years ago)

Thanks for your response but I'd like to hear some more about the nitty gritty. Do you have squads going in these "ghettos"? Has a judge sentenced someone from one of those areas already, double the normal sentence? How does this *work*? It all sounds terrifying, but with the conservatives at the wheel here, no doubt it will happen.

And of course the EU court of human rights is toothless, but hey, you can't expect them to jump at every xenophobic instance any of the 27 member states has and act upon it within months. This is on the member states, not the HR court.

@Katherine, it not being codified or written into law is even scarier. But I can't say I'm surprised. Sorry to say but I've stopped questioning if the US has judicial grounds for anything when it allows cops to kill black people as a pastime. There's no codifying that.

lbi's life of limitless european glamour (Le Bateau Ivre), Wednesday, 19 September 2018 19:38 (six years ago)

It's very new and I don't think it has had consequences in court. It's part of a larger law, which also means that kids from the areas are being forced into kindergarten from age 1, public benefits are lower for inhabitants in these areas (they're already lower for immigrants, so that will only hurt Danish citizens). Lots of stuff like that.

Frederik B, Wednesday, 19 September 2018 21:44 (six years ago)

Part of the law also says that the police are allowed to focus especially on these areas. There's been some kind of 'stop and frisk' going on for a while. It's not entirely like in the US since they don't carry weapons and the police squads don't rely on fines, but it's definitely inspired by it.

Frederik B, Wednesday, 19 September 2018 21:46 (six years ago)

I'm obviously biased, being from Portugal and having Brazilian friends and so on, but this Bolsonaro guy feels like a special brand of hateful garbage even amongst our current crop of fascists.

Daniel_Rf, Friday, 28 September 2018 14:40 (six years ago)

Everything about him is in Portuguese.

El Tomboto, Friday, 28 September 2018 14:49 (six years ago)

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-45579635

Racist, sexist, homophobic and bigoted in every other way you could think of, but also openly praises the military dictatorship era and advocates for torture. Has given props to a judge responsible for torturing Dilma Roussoff when she was fighting against said dictatorship and told a female political opponent "I wouldn't rape you because you're not good enough".

He is leading the polls to become Brazil's next president.

Daniel_Rf, Friday, 28 September 2018 14:54 (six years ago)

Yesssss I have a houseguest right now who heads up an LGBTQ advocacy org in Brazil and she told us some of that last night. He's apparently advocating for civil war that would kill tens of thousands of Brazilians as the preferred way forward.

There's more Italy than necessary. (in orbit), Friday, 28 September 2018 17:12 (six years ago)

Correction: Her current job is not in LGBTQ advocacy but her previous ones were, but she's still in policy/advocacy and Bolsonaro is still hateful garbage who might get elected.

There's more Italy than necessary. (in orbit), Friday, 28 September 2018 17:15 (six years ago)

I think Haddad should still win a run-off but, post Dilma/Lula, there isn’t necessarily a long-term correlation between being elected and running the country if you are on the left.

Wag1 Shree Rajneesh (ShariVari), Friday, 28 September 2018 17:39 (six years ago)

Especially since Bolsonaro, taking yet another leaf from the Trump playbook, has made it clear that if he loses the run-off it's because of voter fraud.

Daniel_Rf, Saturday, 29 September 2018 10:13 (six years ago)

I was talking with my Brazilian friends abt Bolsonaro yesterday and while he def seems a very special breed of misogynist asshole, they did not find it very realistic that he could lead a military coup since his connections with the military are not good

but I guess "fascist" means populist conservative or smth these days

niels, Sunday, 30 September 2018 08:51 (six years ago)

LBI and Frederik you can read the draft bill about "zones of increased penalization" here: https://www.ft.dk/samling/20171/almdel/REU/bilag/382/1928101/index.htm

It google translates quite well https://translate.google.pt/translate?hl=en&sl=da&tl=en&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ft.dk%2Fsamling%2F20171%2Falmdel%2FREU%2Fbilag%2F382%2F1928101%2Findex.htm

It will most likely be put forward Tuesday when parliament opens, then goes through 3 treatments and will most likely be accepted without changes since there is a wide majority behind it

The change in the law will authorize the chief of police to instate a temporary zone of increased penalization in an area that experiences a sudden increase in violent crime leading if he/she believes such a zone would have a preventive effect on the crime. It's not about where the person is from or where he/she lives but where the crime is committed.

niels, Sunday, 30 September 2018 09:48 (six years ago)

I was talking with my Brazilian friends abt Bolsonaro yesterday and while he def seems a very special breed of misogynist asshole, they did not find it very realistic that he could lead a military coup since his connections with the military are not good

but I guess "fascist" means populist conservative or smth these days

Went to an anti-Bolsonaro rally yesterday and what I heard from Brazilian people there reminds me of what I heard from French ppl at the last election about Le Pen: they don't actually think he'll get elected, what worries them is how far he's gotten.

He may not be in a good relationship with the military right now, but he's openly nostalgic about the military junta that ruled Brazil in the past, I don't think fascist is a misnomer here.

Daniel_Rf, Sunday, 30 September 2018 11:28 (six years ago)

Yeah, he does flirt pretty hard with authoritarianism

I was surprised to find that he has support from upper middle class voters as well, one of my friends' dad is a doctor and will (to the endless frustration of my friend) probably to vote for the guy o_O

I guess the #elenao campaign and the fact that he's gotten so far (and could win) is symptomatic of the poor alternatives...

niels, Monday, 1 October 2018 07:22 (six years ago)

so is he the favorite to win now

Mordy, Monday, 8 October 2018 19:02 (six years ago)

I would say yeah. His opponent is handicapped by popular disillusion towards the party he hails from (how merited is a matter up for debate).

Daniel_Rf, Monday, 8 October 2018 20:26 (six years ago)

The CSU was always "the party the nazis fled to after WWII" to my parents.

Daniel_Rf, Sunday, 14 October 2018 09:16 (six years ago)

three weeks pass...

Polish president and PM set to join fascist march in Warsaw

sleeve, Saturday, 10 November 2018 19:24 (six years ago)

Cool cool cool.

I have measured out my life in coffee shop loyalty cards (silby), Saturday, 10 November 2018 19:27 (six years ago)

so the nazis' levelling of poland during wwii was just... the wrong type of fascism?

i want donald duck to scream into my dick (bizarro gazzara), Saturday, 10 November 2018 19:32 (six years ago)

This is a better write-up of the situation:

https://amp.theguardian.com/world/2018/nov/09/fears-of-violence-as-polish-state-intervenes-in-nationalist-march

It’s a mess and not as straightforward as the Freedom article presents it.

The original neo-Nazi March was banned by the Mayor of Warsaw and the government came in to replace it with a, supposedly more inclusive, alternative along the same route. The ban was overturned and the original march is back on - suggesting they might have two separately organised marches on the same day. It looks like the government has tried to negotiate with the Nazis to combine the marches but drop the Fascist trappings but it’s not clear whether that has been successful or how the two matches will engage each other. It is not simply a case of the PM marching in the explicitly Fascist one.

There is a big crossover between the far-right and the PiS vote but the march is also internationally embarrassing enough for them to want to squash it.

Wag1 Shree Rajneesh (ShariVari), Saturday, 10 November 2018 19:42 (six years ago)

thanks!

sleeve, Saturday, 10 November 2018 19:44 (six years ago)

I think the PM, Duda, did join in 2015 or 2016 tbf.

The march has become more explicitly Fascist over time as it has attracted more white nationalists from elsewhere. It was last year that it really came to the attention of the international press.

Wag1 Shree Rajneesh (ShariVari), Saturday, 10 November 2018 19:47 (six years ago)

This was a good overview from last year btw.

https://newsocialist.org.uk/poland-2/#

Wag1 Shree Rajneesh (ShariVari), Saturday, 10 November 2018 19:48 (six years ago)

three weeks pass...

Spain far-right Vox party gains foothold in Andalusia election
Electoral earthquake in Andalusia

lbi's life of limitless european glamour (Le Bateau Ivre), Monday, 3 December 2018 15:42 (six years ago)

five months pass...

Ultimately, those who believe in democracy and popular sovereignty should aim at tearing the EU down — not at reforming it. https://t.co/MyJShItO06

— Jacobin (@jacobinmag) May 26, 2019

Mordy, Monday, 27 May 2019 04:28 (six years ago)

i don't know enough about the EU not to be forced to listen when people who live in it tell me it simply can't be made into the cuddly democratic socialist international of my dreams; it certainly does seem to have been constructed by and for technocratic executives, and i certainly think a "parliament" without the power to make law is farcical. i also think that local struggles are vital and primary. but this kind of thing--

The absence of a European demos with its integral class divisions prevents the existence of “normal” politics in the EU. There are no social cleavages applying uniformly across EU member states that could be organically reflected in political contestation within EU institutions. … No class or other social divisions in Europe take a homogeneous ‘European’ form, for there are no occupational, organizational, habitual, cultural, and historical norms able to create such an overarching social integration. Actual class divisions in Europe always take a national form, as do the party politics that correspond to these divisions. In Marxist terms there is neither a European capitalist class nor a European working class.

--does strike me as weird to the point of alarming for any kind of marxist to say. surely a key feature of marxist class categories is that they cut across national and geographical divisions the same way they do across divisions of race or gender. of course such divisions exist and must be recognized for a functioning democracy to be installed but "there are no social cleavages applying uniformly across EU member states"? there are no rich and poor? no owners and workers? certainly european capitalists do not behave as if their interests are unbridgeably cleaved from one another's-- nor from the interests of american or russian or chinese capitalists-- not even when they think and say otherwise. how can workers hope to oppose them if they behave as such themselves?

even in the fascist utopia of permanently warring genocidal tribes it is the owners and managers in each state who harvest the wealth from conflict, and the workers who together do the building and the dying. of course the official view in such states is that class is only a division of labor and the entire society is uniformly strengthened by war and isolation, and i know the linked argument is not that local workers and local owners are distinct organs in a harmonious body-- yet to claim that it is class conflict within the nation alone that produces politics and history nevertheless seems a kind of corporatism. a closed machine that works by friction is still a closed machine.

maybe i am strawmanning? maybe this is just a "don't get obsessed with the EU parliamentary elections" article? i guess the point is supposed to be that global class conflict somehow emerges naturally (fractally?) from various local class conflicts in which various national demoi are directly engaged? but expecting that process just to hum victoriously along in the absence of supernational institutions-- especially when global capital makes full use of such institutions itself-- seems a little naive here in the 21c. how can any heir to a political tradition shot thru from birth with references to global brotherhood and global struggle turn around and claim not only that there is no world proletariat but that there is no meaningfully united proletariat even within a podunk provincial subcontinent like europe? at least when stalin floated this stuff he was in charge of the biggest country in the world. and look what happened to it!

anyway tl;dr this is why you posted it in this thread obv. just wanted to be clear that for me it is not "giving up on the eu" per se that scans as right-wing: only cryptonationalism.

difficult listening hour, Monday, 27 May 2019 08:56 (six years ago)

The Jacobin is shit, but the left has been anti-EU for ages. The story there is that they've stopped recently. In Denmark, the left anti-EU party lost their seat for the first time in forty years, while a moderately more pro-EU party took one instead.

Frederik B, Monday, 27 May 2019 09:09 (six years ago)

--does strike me as weird to the point of alarming for any kind of marxist to say. surely a key feature of marxist class categories is that they cut across national and geographical divisions the same way they do across divisions of race or gender. of course such divisions exist and must be recognized for a functioning democracy to be installed but "there are no social cleavages applying uniformly across EU member states"?

I haven't read the piece (and no time rn) but this is otm to the extent that Left wing groups across Europe do reach across to other similarly red European parties. I think its in the "organically reflected" where the work is happening in that sentence that I can't quite parse but I suspect that a lot of what is local is very easily lost, which leads to huge disparities in voter turnout across European countries. If there is 20% turnout in one country how does politics really happen for that place as reflected in Europe?

More widely, whatever happens to this specific European project its clear that the challenges facing us - a lot of it driven by climate change but not always - will need to be tackled in an organised way across borders. Otherwise there is potential for destructive war and conflict, all too awful to contemplare. Ultimately the borders will need to be beyond Europe, and that is a left project.

xyzzzz__, Monday, 27 May 2019 11:39 (six years ago)

hello?

jmm, Monday, 27 May 2019 17:44 (six years ago)

hi

findom haddie (jim in vancouver), Monday, 27 May 2019 17:47 (six years ago)

Is there anybody in there?
Just nod if you can hear me
Is there anyone at home?

pomenitul, Monday, 27 May 2019 17:48 (six years ago)

I'm here. In a corner. Belgium has voted far right last sunday. :-(

nathom, Tuesday, 28 May 2019 06:13 (six years ago)

one month passes...

Italian police arrest a bunch of people, including former Customs officer and a Forza Nuova activist, with a cache of weapons including machine guns, grenades and a working surface to air missile.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-48987723

It's part of an investigation into Italians who may have fought in Ukrainian paramilitary groups.

ShariVari, Tuesday, 16 July 2019 08:16 (five years ago)

The broader risk is that more of the right-wing dopes from across Europe who went to join Azov, etc, took similar 'souvenirs' with them.

ShariVari, Tuesday, 16 July 2019 08:23 (five years ago)

Thats triggered my memory regarding something about Brazilians(?) that fought in Ukraine. Think it was Brazilians but can't remember the story

anvil, Tuesday, 16 July 2019 08:24 (five years ago)

Yes, there was recruitment from the Brazilian far-right, but lots of Scandinavians, French, Germans, etc as well.

ShariVari, Tuesday, 16 July 2019 08:31 (five years ago)

despite the Italian police statement saying they fought against pro-Russian separatists the BBC initially reported it as them fighting for pro-Russian militants. It might have just been a mistake, but a tinfoil hat type on my twitter line is calling it as dezinformatsiya!

calzino, Tuesday, 16 July 2019 08:34 (five years ago)

You did have oddballs on both sides but if they're packing Nazi insignia it's a fair bet they were Azov or aligned.

Politico seems to have been the original source of error. The wording they used - "participated in the Russian-backed insurgency" - might be a case of their house style guide mandating "Russian-backed insurgency" instead of "war" - but it's absolutely misleading in this context.

ShariVari, Tuesday, 16 July 2019 08:43 (five years ago)

I trawled a few Italian newspapers for more info on this and none of them mention which side the suspects fought for. So unless English-language media outlets know something their Italian colleagues don't, this does seem to be a case of leaping to conclusions.

pomenitul, Tuesday, 16 July 2019 08:58 (five years ago)

https://www.thenationalherald.com/253767/setting-golden-dawn-having-trouble-paying-rent/

ATHENS – Bounced out of the Greek Parliament in July 7 snap elections after falling out of favor with voters, the accused neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party, with all its 15 lawmakers on trial on charges of running a criminal gang, can’t afford the rent on its headquarters.

There's more Italy than necessary. (in orbit), Tuesday, 16 July 2019 13:51 (five years ago)

Unfortunately most of their voters have been lured back to the right-wing party they were originally supporters of - now in power.

https://www.haaretz.com/world-news/europe/.premium-how-ultranationalists-infiltrated-greece-s-new-ruling-party-1.7485494

ShariVari, Tuesday, 16 July 2019 14:15 (five years ago)

four weeks pass...

guys

A “woman-first feminist social network” launched on the Gab Social open source code today, becoming the 2nd largest Gab Social server instantly.

Tell me again how Gab is for the “far-right” only.

This is the future: decentralized, open source, unstoppable, for everyone. pic.twitter.com/TkmFhRayZA

— Gab.com (@getongab) August 12, 2019

Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Thursday, 15 August 2019 00:16 (five years ago)

can you give some more context there? is this a rightward drift, or?

sleeve, Thursday, 15 August 2019 00:54 (five years ago)

Spinsterf

suzy, Thursday, 15 August 2019 06:00 (five years ago)

tldr: "gab" is a right/alt-right social media network. they have now launched a women's version (?) AND THEY HAVE CALLED IT "SPINSTER"

Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Thursday, 15 August 2019 08:07 (five years ago)

a TERF version, aiui

Andrew Farrell, Thursday, 15 August 2019 08:37 (five years ago)

three months pass...

there's still maybe a right-wing drift in the west but i feel like even more of a characterization of politics in the west atm is a total inability to accomplish anything or lead in any kind of meaningful way. the US is terribly dysfunctional in this regard and you might say it's specific to our system but the UK seems no better (assuming this election returns another Tory gov that'll be what- 3 in a row elected without a clear path to enacting Brexit?), and Israel is heading into its third election. the right-wing autocrat-leaning leaders are real but they aren't really good at doing shit it seems like. maybe this is the truth about politics in our age - not a drift to the right or left but just drifting?

Mordy, Thursday, 12 December 2019 17:36 (five years ago)

Brexit requires others outside of the U.K. to play along. A substantial Tory majority would likely still see them tripping over their own feet, to some extent, wrt negotiations with the EU, attempting to balance rhetoric with adherence to international obligations, etc, but they’d be able to force through a raft of right-wing domestic policy. In the specific context of the U.K., the left has moved noticeably to the left but it’s often underestimated how far the right is moving to the right - culling MPs seen as too moderate, trying to ignite a US-style culture war, positioning the importance of their ability to govern effectively as more important than maintaining constitutional checks and balances, governing transparently, following the rule of law, and so on. Up to now, the resurgent left has partly hampered the effectiveness of the right but a huge factor was lack of cohesion within the Tory party. They’re set to be much more ruthless and bound by internal loyalty this time around.

Srinivasaraghavan VONCataraghavan (ShariVari), Thursday, 12 December 2019 17:52 (five years ago)

the right-wing autocrat-leaning leaders are real but they aren't really good at doing shit it seems like

I think Modi is an exception to this statement, but I also think the extremely long-term rise to power of the RSS & BJP (and, especially, the way they've infiltrated civil society over the decades) shows why some of the other autocrats are less successful. The need a cult of personality leader but you also need organization

rob, Thursday, 12 December 2019 18:19 (five years ago)

The far-right government party in Estonia has attracted some attention, less so in Latvia, I think. This is not good:

https://en.rebaltica.lv/2019/12/azov-movements-race-war-plans-find-sympathetic-audience-in-latvian-government-party

Logo something of a tip off.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Alliance_(Latvia)#/media/File%3ANacionālā_Apvienība_(National_Alliance)_logo.svg

Srinivasaraghavan VONCataraghavan (ShariVari), Monday, 16 December 2019 07:48 (five years ago)

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Alliance_(Latvia)#/media/File%3ANacionālā_Apvienība_(National_Alliance)_logo.svg

Srinivasaraghavan VONCataraghavan (ShariVari), Monday, 16 December 2019 07:48 (five years ago)

there's still maybe a right-wing drift in the west but i feel like even more of a characterization of politics in the west atm is a total inability to accomplish anything or lead in any kind of meaningful way. the US is terribly dysfunctional in this regard and you might say it's specific to our system but the UK seems no better (assuming this election returns another Tory gov that'll be what- 3 in a row elected without a clear path to enacting Brexit?), and Israel is heading into its third election. the right-wing autocrat-leaning leaders are real but they aren't really good at doing shit it seems like. maybe this is the truth about politics in our age - not a drift to the right or left but just drifting?

― Mordy

this is, imo, sort of the trap of existing systems - the current system of neoliberal democracyish global capitalism was essentially universalized (possibly created) in the '90s. the people who hold those beliefs are unable these days to consistently leverage that system to obtain positions of power, but enough people still accept it as The Way Of Things that nobody has the authority to actively change those norms. i don't think the people in power have an inability to "lead" - given institutions more, uh, amenable to their norms they could do quite a lot of "leading" - but creating that system is quite beyond them. this applies to the left and the right more or less equally, i would argue.

to resort to cliche, things will have to get worse before they can get "better" - in this case meaning merely meaning "functional".

Agnes Motörhead (rushomancy), Monday, 16 December 2019 14:49 (five years ago)

A Danish writer Rune Møller Stahl wrote that we're in what Gramsci called an 'interregnum', a 'nonhegemonic time'. The neoliberal consensus has broken down, but it's still unknown what the way forward is going to be longterm. A resurgence of neoliberalism? Right-wing populism? Left wing neo-keynesian socialism? Nobody really has enough power to do what they want to do yet, so it's all just a frustrating slog. Socialism is going to win out in the end, though, imo. The tools of neo-liberalist economics fundamentally don't seem to work anymore, and the right-wing populist movememt is extremely dangerous, but in the end self-defeating.

Frederik B, Monday, 16 December 2019 15:09 (five years ago)

It also occurs to me that our new visions of society are for the most part reruns of previous attempts. The big alternative offered by the left (socialism, or communism even) are projects now centuries old. I go between two possibilities for this - one is a sort of political philosophy low hanging fruit. Maybe there are only so many ways to organize society and so we're rehearsing these old debates. The other possibility is just a failure of imagination to think of something new.

Mordy, Monday, 16 December 2019 15:18 (five years ago)

The imagination is there. Most of the practicalities have been worked out. The problem is the getting of power off those whose present state of living depends on us not having it.

Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Monday, 16 December 2019 15:31 (five years ago)

The imagination is there. Most of the practicalities have been worked out.

I don't think both of these things can be true.

Mordy, Monday, 16 December 2019 15:32 (five years ago)

In this sense the left has its own end of history problem (tho even worse since its biggest projects were the ones discredited by capitalism’s end of history). I don’t personally find “we know how to make a perfect society we just need to get the media on board / wait for old people to die” particularly compelling. The eco leftists also waiting for something else before they can enact utopia (the end of civilization) which gives them some sort of novelty but again there’s nothing really to inspire here just waiting for godot.

Mordy, Monday, 16 December 2019 15:35 (five years ago)

Yeah, the new left is obviously looking backwards, how can that even be up for discussion? Corbyn and Sanders are links to the past, warriors who have kept up the good fight since the seventies. And that might be enough, it might be that Mordy's first idea is the right one.

Frederik B, Monday, 16 December 2019 15:39 (five years ago)

Power needs to be taken, not waited for - I agree!

The imagination is there. Most of the practicalities have been worked out.

I don't think both of these things can be true.

Why not? Borrowing has been low for a decade. We have fully costed plans for radical social transformation from a number of policy research groups, and even a couple of real political parties. Imagination isn't the problem. Practicalities aren't even the problem. But being right, as we appear to be discovering again and again, ISN'T ENOUGH!

Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Monday, 16 December 2019 15:40 (five years ago)

I don’t personally find “we know how to make a perfect society we just need to get the media on board / wait for old people to die” particularly compelling.

same

but as ever to me it's clear that post-religious societies would move right, and I know that I'm just pissing in the wind saying this on ILX

L'assie (Euler), Monday, 16 December 2019 15:41 (five years ago)

TH, what Mordy is saying is that the imagination of the left only amounts to rehashing ideas from ca 1870-1979. What Mordy isn't really saying is that this is necessarily a bad thing.

