This post, inspired by the Stolpersteins ('stumbling stones') of Amsterdam, attracted some surprising (to me) comments when it was first published in April 2019. I am reposting now for two reasons. Fear of 'the other' has grown – in Scotland as elsewhere. But, more hopefully, '"Scotland’s first Stolperstein was unveiled in Edinburgh on the pavement outside the former St … [Read more...] about What are we stumbling into? Reasons for hope and fear again.
fascism
An alarming Alternative for Germany
Thuringia, one of the five eastern German Länder, has just broken a post-1949 taboo - and smashed a civil society firewall and political cordon sanitaire - by making a Far Right party, AfD (Alternative für Deutschland), the winner of its state election on September 1. The result, giving it almost a third of the vote (2.8%) there and over 30% (30.6%) in neighbouring Saxony, was … [Read more...] about An alarming Alternative for Germany
The ‘accepted’ rise of fascism
It couldn’t happen again, could it? The gradual loss of civil liberty, the increasing tyranny of a powerful leader who feeds fear of the Other so as to gain control.The rise of the far right in parts of Europe and the US brings warning echoes of our not so distant past. Earlier this year Sceptical Scot published an article by Bryan Schatz examining the racism of Alt-Right … [Read more...] about The ‘accepted’ rise of fascism