Category Archives: Populism

Earlier this year, British comedian-turned podcaster Russell Brand interviewed Thomas Frank, the long-standing liberal defender of American populism. For a man who has spent several decades imploring liberals to listen to what working-class and rural America are saying, in this instance, he failed to heed his own advice. When asked by Brand about the contemporary American populist movement, as represented by Steve Bannon, Frank replied,

"In my opinion, there is no such thing as right-wing populism, there are people who mimic it, and Steve Bannon, Donald Trump, would be people I would list. But populism is the Jeffersonian tradition in American life. It is a democratic, left-wing movement. It's about building a mass movement, a transracial mass movement of working class people for economic democracy. That's what it is, that's what it's always been."

With that one statement, Frank brushed off the closest thing our current moment has to a democratic, transracial, mass movement of working-class people. He dismissed the only the only serious counterweight to woke corporate hegemony. He denigrated contemporary working-class movements that are far closer to the Wobblies of the early 20th century labor battles than they are to the Black- or Brownshirts of the dark days of European fascism.

Sadly, Frank is not an aberration but an exemplar par excellence of a type of thinking that's taken hold of the Left, namely, conflating being Left-wing with moral goodness, to the extent that anything not Left-wing is a moral evil. Thanks to this line of thinking, the Left has taken to seeing the actual populist movements rising up across the globe as a threatthough these Right-wing populist movements embody a broad coalition of non-elites advocating for themselves against powerful governments and corporationsin other words, the very thing that the Left is supposed to itself embody.

Confronted with Right-inspired populist movements like parents showing up at school board meetings in Virginia, truckers protesting in Canada, and Brexit voters in the north of Englandpeople of all races who simply do not want their basic, fundamental values transgressedthe Left sees only white supremacists, fascists, and racists. Even the word "populism" is more often than not preceded adjectives like "far right" and "extremist" in mainstream liberal media.

The result is a truly tragic missed opportunity for solidarity between Left and Right. But it's also proof of how far the Left has fallen from its mission.

After all, what is a populist if not someone who stands for fairness for the little guy: a level economic playing field, financial reform, a scaling back of excessive government power, and a rejection of absolutist ideologies. These were once Left-wing values; now, the Left systematically portrays the grassroots populist movements springing up across the world to address these issues as white supremacist, far right actors.

This broad brush character assassination has reached the highest levels of power, as evidenced by President Joe Biden's speech last week denouncing MAGA Republicans in Philadelphia. The most chilling thing the President said was not the accusation of fascism against his political opposition, but rather, his revealing statement that he can only work with "mainstream Republicans." Biden wants you to think that he is cutting out the "semi-fascist" MAGA wing, as he called them a few weeks ago, but what he's actually doing is cutting out the populist wing. Biden was essentially saying to any American looking for real reform: You are my enemy.

That should have alarmed the liberal Left as much as it did the Right. Yet the Left mostly embraced the speech. Like Thomas Frank, if you're not Left, you can't possibly be on the side of the good. Ergo, the thinking goes, you're on the side of fascists.

They let themselves get away with this because they don't know how to listen. Former Bernie Sanders spokesperson Briahna Joy Gray acknowledged this a few weeks ago, as she patiently tried to explain in an interview with progressive journalist Cenk Uygur at The Young Turks that it might be wise for the Left to recognize a difference between a sworn political adversaryshe mentioned Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greenand the ordinary men and women who support Green, in case the Left might be able to win them over. In response, Uygur spent most of the interview berating Gray, calling her and others like her who are willing to speak to people on the other side "fake Leftists."

Self-described progressive Uygur and his Young Turks show are the Left-wing equivalent of the populist Bannon's War Room, a popular podcast that reaches millions. But Uygur is far less smart and less effective, in part because unlike Bannon, he has no cross over appeal. He can barely have a civil discussion with his own side. Meanwhile, Bannon welcomes onto his show with open arms prominent left-wing figures like Naomi Wolf.

For the many who feel besieged by insane political rhetoric and personal attacks, any genuine cross-party discussion feels like sanity. But now Bannon is facing a host of charges over a border-wall fundraising scam that Trump pardoned him forsomething he has cast as an attempt to silence him.

Whatever the legal technicalities of this case turn out to be, for it to come from the same political culture that overlooked the evidence of Hunter Biden's corruption means that Bannon's prosecution will simply provide further proof to his fellow populists that the state is intent on making an enemy out of them.

It's a pretty amazing thing to see those who dare point out the uni-party, who hold both Democrats and Republicans responsible for policies that benefit the only the rich and corporations, be attacked not by the Right but by the Left.

This tactic prevents a serious, effective, non-partisan, people-led opposition. And who benefits from that?

Jenny Holland is a former newspaper reporter and speechwriter. Visit her Substack here.

The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.

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The Left Is Demonizing PopulistsFor Pushing What the Left Once ...

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Andrew Chapados and Syd Fizzard host this mid-week edition of the DAILY Livestream, taking a look at new Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre's exchange with a member of the Media Party, Prime Minister Trudeau weighed in Poilievre's victory and cited a rise in populism fuelled by misinformation and disinformation, and the mayor of New Orleans plays the race card when questioned about why she needs to travel first class.Visit Rebel News for today's show notes https://rebelne.ws/3xoqqlE

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DAILY | Poilievre vs. Media Party; Trudeau on populism, disinfo; Mayor ...