Frederik B, Monday, 16 December 2019 15:44 (five years ago)

Mostly young people are floating the ideas and doing the work. Sanders and Corbyn providing periods of leadership doesn't mask that.

xyzzzz__, Monday, 16 December 2019 15:52 (five years ago)

Well, that's postmodernism for you

Though I don't think Mordy's really giving fully automated gay luxury communism the credit that's due to it. A few costings still to be worked out there tbf

xpost

Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Monday, 16 December 2019 15:54 (five years ago)

Lol. The fully automated gay parts of it are kinda new, yeah. I think if someone from the thirties travelled to this day, they would instinctually understand a lot of the political debates. But show them a picture of the new Finnish cabinet, and they would lose their minds.

Just ignore the dishonest fascist, btw. He has nothing to offer.

Frederik B, Monday, 16 December 2019 15:57 (five years ago)

Lol Fred how many power naps till the new Star Wars. Looking forward to the Baby Yoda review.

xyzzzz__, Monday, 16 December 2019 16:08 (five years ago)

There are new ideas on the left that haven't been tried yet. They're not as well known to the general public, but they have some currency within the new left's discourse. I'm thinking mainly of Murray Bookchin's theory of Communalism, and Abdullah Öcalan's related vision of Democratic Confederalism (currently practiced successfully in Rojava, despite their many enemies). These two visions of society mix ideas from anarchism and socialism to create a "commune of communes", a decentralized, confederated system of local direct democracies.

Others on the left are interested in instituting workplace democracy, another idea that was never tried in past attempts at socialism. This is a popular idea within the DSA.

There is a distinctly libertarian (in the sense of anti-authoritarian) character to the new left that differs from past leftist formulations.

OneSecondBefore, Monday, 16 December 2019 16:23 (five years ago)

For more info on that workplace democracy bit, see this great Richard Wolff video, Three Basic Kinds of Socialism: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7x7oVwhHok

OneSecondBefore, Monday, 16 December 2019 16:27 (five years ago)

'Communalism' sounds like fourierism to me. It sounds more like proto-communism than post-communism.

Frederik B, Monday, 16 December 2019 16:35 (five years ago)

Anti-authoritarian socialism is... anarchism? It sounds like a return to before the dictatorship of the proletariat became dogma. You're right, onesecondbefore, that it's a road not taken, but I'm not sure I find it 'new'.

Frederik B, Monday, 16 December 2019 16:39 (five years ago)

Sounds like a fucking nightmare tbh. Any political ideology that doesn’t fully account for the possibility of withdrawal and solitude, silence and marginality, can only become totalitarian in the long run. Every community needs an other.

pomenitul, Monday, 16 December 2019 16:40 (five years ago)

"Soviet Union" itself m/l meant "union of local workers' councils" tbh.

No language just sound (Sund4r), Monday, 16 December 2019 16:43 (five years ago)

Please trust me that the one-sentence summaries in my comment are not the totality of these proposed systems. Bookchin wrote several books on Communalism that get into the gritty details. Democratic Confederalism has a several volume set written on it AND a society currently practicing it. Both of these systems are based on the theory of Social Ecology, which is quite robust.

Here's a pamphlet that introduces all of this in a little more detail, if you're interested: https://libcom.org/files/Social%20Ecology%20Pamphlet%20Emily%20McGuire.pdf

OneSecondBefore, Monday, 16 December 2019 16:50 (five years ago)

Worth mentioning also that one of the reasons Social Ecology is gaining traction in the new left is that it is specifically concerned with averting ecological catastrophe and incorporating ecological thinking into a new kind of society.

OneSecondBefore, Monday, 16 December 2019 16:54 (five years ago)

For some reason, Post-Scarcity Anarchism was on my Dad's bookshelf so I did read that one as a teenager, at the least.xp

No language just sound (Sund4r), Monday, 16 December 2019 16:55 (five years ago)

Oh hey, on the last page of that pamphlet it talks about reclaiming Utopian Socialism like Fourierism from Marx. I was kinda right :)

I'm not saying it's bad, OSB, I'm just saying I don't find it particularly new! And I still don't after reading the pamphlet. It says: “I find myself very much in agreement with a past anarchist, Murray Bookchin, who kinda said ‘I think that the future of the left depends crucially on putting together the best of anarchism and the best of Marxism, and unless those two anti-capitalist perspectives can be put together in a political process, the left is doomed to failure.’ He severed himself from the anarchist tradition because he couldn’t stand the dogmatic anarchists. I’ve had a hard time in the Marxist tradition with the dogmatic Marxists. The dogmatic Marxists and the dogmatic anarchists should go to Hell”

Frederik B, Monday, 16 December 2019 17:17 (five years ago)

I agree with pom, though. I'm not convinced that it sounds appealing to me as a large-scale basis for society; I also think people are underselling the extent to which a number of the 'bad' historical examples of national-level socialism were initially motivated by similar ideals.

No language just sound (Sund4r), Monday, 16 December 2019 17:30 (five years ago)

The imagination is there. Most of the practicalities have been worked out. The problem is the getting of power off those whose present state of living depends on us not having it.

― Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand)

actually getting power seems like a pretty pivotal practicality to be worked out. also, there are implicit costs in most of the possible methods of obtaining power that need to be worked out.

i do also note that governance seems a lot easier to people who aren't in a position to do it... maybe indeed "most of the practicalities have been worked out" but i'd need to see that hypothesis tested before i can sign on to that

personally my interest is more in process than in policy, in form rather than in substance, and i can't make any decisions on what that form would look like until i see how far people are willing to go, in practice, in the pursuit of power.

Agnes Motörhead (rushomancy), Tuesday, 17 December 2019 16:18 (five years ago)

I meant the practicalities of the policies i.e. single-payer health insurance, nationalising the rail system, etc. A lot of the heavy lifting has been done in terms of thinking through what can be done to address society's problems. But yes of course being in position to actually implement these changes is what won't be given up without a very difficult and asymmetrical fight.

Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Tuesday, 17 December 2019 16:29 (five years ago)

There are new ideas on the left that haven't been tried yet. They're not as well known to the general public, but they have some currency within the new left's discourse. I'm thinking mainly of Murray Bookchin's theory of Communalism, and Abdullah Öcalan's related vision of Democratic Confederalism (currently practiced successfully in Rojava, despite their many enemies). These two visions of society mix ideas from anarchism and socialism to create a "commune of communes", a decentralized, confederated system of local direct democracies.

although i am not that well-versed about what's going on in "rojava" i don't really buy öcalan's conversion from being the leader of a classic vanguardist, "democratic" centralist marxist-leninist organization in the 20th century style to now being the prophet/theoretician of some anarcho-communal system, seems sus as fuck.

#FBPIRA (jim in vancouver), Tuesday, 17 December 2019 19:41 (five years ago)

("rojava" has a lot of the hallmarks of a kurdish ethno-state for starters - in an area with large ethnic diversity)

#FBPIRA (jim in vancouver), Tuesday, 17 December 2019 19:43 (five years ago)

three weeks pass...

I think this interview has some applicability outside Israel as well in terms of thinking through questions like false consciousness, group identity and failures of the left: https://www.haaretz.com/amp/israel-news/elections/.premium.MAGAZINE-the-real-reason-mizrahim-vote-for-netanyahu-and-why-the-left-can-t-win-them-over-1.8378189

Mordy, Friday, 10 January 2020 13:56 (five years ago)

Spain bucking the trend: https://www.democracynow.org/2020/1/8/headlines/spain_poised_to_form_first_progressive_coalition_government_since_1930s

Un sang impur (Sund4r), Friday, 10 January 2020 15:57 (five years ago)

Mizrachi's position is that leftist universalism is just another identity politics, not a meta-politics, and one that isn't being bought by enough Israeli voters to topple Netanyahu.

juntos pedemos (Euler), Friday, 10 January 2020 16:04 (five years ago)

that is not what i got from the interview -- but yes he does challenge the inevitability with which universalist liberalism understands itself. but i understand it more as he's critiquing universalist liberalism that tries to use tokenism to win votes from mizrahim who are concerned primarily about the ways in which a universalist ideology undermines their own self-conceptions of identity (thru prisms of religion + nationalism).

Mordy, Friday, 10 January 2020 16:07 (five years ago)

iow liberalism senses that identity politics is a thing but cynically doesn't understand what makes it a potent force. it's not merely representationism.

Mordy, Friday, 10 January 2020 16:07 (five years ago)

right, that seems right. I was trying to think about how to apply the position outside of Israel, where identity is even more multidimensional than in other western places.

I'm interested in the belief in the inevitability of universalist leftism, a belief that I think is false and crippling to attempts to widen the appeal of leftism.

juntos pedemos (Euler), Friday, 10 January 2020 16:11 (five years ago)

To each their own teleology.

pomenitul, Friday, 10 January 2020 16:14 (five years ago)

one thing that struck me is the way that universalist liberalism denies critical components of ppl's identities by smoothing out particularism/difference - i think we do see this in discourses that ask why our children are more precious than someone else's. it's a logical approach but doesn't comport with ppl's intuitive experience where of course their children are the most important. and then tellingly this sort of particularist almost familial politics ends up spiraling outwards where the entire nation becomes conceived as a sort of family and so the failings of leaders are not contextualized as "the crimes of the self-interested and greedy right-wing" or whatever but rather the flaws of a parental figure trying to do the best for the family under trying circumstances etc. (nb i'm not giving credibility to this take just acknowledging that it seems to accurately describe the experiences of many ppl to whom i've chatted about politics who identify as being on the right.) so there's this one critical flaw i think which is in the sublimation or denial of particularism universalism appears like violence meant to destroy the only stability such ppl have. i've mentioned this before on ilx but even the soviets seemed to realize how critical nationalism is and tolerated it. and then this links with the other flaw he seems to be addressing which is the sort of arrogance of the left to think that we have all the answers and that if you deny our answers it must be because you've been lied to or brainwashed. there's a way forward here i think and while i did feel like this interview was broadly applicable to other places i think the state of the left in israel is much worse off than in other places (for these and other reasons cf the failure of Oslo, failure of Gaza withdrawal etc), but we can still see in them things that could be applicable to our movements where maybe these flaws aren't quite as glaring (i think there is a significant part of the Dem party that does embrace some of these things like religion, family, even nationalism, esp among POC!) but still hamper our ability to speak to the right cf "deplorables," or "clinging to their guns and bibles" types of language that definitely seems to meet this critique.

Mordy, Friday, 10 January 2020 16:24 (five years ago)

My problem with Mizrachi's article is that his diagnosis of why secular liberalism is in crisis in Israel (it purports to a kind of universal correctness and accuses people not on board of false consciousness) seems to apply pretty well to lots of other ideologies that are not at all in political crisis and are indeed thriving? Can you with a straight face say that Bibi's politics don't present his opponents as either a) deluded fools who vote against their own interests, or b) literal others who are enemies despite being nominal citizens?

Guayaquil (eephus!), Friday, 10 January 2020 16:31 (five years ago)

In a US context, the idea that people don't like "the sort of arrogance ... to think that we have all the answers and that if you deny our answers it must be because you've been lied to or brainwashed" and thus... vote for Donald Trump? is kind of absurd.

Guayaquil (eephus!), Friday, 10 January 2020 16:33 (five years ago)

the spiraling of entire nations as families either runs all the way to universalism, or it stops at a point where the_other is found. Israel's an interesting case because in many cultures the Jews have been the_other (cf. David Nirenberg's _Anti-Judaism_).

juntos pedemos (Euler), Friday, 10 January 2020 16:33 (five years ago)

I agree, Mordy, that people bristle at that kind of arrogance, the condescension, the accusation of false consciousness, all of it. But they bristle at it SELECTIVELY. It's downstream from ideology. (Where ideology doesn't have to mean specifics of policy, it could just mean what kinds of people do you favor and what kinds do you disfavor.)

Guayaquil (eephus!), Friday, 10 January 2020 16:35 (five years ago)

Totes-not-eugenics by this cool and normal Magyar patriot:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-51061499

pomenitul, Friday, 10 January 2020 19:17 (five years ago)

With an estimated birth rate of 1.48 per woman, Hungary is just one of many Eastern European countries facing demographic decline - due to both low birth rates and the emigration of working-age people to other EU nations.

Some of these countries have implemented their own policies to encourage birth rates to increase. Poland, for example, pays parents 500 zloty (£100) a month per child under its 500+ policy.


In France we get not bad cash each month just for having kids (we have three which is where the money gets more serious, but even one gets you paid). Is this unusual in Europe?

I think in vitro is covered by sécu also.

France has long has natalist policies though.

juntos pedemos (Euler), Friday, 10 January 2020 21:04 (five years ago)

child support is normal in european countries but the polish policy is particularly generous (in real terms, obviously a $100 isn't a lot). contrasts with other conservative governments which ostensibly are "pro-family" etc. but incentive having kids less

bidenfan69420 (jim in vancouver), Friday, 10 January 2020 21:09 (five years ago)

incentivize

bidenfan69420 (jim in vancouver), Friday, 10 January 2020 21:09 (five years ago)

(the average salary in poland is something like 700 pound a month)

bidenfan69420 (jim in vancouver), Friday, 10 January 2020 21:10 (five years ago)

I mean we get close to 700 euros a month

juntos pedemos (Euler), Friday, 10 January 2020 21:10 (five years ago)

I should be getting paid not to have kids, but I'm already doing that

Swilling Ambergris, Esq. (silby), Friday, 10 January 2020 22:16 (five years ago)

Only if Attila the Hun's blood runs through your veins.

Fun fact: the 'H' in 'Hungary' was added to emphasize continuity with the Huns despite the tenuous historical connection.

pomenitul, Friday, 10 January 2020 22:25 (five years ago)

*DOESN'T run through your veins

pomenitul, Friday, 10 January 2020 22:25 (five years ago)

"France has long has natalist policies though."

there is a lot of material on the early 20th c history of this in the Julian Jackson Vichy book, France: The Dark Years. Even before the bloodletting of WW1 there was lots of consternation about low birth rates and so on, and lots of incentives for women to go through childbirth more times than you'd fancy if you wanted to live long in that era, under various regimes between the third republic and the Vichy.

calzino, Friday, 10 January 2020 23:01 (five years ago)

I mean we get close to 700 euros a month

― juntos pedemos (Euler), Friday, January 10, 2020 1:10 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

yes but youre in france, a country which is much wealthier than poland and spends a lot more generally on social welfare

bidenfan69420 (jim in vancouver), Friday, 10 January 2020 23:04 (five years ago)

If France was subject to UK levels of austerity i reckon there be some protests!

calzino, Friday, 10 January 2020 23:13 (five years ago)

As we all know, they protest over everything in France unlike use downtrodden forelock-tugging worms over here.

Frozen Mug (Tom D.), Friday, 10 January 2020 23:15 (five years ago)

us not use

Frozen Mug (Tom D.), Friday, 10 January 2020 23:16 (five years ago)

in the UK they will probably pick some weekend when Ingerland are playing to sneak some bill through parliament - raising the retirement age to 97.

calzino, Friday, 10 January 2020 23:18 (five years ago)

They don’t even need to do that with the majority tbf, they could submit a bill soaked in piss and it’d go straight to the Lords.

xps to Euler re child benefit in Ireland though I think this has been reformed since my family was receiving it

It’s mean in the UK by comparison

glindr jackson (gyac), Friday, 10 January 2020 23:34 (five years ago)

thanks gyac, Ireland's child benefit is in line with a number of other EU countries, below France and Germany, but well above Spain, Italy and Greece.

a few questions:

1) are child benefit policies, natalist policies?
2) are natalist policies in general right-wing?
3) are child benefit policies right-wing?

In usa discourse one hears critiques of anti-abortion right-wingers as maintaining that "life ends at birth". Is the implied left response to this critique that the right-wingers should support child benefit policies?

juntos pedemos (Euler), Saturday, 11 January 2020 12:17 (five years ago)

I don't know about anywhere else but child benefits were brought in the UK to stop children starving, they had plenty of children to go round in those days but not all of them were making it into adulthood in one piece. Needless to say, this idea did not originate on the right.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_benefits_in_the_United_Kingdom

Calls began for a specific family payment in the early part of the 20th century. These were successfully opposed by those who saw men, earning higher wages than women, as bread-winners, supporting the family through their wages - family allowance payments were seen as socialist and/or feminist in nature.[2] In addition, eugenicist arguments perceived the poor as unworthy of support.

Generally the right in the UK have been periodically exercised by children being born to the wrong sorts of people, not by not enough children being born. I'm unsure anyone even knows how to spell the word natalism in the UK, right or left.

Frozen Mug (Tom D.), Saturday, 11 January 2020 13:09 (five years ago)

I think non-means tested, universal benefits for children are too socialist to be considered right wing, even with the implication of conservatism and natalism that could be implied by them. It's a complex question on paper I guess. But when right wing governments start stripping these things away and you get the return of mass child poverty, then you can't really consider it right wing. Unless you are living in some warfare state where they are mainly being "benignly" given sugar cubes and cuddles by the state to boost national military service numbers or something.

calzino, Saturday, 11 January 2020 13:37 (five years ago)

Yeah, it was under Trudeau that we started giving families $5600-$6600 a year per child, which has had a good impact in reducing child poverty. We increased immigration at the same time though; maybe the issue is that Hungary is trying to restrict immigration while doing this?

One must put up barriers to keep oneself intact (Sund4r), Saturday, 11 January 2020 14:47 (five years ago)

eight months pass...

It's official: Golden Dawn judged to be a criminal organisation. Most defendants guilty of most charges. Organised crime, murder, attempted murder, weapons possession. A few brief thoughts... #GDtrial

— Daniel Trilling (@trillingual) October 7, 2020

nashwan, Wednesday, 7 October 2020 09:40 (four years ago)

The Greek police is attacking the people marching against the neo-nazis, entirely unprovoked from what I can see. They are not taking the verdict very well... https://t.co/AqbHjYkKCA

— ʏɪᴀɴɴɪs ʙᴀʙᴏᴜʟɪᴀs (@YiannisBab) October 7, 2020

nashwan, Wednesday, 7 October 2020 09:45 (four years ago)

one month passes...

BBC News - France's Macron issues 'republican values' ultimatum to Muslim leaders.

• Children will be given an IDENTIFICATION NUMBER to help locate them.
• Imams must register.
• No political actions as Muslims.

Macron is going full Marine Le Penhttps://t.co/vJg21Xmkzy

— Alex Tiffin (@RespectIsVital) November 19, 2020

calzino, Thursday, 19 November 2020 22:51 (four years ago)

Who could have predicted that happening?

scampus fugit (gyac), Thursday, 19 November 2020 23:03 (four years ago)

Is this that laicitè I keep hearing about?

is right unfortunately (silby), Thursday, 19 November 2020 23:04 (four years ago)

Nothing says “no state religion, nbd” quite like chipping the children of a minority you’ve deemed subversive. He’ll still lose to the actual fascist, because if you’re voting along those lines people vote for the real deal every time.

scampus fugit (gyac), Thursday, 19 November 2020 23:17 (four years ago)

(xp) I think we should leave that to its supporters on ILX to answer.

Boring blighters bloaters (Tom D.), Thursday, 19 November 2020 23:18 (four years ago)

Oh don’t worry, I’m sure there are some flatulent theories about Muslims wanting to take over France and therefore all this being fine and even desirable en route.

scampus fugit (gyac), Thursday, 19 November 2020 23:20 (four years ago)

never forget that Vichy France was one and half parts occupation, two and a half parts fascist uprising. They delivered a lot more services to fascism than they ever needed to, from cops dragging children out of houses and delivering them straight to Auschwitz, to their Statute of Jews, which was the most deeply, restrictive anti-Semitic legislation than even in Nazi Germany or 30's Poland. France is one deeply fucked up country, always has been. Not meant in a nationalistic chauvinistic sense, I know the UK is just as fucked up .

calzino, Thursday, 19 November 2020 23:36 (four years ago)

It's #Thanksgiving, I've got the day off and I've only got two things on my to do list:

Roast a turkey
Explain the FvD meltdown to all my non-Dutch followers.

Let's do this. #FVDsoap pic.twitter.com/X2Yb3F8PCY

— Molly Quell (@MollyQuell) November 26, 2020

This thread is too good not to share, and it's in English so you all can enjoy it. It's about the crumbling and complete implosion of Dutch far-right/alt-right/nazi party Forum voor Democratie, that's been happening the last couple of days. You simply love to see it. It's a long thread, but stick with it, you'll thank me later.

A Scampo Darkly (Le Bateau Ivre), Thursday, 26 November 2020 13:54 (four years ago)

I gotta confess I couldn’t follow that at all, English or not

is right unfortunately (silby), Thursday, 26 November 2020 17:27 (four years ago)

I lost track of who's who in the zoo somewhere but basically it seems weird creepy Nazis can faction and split as hard as anyone else.

Clean-up on ILX (onimo), Thursday, 26 November 2020 17:51 (four years ago)

That's what I got, too.

healthy cocaine off perfect butts (the table is the table), Thursday, 26 November 2020 17:58 (four years ago)

I gotta confess I couldn’t follow that at all, English or not

― is right unfortunately (silby), Thursday, November 26, 2020 9:27 AM (twenty-six minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

yeah, I think you do actually need to know dutch politics for this to be meaningful

Politically homely (jim in vancouver), Thursday, 26 November 2020 18:08 (four years ago)

On the tragedy/farce tip, which of the Nazi/alt right splinters will become the new Strasserites?

onlyfans.com/hunterb (milo z), Thursday, 26 November 2020 18:47 (four years ago)

Yeah I get it wasn't easy to follow, but between lying on a piano, sniffing lavender and saying "what is it you guys have against anti-semitism? most people I know are anti-semites!" well, that kind of gives you an idea of what we're dealing with here.

A Scampo Darkly (Le Bateau Ivre), Thursday, 26 November 2020 19:12 (four years ago)

what did lavendar do to deserve any of this

fleet doxes (map), Thursday, 26 November 2020 19:56 (four years ago)

i'm working through it. i have to admit i paused to consider this one at greater length!

Baudet installs a piano in his office at parliament. pic.twitter.com/8ralHulgmk

— Molly Quell (@MollyQuell) November 26, 2020

Karl Malone, Thursday, 26 November 2020 22:33 (four years ago)

Pictured: Right wing drift

That basically brings us to this very moment unless something happened while I was typing, which it probably did.

