Category: Fascism

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Trump is the kinglike president many feared when arguing over the US Constitution in 1789 – and his address to Congress showed it

BY Maurizio Valsania, Università di Torino If there are any limits to a president’s power, it wasn’t evident from Donald Trump’s speech before a joint session of Congress on March 4, 2025. In that speech, the first before lawmakers of Trump’s second term, the president declared vast accomplishments during the brief six weeks of his presidency. … Continue reading Trump is the kinglike president many feared when arguing over the US Constitution in 1789 – and his address to Congress showed it

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How toxic leaders destroy people as well as organisations

BY THEO VELDSMAN, University of Johannesburg There is a growing incidence of toxic leadership in organisations across the world. This is clear from anecdotal evidence as well as research which suggests that one out of every five leaders is toxic. My own research shows that closer to three out of every ten leaders are toxic. This … Continue reading How toxic leaders destroy people as well as organisations

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The Kakistocracy: Exposing Trump’s Hypocrisy and the GOP’s War on DEI

BY CHRISTIAN SARKAR Trump 2.0 can be described as a kakistocracy – a state or society governed by its least suitable or competent citizens. Let’s process that. Donald Trump and the Republican Party have made dismantling Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives a core part of their political platform, claiming these programs undermine merit and lower standards. Yet, … Continue reading The Kakistocracy: Exposing Trump’s Hypocrisy and the GOP’s War on DEI

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Crapitalism and the Degenerative Enterprise

BY CHRISTIAN SARKAR Is your business degenerative? Is it following the well-thumbed playbook of corporate crapitalism?   Here’s an undeniable truth: most businesses are degenerative. They exploit, extract, and destroy – decimating the Common Good. Let’s confront the ugly reality of how most companies operate: 1. You Can’t Kill Your Customer and Call It Value Creation … Continue reading Crapitalism and the Degenerative Enterprise

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As Trump touts plans for immigrant roundup, militias are standing back, but standing by

BY AMY COOTER President-elect Donald Trump has reaffirmed that once he takes office he plans to declare a national emergency and use the military on American streets to accomplish his promises to round up and deport millions of undocumented migrants. Many experts’ concerns about this program have included the facts that immigrants contribute enormous value … Continue reading As Trump touts plans for immigrant roundup, militias are standing back, but standing by

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Gaza, Campus Protest, and the Fierce Urgency of Now

BY FRAN SHORE As more campuses join the protests against Israel’s continuing engagement in war crimes in Gaza, one common thread runs through the student demands. It’s this: divest from supplying the Netanyahu government and the IDF with weapons of mass destruction. What compels many of these youthful demonstrators to occupy the public spaces and … Continue reading Gaza, Campus Protest, and the Fierce Urgency of Now

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Why Billionaires Hate Social Security

BY RICHARD ESKOW The real goal of billionaire-funded Social Security rhetoric is to prevent the public from drawing a connection between Social Security’s finances, the working-class retirement crisis, and the ludicrous amounts of wealth held by America’s billionaires. Consider the billionaire. I’m not talking about people who were born into wealth; they have their own issues. … Continue reading Why Billionaires Hate Social Security

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Does Your Government Care? A Citizen’s Checklist for Regenerative Government

BY CHRISTIAN SARKAR, PHILIP KOTLER, ENRICO FOGLIA In our book – REGENERATION: The Future of Community in a Permacrisis World, we point out that in the US today, we see that our politicians can’t even stand up to the NRA, let alone address climate collapse.  Instead, they distract us with culture wars and fake controversy – banning books, … Continue reading Does Your Government Care? A Citizen’s Checklist for Regenerative Government

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Salman Rushdie renews fight against book-banning – 3 essential articles on right-wing challenges to what schoolkids can read

BY HOWARD MANLY No one needs to tell Salman Rushdie about the cost of free speech. In 1989, Rushdie’s novel “The Satanic Verses” triggered the ire of Iranian leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who called for the writer’s death. Protests against Rushdie’s novel ignited violent attacks against bookstores across the world, and the book was later … Continue reading Salman Rushdie renews fight against book-banning – 3 essential articles on right-wing challenges to what schoolkids can read

