Ruth Ben-Ghiat

Este archivo solo abarca los artículos del autor incorporados a este sitio a partir del 1 de diciembre de 2006. Para fechas anteriores realice una búsqueda entrecomillando su nombre.

“We are here, we will not surrender to this darkness!” declared dozens of well-known Turkish women in an open letter urging their peers to vote in Sunday’s runoff elections for the presidency of Turkey.

“Let’s build a country where fear has no place, where equality and freedom prevail”, said the women, including academics, artists and politicians.

Days later, it seems those dreams of equality and freedom won’t be realized any time soon.

The victory of incumbent Recep Tayyip Erdogan — securing 52.1% of the vote against opposition candidate Kemal Kilicdaroglu’s 47.9% — gives him another five-year term.

This was a very strong result for the opposition, given the difficulties of competing against an autocrat who has increasingly stifled dissent.…  Seguir leyendo »

“A new class of thieves has emerged who want to steal our freedom”, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro thundered during a speech last June. The beleaguered leader, who has been trailing badly in recent polls ahead of Sunday’s election, went on to declare that “if necessary, we will go to war” against the offenders.

Who are these thieves Bolsonaro vows he’ll wage war against? Is he speaking about the white-collar and petty criminals he vowed to eradicate when he came to power in January 2019 on an anti-corruption platform?

No, like many other authoritarian politicians who risk being ejected from office, the Brazilian President is focusing on unsubstantiated election “crimes” – and casting doubt on the integrity of the election system, so as to be able to falsely claim fraud at the ballot box in the event of a loss.…  Seguir leyendo »

El momento de la verdad de la democracia estadounidense

En ciertos momentos de la historia –a menudo después de que un progreso social importante ha incomodado a determinados segmentos de la sociedad-, una persona aparece en la escena política diciendo representar algo grande y nuevo. Hábil en las artes de la presentación de sí mismo y la manipulación emocional, él (siempre es un hombre) fascina las mentes y los corazones de millones con su pose de macho. No tardará en formarse un culto a su personalidad. Y aunque en su ascenso al poder ha amenazado con el uso de la violencia, o incluso si la ha usado, disfruta del apoyo de sus fieles, que lo ven como un salvador que traerá orden a un mundo en caos.…  Seguir leyendo »

World War I began a hundred years ago this summer, but for many of us it might as well be a thousand. We know it, if we know it at all, as a dimly remembered chapter in high school history, or as scenes from old black-and-white movies of soldiers hunkered in trenches doing battle with Germans in pointy helmets. It was all too real for more than 65 million men from some 30 nations who were plunged into carnage the likes of which the world had never before seen.

Every one of those soldiers is dead, and the causes they fought for are lost on many of us.…  Seguir leyendo »