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benrowswell.bsky.social
Convenor, Circle for Democratic Solidarity https://www.democraticsolidarity.net/get-involved
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American researchers into the manipulation of democratic public opinion by social media platforms are now threatened with prosecution by the Trump regime. Canada should offer to host - and protect - research that would help all democracies remain democracies. www.cbc.ca/listen/cbc-p...

Orphans unite. Germany and Canada are the perfect partners to serve as the core of a new international alignment of liberal democracies for shared security and prosperity. Together we can redefine the Free World www.nytimes.com/2025/03/21/w...

Perfection

“These first two months have been much more aggressively authoritarian than almost any other comparable case I know of democratic backsliding.” Steven Levitzky, celebrated political scientist who co-authored How Democracies Die www.nytimes.com/2025/03/20/w...

Major strategic shifts in his first days in office: PM Carney is setting the stage for Canada to align with liberal democracies even as the U.S. leaves our ranks www.france24.com/en/tv-shows/...

The scholars running the most credible international measure of democracy warn that the U.S. is no longer one www.cbc.ca/news/world/t...

Germany steps up to play its part in countering the rising wave of global authoritarianism. We owe a debt of gratitude to this leading light of the liberal democratic world www.theguardian.com/world/2025/m...

Former Philippine President Duterte is now facing justice for the thousands of extrajudicial killings he ordered and publicly celebrated while in office. Great explainer by McGill University prof Erik Kuhonta: www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/arti...

The eventual fate of the GOP

The New York Times concludes that "the West may be gone." www.nytimes.com/2025/03/08/w.... But the solidarity we forge over human rights and democracy was never about any one civilization, race or ethnic group. Time to recast our alliance as the global, and include all nations that put citizens 1st

Amid the crisis engulfing our sovereignty I paid my respects to the seat of our democracy today. I love that it is so obviously a “work in progress.” With the wave of patriotism from coast to coast, we Canadians are working on it together

It's time to build the liberal democratic community of nations so that we stand on our own www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/edit...

With his betrayal of Ukraine and his economic attacks on allies President Trump has ended the era of U.S. leadership in the liberal democratic community of nations. A new era now begins. www.cbc.ca/player/play/.... Let’s rise to the occasion.

As the U.S. economic attack on Canada begins, I find myself among the Anishinabek of Fort William First Nation. The elder opening our event today provided context, saying this is not the first time the people of this land have been hit by repressive economic measures imposed from outside.

Patriotism at my local cafe this afternoon

Elle Harris to all Canadians who said no to a search for her mom’s remains, now that they were found : “Do better” www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

A turning point in our nation’s reckoning with Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women www.cbc.ca/news/canada/.... May the souls of Morgan Harris, Marcedes Myers and Rebecca Contois rest in peace, now that their remains have been found. And may the remains of the fourth victim be found too

Ontario voter turnout could be a record low tomorrow - a sign of decaying social fabric according to elections expert and good friend John Beebe www.cbc.ca/player/play/...

The German election deserves a bit more context than most North American news outlets are offering. This is a deeply democratic country far closer to Canadian values than the U.S. so has plenty of lessons for our politics. www.dw.com/en/german-el...

Welcoming refugees to Canada makes us more Canadian. Wab Kinew makes the point powerfully in welcoming refugee children to Manitoba: www.tiktok.com/@wabkinew/vi...

An historic achievement by the nation of Haida Gwaii - achieving Canada’s recognition that the land has been theirs since before Canada existed www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/artic....

Andrew Coyne: "The democratic world must therefore regard and treat it as it does the other non-democracies: not as an ally to be consulted but as an adversary to be contained." www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/arti...

👇🏻👇🏻

A battle for the rule of law is underway in the U.S. www.nytimes.com/2025/02/13/u...

Populist authoritarians act in such similar ways. Hugo Chavez conducted a very similar purge to Venezuela’s diplomatic corps to the one President Trump has now launched www.nytimes.com/2025/02/12/u.... The result was a hollowing out of diplomatic talent and a weakening if the nation

For those who think that colonialism was a long time ago in a very different kind of country than the ones we now have, think again. www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/arti... The U.S. embrace of authoritarianism shows how prevalent the instinct to dominate others for your own benefit remains today

My take on the Canada-U.S. crisis for CBC: we need to adapt to a world in which the U.S. is no longer a friend. www.cbc.ca/player/play/...

Russia's horrific war on Ukraine will soon mark a third anniversary. Please join us as CIC Toronto hosts Ukrainian Ambassador Kovaliv, Timothy Snyder & Walter Dorn to discuss what support Canada should provide to our fellow democracy in its fight against aggression www.eventbrite.ca/e/the-road-t...

The world's first "digital coup d'etat"? There is strong reason to call Musk's attempt to place all USG payments directly under White House control a coup - it wrests power from Congress and renders judicial oversight over spending potentially irrelevant. www.crisesnotes.com/elon-musk-wa...

My message in the Hill Times yesterday: "We would be justified in renouncing the agreement that we made [on fentanyl] and challenging the president to apply the tariffs. To teach the U.S. a lesson that Canada is stronger than you know, that our knee is not bowed” www.hilltimes.com/story/2025/0...

On CBC Metro Morning this morning, I warned that the fentanyl measures Canada agreed to yesterday must be the last unilateral concession we make to the Trump administration. We have 29 days to figure out how to hit back harder

Shockingly lowball settlement offer by the federal and Ontario governments to compensate Lake Superior First Nations for 170+ years of treaty fraud www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/artic...

Trump confronted with actual Christian values www.nytimes.com/2025/01/22/u...

Celebrating a first defeat in the measures President Trump mentioned in his inaugural speech: the famous Denali mountain will not revert to the name it held for a few decades, Mount McKinley. www.nytimes.com/2025/01/22/c.... Thousands of years of history outweigh one authoritarian leader

www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...

President Trump promised to be dictator for a day. But in today’s Inaugural address I didn’t hear any time limit to the measures he announced today…

Authoritarian decree #10: Restore the use of military force to secure territory from peaceful sovereign nations

Authoritarian decree #9: remove the historic and traditional names of this land from the people who lived there for millennia, in favour of a forgotten white leader

Authoritarian decree #8: Change the name of international waters to the name of one nation