Within the last decade, a much-misunderstood political revolution has been gathering force across the Western world. It is not a coordinated or ideologically driven movement but, rather, a series of similar developments occurring in disparate countries that, taken together, constitute a profound shift in the political direction of the West. Commonly called populism, it also can be described as nationalism, or, in the view of some, patriotism. Its fundamental tenet is the principle of sovereignty, the idea that the direction and best interests of independent nation-states should be determined by the democratically elected leaders of those countries and not by external doctrines or supra-national organizations led by unelected officials who are essentially unknown to and unaccountable to the people whose destinies they seek to influence.

Some regard populism as alarming, even dangerous. Global elites and their media acolytes routinely denounce it as a threat to democracy, when, in fact, what they really fear is the threat of democracy and its capacity to independently exercise powers such as taxation, regulation and border controls that can be very inconvenient to multinational entities.

The political revolution that is populism is best seen as a direct reaction to an earlier economic revolution globalization which, despite the best intentions of its proponents, has over the past quarter-century greatly exacerbated the worlds problems of income inequality, class conflict and political polarization. In old-fashioned language, the rich have gotten richer and the poor have gotten poorer. In terms of the globalization sweepstakes, populism is a revolt of the more numerous losers against the more powerful winners.

In the Academy Award-winning 1976 film Network, Peter Finch portrayed a frustrated television anchorman who leans out his office window and shouts, Im mad as hell and Im not going to take it anymore! That character could well be seen as the prototype for todays populists.

Upon being elected president of the United States, Barack Obama famously stated that Elections have consequences. Populism has been principally empowered by elections. In smaller countries, such as Hungary, Poland and Sweden, elections have had smaller consequences; in larger countries such as Great Britain, the United States or Italy, elections have had larger consequences. What they all have in common, however, is that they have conferred significant governmental power upon leaders who were seriously committed to addressing the political, economic and cultural anxieties of the mainly working, middle-class voters who elected them.

Three rapidly occurring events propelled populism from being a marginal and regional phenomenon to becoming a central force in most Western countries.

The first was the bold decision by the European Union (EU) in 2015, inspired by then-German Chancellor Angela Merkel, to open its borders to over 2 million migrants, principally refugees from the war-torn Middle East. This decision almost immediately generated controversy and disunity between the Mediterranean EU members, who bore the brunt of the financial and cultural impacts of this exodus, and those further north who did not.

The second event, in the following year, was the highly divisive Brexit election, in which the migration issue evidently made a significant difference in the unexpected and narrowly decided vote that ended Great Britains EU membership.

In the third event, just months after Brexit, illegal migration through Americas porous southern border became a significant issue in the divisive and narrowly decided election of Donald Trump as U.S. president.

Critics of globalization, such as Harvard economist Dani Rodrik and French demographer Christophe Guilluy, have demonstrated that its effects damage the worlds poorest nations in the same way that they damage the poorer classes of Western societies. In the past few years, the harms done to these vulnerable peoples, from economic blows to education deficits to food insecurity, have been magnified by the global pandemic and, more recently, the war in Ukraine.

Across the Western world, the political, economic and social trend lines are not encouraging. Perhaps most urgently, we need leaders who can transcend familiar, parochial concerns, acknowledge past policy errors, and demonstrate the strength and courage to mitigate the ills flowing from globalization and ameliorate its combustible conflict with populism. The time available for these daunting tasks is not limitless.

William Moloney is a Senior Fellow in Conservative Thought at Colorado Christian Universitys Centennial Institute who studied at Oxford and the University of London and received his doctorate from Harvard University. He is a former Colorado Commissioner of Education.

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Globalization is fueling the populism surging across the Western world - The Hill

Opinion

Danielle Smith rode a wave of Alberta populism to win the United Conservative Party leadership on the sixth ballot.

When she is sworn in as premier, she will be a new and potentially disruptive force in Canadian politics.

No longer will Alberta ask permission from Ottawa to be prosperous and free, Smith said in her acceptance speech last Thursday night.

Jeff McIntosh/THE CANADIAN PRESS

Danielle Smith celebrates after being chosen as the new leader of the United Conservative Party on Oct. 6 in Calgary.

We will not have our voices silenced and censored. We will not be told what we must put in our bodies in order to work or to travel. We will not have our resources landlocked or our energy phased out of existence by virtue-signalling prime ministers.

Alberta politics includes a long tradition of populism: a belief that ordinary people are being kept down by an elite. That elite might be the federal government, global environmental activists, scientists or eastern Canadians. Populist leaders often rise to power by offering simplistic but grand plans, such as Donald Trumps promise to build a wall across the border with Mexico.

Populist playbook

Smiths win in the UCP leadership race follows the populist playbook. She positioned herself as an outsider, sided with the protesters angry about COVID-19 restrictions and vaccine mandates and promised she would put Alberta First and fight Ottawa with her sovereignty act.

The UCP leadership race was primed for a populist to win.

The partys membership is predominantly located outside Calgary and Edmonton. Unlike many other parties rules for electing a leader, there was no weighting of votes by electoral district to ensure the new leader has support from across the province.

Each vote was counted equally. Anti-establishment populist sentiment is strong in rural Alberta.

