A collaboration with The New School and the European Democracy Institute
 

Category: Issue Themes

Confronting Trump and Trumpism: 10 Observations after “The Morning After” / moving “Beyond Alarm”

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Photo: “President Donald J. Trump, joined by the Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff General Joseph Dunford and Acting Secretary of Defense Mark T. Esper, watches an aircraft flyover during his remarks at the Salute to America event Thursday, July 4, 2019, at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. (Official White House Photo by Andrea Hanks).” The White House from Washington, DC, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. I am …

Why We Should Be Alarmed

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Photo: “Supporters of former President of the United States Donald Trump at an Arizona for Trump rally at Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Arizona.,” Aug. 2024. Gage Skidmore from Surprise, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons As the evidence that Donald J. Trump poses a mortal threat to constitutional democracy in America became stronger the political and electoral power against him became weaker. …

The Morning After

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On the morning after our catastrophic elections in 2016, I wrote an open letter to a Polish friend:  “We have to acknowledge that an enormous part of the American electorate wanted this fascist. I’ve never been especially patriotic, I’ve always felt more like a rootless cosmopolitan, but these elections have broken my heart.” At the time, eight years ago, many people felt that the description “fascist” was overly …

Uncanny Parallels between Erdoğan and Trump

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Following the 2023 general and 2024 local elections, the election frenzy in Turkey has subsided, with the next national decision point slated for 2028, when President Erdoğan’s current term will expire. Over more than two decades, Erdoğan’s rule has further weakened Turkey’s already fragile and largely undemocratic institutions. Through strategic institutional gerrymandering, Erdoğan has consolidated his power, reshaping political and legal systems to ensure his dominance. While Turkey’s …

Macron’s Gamble: The Costs of France’s Republican Dam

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Growing up in France, I remember Jean-Marie Le Pen’s National Front branded as nothing short of an extreme right-wing party. It was crass: the epitome of racism, xenophobia, antisemitism, and outright stupidity. It was dubbed the party of the uneducated working class, looked down upon by a condescending privileged class. This elite could afford to pontificate on the white man’s burden to welcome the wretched of the earth …

The History of Struggle in Palestine and Its Current Relevance

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The image of Palestinians is one tainted by the misrepresentations rampant throughout the media. Palestinians have long been underrepresented and misunderstood, both in the media and in policy discussions. Despite their long history of struggle, they are still oftentimes portrayed in a negative light with their actions heavily scrutinized. This is a result of the misconceptions regarding their history and their movements. These misconceptions primarily stem from a …

What Israel’s Nation-State Law means for an Israeli-American citizen watching the current protests from the US

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Israel, often referred to as the region’s “only functioning democracy,” seems to be disintegrating in front of our eyes and the eyes of the rest of the world. The Israel-Palestine conflict became a torrential storm of bullets, bombs, and horror over the past four months, attracting global attention. While the country fractures from grief, its political unity is also under increased stress. In recent weeks, for the first …

What will you do when this is over? We asked Ukrainians from different corners of the country

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MAJA HORELKINA, 39 years old, IT specialist, Przemyśl (Poland) If the war ended today, I would go to Kyiv. My family and friends are there. I would hug them all. I wouldn’t be afraid to let my daughter, Yevheniya, go there either, who, despite the war, has not given up her dream of opening a café in Kyiv. A backpack has been accompanying Maja since 2014. That’s when …

“My life consists of constant deconstruction.” Paweł Pieniążek about the work of a war reporter

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  War seen in person looks less terrible than on television. However, when I notice that I am becoming less sensitive and danger stops arousing fear in me, I know that it is time to go home and decompress. MAREK KĘSKRAWIEC: In your texts about the war in Ukraine, you rarely share your own thoughts, you don’t make yourself the star, you give voice to the protagonists. This …

Correspondence from Ukraine: The last road to town

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  In Bakhmut, medics’ vehicles wait hidden under thick layers of earth and concrete. Artillery fire almost never ceases and every bit of the city is within its reach. They come by minibus. A piece of paper with the number “300” stuck to the window means that they are transporting the wounded. They stop. The two medics do not get out. Fear and confusion are painted on their …