I leave you with this photo that Baudet posted on his Instagram. pic.twitter.com/yTsXIbNVUf

— Molly Quell (@MollyQuell) November 26, 2020

Andrew Farrell, Friday, 27 November 2020 09:28 (four years ago)

I'm grateful his right wing hasn't drifted any further

Clean-up on ILX (onimo), Friday, 27 November 2020 11:01 (four years ago)

some people's wing drifts to the right. mine has always drifted a bit to the left

Karl Malone, Friday, 27 November 2020 20:03 (four years ago)

it really depends on which side of the crotch you're accustomed to stuffing your wing down

Karl Malone, Friday, 27 November 2020 20:03 (four years ago)

i'm talking about penises here

Karl Malone, Friday, 27 November 2020 20:04 (four years ago)

ohhhhhhh

discourse stu (m bison), Friday, 27 November 2020 20:56 (four years ago)

fvd tl;dr

forget the fascism, racism, nazism, anti-semitism, misogyny and homophobia, they were the party’s raison d’être and have been out there in the open from the very beginning; it was this song, picked by one his parliamentary hopefuls, that was the actual cause of this right-wing rift - it greatly upset the Lavendery Leader for not being classical enough:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jH1RNk8954Q

(even though in the video, Ava is lying on top of what might, for all we know, be a piano)

Running up that hill but fleeting (a deal with Gop) (breastcrawl), Friday, 27 November 2020 22:09 (four years ago)

they were are the party’s raison d’être

Running up that hill but fleeting (a deal with Gop) (breastcrawl), Friday, 27 November 2020 22:10 (four years ago)

picked by one his parliamentary hopefuls for their ill-fated strategy meeting last Friday, I should have added.
the guy just now defended his choice of music on one of the talk shows here, he felt it was a very appropriate song for the occasion, bless his wannabe-kingly heart (not really)

Running up that hill but fleeting (a deal with Gop) (breastcrawl), Friday, 27 November 2020 22:33 (four years ago)

one month passes...

The int’l secretary for the violent Ukrainian far-right Azov movement has been granted a fellowship in Vienna. Here’s my 2018 interview with her, which shows her connections to US white supremacists & European neo-nazis. She said Azov has global ambitions. https://t.co/zD7FH85xEQ https://t.co/Ta6sCnRDG9

— Christopher Miller (@ChristopherJM) January 11, 2021

underminer of twenty years of excellent contribution to this borad (dan m), Monday, 11 January 2021 00:53 (four years ago)

olena what now

sound of scampo talk to me (El Tomboto), Monday, 11 January 2021 02:37 (four years ago)

lol I also noticed her name.

Ukrainians are something else, man. Never been in a weirder and more conflicted country in my whole life. Very beautiful tho.

Pere Legume (the table is the table), Monday, 11 January 2021 02:38 (four years ago)

three weeks pass...

this article comes up with the term "diagonal thinking" to stand in for the incoherent mish-mash of anti-elite & pro-individual yet racist, fascist and pro-conspiracy crazed q-grift cult leader nonsense that so many people seem to have adopted lately. it rattles around in my head sometimes - is there any directionality at all to this mind set? seems more like a raw mass of nerves firing off gibberish refracted through viral meme logic, collecting anything that will have some kind of power over other vulnerable people, i.e. whatever is most available as a front for fascism, i.e. brainworms.

http://bostonreview.net/politics/william-callison-quinn-slobodian-coronapolitics-reichstag-capitol

Joses Chrust (map), Wednesday, 3 February 2021 01:15 (four years ago)

one month passes...

This passing during this pandemic is really something: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/mar/07/switzerland-on-course-to-ban-wearing-of-burqa-and-niqab-in-public-places

(that said, I assume some anti-maskers voted "yes" because they've recently decided any face covering = oppression)

rob, Sunday, 7 March 2021 18:21 (four years ago)

fuck switzerland

no (Left), Sunday, 7 March 2021 18:27 (four years ago)

fondue, multi-function knives: good
Davos, racism: bad

Guayaquil (eephus!), Sunday, 7 March 2021 18:54 (four years ago)

Think that about sums it up

Guayaquil (eephus!), Sunday, 7 March 2021 18:55 (four years ago)

My sister-in-law and her family live in Switzerland, it is very pretty but also oppressively dull and ridiculously expensive and painfully white.

incredible pant century (stevie), Sunday, 7 March 2021 19:34 (four years ago)

this is extremely fucked up

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/mar/17/denmark-plans-to-limit-non-western-residents-in-disadvantaged-areas

Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Thursday, 18 March 2021 00:21 (four years ago)

What the fuck
That is disgusting

covidsbundlertanze op. 6 (Jon not Jon), Thursday, 18 March 2021 13:16 (four years ago)

In these neighbourhoods, misdemeanours carry double the legal penalties in place elsewhere, and daycare is mandatory for all children over the age of one, or family allowances are withdrawn.

Seriously what the fuck.

Bruno Ganz and Babaloo Mandel (Boring, Maryland), Thursday, 18 March 2021 15:00 (four years ago)

Seeing how relatively unremarked upon Denmark's drift rightward into apartheid has been illuminating (not that I know what to do about it either)

rob, Thursday, 18 March 2021 17:42 (four years ago)

Denmark has been in a very bad place with this for quite a few years now. There was also that policy about forcing refugees to sell valuables to pay for their costs to the nation for hosting them.

Scamp Granada (gyac), Thursday, 18 March 2021 17:45 (four years ago)

Yeah, there were some 2nd cousins on my dad's side who were from Denmark, and there was a time when they visited and one of them started throwing around a racist slur, my dad told him to stop, he told my dad to fuck off, and we've never spoken to or heard from them again, absent a card when my dad's mom died. (I know, very much anecdotal, but the cousin also said, "we use this term regularly in Denmark, what's the big deal," and I remember thinking, "Denmark seems like it sucks.")

it's like edging for your mind (the table is the table), Thursday, 18 March 2021 20:28 (four years ago)

careful don't say "D*****k" too many times

Canon in Deez (silby), Thursday, 18 March 2021 20:34 (four years ago)

ten months pass...

President-elect of Chile replies to Taylor Swift (via @basslleroz) pic.twitter.com/yQJWO5bqHp

— Populism Updates (@PopulismUpdates) January 25, 2022

𝔠𝔞𝔢𝔨 (caek), Tuesday, 25 January 2022 02:18 (three years ago)

is the west experiencing a left-wing swift?

class project pat (m bison), Tuesday, 25 January 2022 14:44 (three years ago)

one month passes...

fuck this shit

https://www.vice.com/en/article/n7nk5z/south-korea-president-feminism-yoon-suk-yeol

symsymsym, Thursday, 10 March 2022 04:27 (three years ago)

south korea is still the most misogynistic place i've ever been (not that i've been many places)

the world's undisputed #1 fan of 'Spud Infinity' (Karl Malone), Thursday, 10 March 2022 04:30 (three years ago)

ugh. too familiar.

Nhex, Thursday, 10 March 2022 14:58 (three years ago)

five months pass...

"If Meloni’s far-right forces dominate Italy’s next government, there’s concern about the support Italy will give to right-wing governments in Hungary and Poland “for their deeply conservative agendas″ amid fears about a ”democratic backsliding” in the EU, Art said.

For her part, Meloni says she will “fiercely oppose any anti-democratic drift.”"

https://apnews.com/article/religion-rome-980572acc21fe377ede26eea46be5208

xyzzzz__, Tuesday, 16 August 2022 11:20 (two years ago)

well that's a relief then

symsymsym, Tuesday, 16 August 2022 15:02 (two years ago)

Wonder if Italy could be out of the EU in a decade..

xyzzzz__, Wednesday, 17 August 2022 10:06 (two years ago)

one month passes...

so uhhhh sweden and now italy in the last few weeks, huh? ppl who pay more attention to eurozone politics tell me how worried i shd be for vulnerable communities there.

terence trent d'ilfer (m bison), Sunday, 25 September 2022 23:43 (two years ago)

Very. Greece has already implemented very aggressive anti-migrant policies and I expect the likes of Italy will follow.

I don't know about Sweden so much.

xyzzzz__, Monday, 26 September 2022 08:41 (two years ago)

they’ve never seen a migrant but they hear they’re bad

Tracer Hand, Monday, 26 September 2022 08:44 (two years ago)

Of course none of these governments are any more far right than the current UK administration.

Narada Michael Fagan (Tom D.), Monday, 26 September 2022 09:38 (two years ago)

... something you will never hear from the UK media despite all their tut-tutting about Johnny Foreigner and their far right tendencies.

Narada Michael Fagan (Tom D.), Monday, 26 September 2022 09:40 (two years ago)

I guess the prospect of this coalition collapsing within two years is as high as it gets at least? Even if the oppo cannot unite in the meantime (much more difficult it seems as bloody usual).

nashwan, Monday, 26 September 2022 09:49 (two years ago)

As long as you are pro-EU.

🇪🇺 reaction to yesterday's 🇮🇹 election, which has paved the way for #Italy's first far-right leader since Mussolini:

We are likely to see something similar to 2018 when the populist 5 Stars won - an initial effort to appeal to #Meloni's pro-EU instincts and not to isolate her. pic.twitter.com/NPoQfxJMCI

— Dave Keating (@DaveKeating) September 26, 2022

xyzzzz__, Monday, 26 September 2022 09:50 (two years ago)

im american so obv my internal calibration for right-wingedness is tuned to US frequencies, but what besides anti-immigration unites the various right wing parties of the EU and the UK? to what extent do they attack the welfare state, promote privatization and conservative theology, etc?

terence trent d'ilfer (m bison), Monday, 26 September 2022 13:13 (two years ago)

Well, they pretty much all hate teh gays.

immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Monday, 26 September 2022 13:27 (two years ago)

all these parties are remarkably similar imo. you could just copy and paste their speeches (and translate them, of course). it’s pretty much anti-immigration, anti-globalization (i.e. we should make our own stuff!) usually very anti-muslim, and occasionally there’s a whiff of antisemitism for extra credit. “make (x) great again.”

Tracer Hand, Monday, 26 September 2022 14:08 (two years ago)

If you want to look at the layers Meloni is keen on gutting reproductive rights, and an emphasis on 'normal' families.

xyzzzz__, Monday, 26 September 2022 14:17 (two years ago)

This is pure Guardian.

Happy to be back in @guardian with my take on #ItalianElections 🇮🇹

In short: no reason to panic, as conditions are unfavorable. More important story is two decades of mainstreaming far-right actors and ideas.https://t.co/30G8WGrPle

— Cas Mudde (@CasMudde) September 26, 2022

xyzzzz__, Monday, 26 September 2022 14:22 (two years ago)

yeah you’re right xy. i suspect there is a certain brand of catholic conservatism at work in some of these countries that meshes fairly seamlessly with america’s evangelical right.

Tracer Hand, Monday, 26 September 2022 14:28 (two years ago)

I met someone from Pakistan at a conference. I think he was based in Portugal and had traveled through Sweden or the reverse with respect to the countries involved. I think the Scandinavian countries, as well as the Baltic states and Finland, have tried to be inclusive. There is a balance between assimilation and numbers and social cohesion that creates tests on many levels.

youn, Monday, 26 September 2022 14:43 (two years ago)

The current Swedish elections have put that idea to the test.

immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Monday, 26 September 2022 14:48 (two years ago)

(yes, of course)

youn, Monday, 26 September 2022 14:51 (two years ago)

(I guess I was impressed that he was at the conference. I think he was first author on a paper that won the best paper award. How did he get there? What supported him in that journey? etc.)

youn, Monday, 26 September 2022 14:57 (two years ago)

So the American right is going predictably gaga over Meloni — why not, she's more photogenic than Orban — and is very incensed at any use of the word fascist to describe her. All while also being faux-naif about what she means by "financial speculators."

a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Tuesday, 27 September 2022 04:44 (two years ago)

The European right also seems to be exactly like the contemporary American right in selling reactionary populism (re: anti-globalization/make stuff here) while being 100% wedded to trickle-down/tax cuts for the rich ASAP.

papal hotwife (milo z), Tuesday, 27 September 2022 05:04 (two years ago)

to what extent do they attack the welfare state, promote privatization and conservative theology, etc?

i think one of the key differences between the european far-right and the american far-right is at least some of the europeans are somewhat pro-welfare, especially in comparison to the establishment centre-right parties, as long as it's not for immigrants

ufo, Tuesday, 27 September 2022 07:11 (two years ago)

"So the American right"

And Hilary Clinton.

xyzzzz__, Tuesday, 27 September 2022 07:31 (two years ago)

can't believe they made mussolini a woman in the reboot. this woke nonsense has ruined yet another franchise

— Ida🏳️‍⚧️🥔 (@Ida_Clemens) September 26, 2022

xyzzzz__, Tuesday, 27 September 2022 07:33 (two years ago)

The "she's not a fascist, chill" idiocy amongst mainstream right wing types for Meloni seems to me to be a lot stronger than it was for Bolsonaro, Orban, Erdogan - any theories?

Daniel_Rf, Tuesday, 27 September 2022 09:15 (two years ago)

Bolsanaro has never tried to hide how much he loved the old military junta whereas Meloni has played down the associations with Mussolini.

Also the ppl saying chill are silly and shouldn't be bothered with.

xyzzzz__, Tuesday, 27 September 2022 09:21 (two years ago)

Maybe because she isn't that different from most of the current Tory Party? Apart from the Catholic bit, of course.

Narada Michael Fagan (Tom D.), Tuesday, 27 September 2022 09:24 (two years ago)

A lot of people are either not experienced with the kind of dogwhistling about family etc or it reads differently coming from a woman due to structural sexism. I think that’s a big part of it, that she is physically small, relatively young and leans hard on that unpolished not-a-politician thing, and also that she knows how to code a lot of her words so that they pass if you don’t want to look too closely = less threatening. She doesn’t look like what people think a fascist looks like.

barry sito (gyac), Tuesday, 27 September 2022 09:24 (two years ago)

That makes a lot of sense gyac. But then you could say the same about Le Pen? I guess her family credentials make things more obvious.

I also wonder whether it's a "too close to home" situation, where leaders in South America, Eastern Europe, the Middle East can be safely categorized as fascists (while still making arguments as to why this is all somehow Fault Of The Left) but a Western European fascist has to be spun as something else.

Also the ppl saying chill are silly and shouldn't be bothered with.

I am not "bothering with them" in terms of taking their opinions seriously, but finding out why centrist stooges take the positions they take can reveal things about the political powers they align with.

Daniel_Rf, Tuesday, 27 September 2022 09:41 (two years ago)

Le Pen gets a lot of soft soaping too! She’s been on Newsnight. But yes, family connection and she’s older and doesn’t play vulnerable girlboss.

Aesthetics are a huge part of it for fascists. You’d read people making fun of Nick Griffin’s looks as though that was the thing that mattered.

barry sito (gyac), Tuesday, 27 September 2022 09:50 (two years ago)

Farage has got a fair bit of soft soaping over the years, and very rarely does the girlboss thing

anvil, Tuesday, 27 September 2022 09:54 (two years ago)

Farage is from the same background as the ruling class, it’s no mystery.

barry sito (gyac), Tuesday, 27 September 2022 09:57 (two years ago)

also Farage is not really viewed as Not A Fascist anywhere save the UK, while with Meloni I've seen the same sort of opinions coming from voices in the UK, US, France, Portugal.

Daniel_Rf, Tuesday, 27 September 2022 10:00 (two years ago)

Latin America, Eastern Europe etc. is just much further away, yes. Most of the ppl wondering as to whether Meloni is a fascist will know of Mussolini. Don't think people have an equivalent for Turkey or Brazil at their fingertips.

Isn't the centrist position one of distance and a hedging one's bets? They'll publish an opinion that will say Meloni is a fascist, or that Meloni is nothing to be afraid of. As long as both are considered. Because there is no immediate danger maybe it's ok to have this kind of debate as it won't knock on their door tomorrow. But if it does they aren't on the wrong side, or so they think.

xyzzzz__, Tuesday, 27 September 2022 10:04 (two years ago)

they would be saying the same thing about le pen if she won power in france

both the national rally & the brothers of italy have pretty direct fascist lineages that their leadership is keen to downplay for the very obvious reasons, but that makes the accusations hit harder & their backers much more defensive about it.

i think orban was offset by having more explicit fascists around in jobbik & being an established political figure who wasn't as explicit about his trajectory until he was already in a position to seriously consolidate power, erdogan's relations with the west have been very rocky, his consolidation of power has been much more gradual, and the western right still often views him with suspicion so they're not anywhere near as inclined to be defensive there, and bolsonaro is much more direct about who he is (though he still denies the far-right label).

ufo, Tuesday, 27 September 2022 10:40 (two years ago)

farage has also never been very close to directly holding power (so less need for foreign centrists to both-sides him) despite the gigantic influence he's had & he doesn't have the same sort of direct fascist ties as meloni and le pen so there's not the same sort of defensiveness by default.

ufo, Tuesday, 27 September 2022 10:49 (two years ago)

Among U.S. conservatives I have seen some discomfort with her going after "financial speculators," but only because it sounds Marxist to them. It's basically the anime meme of the guy with the butterfly, pointing to a swastika and saying "Is this socialism?"

a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Tuesday, 27 September 2022 12:51 (two years ago)

(((off topic and uninformed response that is perhaps buying into stereotypes but Italy seems like a good example of an economy that could be revived with management and investment in craftsmanship that is world renowned -- why can't things work better smaller with more intelligent and less wasteful connections between them?)))

youn, Tuesday, 27 September 2022 13:01 (two years ago)

The Italian economy is a lot stronger than the UK one fwiw.

Narada Michael Fagan (Tom D.), Tuesday, 27 September 2022 13:11 (two years ago)

Is that right? I think it depends on the sector.

If you broke it down by region both the UK and Italy have vast areas of poverty and very high youth unemployment. Countries broken by deindustrialization and offshoring, and cheaper goods made in the East.

I doubt craftsmanship is the answer either. How many jobs would it deliver?

xyzzzz__, Tuesday, 27 September 2022 13:17 (two years ago)

Yeah my gut feeling is craftsmanship only comes into play when you're catering to semi-luxury products and that's too much of a niche to build an economy around.

Daniel_Rf, Tuesday, 27 September 2022 13:20 (two years ago)

(I think spending and value would have to be reconfigured for craftsmanship to matter and to be affordable and to ensure everyone who wanted to and was able to could work.)

youn, Tuesday, 27 September 2022 13:22 (two years ago)

I don't know, Italy is always treated as a basket case by the UK media as if this country is so much better. But then they run down everywhere in Europe that isn't Germany or in Northern Europe.

Narada Michael Fagan (Tom D.), Tuesday, 27 September 2022 13:22 (two years ago)

... now we're the basket case!

Narada Michael Fagan (Tom D.), Tuesday, 27 September 2022 13:24 (two years ago)

But then they run down everywhere in Europe that isn't Germany or in Northern Europe.

This is the dynamic of the European media in general (incl self flagellation in Southern countries and superiority complex in the Northern ones).

Daniel_Rf, Tuesday, 27 September 2022 13:28 (two years ago)

Modi has also very successfully resisted being called a fascist

rob, Tuesday, 27 September 2022 13:33 (two years ago)

In this country, for sure.

Narada Michael Fagan (Tom D.), Tuesday, 27 September 2022 13:52 (two years ago)

I thought Italy already was renowned for exports of high quality food products, fashion, design, luxury cars. Cheap stuff or more quotidian stuff has been offshored but Italian luxury goods are status symbols the world over.

sweating like Cathy *aaaack* (Boring, Maryland), Tuesday, 27 September 2022 14:00 (two years ago)

This looks like a good thread on Italian industry

It's hard to explain to a foreign audience what is happening in Italy with Meloni, and how this is possible. But it is easier to understand once you consider this: Italy is the Western country that has suffered the most severe and prolonged economic decline over the last decades.

— Paolo Gerbaudo (@paologerbaudo) September 27, 2022

xyzzzz__, Tuesday, 27 September 2022 14:27 (two years ago)

"Things are in decline, so let's go with the people who led us into outright ruin."

immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Tuesday, 27 September 2022 14:51 (two years ago)

This was an interesting thread about Italian Bengalis

After the UK, Italy has the largest Bengali community in Europe. Seeing the result of the elections makes me worried for what could happen to them. I know many migrated to the UK and this is most visible via the Italian-Bengali cafes dotted around East London.

— Fatima Rajina (@DrFRajina) September 27, 2022

barry sito (gyac), Tuesday, 27 September 2022 15:03 (two years ago)

Eater London bait there in the last sentence.

Daniel_Rf, Tuesday, 27 September 2022 16:23 (two years ago)

The next European Parliament Elections, Caius Julius Caesar Mussolini (I'm not making it up, it's his name)

Will likely become a MEP pic.twitter.com/C3RcpzRG57

— Italian🇮🇹🇻🇦 (@Italian347) September 27, 2022

calzino, Thursday, 29 September 2022 09:45 (two years ago)

British newspaper columnists in unison: If Meloni is such a fascist why do I agree with her about everything? pic.twitter.com/SAOxNaNGbF

— Simon Whitten (@Simon_Whitten) September 29, 2022

a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Thursday, 29 September 2022 18:50 (two years ago)

She's such a shameful piece of shit

politics is about vibes and the vibes are off (stevie), Thursday, 29 September 2022 20:38 (two years ago)

three weeks pass...

I've been listening lately to the Know Your Enemy podcast, which I find really interesting. And right after listening to an episode from last November about the second National Conservatism Conference, I read this from the (terrible! awful!) Federalist today: https://thefederalist.com/2022/10/20/we-need-to-stop-calling-ourselves-conservatives/

It basically confirms a lot of things the podcast talked about, that these NatCons are really psyching themselves up for what they foresee as an all-or-nothing real culture war, in which they envision using the power of the state to enforce their versions of Christian morality and stamp out any vestiges of liberalism. Which seems both scary and ludicrous to me, because ... I don't think that will work. But they can obviously do a lot of damage along the way, and already are.

Some snippets from that Federalist piece if you can't bear to give them a click:

So what kind of politics should conservatives today, as inheritors of a failed movement, adopt? For starters, they should stop thinking of themselves as conservatives (much less as Republicans) and start thinking of themselves as radicals, restorationists, and counterrevolutionaries. Indeed, that is what they are, whether they embrace those labels or not.

... The left will only stop when conservatives stop them, which means conservatives will have to discard outdated and irrelevant notions about “small government.” The government will have to become, in the hands of conservatives, an instrument of renewal in American life — and in some cases, a blunt instrument indeed.

To stop Big Tech, for example, will require using antitrust powers to break up the largest Silicon Valley firms. To stop universities from spreading poisonous ideologies will require state legislatures to starve them of public funds. To stop the disintegration of the family might require reversing the travesty of no-fault divorce, combined with generous subsidies for families with small children. Conservatives need not shy away from making these arguments because they betray some cherished libertarian fantasy about free markets and small government. It is time to clear our minds of cant.