Outsider appeal

Being seen as an outsider is important for politicians who want to ride a populist wave into office. Only an outsider is able to make credible claims they will sweep away the elite.

Smith was the only candidate for UCP leader without a seat in the legislature; many served in former premier Jason Kenneys cabinet. For party members angry at the Kenney government, her claim to be an outsider was an asset.

Smith is not new to Alberta politics, though. She was leader of the Wildrose Party, losing an election in 2012 and then crossing the floor to the government in 2014, ending that chapter of her political career. She then spent six years as a radio talk-show host.

During the pandemic, Smith criticized COVID-19 restrictions and vaccine mandates; her views played a role in her departure from her radio job. In her statement when she left, she said she was gravely troubled by how easily most in our society have chosen to give up on freedom.

Alberta stands out in Canada for its relatively low public support for public-health measures and negative assessment of the provinces pandemic response. As protests over COVID-19 mandates turned into the so-called freedom convoy, UCP supporters were more likely to approve of that protest movement than other Albertans.

Smith was able to mobilize support from Albertans angry about public health restrictions.

One of her earliest campaign videos stated: What happened over the last two years must never happen again Let me be clear: As your premier, our province will never lock down again.

Alberta First and the sovereignty act

While the backlash over COVID-19 restrictions gave Smith momentum to launch her leadership bid, her Alberta First stance solidified her as the leading candidate in the race.

There is a widespread belief among Albertans that the province is not treated fairly or given the respect it deserves. Although a minority of about 20 per cent, separatists are a persistent force in Alberta politics.

Many UCP supporters have been frustrated that Kenneys efforts to eliminate the federal carbon tax, renegotiate the equalization formula and build pipelines to tidewater have not been successful.

Smiths strategy was to adopt a more radical stance on Albertas place in Confederation. The centrepiece of her Alberta First platform is her proposed Alberta sovereignty act, which she has promised will be her first priority as premier.

The sovereignty act was first proposed as part of the Free Alberta Strategy. The document argues Canada has expropriated Albertas wealth for decades and has breached its constitutional agreement with Alberta. It advocates for the Alberta legislature to grant itself the power to refuse to enforce federal legislation or judicial decisions that, in its view, interfere with provincial jurisdiction or attack the interests of Albertans.

Most of the other candidates for the UCP leadership, as well as Kenney and constitutional experts, have criticized the proposal as blatantly unconstitutional and destabilizing to investment in the province. Despite these criticisms, the proposal is popular with Smiths supporters.

Disrupting Canadian politics

When she is sworn in as premier, Smith will be a new and potentially disruptive force in Canadian politics. She will have to hold together a divided caucus, satisfy her supporters and position her party for a provincial election in spring 2023.

If shes able to unite her caucus to pass the sovereignty act, the courts will almost certainly strike it down as unconstitutional, leaving Smith fighting against the Canadian constitutional order during the provincial election.

It remains to be seen whether Smiths time in office will be a brief interlude, or the start of a significant challenge to national unity.

Lisa Young is a professor of political science at the University of Calgary.

This article was first published at The Conversation Canada:theconversation.com/ca.

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Smith rides high on populist wave Winnipeg Free Press - Winnipeg Free Press

This is an edition of The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here.

Every nation has fringe candidates and public spectacles in its political life, but today, the American right celebrates the abandonment of dignity and virtue.

First, here are three new stories from The Atlantic.

Ohios U.S. Senate candidates, Tim Ryan and J. D. Vance, held their first debate last night in Cleveland. I wrote last year about why I find Vance so execrable, but my friend Jim Swift, a native Ohioan, argued today that while Ryan gave a serviceable performance, he didnt beat Vance into the ground, and given how far Ohio has gone in a MAGA direction, thats what he needed to do.

One moment, however, struck me. At a rally in Ohio last month, Donald Trump declared, J. D. is kissing my ass, he wants my support so badwhile Vance was standing right by the stage. Last night, Ryan slammed Vance for selling his dignity:

I dont know anybody I grew up withI dont know anybody I went to high school withthat would allow somebody to take their dignity like that and then get back up onstage. We need leaders who have courage to take on their own party. And Ive proven that. And he was called an ass kisser by the former president.

I understood Ryans exasperation. Im not from Ohio, but I was raised in a working-class neighborhood. Where I grew up, if you sneered that a man was kissing your assand said it to his facethat other fellow might react by knocking you on that particular part of your anatomy. But Vances reaction to Trump calling him out as a spineless loser at his own rally was to run up to Trump like a puppy that just got a treat, wagging his tail for another tasty biscuit.

It is possible, even likely, that Vance will gain a Senate seat. But he can never regain his dignity. He doesnt seem to careand neither, apparently, do voters.

Americans once expected politicians to carry themselves with a seriousness that indicated their ability and willingness to tackle problems, whether poverty or war, that were too difficult for the rest of us. We elected such people not because we wanted them to be like us but because we hoped that they were better than us: smarter, tougher, and capable of being leaders and role models.

We often failed, and sometimes we even enjoyed electing scoundrels, such as James Traficant and James Michael Curley. Democracies always welcome a certain amount of playacting and mischief as reassurance that our leaders are not too far removed from our own experiences as citizens. And yes, many politicians have used that as cover for their misdeeds. But even some of the most flawed people we elevated to high office at least pretended to be better people, and thus were capable of inspiring us to be a better nation.

