"I struggle to grasp why so many are leaning to the right politically these days, especially when the right is leaning so far towards the hard right."
I think there are two reasons. First, when people are scared, they get angry, they seek order. The right-wing brand of authoritarianism promises, structure, rules, a return to the 'old ways.' These parties, rather than holding the powerful to account, provides simple answers - 'it's the poor,' 'it's the immigrants,' it's the X.
And then there is the abysmal failure of the "left" - which is just a right-wing party with virtue signaling. The 'left' (I am speaking of Macron, Renzi, Scholtz etc) has sold the people out, privatized their commons, has cut social spending to the bone and dismantled the most of what was once a functioning, robust welfare state. The poor are poorer, the rich are richer, and people are voting for populist change because that's the only change on offer.
You're right about the way the left has been co-opted. I struggle to know who to vote for, the traditional left being a bunch of people who lie, virtue signal and privatize things. Yikes!
I have a harder time relating to the 'old ways' rationale, but have often heard that when people are scared and angry they tend to become more reactionary and conservative.
i think you mean the ‘establishment’ left. The traditional left (Sanders, Corbyn, etc) get smeared as racist, anti-semitic, anti-women, etc… the neoliberal establishment left virtue signals concern for all of those things - and destroys real leftists with nonsense culture war virtue signals (that as Biden has just shown, with his new anti-immigration laws, they don’t actually care about.`0
The nonsense virtue signaling is real and it's pissed off a lot of people including those on the traditional left. I call this the fake left. While the world goes to hell, everything is about identity with these people - there's no class consciousness and nothing about unity- instead everything is seen through the lens of identity. It's why Tara Henley quit CBC and started her own Substack.
And it’s not that I think identity doesn’t matter. I marched against the wars in El Salvador and Nicaragua and I did die ins for my friends, dying of aids. The thing is, the fake left cares about Biff and Tucker, in their East Hampton town-house. But they don’t care about Joe Bob (or Enrique, or Taffy, etc) turning tricks to make their rent, and dying of Aids. They care about Kamala from Brentwood, but not Shawna from Oakland. Their ‘virtue’ applies to their own class, even when it crosses lines of race and gender identity. It doesn’t apply to their inferiors… ie: you and me.
We need to bring back class consciousness and frame things in a way where we see what benefits the working and middle classes, and the very poor, and what doesn't.
I think that we need another system of governance altogether. Voting does not work. The people who can run for office need to have money behind them. Money=success. That's a big part of the problem. Maybe we need to re-define success to mean that people are safe from environmental collapse, nuclear threat and crazies like Netanyahu.
Proportional representation seems much better than first past the post, but I think it's only a first step. I wish we could vote our way out of neoliberalism.
I mean a totally different system whereby governance is from the bottom up rather than the top down. Maybe proportional representation could be a start, but I don't think so. Our system is already too corrupt to simply patch it up.
The problem with the bottom up is …. well, I grew up on the bottom. Those on the bottom turn into tyrants even more quickly that those born to it. I think we need more lateral systems… proportional voting, multiple parties, caucuses (!!!) actually make a difference. A two party, winner-take-all system is no democracy at all - especially if votes can be purchased and voters are turned into consumers.
I grew up on the bottom too, and there are some really great people there, but some not so great, for sure. I don't know that all could easily be corrupted. Some are really strong morally and ethically and can stand up to pressure.
Citizens' assemblies? They seem like a good starting point. Maybe some kind of direct democracy? I like the idea of having referenda on matters that effect our lives, like what kind of energy supply and how we want to manage our forests, what kind of justice system we want to support, what we invest our pension funds in, etc.
I grew up in the middle around lots of people "on the bottom". Just as with those "on the top" there are good people, not so good people, and all out horrible monsters. I personally think we would have a better chance of a just and fair system for all or at least for more people than what we have now if those in power were not all very rich and considered to be at the top. Right now we are governed by people who want power and money. Maybe we could come up with a different definition of success. Maybe success could be defined as ensuring that everyone has access to healthcare, somewhere to live, a clean environment. Maybe if those in power right now weren't so focused on all the money to be made from selling weapons and ammunition we would not be witnessing a genocide.
