As Donald Trump’s victory in the 2024 US elections continues to reverberate both domestically and internationally, it is essential to confront the complex web of authoritarian politics, resurgent racism and nativism, technological power, and so-called “anarcho-capitalism” that the second Trump administration is bringing into public view. In this context, many observers have noted that key figures such as Elon Musk and Peter Thiel have deep roots in South Africa, suggesting that their influence on this new wave of authoritarianism may represent a new chapter in the story of South African apartheid.

The result of the recent US elections provides further confirmation that what we are witnessing in much of the world is the consolidation of a 21st century form of fascist authoritarianism grounded in the rising power of Big Tech as well as resurgent forms of racism, misogyny, and xenophobia. But it is also an elite project of meeting present and future climate crisis, with all of its horrifying ripple effects, through mass violence (including genocide) and mass manipulation. What does such a moment mean for those of us who work in grassroots and independent media? What does it demand of us?

On May 22, 2024, the air outside Berlin’s Humboldt University was thick with tension. Over a hundred people had peacefully gathered at Universitätsstraße in solidarity with a group of students. The students had occupied the nearby Institute for Social Sciences and renamed it Jabalia Institute after one of the largest refugee camps in Gaza—known as a historic stronghold of resistance. Their voices rose together in steady, rhythmic chants, demanding peace and justice for people facing genocide and violence in Palestine and Lebanon.

By Łukasz W. Niparko

Reporting from Poland, Łukasz W. Niparko warns of a troubling trend toward authoritarianism in the country as thirty years of post-Communist “shock therapy” give way to sustained attacks on democracy and the rule of law by the ruling PIS party.