From the family home to online networks, the stories of Fabian K. and Hagen R. show how extremist ideas are passed down and reinforced.
Tag: nationalism
Once dismissed as a tragic anomaly of the post–Cold War era, the 1995 massacre of 8,000 Bosnian Muslims now echoes through today’s wars and ideologies. From Gaza to Ukraine, the logic of ethnic violence is back, and the world is once again looking away.
Tehran’s revolutionary regime is suddenly turning to Iranian nationalism hoping to rustle up public support for itself as it faces Israeli and U.S. threats. But who in Iran could believe it now, when everything it has done for years has shown its contempt for the very notion of historical roots and national interests.
The Holocaust was based on the same ultranationalist ideas that the New Right refers to today. Even if Elon Musk, Donald Trump and Germany’s AfD leader Alice Weidel try to distance themselves from the words associated with Nazism, their politics cannot fool us.
With the global rise of the far-right, many Germans are afraid that the past is about to repeat itself. German writer Florian Illies explains the trap about such analogies — even as other dangers lurk.
Elon Musk is hosting Alice Weidel in an interview on X, having tried to convince the American tech billionaire she’s not an extremist. But who is Weidel, really? She’s described the Germans as “slaves” of the U.S. and quotes the infamous text of a nationalist philosopher that is a dog-whistle for the far right in Germany.
The emerging geopolitical paradigm is one of a kind of “armed peace” led by states equipped with nuclear weapons as the ultimate guarantee of security. The battlefield now spans the range of hybrid threats and technological breakthroughs, introducing the potential for “strategic surprises.”
Opponents and former supporters are issuing urgent warnings about Donald Trump, saying he is a fascist. But is he really a new Mussolini or Hitler? What should we be looking for in the months to come? Christian Staas of Germany’s Die Zeit asks historians on both sides of the Atlantic.
The “diaspora” of Romanians forced to leave the country in search of work is estimated at 4 million, and far-right parties have figured out how to appeal to them for support. It largely mirrors the rightward shift of the nation’s youth as well.
The Shia question is an expression of the entire Lebanese question, and requires the good will of all faiths, but also poses the responsibility of what to think and do about Hezbollah.
Americans have re-elected Donald Trump, choosing a convicted demagogue who champions power over principle. This historic turn raises a sobering question: Is the West’s beacon of democracy slipping toward the authoritarianism it opposed in its founding principles? A timely viewpoint from Germany’s Die Zeit.
Trump’s victory is not some unforeseen accident. Europe should have been preparing for this. It didn’t. The actions we take now are vital for the future of democracy and the free world, writes Giovanni di Lorenzo, Die Zeit‘s editor-in-chief.
After Italy and the Netherlands, Austria has also broken a post-War taboo in choosing the far-right party in Parliamentary elections. It is a direct challenge to the European Union’s founding ideals at a moment when global uncertainty requires a strong democratic voice.
Updated August 17, 2024 at 11:50 a.m. Indonesia declared its independence on this day in 1945. Who declared Indonesia’s independence? Indonesia’s independence from Dutch Colonial rule was declared by Sukarno and Mohammad Hatta, who were the leaders of the Indonesian nationalist movement at the time. Did the declaration lead to immediate independence? While the declaration […]
Scenes of violence against Syrian refugees are no longer unusual in Turkey, a country marked by rising nationalism amid a deepening economic crisis.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s plans for beautification supposedly capture the aspirations of citizens but are a cover for the actual political project of legitimizing his narrative of history, which glorifies right-wing groups and appropriates leaders who have been purportedly overlooked by Congress.
July 15 – July 21, 2024
July 8 – July 14, 2024
July 1 – July 7, 2024
Zionism shares with Nazism the claims of building what they call National Socialism, though the nationalism always takes over. There are lessons in the Oscar-winning film The Zone of Interest, and the current politics of the far right in Europe.
Once defined the most homophobic country in the Balkans, Kosovo’s queer community is now calling for more recognition and consideration from the authorities. But numerous obstacles remain.
