Tag Archives: Elections

Win for ‘Hateful Far-Right Islamophobe’ Geert Wilders Sends Shockwaves

Leave a reply

The outspoken Dutch xenophobe often compared to Donald Trump is poised to become the next prime minister of the Netherlands if he can cobble together enough support to form a coalition government.

By Jon Queally. Published 11-23-2023 by Common Dreams

Geert Wilders, Dutch right-wing politician and leader of the Party for Freedom (PVV). Photo: uair01/flickr/CC

National election results in the Netherlands on Wednesday sent shockwaves across Europe as “hateful far-right Islamophobe” Geert Wilders and his party have won the most seats in parliament and positioned Wilders himself to become the nation’s next prime minister.

Wilders, a xenophobic nationalist who is regarded as the “Dutch Donald Trump—but worse” by many of his critics, has for years spewed anti-immigrant rhetoric and speaks openly about making the Netherlands a home only for those he considers pure Dutchmen.

Continue reading →
Share Button

Far-Right Climate Denier Javier Milei Wins Argentina Presidential Runoff

Leave a reply

“No one so extremist on economic issues has been elected president of a South American country,” said U.S. economist Mark Weisbrot.

By Brett Wilkins. Published 11-19-2023 by Common Dreams

Javier Milei. Photo: Vox España/flickr/CC

Javier Milei—a far-right admirer of former U.S. President Donald Trump who says that climate change is a “socialist lie” and who pledged to take a “chainsaw” to social programs—will be Argentina’s next president after winning a decisive victory in Sunday’s presidential runoff.

Sergio Massa, Argentina’s Peronist economy minister, conceded defeat Sunday evening to the 53-year-old Milei, a radical libertarian economist often called the “Trump of Argentina” who will take office amid a looming recession, triple-digit inflation, and a nearly 40% poverty rate in Latin America’s third-largest economy.

Continue reading →
Share Button

Companies Pushing Weak UN Plastics Treaty Dump Millions Into US Elections

Leave a reply

“The only way to curb our catastrophic plastic pollution problem is to cut plastic production, but the industry is spending big to block action at every level to protect their profits,” said one campaigner.

By Brett Wilkins. Published 11-17-2023 by Common Dreams

Hundreds have marched in Nairobi, demanding action against plastic pollution Photo: Emeka Gift Official/X

Major multinational corporations attending negotiations for a global plastics treaty in an effort to weaken the agreement spent tens of millions of dollars on lobbying and political contributions during the 2022 election cycle, revealed an analysis published Friday by the Center for Biological Diversity.

As Common Dreams reported this week, 143 fossil fuel and chemical industry lobbyists registered to attend the third session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC-3) in Nairobi, Kenya, which is scheduled to run through Sunday. That’s more than the combined delegations from 70 nations, and far surpasses the 38 members of a scientists’ coalition participating in the negotiations.

Continue reading →
Share Button

Brazil Inquiry Calls Bolsonaro ‘Author’ of Attempted Coup, Recommends Indictments

Leave a reply

The congressional probe’s rapporteur said the former far-right president and his supporters are culpable for the “greatest attack on democracy in our recent history.”

By Brett Wilkins. Published 10-18-2023 by Common Dreams

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, seen here at the U.N. General Assembly’s 74th session on Sept. 24, 2019, said Wednesday that the fires and deforestation in his country aren’t coming to an end. (Photo: Cia Pak/U.N.)

Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro was the “intellectual and moral author of a coup movement” that culminated in the January 8, 2023 attacks on government buildings, and he and scores of his supporters should be criminally indicted for their “willful coup attempt,” an inquiry by Brazil’s Congress concluded Tuesday.

The final report of the Joint Parliamentary Committee of Investigation (CPMI) into the attempted coup was presented Tuesday by Sen. Eliziane Gama, a member of the Social Democratic Party from the northeastern state of Maranhão and special rapporteur for the probe. Gama said the evidence indicates Bolsonao and many of his far-right supporters should be indicted for criminal association, political violence, violent abolition of the democratic rule of law, and coup d’état.

Continue reading →
Share Button

Indigenous Australians Mourn Failure of Referendum to Recognize Groups in Constitution

Leave a reply

“It is a blight on Australia’s history that successive governments of various political persuasions have failed to uphold the rights of First Nations people,” said the Australia director for Human Rights Watch.

By Julia Conley. Published 10-15-2023 by Common Dreams

Image: @Jonathan_Witt/X

Indigenous groups in Australia on Sunday called for a “Week of Silence” beginning Saturday night to protest what one campaigner called the “gut-wrenching” outcome of a referendum that would have formally recognized Indigenous Australians in the country’s Constitution and created a body to advise the government on policies that affect them.

