{"id":73460,"date":"2023-12-18T08:11:09","date_gmt":"2023-12-18T08:11:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/?p=73460"},"modified":"2023-12-18T08:11:09","modified_gmt":"2023-12-18T08:11:09","slug":"the-only-thing-we-can-be-sure-of-this-christmas-is-that-the-so-called-libertarians-are-anything-but-that","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/2023\/12\/18\/the-only-thing-we-can-be-sure-of-this-christmas-is-that-the-so-called-libertarians-are-anything-but-that\/","title":{"rendered":"The only thing we can be sure of this Christmas is that the so-called libertarians are anything but that"},"content":{"rendered":"

Around the world the lights are going out, and not just for Christmas.<\/p>\n

In Gaza, Israel is trying to wipe out a people and their territory. Genocide is happening in plain sight, and our government and Opposition sit on the sidelines.<\/p>\n

In Argentina, the FT reports<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Patricia Bullrich, the security minister appointed by Argentina\u2019s new president Javier Milei, has announced sweeping plans to crack down on protests, setting up a potential clash with social groups that have pledged to oppose \u201cshock therapy\u201d economic reforms.<\/p>\n

Bullrich\u2019s new security protocol includes plans to block demonstrators from holding disruptive road-blocking protests in Buenos Aires, impose fines and potential legal penalties on protesters and social movements, and to call up all four of Argentina\u2019s federal police forces to participate in the clearing of protests.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The plans sound remarkably similar to those of our government in the face of XR. Argentina has, however, a greater reputation for the use of force.<\/p>\n

In Italy at the weekend, Rishi Sunak said that<\/a> illegal migration threatens to \"overwhelm\" Europe and claimed that \"enemies\" could use immigration as a \"weapon\" to \u201cdeliberately driving people to our shores to try to destabilise our society\". This is a fascist narrative.<\/p>\n

And as Heather Cox Richardson reports in her newsletter \u2018Letter from an American\u2019 <\/a>this morning:<\/p>\n

On Saturday, in Durham, New Hampshire, Trump echoed Nazi leader Adolf Hitler\u2019s attacks on immigrants, saying they are \u201cpoisoning the blood of our country\u201d\u2014although two of his three wives were immigrants\u2014and quoted Russian president Vladimir Putin\u2019s attacks on American democracy. Trump went on to praise North Korean autocratic leader Kim Jong Un and align himself with Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orb\u00e1n, the darling of the American right wing, who has destroyed Hungary\u2019s democracy and replaced it with a dictatorship.<\/p>\n

Trump called Orb\u00e1n \u201cthe man who can save the Western world.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Is all this really a coincidence, or are the far-right working to destroy freedoms, people, and the hopes of billions whilst denying realities like climate change in a coordinated fashion where each of these leaders seeks to outdo the others in the scale of their attacks on freedom?<\/p>\n

Nothing about any of this makes it feel to me that we have much to celebrate this Christmas when we are so far from seeing peace on earth, let alone goodwill to all people.<\/p>\n

The only thing we can be sure of this Christmas is that the so-called libertarians are anything but that.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Around the world the lights are going out, and not just for Christmas. In Gaza, Israel is trying to wipe out a people and their
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