How to defeat an autocrat: flocking behaviour
Autocrats have always understood how to silence dissent and take control: divide and conquer. I’m watching it happen right now. Those who have been subjected to this kind of oppression...
Category: Politics
What Trump’s win means for Muslim women
There is a very different war going on in the world at the moment and that is the culture war in Trump’s America. Muslim women that previously felt comfortable and safe are now being labelled...
5 comforting Constitutional facts for the time of Trump
On January 20, 2017, Donald Trump will take office as the 45th President of the United States of America. Media outlets, political pundits, foreign dignitaries, and average citizens across the world...
Holland’s Own Trumpland: From Zwarte Piet to Geert Wilders
To say that the Donald Trump's (electoral college) victory has galvanized the far right globally is an understatement. Though France’s Marine Le Pen tends to grab most of the headlines here in the...
We have a precedent for a Muslim registry: The Japanese internment camps
The internment of Japanese Americans. Try dropping that phrase into your next conversation with a group of your peers; I suspect the array of responses you get will be dazzling. Grim looks of vague...
Trump and the legitimizing of white nationalism
Back in the 10th grade, I was walking along the tree-lined street of my high school when a truck-full of students threw a soda at me and yelled “Konnichiwa, go back to China!” To this day, I’m...
Don’t tell me about small towns
After every election, as the winning party pops the champagne and gets the transition underway, there is a sort of harsh reflection that the losing party undergoes. We’ve seen it happen recently...
My night with Donald Trump supporters
As returns were coming in on Tuesday night, a diverse group of about 50 Donald J. Trump supporters chanted “USA” and held an anxious vigil outside the Hilton on Sixth Avenue, where the Republican...
The dangers of the Trump-Farage bromance
Nigel Farage, Donald Trump’s Brexit darling, is keen to be seen as a man of the people. The triumphant Brexiteer, with the pint of beer and the broad grin, is seen everywhere from your local pub to...
Post-election minority fears deserve to be taken seriously
I am 17, I am gay, and I am scared. I am scared of what a Trump presidency might mean for me, members of the LGBT community, and the society in which I live. But most of all, I’m scared that nobody...