Right Wing

Thousands of supporters of jailed far-right activist Tommy Robinson marched through London on Saturday as anti-racism demonstrators mounted a nearby counter-protest. The so-called Unite the Kingdom march planned by Robinson and supposed to feature him as speaker led to calls for his freedom after his arrest Friday on a warrant for contempt of court. We want Tommy out," the crowd of mostly white men chanted. The sea of marchers toted Union and England flags and some waved Make America Great banners as they gathered near a fenced-off statute of former Prime Minister Winston Churchill in the square opposite the Houses of Parliament. The march was countered by thousands of people organized by the group Stand Up to Racism who held signs saying Refugees welcome and Oppose Tommy Robinson. Robinson, 41, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, is the founder of the nationalist and anti-Islamist English Defense League and remains one of the most influential far-right figures in Britain.

Political parties including the Socialists, Greens, Communists and hard-left Unbowed France (LFI) will form a 'Popular Front' in a bid to challenge the far-right's National Rally

Voters are heading to the polls for the European Union's election super Sunday amid concern that a likely shift to the political right will undermine the ability of the world's biggest trading bloc to take decisions as war rages in Ukraine and anti-migrant sentiment mounts. Citizens in 20 countries, from the Alpine nation of Austria to the Mediterranean island of Cyprus, will cast ballots to elect 720 members of the European Parliament. Seats in the assembly are allocated based on population, ranging from six in Malta or Luxembourg to 96 in Germany. Official results of the elections, which are held every five years and began in the Netherlands on Thursday, cannot be published before the last polling stations in the 27 EU nations close those in Italy at 11 p.m. (2100 GMT). Unofficial estimates are due to trickle in from 1615 GMT. An unofficial exit poll on Thursday suggested that Geert Wilders' anti-migrant hard right party should make important gains in the Netherlands, even thoug

Nearly 400 million European Union citizens can go to the polls over the coming days to elect members of the European Parliament, or MEPs, in one of the biggest global democratic events. Far-right parties are seeking to gain more power amid a rise in the cost of living and farmers' discontent, while the wars in Gaza and Ukraine stay on the minds of voters. One of the biggest questions is whether European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will remain in charge as the public face of the EU. Here is a look at the election, which runs Thursday to Sunday, and the biggest issues at stake: WHEN IS THE VOTE? EU elections are held every five years across the 27-member bloc. This year marks the 10th parliamentary election since the first polls in 1979, and the first after Brexit. The vote takes place from June 6-9. Initial results can only be revealed on the evening of June 9, once polling stations have closed in all member states. HOW DOES VOTING WORK? The elections started on Th

A rights group on Thursday reported dozens more home raids and arrests across Belarus in the latest intensification of a years-long crackdown on dissent in the country of 9.5 million people. The Viasna human rights centre said it knew of at least 159 people targeted by searches and detentions in multiple Belarusian cities, including the capital, Minsk. Those targeted by authorities included relatives of jailed dissidents, journalists and others, it said. Leaders of Belarusian opposition have called the new wave of arrests, which is the biggest in recent months, "a blow to the solidarity within the country". According to Viasna, there are 1,419 political prisoners now held in Belarus. Many of those detained Thursday and earlier in the week had been helping families of those jailed for political reasons. Authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko unleashed an unrelenting crackdown on dissent in August 2020, after an election the opposition and the West denounced as a sham gave him

A protest against the far right in the German city of Munich on Sunday afternoon ended early due to safety concerns after approximately 100,000 people showed up, police said. The demonstration was one of dozens around the country this weekend that drew hundreds of thousands of people in total. The demonstrations came in the wake of a report that right-wing extremists recently met to discuss the deportation of millions of immigrants, including some with German citizenship. Some members of the far-right Alternative for Germany party, or AfD, were present at the meeting. In the western city of Cologne, police confirmed tens of thousands of people showed up to protest on Sunday, and organisers spoke of around 70,000 people. A protest on Sunday afternoon in Berlin drew at least 60,000 people and potentially up to 100,000, police said, according to the German news agency dpa. A similar demonstration on Friday in Hamburg, Germany's second-largest city, drew what police said was a crowd of

