If you've been on TikTok, Twitter, Reddit, or Instagram in the past few months, you've probably seen people freaking out about the luxury fashion brand Balenciaga and their supposed involvement in claims of child sexualisation, even linking to a paedophile ring scandal…
Read MoreOn 24 February 2022, Russia launched a ground and aerial invasion of Ukraine that has killed more than 20,000 people, as of the beginning of December 2022. Almost immediately, Ukrainians started fleeing the country en masse. We wanted to understand what negative stereotypes and potentially xenophobic encounters and experiences a Ukrainian refugee might face in Western European countries.
Read MoreEver since Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg first addressed the United Nations at the age of sixteen, calling for school strikes until there is political action against climate change, she has been the subject of misogynist, ageist and ableist hatred online. We wanted to analyse English-language posts about her to see if there was an increase in toxicity surrounding her latest media appearances. Coincidentally, Elon Musk officially took over Twitter in the middle of our observation period as well.
Read MoreIn our fifth episode, we’re coping with fascist dictatorships. Fascism can be described as a political philosophy or regime that exalts nation, and often race, above the individual, and that stands for a centralised autocratic government with one dictatorial leader. And almost one year into Putin’s war on Ukraine, his regime comes dangerously close to being a fascist one. With worrying developments across the world, there are a number of other countries, such as Hungary, the Philippines, and more recently, Italy, that seem to come close to a fascist dictatorship as well. In this episode we’re joined by American-British financier Bill Browder, author of the Magnitsky act.
Read MoreIn the fourth episode, we are coping with falling back to the ‘50s. The Freedom House has measured a steady decline in democracy and human rights since 2006. The USA is one of the countries that suffered the most significant decline between 2010 and 2020. Authoritarianism seems to be on the rise everywhere, and human rights are definitely under pressure. This does not concern abortion rights only, with the overturn of Roe v. Wade in the USA, but also LGTBQ+ rights. In this episode, we are joined by Dorottya Redai, a Hungarian academic at the Central European University Democracy Instituteand LGTBQ+ activist part of the Labrisz Lesbian Association.
Read MoreIn the third episode, we are coping with the death of press freedom. Press freedom can be defined as the right of newspapers and magazines to report the news without government control. By analysing data on abuses and acts of violence against journalists across 180 countries worldwide, the annual report of the World Press Freedom Index ranks each country according to how free it is. The 2022 report shows a decreasing trend worldwide, due to increased polarisation and disinformation narratives. In this episode, we are joined by Monica Baro Sanchez, an independent investigative Cuban journalist.
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