'...why so many are leaning to the right politically these days...'
I think it's mainly because those right-wing politicians are purposefully being populist and pretending to care about the socioeconomic struggles many citizens are enduring nowadays, especially the lower and middle classes.
Essentially, their feeding and amping up the deep socioeconomic insecurities of these citizens, thus playing with their emotions in order easily gain support.
But instead of blaming the system itself (which they're very much a part of) for the people's problems, they play up ethnoreligious issues, blame immigrants, etc.
I hope all the people protesting Palestine vote and encourage others to vote for the most progressive candidate they can possibly find.
I'm sure you're right about the fake populism; claiming to care about the ordinary person while being backed by privatization profiteers. That's the way it's being done in Canada anyways.
Great post! My family all immigrated from Sicily back in the 30's and 40's but I was the only one born in the USA! I really don't know much about their story except they wanted a better life here. My father first worked in the local paper Company and then he was the custodian at Terry Elementary School where I attended from kindergarten to first grade! (see poem). My two brothers were married when I was quite young. I was 4 or 5 when my oldest brother was married here in Pa.in Downingtown. My other older brother was married in Sicily to a girl he knew from childhood. He had joined the Navy I believe when he was in his early 20's and was on a ship based in Italy or Sicily when he met his future wife again.
Thanks for sharing your family story, Connie. I'm the daughter of an immigrant on one side and grandparents who were immigrants on the other, so I have a soft spot for immigrants.
"Maybe it’s time our societies focused on the cut and not the blood."
Good, succinct description of the real issue: immigration is "A:" problem, but it is not "THE" problem.
Many flee because of drug trade and gang violence and we in the United States make billions selling military grade weapons to gangs throughout Latin America.
I wish there were left party alternatives to the right and hard right parties, but unfortunately there are not, they have all been corporatized. Just look at Labor in Great Britain and the Democrats in the US.
As I noted in my Substack this morning ... with accompanying cartoon on our Dems and Rethuglicans:
The mindless media gruel about Biden/Trump election polling is completely irrelevant to reality. American politics are dead. Dead and done. A revolution has occurred . A corporate coup. Under this corporate government, people are nothing more than resources to be exploited or — as in the case of the Palestinians — expenses to be eliminated. We are in a corporate uniparty fascist state now where the orders, whims and needs of fascist donors for a foreign state rules America. Forget the politics. Think resistance.
Resist or succumb.
Organize or be organized for abuse and the benefit of the super wealthy.
In an echo of an earlier time of national crisis: Live free or die.
Some of the waves of mass migration, notably those from Central America, are also due to the drug trade and the power of drug cartels (often better armed than police and military -- and allegedly armed by the CIA?). This, in turn, invites a simple question. Who purchases most of those drugs?
but Mark, this is not only in the US. After 30 miserable, neoliberal years ruled largely by a liberal concensus, Europe is swinging right too. And because of strong family structures here, its not loneliness, homelessness, nor drugs; it’s endless financial insecurity.
Yep, it's Europe too. Our blowing up of the Nord Stream gas line is gutting their economies. They should get out of Ukraine and negotiate with Putin for good relations and reasonably-priced energy.
As to the loneliness thing, study after study show a dramatic rise in loneliness and social isolation as American families and community structures and support are collapsing. Homelessness is overwhelming cities like LA, San Diego, NYC, LA etc. In some cities police won't even respond to squatters anymore. Drug use is through the roof and is "A" problem caused by "THE" problems of stressed families, economic devastation, homelessness, social isolation ... in sum, the US empire is collapsing and all we are seeing is the stuff seen in all collapsing empires.
I’m familiar. I left San Francisco to come here - (and the last time I visited, my heart was utterly shattered) - and it really is starting here, too. Family structures are still strong, but we are starting to see a serious rise in homelessness, especially as social welfare is being gutted.
A whole lot of hot horseshit was passed by our ‘liberal’ mayors during the pandemic (where public participation was forbidden.) These included the closing of public squares (where families and teens used to hang out) UNLESS you are sitting in a business consuming shit.