Poland's voters delivered a clear verdict. After eight years of rule by a right-wing government, they have had enough. While the conservative ruling Law and Justice party won more votes than any other single party in a parliamentary election on Sunday, it lost its majority and will not hold enough seats to govern the country. Three opposition groups who waged an energetic campaign on promises to help restore national unity, rule of law and cooperative ties with the European Union and other allies, are poised to get their turn to steer the Central European nation of 38 million people. But the path ahead will be demanding. Here are five challenges facing the country in its transition. Transition of power Some Poles have voiced concerns that the ruling party, like former President Donald Trump in the United States and supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil, might resist the verdict of the voters. Some anxiety was triggered by words uttered Sunday night by party leader

Spain's general election on Sunday could make the country the latest European Union member swing to the populist right, a shift that would represent a major upheaval after five years under a left-wing government. Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez called the early election after his Spanish Socialist Workers' Party and its small far-left coalition partner, Unidas Podemos ("United We Can"), took a beating in local and regional elections. The center-right Popular Party emerged from the May 28 elections with the most votes. Polls for the general election have consistently put the PP in first place but likely needing support from the far-right Vox party to form a government. Such a coalition would return a far-right force to the Spanish government for the first time since the country transitioned to democracy following the 1975 death of Gen. Francisco Franco, the dictator who ruled Spain for nearly 40 years. The Popular Party and Vox have agreed to govern together in some 140 cities and tow

The core message of the RSS' top decision-making body at its recent meeting was its unreserved support to its affiliate, BJP, marking a break from the past

Israel's government on Monday was pressing ahead with a contentious plan to overhaul the country's legal system, despite an unprecedented uproar that has included mass protests, warnings from military and business leaders and calls for restraint by the United States. Thousands of demonstrators were expected to gather outside the parliament, or Knesset, for a second straight week to rally against the plan as lawmakers prepared to hold an initial vote. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his allies, a collection of ultra-religious and ultranationalist lawmakers, say the plan is meant to fix a system that has given the courts and government legal advisers too much say in how legislation is crafted and decisions are made. Critics say it will upend the country's system of checks and balances and concentrate power in the hands of the prime minister. They also say that Netanyahu, who is on trial for a series of corruption charges, has a conflict of interest. The standoff has plunged Isr

Every debate is recast in left vs right terms in the urban mindscape, but it is hard to tell one from the other

Tens of thousands of Israelis gathered in central Tel Aviv on Saturday night to protest plans by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's new government to overhaul the legal system and weaken the Supreme Court a step that critics say will destroy the country's democratic system of checks and balances. The protest presented an early challenge to Netanyahu and his ultranationalist national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, who has ordered police to take tough action if protesters block roads or display Palestinian flags. Israeli media, citing police, said the crowd at Tel Aviv's Habima Square swelled to at least 80,000 people, despite cool, rainy weather. Protesters, many covered by umbrellas, held Israeli flags and signs saying Criminal Government," The End of Democracy and other slogans. They are trying to destroy the checks and balances of the Israeli democracy. This will not work, said Asaf Steinberg, a protester from the Tel Aviv suburb of Herzliya. And we will fight until the ver

Reich Citizens consider the partition of Germany by Allied powers after World War II and the subsequent democratic states that followed to have been illegal

Twitter permanently suspended accounts of Mike Lindell and Dr Vladimir "Zev" Zelenko shortly after the duo rejoined with creating new Twitter handles, for violating platform rules against evading bans

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday laid down a detailed programme for them for every day during the 14-day long exercise.

The problem with writing history to please the piper, however, is that no one bothers with the whys

Microblogging platform Twitter uses an algorithm that amplifies the reach of politically right-leaning sources more than that of politically left-leaning sources, suggested a study.Twitter uses the algorithm to personalize the content its users see on their home timelines.Cambridge University professor Ferenc Huszar and his colleagues quantified whether Twitter's algorithm amplifies left-leaning or right-leaning content using a randomized control group of nearly two million daily active Twitter users chosen by the platform to receive content in reverse-chronological order without personalization and a treatment group representing 4 per cent of all other accounts with personalized timelines.The authors analyzed the algorithmic amplification effect on tweets made by 3,634 elected politicians from major political parties in seven countries that are highly represented on Twitter.The authors also measured the algorithmic amplification of 6.2 million political news articles shared in the ...

Strong nationalism is always a defining feature of our ideological leaning, says BJP spokesperson

Mr Modi's supporters are eager to call themselves right-wing, but what do they stand for really?

Here are the best of Business Standard's opinion pieces for Monday