In other contexts, wielding government power will mean a dramatic expansion of the criminal code. It will not be enough, for example, to reach an accommodation with the abortion regime, to agree on “reasonable limits” on when unborn human life can be snuffed out with impunity. As Abraham Lincoln once said of slavery, we must become all one thing or all the other. The Dobbs decision was in a sense the end of the beginning of the pro-life cause. Now comes the real fight, in state houses across the country, to outlaw completely the barbaric practice of killing the unborn.

... On the transgender question, conservatives will have to repudiate utterly the cowardly position of people like David French, in whose malformed worldview Drag Queen Story Hour at a taxpayer-funded library is a “blessing of liberty.” Conservatives need to get comfortable saying in reply to people like French that Drag Queen Story Hour should be outlawed; that parents who take their kids to drag shows should be arrested and charged with child abuse; that doctors who perform so-called “gender-affirming” interventions should be thrown in prison and have their medical licenses revoked; and that teachers who expose their students to sexually explicit material should not just be fired but be criminally prosecuted.

a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Thursday, 20 October 2022 19:24 (two years ago)

I want to think it won't work, but then I think of the Christian right's successful makeover of the Supreme Court, and I wonder.

immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Thursday, 20 October 2022 19:26 (two years ago)

Yeah, I don't take their failure for granted. I just think the country they're envisioning is too much at odds with the country we currently live in and that most people want to live in. But lots of bad stuff is coming, that seems a given.

a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Thursday, 20 October 2022 19:38 (two years ago)

Hence their engineering a permanent minority rule.

immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Thursday, 20 October 2022 19:39 (two years ago)

One of the things that blows me away, even as someone who is often angry or mad at the state of the world, is how bitter, hateful, and totally devoid of joy a lot of these people are. I know it shouldn't, but it still surprises me.

broccoli rabe thomas (the table is the table), Thursday, 20 October 2022 19:43 (two years ago)

And by "these people" I mean the fascist scum, obv

broccoli rabe thomas (the table is the table), Thursday, 20 October 2022 19:44 (two years ago)

Yeah, they're just a bundle of anger and resentment. I think that's one of the biggest reasons Trump appeals to them so much: he's the apotheosis of resentment.

immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Thursday, 20 October 2022 19:45 (two years ago)

So what kind of politics should conservatives today, as inheritors of a failed movement, adopt? For starters, they should stop thinking of themselves as conservatives (much less as Republicans) and start thinking of themselves as radicals, restorationists, and counterrevolutionaries. Indeed, that is what they are, whether they embrace those labels or not.

It’s Franz, Duke of Bavaria’s time to shine. Would we let him be King Franz I or would he have to anglicize it?

papal hotwife (milo z), Thursday, 20 October 2022 19:48 (two years ago)

King Frank I

immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Thursday, 20 October 2022 19:50 (two years ago)

One of the things that blows me away, even as someone who is often angry or mad at the state of the world, is how bitter, hateful, and totally devoid of joy a lot of these people are.

I think that a lot. I'm surrounded by affluent white suburban families who by all measures are enjoying the best standard of living in the history of the species, and whose personal wealth and comfort is not seriously challenged in any way (and here, they live in an absurdly low-tax county in an absurdly low-tax state). And yet they seem so performatively angry, just seething with resentment, and seemingly deriving pleasure primarily from any opportunity to inflict cruelty — rhetorical or otherwise — on their perceived enemies.

a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Thursday, 20 October 2022 19:53 (two years ago)

They're not loved and respected in the right way, they don't see culture catering to their whims - every sitcom with a Black family or a gay couple is a dagger in their heart, every time their kid makes a video on TikTok set to rap it's a failure they'll never recover from.

papal hotwife (milo z), Thursday, 20 October 2022 19:56 (two years ago)

I suppose we can lay the blame partly at the feet of conservative media. They figured out in the early 80s that they could supercharge their ratings by portraying liberals as not only wrong, but evil, and an actual, ongoing threat. And, of course, the racism was always just under the surface, until Barack Obama was elected.

immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Thursday, 20 October 2022 19:59 (two years ago)

Oh for sure, the right-wing media universe is a huge part of it.

a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Thursday, 20 October 2022 20:00 (two years ago)

The USA is ghost country, and conservatives are right to be afraid when they don't understand or respect any of the history that haunts the worlds they walk through.

My name is Mike Cyclops. I work for (bernard snowy), Thursday, 20 October 2022 22:07 (two years ago)

people who won’t even acknowledge that the two original sins of this country’s founding are actually sins, or that they even happened the way they actually did. soul rot and mind detergent

broccoli rabe thomas (the table is the table), Thursday, 20 October 2022 23:50 (two years ago)

In a recent essay for Compact, Jon Askonas argues convincingly that the conservative project failed because “it didn’t take into account the revolutionary principle of technology, and its intrinsic connection to the telos of sheer profit.” Conservatives, he says, were too obsessed with “left-wing revolutionary politics” and missed the real threat, which was technological change so swift and powerful it fundamentally reordered society, swept tradition aside, and unleashed a moral relativism that rendered the conservative project obsolete.

lol @ the unnameable spectre haunting this paragraphful of jeopardy clues. clicked thru to the compact piece and it quotes marx explicitly, for paragraphs, the ones you'd expect, then just carries on talking about the tradition-liquefying acid of... "technology". not unrelatedly tho it was a pleasure to scroll thru its expensive design.

difficult listening hour, Friday, 21 October 2022 00:15 (two years ago)

I took the family out to dinner on Sunday and then they wanted to go to this huge housewares store and I was successful in partitioning to hang back in the car and listen to the football on am radio. Not far from where I parked was this little blue Ford Fiesta parked in the handicap space and on the hatchback window it had these big reflective letter stickers like the ones you might put on a mailbox to put the address stating:

AMERICAN PATRIOT
BORN AND BRED
MAGA REPUBLICAN
GO TRUMP GO

Then it at the bottom it had an NRA and a couple of Marine Corp stickers. Few minutes later this couple of retirement age comes out pushing a shopping cart with some wall hangings. They open up the back seat and put in the stuff and then the guy comes around the side where I can see and he is packing a holster with some type of pistol on his belt. He gets in the passenger seat and then they drive away. Just a normal Sunday out on the town.

earlnash, Friday, 21 October 2022 01:12 (two years ago)

When I was 18 I worked the summer in a factory. It was a horrible job and I barely made more than minimum wage but the thing that I remember most about it was how openly antagonistic everyone was. You'd think there would be some class solidarity but nope. People would get on you all the time for dumb shit and they'd always be questioning your work ethic even when you finished all your work early. I remember when someone fucked up an order for the parts and we wound up with literally nothing to do for a week and if you were caught standing around you'd get bitched at for not sweeping the floor for the 27th time. Even if you were in the bathroom for more than a couple minutes someone would accuse you of slacking off. They were also really hostile towards the safety equipment, like I'd get mocked for wearing the gloves and ear protection, or the masks we got when we were working with MEK or other brainkilling chemicals. You should've seen the welder's face, he looked like a piece of Warhammer 40K terrain. As the summer help I'd get a lot of weird verbal abuse too. I remember introducing myself on like the 4th day (nobody talked to me my first few days there) and the guy was like, "nah, you're Willard. You look like a Willard". Admittedly that was kinda funny but everything else was so mean-spirited. Like they took pride in how shitty the job was and (correctly) sussed out that I wasn't really built for it.

Anyway I think of those people whenever I see those morons with the Lets Go Brandon bumper sticker and the "Fu*k your feelings" T-shirt, like all these people care about is their own shit attitude towards life, but they wear it like a badge of honor and just don't want anyone else to have it easier than them. It fucking sucks. I feel like you can pretty accurately determine a person's political affiliation in this country based solely on whether or not they've shown any actual empathy for anyone in a bad situation they're not directly familiar with. Maybe it's always been that way.

frogbs, Sunday, 23 October 2022 00:52 (two years ago)

well put, Willard

maf you one two (maffew12), Sunday, 23 October 2022 01:11 (two years ago)

lol

Tracer Hand, Sunday, 23 October 2022 08:37 (two years ago)

four months pass...

would you mind defining "woke"?

LOL: Briahna Joy Gray BREAKS the brain of Rising guest Bethany Mandel by asking her to define "wokeness" pic.twitter.com/uwRSSH0LaM

— The Vanguard (@vanguard_pod) March 14, 2023

Camaraderie at Arms Length, Wednesday, 15 March 2023 18:31 (two years ago)

I love that she's worried about it going viral and it's already on Wikipedia:

In March of 2023, Mandel struggled to define the word "woke" while criticizing it in a viral video interview clip.

Also from Wiki:

During her college years, she adopted conservative views after finding that Medicaid and other government welfare programs she had expected to help her after her mother's death were inefficient and ineffective,[11] objecting to the idea that as someone who had grown up in poverty, she had any 'white privilege,'[3] as well as due to the influence of college friends and the writings of Ayn Rand.

So sure, join the political party that has no ideas what to do when it comes to healthcare.

Three Rings for the Elven Bishop (Dan Peterson), Wednesday, 15 March 2023 18:53 (two years ago)

I always hoped people would do the same thing back when "Social Justice Warrior" was used as a pejorative a few years back. "What is a SJW and why is it bad?"

frogbs, Wednesday, 15 March 2023 18:58 (two years ago)

two months pass...

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FyFrAktXgAAHy7n?format=jpg&name=medium

AfD not just ahead, but 9 points clear in East Germany (excluding Berlin)

anvil, Monday, 12 June 2023 11:54 (one year ago)

Are those polls or election results?

Crabber B. Munson (Boring, Maryland), Monday, 12 June 2023 14:54 (one year ago)

That should be just a poll, I don't think there have been elections recently. The first word translates to "Sunday question," which I think also indicates that this is a poll.

immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Monday, 12 June 2023 15:00 (one year ago)

"Next regular elections in Fall 2025"

immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Monday, 12 June 2023 15:08 (one year ago)

Yes, sorry, just polling nothing more than that. I think its the first time AfD have topped 20 nationally, but these are some big rises in the east.

No elections upcoming, think the next is Slovakia with Fico now topping polls

anvil, Monday, 12 June 2023 15:25 (one year ago)

two weeks pass...

Worthwhile chat on this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFf4RCtPfBI

Also gets into the point that a lot of rightwing more visible characters at the moment are just whining cranks and low-effort idiots, but there are others out there who might be harder to counter and the usual dunks won’t work

Glower, Disruption & Pies (kingfish), Thursday, 29 June 2023 00:25 (one year ago)

Well the class struggle is not going to be won by dunks, as enjoyable those may be.

Crabber B. Munson (Boring, Maryland), Thursday, 29 June 2023 00:47 (one year ago)

the dunks don't work

Tracer Hand, Thursday, 29 June 2023 07:39 (one year ago)

so far 2023 has been the year the far right have shifted from "raging at cancel culture" to "using cancel culture to push the Overton window as far as possible" and unfortunately it seems to be working.

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Thursday, 29 June 2023 07:50 (one year ago)

the dunks don't work

They just make you worse

immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Thursday, 29 June 2023 17:56 (one year ago)

three weeks pass...

feels like Spain dodged a bullet today

symsymsym, Sunday, 23 July 2023 22:02 (one year ago)

The question is, did Vox deflate and PP grow because Spain's right is moving away from frothing nationalism, or because PP has gone frothing-nationalist enough to co-opt erstwhile Vox voters?

Guayaquil (eephus!), Sunday, 23 July 2023 22:59 (one year ago)

feels like Spain dodged a bullet today

otm

J Edgar Noothgrush (Joan Crawford Loves Chachi), Sunday, 23 July 2023 23:50 (one year ago)

Looks more like a stalemate than dodging a bullet, and that they could need new elections a few months from now.

Nabozo, Monday, 24 July 2023 07:51 (one year ago)

Do we still have any ilxors in Spain? I am curious about the success of the various left groupings... From what I understand through things like a wealth tax, free public transport schemes, guaranteed national minimum income etc etc Spain has avoided the inflation/recession double whammy coming soon to the UK. Feels like making a material difference to people's lives might be a pretty good way of keeping the fash at bay, and something more centre left parties across Europe should take note of?

Piedie Gimbel, Monday, 24 July 2023 08:37 (one year ago)

Yes, it's pretty positive. Believe Spanish government also introduced rent controls. Incredible result given unemployment levels.

Vox got less seats however I have seen tweets saying it was because the right has incorporated their program.

xyzzzz__, Monday, 24 July 2023 08:54 (one year ago)

two weeks pass...

I would strongly advise against checking out the comments on youtube reaction videos to Try That In A Small Town

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Saturday, 12 August 2023 20:34 (one year ago)

I would strongly advise against checking out the comments on youtube reaction videos to Try That In A Small Town

papal hotwife (milo z), Saturday, 12 August 2023 20:35 (one year ago)

I would strongly advise against checking out the comments on youtube reaction videos to Try That In A Small Town

but also fuck you (unperson), Saturday, 12 August 2023 20:48 (one year ago)

I have managed to avoid actually listening to the song.

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Saturday, 12 August 2023 21:00 (one year ago)

I would strongly advise against checking out the comments on youtube reaction videos to Try That In A Small Town

papal hotwife (milo z), Saturday, 12 August 2023 21:00 (one year ago)

*doctor misdiagnosing rheumatoid arthritis* I would strongly advise against checking out the comments on youtube reaction videos to Try That In A Small Town

he thinks it's chinese money (soref), Saturday, 12 August 2023 21:36 (one year ago)

two weeks pass...

https://balkaninsight.com/2023/08/22/slovak-opposition-claims-sep-election-will-be-stolen-and-too-many-believe-it/

Looking ahead to Slovakia's election next month, as Fico and SMER are now leading on 24% in latest couple of polls

anvil, Monday, 28 August 2023 11:37 (one year ago)

Not trying to be a dickhead, but as someone who has spent a fair amount of time in Eastern Europe and the Balkans, I don’t think of them as part of the “West” because frankly, they’re not, despite any memberships in the EU or NATO or etc,

butt dumb tight my boners got boners (the table is the table), Monday, 28 August 2023 16:39 (one year ago)

two weeks pass...

https://balkaninsight.com/2023/09/05/slovak-election-pitches-past-against-future-says-democratic-contender/

More on the election in two weeks, Fico consistently leading in polls for quite a while now

anvil, Wednesday, 13 September 2023 19:17 (one year ago)

https://www.dw.com/en/german-conservatives-scorned-over-vote-with-far-right-afd/a-66822806

the cordon sanitaire against the AfD continues to weaken

The CDU joined forces with both the AfD and the neoliberal Free Democrats (FDP) to sink the tax on buying real estate in Thuringia from 6.5% to 5%.

Together, the three parties were able to muscle the legislation past the state's minority government of the Left, the Social Democrats and the Greens, which together have only 42 of the parliament's 90 seats.

The CDU's Merz has defended the actions of his colleagues in Thuringia, saying the CDU did not shape policy according to what how other parties would vote. He denied that the CDU had worked with the AfD and said the party's so-called "firewall" against the far-right would be maintained at both state and national levels.

a couple of month's ago Merz was publicly musing on the CDU dropping it's opposition to working with the AfD at municipal level, though he backtracked after criticism.

soref, Saturday, 16 September 2023 10:26 (one year ago)

also, this is from the lead editorial in this weeks Economist:

How should centrist voters and parties respond to the threat from the hard right? The old answer was to erect a cordon sanitaire. Mainstream parties refused to work with the insurgents; mainstream media refused to air their views. That approach may have run out of road; in places it is becoming counter-productive. In Germany the isolation of the afd has reinforced its narrative of being the only alternative to a failed establishment. Mainstream parties cannot pretend for ever not to hear the voice of 20% of voters without eventually corroding democracy.

Meanwhile, there is more evidence that hard-right parties in Europe tend to moderate their views when they have to take responsibility for governing.

Any decision to include a hard-right party in local or national government should be taken with extreme caution, especially in places where a history of fascism arouses acute sensitivity. Some rules of the road may help. One is that to be considered, any party must agree to renounce violence and respect the rule of law. Just as important is the constitutional context: at what level of government should they be included? What are the checks and balances created by the electoral system and other institutions? It may make sense to allow the afd to take part as junior members of local-government coalitions in Germany, for example.

soref, Saturday, 16 September 2023 10:34 (one year ago)

Shocking that the Economist would be first in line for the "don't let's be beastly to the nazis" takes.

Daniel_Rf, Saturday, 16 September 2023 10:47 (one year ago)

remember that other party they said would moderate their views when they got into power?

Left, Saturday, 16 September 2023 10:47 (one year ago)

part whatever in the liberals talking themselves into fascism series

Left, Saturday, 16 September 2023 10:48 (one year ago)

Some rules of the road may help.

chef's kiss

difficult listening hour, Saturday, 16 September 2023 18:07 (one year ago)

don't you understand, they agreed to renounce violence and respect the rule of law! what could possibly go wrong?

also fuck the Economist forever

budo jeru, Saturday, 16 September 2023 21:59 (one year ago)

You can't take the name Face-Eating Tigers Party literally.

immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Saturday, 16 September 2023 22:02 (one year ago)

Election taking place tomorrow, SMERs lead looks relatively small. Not that clear which way this might go

anvil, Friday, 29 September 2023 12:51 (one year ago)

Fico/SMER wins as expected (though exit polls got it wrong, polls in the run in were correct)

He'll need to form a coalition, but the votes for it look to be there

anvil, Sunday, 1 October 2023 04:57 (one year ago)

Where is this?

deep wubs and tribral rhythms (Boring, Maryland), Sunday, 1 October 2023 09:17 (one year ago)

Slovakia, election yesterday

anvil, Sunday, 1 October 2023 09:47 (one year ago)

one month passes...

Restrictions on L.G.B.T.Q. Depictions Rattle Hungary’s Cultural World

butt dumb tight my boners got boners (the table is the table), Friday, 10 November 2023 11:53 (one year ago)

uh oh

symsymsym, Monday, 20 November 2023 00:58 (one year ago)

Argentina?

out-of-print LaserDisc edition (sleeve), Monday, 20 November 2023 01:17 (one year ago)

seems like it's gonna get weird

symsymsym, Monday, 20 November 2023 01:18 (one year ago)

Did he really fuck his sister

deep wubs and tribral rhythms (Boring, Maryland), Monday, 20 November 2023 04:00 (one year ago)

Dutch elections today, Geert Wilders' PVV in front

StanM, Wednesday, 22 November 2023 21:07 (one year ago)

ffs

nashwan, Wednesday, 22 November 2023 21:17 (one year ago)

I'm just going to stop listening to or following the news tbh.

The First Time Ever I Saw Gervais (Tom D.), Wednesday, 22 November 2023 22:02 (one year ago)

This what happens when the lovely, cushy centre lose

xyzzzz__, Wednesday, 22 November 2023 23:11 (one year ago)

Tr**p winning flashback for this American in NL. What a disaster.

SQUIRREL MEAT!! (Capitaine Jay Vee), Wednesday, 22 November 2023 23:21 (one year ago)

Not sure how the coalition prospects for him compare to, say, Poland's incumbent party. Could take some time anyway.

nashwan, Wednesday, 22 November 2023 23:28 (one year ago)

one month passes...

As the far-right Alternative for Germany continues to rise — and its radicalism becomes increasingly pronounced — a growing chorus of mainstream politicians is asking whether the best way to stop the party is to try to ban it.

The debate kicked off in earnest after Saskia Esken, the co-chief of the ruling Social Democratic Party (SPD), came out earlier this month in favor of discussing a ban — if only, as she put it, to “shake voters” out of their complacency.

https://www.politico.eu/article/can-a-ban-stop-the-rise-of-germanys-far-right/?utm_medium=social&utm_source=Twitter

this seems nuts to me, banning a party that is polling at 23% nationally and getting over a third of the vote in some eastern states, is there any way that this could actually "work"?

soref, Sunday, 14 January 2024 11:19 (one year ago)

Germany’s constitution allows for bans of parties that “seek to undermine or abolish the free democratic basic order” — essentially allowing the state to use anti-democratic means to prevent an authoritarian party from corroding democracy from within.

In reality, the legal hurdle for imposing a ban is very high. Germany’s constitutional court has only done it twice: The Socialist Reich Party, an heir to the Nazi party, was banned in 1952, while the Communist Party of Germany was prohibited in 1956.

More recently, in 2017, the court ruled that a neo-Nazi party known as the National Democratic Party (NPD), while meeting the ideological criteria for a prohibition, was too fringe to ban, as it lacked popular support and therefore the power to endanger German democracy.

it seems like there's a catch-22 here where you can't ban a small party because it's too fringe to endanger democracy, but also if a party is large enough to endanger democracy you can't ban it either because it's just not practical and/or you are 'endangering democracy' by the act of banning it?

soref, Sunday, 14 January 2024 11:22 (one year ago)

this seems nuts to me, banning a party that is polling at 23% nationally and getting over a third of the vote in some eastern states, is there any way that this could actually "work"?

Well, one way of looking at that is you could apply the same rationale to not banning the nazi party during the Weimar era.

Daniel_Rf, Sunday, 14 January 2024 12:53 (one year ago)

four weeks pass...

So an apology is always good but this guy took the money at the time.

Today, first time in Polish TV, after 8 years of right-wing government, the LGBT+ activists appeared in live broadcast. I was seating there and heard journalist shaking voice. He made an apology after years of portraying LGBT-people a threat to Polish nation in the same studio.… pic.twitter.com/kOjzKrRHPf

— Bart Staszewski (@BartStaszewski) February 11, 2024

xyzzzz__, Monday, 12 February 2024 12:34 (one year ago)

moving the overton window on LGBT acceptance in Poland surely more important at this juncture than this guy's individual morality/sincerity?

Daniel_Rf, Monday, 12 February 2024 14:41 (one year ago)

I mean, this is how it starts. Moving video, thanks xyzzzz__

a hyperlink to the past (flamboyant goon tie included), Monday, 12 February 2024 15:01 (one year ago)

Man, I spent half a year living in Poland as a 20-year-old, and I swore I would never return because of the homophobia and machismo of the culture. Hearing those words— and not needing the translation, even!— was really important to me. I sent it to my mom.

butt dumb tight my boners got boners (the table is the table), Monday, 12 February 2024 23:11 (one year ago)

Can only echo the above, this is great to see, thanks also xyzzzz__

anvil, Monday, 12 February 2024 23:32 (one year ago)

four weeks pass...

Chega, Portugal's far right party, have elected close to 50 MPs. The center right AD just squeezed by the center left PS and will now need a deal with one of the parties to govern - PS has already said they're not available, AD says they won't go into coalition with Chega but that doesn't mean they won't cut some sort of deal.

