James Bloodworth is a writer and journalist from London.
Liberals often equate populism with the politics of Donald Trump. But during the Gilded Age, when massive inequality led to poverty and exploitation, populism meant working-class resistance to the power of corporations.
Living in Gaza in “normal” times is unbearable. Israel’s siege, bombardment, and forced removal are making it an impossible nightmare for Palestinian civilians, with a million displaced and more than 2,000 killed.
French interior minister Gérald Darmanin has ordered that families of “delinquents” be evicted from social housing. Such collective punishment tramples on all manner of legal principles — but fits with the government’s repressive crackdown in poor suburbs.
Advocates of crypto claimed that it would liberate ordinary people from the constraints of big finance and state-backed money. In reality, it’s become a vehicle for high-risk financial speculation, with the same narrow elite harvesting the gains.
Poland already has a nationalist government, and the rise of the Konfederacja party threatens to pull it even further to the right. It wants to slash taxes and break up the welfare state — a radical agenda that’s rallying parts of the right-wing base.
Writing with Israel’s invasion of Gaza looming, Jeremy Corbyn fiercely criticizes the politicians in the West backing Israel’s heinous assault, which has already killed more than 2,000 Palestinians, and calls for an immediate ceasefire.
The ongoing violence in Israel and Palestine is the fruit of decades of increasingly right-wing Israeli policy, aided and abetted by the United States. To address the root causes, the US must end its support for Benjamin Netanyahu’s extremist government.
Israel is mounting an indiscriminate assault on Gaza. To stop more deaths of Israelis and Palestinians alike, we must demand an end to the US government’s support for Israeli apartheid and occupation.
Alberta’s premier, Danielle Smith, has launched a $5 million taxpayer-funded campaign to encourage residents to bet their life savings on a new pension plan. It’s a move to provoke a showdown with Ottawa and to fuel separatist sentiments for political gain.
An escalating sovereign debt crisis is crippling governments across the Global South and making billions for Wall Street. Activists hope to crack down on these debt vultures by pushing the New York State Legislature to ban their most predatory tactics.
The “populist” ruling party and the “liberal” opposition aren’t the only choices in Poland’s election this Sunday. Polling in third place, the Lewica coalition offers a left-wing alternative that could prove decisive in forming the next government.
The crucial context for the violence in Israel and Palestine is that the world’s longest occupation turned into a formal annexation, with not even the pretense of a process toward a Palestinian state. To achieve lasting peace, Israeli apartheid must end.
While mainstream politicians are supporting Israeli violence against civilians in Gaza, some in the media have focused on denouncing the left-wing group Democratic Socialists of America — and in doing so, they’ve played fast and loose with the facts.
If Israel does not de-escalate its war on Gaza, the conflict risks spilling into neighboring Middle Eastern nations. The humanitarian consequences would be horrific.
Gaza is not a state at war with Israel. It is effectively the world’s largest refugee camp — and Israel’s unconscionable bombardment, now set to escalate with US backing, has already killed nearly 2,000 Palestinians in Gaza, including hundreds of children.
Israel’s government has declared war on Gaza’s civilians in the name of collective punishment, ordering them to flee their homes or face unrestrained violence. European leaders who have supported this war will bear responsibility for what happens next.
France has issued a blanket ban on pro-Palestine rallies in the name of preempting potential antisemitism. In a witch-hunt atmosphere, all who refuse to give unconditional support for Israel’s looming invasion of Gaza are treated as “pro-terrorist.”
German Social Democratic Party leader Saskia Esken has boycotted a Bernie Sanders event over his supposedly anti-Israel statements. Bernie’s statement? “The targeting of civilians is a war crime, no matter who does it.”
The US response to 9/11 killed millions, destabilized an entire region, and led to more American deaths than the original attacks. Israel is rushing down the same path.
For decades, Poland was held up as a successful example of transition to liberal democracy. But faced with the country’s slide into right-wing authoritarianism, the pitfalls of centrist politics are plain to see.