Today, we no longer expect or even want our politicians to be better than we are. The new American right, however, has blown past the relatively innocuous populism of the past 40 years and added a fetid cynicism about almost everything related to public life. Not only are the MAGA Republicans seemingly repelled by the idea of voting for someone better than they are; they support candidates who are often manifestly worse people than the average citizen, so that they may slather their fears about their own shortcomings and prejudices under a sludgy and undifferentiated hatred about almost everyone in public office.

These populists not only look past the sins of their candidates but also defend and even celebrate them. Let us leave aside the cult around Trump, which has now reached such levels of weirdness that the specter of Jim Jones is probably pacing about the netherworld in awe. Instead, consider how many people cheer on unhinged cranks such as Marjorie Taylor Greene or allow themselves to be courted by smarmy opportunists such as Vance and Ted Cruz.

This new populism, centered in the modern Republican Party, has no recognizable policy content beyond the thrill of cruelty and a juvenile boorishness meant largely to enrage others. The GOPs goals now boil down to power for its elected royalty and cheap Colosseum pleasures for its rank and file. Republicans, therefore, are forced to lower theirand ourstandards for admission to public office, because the destruction of dignity is the only way they can find the candidates who will do what decent men and women will not, including abasing themselves to Donald Trump.

The same Republicans who claim to venerate the Founders and the Constitution have intentionally turned our politics into a scuzzy burlesque. Last night, Fox Newshome to some of the loudest carny barkers on the freak-show midwayplayed a snippet of a 2018 phone call from Joe Biden to his son Hunter. The message revealed a fathers love and worry; the Fox host Sean Hannity tried to make it seem scandalous. Meanwhile, GOP leaders continue to defend the Georgia candidate Herschel Walker, whose callousness to his own children (and their mothers) is on full display. They ridicule Bidena decent and good man who was worried that his son was going to die from addictionand make excuses for Walker, who seemingly forgot about multiple children hes fathered and has made incoherent responses to charges from the mother of one of those children that he financed an abortion for her. She has also said that he later asked her to undergo a second abortion; Walker continues to deny all of these claims.

Im an adult. I get it. Our elected officials arent saints, and only rarely are they heroes. But must they now be a cavalcade of clowns and charlatans, joyously parading their embrace of vice and their rejection of virtue? The Republican Party seems to think so.

Related:

Scientists Can No Longer Ignore Ancient Flooding Tales

By Chris Baraniuk

It wasnt long after Henry David Inglis arrived on the island of Jersey, just northwest of France, that he heard the old story. Locals eagerly told the 19th-century Scottish travel writer how, in a bygone age, their island had been much more substantial, and that folks used to walk to the French coast. The only hurdle to their journey was a riverone easily crossed using a short bridge.

Pah! Inglis presumably scoffed as he looked out across 22 kilometers of shimmering blue sea between Jersey and the French coastbecause he went on to write, in his 1834 book about the region, that this was an assertion too ridiculous to merit examination. About 150 years earlier, another writer, Jean Poingdestre, had been similarly unmoved by the tale. No one could have trod from Jersey to Normandy, he withered, vnlesse it were before the Flood, referring to the Old Testament cataclysm.

Read the full article.

More From The Atlantic

Read. Litany for Dictatorships, a poem by Stephen Vincent Bent, published in The Atlantic in 1935.

Watch. One of these 10 scary movies for people who dont like horror.

Listen. A new episode of our How to Build a Happy Life podcast, about what happens when virtues become vices.

Play our daily crossword.

I often pester my Atlantic colleague Isabel Fattal about increasing her late-20th-century pop-culture literacy. (I do this to many of my younger friends and family; its probably not one of my more endearing habits.) Today, just before a meeting, a song jarred a memory of a movie. I mentioned the film to her and found that she has not seen it. Perhaps you havent either, but you should: The song was Say You, Say Me, by Lionel Richie, and the movie is White Nights, a 1985 film (widely available to rent online) whose plot was little more than an excuse to get Mikhail Baryshnikov and Gregory Hines dancing together. But do you really need more than that to watch two great dancers?

The interesting wrinkle, and what makes the film a kind of Cold War timepiece, is that it is set in the Soviet Union. (This is why I went to see it at the time, to be honest.) Baryshnikov plays a ballet star who defects to the West, and he finds himself recaptured by the KGB after a plane crash in Siberia. Hes sent to go live with Hines, who defected to Moscow because of the Vietnam War and now lives in internal Soviet exile with his wife (played by Isabella Rossellini). The plot is paper-thin, but the dance scenes are great, Jerzy Skolimowski has a terrific turn as a nasty KGB colonel, and, in addition to Richies hit, the soundtrack features the lovely Stephen Bishop song Separate Lives, performed by Phil Collins and Marilyn Martin.

Tom

Special announcement: Were launching a culture-focused weekend edition of the Daily! Every Sunday morning, an Atlantic writer will share what theyre watching, reading, and listening to. Keep an eye out for the first installment this Sunday, October 16.

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Isabel Fattal contributed to this newsletter.

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J. D. Vance and the Collapse of Dignity - The Atlantic

As the year draws to a close, readers can usually expect the release of some really great non-fiction books. Thats definitely the situation with South African publishing. There have been a number of books released dealing with varying but all equally interesting topics. The Daily Vox team rounds up a few to add to the TBR.