Actual left decimated, count them all together and they're accounting for 10% of the electorate at this stage.

Daniel_Rf, Monday, 11 March 2024 11:51 (one year ago)

Depressing.

man in suit and red tie raising his fist (Tom D.), Monday, 11 March 2024 12:13 (one year ago)

How much of a surprise are these results?

Also, I was looking at the 2022 results, and it looks like Chega's level of support with 25-34 year olds wasn't just larger than their level of support with 55+ voters, it was double - which isn't something I would have assumed at all

anvil, Monday, 11 March 2024 12:41 (one year ago)

Chega was predicted to hold on to its position of 3rd strongest party and to gain seats but not to this extent.

One historical particularity is in Portugal the 55+ demographic is likely to have first hand experience of having lived through a fascist dictatorship, even if only as small children.

Daniel_Rf, Monday, 11 March 2024 12:49 (one year ago)

The 55+ demographic in the post-soviet space varies quite a lot country to country in its relationships with previous soviet rule, which makes it not always that predictable what to expect with stuff like that

I also noticed last time around Chega did poorly in the northwest including what looks to be rural seats. And Faro was where they did best. (though thats presumably the whole Algarve not just the town), so it looks to be more than just a rural-urban divide? (though this is based off the much less pronounced 2022 results)

anvil, Monday, 11 March 2024 13:08 (one year ago)

Well I won't say there aren't some fash nostalgists out there, but overall ppl who lived through a fascist dictatorship during which most of the country didn't receive primary education and lived in abject poverty, not to mention a draft for an unjust and bloody colonial war, aren't keen to see that return. Kind of strange to reach for the post-soviet spaces imo, if you want a point of comparison Spain is right next to us :)

Daniel_Rf, Monday, 11 March 2024 16:35 (one year ago)

Spain would definitely seem a more obvious comparison, but I have almost no conception of Spain at all. It wasn't to draw a direct comparison per se, but more to note that nostalgia prevalence levels for previous autocratic regimes across Europe are pretty varied - using the post-soviet spaces as an example as something that on the surface might seem uniform but vary considerably

Anyway, presuming 24 follows a similar pattern to 22, do you know why Chega appears to do worst in the North West relative to the rest of the country

anvil, Monday, 11 March 2024 16:49 (one year ago)

I don't have a definitive answer to that but traditionally the North West is quite conservative, I would think local Chega candidates would have a tougher time establishing themselves against well connected centre right campaigns. I had a look and AD won handily there this time 'round, the only district where Chega got a majority was again Faro (which yes means the region not just the city).

Daniel_Rf, Monday, 11 March 2024 19:25 (one year ago)

Are expat “leave” Brits able to vote?

from a prominent family of bassoon players (Boring, Maryland), Monday, 11 March 2024 20:50 (one year ago)

The Faro stuff is interesting, because as far as I can tell tell its the district with the most pronounced population increase, and the only district outside of Lisbon and a couple of surrounding districts to be increasing at all, with population decline elsewhere (may be looking at outdated figures)

anvil, Wednesday, 13 March 2024 05:35 (one year ago)

although to Boring's point above an increase in the population doesnt necessarily mean an increase in population eligible to vote

anvil, Wednesday, 13 March 2024 05:37 (one year ago)

Also was listening to this on my run this morning, which is more broadly about the decline of the center-left across Europe post 2004, creating the space for populist parties to move into. Touches briefly on Portugal and Spain. Probably familiar material to many but was useful for me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39V5_ui0XAA

anvil, Wednesday, 13 March 2024 05:44 (one year ago)

thought this article on Melenchon and the other French lefty parties was interesting:

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/06/magazine/french-left-politics-melenchon.html

hope they can somehow beat Le Pen

symsymsym, Wednesday, 13 March 2024 05:58 (one year ago)

One thing I think I might mention is Portugal is on the whole a rather homogenous country with not that much variation in demographics, no real separatist groups, centuries old coherence in language, religion, culture - I'm from the Azores which are probably the most distant within that context and it's still nowhere near comparable to the differences I've seen within the UK, Germany, US. So granular district by district analysis might yield limited results in a forest for the trees sense.

Daniel_Rf, Wednesday, 13 March 2024 10:09 (one year ago)

thought this article on Melenchon and the other French lefty parties was interesting:
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/06/magazine/french-left-politics-melenchon.html
hope they can somehow beat Le Pen

― symsymsym, Wednesday, March 13, 2024 6:58 AM (four hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

Le Pen is far ahead in polls, the left coalition is a disaster and full of dissensions, France needs a figure to preserve Macron's legacy (Attal ?) but the French hate themselves too much to know what's good for them. Mélenchon will do a good score again, but under Le Pen. Yet I think the far right will be pushed back yet again, unless Marine gives Jordan Bardella his chance, which I don't think she will.

Nabozo, Wednesday, 13 March 2024 10:43 (one year ago)

Yes def need to preserve the glorious legacy of Macron

Daniel_Rf, Wednesday, 13 March 2024 10:47 (one year ago)

Has there been a significant increase in 'the same damn candidates for the third election in a row' situations worldwide or does it just seem like it?

nashwan, Wednesday, 13 March 2024 10:59 (one year ago)

Yes def need to preserve the glorious legacy of Macron
― Daniel_Rf, Wednesday, March 13, 2024 11:47 AM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

Maybe I'm jaded, but I don't really expect more from politicians, and certainly nothing glorious. I see him as a center-right blueprint, and the alternatives as worse. I'm not French nor a close follower though.

Nabozo, Wednesday, 13 March 2024 12:40 (one year ago)

He's been steadily dogwhistling to racists, trying to stop the rise of the FN by co-optinh its rhetoric into a more socially palpable framing. He's also presided over increasingly scarier initiatives to clamp down on the right to protest and give the cops more and more leeway for using violence. Even my wife's dad, who is centre left and hates Melenchon, is disgusted with him.

Less important but the fact that there's no obvious good replacement in line for Macron is, for the man himself, a feature not a bug - he hollowed out the PS to benefit a political movement based entirely around his own cult of personality.

Daniel_Rf, Wednesday, 13 March 2024 13:08 (one year ago)

I certainly dislike his minister of interior (Darmamin) and surely there are things to criticize, but I still think he's the most competent and likable of the French presidents I've known (counting from Chirac). The immigration bill appeared tactical and potentially a good electoral move: giving an image of toughness, letting the far-right introduce amendments, most of which will be eviscerated by the constitutional court. Anyway, I don't believe Macron is going on a right-wing drift, he's always balanced (maybe more clumsily than adroitly) between the two sides. The cult of personality thing is also a feature arguably.

Nabozo, Thursday, 14 March 2024 08:11 (one year ago)

centrists never gonna stop believing that reactionary immigration policy is 12D chess instead of what their guys actually believe in

papal hotwife (milo z), Thursday, 14 March 2024 08:17 (one year ago)

what they actually believe in - nice liberals can't be racist so their support for racist policy always has to be framed as some kind of tactical move - it helps them to have a further-right villain to use as a threat against those who take issue with this bullshit

finding macron likeable is only slightly more fathomable to me than finding trump likeable and that's just on an aesthetic level

Left, Thursday, 14 March 2024 09:02 (one year ago)

Security and foreign policy have always been the go-to for easy gains in electoral points, you won't convince me it's ideological.

Nabozo, Thursday, 14 March 2024 09:07 (one year ago)

But what's unfathomable to me is not seeing a difference between Trump and Macron

Nabozo, Thursday, 14 March 2024 09:11 (one year ago)

I guess Macron’s likeable if you don’t care about Muslims or black people or the poor.

Roman Anthony gets on his horse (gyac), Thursday, 14 March 2024 09:11 (one year ago)

You won't convince me that pandering to racists and the far right really is a positive electorally.

man in suit and red tie raising his fist (Tom D.), Thursday, 14 March 2024 09:12 (one year ago)

It was fun how he tried to move the press room at the Elysee so journalists couldn’t see who came and went, surely not something that would ever backfire with fascists in power

Roman Anthony gets on his horse (gyac), Thursday, 14 March 2024 09:14 (one year ago)

But what's unfathomable to me is not seeing a difference between Trump and Macron

That's not what was said though.

man in suit and red tie raising his fist (Tom D.), Thursday, 14 March 2024 09:14 (one year ago)

I'm not French nor a close follower though.


No shit.

Roman Anthony gets on his horse (gyac), Thursday, 14 March 2024 09:15 (one year ago)

The recently released video clips from 2022 of Macron talking to both Zelenskyy and Putin on the phone have such a weird uncanny valley feeling about them (Putins 'sorry bro I'm at the gym about to play hockey' line?). I feel like I'm being duped by a skit

anvil, Thursday, 14 March 2024 09:20 (one year ago)

You won't convince me that pandering to racists and the far right really is a positive electorally.

― man in suit and red tie raising his fist (Tom D.), Thursday, March 14, 2024 10:12 AM (four minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Not "pandering", but hard disagree. If there is one thing that European far-right nationalism has taught us in the last 20 years, it's that you cannot let them occupy the security and immigration terrain alone, because that's exactly where you can (and need) to contain their growth. We can discuss how to best manage it and nobody is saying the French immigration bill was the only option.

Nabozo, Thursday, 14 March 2024 09:21 (one year ago)

If there is one thing that European far-right nationalism has taught us in the last 20 years

If there is one thing that European far-right nationalism has taught us in the last 20 years

If there is one thing that European far-right nationalism has taught us in the last 20 years

If there is one thing that European far-right nationalism has taught us in the last 20 years

Roman Anthony gets on his horse (gyac), Thursday, 14 March 2024 09:25 (one year ago)

Here’s an idea: all the fascists’ ideas are bad, and you do not, in fact, need to hand it to them.

Roman Anthony gets on his horse (gyac), Thursday, 14 March 2024 09:26 (one year ago)

The far right have nothing to say on the subject of security that isn’t “persecute Muslims” and “restrict civil liberties”. Most of them take Russian money and hang out with people who are huge security risks.

Roman Anthony gets on his horse (gyac), Thursday, 14 March 2024 09:27 (one year ago)

The thing about is it strategic vs is it ideological is that it doesn't matter - playing with anti immigration sentiment still moves the overton window and the idea that you could then somehow keep things to acceptable levels (whatever those would be) is delusional.

Daniel_Rf, Thursday, 14 March 2024 09:28 (one year ago)

The only acceptable level to the fascists is none and repatriation of people who’ve been there generations. Let’s just be honest about that.

Roman Anthony gets on his horse (gyac), Thursday, 14 March 2024 09:29 (one year ago)

Yes. Also pandering, and that is exactly the right word, hasn't worked and will never work.

man in suit and red tie raising his fist (Tom D.), Thursday, 14 March 2024 09:31 (one year ago)

hey if there's one thing the history of fascists in power has taught us it's that they definitely moderate their demands if you accommodate them a little

Morris O’Shea Salazar (Noodle Vague), Thursday, 14 March 2024 09:33 (one year ago)

With the proviso of course that if you actually believe in these policies, it isn't pandering.

man in suit and red tie raising his fist (Tom D.), Thursday, 14 March 2024 09:33 (one year ago)

the "Is" in this thread title needs moving two places to the right, funnily enough

Morris O’Shea Salazar (Noodle Vague), Thursday, 14 March 2024 09:38 (one year ago)

that's not very funny

Left, Thursday, 14 March 2024 09:47 (one year ago)

Security and foreign policy have always been the go-to for easy gains in electoral points

Citation needed, this strategy appears to be a failure when it's tried. Even the glorious centrist revolutions in the west of the past decades (Blair, Clinton, 2017 Macron) were riding on an economic message first and foremost.

If you're a reactionary/racist voter and have the choice of a gleefully reactionary/racist candidate and a candidate that's open to a little bit of reaction/racism for a treat - what, exactly, is supposed to be the draw of the latter?

you won't convince me it's ideological.

Being open to a little strategic racism is itself ideological.

papal hotwife (milo z), Thursday, 14 March 2024 17:35 (one year ago)

otm

Humanitarian Pause (Tracer Hand), Thursday, 14 March 2024 17:37 (one year ago)

I don’t think Nah, bozo will be responding, somehow.

Roman Anthony gets on his horse (gyac), Thursday, 14 March 2024 17:38 (one year ago)

Seriously doesn’t matter whether those enacting racist policy do so out of conviction or cynicism, but also the whole “I know they don’t believe it in their secret heart of hearts” bit is — at best — naive credulity masquerading as realpolitik. At worst, well.

cozen itt (wins), Thursday, 14 March 2024 18:53 (one year ago)

Reading this thread with Gustavo Petro's quote from last year on the back of my mind: "Many in Europe have already welcomed Hitler into their homes", something like that

xyzzzz__, Saturday, 16 March 2024 07:35 (one year ago)

The West has been experiencing a right wing drift since about 1979.

Zelda Zonk, Saturday, 16 March 2024 08:08 (one year ago)

one month passes...

Weird string of physical attacks on various politicians the last few months

anvil, Thursday, 9 May 2024 17:43 (one year ago)

(in Germany)

anvil, Thursday, 9 May 2024 17:43 (one year ago)

Fico/SMER wins as expected (though exit polls got it wrong, polls in the run in were correct)

Fico shot, "life threatening injuries".

I've left the box of soup near your shoes (Tom D.), Wednesday, 15 May 2024 16:12 (one year ago)

That definitely constitutes a physical attack.

I've left the box of soup near your shoes (Tom D.), Wednesday, 15 May 2024 16:13 (one year ago)

he's taken 4 bullets in the stomach apparently, that's some serious shit.

vodkaitamin effrtvescent (calzino), Wednesday, 15 May 2024 16:16 (one year ago)

Finally some good news

xyzzzz__, Wednesday, 15 May 2024 18:21 (one year ago)

Finally something happened

Are you addicted to struggling with your horse? (Boring, Maryland), Wednesday, 15 May 2024 18:44 (one year ago)

Is there any indication as to what the motivation was or who (if anyone) was behind it? Fico is such a murky guy there could be any number of reasons

anvil, Thursday, 16 May 2024 05:11 (one year ago)

unconfirmed reports are that the perpetrator is a 71-year old activist who opposes the government's attempts to impose political control over the public broadcaster?

ufo, Thursday, 16 May 2024 09:17 (one year ago)

I saw it was a 71 year old but not what the reason was.

Occam's razor seems applicable here, even though there could be a range of possibilities, it looks very lone wolf

anvil, Thursday, 16 May 2024 09:33 (one year ago)

Slovak PM has 'very difficult hours and shits' ahead of him

vodkaitamin effrtvescent (calzino), Thursday, 16 May 2024 18:36 (one year ago)

three weeks pass...

https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/jun/09/eu-elections-far-right-gains-germany-austria-netherlands-exit-polls

The far right is on the rise all over the dang place, sheesh

reggae mike love (polyphonic), Sunday, 9 June 2024 23:49 (eleven months ago)

Left wing and green parties were strong in Scandinavia.

xyzzzz__, Monday, 10 June 2024 07:07 (eleven months ago)

right wing party Vlaams Belang not the biggest in local Flanders elections after all, after leading in the polls for years

StanM, Monday, 10 June 2024 08:33 (eleven months ago)

I think France is what matters, in terms of impact on the EU. The extreme right did incredibly well. Macron calling legislative elections is an incredible roll of the dice. I think there's an argument that, unlike Sunak who has played a bad hand badly, Macron may have played a bad hand reasonably well. His government was likely to collapse anyway with a vote of no confidence almost inevitable, so he's taken the initiative. The result of this election will be messy, with Reassemblement National almost certainly the largest party but probably not an absolute majority, so will have problems forming govt. Bardella is charismatic but has zero experience in govt, I guess Macron is assuming he'll fuck it up and spoil the pitch for Le Pen in the next presidential election.

Zelda Zonk, Monday, 10 June 2024 12:15 (eleven months ago)

A French farce indeed.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/jun/12/les-republicains-party-revolt-leader-eric-ciotti-le-pen-alliance

ILX: a violent left-wing mob who hate our country (Tom D.), Wednesday, 12 June 2024 20:16 (eleven months ago)

Yup. Interesting how a lot of the right are imploding, whereas left wing parties have put up a temporary alliance together

These have undoubtedly been the wildest 72 hours in French politics in my lifetime. Pretty incredible stuff.

A 🧵

— Arnaud Bertrand (@RnaudBertrand) June 13, 2024

xyzzzz__, Thursday, 13 June 2024 08:54 (eleven months ago)

It's quite a gamble, to see if the "centre"-right/right parties in France won't be able to stomach getting in bed with the far-right. Esp given how the right in the US are simply down with winning and have shown willing to bed down with blatant fascism (and were perhaps/probs willing all along)

a based robot like Bender (stevie), Thursday, 13 June 2024 10:14 (eleven months ago)

And phew that is an incredible thread!

a based robot like Bender (stevie), Thursday, 13 June 2024 10:18 (eleven months ago)

my ignorance is showing here but what i dont understand from that thread is where macrons faction sits?

and relative numbers as far as they can be projected

close encounters of the third knid (darraghmac), Thursday, 13 June 2024 11:52 (eleven months ago)

I think they're polling like 15%. They sit wherever Macron tells them to sit.

ILX: a violent left-wing mob who hate our country (Tom D.), Thursday, 13 June 2024 12:12 (eleven months ago)

Yeah, Macron's party is basically just a monument to his ego, zero work done to shore up support beyond that, nothing on offer that makes it stand out.

Daniel_Rf, Thursday, 13 June 2024 12:25 (eleven months ago)

15% is the EU elections. The last legislative election, at the start of Macron's mandate, his party was at 25% in the first round, beating the left coalition by a hair, far right at 18%. Their margins improved in the second round: 38%, 31% for the left, the far-right dropped to 17%.
The question is how much has really changed and can they reiterate that. I think they can. Sending deputies to the EU is one thing, electing them in your own government is another. The left has not really progressed. The right was and is still nowhere, though maybe their stance against their own president will help them. Bardella is now arguably more popular than MLP, but he's just a face / story. I don't expect more than a minor drift for the right/far right... it can be a stepping stone for 2027 and that's where the bigger uncertainty lies.

Nabozo, Thursday, 13 June 2024 12:36 (eleven months ago)

nothing on offer that makes it stand out.

― Daniel_Rf, Thursday, 13 June 2024 bookmarkflaglink

They are neither 'hard left' or 'hard right'. Has always sounded like Guardian politics in action.

xyzzzz__, Thursday, 13 June 2024 12:46 (eleven months ago)

appreciate the detail there thx

close encounters of the third knid (darraghmac), Saturday, 15 June 2024 20:16 (eleven months ago)

The bits of polling I've seen suggest Macron's party is done. That maybe Macron is trying to get them to run things for a while which could create a Liz Truss style moment.

Unfortunately Giorgia Meloni is another example of someone who has been sorta stable in Italian politics. As have the BJP in India, for a decade. If it goes that way then by '27 the far right would capture the presidency too.

xyzzzz__, Monday, 17 June 2024 10:07 (eleven months ago)

I thought En Marche/Renaissance like barely existed as a party before the presidency and they then won seats off the back of his success. Politics have always been hollow af, being either racist enough to compete with the fascists or progressive enough to please leftists, it’s like the least surprising thing of all time.

Roman Anthony gets on his horse (gyac), Monday, 17 June 2024 11:17 (eleven months ago)

Yes. Macron basically fucked over the center left PS by splitting off, the party is almost a formality, no reason for it to exist beyond the guy's ego.

Daniel_Rf, Monday, 17 June 2024 11:21 (eleven months ago)

Funny how its initials are the same as Macron’s 🙄

Humanitarian Pause (Tracer Hand), Monday, 17 June 2024 11:23 (eleven months ago)

Dismayed to discover just now that centrism.biz, a satire that became more otm with every passing year, is defunct. Thankfully there is an archive of sorts here https://www.scottvrooman.org/centrism-dot-biz

Maggy Scraggle, Monday, 17 June 2024 11:33 (eleven months ago)

xp the youth wing is called Les Jeunes avec Macron!

Roman Anthony gets on his horse (gyac), Monday, 17 June 2024 11:39 (eleven months ago)

the bjp have at least just gone backwards in india and no longer have a majority on their own so they're now going to have to rely on their coalition partners to pass anything. this should heavily limit how evil they can be since most of their coalition partners are secular regional parties who don't support the hindutva part of the bjp's agenda.

ufo, Monday, 17 June 2024 13:11 (eleven months ago)

Dismayed to discover just now that centrism.biz, a satire that became more otm with every passing year, is defunct. Thankfully there is an archive of sorts here https://www.scottvrooman.org/centrism-dot-biz

― Maggy Scraggle

read this as "centrism is defunct" which... "yes and", i guess i'd say. the _idea_ of compromise and negotiation is ok, it's current centrists' commitment to continuing to sit at the table with open fascists that's, idk, politically nihilist maybe?

Kate (rushomancy), Monday, 17 June 2024 17:44 (eleven months ago)

good luck France!

#Elections2024 🔴: @gavinleenews brings you the national estimate (@IpsosFrance/@Talan_World) of results as of 8pm:

#National Rally: 34%
➖ New Popular Front: 28.1%
➖ Ensemble: 20.3%
➖ Les Républicains: 10.2%#legislatives2024 pic.twitter.com/67UF0X4gpM

— FRANCE 24 English (@France24_en) June 30, 2024

This is Dance Anthems, have some respect (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Sunday, 30 June 2024 18:25 (eleven months ago)

Political genius Macron.

Blood On Santa's Claw (Tom D.), Sunday, 30 June 2024 18:36 (eleven months ago)

apparently this is going to be the highest French election turnout in 40 years. During every UK election for the last decade, with tedious regularity Armando Iannucci has been imploring everyone to vote in a politically neutral voice. So I guess he won't be calling this a success for "get out and vote" then!

vodkaitamin effrtvescent (calzino), Sunday, 30 June 2024 19:10 (eleven months ago)

It's ironic to blame Macron for the polarization. I hear two things: that his centrism is too accommodating both on the left and right (when that's the political game), and that he called the election (when he could have clung to his position until September). The disparaging campaign against him has been insane. supposedly he's too unbearable personally to govern - that's one problem to have. Now the French can look at their options.

But I guess it's instructing that the idea of the "Republican front" is not working at all, nobody agrees on what it means, and the French don't want it.

Nabozo, Monday, 1 July 2024 06:47 (eleven months ago)

is that u Van Horn Street

papal hotwife (milo z), Monday, 1 July 2024 07:27 (eleven months ago)

We have come up with a Macron stan fellas.

xyzzzz__, Monday, 1 July 2024 07:41 (eleven months ago)

what are the instances of Macron being "too accommodating" to the left?

vodkaitamin effrtvescent (calzino), Monday, 1 July 2024 08:56 (eleven months ago)

Pretty hilarious to suggest nobody knows what the Republican front means when Macron's own party - En Marche - exists exclusively as a vanity project and has no political pull whatsoever - and the votes to go along with it.

