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This new study on Bolsonaro supporters concludes that "populism" is just a convenient repackaging for far-right and anti-democratic

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0261379421001463

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Are there further parallels between the attempted far-right insurrection in Brazil and the US and events elsewhere in the world? What can we learn in the UK from these attempted coups? Let us know what you think

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Jan 10, 2023Liked by Heidi Cuda, Adam Bienkov

Like the US Freedom Caucus has support links or support of Koch Network, the latter's influence is very much transnational whether Hungary, Anglosphere etc., starting with their global Atlas Network think tanks seeded from the UK IEA (Atlas online directory is now only accessible via WayBack Machine due to many embarrassing links being found couple of years ago....).

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It’s seems that the far right is getting support from every right thinking country and how can it be demolished? As Ireland has now got far right fanatics stirring up trouble for refugees with disinformation videos it must be stopped we are a peaceful country but these wacos are making look like we are unwelcoming!

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Jan 10, 2023Liked by Heidi Cuda

The directory is here https://www.atlasnetwork.org/partners but one can no longer click through, but still on the WayBack archive; Hungary.....

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Hey everyone. I believe it's simultaneously democracy and our habitable planet at stake. don't think the assault on democracy is coincidental. This info from the Volts podcast (on Substack) has been troubling me since I first heard it a few weeks ago and it's entirely connected to the right wing movements with their fascist/authoritarian tendencies. Here's the link: https://www.volts.wtf/p/the-right-wing-groups-behind-renewable#details. For powerful elements (individuals and corporations, even nations) that have decided to thwart, manipulate, delay or determine 'how' the world responds to the climate emergency, wresting power from democracies is an essential step. Meanwhile having corporate influence on governments is an old method still being put to good use. But it's not enough to have 'their' guys in power. They need to have unhinged folks detached from reason who can't be persuaded by logic and science, folks who don't believe in democracy, good old fashioned authoritarians, so there is no risk they can be removed.

The podcast I linked to above, shows how in the US, the response to the IRA which opens the door to investing in green energy, has been what appear to be grassroots community lobbies/pressure groups

mobilising AGAINST the transition from fossil fuels. They aren't spontaneous. Communities are literally being groomed by vested interests to have certain fears and adopt certain positions. It's been brilliantly thought out from the legislative point of view and is part of the current strategy of DELAY re the transition.

It's my reasonable belief that the forces fighting the transition are either the same as, or in league with, forces fighting democracy usually in the name of 'freedom' and 'patriotism.'

For the sake of both our habitable planet and our democracies, we must find an equally organised way to override these nefarious influences. The folks they are targeting are not 'other' but our well-meaning fellow citizens. Ideally, we should elect a government willing and able to recognise the nature of the problem.

These nefarious forces understand the power that lies with large numbers of people united in their conviction about something. And they are responding to the growing numbers of people concerned about the climate emergency and the failures of the neo-liberal model by planting and nurturing seeds intended to undermine climate movements and democratic movements for challenging the status quo.

I'm almost certain that these forces are already mobilising in the UK, so that once there is a change of government with a greener vision and more urgent plans for implementation, communities will be protesting vociferously. Hope I'm wrong. But we need to be pro-active and not find ourselves looking to close the stable after the horse has bolted.

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Brilliant and awful what Rodrigo Nunes says about the push to expand guns access in Brazil. That is our plight in America. More guns then people. Also his point on anti-intellectualism, which is fascism 101

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This was such a big deal imo:

“Late Sunday, Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered the immediate suspension of the governor of Brasilia for 90 days, accusing him, and the district’s head of public security, of abetting the unprecedented attack on the country’s capital.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/01/08/bolsonaro-supporters-brazil-congress/

Reveals Lula is aware of how quickly authoritarian capture could occur.

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given that in 1963 the USA and U.K. helped overthrow a democratic government and instal a military dictatorship that lasted 21 years I’d say the much bigger threat to democracy are those people from countries that helped with the successful coup opining on this without even looking up the slightest bit of Brazilian history first, not a few hours of rioting on a Sunday when parliament was shut. The real threat to democracy is deliberate ignorance of the past.

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