In this book, Bulelwa Mabasa outlines some of the notable legal cases she has led and the lessons she has drawn from them. Mabasa is a director and the head of the land reform, restitution and tenure practise at Werksmans Attorneys. In 2018, she was appointed by president Cyril Ramaphosa to the presidential expert advisory panel on land reform and agriculture. In this book, she explains what sparked her deep passion and interest in land justice and land reform. Mabasa describes in the book the role played by her mentors to get her to where she is. She also dives into the professional and personal challenges she has faced over the years.

Author of The Life of 1652, Patric Tariq Mellet autobiography is an in-depth look at the undefeated spirit Mellet has had throughout his life. The book looks at how Mellet has lived a life torn between many different identities and how the question of who he really was has always defined and troubled him. In the prologue, he writes that in 1997 he became Patric William Tariq Mellet at the stroke of a bureaucrats pen. This was because previously he had been known as De Goede which was neither of his parents names. With the change of name, he finally carried his parents names. The book tells the story of the road he took through life to get to that point.

The Lie of 1652 debunks colonial and apartheid land myths

This was a case that shocked South Africa. In 2008, an 18-year-old boy walked into his high school armed with a samurai sword with a plan to wreck violence on the school. At the end of the day, 16-year-old Jacques Pretorius was left dead and three others were brutally injured. There was much speculation, confusion and horror following the violent incident. Speculation was rife about what caused him to carry out the brutal act from his music obsessions to being influenced by Krugersdorp killer Cecilia Steyn. Now fourteen years later Morn Harme is out on parole. In this book, Nicole Engelbrecht aims to put together the pieces of the tragedy and show what exactly happened and why.

Stellenbosch is world renowned for its wine, gorgeous scenery, and beautiful people. Its the home of students working towards their future, successful businessmen and respected professors. But dont let the luxury and blue mountains fool you. The sleepy town hides numerous crimes that rocked this community, the country and the world. The acclaimed author and journalist Julian Jansens third book reads like a crime novel and contains never before published information on each of the crimes. The book shines a light on the high profile cases as well as the lesser known ones to highlight to true horror.

Book Extract Stellenbosch: Murder Town Two Decades of Shocking Crimes

Renowned journalist and violence researcher Dr. Nechama Brodie takes on an important topic in her latest book: farm killings and murders. Farm killings make up less than half a percent of all homicides reported in South Africa. However, the attention they garner from the media, politicians and various other groupings in South Africa is often disproportional. The reason for this is while very few farm murders are committed for political reasons, the response to them is political. In the book, Brodie aims to challenge the myths around farm killings. Brodie does this through examining news reports, data, legal cases and expert research to make sense of the underlying reality of violence.

Statistics surrounding South Africas farm murder rate are more political than accurate

This book which features several different authors takes a closer look at populism. It examines how populism is rewiring the world. The authors analyse 13 countries across the world to understand what populism is and how its impacting on the global world order. Some of the authors involved in the book include Greg Mills, Lyal White, Christopher Clapham and Tendai Biti amongst others. They look at Argentina, the Philippines, Zimbabwe, Hungary, Brazil and others. The central questions the book aims to answer is whether populism is evolving into a threat to countries around the world and whether there is a way to return to rational policy-making.

Put together by the MSF analysis department, this book focuses on the Syrian refugee crisis and humanitarian disaster. Ten years after the war started in Syria, the book aims to focus on the humanitarian and medical costs of the conflict. Each of the eight chapters in the book go in-depth into key humanitarian and medical dimensions of the Syrian war. The book explores the politics of aid in the Syrian war and conflict. The book features different writers, academics, analysts and humanitarian practitioners. It has been edited by MSFs Jonathan Whittall, Jehan Bseiso and Michiel Hofman. The book has been commissioned and produced by MSF.

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7 non-fiction book releases to add to your TBR - The Daily Vox

Tetyana Patsuk, 72, by her house in the retaken village of Velyka Oleksandrivka, Ukraine. After more than six months of Russian occupation she still sleeps in the basement. Photo / AP

OPINION:

The European Union has faced a series of emergencies in recent years.

The 2008 global financial meltdown that began in America triggered a European sovereign debt crisis that pitted richer EU members against poorer ones.

Unrest in the Middle East provoked a migrant crisis that fuelled anti-immigrant populism inside many EU countries and exacerbated divisions between Brussels and eastern members like Hungary and Poland.

Then came Brexit.

The election of Donald Trump as United States President created deep uncertainty in Europe about Washington's reliability as Europe's security partner.

The pandemic then inflicted economic damage across the continent.

Now Russia's invasion of Ukraine has generated another, and larger, wave of refugees, an energy crisis, and fear of a new East-West confrontation.

The election of new governments led by parties of the far-right in Sweden and then Italy, the EU's third-largest economy, have again raised questions about the EU's strength and resilience.

Yet, the European Union is stronger than ever.

How is this possible? Jean Monnet, one of the EU's earliest visionaries and architects, once predicted that: "Europe will be built in crisis and will be the result of the solutions." He was right.

A crisis can (sometimes) create opportunities for positive change that would not have been possible without the need for a collective response. In important ways, Covid-19 and Russia's invasion of Ukraine have done exactly that.