Daniel_Rf, Monday, 1 July 2024 09:18 (eleven months ago)

This is going to be a collaboration.

Top Macronites' refusal to back France Insoumise (the biggest part of New Popular Front) against Le Pen confirms the basic logic of calling the election: they aren't all that worried if the RN wins. The aim is to soften Le Pen's hard edges, more than to defeat her

— David Broder (@broderly) July 1, 2024

xyzzzz__, Monday, 1 July 2024 09:28 (eleven months ago)

One way or another, the extreme right ends up in government. Either next week, or if not, in a year's time when parliament can legally be dissolved again, which it will have to be if no stable government can be formed. France is fucked, thanks Emmanuel

Zelda Zonk, Monday, 1 July 2024 10:48 (eleven months ago)

what are the instances of Macron being "too accommodating" to the left?


He didn’t take to the podium and say all Muslims in France should be deported or rounded up I guess?

Roman Anthony gets on his horse (gyac), Monday, 1 July 2024 11:55 (eleven months ago)

Thread seems like a good breakdown. I am posting some of the conclusion.

On that basis, an outright majority for the far right remains possible but far from guaranteed. Large enough voting transfers against the RN would lead to a hung parliament, with several possible paths ahead.

— Frederik Ducrozet (@fwred) July 1, 2024

xyzzzz__, Monday, 1 July 2024 13:25 (eleven months ago)

Macron's party En Marche is currently known as Renaissance, which forms part of Ensemble

for those keeping score at home

Humanitarian Pause (Tracer Hand), Monday, 1 July 2024 13:30 (eleven months ago)

The left: we want to work with the centre to defend democracy and human rights from the threat posed by the right.
The right: we want to smash the centre, who are traitors to the nation.
The centre: these two are the same. https://t.co/6riCShPK98

— Dan Hind (@danhind) July 1, 2024

xyzzzz__, Monday, 1 July 2024 15:43 (eleven months ago)

what are the instances of Macron being "too accommodating" to the left?

Did we ever get this sorted

Roman Anthony gets on his horse (gyac), Monday, 1 July 2024 15:56 (eleven months ago)

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GRekQ3yX0AAuTS4?format=jpg

mark s, Tuesday, 2 July 2024 11:54 (ten months ago)

Eheh that’s a good one !

AlXTC from Paris, Tuesday, 2 July 2024 12:02 (ten months ago)

So, according to this thread some Macronists did drop out in the end; some have stayed put.

In the end, 200+ candidates withdrew to reduce risk of RN win. Here's Le Monde count of the three-way or four-way races that will take place where RN can win. 4 where RN leads after rd 1 + where Macronists have maintained candidates. 12 where RN is in 2nd. https://t.co/0wodTGG1uS pic.twitter.com/ORTrPVpzql

— Cole Stangler (@ColeStangler) July 2, 2024

xyzzzz__, Tuesday, 2 July 2024 21:14 (ten months ago)

Macron's party En Marche is currently known as Renaissance, which forms part of Ensemble

for those keeping score at home

there is also a minor left-wing party named 'ensemble!' that is part of the nfp and has had that name since before macron started using it for his own coalition

ufo, Tuesday, 2 July 2024 21:59 (ten months ago)

lol I did not know that but of course, perfect.

Humanitarian Pause (Tracer Hand), Tuesday, 2 July 2024 22:32 (ten months ago)

Is Macron running a political campaign or workshopping names for new Hyundai SUVs

papal hotwife (milo z), Tuesday, 2 July 2024 22:50 (ten months ago)

I'd also like to echo the question about what it is Macron did specifically that was too accommodating to the left, or perceived to be too accommodating to the left

anvil, Wednesday, 3 July 2024 08:42 (ten months ago)

I don't doubt that some article can be dug out by some right wing asshole saying Macron accomodates the left, much as you can quickly find links to ppl saying Biden is a socialist palestinian.

It's the get out of jail free card of centrists, they can always point to something.

Daniel_Rf, Wednesday, 3 July 2024 09:06 (ten months ago)

Is Macron running a political campaign or workshopping names for new Hyundai SUVs

aux armes, citroens

Daniel_Rf, Wednesday, 3 July 2024 09:09 (ten months ago)

It's the get out of jail free card of centrists, they can always point to something.

I don't mind if someone points to something, I'm just curious what it is. I think some of the time people can hint at things or suggest things but without elaborating. This isn't so bad when its something you're familiar with, but it makes things more difficult to understand when the topic is less familiar

anvil, Wednesday, 3 July 2024 09:20 (ten months ago)

I don't think there's much to understand, voices to the right accuse Macron of coddling the left for the same reason UK Reform ppl say Sunak won't stand up to the woke mafia or US repubs say Biden is a socialist, it's to be expected. I don't have quite the same level of fascination w/ the right wing brain that you do tho so perhaps that's why the details matter less to me.

The point is it's a rhetorical flourish: in any nation there will be ppl who think the govt is too left wing and ppl who think it's too right wing, this proves nothing.

Daniel_Rf, Wednesday, 3 July 2024 09:33 (ten months ago)

It's astonishing to me that Macron was once in the Socialist Party, even if it wasn't very socialist anymore by then. His presidency has been to the right of Chirac and Sarkozy.

Zelda Zonk, Wednesday, 3 July 2024 09:46 (ten months ago)

The point is it's a rhetorical flourish: in any nation there will be ppl who think the govt is too left wing and ppl who think it's too right wing, this proves nothing.

I get all that, but it was more in reference to Nabozo saying Macron had accommodated the left too much, but didn't say why. Then gyac and someone else asked what it was specifically. So it was really just about their answer was rather than anything more abstract or wide-ranging

anvil, Wednesday, 3 July 2024 09:49 (ten months ago)

Nabozo didn't say that, though - he said the left accuse Macron of coddling the right, the right accuse Macron of coddling the left, both are wrong and Macron is a very good boy.

Daniel_Rf, Wednesday, 3 July 2024 09:55 (ten months ago)

All those questions are for me I suppose. Well, he always presented as a progressive and in his first campaign ran as center-left, claiming an influence from figures like Mitterrand and advocating for a Nordic model. His positions and reforms are pro-Europe, pro-environment. Some of the concessions to the left happened in the context of the Gilets Jaunes crisis, some in the context of protecting people from the economic effects of covid/inflation. Obviously then it's a dynamic with the absence of a majority and in the end a lot of his reforms leaned liberal, so overall firmly a center-right figure but not such a marked difference from his predecessor (center-left). The point was that he tried to keep a balance but never managed to garner the support he needed and lost ground both on his left and right, contributing to his sense of isolation. A bit similar to the frustrating second term of Obama (the 49.3 is a bit the equivalent of an executive order).

Nabozo, Wednesday, 3 July 2024 10:04 (ten months ago)

Hmm, maybe. I read the "when that's the political game" caveat as suggesting there was some level of truth to it, but maybe not and probably getting a bit rabbit hole now

anvil, Wednesday, 3 July 2024 10:05 (ten months ago)

now a redundant post due to the xp

anvil, Wednesday, 3 July 2024 10:05 (ten months ago)

"Pro-Europe" is not a left wing position, it is a consensus position within the centre left and establishment right within France - the FN is euroskeptical sure but so are large parts of the left.

Likewise the concessions to the Gilets Jaunes, while registering as left, were a reaction to a movement that cuts across political sides and has as many FN voters as it does leftists in its ranks.

Daniel_Rf, Wednesday, 3 July 2024 12:52 (ten months ago)

More I'd say tbh

Humanitarian Pause (Tracer Hand), Wednesday, 3 July 2024 13:29 (ten months ago)

Since we're kinda using this thread as the French elections thread: just had a woman knock on our door to talk to my wife, who is a French national. Turned out to be canvassing for the Front Populaire - they beat the FN for the UK/Ireland expat vote by a mere 63 votes in the first round so they're really pulling out all the stops! She also got an e-mail from the FN saying the same thing, so I guess they're just e-mailing everyone who's registered, which is imo a strange strategy because you're also alerting everyone who hates your fucking guts.

Daniel_Rf, Wednesday, 3 July 2024 15:46 (ten months ago)

French wives of ILXors, assemble!

guillotine vogue (suzy), Wednesday, 3 July 2024 16:18 (ten months ago)

Early indications in France seem good.

Elabe:
Left-green New Popular Front: 175-205 seats
Macron’s allies: 150-175 seats
Far right National Front and allies: 115-150

Ifop:
Left-green New Popular Front: 180-215
Macron’s allies: 150-180
Far right National Front and allies: 120-150 seats

Ipsos:
Left-green New Popular Front: 172-192 seats
Emmanuel Macron’s allies: 150-170 seats
Far right National Rally and allies: 132-152 seats

nashwan, Sunday, 7 July 2024 18:16 (ten months ago)

france 24 so shocked by the exit poll they didnt have time to adjust the graphic pic.twitter.com/CTfcIGupED

— Christopher Hooks (@cd_hooks) July 7, 2024



Damn now I’ll never get to hear how France crushing Muslims is good and reasonable!

Exit poll iirc is very trustworthy for France.

Roman Anthony gets on his horse (gyac), Sunday, 7 July 2024 18:44 (ten months ago)

Strange, I had it on good authority no one agrees what the New Popular Front means and the French don't wanf it.

Daniel_Rf, Sunday, 7 July 2024 19:16 (ten months ago)

That's right

xyzzzz__, Sunday, 7 July 2024 19:27 (ten months ago)

Strange, I had it on good authority no one agrees what the New Popular Front means and the French don't wanf it.


Insight of the year

Roman Anthony gets on his horse (gyac), Sunday, 7 July 2024 19:39 (ten months ago)

hilarious watching the Eng language version of France 24 anchor saying "after the UK public has voted left..."

vodkaitamin effrtvescent (calzino), Sunday, 7 July 2024 19:53 (ten months ago)

"after the UK public has voted, left now was us innit"

nashwan, Sunday, 7 July 2024 19:59 (ten months ago)

Marine has been such a smug fuck for years, glad to see her faceplant in humiliating fashion yet again.

omar little, Sunday, 7 July 2024 20:01 (ten months ago)

I like how the French left just said faison cela, and here we are.

guillotine vogue (suzy), Sunday, 7 July 2024 20:22 (ten months ago)

Nabozo, come out you coward and defend your garbage fucking posting!

vodkaitamin effrtvescent (calzino), Sunday, 7 July 2024 20:27 (ten months ago)

He never does.

France’s far-right party Rassemblent National is set to finish third in the country’s elections, and it’s safe to say that the France players are taking the news well. pic.twitter.com/NlCLzg8Mcm

— Zach Lowy (@ZachLowy) July 7, 2024

Roman Anthony gets on his horse (gyac), Sunday, 7 July 2024 20:48 (ten months ago)

Reminder: the FN/fash have been blaming the French team’s underperforming in various international competitions on “the players’ backgrounds not meshing well”, and this saying something about society. 🙄

Roman Anthony gets on his horse (gyac), Sunday, 7 July 2024 20:50 (ten months ago)

*for literal decades! I recall hearing this argument in France in 2004 but I have found a reference going back to 1996!

Of the French football team, Jean-Marie Le Pen put this back yesterday in an interview with France-Soir. Explaining that "many members of this team are because they have been subject to complacent naturalisation", the far-right leader regretted that "we recruit foreigners too easily who are naturalised". And the president of the FN to make the list of those he considers French of the second division: "Desailly was born in Ghana, Martins is Portuguese bi-national, having opted for French nationality to be part of this team, Lamouchi is Tunisian born in France, Loko Congolese born in France, Zidane Algerian born in France, Madar Tunisian born in France, Djorkaeff Armenian born in France." By the way, the president of the FN pretends to forget that before the reform of the nationality code in 1993, every child born on French territory was automatically French. And Le Pen, who "does not believe that the French team is representative of the sporting quality of our country", concluded: "It would be nice to find players in France." The Integration Delegate, Hamlaoui Mekachera, said he was "strightened by the irresponsible, xenophobic and inadmissible statements" of the President of the FN


https://www.liberation.fr/france-archive/1996/06/26/le-pen-fait-sa-selection-des-footballeurs-pas-assez-francais_173301/

Roman Anthony gets on his horse (gyac), Sunday, 7 July 2024 20:54 (ten months ago)

lol suck it up losers

All these videos of French fascists waiting for the exit poll and then standing there with faces like smacked arses when it pops up are incredible. So funny.pic.twitter.com/O2LMV6dRvp

— Daniel Austin (@_Dan_Austin) July 7, 2024

This is Dance Anthems, have some respect (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Sunday, 7 July 2024 21:04 (ten months ago)

Attendees at the National Rally's election watch party react to results of the exit poll (via @2022Elections) pic.twitter.com/57bTHbQPqe

— Populism Updates (@PopulismUpdates) July 7, 2024

xyzzzz__, Sunday, 7 July 2024 21:13 (ten months ago)

Résultats législatives: explosion de joie au rassemblement de La France insoumise après l'annonce des premières projections pic.twitter.com/hZVHoz8lco

— BFMTV (@BFMTV) July 7, 2024

xyzzzz__, Sunday, 7 July 2024 21:14 (ten months ago)

Nabozo not the only kne crying tonight.

Life comes at you fast pic.twitter.com/nCAU5LRw8u

— Kam Sandhu (@_kayayem) July 7, 2024

xyzzzz__, Sunday, 7 July 2024 21:17 (ten months ago)

dare I hope that this all bodes well for the USA?

good job France, mmm delicious fascist tears

I painted my teeth (sleeve), Sunday, 7 July 2024 21:32 (ten months ago)

This is quite something

Macron turned out to be crazy like a fox - even if it means potentially the end of his personal pet project to make himself Emperor

Humanitarian Pause (Tracer Hand), Sunday, 7 July 2024 21:38 (ten months ago)

You’d need a heart of stone not to laugh

Roman Anthony gets on his horse (gyac), Sunday, 7 July 2024 21:43 (ten months ago)

pic.twitter.com/FcxUqHMmRr

— NJ 💮 (@NoJusticeMTG) July 7, 2024

xyzzzz__, Sunday, 7 July 2024 21:44 (ten months ago)

Sadly it seems the Green MP for expats in northern Europe did NOT win despite what Wikipedia says..

Humanitarian Pause (Tracer Hand), Sunday, 7 July 2024 21:47 (ten months ago)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_constituency_for_French_residents_overseas

Humanitarian Pause (Tracer Hand), Sunday, 7 July 2024 21:47 (ten months ago)

Lots of protestors clashing with police in Paris, but nobody really knows who they are or why they're protesting #justfrenchthings

Humanitarian Pause (Tracer Hand), Sunday, 7 July 2024 21:56 (ten months ago)

No one knows who they were or what they were doing...
But their legacy remains

glumdalclitch, Sunday, 7 July 2024 22:02 (ten months ago)

lol

Wee boats wobble but they don't fall down (Tom D.), Sunday, 7 July 2024 22:06 (ten months ago)

Lot of questions about why Macron called snap elections. One clear factor: By ordering speed campaign, he expected Left could not unite, & so they'd be knocked out in Round 1, helping his own party.

Instead, Left united within days—& now surged to win biggest bloc in Assembly.


(Taniel)

default damager (lukas), Sunday, 7 July 2024 22:33 (ten months ago)

Yup, its a terrific thread to track, with lots of stories from individual constituencies. I link it from here but its worth scrolling through the whole lot

Where I'm at right now on the big board:

Left bloc: 128
Macron bloc: 110
RN/far-right bloc: 122
LR/right: 33
Other left: 8
Other right: 15
Others: 6

More cities, areas with weak far-right, coming.
REMAIN: 155. https://t.co/flcrayTYwq

— Taniel (@Taniel) July 7, 2024

xyzzzz__, Sunday, 7 July 2024 22:43 (ten months ago)

What is depressing is the spread of RN now.. it used to be more geographically contained

Humanitarian Pause (Tracer Hand), Sunday, 7 July 2024 22:46 (ten months ago)

From that thread it looks like there will be attempts to destroy the Left coalition. Its all fragmented so we'll see. We know that no one has won outright. Also Melenchon wants to recognize Palestine so him near the top of French politics would be hard to see...xp

xyzzzz__, Sunday, 7 July 2024 22:46 (ten months ago)

i think he’s already promised not to be PM

Humanitarian Pause (Tracer Hand), Sunday, 7 July 2024 22:48 (ten months ago)

I see.

Since I posted that we have all seats nearly called. More conclusions.

"What's next?"

Tricky!
—You don't necessarily need a majority to govern; you can govern with a plurality. Macron did since 2022.
—But *how small* can that plurality get to be workable?
—Does Left stay united?
—No clear precedent here in France. Not since the 1950s.

— Taniel (@Taniel) July 7, 2024

xyzzzz__, Sunday, 7 July 2024 22:52 (ten months ago)

Fantastic result. But very hard to see how the next government forms, with lots of dangers for the left. The centrists will have to be involved, and they'll refuse to have anything to do with LFI. If the govt ends up some kind of coalition of the centre and soft left, that could be a mess.

Zelda Zonk, Sunday, 7 July 2024 22:54 (ten months ago)

it’s good that the fascists lost tbh

Roman Anthony gets on his horse (gyac), Sunday, 7 July 2024 22:55 (ten months ago)

They lost, but still significantly increased the size of their bloc in parliament. If the next govt is a flop, who knows what happens in the presidential election. Maybe it's Le Pen and Melenchon in the runoff, in which case it would be touch and go...

Zelda Zonk, Sunday, 7 July 2024 23:05 (ten months ago)

Hang it in the Louvre pic.twitter.com/jWKP2zQpxD

— Tiberius (@ecomarxi) July 7, 2024

guillotine vogue (suzy), Monday, 8 July 2024 00:23 (ten months ago)

https://ywitter.com/normcharlatan/status/1810168387496030540

I would so wear that shirt

vodkaitamin effrtvescent (calzino), Monday, 8 July 2024 04:42 (ten months ago)

Dude looks like a classmate who’s a bad influence on the oldest Taylor brother on ‘Home Improvement.’ https://t.co/SMnpPcKV3b

— Norm Charlatan (@normcharlatan) July 8, 2024

vodkaitamin effrtvescent (calzino), Monday, 8 July 2024 04:43 (ten months ago)

I'm getting a young Steve Bannon vibe

Zelda Zonk, Monday, 8 July 2024 05:11 (ten months ago)

Strange, I had it on good authority no one agrees what the New Popular Front means and the French don't wanf it.
― Daniel_Rf, Sunday, July 7, 2024 9:16 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

If you read again, I said "Republican Front", as a direct translation of Front Républicain, the idea that a coalition around the governing establishment can ward off both the far-left and far-right, keeping the extremes out. You said you lived in France, right ?

Very happy that the RN is kept in the opposition, as a now familiar, unfortunate, but manageable situation across EU. Also opens the possibility of Macron governing on the left for the rest of his mandate. I did say I was only expecting a marginal shift on the right. I did fear a complete collapse of the presidential party, and found it irresponsible that some elites were pushing for it. The left doing so good is unexpected, and of course they're still divided, but good scores can reunite them.

Nabozo, Monday, 8 July 2024 07:49 (ten months ago)

Cry more.

Si vous vous demandez comment bien dormir cette nuit, regardez la réaction des électeurs du RN aux résultats #electionslegislatives2024 pic.twitter.com/ycMjlkLGC5

— 🇫🇷 (@StrorviV3) July 7, 2024

xyzzzz__, Monday, 8 July 2024 08:22 (ten months ago)

All the right people are alarmed by this result - FN themselves ofc but also Brussels, Israel, centrist television commentariat

Humanitarian Pause (Tracer Hand), Monday, 8 July 2024 08:47 (ten months ago)

Pouring one out for the French corporations!
“France’s corporate bosses are racing to build contacts with Marine Le Pen’s far right after recoiling from the radical tax-and-spend agenda of the rival leftwing alliance in the country’s snap parliamentary elections”. https://t.co/YbqQjGYjqA pic.twitter.com/XKMWhcMvfZ

— Albert Pinto (@70sBachchan) July 7, 2024

xyzzzz__, Monday, 8 July 2024 08:55 (ten months ago)

I love the south of France, I have relatives in Nimes and Montpellier, I've spent a lot of time there - but Jesus Christ, apart from a couple of pockets in Montpellier and Marseille, it's completely brown now. You could literally walk from the Spanish to the Italian border without stepping out of a constituency that voted far right.

Zelda Zonk, Monday, 8 July 2024 08:59 (ten months ago)

Depressing.

guillotine vogue (suzy), Monday, 8 July 2024 09:03 (ten months ago)

Needs more migrants

xyzzzz__, Monday, 8 July 2024 09:21 (ten months ago)

If you read again, I said "Republican Front", as a direct translation of Front Républicain, the idea that a coalition around the governing establishment can ward off both the far-left and far-right, keeping the extremes out. You said you lived in France, right ?

Sorry for misreading you. I don't, but my wife hails from there and we've a lot of family.

Daniel_Rf, Monday, 8 July 2024 09:41 (ten months ago)

Also opens the possibility of Macron governing on the left for the rest of his mandate.


as they would say there, mdrrrrrrr

Roman Anthony gets on his horse (gyac), Monday, 8 July 2024 10:14 (ten months ago)

Macron is now an irrelevance.

Zelda Zonk, Monday, 8 July 2024 10:31 (ten months ago)

Lol what a little bitch.

Emmanuel Macron has asked Gabriel Attal to stay on as prime minister, for the time being.

xyzzzz__, Monday, 8 July 2024 10:33 (ten months ago)

Good interview.

https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/the-uncertain-outcomes-of-emmanuel-macrons-election-maneuver

xyzzzz__, Wednesday, 17 July 2024 10:38 (ten months ago)

one month passes...

Update: it's now official, in a just-released communiqué Macron has rejected a government led by the New Popular Front (NPF).

It's an unprecedented situation in the history of the 5th French Republic: the loser in the election effectively rejects yielding power to the winner.… https://t.co/MP39ccYbpf pic.twitter.com/Tj8yvkD0Rr

— Arnaud Bertrand (@RnaudBertrand) August 26, 2024

xyzzzz__, Monday, 26 August 2024 22:33 (nine months ago)

He's in talks with the far right apparently.

