Conjunctions

The rise of right wing populism in Europe since 2000 have been greeted by the centrist and leftist parties with consternation.  In Holland there was a lot of discussion whether Fortuyn (and later Wilders) should be engaged or ignored, whether a cordon sanitaire as maintained in Belgium against the Vlaams Blok is still appropriate when the right obviously gained such popularity.  In Holland, the decision was not only to engage them, but to invite them into government. Consequently for the last decade, political discourse has deteriorated significantly this side of the Channel, with calls to ban the Koran and assorted ant-islam madness filling the airwaves and newspapers. 

Oliver Willis has the video of Nick Griffin of the racist BNP appearing on BBC’s Question Time.  This is the Brits showing us how to engage the right wing.  Note that Question Time is not particularly progressive, and it would be difficult to characterize Jack Straw as a radical.  In fact, and this is what is so admirable about it, centrist and moderate politicians are here openly showing their disgust with Griffin and his racism. 

Hope the example soon gets following here in Holland. I’d really like to see Wilders squirming for a change

For anybody paying attention, it should be obvious that Venezuela and its allied Latin American countries (Ecuador, Honduras, Bolivia), have joined Palestine and Iran as regions that cannot be objectively reported on by the western press.  The truth about Chavez and other Latin American progressives can only be uncovered by diligent searches through the blogosphere, while the mainstream media happily joins in an orgy of misinformation.  Eric Toussaint, president of the Committee for the Cancellation of Third World Debt, gives some examples of a reality that remains invisible to the northern hemisphere.

I do find it surprising that the Latin American progressives are equally ignored and vilified by both the European left and right.  I would have expected people who drape themselves in Che T-shirts and used to vacation in Nicaragua to pay more attention to the region.  Latin America is as important a battleground for American hegemony as the Middle East, and one where it is equally uncertain that the US will prevail.

It is also questionable if the vilification of Chavez&Co is really in the middle and long term interests of Europe.  With Brazil earmarked for an important role in the developing multi-polar world, Europe can be best served by following an independent policy towards Latin America. I suspect that the wave of populist progressivism currently sweeping the continent will not be stopped without another bloody imperial war or, more likely in the region, another decades long ‘counterinsurgency’ war fought through their (the US’s) Columbian proxy.

With the lackluster condemnation of the Honduran coup, Latin America can seemingly be added to the list of policy areas where Obama is failing to change. How disappointing!

I remember in when the Dutch team did not win the Euro2000 football the whole country was gripped by a severe depression for months afterwards. At the time some economist analyst explained on TV that the disappointment will probably retard economic growth for the next year.  So, knowing that failures can have far-reaching consequences, this did not so much surprise me as delight me:  a study found that, following Obama’s win,  Republican males suffered from testosterone depletion.

Oh man, payback’s a bitch. Knowing how attached right-wing males usually are to their masculinity, I guess this finding will only humiliate them further.