The financial and sovereign debt crises, migrant crisis, and Brexit all helped persuade EU leaders that economic inequality breeds resentment, and that the resulting anger stokes populism.

With support from all 27 EU member states, European governments agreed in 2020 on a multibillion-euro recovery package that included funding for both Covid response and the reinforcement of safety net protections for workers and businesses.

These financial packages also include stimulus for investment in green technologies and regulations that require non-EU countries that want to trade with Europe to align with European technology standards or face higher taxes, boosting European influence in global regulation of new technologies and environmental protection.

There was also a 1074 billion EU budget passed for 20212027 that gave Brussels the means to distribute substantial sums that member governments badly needed.

It will be years before all of the money is distributed, but the unanimous emergency response showed the value of shared sacrifice at a time when country-first populism had thrown the EU's future into question.

Covid has also shifted the balance of power in the EU's battle with Eurosceptic member governments.

Hungary's Viktor Orban, a skilled politician who has built his reputation on confrontation with the EU, won a landslide victory in April. It might appear that victory would help him resist EU demands to comply with the EU rules on democracy and rule of law he has flouted for several years.

But the European Commission has found a way to use Covid relief funds to bring Orban in line. Last month, it formally recommended that 7.5b intended for Hungary be withheld until Orban's Government offered a list of demanded reforms.

Hungary already faces high prices, a weak currency, and an energy crisis, and its budget deficit is now far higher than the Government had forecasted. Add 14.9b in much-needed grants and loans from the EU's Covid Recovery Fund, and Brussels now has Orban's full attention.

The same political dynamic exists in Italy. Giorgia Meloni, leader of the Brothers of Italy Party and her country's next prime minister, has waged a "culture war" against EU protections for minority and migrant rights in her country.

But Italy's economic vulnerability in a time of economic hardship will ensure that reassurances about respect for the EU and solid support from her incoming government for Nato and Ukraine won't be enough to win her unconditional support in Brussels.

Italy, with the EU's second-highest debt-to-GDP, needs 200b in Covid Recovery funds from the European Commission, and it needs the European Central Bank to continue to buy its debt. As in Hungary, feeble economic growth, stubbornly high inflation, and looming energy shortages leave Italy's Government in need of EU goodwill, and it's the pandemic that has given the EU the economic and political leverage to demand fiscal and other reforms.

Russia's attack on Ukraine and Vladimir Putin's threats against Nato and European governments have rallied the EU in a similarly dramatic way.

They have created an urgent unity in Brussels' relations with Washington that has not existed in decades.

It has strengthened Nato by bringing in capable new members (Finland and Sweden), persuading reluctant EU governments (particularly Germany) to spend much more on defence, and brought member Poland closer to the EU consensus on many issues by proving each side's value to the other.

Perhaps most importantly, Europe's greatest security vulnerability has long been its dependence on Russia for energy supplies.

Putin has now proven to European leaders that Russia can no longer be considered even a reliable trade partner, and the EU has undertaken the enormously complex challenge of ending that dependence.

In the short term, that means an exceptionally tough couple of years for European business and citizens.

In the long run, it will strengthen European security and accelerate investment in green technologies. None of this was possible before February 24. All of it is the direct result of Putin's war.

Europe has historic challenges ahead.

Bolstering its defences, redesigning its energy architecture, managing high inflation, boosting meagre growth, continuing to support Ukraine, and managing an increasingly erratic nuclear-armed neighbour to the east will test Europe's newfound strength for years to come.

But the Union's ability not just to weather crises but to use them to strengthen European institutions is the most successful example of successful cross-border cooperation of the still-young 21st century.

Ian Bremmer is the president of Eurasia Group and GZERO Media and author of The Power of Crisis. He can be followed on Facebook and Twitter.

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Ian Bremmer: How crises opened the way for some positive change in Europe - New Zealand Herald

Lukasz Lazarczyk, a 2019 Oak Park and River Forest High School graduate, is fulfilling a long-held dream of living in Poland, while pursuing a degree in European politics and economics at the University of Warsaw. For several months he has been photographing rallies for Euromaidan, a Warsaw-based initiative that has been supporting Ukraines integration with Europe since 2013.

I have always felt very Polish and very connected with my Polish family. I knew in high school that I wanted to study European politics, and I considered no country other than Poland in which I wanted to study. I applied to a couple other Polish universities and a few American universitiesbut mainly just to appeal to my parents, Lazarczyk said.

Lazarczyks father is from Poland and came to the U.S. in the 1980s, following the mass protests led by Solidarity, a trade union movement, that overthrew the Communist government. His great aunt had come to the U.S. in the 1950s to escape Communism. Lazarczyk visited Poland several times with his family and stayed with his grandmother in Poznan for three weeks when he was a teenager. The experience confirmed his desire to someday live for a more extended time in the country. He started taking Polish language lessons during his freshman year of high school, as a birthday present to himself.

According to Lazarczyk, politics in Poland are just as divisive for sociological reasons as they are in the U.S., with rural populations leaning right and the cities leaning left. He advises that while Polish society leans fairly conservative, the 2020 presidential election was very close, with the current president, Andrzej Duda, beating his challenger by only slightly more than 1% of the vote. Lazarcyzk has been studying the growth of global populism and what makes populist politicians so effective.

