Global Threats from the Hard Right
From July 29-August 2, 2024 the Albert Shanker Institute had the opportunity to offer Shanker Conversations as part of the Education International World Congress in Buenos Aires, Argentina. This followed ASI’s inaugural participation in the 2019 World Congress in Bangkok, Thailand. Because Albert Shanker cofounded Education International, the Albert Shanker Institute’s participation at EI’s World Congress is a natural extension of Al’s vision of learning and building power together globally, just as ASI’s Shanker Conversations are an extension of Al’s commitment to free and open debate.
This blog is a companion to the video of the conversation, Global Threats from the Hard Right.
Extreme right political movements are gaining power across the globe threatening longstanding democracies. In the United States Project 2025 outlines the tactics to dismantle our democracy by attacking the rule of law, undermining an independent judiciary, restricting freedoms of expression and association, disenfranchising voters, abolishing our public schools, and targeting trade unions and other civil society institutions. These actions, whether they are in Project 2025 or the political platform of a right wing politician, are a clear and present danger to our democracies.
These movements impact freedoms but workers are organizing to push back on these threats. Globally, the uneven spread of economic progress and the relentless pace of change have tested the ability of democratic institutions and leaders to deliver effectively. At the same time, authoritarian regimes and populist national movements have capitalized on this uneven economic progress, seizing the moment to undermine democracy and the freedom it symbolizes.
On July 29th, the Albert Shanker Institute brought together three labor leaders to discuss the impact extreme right political movements are having and what their trade unions are doing about it. ASI executive director, Mary Cathryn Ricker, spoke with Raymond Basilio, the Secretary-General of the Alliance of Concerned Teachers of the Philippines; Maika Finnern, the Federal Chairwoman in the Gewerkschaft Erziehung und Wissenschaft (GEW); and Manuela Mendonca, the president of the National Board of the Federação Nacional de Professores (FENPROF) in Portugal.
All three leaders spoke of rising inequalities in their countries. The feeling that incomes are not adequate to “live with dignity,” as FENPROF President Mendonca said, has also fed a perception of public services, such as schools or hospitals, that don’t work. This perception, versus the reality that public services serve everyone in the community, has been manipulated and turned into attacks by extreme right political leaders on education measures like inclusivity and LGBTQ+ equality, as noted by Maika Finnern of the GEW.
These attacks, in the extreme, have resulted in 71 of Raymond Basilio’s union leader colleagues being killed as the result of the Philippines’ government disregard of the right to organize—a core tenant of democracy.
Solidarity, imperative in any union movement, is a clear necessity to each union leader. From the international attention and solidarity from the International Labor Organization (ILO) and the AFL-CIO presenting the Lane Kirkland award, that Raymond Basilio mentioned, to the partnerships with parents and migrants both Maika Finnern and Manuela Mendonca described.
Each leader ended by describing inspiring work the youth in each of their country’s is doing to combat right wing extremism. In Germany there is hope based on the effective climate strike last year and youth voting patterns. In Portugal 50 years ago there was no universal education or voting. Now, youth in Portugal are taking advantage of the freedoms they have. In 2022 there was a successful youth rally in the Philippines, adding to the positive signs of their participation.
Please take time to watch and listen to this entire, rich discussion here.