Communities with large populations of Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islanders voted overwhelmingly for the referendum, but nationwide, 60.4% of voters sided with the “No” campaign that relied on misleading the public about how the new policies would be implemented.

Continue reading →
Share Button

In ‘Victory for Voting Rights,’ Federal Judges Adopt New Alabama Congressional Map

Leave a reply

“Today’s order means for the first time, Black voters in two congressional districts will have an opportunity to elect a candidate of their choice,” said the head of the state’s ACLU branch.

By Brett Wilkins. Published 10-5-2023 by Common Dreams

Photo: Black Voters Matter

Following a U.S. Supreme Court ruling and Alabama Republicans’ open defiance of a federal tribunal’s order to reconfigure the state’s racially gerrymandered congressional districts, a three-judge panel on Thursday adopted a new map that will be used in the 2024 elections.

Proponents hailed the ruling by U.S. Circuit Judge Stanley Marcus, District Judge Anna Manasco, and District Judge Terry Moore as a win for democracy. The move creates a second “opportunity district” where voters will have a fighting chance to elect a second Black member of Congress for the first time since Reconstruction.

Continue reading →
Share Button

Thanks to NLRB’s Cemex Decision, ‘Union-Busting Just Got a Lot Harder’

Leave a reply

“The Cemex decision reaffirms that elections are not the only appropriate path for seeking union representation, while also ensuring that, when elections take place, they occur in a fair election environment,” said the NLRB chair.

By Jessica Corbett. Published 8-25-2023 by Common Dreams

Photo: Teamsters

The National Labor Relations Board on Friday announced a new framework for determining when companies must bargain with unions without an election—a policy that supporters said will make union-busting much more difficult.

Following the NLRB’s decision in Cemex Construction Materials Pacific, when workers ask an employer to voluntarily recognize a union as their bargaining representative, the company can voluntarily do so and begin good-faith negotiations.

Continue reading →
Share Button

‘Just a First Step’: FEC Advances Petition Calling for Ban on Deepfakes in Political Campaigns

Leave a reply

“The need to regulate deepfakes and other deceptive uses of AI in election ads becomes more urgent with each passing day,” said Lisa Gilbert of -Public Citizen.-

By Julia Conley Published 8-10-2023 by Common Dreams

Deepfake of Barack Obama Screenshot: CBS News

Government watchdog Public Citizen on Thursday urged U.S. voters to help “ramp up pressure” on the Federal Elections Commission and pressure the panel to open an official rulemaking process regarding the use of deepfakes—false video content generated by artificial intelligence—in 2023 election campaign ads, after the FEC announced it would advance the group’s related petition.

After two separate requests by Public Citizen in recent months, the FEC unanimously voted to open a 60-day public comment period on the petition, which calls for rulemaking to clarify the meaning of “fraudulent representation” in federal law, making clear that campaigns that use “deliberately deceptive AI-produced content” will be penalized.

Continue reading →
Share Button

To Protect Abortion Rights, Organizers Urge Ohioans to ‘Vote No on Issue 1’ in Tuesday Election

Leave a reply

“Preserve your voice and protect our democracy,” said one Democratic lawmaker. “Vote NO on August 8th to ensure fairness and equity in the democratic process.”

By Julia Conley. Published 8-7-2023 by Common Dreams

Organizers pose for a photo as they rally in opposition to Issue 1, a measure on ballots in Tuesday’s special election in Ohio which would raise the threshold needed to amend the state constitution.
 (Photo: @shammasmalik/Twitter)

Recent polling in Ohio has shown that a majority of residents disapprove of a proposed measure that will be on ballots across the state in a special election on Tuesday, but abortion rights advocates have spent recent days warning voters that failing to block the proposal could have major repercussions for reproductive freedom in the state.

In the special election, Ohioans will be asked their position on Issue 1, which if approved would raise the threshold for passing new constitutional amendments to 60% rather than a simple majority.

Continue reading →
Share Button

Federal Court Strikes Down Mississippi’s ‘Jim Crow’ Felon Disenfranchisement Law

Leave a reply

“Mississippi stands as an outlier among its sister states, bucking a clear national trend in our nation against permanent disenfranchisement.”

By Brett Wilkins. Published 8-4-2023 by Common Dreams

Photo: Common Cause

A U.S. federal appellate court on Friday ruled that a Jim Crow-era Mississippi law permanently disenfranchising people with certain felony convictions is unconstitutional.

In a decision that can be appealed to the full U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, a three-judge panel of the tribunal ruled 2-1 that Section 241 of Mississippi’s 1890 Constitution “violates the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment and the 14th Amendment’s guarantee of equal protection under the law.”

Continue reading →
Share Button