Are anti-rights movements infiltrating high schools? We uncover the deliberate, decades-old strategy the far-right is using to target young people, weaponise their insecurities, and build a pipeline of extremist power.

In this episode of In Solidarity, openDemocracy’s Senior Investigations Reporter Sian Norris sits down with Jamie Vernaelde, Senior Researcher at Ipas. They dive deep into a chilling new report detailing how far-right and anti-rights movements are actively grooming the next generation. From exploiting economic and physical insecurities to pumping massive financial investments into youth pipelines, Jamie exposes the conservative playbook for molding young minds.

More importantly, they discuss what the progressive movement is getting wrong about youth engagement and how we can fight back by giving young people the space and resources to lead.

Read the full report here: https://www.ipas.org/resource/future-proofing-the-professionalization-of-an-anti-rights-youth-generation/

https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/newsletters/

In Solidarity is openDemocracy’s podcast about people, power, and politics. Support the show by visiting https://www.openDemocracy.net/donate/

Credits:

Presented by Aman Sethi

Audio engineering by James Battershill

Theme song ‘Odyssey’ performed by Edward Abela

—

Chapters:

00:00 How the Far-Right Targets Gen Z

04:15 Why Young Women are Drifting to the Far-Right

06:23 The 'Tradwife' Trend: A Pipeline to Radicalisation?

08:13 Rebranding Extremism for Secular Youth

11:36 The Wellness-to-Alt-Right Pipeline Explained

13:07 Why Contraception is the Right’s Next Target

15:12 Exposing the Dark Money Behind Anti-Rights Groups

18:04 The Playbook to Weaponise the Courts

20:08 Inside the Global War on Human Rights

22:57 The 'Elite' Seduction: Recruiting on Campus

24:39 Weaponising Victimhood: The Conservative Media Strategy

28:13 The Left’s Blindspot: How Progressives Can Fight Back

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Over 71,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israel since the war began on Oct 7 2023, in what a UN inquiry has described as a “genocide”.  When a US-brokered ceasefire was declared in October last year, the world's attention moved on to the next crisis. Since then at least 463 Palestinians had been killed by Israel as of Jan 21 this year, of whom 100 were children, according to the UN Relief and Works Agency.

Anywhere where else in the world, this would be an active conflict. In Palestine, this is what a ceasefire looks like.

In this episode, we speak to Jamil Sawalmeh,  the Director of ActionAid Palestine on the situation on the ground in Gaza.

https://palestine.actionaid.org/

https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/newsletters/

In Solidarity is openDemocracy’s podcast about people, power, and politics. Support the show by visiting https://www.openDemocracy.net/donate/

Credits:

Presented by Aman Sethi

Audio engineering by James Battershill

Theme song ‘Odyssey’ performed by Edward Abela

—

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction

01:41 What is the situation on the ground like Gaza?

07:04 The 'Yellow Line'

10:40 A lack of fresh water

14:00 The great displacement

14:53 Returning to Palestine is impossible

20:08 Reality of the Board Of Peace

24:08 The local infrastructure

28:12 What should the world be doing to help?

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If the US once claimed it was “defending Democracy” to justify attacking countries without pretext, the current administration has made no such excuses.

Last week US security forces abducted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife from a compound in Caracas in an operation that killed 70 people.

Maduro was presented in a courtroom in Manhattan, on charges of supposedly “importing tons of cocaine into the United States”, and his deputy Delcy Rodriguez was installed in his place as acting President.

To make this all make sense, we speak with Laura Tedesco, a long time openDemocracy contributor and professor of political science and international relations at St. Louis university in Madrid. Prof. Tedesco is also the author of several books on democracy and politics in Latin America.

Read Laura's Book, Latin America's Leaders: https://uk.bookshop.org/a/8711/9781783601028

https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/newsletters/

In Solidarity is openDemocracy’s podcast about people, power, and politics. Support the show by visiting https://www.openDemocracy.net/donate/

Credits:

Presented by Aman Sethi

Audio engineering by James Battershill

Theme song ‘Odyssey’ performed by Edward Abela

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Waring factions have dominated the headlines, but inside the Your Party conference the embers of hope for a different kind of politics were still burning. 

