WHAT NEXT AFTER THE SIEGE OF CAPITOL HILL?

by Sarah Edgcumbe and Clyde Collins

The storming of Capitol Hill in Washington on the 6th January and the ongoing aftermath has dominated western media over the past few days with good reason. White Americans fuelled by bizarre QAnon conspiracy theories and egged on by Trump’s false narrative of fraudulent election results, forced their way into the building, ransacked the interior, hung confederate flags, stole items and generally behaved like a bunch of supremacist football hooligans who had been binge-drinking for several hours, and whose team had just lost. In doing so however, they demonstrated the extent to which they have become empowered by Trump – and that is terrifying. When Trump leaves the White House (hopefully in handcuffs; tears streaking his fake tan), his manifest right-wing extremist legacy is going to remain present for years to come.

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RAHUL GANDHI’S TRYST WITH DESTINY?

by Scott Mclaughlan 

On the 11th December, as many observers of Indian politics have long expected, Rahul Gandhi was confirmed as president of the Indian National Congress while out campaigning in Gujarat. He will be officially sworn in on the 16th December.

During the 2014 Indian election campaign, the leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Narendra Modi, successfully lampooned the Congress Party for its “anti-democratic dynastic culture”, deriding Rahul Gandhi as an “egoist prince”. The Congress, Modi claimed, was an orgy of decadence, corruption and unaccountability, that was out of touch with ‘the people’. This ruse appears to have chimed with the Indian electorate: the BJP stormed to victory with the Congress registering its worst ever performance. Continue Reading

A CONTRARIAN’S VIEW OF BANNON’S BANISHMENT

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Content warning: mentions white nationalism, racism, antisemitism, and Islamophobia.

By Gary Olson

My take on Steve Bannon’s recent firing is at odds with the celebratory tone I detect from others, especially those claiming it’s a victory for decent people. It was nothing of the sort, and Bannon wasn’t banished for any of the reasons we’ve read about in mainstream media accounts.Continue Reading

US ELECTIONS: A NEW STATE OF POLITICS

by Gunnar Eigener

Whatever the result of the upcoming US elections, it will be remembered for being a particularly nasty campaign and for raising the shadow of far-right politics in parallel with Europe. The likely, and predicted, winner is Hillary Clinton — although more for being the lesser of two evils rather than a preferable option. The sheer lunacy of Donald Trump’s policies should have Clinton leading by a country mile but this is not the case. So what has happened and what does the future hold for US, and global, politics?Continue Reading

TRIGGER

by Cadi Cliff

In response.

Troup County, January 26th 2015, 5

What is it about the rifle, the pistol, the Ruger 22?
Protection you can prop, old-school, by the front door
keep walking the perimeter of your picket fence
come on boy, let’s have some father son timeContinue Reading