In Russia, Poland and Hungary, the oppressive narrative claims that recognizing LGBTQ+ rights was another surrender to the spread of ‘Western’ values. The situation can be seen as a culture war, in which people’s attitudes to LGBTQ+ people are being co-opted by groups on both sides of the political spectrum, while stopping short of criminalization of them.
Europe
Migration crisis on Italian shores
From 1 January this year to date, nearly 62,000 irregular migrants have landed on Italian shores, more than double the 27,346 reported in the same period in 2022. Since the arrival on 28 June of 1,292 immigrants on the coast of the Italian island of Lampedusa, other barges have […]
France is burning: fascistisation, police violence and racism
Fascistisation of political life and the populist media debate are spreading throughout the whole of Europe like a new pandemic. They will continue to grow until they affect the majority of the continent, or the international community as a whole, and enter a phase of exhaustion and weakness.
Participatory Budgeting: What needs to happen in England
There have been signs of new interest in Participatory Budgeting (PB) in London. It offers a parallel democratic process to elections and is open to immigrants without the right to vote. Resistance to PB comes from misunderstanding what it can achieve, and from restrictions on local council spending. People can change their reality.
Spain: between the far-right and the ‘Latin American’ connection
In a few weeks’ time, conservative and Francoist nostalgia groups and those defending the rule of law and achievements in social justice, human rights and civil liberties will face each other in Spain. Miguel Ángel Ferris Correspondent in Paris A scenario in which the political centre has vanished […]