Investigative reporter Ethan Shone tells what the mood was like among the party members following months of public spats and PR disasters. 

https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/newsletters/

In Solidarity is openDemocracy’s podcast about people, power, and politics. Support the show by visiting https://www.openDemocracy.net/donate/

Credits:

Presented by James Battershill

Audio engineering by James Battershill

Theme song ‘Odyssey’ performed by Edward Abela

—

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We’ve normalised the idea that the world is ending, that society is tearing itself apart, that our countries — wherever we live — are falling apart. But what does that really look like? What does it feel like? What emerges in the aftermath?

In this episode host Aman Sethi speaks to Renata Salecl,  a Slovenian philosopher, sociologist and political theorist to decode how the experiences of post-socialist countries can help us understand the crisis gripping the West.

A Passion For Ignorance - https://uk.bookshop.org/a/8711/9780691240992

The Spoils of Freedom - https://uk.bookshop.org/a/8711/9780415073585

On Anxiety - https://uk.bookshop.org/a/8711/9780415312769

The Tyranny of Choice - https://uk.bookshop.org/a/8711/9781846681868

https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/newsletters/

In Solidarity is openDemocracy’s podcast about people, power, and politics. Support the show by visiting https://www.openDemocracy.net/donate/

Credits:

Presented by Aman Sethi

Story production by Ayodeji Rotinwa

Audio engineering by James Battershill

Theme song ‘Odyssey’ performed by Edward Abela

—

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction

02:30 Post socialist societies

07:22 The modern respect for cunning

08:45 Lessons from pop culture

10:16 The (mis)use of fake news

13:53 On accelerationism

16:11 The dissolution of societies

18:53 Times when nothing and everything changes

20:50 Those that enjoy life the wrong way

22:24 Neoliberal collapse

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Earlier this year, Labour overwhelmingly voted in favour of an amendment that would end the criminalisation of women and pregnant people seeking abortions outside the 1967 Abortion Act exemptions. As the debate went through the Lords, we sat down with MSI Reproductive Choices’ Louise McCudden to discuss why we need decriminalisation now - and what this win means amid a global backlash against abortion rights. 

https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/newsletters/

In Solidarity is openDemocracy’s podcast about people, power, and politics. Support the show by visiting https://www.openDemocracy.net/donate/

Credits:

Presented by Sian Norris

Story production by Ayodeji Rotinwa

Audio engineering by James Battershill

Theme song ‘Odyssey’ performed by Edward Abela

—

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction

01:07 What is the current legal state of abortion across the UK?

05:13 The women being imprisoned for abortion

10:16 The late-term abortion argument

13:10 Imported tactics from the US

16:21 The case for optimism

19:02 Anti-abortion's international bankroll

23:17 The future of the pro-abortion movement

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What can we learn about the future of consumer rights from the merger between Microsoft and Call of Duty publisher Activision Blizzard?

When Labour came into power in 2024, they accused regulators like Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) of inhibiting growth and appointed influential figures from the business world into key positions and advisory roles. This includes a former Amazon boss being made the head of the CMA, or as one lawyer observed “A monopolist had been appointed to lead the anti-monopoly watchdog”.

In today’s episode Ethan Shone tells us what we can expect from a government that has put growth and prosperity for business ahead of the rights of everyday consumers. 

https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/newsletters/

In Solidarity is openDemocracy’s podcast about people, power, and politics. Support the show by visiting https://www.openDemocracy.net/donate/

Credits:

Presented by James Battershill

Story production by Ayodeji Rotinwa

Audio engineering by James Battershill

Special thanks to Indra Warnes

Theme song ‘Odyssey’ performed by Edward Abela

—

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction

02:28 Why do regulatory bodies matter?

04:35 Who is influencing the CMA now?

07:25 Why are Labour taking this 'anti-consumer' approach?

10:15 Who should we be paying attention to?

14:09 What can we expect from Labour based on this trajectory?