Health care - and more importantly, addiction care, was cut to the bone (in the middle of a motherfucking pandemic) and that money was reallocated to policing to clear the aforementioned piazza’s where kids hang out.
Rents have skyrocketed, forcing kids and families out of the cities to make way for WeWorks and tourist apartments. Lack of health care, addiction care, and the absurd cost of housing, has created a lot of crime (which was relatively rare in this area before.) The cops are busy making sure people don’t sit on benches in the public squares and rousting teenagers from parks - so they aren’t really helpful.
I am watching my gorgeous heritage Italian city turn into San Francisco - and it hurts.
Of course, the right wing blames the immigrants (they call me an ex-pat cuz I’m white) - and all the people really know is that they worked their whole lives, and their pensions have evaporated, their public health care is disintegrating, crime is rising, and their kids have to move abroad to get a job.
And the ‘left’ broke every promise it ever made.
(BTW - our energy bills TRIPLED after the pipeline explosion, and grocery bills doubled. But that’s ok, because entertainment is still cheap.)
What a drag! On all counts: for the people whose standards of living are plummeting, for the loss of a vibrant left, for the broken promises made by the shelled out facsimile of a left...
I provided links to this Chris Hedges interview in my current Substack and have ordered the author's book "Silent Coup" and will do more with this, but I think you would find this interesting. Something HUGE has already happened around the globe. What you saw in SF and what you are seeing now is global and it is happening for a reason as a direct result of actions we have been blinded to.
You are living on the frontline of what is occuring.
Isn't silent coup Claire Provost? (I have it but haven't read it yet.)
When I first arrived in Italy some 20 years ago, there was a hugely active leftist movement. There were socialists and communists and anarchists, the left, center left, christian left. In every commune of Italy there was a political event roughly equivocal to our town, county, and state fairs called the "Festa del'Unita" - each political faction used these as a fundraiser, running pasta and pizza stands, renting stands to craftspeople, and having a MainStage for lively political debates. In the cities, these were HUGE, lasting for weeks and attracting tens and tens of thousands of people.
Around 15 years ago, the PD (the centrist, mainstream democrats) convinced all these other parties to coalesce under a single umbrella. (I tried to warn them... I knew what happened next!) - and all these little parties got sucked in to the neoliberal tent because they were convinced that they would finally have a real voice, rather than the tiny fractious zillion party system that was this countries parliament.
Any American can predict what happened next. The PD shifted hard right, and the left got obliterated. Now the Festa del'Unita attracts tens of people - even in the cities. The whole fractious, participatory demos is destroyed. And now we have a fascist in power (but hey! The Facists is a lady!!! whoop!)
Democracy died in Italy. I watched. And the people are no better off today than they were 20 years ago, and they will vote for ANYONE who promises change. All of Europe is blaming the EU - and on one hand I cannot exactly blame them (Merkel was a nightmare. Germany was all about 'austerity' for thee, but not for me...) - and the sad fucking thing is that a united EU was the ONLY fucking thing that COULD have stood as a world power to balance the US. Also, the unity of the EU had awesome and wonderful social impacts; people weren't this or that - they were European, the standards of education and arts and culture improved vastly under Erasmus programs and cultural exchange.
But the neoliberals fucked it. They are breaking the union again. It started with Greece, followed by Brexit. And now, Belgium stands as yet another US corporate vassal.
I was reading about the swing to the right in Europe, and am pretty upset by the swing to the right in North America, and woke up wanting to post about my take on it (which I will).
I couldn't help thinking about all the people on the streets for Palestine, and wondering how they're voting and how they could be mobilized to get out the vote for truly progressives; the George Galloway types in their ridings, and in American and Canadian ridings too.
We need a movement like this all over the western world.
Maybe people on the streets could volunteer to drive progressive boomers to the polls. I'm sure many are wondering what on earth happened to those between 30 and 60 who have become so right wing.
