Mensen die wel beter weten

A bad economy, a crisis clearly caused by the elites and spineless and corporate-bought governments are imposing the ultimate shock therapy on to the rest of the populations have created conditions that I would call “nasty times”  that have also facilitated the emergence of “nasty movements”, of which the Tea Party in the US is a perfect example. Nasty movements are these movements that are based on exclusionary politics, eliminationist rhetoric, and reactionary views anchored in resentful racial and class privilege (they include fundamentalist religious political of all tripes).

Such movements have invaded the general political discourse where these movements are treated as legitimate social actors. At the same time, mainstream political parties, faced with a massive crisis of legitimacy are trying to latch on to the nasty movements either in rhetoric or in policies. For instance:

France adopts a new immigration law that includes the withdrawal of citizenship to naturalized citizens accused of certain crimes, in effect creating a double standard in the law: one law for born citizens and one for naturalized citizens, no more equality under the law.

France, of course, has made itself also infamous for its indiscriminate deportation of Roms (some of them French citizens) more as a publicity coup than anything else. After all, it is a common trope of right-wing politicians: when things go wrong (like the economy), get nasty against minorities and other groups who are not likely to fight back. But France has not been the only one getting nasty against the Roms. As Thorbjørn Jagland, Secretary General of the Council of Europe, stated: