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No reason to breathe a sigh of relief.

It was on 1 December 1955 that a black woman in Montgomery, Alabama was arrested after refusing to give up her seat on a bus to a white person. Rosa Parks had broken racist, segregation laws in her state which stipulated that black Americans must vacate their seats if there were white passengers left standing. […]
The post Racism and right-wing extremism appeared first on Ideas on Europe.

It was on 1 December 1955 that a black woman in Montgomery, Alabama was arrested after refusing to give up her seat on a bus to a white person. Rosa Parks had broken racist, segregation laws in her state which stipulated that black Americans must vacate their seats if there were white passengers left standing. […]
The post Racism and right-wing extremism appeared first on EU ROPE.

Poland's right-wing ruling party has accused the EU political establishment of breaking its agreement with Warsaw following suggestions that the country may not receive its share of the Union's post-pandemic recovery funds. Although, given Poles' increasingly instrumental approach towards EU membership, failing to secure access to these monies could be extremely damaging for the ruling […]

Political life in North Macedonia in the next weeks will focus on the forming of the new government based on the coalition of VMRO-DPMNE and VLEN, with Mickoski as future prime minister.

A group of human rights and migration researchers explains how the proposed Finnish law on asylum-seekers violates the country's international obligations and human rights law.

If Poland's upcoming election were held today, the right-wing ruling party would almost certainly lose its parliamentary majority. But with several factors working in its favour, the governing party only needs a relatively small uptick in support to be within striking distance of a record third consecutive term of office. On the back foot This […]

Uncovering a surprising flow of influence from Europe to the USA, Tobias Cremer’s new book outlines a new ‘Christianism’ within the populist right. Here, Cameron Howes reviews ‘The Godless Crusade’. The Godless Crusade: Religion, Populism and Right-Wing Identity Politics in the West. Tobias Cremer. Cambridge University Press, 2022. The hollowing out of hallowed symbols for political gain … Continued

In Going Mainstream: How Extremists Are Taking Over, Julia Ebner interrogates how circumstances including the pandemic, global conflict and rapid technological change have pushed extreme political views from the fringe into the mainstream. Drawing on interviews with far-right extremists, Ebner builds a compelling framework for understanding and countering the mainstreaming of extreme ideas, writes Lena Schorlemer. Going Mainstream: … Continued

The Biden administration must take steps to increase the oversight of U.S. weapons given to Israel in order to reduce civilian harm in Gaza, argued a group of powerful Democratic senators in a new open letter to President Joe Biden."Israel is a U.S. partner, and we must ensure accountability for the use of U.S. weapons we provided to our ally," wrote the group of lawmakers, which included Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), and Tim Kaine (D-Va.).The letter, while carefully worded to avoid condemning administration policy, is among the strongest statements of concern from Biden's Senate allies about how he has approached the war. The U.S.-backed Israeli campaign has left more than 16,000 Palestinians dead, 70% of whom were women or children, according to Palestinian officials.The statement comes as Congress considers a large spending package that includes $14 billion in weapons aid for Israel as well as measures that would waive some transparency requirements for military assistance to the country — a sharp contrast with the detailed information that the Biden administration has shared on its aid to Ukraine.Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) announced Wednesday that he plans to introduce an amendment to the bill that would require that all weapons sent through this package be used in accordance with U.S. law and international law, including the law of armed conflict. The proposal would also require Biden to report to Congress on this question, forcing the administration to evaluate Israel's adherence to U.S. laws and policies.Sanders, meanwhile, has gone further than his colleagues and said he opposes the package in its current form, arguing that the U.S. should not be helping "the right-wing, extremist Netanyahu government to continue its current military strategy.""What the Netanyahu government is doing is immoral, it is in violation of international law, and the United States should not be complicit in those actions," he argued in a separate letter.In the Warren-led letter, the lawmakers highlight the dramatic impact that Israel's bombing campaign has had on Gaza by rattling off a list of alleged human rights violations committed by Israeli forces. Drawing on press reports, the senators say Israel has struck civilians in "safe zones" they were told to flee to, killed well over 100 civilians in attacks on a refugee camp, and targeted hospitals such that it became impossible to provide medical care."While these strikes were aimed at Hamas, we have concerns that strikes on civilian infrastructure have not been proportional, particularly given the predictable harm to civilians," the lawmakers wrote. Sens. Martin Heimrich (D-N.M.) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) also signed the missive.Notably, the letter questions whether the administration has held to its own policies in Gaza, a point raised by numerous experts and former officials over the past two months. They applauded several civilian protection initiatives that Biden has undertaken — including a policy saying the U.S. will not give weapons to anyone who will "more likely than not" use them to violate human rights — but argued that it is "unclear, however, how these different efforts are or will be applied to protect civilians in Gaza.""Your administration must ensure that existing guidance and standards are being used to evaluate the reports of Israel using U.S. weapons in attacks that harm civilians in order to more rigorously protect civilian safety during Israel's operations in Gaza," they wrote.The lawmakers also raised concerns about specific weapons that the U.S. continues to provide Israel, including artillery rounds that have been used in allegedly indiscriminate attacks. "The DoD as a whole has yet to define safeguards or issue a statement on how Israel should use U.S. weapons," the letter notes.The letter ends with a series of questions for the administration demanding details about what assurances Israel has provided about its use of U.S. weapons as well as an explanation of how the U.S. addresses allegations of civilian harm by Israeli forces.Dear RS readers: It has been an extraordinary year and our editing team has been working overtime to make sure that we are covering the current conflicts with quality, fresh analysis that doesn't cleave to the mainstream orthodoxy or take official Washington and the commentariat at face value. Our staff reporters, experts, and outside writers offer top-notch, independent work, daily. Please consider making a tax-exempt, year-end contribution to Responsible Statecraft so that we can continue this quality coverage — which you will find nowhere else — into 2024. Happy Holidays!

Dr. Eviane Leidig, Marie Curie postdoctoral fellow at Tilburg University, discusses her book “The Women of the Far Right: Social Media Influencers and Online Radicalization.“ We break down the role of social media for the alt-right movement, and how platforms like Instagram and YouTube work to mainstream extremist views. These insights come from Dr. Leidigs...
The post #172: Far Right Women Influencers on YouTube and Instagram, with Dr. Eviane Leidig appeared first on Social Media and Politics.

Death's 1990 Spiritual Healing paints a right-wing culture warrior's nightmare vision of America.

Facing the threat from right-wing populism at June's Euro-elections, Austria offers lessons for progressives.

Just days after a gunman opened fire in a suburban outlet mall in Texas in May, killing eight people, his far-right extremist views became apparent. His online posts and profile, the symbols on the clothing he wore and even his tattoos revealed white-supremacist, neo-Nazi and misogynistic incel ties. While these views are shocking, the fact […]

We should counter the radical right, Robert Misik writes, not with left-wing populism but the power of reason.