Here in the EU (specifically Italy, where I abide) - there is virtually no one to vote for. (Just like the US.) It's the same impoverishing, effete, gutless, virtue signaling, corporate ass licking liberals OR it's the fucking card-carrying fascists.
Ugh! How depressing! Here in Canada, if there are any decent candidates they're often screened out. I have hopes around one federal and one provincial party -- different parties, but good people having influence in each.
The Boomers I know are the embodiment of 'vote-blue-no-matter-who" and genuinely think Biden is the best pick. I have seen only a handful of them at protests I've attended. I am so disgusted with my generation.
Wow! That's crappy. The Boomers I know are pretty militant, but maybe it's just the crowd I associate with. There are some who aren't as left/green as I'd like.
It's beyond me how anyone could vote for Biden. He doesn't have red lines apparently, but that doesn't mean they shouldn't.
I live in a solidly Democrat, lefty Boomer 'woke' community and nobody ever talks about Gaza and they will all vote for Biden and think they are doing the right thing. Needless to say, I don't have any friends here.
The rightward shift in Western politics is definitely concerning. It poses a threat for the climate movement, international law and many other global issues. Unfortunately, politicians on the centre-left are now sometimes indistinguishable from the right-wing counterparts on many issues.
To add unto that, many western countries, particularly the U.K. and the US, are not being honest with their citizens about immigration. The U.K. has an ageing population and severe shortages in many key sectors such as healthcare. Immigration is needed to fill these shortages for at least the next 5-10 years until enough domestic workers are trained, or else the consequences will be severe.
The US is built on the backs of immigrants, indigenous peoples and slaves. Immigration and the ability for anyone to become an American is a big reason why it is the richest country in the world. Making immigration near impossible to the country would be suicidal to the economy in the long-term.
Issues commonly pinned on immigrants to the west, such as housing crises and crime, are caused by rigid urban planning regulations and poverty rather than immigrants but no one on the left seems to have the courage to make that case anymore. Furthermore, illegal immigration is inconvenient but we need to consider why these people are choosing to risk their lives to immigrate. Maybe providing more aid to the countries they come from to alleviate poverty, would be a better solution than demonising them and stripping them of their human rights.
Trump is an sociopathic idiot but the truth is that most of the sources of our immigration onslaught are, in fact, overpopulated shit holes not the result of Western intervention. A prime example:
The problem here in the United States of America is that we have a One Party Political System disguised as Two: the Left (Democrats) and the Right (Republicans). It’s an illusion that our votes count when our choices of candidates are legally selected by two private companies: The DNC and The RNC. Add on top of that a Mainstream Media system that’s controlled by at least six (6) corporations working as mouthpieces for this One Party Political System. The only hope for this country is that people wake up and speak up against this corrupt system.
And in the UK, legal routes of entry are blocked to those most in need of them. Then there are screams of outrage when asylum-seekers and refugees risk their lives trying to cross the English Channel. "Stop the Boats" is one of the Tory pledges 🤮
(I only agree with that policy when it applies to Israel-bound cargo ships. Thank you, Yemen! 🇵🇸 )
Too many arriving on our borders are both war (NATO) and economic (Neoliberalism) refugees driven from their homelands and we hypocritical welcome them disavowing we that we blew up their country. The refugees entering the US from Mexico are mainly economic refugees... blowback from American imperialist foreign policy.
An American official once noted that economic sanctions are very cost effective as they are slow motion war and genocide.
"I struggle to grasp why so many are leaning to the right politically these days, especially when the right is leaning so far towards the hard right."
I think there are two reasons. First, when people are scared, they get angry, they seek order. The right-wing brand of authoritarianism promises, structure, rules, a return to the 'old ways.' These parties, rather than holding the powerful to account, provides simple answers - 'it's the poor,' 'it's the immigrants,' it's the X.
And then there is the abysmal failure of the "left" - which is just a right-wing party with virtue signaling. The 'left' (I am speaking of Macron, Renzi, Scholtz etc) has sold the people out, privatized their commons, has cut social spending to the bone and dismantled the most of what was once a functioning, robust welfare state. The poor are poorer, the rich are richer, and people are voting for populist change because that's the only change on offer.