Russias invasion of Ukraine in February has been a great concern for Lazarcyzk and his friends, most of whom are Ukrainian. He regularly attended protests outside the Russian embassy, in solidarity with his friends and their cause, and took photos and videos of the action. Euromaidan has been sharing his work on Instagram.

In recent days, with Ukrainian forces advancing, there seems to be greater optimism about the situation in Ukraine although there is concern about Putins annexation of Ukrainian territory. A friend of mine, who lives in western Ukraine, told me that he had a backpack filled with essentials in case Russia launched a nuclear strike on his city. That is their reality, Lazarcyzk said.

Following graduation, Lazarcyzk would like to pursue a masters degree, although he doesnt have a master plan at this point. He is adamant that he doesnt want to be a politician but would enjoy being a political analyst or a professor.

He hasnt decided how long he will remain in Poland. He enjoys the lifestyle and the walkability of Warsaw and claims he hasnt driven a car in more than a year. He admits that one definite benefit of living in Poland is that everyone knows how to pronounce his name.

Its difficult for English speakers to pronounce my last name its a small thing that you really appreciate when you live somewhere where everyone can pronounce your name without any problems, he said.

To see a collection of Lazarczyks photos, including landscapes and street scenes, check out his website at Lukaszlazarczyk.myportfolio.com.

Excerpt from:

From OPRF to Poland with a focus on Ukraine - Wednesday Journal

PITTSBURGH While it is always unsettling for a political movement when its party loses power, the reality is that the movement's coalition doesnt necessarily collapse or disappear. Sometimes, it even gets stronger. Coalitions last beyond a candidate's or party's loss because the coalition is always more about the people who are in it than about any single person.

Pennsylvania Republican gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano and his wife, Rebbeca, speak at the Unite and Win Rally.

(Justin Merriman/for the Washington Examiner)

Coalitions are also often about a sense of place. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis understands this. His message in his visit to this Pennsylvania city, along with neighboring Youngstown, Ohio, shows he recognizes that attendees at his rallies are not just interested in him; they are interested in how well he "gets" this sense of place that is everything to conservative populists.

This explains why so many at his speech welcomed his message, even while many reporters, as usual, misunderstood it.

Tickets to DeSantis's Rust Belt events all coordinated by Turning Point USA and all free were gobbled up within moments of their release. His visit here was for the Republican nominee for governor, Doug Mastriano. In Youngstown, he appeared on behalf of Senate candidate J.D. Vance.

DeSantis has lived in Florida for most of his life outside of his time spent in the military and college, but he has roots in both of these areas. His father is from Aliquippa, Pennsylvania, and his mother is from Youngstown. The pair met while attending Youngstown State University. At the beginning of his 40-minute speech, he showed a photo of him as a toddler dressed from head to toe in black and gold Pittsburgh Steelers gear.

Not a lot of people know I was born in the late '70s to a Steeler fan, he said as the crowd went wild.

I think they had just won the Super Bowl probably then, he said, laughing at the image on the screen.

What he didnt do during the entire speech was refer to anything about his victories using I. Thats important: Nearly every mention of his administration's accomplishments began with the word we, as was every mention of Republicans in general winning races and coming together.

It is also clear that some of the press do not understand him or the people who support the movement or even would consider him for the Republican nominee. The coverage was as expected: The attendees were mocked, and his speech was called barely hidden fascism, with barely any intellectual curiosity to understand either.

Its like clockwork. Few reporters have learned a thing from not just 2016 but also the down-ballot races in 2020 in this state and states across the country where Democrats and the press mistakenly assumed there would be a blue wave. They also haven't learned anything from the governors elections in Virginia, where Republican Glenn Youngkin won, or New Jersey, where the Democrats barely won a race they expected to win much more easily.

The establishment media are giving DeSantis, along with everyone else with an "R" after their names, treatment similar to what they gave President Donald Trump meaning it was never really about Trump; it was always about the establishment losing power and stature. And they plan on playing whack-a-mole to try to destroy or undermine every Republican candidate who rises from now until the cows come home and to belittle Republican supporters, too.

Already, we are to the point where former Republican governor of Florida Charlie Crist, who is now the Democratic nominee for governor against DeSantis, opened his pitch to voters by saying: Those who supported the governor should stay with him and vote for him, and I dont want your vote. If you have that hate in your heart, keep it there.

If you have any hesitation in believing the Democrats or some of the press still do not hold contempt for conservatives or have learned their lessons for calling them deplorable, Crist has proved that sentiment is still prevailing.

People listen as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks at the Unite and Win Rally.

(Justin Merriman/for the Washington Examiner)

Youngstown State University political science professor Paul Sracic says DeSantis's trip here and to Youngstown shows his message is emerging in prominence in the Republican Party and that he has his eyes on the presidency in 2024.

Assuming Vance wins, he will likely remember who was there to help him in 2022, Sracic said.

More importantly, Sracic said it shows the interesting place that DeSantis now occupies in the GOP.

Former Democrats in northeast Ohio and western Pennsylvania were a big part of the conservative base that launched Trump into the White House in 2016, he explained.

Sracic said that while voters in these regions still like Trump for his policies, they are not all that enthused yet with Vance but he said they are indeed excited about DeSantis.

He possesses those same qualities on policies, as well as attitude, that Trump did, said Sracic, an expert in the Rust Belt and conservative populism.