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GOP ‘message laundering’ turns violent, extremist reactions to search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago into acceptable political talking points

BY KARRIN VASBY ANDERSON, Colorado State University After the FBI completed a lawful search of former president Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate on Aug. 8, 2022, conservative politicians responded with one of three strategies: silence, circumspection and attack. Many responses echoed Trump’s own framing of the search. In his Aug. 8 message he claimed his residence was … Continue reading GOP ‘message laundering’ turns violent, extremist reactions to search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago into acceptable political talking points

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An antidemocratic philosophy called ‘neoreaction’ is creeping into GOP politics

BY GEORGE MICHAEL, Westfield State University President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election were brazenly antidemocratic. Yet Trump and his supporters nonetheless justified their actions under the dubious pretense of preserving American democracy – as a matter of getting the vote right, of reversing voter fraud. There’s a good reason they … Continue reading An antidemocratic philosophy called ‘neoreaction’ is creeping into GOP politics

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Navalny returns to Russia and brings anti-Putin politics with him

BY REGINA SMYTH, Indiana University Russian opposition leader Aleksei Navalny and his team have stunned the Russian government again, forcing President Vladimir Putin and his allies to confront significant protest led by a foe they hoped to first sideline and, more recently, eliminate. Navalny was nearly killed in August by the Novichok nerve agent in … Continue reading Navalny returns to Russia and brings anti-Putin politics with him

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How can America heal from the Trump era? Lessons from Germany’s transformation into a prosperous democracy after Nazi rule

BY SYLVIA TASCHKA, Wayne State University Comparisons between the United States under Trump and Germany during the Hitler era are once again being made following the storming of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. Even in the eyes of German history scholars like myself, who had earlier warned of the troubling nature of such analogies, Trump’s … Continue reading How can America heal from the Trump era? Lessons from Germany’s transformation into a prosperous democracy after Nazi rule

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Why Can’t Billionaires Advance the Common Good?

BY PHILIP KOTLER & CHRISTIAN SARKAR The cover of the May 20, 2020 issue of Forbes magazine carries a picture of Larry Ellison, billionaire founder of Oracle Corporation. On page 114, there’s a Billionaires Index that runs six more pages in very small print.  The following becomes clear: Almost every country has billionaires. Even Venezuela and … Continue reading Why Can’t Billionaires Advance the Common Good?

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The end of Golden Dawn: has Greece shown us how to deal with neo-Nazis?

BY Georgios Samaras, King’s College London When a wave of right-wing extremism hit Greece in 2012, few would have predicted that Golden Dawn, one of the groups involved, would grow to become the third largest party in the Greek parliament. This was the beginning of a long period of turmoil in Greek politics that saw a … Continue reading The end of Golden Dawn: has Greece shown us how to deal with neo-Nazis?

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Biden vs. Trump: A Tale of Two Narratives

BY CHRISTIAN SARKAR and PHILIP KOTLER In our work on cultural narratives, we’ve proposed that cultural narratives create meaning for our place in the world, and provide a map for the journey ahead. The structure of a cultural narrative can be diagrammed as follows: In politics, the structure of a cultural narrative becomes an ideological framework for living … Continue reading Biden vs. Trump: A Tale of Two Narratives

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Trump Doesn’t Believe in Democracy—Here’s His 25-Step Reelection Plan

BY ROBERT REICH Trump will do anything to be re-elected. His opponents are limited because they believe in democracy. Trump has no limits because he doesn’t. Here’s Trump’s re-election playbook, in 25 simple steps: 1. Declare yourself above the law. 2. Use racist fearmongering. Demand “law and order” and describe protesters as “thugs”, “lowlife” and … Continue reading Trump Doesn’t Believe in Democracy—Here’s His 25-Step Reelection Plan

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It can’t happen here – and then it did

BY JOE SALTZMAN, University of Southern California, Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism When Americans think of journalists attacked, arrested or imprisoned while doing their job, they think of it happening in distant lands – in places like Russia, Syria, Afghanistan, El Salvador and Mexico. Freedom of speech and freedom of the press are so ingrained … Continue reading It can’t happen here – and then it did