You're right about the way the left has been co-opted. I struggle to know who to vote for, the traditional left being a bunch of people who lie, virtue signal and privatize things. Yikes!
I have a harder time relating to the 'old ways' rationale, but have often heard that when people are scared and angry they tend to become more reactionary and conservative.
i think you mean the ‘establishment’ left. The traditional left (Sanders, Corbyn, etc) get smeared as racist, anti-semitic, anti-women, etc… the neoliberal establishment left virtue signals concern for all of those things - and destroys real leftists with nonsense culture war virtue signals (that as Biden has just shown, with his new anti-immigration laws, they don’t actually care about.`0
Yes, I do mean the establishment left. I have so much respect for the traditional left like Corbyn.
The nonsense virtue signaling is real and it's pissed off a lot of people including those on the traditional left. I call this the fake left. While the world goes to hell, everything is about identity with these people - there's no class consciousness and nothing about unity- instead everything is seen through the lens of identity. It's why Tara Henley quit CBC and started her own Substack.
And it’s not that I think identity doesn’t matter. I marched against the wars in El Salvador and Nicaragua and I did die ins for my friends, dying of aids. The thing is, the fake left cares about Biff and Tucker, in their East Hampton town-house. But they don’t care about Joe Bob (or Enrique, or Taffy, etc) turning tricks to make their rent, and dying of Aids. They care about Kamala from Brentwood, but not Shawna from Oakland. Their ‘virtue’ applies to their own class, even when it crosses lines of race and gender identity. It doesn’t apply to their inferiors… ie: you and me.
We need to bring back class consciousness and frame things in a way where we see what benefits the working and middle classes, and the very poor, and what doesn't.
A number of speakers at my local Palestine solidarity demos have made this very point.
Sanders is a sheepdog for the Democrats to keep the lefties in the herd.
I think that we need another system of governance altogether. Voting does not work. The people who can run for office need to have money behind them. Money=success. That's a big part of the problem. Maybe we need to re-define success to mean that people are safe from environmental collapse, nuclear threat and crazies like Netanyahu.
Proportional representation seems much better than first past the post, but I think it's only a first step. I wish we could vote our way out of neoliberalism.
I mean a totally different system whereby governance is from the bottom up rather than the top down. Maybe proportional representation could be a start, but I don't think so. Our system is already too corrupt to simply patch it up.
The problem with the bottom up is …. well, I grew up on the bottom. Those on the bottom turn into tyrants even more quickly that those born to it. I think we need more lateral systems… proportional voting, multiple parties, caucuses (!!!) actually make a difference. A two party, winner-take-all system is no democracy at all - especially if votes can be purchased and voters are turned into consumers.
I grew up on the bottom too, and there are some really great people there, but some not so great, for sure. I don't know that all could easily be corrupted. Some are really strong morally and ethically and can stand up to pressure.
Citizens' assemblies? They seem like a good starting point. Maybe some kind of direct democracy? I like the idea of having referenda on matters that effect our lives, like what kind of energy supply and how we want to manage our forests, what kind of justice system we want to support, what we invest our pension funds in, etc.
I grew up in the middle around lots of people "on the bottom". Just as with those "on the top" there are good people, not so good people, and all out horrible monsters. I personally think we would have a better chance of a just and fair system for all or at least for more people than what we have now if those in power were not all very rich and considered to be at the top. Right now we are governed by people who want power and money. Maybe we could come up with a different definition of success. Maybe success could be defined as ensuring that everyone has access to healthcare, somewhere to live, a clean environment. Maybe if those in power right now weren't so focused on all the money to be made from selling weapons and ammunition we would not be witnessing a genocide.
As Aaron Mate so astutely observed we are witnessing "the bipartisan lunatic fringe" That pretty well says it all for defunct Western governments.
'...why so many are leaning to the right politically these days...'
I think it's mainly because those right-wing politicians are purposefully being populist and pretending to care about the socioeconomic struggles many citizens are enduring nowadays, especially the lower and middle classes.
Essentially, their feeding and amping up the deep socioeconomic insecurities of these citizens, thus playing with their emotions in order easily gain support.
