Controversies over immigration, crime, and rising right-wing populism have re-made European politics. But according to author Ben Judah, these forces – though familiar to Americans – have vastly different implications in Europe, and open up big questions about the Western alliance.
  • fubo@lemmy.world
    371·
    1 year ago

    There is an international fascist movement. It is not quite accurate to call it Putinism, but that’s a start. It keeps showing up like a pathogenic fungus in different countries, but often with the same poisonous doctrines:

    • Your country is great because of your ethnic group.
    • There are some Rejects From Elsewhere who keep wanting to get into your country to steal the stuff that your ethnic group has made.
    • There is a Great Leader who is willing to speak the Forbidden Truths about your ethnic group’s awesomeness.
    • The Deep State Woke Eurocrats hate your ethnic group and your Great Leader because you’re awesome. They want to help the Rejects From Elsewhere take away your awesomeness.
    • Also they’re gay, and Jewish, and maybe even Californian.
    • The Great Leader’s Party should get to do unconstitutional things in order to beat the Deep State Woke Eurocrats; because if they don’t win, your ethnic group will be oppressed by the Rejects From Elsewhere.
    • Let’s take a moment to smash the queers. Smash them in Italy, smash them in Florida, smash them in Poland. It’s really, really important to smash the queers.
    • By the way, the Great Leader is specifically allowed to destroy the court system, just to make sure that the queers and the Deep State Woke Eurocrats don’t get to hand your whole country to the Rejects from Elsewhere.
      • fubo@lemmy.world
        8·
        1 year ago

        Yep. Also Israel and plenty of other places. Netanyahu wants to be Putin and his country doesn’t want to let him, and he’s pissed.

        • 8BitRoadTrip@lemm.eeEnglish
          4·
          1 year ago

          I don’t consider myself old but the resurgence of open fascism is the scariest thing I’ve seen politically in my life.

          • fubo@lemmy.world
            3·
            1 year ago

            Personally what fucks me up is that if my 20s hadn’t gone so well, I could have been an alt-right shit-sprayer.

    • just_another_person@lemmy.world
      3·
      1 year ago

      Pretty spot-on, but the cult of personality thing is also cropping everywhere. No real ideals, just a personality, which also happens to be super right-wing.

    • YoBuckStopsHere@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      21·
      1 year ago

      I’m not one of those ‘America is great’ types as I know we have problems, but we can be great as a unifier of the world. All the Trump garbage is a sign that it is working because those against it are whining about it.