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Did Western media manufacture consent for Israel's ongoing genocide of Palestinians in Gaza?

In the last two years since Hamas' attack on Israel, and the latter's bombardment of the territories of Palestine it partially occupies, mainstream media particularly in the U.S. and Europe have broken their own rules of fairness, accuracy, conflict of interest, objectivity and so-called "neutrality" in their coverage of Israel's actions. 

They have often repeated the Israeli government's statements as fact without critical context or analysis; for example the fact that Israel was considered to be imposing apartheid on Palestinians long before October 7th. They have underreported or omitted major events from coverage including attacks on aid flotilla for Palestinians or Israeli declarations of intent to commit genocide. In some cases it has been discovered that some news organisations hired former soldiers of Israeli Defence Forces, as reporters without disclosing this affiliation to their audience. 

Lila Hassan, an independent investigative journalist and educator who has worked closely with many outlets in the West in the last two years and prior - and has seen the media's role in shaping this conflict firsthand, joins us today to discuss how we got here and the real world harms of the media failing at delivering the one sacred thing required of journalists: the truth. 

Follow Lila:

https://www.instagram.com/bylilahassan/

https://lila-hassan.com/

—

https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/newsletters/

In Solidarity is openDemocracy’s podcast about people, power, and politics. Support the show by visiting https://www.openDemocracy.net/donate/

Credits:

Presented by Ayodeji Rotinwa

Edited and produced by James Battershill, Ayodeji Rotinwa

Theme song ‘Odyssey’ performed by Edward Abela

Clips from Boston Globe, Al Jazeera, SJS news

—

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction

05:45 We MUST say genocide

07:06 The tipping point

11:25 The forbidden words

14:44 Societal understanding vs Journalism

20:02 The perception of language

23:28 Western media betrays itself

27:30 Conflicts of interest in reporting

31:12 Misrepresentation from the media

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In early September, Nepal witnessed massive protests under the banner of GenZ protests to demonstrate against what they viewed as a hopelessly corrupt and sclerotic regime. 

The immediate trigger was a government ban on social media apps, but as the protestors themselves have made clear – their grievances run much deeper. 

The protests in Nepal bear parallels to similar uprisings in Sri Lanka in 2022 and Bangladesh last year. On this episode, journalists Roman Gautam and Aman Sethi discuss if we are witnessing a South Asian version of the Arab Spring.

http://www.himalmag.com

—

https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/newsletters/

In Solidarity is openDemocracy’s podcast about people, power, and politics. Support the show by visiting https://www.openDemocracy.net/donate/

Credits:

Presented by Aman Sethi

Edited and produced by James Battershill, Ayodeji Rotinwa & Carla Abreu

Theme song ‘Odyssey’ performed by Edward Abela

—

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction

01:56 A week after revolution

06:38 How widespread were the protests?

07:55 The South Asian spring

12:40 Discord democracy

18:56 Respect for elders

23:42 What's next for Nepal?

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The world is rightly horrified by how US President Trump is deporting people, including minors, without due process. Something similar is underway in India, but worse and under the radar. Even since the border skirmishes between India and Pakistan this year, Indian authorities have been rounding up Muslim citizens and deporting them on the spurious grounds that they either Pakistani or Bangladeshi infiltrators.

Abhishek Saha is an Indian journalist and author of No Land's People. He joins us on the show to discuss the devastating impact of India's forced deportations.

Read No Land's People: https://harpercollins.co.in/product/no-lands-people/

—

https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/newsletters/

In Solidarity is openDemocracy’s podcast about people, power, and politics. Support the show by visiting https://www.openDemocracy.net/donate/

Credits:

Presented by Aman Sethi

Edited and produced by James Battershill, Ayodeji Rotinwa & Carla Abreu

Theme song ‘Odyssey’ performed by Edward Abela

—

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction

01:44 What's happening in India?

05:02 Why Bangladesh?

07:05 The global pushback against migration

12:39 Punishing inherited people

14:42 Who determines what people are 'undesirable'

17:50 Identifying outsiders

21:48 Abusing bureaucracy

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.