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. 

Trump’s greatest feat has been convincing ordinary Americans that he’s on their side. He is not
George Monbiot  https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/oct/29/donald-trump-greatest-feat-ordinary-americans-capitalism-republican   Men like Trump, damaged, frightened, pathologically insecure, resistant to love and therapy, can relieve their pain only by inflicting pain on others. Compassion is a foreign concept to him. There is no curiosity, no wonder, no kindness, no connection with the hearts of others, no lightness of spirit. In their place are ego, rage, resentment, impulsiveness and cruelty. Those who are not at peace with themselves destroy other people’s peace.

We need to build a world in which one can gain without another losing, a world in which kindness, decency and community prevail, where the fortunate help the less fortunate to avoid disaster