Defund Phil Collins (Tom D.), Monday, 26 August 2024 22:34 (nine months ago)

talk social democracy, do fascism. that be the way of these cunts

vodkaitamin effrtvescent (calzino), Monday, 26 August 2024 22:42 (nine months ago)

no territory has been more charted but ok pic.twitter.com/BNGu6IhH26

— Farah-Silvana Kanaan (@farahkanaan) September 2, 2024

xyzzzz__, Monday, 2 September 2024 14:07 (eight months ago)

AfD loses blocking minority by one (1) seat. pic.twitter.com/S5H1F302uO

— New Left EViews (@NewLeftEViews) September 2, 2024

xyzzzz__, Monday, 2 September 2024 15:40 (eight months ago)

just a a note here
i'm a digital packrat (something that i'm finding to be more and more important these days as restrictions on what hegemonous sites enact increasing restrictions on what can and can't make available), but when i'm going down rabbitholes i typically do it in private windows, because i'm afraid yt will start feeding me fash shit that will upset me

i'm not as worried about that anymore. partly because i am, i think, more resilient to transphobic narratives. also, though, because subjectively i feel like youtube's management is... i'll say siloing content better. you _can_ get sucked into a right-wing echo chamber pretty quickly by clicking on a certain sort of political video, but this time, i actually found myself being sucked into left-wing content. this is good because i want to actively engage with certain kinds of left-wing content!

from what i can tell what got me there this time was looking for evangelion shitposts. watching the "king of the hill" parody of the evangelion OP will, apparently, click the hidden switch to tell you that you're a leftie. i'm actually getting better recommendations from this fresh browse than i am from my logged-in account, which heavily prioritizes the stuff i've already seen and have watched before - stuff i'll self-effacingly characterize as "boomer shit". oh, hey, st. vincent has some new content on her channel! that's great. but youtube _isn't_ going to recommend me femtanyl. actually i'm gonna watch stream some femtanyl shit in my main channel. we're talking peak transfem furry zoomer hypergarbage. they're huge around the people i know. from toronto, played PDX recently but i didn't go because i was too depressed and worn out from my shitty job to leave the house.

anyway the more stuff i watch the harder it is to disrupt the stuff the "algo" feeds me. particularly since i do most of my exploration logged out from temporary private browsing sessions. hmmm. maybe i'll login to my account on this session and see if it updates my recs. that would be cool.

yep. that seems to have done it, i'm now getting machine girl and sewerslvt recs in my feed alongside moldy fig "play for today" eps.

anyway. a young man with a cowboy hat and chest hair is telling me that "reagan" is the worst movie of 2024. i'm now getting interesting "popular" videos that i typically miss, like "why are bowling animations so weird?" and "the forgotten victims of 'SJW Freakouts'" (the scare quotes tell me that this is a leftist video).

btw, when i search "femtanyl" youtube does suggest that there is help and gives me a hotline number to call. i mean fair. probably more people search "femtanyl" because they're despairing and looking for fent than they do because they're looking for dope queer furry beats. i'd definitely call my E "femtanyl" because i think it's funny except i know people would think i was actually taking fent. (is "fent" boomer slang now? i don't know, there's all this alpha stuff now that i don't get. young people have started looking me funny when i compliment their "drip". am i using it wrong, or is it just "old person using young person words is cringe"?)

my point is it used to be that no matter what i did yt steered me towards fash content, and now yt is actually steering me towards young people talking about how capitalism is bullshit. i like this.

Kate (rushomancy), Monday, 2 September 2024 16:09 (eight months ago)

Fucking hell this Macron cunt.

Daniel_Rf, Thursday, 5 September 2024 11:58 (eight months ago)

Playing with fire

xyzzzz__, Thursday, 5 September 2024 12:06 (eight months ago)

Fucking awful

Romy Gonzalez’s utility infusion (gyac), Thursday, 5 September 2024 12:21 (eight months ago)

Only reason Barnier is PM now is because it suits Marine. What a fucking joke.

Zelda Zonk, Thursday, 5 September 2024 12:25 (eight months ago)

Trying to recall who won the recent election hmm

Humanitarian Pause (Tracer Hand), Thursday, 5 September 2024 13:36 (eight months ago)

a minority of people voted for EU/market imposed austerity and they are the winners. Love democracy.

vodkaitamin effrtvescent (calzino), Thursday, 5 September 2024 13:45 (eight months ago)

Barnier should have just faded away and left only happy memories of his snippy condescension towards the Tory govt during their Brexit agonies

Humanitarian Pause (Tracer Hand), Thursday, 5 September 2024 13:50 (eight months ago)

Side note: If there are new elections in 2025 or 2026, this all makes it harder to see a repeat of voter front against RN — boosting them.

(This is about voters. But also: Attal will no longer be in prominent role he was in July; & Macron won't be one pushing this on his side.)

— Taniel (@Taniel) September 5, 2024

xyzzzz__, Thursday, 5 September 2024 14:48 (eight months ago)

three weeks pass...

Austrian far-right election win, sounds not good

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/sep/29/far-right-freedom-party-winning-austrian-election-first-results-show

John Backflip (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Monday, 30 September 2024 06:43 (eight months ago)

I have been a little puzzled by the news on this, reports spoke of "record" results (I also read "political earthquake") and made parallels with the AfD in Germany. But the FPÖ was already several times the first party in Austria, they were already in government, and they predate AfD by a long shot. Haider is 25 years ago, the Kurz coalition was with FPÖ... They've been as stable as such groups can be, hovering between 25-30%, and this time it sounds like they might not enter government and will be stuck in the opposition. At least the ÖVP seemed to be rather in a celebratory mode in spite of coming second and losing 11%. To be seen if they can quickly gather a coalition in yet another polarized political landscape...

Still crazy / depressing that they managed 28.8% with a video of their members singing a Nazi anthem at a funeral published two days before the election.

Nabozo, Monday, 30 September 2024 07:56 (eight months ago)

Good piece (warning: Marxist language).

The drift to the far-right are a set of tired, stagnant moves, 'experiments' with parties. The left can only hope for a bit of social democracy. Neither of which are allowed in a post deindustrialised landscape which produces no growth and productivity.

https://www.rosalux.de/en/news/id/52531/unpacking-working-class-reaction

xyzzzz__, Wednesday, 2 October 2024 11:05 (seven months ago)

Do think effects of climate change are the void in this piece, and maybe where the analysis falls off.

xyzzzz__, Wednesday, 2 October 2024 11:07 (seven months ago)

this is very accurate to my lived experience with my french father-in-law, former communist, union member etc. he has voted lepen a couple of times but it's a sour act of individual repudiation of 'elites', it's not as if he is all-in on her programme.

Demobilization thus gets mistaken for remobilization — working-class voters are experimenting with new parties, but the main response is a mixture of apathy and retreat, not rebellious defection. Even those voters who migrate to the Right, thereby feeding the optical illusion of a general switch, usually have much weaker ties with those new extreme-right parties than they used to have with their previous left-wing outfits (a pattern clearly visible in the North of France, where Le Pen has taken former Communist strongholds, and in eastern Germany). There, the vote for the extreme right is a secretive, private, individual affair, not an explicit engagement — more passive-aggressive than active, more informal than formal.

i would really like to see a kind of ontological mapping of this region:

a growing army of far-right social media entrepreneurs

because this is an absolutely massive part of why all these old people are voting for far right parties. they wind up brainwormed by endless youtube channels of slickly produced, seemingly trustworthy content, and it's like 60% conspiracy theories, 10% antisemitism, 20% actual relevant critiques of big business and uncaring government policies, and 10% hairspray and fake tans.

my FIL watches this stuff for many hours every day, sitting at his computer, in the laundry room. re: immigration he will say something like, there are too many people coming to this country, and when he gets pushed back on he'll say you don't understand, it's because there is no onfrastructure for them, no support for them, how are they supposed to get a job etc.

Humanitarian Pause (Tracer Hand), Thursday, 3 October 2024 14:39 (seven months ago)

I thought this quote was bang-on:

By trying to represent normality and stability, the Democratic Party threatens to become the party of the status quo in a country where the status quo feels increasingly untenable.


https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/14/opinion/trump-arizona-republican-party.html?unlocked_article_code=1.SU4.w42x.iBmwBu8dVKbZ&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare&tgrp=bth

I’ve been trying to form coherent thoughts on why normalcy seems to be failing — in the US, very obviously, but also spectacularly here in Canada where ‘Timbit Trump’ aka ‘Alt-right Milhouse’ is poised to take power in the next election and our provincial governments are almost uniformly little fiefdoms of MAGA-lite ‘conservatism’. BC (our California) is in the throes of an election cycle where the incumbent centre-left party, who don’t seem to have done a bad job in power, is neck and neck with a truly unhinged Conservative alternative.

The mediasphere has a large part to play (as Tracer’s post above eloquently illustrates) but it couldn’t gain such a hold in a stably prosperous society. There’s a growing awareness that the game is rigged — and moreover that there’s no relief to be found in the centre-left. (Best not to mention the tattered remnants of the actual Left.) Voters are casting about, blindly hoping that change — any change — will benefit them, and the only thing resembling a movement is this shambling Frankenstein monster built of Friedman economics and cuckoo/fascist social ideas, animated by IDU money and Russian disinfo. The businessmen rooting it on know they’ll gain from it, never mind that it’s basically destroying society.

Because any redistributive solution necessarily means smaller profits, there’s no money (and therefore no momentum) behind any movement that would rework society into something more human-shaped. And so, faced with a choice between a kind-faced liberal monster that slowly drains the lifeblood of the populace and a nakedly rapacious one, we’re choosing the monster that at least seems to be honest about its intentions.

dentist looking too comfortable singing the blues (hardcore dilettante), Tuesday, 15 October 2024 12:40 (seven months ago)

what is the union movement lot up there? bc imo quite a few of these tattered remnants of the left are starting to reanimate. all the positive steps i can see are taking place outside of electoral politics

Humanitarian Pause (Tracer Hand), Tuesday, 15 October 2024 15:39 (seven months ago)

lot = like?

Humanitarian Pause (Tracer Hand), Tuesday, 15 October 2024 15:39 (seven months ago)

Since the provinces are in charge of labour laws, it’s not really a great scene afaict. I’m in management, so I’m the enemy, & don’t have much contact with the shop floor. Public employees and industrial workers at least typically have union representation, but when I was working as an electrician in construction everyone I knew was staunchly anti-union. I don’t think there’s much in the way of a “movement.” If anything, the working class is even more solidly brainwashed here than in the US. There’s less than no class consciousness here — possibly stemming partly from the social democracy shielding us a bit from the worst of capitalist abuses and inequality (though that state of affairs is starting to crumble). It’s all culture war, no class war.

I do see a bit of motion in the kinds of community organizing, mutual aid type stuff among Gen Z, but nothing as yet that feels like a real movement. Maybe I’m just not paying close enough attention.

dentist looking too comfortable singing the blues (hardcore dilettante), Tuesday, 15 October 2024 17:51 (seven months ago)

I was an executive in a private-sector union in Vancouver. My coworkers as a whole only liked the union if they perceived it as protecting their benefits, and were pretty resistant to any lectures on lefty stuff. I think there is interest in unionizing from younger people, and 29% of all employees in BC are unionized, which I think is much higher than even in blue states in the US.

HD is OTM about how frustrations with centrist nominally left govt (like we have federally and provincially) lead voters to embrace lunacy. I would push back on BC being Canada's California, we've had long periods of right-wing parties with different names in power. The NDP have only won when the right-wing vote is split, with maybe the last mid-Covid election in 2020 as the only exception.

symsymsym, Tuesday, 15 October 2024 20:08 (seven months ago)

three weeks pass...

Re-reading this thread right now and I'm not surprised by anything that's happened since.

Elvis Telecom, Wednesday, 6 November 2024 19:50 (six months ago)

I remember this thread as having been, like, from twenty years ago, that's how it feels

J Edgar Noothgrush (Joan Crawford Loves Chachi), Wednesday, 6 November 2024 20:27 (six months ago)

Least favorite Fast and Furious sequel

Grape Fired At Czar From Crack Battery (President Keyes), Wednesday, 6 November 2024 20:31 (six months ago)

I’m going with “yes”

DJP, Wednesday, 6 November 2024 20:36 (six months ago)

Prepare yourself for a lot more of this ... in Germany this time.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/nov/07/olaf-scholz-faces-calls-for-immediate-confidence-vote-after-coalition-collapses-german

biting your uncles (Tom D.), Thursday, 7 November 2024 15:54 (six months ago)

This is what that parliament is passing.

🟡 BREAKING: Germany passed a new resolution that seeks to punish criticism of Israel with withdrawal of citizenship. Here’s what you need to know. pic.twitter.com/PCSDRcoSB6

— red. (@redstreamnet) November 7, 2024

xyzzzz__, Thursday, 7 November 2024 19:04 (six months ago)

jesus fucking christ

Kurt Dandruff (Neanderthal), Thursday, 7 November 2024 19:15 (six months ago)

I was just reading about this Die Linke breakoff "left-conservative" German party: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sahra_Wagenknecht_Alliance

Their views seem contemptible overall, but they appear to be the only political force in Germany that views any criticism of Israel's actions as legitimate.

symsymsym, Thursday, 7 November 2024 21:30 (six months ago)

anti-woke anti-anti-Deutsch

papal hotwife (milo z), Friday, 8 November 2024 03:21 (six months ago)

I went to check that motion because the news in FRE/ENG did not mention the citizenship thing, and neither did the German branch of Amnesty International.

So the motion says (in the passage that talks about citizenship): "The National Strategy against Anti-Semitism and for Jewish Life must be fully and implemented in a sustainable manner. This includes, among other things, ‘closing gaps in the law and consistently utilising repressive options’ (NASAS, P. 39). This applies in particular to criminal law as well as residence, asylum and nationality law in order to ensure that anti-Semitism is combated as effectively as possible. The German Bundestag welcomes the fact that the Federal Government has already tackled this issue." (DeepL translation)

Which refers to a previous reform introduced in June of this year, which adds questions on Germany's responsibility in the Shoah and the recognition of the state of Israel in the process of access to citizenship. (To note that access to citizenship has otherwise been facilitated, for ex Germany used to ask non-EU people to renounce their other nationalities, and therefore the reform has been criticized by the right).

Nabozo, Friday, 8 November 2024 12:27 (six months ago)

good check. here's an article about that other law: https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/27/europe/german-citizens-israel-right-to-exist-intl/index.html

this discussion probably belongs on the other thread. Canada is also passing the bullshit IHRA definition.

symsymsym, Friday, 8 November 2024 16:14 (six months ago)

two weeks pass...

Romanians love a bit of Hitler too

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c9dlw5pq967o

xyzzzz__, Monday, 25 November 2024 09:55 (six months ago)

That's one read, but a 51% turnout also says something

xyzzzz__, Monday, 25 November 2024 09:56 (six months ago)

three weeks pass...

Need an update on Macrons politics please:

Les mots banalement mais ouvertement racistes de Macron soulignent que ses politiques racistes (frontières mortelles, traitement des sans papiers, islamophobie, violences policières…) ne le sont ni par accident ni par simple calcul politicien, mais par idéologie, par conviction. pic.twitter.com/PUC1i80gmN

— Olivier Lek-Lafferrière 🚩 (@Ol_Laff) December 19, 2024

gyac, Thursday, 19 December 2024 23:43 (five months ago)

Le Monde piece says he used an anti-Arab slur while giving an interview to a far right magazine and the Elysée got that cut out?!

gyac, Thursday, 19 December 2024 23:46 (five months ago)

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GfL4uGpXcAAKfXr?format=png&name=medium

gyac, Thursday, 19 December 2024 23:47 (five months ago)

I don't think Macron does anything out of ideology or conviction. Obviously, when he judges it in his interest lick the fascist arse, that's exactly what he does.

Zelda Zonk, Thursday, 19 December 2024 23:52 (five months ago)

yeah the 2 articles (out of 4) that have come out in le monde clearly paint the picture of a guy who’s willing to say anything and its opposite later if it’s useful for him. as well as being a treacherous asshole.
between saying rabzouze, being ultra friendly with a far right mag editor, his quote about emergency care being filled to the brim with mamadous, the homophobic chats with his buddies etc… I’m starting to believe he was truthful when he said he was neither right nor left wing, because he’s actually far right.

Jibe, Friday, 20 December 2024 16:49 (five months ago)

this too

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/dec/20/emmanuel-macron-swears-amid-furious-exchange-with-cyclone-hit-mayotte-islanders

Macron swears amid furious exchange with cyclone-hit Mayotte islanders
French president makes remark when confronted by residents still without water after huge storm last week

Rachel Savage Southern Africa correspondent and agencies
Fri 20 Dec 2024 16.24 GMT
Share
Emmanuel Macron swore during a furious exchange with residents of the cyclone-hit islands of Mayotte on Thursday night, telling a jeering crowd in the French territory: “If it wasn’t for France, you’d be 10,000 times deeper in shit.”

Cyclone Chido swept through Mayotte, which lies between Madagascar and Mozambique, on 14 December, destroying vital infrastructure and flattening many of the tin-roofed shacks that make up its large slums. Almost a week after its worst storm in 90 years, France’s poorest territory still has shortages of water.

This satellite image released by Maxar Technologies shows damage at the Dzaoudzi Port on the French Territory of Mayotte in the Indian Ocean after Cyclone Chido, on 16 December 2024.
Mayotte before and after: satellite images show destruction by Cyclone Chido
Read more
Throughout Thursday, the French president was confronted by angry Mahorais demanding to know why aid had not yet reached them. At one point he told a crowd: “You are happy to be in France. Because if it wasn’t France, I tell you, you would be 10,000 times deeper in shit. There is no other place in the Indian Ocean that has received this much help. That’s a fact.”

glumdalclitch, Friday, 20 December 2024 16:52 (five months ago)

German attack suspect: “I can say from experience, everything that [Tommy] Robinson says, what Musk says, what Alex Jones says, or anyone who is called radical or right-wing extremist by mainstream media - they are telling the truth” https://t.co/fKwMyrXiXc

— Shashank Joshi (@shashj) December 21, 2024

xyzzzz__, Saturday, 21 December 2024 13:57 (five months ago)

I have a FB/Discord friend who lives 2.5 k away from that market and goes there often. She wasn't there at the time, fortunately.

Christine Green Leafy Dragon Indigo, Saturday, 21 December 2024 14:42 (five months ago)

So a Saudi doctor granted asylum, blackpilled by US/UK anti immigration nut jobs ? What a weird world.

The Whimsical Muse (Boring, Maryland), Saturday, 21 December 2024 17:17 (five months ago)

Seems like something of a nut job himself.

Please play Lou Reed's irritating guitar sounds (Tom D.), Saturday, 21 December 2024 17:19 (five months ago)

some additional context on Mayotte that i found interesting

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4FVIIQ6sYQ

budo jeru, Saturday, 21 December 2024 23:28 (five months ago)

Ok, I had a detailed look at the declassified Romanian intelligence documents (presidency.ro/ro/media/comun…) on the basis of which the election results were cancelled and the craziest part of all this is that they actually don't prove foreign interference or manipulation.

What do they show?

They document a social media campaign supporting Călin Georgescu that involved around 25,000 TikTok accounts coordinated through a Telegram channel, paid influencers, and coordinated messaging.

First of all, looking at it rationally, this is actually a relatively small number of TikTok accounts for a national presidential campaign, and the documents provide limited data about actual impact - they mention around 130 TikTok accounts generated between 1,000 and 500,000 views per video, but don't show comprehensive engagement statistics or evidence of significant voter influence.

Also, importantly, everything described in these documents could just as easily be interpreted as legitimate digital marketing. The documents don't provide concrete proof of foreign state involvement or manipulation - they merely suggest the campaign "correlates with a state actor's operating mode" and draws parallels to alleged Russian operations in Ukraine and Moldova.

The payment rates mentioned (400 lei per 20,000 followers, 1,000 euros per promotional video) are actually standard market rates for influencer marketing, though the documents do allege some payments were made illegally after the campaign period (the guy targeted by these allegations, a Romanian crypto entrepreneur called Bogdan Peschir, denies these allegations: realitatea.net/stiri/actual/c…). The campaign coordination through Telegram channels with specific posting guidelines is exactly how modern political campaigns operate.

What's notably missing from these documents is any concrete proof of foreign state involvement or manipulation.

Ok, I had a detailed look at the declassified Romanian intelligence documents (https://t.co/rgjfmbQ4xx) on the basis of which the election results were cancelled and the craziest part of all this is that they actually don't prove foreign interference or manipulation.

What do… pic.twitter.com/1rQ9JlBVa7

— Arnaud Bertrand (@RnaudBertrand) December 7, 2024

xyzzzz__, Monday, 23 December 2024 09:50 (five months ago)

Looks like liberal democracies are now making stuff up to keep their broken systems going.

xyzzzz__, Monday, 23 December 2024 09:51 (five months ago)

“now” isn’t a necessary word there, obviously, but you know that.

butt dumb tight my boners got boners (the table is the table), Monday, 23 December 2024 12:24 (five months ago)

Yup, indeed. I think its striking -- but not surprising -- that we are at a stage of willing things that were never there to a significant extent, if at all (such as Russian interference) to annul results that are not 'liked'.

xyzzzz__, Monday, 23 December 2024 12:35 (five months ago)

Absolutely. There is a sense that the different realities that certain ideological groups have always inhabited are being made manifest, and that often requires propaganda, and in absence of efficacious propaganda, straight up fictionalizing and ultimately, violence.

butt dumb tight my boners got boners (the table is the table), Monday, 23 December 2024 13:16 (five months ago)

so in Venezuela it was called out as election result denial and then when it happened in Romania it was trumpeted as fighting back against Russian interference and defending Western Democracy and Values from those subhuman animals! lol OK I'm all up on this now, until the next time my brain implodes.

vodkaitamin effrtvescent (calzino), Monday, 23 December 2024 14:00 (five months ago)

one month passes...

Keeping this off the US pols threads, but what genuinenely puzzles me is: Why aren't the streets in the US flooded with hundreds of thousands of Americans protesting the blatant coup that's going on rn? Is it shellshock? Disbelief? Or not enough people giving af?

(Struck by this by about 200k people in Germany protesting against AfD's rise today, with more than 200 (!) demo's all over the country announced and organised before the elections. Big football clubs (Munich, Schalke) making public statements against fascism this weekendetc.)

Le Bateau Ivre, Sunday, 2 February 2025 19:59 (three months ago)

Unions in the USA were purged of all remnants of socialism long ago so there is no ideology of solidarity among workers. The whole population is fragmented, frightened of penury or jail, fed non-stop propaganda, and is abysmally ignorant of how our amazingly fragmented and complex system of government operates or even what it does for them. We don't believe that street demonstrations accomplish anything but are a great way to get your head bashed in.

more difficult than I look (Aimless), Sunday, 2 February 2025 20:22 (three months ago)

There’s no left leadership here, no one that can or is willing to organize any action. I think ideologically large segments of the left have tied a hand behind their back because they believe in decentralized, leaderless protest, like occupy wall street or Black Lives Matter. But waiting for “the people” to rise up spontaneously I think is foolish. Lately I’ve been thinking you gotta have a revolutionary vanguard.

