Right-wing populism, all these leaders with fascist inclinations, they are masters when it comes to managing politics of emotions. And I like, for me, that's part of the compelling nature of people like Boris Johnson and Donald Trump, is that they make it look fun. Maybe we on the left of the spectrum don't manage to make our vision of the world look quite so jolly... We have to say something about anger, fear, what else? All these emotions are going to be shaping our politics in the coming decades. So, we have to deal with this."
Turkish journalist Ece Temelkuran understands the problems of rightwing populism better than most: she lives as an exile, after her criticism of the Erdogan regime threatened her liberty. But despite the very personal toll that our current politics has taken, Ece remains optimistic. The seeds of a new society, she says, lie in communities, and the ways they find to come together.
In this episode, Katherine and Ece discuss courage, truth and learning to befriend our fear. We also touch on the power of Twitter in the days before Elon Musk took over - so maybe a little of our optimism was misplaced! But Ece has a unique ability to put our current political conflicts into a global context, and her faith in grassroots action is redemptive.
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Katherine's new book, Enchantment, is released in March 2023. Pre-order now: US/CAN and UK
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