From Trump in the U.S., Eurosceptics in the UK, the Catalan independence movement or the growing rejection of immigration in much of the developed world shows that a century after the founding of fascism, the darker instincts of humans are always lurking just below the surface.
Updated June 7, 2024 at 11:00 a.m. On this day in 1938, the Yellow River experienced a major flood during the Second Sino-Japanese War when the Chinese Nationalist government deliberately destroyed the dikes along the river to halt the advancing Japanese forces. Why did the Chinese intentionally flood the Yellow River? The decision to intentionally […]
Updated April 25, 2024 at 11:450 p.m. On this day in 1945, Allied troops entered Milan and other major Italian cities, signaling the end of fascist rule and the Nazi occupation. The Italian resistance movement played a significant role in the liberation of the country. What was the fascist regime in Italy? The fascist regime […]
Just because war appears more likely to spread to Europe or the Middle East than Asia, we should not forget China’s enormous weight. But does Beijing want to do with it?
Prabowo Subianto’s campaign team has heavily promoted him as a baby-faced cute grandpa on the internet, overshadowing the former army general’s dark authoritarian past and potential intent to dismantle Indonesia’s fragile democratic system.
Updated Jan. 5, 2024 at 12:00 p.m The German Workers’ Party is founded in 1919, which a little over a year later changed its name to the Nazi Party. Who founded the German Workers’ Party? The German Workers’ Party (DAP) was founded in Munich in the hotel Fürstenfelder Hof by Anton Drexler, along with Dietrich […]
The black-and-white view of the world which separates people into loyalists and traitors is incompatible with the compromises and moderation that make a liberal democracy tick, and which make society free and livable.
There is no doubt that the old museums in Europe and America bear deep imprints of the colonial era; in a mirror image, “protecting treasures” has become a transcendental reference for the new China.
The flood of pro-Israel support from right-ring Hindu nationalists reveals more about the nature of their political project, its aspirations and ideological directions through the decades, than it does about Zionism.
With multilateral diplomacy in tatters, the fighting gumption of weaker states against aggression by bigger powers is helping end the age of empires.
One official invitation and two booklets, issued ahead of the G20 meeting in New Delhi, refer to India as “Bharat” — a word with a long history of political, etymological and religious significance. But there is little clarity as to which name should be used in English.
Spain’s national anthem, dating back to 1770, is the oldest in continual use — it also happens to be wordless. For other nations, what can be done about aging anthem lyrics that may need to be placed in their original context to avoid upsetting or offending contemporary ears.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the guest of honor for the July 14-Bastille Day celebrations in Paris, a choice that has benefits and risks for both France and India, two medium-sized powers cultivating their relative independence.
When its comes to food and national pride, there are few things that get people more riled up than debating the rightful origins of a dish or a delicacy. From hummus (for starters) to couscous (main dish) and the pavlova for desserts, we look at gastronomic feuds around the world.
Similar to recent breakthroughs of right-wing parties in other countries, Poland’s anti-immigrant political party has a somewhat different formula that has found surprising support among professional women. And Konfederacja may be decisive in next fall’s national elections.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan has cemented his already tight grip on power in Turkey, winning an unprecedented third term as president. The West had hoped for a slightly less unpredictable leader, but they will have to make peace with an emboldened Erdogan, who may become even more autonomous.
Rome has been strongly opposed to synthetic foods, insect-based flours and health warnings on alcohol, and aggressive lobbying by Giorgia Meloni’s right-wing government against nutritional labeling has prompted accusations in Brussels of “gastronationalism.”
Bollywood film The Kerala Story has done huge numbers at the Indian box office after public support by Hindu nationalist parties. But the film is facing claims it is Islamophobic propaganda that peddles conspiracy theories about Muslims.
Bobby Sands died on this day in 1981, after 66 days on a hunger strike. He had refused food in protest of the British government’s refusal to grant him and other IRA prisoners political prisoner status. Who was Bobby Sands? Bobby Sands was an Irish nationalist and member of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA). […]