But instead of blaming the system itself (which they're very much a part of) for the people's problems, they play up ethnoreligious issues, blame immigrants, etc.
I hope all the people protesting Palestine vote and encourage others to vote for the most progressive candidate they can possibly find.
I'm sure you're right about the fake populism; claiming to care about the ordinary person while being backed by privatization profiteers. That's the way it's being done in Canada anyways.
Great post! My family all immigrated from Sicily back in the 30's and 40's but I was the only one born in the USA! I really don't know much about their story except they wanted a better life here. My father first worked in the local paper Company and then he was the custodian at Terry Elementary School where I attended from kindergarten to first grade! (see poem). My two brothers were married when I was quite young. I was 4 or 5 when my oldest brother was married here in Pa.in Downingtown. My other older brother was married in Sicily to a girl he knew from childhood. He had joined the Navy I believe when he was in his early 20's and was on a ship based in Italy or Sicily when he met his future wife again.
Thanks for sharing your family story, Connie. I'm the daughter of an immigrant on one side and grandparents who were immigrants on the other, so I have a soft spot for immigrants.
With you a hundred percent!
"Maybe it’s time our societies focused on the cut and not the blood."
Good, succinct description of the real issue: immigration is "A:" problem, but it is not "THE" problem.
Many flee because of drug trade and gang violence and we in the United States make billions selling military grade weapons to gangs throughout Latin America.
I wish there were left party alternatives to the right and hard right parties, but unfortunately there are not, they have all been corporatized. Just look at Labor in Great Britain and the Democrats in the US.
As I noted in my Substack this morning ... with accompanying cartoon on our Dems and Rethuglicans:
The mindless media gruel about Biden/Trump election polling is completely irrelevant to reality. American politics are dead. Dead and done. A revolution has occurred . A corporate coup. Under this corporate government, people are nothing more than resources to be exploited or — as in the case of the Palestinians — expenses to be eliminated. We are in a corporate uniparty fascist state now where the orders, whims and needs of fascist donors for a foreign state rules America. Forget the politics. Think resistance.
Resist or succumb.
Organize or be organized for abuse and the benefit of the super wealthy.
In an echo of an earlier time of national crisis: Live free or die.
https://mark192.substack.com/p/cartoon-the-huge-difference-between
Well stated.
Some of the waves of mass migration, notably those from Central America, are also due to the drug trade and the power of drug cartels (often better armed than police and military -- and allegedly armed by the CIA?). This, in turn, invites a simple question. Who purchases most of those drugs?
The collapse of the American society, homelessness, debt, loneliness etc. feeds the drug crisis.
Drug use is "A" problem, but not "THE" problem.
Our fascist corporate world govt feeds and profits off all these multiple,interlaced crises.
but Mark, this is not only in the US. After 30 miserable, neoliberal years ruled largely by a liberal concensus, Europe is swinging right too. And because of strong family structures here, its not loneliness, homelessness, nor drugs; it’s endless financial insecurity.
Yep, it's Europe too. Our blowing up of the Nord Stream gas line is gutting their economies. They should get out of Ukraine and negotiate with Putin for good relations and reasonably-priced energy.
As to the loneliness thing, study after study show a dramatic rise in loneliness and social isolation as American families and community structures and support are collapsing. Homelessness is overwhelming cities like LA, San Diego, NYC, LA etc. In some cities police won't even respond to squatters anymore. Drug use is through the roof and is "A" problem caused by "THE" problems of stressed families, economic devastation, homelessness, social isolation ... in sum, the US empire is collapsing and all we are seeing is the stuff seen in all collapsing empires.
I’m familiar. I left San Francisco to come here - (and the last time I visited, my heart was utterly shattered) - and it really is starting here, too. Family structures are still strong, but we are starting to see a serious rise in homelessness, especially as social welfare is being gutted.
A whole lot of hot horseshit was passed by our ‘liberal’ mayors during the pandemic (where public participation was forbidden.) These included the closing of public squares (where families and teens used to hang out) UNLESS you are sitting in a business consuming shit.