DeSantis being able to rally Trump voters to Vance is further evidence that he is the heir apparent to Trump," Sracic continued. "Of course, if Trump runs in 2024, and DeSantis wants to challenge him, voters like those in Youngstown and around Pittsburgh will become crucial swing votes in a GOP primary. DeSantis is smart to travel up here to remind these voters of the common roots he shares with them.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis waves to the crowd at the Unite and Win Rally on Aug. 19.

(Justin Merriman/for the Washington Examiner)

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Florida's DeSantis takes conservative populism to the Rust Belt

The first live debate ahead of presidential elections in Brazil saw the candidates indulging in extremely heated and offensive oratory, but at one point the populist President Jair Bolsonaro crossed all possible redlines while answering a question from one journalist. I think you go to sleep thinking about me. You have a crush on me, Bolsonaro told Vera Magalhes after she asked him about Brazils COVID-19 vaccination rate. You are a disgrace to journalism in Brazil, he continued acidly.

Magalhes, a columnist working for Jornal O Globo, in contrast, reacted in a rather somber and professional tone, stating that Bolsonaros attitude was absolutely out of control, unnecessary, and harmful to himself. She said she believed Bolsonaro doesnt like to be questioned by women. Bolsonaros insulting comments to Magalhes come after he has faced ample criticism over his attitude toward women in general. The far-right populist disagrees of course, pointing to his governments support for laws in favor of womens rights and claiming that a large part of women in Brazil love me because he opposes legalizing drugs.

The episode outlined above sounds quite familiar, echoing a similar incident on August 27 when, addressing a gathering in Jhelum, former prime minister Imran Khan also snobbishly lashed out at all journalists who dared criticize him or ask difficult questions. He referred to all those journalists as lifafay and zameer farosh (corrupt and conscious sellers) who were advising him to temporarily pause his protest campaign because of the ongoing humanitarian catastrophe caused by devastating floods in Pakistan. Even further back, it resembles the notorious incident of Donald Trump raging against CNNs Jim Acosta, when Trumps morning post-midterms presser devolved into an historic White House fracas when Acosta poked the presidential bear with his line of questioning about Trumps caravan invasion rally rhetoric. Thats enough! Put down the mic! Trump shouted. CNN should be ashamed of itself having you working for them. You are a rude, terrible person. You should not be working for CNN. The way you treat Sarah Huckabee is horrible. The way you treat other people is horrible! Trump hissed at Acosta.

In recent years, a long line of populist leaders has suddenly popped up on the global political radar Donald Trump, Imran Khan, Boris Johnson, Narendra Modi, Emmanuel Macron, and Viktor Orban to name a few. All of them share a lot in common, particularly their theatrical demeanor and extreme disdain for the legacy media and professional journalists. This wave of radicalized populism has produced numerous such episodes where the populist politicians have directly and aggressively bullied and slighted journalists and particularly female journalists who happen to ask them any pricking questions or challenge their preferred narratives. This aggressive anti-journalist trend, arising out of their intrinsic fear of being exposed and challenged publicly, is a relatively new phenomenon that traces its roots to the introduction of social media as an overwhelmingly powerful propaganda tool in this new era of emerging technologies.

The level to which journalism is being challenged and threatened is certainly unprecedented throughout the history of the profession. The content and authority of traditional news outlets are both being questioned, and their former monopoly on peoples attention is being increasingly diluted due to social media platforms.

The emergence of populist politics is yet another momentous challenge, manifested in some cases by players openly hostile to journalists and even to the idea of press freedom in general.

By exploiting the electoral mandate to undermine core institutions like the courts or news media, populism creates a political tribalism and cultism that inflames divisions, blunts civil discourse, and eschews political compromise. Populism mostly mobilizes people who have not been politically involved. At the same time, the relationship between populist communicators and the media has typically been thorny and strained. Populist leaders mostly receive massive coverage in the mainstream press, and the news media outlets are typically portrayed by populist actors as part of a corrupt elite; yet ironically, on the other hand, these populist actors are also addicted to the steroids of publicity that these outlets can provide

The populist impulse affects a big chunk of the public, which makes it quite difficult for the legacy media to provide balanced coverage amid mounting pressure from populist leaders. Yet some populist actors have systematically targeted the media as fake, lying, or unfair. Thats a challenge for journalists. Theres reason to think that journalist-bashing by politicians has very negative effects on the followers of these populist leaders, who have at times resorted to using violence against dissenting journalists.

Populist politicians dont trust the media. They believe that the press is prejudiced and not a true representation of society. What populist leaders like Donald Trump, Bolsonaro, and Imran Khan either dont comprehend, or dont care about, is that their own offensive actions against a journalist directly encourages their fanatic devotees to take it a step further. One day a political leader attacks the media, and the next day journalists are not merely the target of critiques, but death threats. A disproportionate number of those threats are aimed at female journalists, who experience sexualized abuse, gender-related threats, and gutter-talk behavior. The general public appears to have little understanding of populism, and might see it as a fresh development or something that is entirely benign. But make no mistake: the rise of populist politics poses very serious challenges to journalists, legacy media, and democracy in general.

The views expressed in this article belong to the authors alone and do not necessarily reflect those of Geopoliticalmonitor.com

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Journalism and the Threat of Neo-Populism - Geopoliticalmonitor.com