Two stories that I noted in pursuing the news struck me as worth a quick note because they demonstrate the degree to which a lot of what we are seeing in US right-wing politics is not at all unique to the US.
First, if you look at this piece from the BBC fact-checking British right-winger Nigel Farage (he of pro-Brexit and general xenophobia fame) you will see a list of issues (with the same errors or obfuscations) that any MAGA type (if not and standard-issue GOP candidate) might spout: Migration, voter fraud and climate change – Farage’s claims fact-checked.
And then there’s this from Brazil (also via the BBC): Protests across Brazil over divisive abortion law.
Thousands of people in Brazil have protested against a proposed nationwide law change which would equate abortion to homicide, even in cases where a pregnancy is the result of rape.
It would mean women who terminate pregnancies after 22 weeks could be jailed for up to 20 years.
Brazil’s ruling party opposes the move but conservatives in Congress are attempting to push the bill through.
The bill still needs to pass the Chamber of Deputies to become law.
I suppose we could also add the hard rightward turn in the EU elections.
I am not going to try and go deeply into any of this at the moment but will note that just like it is difficult to convince a lot of Americans that inflation, for example, is a global phenomenon, so too it is often overlooked the degree to which this political moment of nationalist/populist/reactionary politics is also global and not just a Trump-based phenomenon.
