The term "femonationalism" was coined by Sara Farris and refers to the phenomenon of European nationalist, right-wing parties advancing "their anti-Islam agendas in the name of women's rights" despite their traditionally antifeminist politics and "their lack of concern with elaborating concrete policies of gender equality (and occasionally LGBT rights) within an otherwise xenophobic rhetoric". The message is that Muslim males are a danger for Europe because of their oppressive treatment of women and that Muslim women are victims of non-western patriarchy. In fact, Muslim men are instrumentalised "in order to advance their own political objectives" (Farris, 2017).
(...) by encouraging a rhetoric of division, or a Manichean splitting of the political and ideological debate into one counterposing "US" (white, European, western, Christian, civilized, "women-friendly") to "Them" (nonwhite, non-European, non-western, Muslim, uncivilized, misogynist Others), right-wing nationalist parties have everything to gain.
Farris (2017)
This is a classical dilemma, when anti-sexism is played out against anti-racism. It’s something Black feminists in the US wrote a lot about in the 1960s and 1970s and continue to debate: how can we denounce sexism in our communities, when we know that could then be used to attack Black men? There is no easy answer. We need to support in every way the possibility for women of any community to denounce sexism wherever it presents itself. The question we should ask is: are we really enabling this? How can we support the struggle of these women, in this context of incredibly harsh and rising Islamophobia? The struggle against racism and sexism must go hand in hand. Sara Farris
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- Farris, S. R. (2017). In the Name of Women's Rights. The Rise of Femonationalism. Durham: Duke University Press.
- photograph (Afghan women walking along a street in Kabul, 1962) via
This paper posits four possible reasons there may exist a fundamental, non-incidental connection between populism and the rhetoric of bullshit, as defined by Frankfurt as speech whose truth value its speaker is indifferent towards:
1) “Bullshit as Sincerity”: Populists’ claim to authentically represent “the people” and their “folk” values, combined with their wholesale rejection of the intellectual class and their values, makes them value sincerity over accuracy, leading them to construct statements with little regard for their veracity;
2) “Bullshit as Symbolism”: populist communication is frequently primarily meant to convey symbolic, unarticulated messages, leading literal meaning to be overlooked;
3) “Bullshit as Partisanship”: populists’ audiences are likely to assess their claims as true regardless of content, giving populists incentive to be construct statements without regard for the truth;
4) “Bullshit as Unfalsifiability”: Populists regard as unfalsifiable a central claim – the exclusivity of their claim to popular representation - and will thus tend to bullshit whenever contradicting evidence arises.
Based on these connections, possible strategies for combatting bullshit propagated by populists is discussed.
(Green, 2019)
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- Green, A. (2019). Speaking Bullshit to Power: Populism and the Rhetoric of Bullshit; link
- photograph of preacher with bible in London's Speaker's Corner taken by Philip Wolmuth in 1993 via
"The populists themselves are dangerous, but they are far more dangerous when the traditional, classic parties adopt their harmful proposals." Jean-Claude Juncker
Elections to the European Parliament 2019: latest updates
"The populists are spreading slogans. We have to offer solutions and answers." Jean-Claude Juncker
X: "I happen to know the facts, my friends. I'm just an average American but I'm an American American and some of the things I see in this country of ours make my blood boil. ... I see negroes holding jobs that belong to me and you. Now I ask you, will you allow this thing to go on?..." Y: "I've heard this kind of talk before but I never expected to hear it here in America..."
X: "And I tell you friends, we'll never be able to call this country our own until it's a country without. Without what? Without negroes, without alien foreigners, without Catholics, without Freemasons... These are the enemies. These are the people who are trying to take over all our country. Now you know them. You know what they stand for and it's up to you and me to fight them. Fight them and destroy them before they destroy us. Thank you. Y: "... In this country we have no other people. We are American people. ... I saw it in Berlin ... One by one he attacked each minority and he split them off one from the other. These men were all fellow Germans when they came here today. Now they were split into rival groups suspicious of each other, hating each other. They were being swindled, all of them. But the man who was really being fooled was Hans. He was pure German, according to Nazi standards. To him they promised everything and he fell for it. That's how Hans became a Superman. They gave him a uniform and they pumped up his ego. He wasn't just a little fellow off to work any more, he was a member of the master race... And so for all practical purposes, truth had been abolished in Germany. ... We must never let ourselves be divided by race or colour or religion because in this country we all belong to minority groups. ... You see, here in America it's not a question whether we tolerate minorities. America is minorities. ... Let's forget about we and they. Let's think about us."
I'm sorry, but I don't want to be an emperor. That's not my business. I don't want to rule or conquer anyone. I should like to help everyone, if possible, Jew, gentile, black man, white. We all want to help one another. Human beings are like that. We want to live by each other's happiness — not by each other's misery. We don't want to hate and despise one another.
In this world there is room for everyone. And the good earth is rich and can provide for everyone. The way of life can be free and beautiful, but we have lost the way. Greed has poisoned men's souls, has barricaded the world with hate, has goose-stepped us into misery and bloodshed. We have developed speed, but we have shut ourselves in. Machinery that gives abundance has left us in want. Our knowledge has made us cynical. Our cleverness, hard and unkind. We think too much and feel too little. More than machinery we need humanity. More than cleverness we need kindness and gentleness. Without these qualities, life will be violent and all will be lost.
The aeroplane and the radio have brought us closer together. The very nature of these inventions cries out for the goodness in men, cries out for universal brotherhood, for the unity of us all. Even now my voice is reaching millions throughout the world — millions of despairing men, women and little children — victims of a system that makes men torture and imprison innocent people. To those who can hear me, I say — do not despair. The misery that is now upon us is but the passing of greed — the bitterness of men who fear the way of human progress. The hate of men will pass, and dictators die, and the power they took from the people will return to the people and so long as men die, liberty will never perish.
Soldiers! Don't give yourselves to brutes — men who despise you — enslave you — who regiment your lives — tell you what to do — what to think or what to feel! Who drill you, diet you, treat you like cattle, use you as cannon fodder. Don't give yourselves to these unnatural men — machine men with machine minds and machine hearts! You are not machines! You are not cattle! You are men! You have the love of humanity in your hearts. You don't hate! Only the unloved hate — the unloved and the unnatural!
Soldiers! Don't fight for slavery! Fight for liberty! In the 17th Chapter of St. Luke it is written: "the Kingdom of God is within man" — not one man nor a group of men, but in all men! In you! You, the people have the power — the power to create machines. The power to create happiness! You, the people, have the power to make this life free and beautiful, to make this life a wonderful adventure.
Then, in the name of democracy, let us use that power! Let us all unite! Let us fight for a new world, a decent world that will give men a chance to work, that will give youth the future and old age a security. By the promise of these things, brutes have risen to power, but they lie! They do not fulfill their promise; they never will. Dictators free themselves, but they enslave the people! Now, let us fight to fulfill that promise! Let us fight to free the world, to do away with national barriers, to do away with greed, with hate and intolerance. Let us fight for a world of reason, a world where science and progress will lead to all men's happiness. Soldiers! In the name of democracy, let us all unite!
Hannah, can you hear me? Wherever you are, look up, Hannah. The clouds are lifting. The sun is breaking through. We are coming out of the darkness into the light. We are coming into a new world, a kindlier world, where men will rise above their hate, their greed and brutality. Look up, Hannah. The soul of man has been given wings, and at last he is beginning to fly. He is flying into the rainbow — into the light of hope, into the future, the glorious future that belongs to you, to me and to all of us. Look up, Hannah. Look up.