Health care - and more importantly, addiction care, was cut to the bone (in the middle of a motherfucking pandemic) and that money was reallocated to policing to clear the aforementioned piazza’s where kids hang out.
Rents have skyrocketed, forcing kids and families out of the cities to make way for WeWorks and tourist apartments. Lack of health care, addiction care, and the absurd cost of housing, has created a lot of crime (which was relatively rare in this area before.) The cops are busy making sure people don’t sit on benches in the public squares and rousting teenagers from parks - so they aren’t really helpful.
I am watching my gorgeous heritage Italian city turn into San Francisco - and it hurts.
Of course, the right wing blames the immigrants (they call me an ex-pat cuz I’m white) - and all the people really know is that they worked their whole lives, and their pensions have evaporated, their public health care is disintegrating, crime is rising, and their kids have to move abroad to get a job.
And the ‘left’ broke every promise it ever made.
(BTW - our energy bills TRIPLED after the pipeline explosion, and grocery bills doubled. But that’s ok, because entertainment is still cheap.)
What a drag! On all counts: for the people whose standards of living are plummeting, for the loss of a vibrant left, for the broken promises made by the shelled out facsimile of a left...
I provided links to this Chris Hedges interview in my current Substack and have ordered the author's book "Silent Coup" and will do more with this, but I think you would find this interesting. Something HUGE has already happened around the globe. What you saw in SF and what you are seeing now is global and it is happening for a reason as a direct result of actions we have been blinded to.
You are living on the frontline of what is occuring.
Here is the interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xRrk-cYU-E
Here is my column in which I am linking to the interview: https://mark192.substack.com/p/cartoon-the-huge-difference-between
Also check out the BBC doc "HyperNormalisation". It's long, but , OMG, it explains a lot. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gr7T07WfIhM
The world has shifted beneath us but we are just beginning to feel the tremors of the earthquake.
Isn't silent coup Claire Provost? (I have it but haven't read it yet.)
When I first arrived in Italy some 20 years ago, there was a hugely active leftist movement. There were socialists and communists and anarchists, the left, center left, christian left. In every commune of Italy there was a political event roughly equivocal to our town, county, and state fairs called the "Festa del'Unita" - each political faction used these as a fundraiser, running pasta and pizza stands, renting stands to craftspeople, and having a MainStage for lively political debates. In the cities, these were HUGE, lasting for weeks and attracting tens and tens of thousands of people.
Around 15 years ago, the PD (the centrist, mainstream democrats) convinced all these other parties to coalesce under a single umbrella. (I tried to warn them... I knew what happened next!) - and all these little parties got sucked in to the neoliberal tent because they were convinced that they would finally have a real voice, rather than the tiny fractious zillion party system that was this countries parliament.
Any American can predict what happened next. The PD shifted hard right, and the left got obliterated. Now the Festa del'Unita attracts tens of people - even in the cities. The whole fractious, participatory demos is destroyed. And now we have a fascist in power (but hey! The Facists is a lady!!! whoop!)
Democracy died in Italy. I watched. And the people are no better off today than they were 20 years ago, and they will vote for ANYONE who promises change. All of Europe is blaming the EU - and on one hand I cannot exactly blame them (Merkel was a nightmare. Germany was all about 'austerity' for thee, but not for me...) - and the sad fucking thing is that a united EU was the ONLY fucking thing that COULD have stood as a world power to balance the US. Also, the unity of the EU had awesome and wonderful social impacts; people weren't this or that - they were European, the standards of education and arts and culture improved vastly under Erasmus programs and cultural exchange.
But the neoliberals fucked it. They are breaking the union again. It started with Greece, followed by Brexit. And now, Belgium stands as yet another US corporate vassal.
I was reading about the swing to the right in Europe, and am pretty upset by the swing to the right in North America, and woke up wanting to post about my take on it (which I will).
I couldn't help thinking about all the people on the streets for Palestine, and wondering how they're voting and how they could be mobilized to get out the vote for truly progressives; the George Galloway types in their ridings, and in American and Canadian ridings too.
The first thing I saw on x was this. https://x.com/i/status/1800474513702023358
We need a movement like this all over the western world.
Maybe people on the streets could volunteer to drive progressive boomers to the polls. I'm sure many are wondering what on earth happened to those between 30 and 60 who have become so right wing.
Here in the EU (specifically Italy, where I abide) - there is virtually no one to vote for. (Just like the US.) It's the same impoverishing, effete, gutless, virtue signaling, corporate ass licking liberals OR it's the fucking card-carrying fascists.
Ugh! How depressing! Here in Canada, if there are any decent candidates they're often screened out. I have hopes around one federal and one provincial party -- different parties, but good people having influence in each.
Italy sounds really scary right now politically.
The Boomers I know are the embodiment of 'vote-blue-no-matter-who" and genuinely think Biden is the best pick. I have seen only a handful of them at protests I've attended. I am so disgusted with my generation.
Wow! That's crappy. The Boomers I know are pretty militant, but maybe it's just the crowd I associate with. There are some who aren't as left/green as I'd like.
It's beyond me how anyone could vote for Biden. He doesn't have red lines apparently, but that doesn't mean they shouldn't.
I live in a solidly Democrat, lefty Boomer 'woke' community and nobody ever talks about Gaza and they will all vote for Biden and think they are doing the right thing. Needless to say, I don't have any friends here.
My Facebook friends lists are filled with these folks. God bless em. The sky is literally a different color in their world.
Agreed!
The rightward shift in Western politics is definitely concerning. It poses a threat for the climate movement, international law and many other global issues. Unfortunately, politicians on the centre-left are now sometimes indistinguishable from the right-wing counterparts on many issues.
To add unto that, many western countries, particularly the U.K. and the US, are not being honest with their citizens about immigration. The U.K. has an ageing population and severe shortages in many key sectors such as healthcare. Immigration is needed to fill these shortages for at least the next 5-10 years until enough domestic workers are trained, or else the consequences will be severe.
The US is built on the backs of immigrants, indigenous peoples and slaves. Immigration and the ability for anyone to become an American is a big reason why it is the richest country in the world. Making immigration near impossible to the country would be suicidal to the economy in the long-term.
Issues commonly pinned on immigrants to the west, such as housing crises and crime, are caused by rigid urban planning regulations and poverty rather than immigrants but no one on the left seems to have the courage to make that case anymore. Furthermore, illegal immigration is inconvenient but we need to consider why these people are choosing to risk their lives to immigrate. Maybe providing more aid to the countries they come from to alleviate poverty, would be a better solution than demonising them and stripping them of their human rights.
Trump is an sociopathic idiot but the truth is that most of the sources of our immigration onslaught are, in fact, overpopulated shit holes not the result of Western intervention. A prime example:
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/11/world/africa/nigeria-economy-strike.html?unlocked_article_code=1.y00.lmTL.UO7EgJbLP_SU&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare&sgrp=c-cb
The problem here in the United States of America is that we have a One Party Political System disguised as Two: the Left (Democrats) and the Right (Republicans). It’s an illusion that our votes count when our choices of candidates are legally selected by two private companies: The DNC and The RNC. Add on top of that a Mainstream Media system that’s controlled by at least six (6) corporations working as mouthpieces for this One Party Political System. The only hope for this country is that people wake up and speak up against this corrupt system.
And in the UK, legal routes of entry are blocked to those most in need of them. Then there are screams of outrage when asylum-seekers and refugees risk their lives trying to cross the English Channel. "Stop the Boats" is one of the Tory pledges 🤮
(I only agree with that policy when it applies to Israel-bound cargo ships. Thank you, Yemen! 🇵🇸 )
Too many arriving on our borders are both war (NATO) and economic (Neoliberalism) refugees driven from their homelands and we hypocritical welcome them disavowing we that we blew up their country. The refugees entering the US from Mexico are mainly economic refugees... blowback from American imperialist foreign policy.
An American official once noted that economic sanctions are very cost effective as they are slow motion war and genocide.
If only that American official would impose economic sanctions on Israel.