The Iraq War protests didn’t achieve their goals, but at least they were organized (ANSWER I think was associated with the IWW?).

Dialysis Den (Boring, Maryland), Sunday, 2 February 2025 20:34 (three months ago)

That's certainly an answer (and you're probably bang on) xp

Just think with the severity of what is happening rn one wouldn't need "left leadership", it's as in your face "fucking up the masses/democracy/nation top down to enrich the very few" as it gets. I'm, struck by how completely emaciated and clueless the Dems are, but you'd expect something, anything, from the people.

Le Bateau Ivre, Sunday, 2 February 2025 20:40 (three months ago)

Why aren't the streets in the US flooded with hundreds of thousands of Americans protesting the blatant coup that's going on rn? Is it shellshock? Disbelief? Or not enough people giving af?

You're underestimating just how big, spread out, atomized, and and ideologically sorted the US is. It's a country of 350 million people divided into more than 50 semi-autonomous mini-countries. And yeah, every time people start talking about "let the red states hang themselves!" other people start whining "but there are progressives living in those states, too!", but the truth is, no there aren't, not in numbers sufficient to matter. You know how you can tell when a red state has enough progressives to effect change? It becomes a blue state. Short of that, forget it. You might be able to count on your immediate neighbors to help you in a crisis, but large-scale political shifts? Nah.

And as Aimless said, street protests accomplish nothing. You know what gets things done, on a national scale anyway? Money. Bags of it, sometimes under the table and sometimes very much not.

Instead of create and send out, it pull back and consume (unperson), Sunday, 2 February 2025 20:48 (three months ago)

last mass-mobilization event here was George Floyd, right? and I'm not sure what that ultimately accomplished, as right-wing media just endlessly repurposed the footage to argue that black people and anti-Trumpers in general were violent, even though it was clear at every one of these that shit only went down once the cops started using unnecessary force. my cousin (who lives in St. Paul) went to one - she got hit with a rubber bullet which shattered her phone

tbh I feel like they probably *want* mass protests at this point - anything to bash some skulls and find enough footage of "violent rioters" to appease the FOX News audience

frogbs, Sunday, 2 February 2025 21:00 (three months ago)

What will be effective are strikes. Work stoppages. Things that actually turn off the spigots of revenue for the billionaires.

octobeard, Sunday, 2 February 2025 21:06 (three months ago)

Ultimately that's what the Arab Spring helped push - those massive protests were general strikes in Cairo. It's why division through social media really began to accelerate after 2012. Because unity and economic blockage works, time and again.

octobeard, Sunday, 2 February 2025 21:08 (three months ago)

There will be protests. If George Floyd caused protests (and there protests over Palestine in colleges too) then there will be ppl on the streets again.

Give it time.

xyzzzz__, Sunday, 2 February 2025 21:14 (three months ago)

But ultimately what has Trump done? He and his backers are potentially reshaping global trade, he is barking a lot (and as expected) with daily executive orders. Ofc many of the policies will have material consequences but that will take time to work its way through to enough of the population.

xyzzzz__, Sunday, 2 February 2025 21:17 (three months ago)

fwiw there are protests in LA, DC, and prob other cities today, last I checked there were 2000 people protesting the ICE office in LA

sleeve, Sunday, 2 February 2025 21:52 (three months ago)

I agree that time is needed for “normal” people to feel effects (unlike is weirdos who obsessively follow this stuff)

Dialysis Den (Boring, Maryland), Sunday, 2 February 2025 22:14 (three months ago)

Us weirdos

Dialysis Den (Boring, Maryland), Sunday, 2 February 2025 22:14 (three months ago)

Ultimately that's what the Arab Spring helped push - those massive protests were general strikes in Cairo. It's why division through social media really began to accelerate after 2012. Because unity and economic blockage works, time and again.

Look what happened to the Arab Spring though.

Please play Lou Reed's irritating guitar sounds (Tom D.), Sunday, 2 February 2025 22:30 (three months ago)

last mass-mobilization event here was George Floyd, right? and I'm not sure what that ultimately accomplished

There were extensive protests less than a year ago, on the clear moral principle of opposing genocide, and the Democratic Party leadership made it clear that they would rather expel students for demonstrating the results of their learning, fire professors for saying true things in public, personally scold public speakers, and wilfully hand over the entire country to open fascists & unelected oligarchs than take any notice of the message.

Biden responded to the George Floyd protests by campaigning on the principle that the police are a fundamentally and irreparably tainted construction that is not only not fit for purpose, but actively in opposition to it... and that they therefore should have their funding increased.

People, on the whole, are less likely in 2025 to expect that spontaneous protest will have the ear of the standing government.

nous sommes perdus dans le supermarché (sic), Sunday, 2 February 2025 22:31 (three months ago)

I think the George Floyd protests also need to be understood within the context of the first few months of the pandemic, when there suddenly seemed to be an opening for the possibility of radical social reforms (not to mention that people were feeling restless after lockdowns). I think there still would have been protests if it had happened in 2019, but probably not at the same scale.

jaymc, Sunday, 2 February 2025 22:36 (three months ago)

* personally scold community-nominated public speakers

nous sommes perdus dans le supermarché (sic), Sunday, 2 February 2025 23:08 (three months ago)

I think what sic says feels meaningful. I've been in a bunch of protests and demonstrations and while there might be projections about their knock-on effects it doesn't seem like they kept us from getting here today. And the danger from the police is ratcheted up considerably now. Maybe I'm just old but until there's a clearer path of cause-and-effect and a strategic plan, I'm going to be doing way more boring things to try to get ready for a worse future.

Ima Gardener (in orbit), Monday, 3 February 2025 01:03 (three months ago)

There was this today:

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Thousands of people protesting mass deportations planned by President Donald Trump marched in Southern California on Sunday, including in downtown Los Angeles where demonstrators blocked a major freeway for several hours.

Protesters gathered in the morning on LA’s historic Olvera Street, which dates to Spanish and Mexican rule, before marching to City Hall. They called for immigration reform and carried banners with slogans like “Nobody is illegal.”

By the afternoon, marchers had blocked all lanes of U.S. 101, causing traffic to back up in both directions and on surface streets.

And I’ve seen people posting about mass protests this coming Wednesday in state capitols, although it’s unclear to me who is organizing them.

I think the lack of leadership on the left is a huge problem. Who/where are the dynamic leaders who can galvanize and organize opposition? Not in the Democratic Party for sure, but not obviously outside it either. I think there are mass numbers who could be motivated, but with due respect to decentralized leaderless models, it takes leadership to make it happen.

paper plans (tipsy mothra), Monday, 3 February 2025 03:33 (three months ago)

time really feels right for someone to step up and make a name for themselves, seriously folks the door is open wide

frogbs, Monday, 3 February 2025 03:34 (three months ago)

i misread this as "is the west experiencing a right-wing grift"
maybe leadership should be more in the consumer advocate vein though it's not like we haven't had Naders and Warrens. It's interesting that Shinzo Abe's assassin was an explicit victim of a right-wing grift.

Philip Nunez, Monday, 3 February 2025 04:27 (three months ago)

So yes, plenty of videos from demos across cities but also a couple of smaller places too..

xyzzzz__, Monday, 3 February 2025 09:13 (three months ago)

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/feb/01/student-led-protests-in-serbia-mark-railway-station-deaths-blamed-on-graft

"With youth unemployment at record levels and graduates forced in ever growing numbers to move abroad in search of work, there is a growing sense among young Serbs that there is little to lose."

xyzzzz__, Monday, 3 February 2025 09:41 (three months ago)

time really feels right for someone to step up and make a name for themselves, seriously folks the door is open wide

― frogbs

i misread this as "is the west experiencing a right-wing grift"
maybe leadership should be more in the consumer advocate vein though it's not like we haven't had Naders and Warrens. It's interesting that Shinzo Abe's assassin was an explicit victim of a right-wing grift.

― Philip Nunez

these two posts seem related to me

who's going to step up to make a name for themselves? grifters, that's who

for me, the thing about america is that if you look at how a small minority of british imperialists kept power in india for so long, it was this pretty explicit strategy of "divide and conquer". british imperialism basically created the "caste system" in the form that the west knows it, and there was a strategic reason for that. if you got the conquered people to fight each other, they wouldn't be able to effectively band together to end britain's imperialist oppression. "there is no such thing as society, really" was thatcher, but it's something that's kind of ingrained in the dna of america - this idea of "rugged individualism". and this is promoted in the media. if you look at who's got the most power in trump's america, it's a media oligarchy. zuckerberg and musk have a lot of power, in practical terms, in what information americans have access to. if this is a triumphalist moment for anybody, it's capitalist mass media.

this _isn't_ an inevitable, permanent, or even _sustainable_ situation. when you look at situations like this, it seems like nothing changes and nothing will ever change until suddenly everything changes. something drastic will, at some point, happen, but it's not something that anybody can really _plan_ for.

Kate (rushomancy), Monday, 3 February 2025 16:31 (three months ago)

I took this

time really feels right for someone to step up and make a name for themselves, seriously folks the door is open wide

to be a call for someone to be the next Thomas Matthew Crooks, only, you know, successful. (Side note: Elon Musk probably does not have Secret Service protection.)

Instead of create and send out, it pull back and consume (unperson), Monday, 3 February 2025 16:55 (three months ago)

STUDENT WALK OUT- OUTSIDE CITY HALL NOW:

High school students from all over LA have walked out of class and gathered in front of city hall to protest the president’s fascist agenda. SOLIDARITY WITH THE YOUTH! FUCK ICE! https://t.co/ReMNFI1Cu1 pic.twitter.com/cDQAQTjHO0

— People's City Council - Los Angeles (@PplsCityCouncil) February 4, 2025

xyzzzz__, Tuesday, 4 February 2025 20:15 (three months ago)

This mid-November ep with Semler and Bessner I felt was a worthwhile summary https://parallaxviews.podbean.com/e/semler-bessner/

Glower, Disruption & Pies (kingfish), Wednesday, 5 February 2025 03:04 (three months ago)

one month passes...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xl51pL6c40A
50 years of stagnation to look foward to? Is it really that bad?

Robert Adam Gilmour, Friday, 14 March 2025 16:49 (two months ago)

cautious understatement tbh

Zurich is Starmed (Noodle Vague), Friday, 14 March 2025 17:01 (two months ago)

I've lived through over 50 years of stagnation, death, defeat, despair, poverty, etc ...

still look 10 years younger than Yanis Varoufakis 😎

vodkaitamin effrtvescent (calzino), Friday, 14 March 2025 18:49 (two months ago)

lol

Please play Lou Reed's irritating guitar sounds (Tom D.), Friday, 14 March 2025 18:54 (two months ago)

two weeks pass...

Marine LePen found guilty of embezzling public funds (fictitious employment of assistants at the EU Parliament that were really working for the party) along with other members of the RN. Ineligibility sentence is pronounced and will be applied immediately. The length of the sentence will be announced in the next minutes: there's a little more than two years to the presidential election. LePen has already chosen to leave the building. History in the making.

Naledi, Monday, 31 March 2025 10:13 (two months ago)

5 year ban. Boom

Tracer Hand, Monday, 31 March 2025 11:03 (two months ago)

I wonder if the events of the last two months are going to lead to some level of retreat from the populist edge across Europe. Early days but the reshaping looks consequential for Europe in particular

anvil, Monday, 31 March 2025 11:10 (two months ago)

Also 2 years prison sentence - with a bracelet, not incarcerated, still a humiliation - 2 more on probation
So she can't run, incredible, RN is forced to go with Bardella. End of the dynasty ?

Naledi, Monday, 31 March 2025 11:16 (two months ago)

Good thing no right wing Europeanleader has ever returned to win election after a prison sentence.

il lavoro mi rovina la giornata (PBKR), Monday, 31 March 2025 11:18 (two months ago)

🥴

Tracer Hand, Monday, 31 March 2025 11:34 (two months ago)

Lawyering political problems won't end well. Nevertheless its good news.

xyzzzz__, Monday, 31 March 2025 11:39 (two months ago)

Seems like they were guilty as hell but corruption goes with the territory.

Please play Lou Reed's irritating guitar sounds (Tom D.), Monday, 31 March 2025 11:44 (two months ago)

Yeah my sister in law was a bit worried that this would backfire with FN types showing it as evidence that The System is stacked against Le Pen...which I'm sure they will, but I mean, they always find some way to spin whatever's happening, it's still a good move.

a ZX spectrum is haunting Europe (Daniel_Rf), Monday, 31 March 2025 14:35 (two months ago)

So far the messages of support include Trump, Orban, Bolsonaro, Russia, North Korea, Mélenchon (lol), and maybe my favorite, French PM said he was "troubled" (triple lol, he's still potentially facing the same allegations since the public prosecutor appealed against his recent acquittal).

Naledi, Tuesday, 1 April 2025 09:44 (two months ago)

Melenchon isn't 'supporting' Le Pen.

Here is the statement:

Communiqué de la France insoumise

Marine Le Pen et 8 élus du Rassemblement National ont été condamnés ce jour pour détournement de fonds publics. Leur condamnation est assortie d’une peine d’inéligibilité applicable immédiatement pour l’essentiel d’entre eux.

Nous notons que…

— Manuel Bompard (@mbompard) March 31, 2025

xyzzzz__, Tuesday, 1 April 2025 12:21 (two months ago)

From the translation my read of it is that a court should not be used to get of the National Front. Fascism needs to be beaten by the people in elections or in the streets.

Democratic rather than technical means.

Which is essentially correct.

xyzzzz__, Tuesday, 1 April 2025 12:29 (two months ago)

No, that's just a bit of rhetoric at the end. The important point is that they refuse, on point of principle, a judiciary decision that has no possibility of appeal.

The context for that aiui is that this particular law is one that no one ever got convicted for due to the accused appealing and having the financial resources to do so efficiently. It also only applies to the ineligibility for office, not her house arrest.

a ZX spectrum is haunting Europe (Daniel_Rf), Tuesday, 1 April 2025 12:45 (two months ago)

Maybe a court should be used for people who commit crimes tho. Otherwise would seem like we are saying fascists can commit crimes because they will claim prosecuting them is undemocratic, which seems maybe bad.

LocalGarda, Tuesday, 1 April 2025 14:19 (two months ago)

"Candidate for office" is not a protected class. It does not render one immune from prosecution for crimes (except in America).

Instead of create and send out, it pull back and consume (unperson), Tuesday, 1 April 2025 14:22 (two months ago)

I must I didn't know that Le Pen and her party used to trumpet that they weren't as corrupt as other, more mainstream, parties, that at least has taken a considerable hit.

Please play Lou Reed's irritating guitar sounds (Tom D.), Tuesday, 1 April 2025 14:27 (two months ago)

mélenchon statement notes the seriousness of the crime, affirms that due process applies equally to everybody, then states that political parties, which are not the justice system, must have their victories in the ballot box. what's confusing?

budo jeru, Tuesday, 1 April 2025 14:28 (two months ago)

Yeah it's just saying the reality for a political party is the battle goes on and they're still contesting elections.

LocalGarda, Tuesday, 1 April 2025 14:34 (two months ago)

Yes the democratic vs legalistic thing is a red herring, ideally they work together anyway - as in Brazil, where the fash were first voted out and are now rightfully being pursued via legal means.

The France Insurmise stance is not about not wanting Le Pen to be put on trial or condemned but rather an opposition to the specific law this happened under not allowing for a right to appeal

a ZX spectrum is haunting Europe (Daniel_Rf), Tuesday, 1 April 2025 14:40 (two months ago)

I was just picking on Naledi's statement that Melenchon supported Le Pen, just like Orban or North Korea. It got me to look for the statement and so that turned out to be bullshit, because Naledi's politics are centrist so ofc the far left and far right are the same in this poster's view.

Obviously crimes should be prosecuted. But it can also be true that courts and process can be used to suppress undesirable support. The stuff going on in Romania looks a bit like that xp

xyzzzz__, Tuesday, 1 April 2025 14:49 (two months ago)

I wonder if the events of the last two months are going to lead to some level of retreat from the populist edge across Europe. Early days but the reshaping looks consequential for Europe in particular

Definitely looks to open the way a la Germany for more centrist parties to paint themselves as the true patriots and the far-right parties as stooges of Putin and Trump. (See also Canada, obviously.)

paper plans (tipsy mothra), Tuesday, 1 April 2025 14:56 (two months ago)

cant be any good news is what im hearing

tuah dé danann (darraghmac), Tuesday, 1 April 2025 16:01 (two months ago)

Trump's tariff nonsense definitely seems to have banjaxed his popularity with the GB News coffin dodger fash crowd.

Please play Lou Reed's irritating guitar sounds (Tom D.), Tuesday, 1 April 2025 16:30 (two months ago)

more centrist parties to paint themselves as the true patriots

Yeah three guesses how this tends to play out in reality

triste et cassé (gyac), Tuesday, 1 April 2025 18:08 (two months ago)

Oh, badly.

paper plans (tipsy mothra), Tuesday, 1 April 2025 18:11 (two months ago)

cant be any good news is what im hearing


All threads are doom posting threads, even the Japanese New Wave ones.

Crack's Addition (Boring, Maryland), Tuesday, 1 April 2025 18:38 (two months ago)

i do not care to know enough about music to know if that is a pun

tuah dé danann (darraghmac), Tuesday, 1 April 2025 21:18 (two months ago)

The France Insurmise stance is not about not wanting Le Pen to be put on trial or condemned but rather an opposition to the specific law this happened under not allowing for a right to appeal

― a ZX spectrum is haunting Europe (Daniel_Rf), Tuesday, April 1, 2025 3:40 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

That's the whole debate now, but it's a populist debate that undermines the rule of law, and that's where Mélenchon's stance is ambiguous. She has the right to appeal, she has used it, and the appeal has been scheduled. Marine LePen did not get a special punitive treatment and there are plenty of cases where appeal does not suspend a sentence. We can argue over the court's reasoning, which is to say that allowing LePen to run in 2027 would undermine the basic tenets of the law and public confidence in democracy. Her involvement in the scheme was extremely clear, and they counted on impunity the whole time.

Naledi, Wednesday, 2 April 2025 07:13 (one month ago)

"a populist debate that undermines the rule of law"

I think its funny.

xyzzzz__, Wednesday, 2 April 2025 08:33 (one month ago)

Yeah sorry nabozo, there is nothing inherently populist about taking issue with specific laws, if anything it's a technocratic concern. At any rate it's pretty dishonest to cast it as a message of support for Le Pen.

a ZX spectrum is haunting Europe (Daniel_Rf), Wednesday, 2 April 2025 09:02 (one month ago)

I don't find it funny. Also for whatever it's worth, I wouldn't say I'm a centrist, but I do expect most functioning governments to be either center-right or center-left (on paper, just don't have many examples), or some sort of coalition. Our system is a right-leaning permanent coalition for example, which still leaves space for left initiatives, many of which I have voted for. I am really not envious of pendulum systems where the left and the right spend their time cancelling and destroying each other's work. I tend to think that polarization goes with shitshow politics. And the polarization right now in many countries is not so much left-right but national populism versus the fractioned rest - and we all agree it's creating fractures and it's dangerous. I have met intelligent and stupid people from both left and right - it does not matter so much to me, in truth I am suspicious of people who have too strong leanings. As for the radical parties, I am happy to recognize they have a place, since they don't come out of nothing, and a sign of things unresolved, but a lot of them are simply unable to govern.

Naledi, Wednesday, 2 April 2025 09:11 (one month ago)

I wouldn't say you're a centrist either, have always struck me as rather right wing.

a ZX spectrum is haunting Europe (Daniel_Rf), Wednesday, 2 April 2025 09:13 (one month ago)

At any rate it's pretty dishonest to cast it as a message of support for Le Pen.
― a ZX spectrum is haunting Europe (Daniel_Rf), Wednesday, April 2, 2025 10:02 AM (nine minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Let's just say it was certainly not a message of support for the justice system.

Naledi, Wednesday, 2 April 2025 09:13 (one month ago)

"but I do expect most functioning governments to be either center-right or center-left (on paper, just don't have many examples), or some sort of coalition."

Hilarious position to be taking when centre-left and centre-right parties have been struggling to govern for the best part of the last decade.

xyzzzz__, Wednesday, 2 April 2025 09:15 (one month ago)

I wouldn't say I'm a centrist


Then goes on to post every centrist cliche in the book.

I have met intelligent and stupid people from both left and right - it does not matter so much to me, in truth I am suspicious of people who have too strong leanings.

Yeah man people who feel strongly about distribution of wealth are no different from people who want all minorities deported or sent to labour camps, great political philosophy you have there.

triste et cassé (gyac), Wednesday, 2 April 2025 09:15 (one month ago)

Yes, those are two very different things tho? You can't just assume everyone shares your system where criticising power means you love Le Pen.

a ZX spectrum is haunting Europe (Daniel_Rf), Wednesday, 2 April 2025 09:16 (one month ago)

I wouldn't say you're a centrist either, have always struck me as rather right wing.

― a ZX spectrum is haunting Europe (Daniel_Rf), Wednesday, 2 April 2025 bookmarkflaglink

Its what they tell themselves. They think they are being clever being above it all.

xyzzzz__, Wednesday, 2 April 2025 09:19 (one month ago)

Love how much the centrist fellas respect the law when the last US 'centre left' government gave full unconditional support to another government headed by a man escaping prosecution for his own abuses, who was propped by a coalition which included far right parties, then proceeded to enable the genocide of a people, burning through the international law book in the process.

xyzzzz__, Wednesday, 2 April 2025 09:42 (one month ago)

LOL @ Le Pen invoking Martin Luther King.

Please play Lou Reed's irritating guitar sounds (Tom D.), Monday, 7 April 2025 10:18 (one month ago)

Right wingers love to try to jujitsu the "content of your character" part of the I Have A Dream speech to argue against affirmative action

Tracer Hand, Monday, 7 April 2025 14:11 (one month ago)

one month passes...

Chega on track to overtake the socialist party as 2nd biggest party in the Portuguese elections rn :/

a ZX spectrum is haunting Europe (Daniel_Rf), Sunday, 18 May 2025 20:15 (two weeks ago)

good results in Romania: https://www.politico.eu/article/romanian-presidential-election-results-nicusor-dan-george-simion/

symsymsym, Sunday, 18 May 2025 23:11 (two weeks ago)

Didn't expect that tbh, nor that the new guy would look so much like Noel Gallagher.

nashwan, Monday, 19 May 2025 15:35 (one week ago)


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