000-tobecategorised

A Carnival of Hope: Trump, Harris and the Death of Liberalism  https://beiner.substack.com/p/a-carnival-of-hope-trump-harris-and    For progressives, the MAGA insurgency heralds the end of democracy. As a consumer, it doesn’t matter which you choose, as long as you choose.  Capitalism will happily take your rejection and sell it back to you. Don’t like extractive consumerism? No worries! We have a shampoo just for you.

Modern elections are no different. They are consumer culture’s attempt to sell the most sacred gift in the human soul back to us: hope. At the heart of every election is the promise that things will be new. In a polarised society like the US, this newness looks radically different depending on the tribe you belong to.

These tribes are no longer defined by ‘left’ or ‘right’, but by pro or anti-institutional. For those in the Trump insurgency, the political establishment represented by Kamala Harris is an existential threat. For progressives, the MAGA insurgency heralds the end of democracy. As a consumer, it doesn’t matter which you choose, as long as you choose.

Can democracy survive now the world’s richest man has it in his sights? https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/nov/02/elon-musk-donald-trump-us-presidential-elections George Monbiot ..  Democracy is the problem capital keeps trying to solve. Why? Because it ensures that workers have rights and fair wages; that the living world has some (though never enough) protections; that we cannot be ripped off, poisoned and robbed without restraint.

Capitalism has used two powerful tools to try to solve its problem: fascism and neoliberalism.  For decades now, the centrist pact with capital has worked as follows: we might seek half-heartedly to improve the lives of people at the bottom, but we will do almost nothing to hold down those at the top. As a short-term tactic it worked: .. appeasement makes your opponents more powerful. But our governments claimed they were simply being “pragmatic”: it didn’t matter how rich some people became, as long as the lot of the poor improved..... “pragmatism” prevailed, and turned out not to be pragmatic at all. The slippage from democracy to oligarchy should surprise no one.

In Hindu Nationalism in the Indian Diaspora, historian Edward Anderson traces the rise and proliferation of right-wing fervour in Indian communities abroad https://indianexpress.com/article/books-and-literature/in-hindu-nationalism-in-the-indian-diaspora-historian-edward-anderson-traces-the-rise-and-proliferation-of-right-wing-fervour-in-indian-communities-abroad-9640005/ 

Hindu Nationalism in the Indian Diaspora: Transnational Politics and British Multiculturalism https://www.foreignaffairs.com/reviews/hindu-nationalism-indian-diaspora-transnational-politics-and-british-multiculturalism  By Edward T. G. Anderson Hurst, 2023, 504 pp.  Thousands of expatriates are actively involved in its promotion, whether through funding, campaign work, or public advocacy. New media powers their connection to the ideology: the Indian diaspora is digitally adept, identity is increasingly divorced from geography, and disinformation is rampant. Institutional links to business interests may also play a role.