Letters / Slide towards 21st century fascism
The behaviour of the US president and vice-president that we witnessed this week in the Oval Office was an attack on the freedom of the people of Ukraine, and a threat to all of us in Europe.
For all of Trump and Vance’s machismo, this crass display of bullying was a puppet show, and it was Vladimir Putin that was pulling the strings.
Putin’s puppet strings are now reaching across our continent, with far-right parties gaining in popularity; Alternativ für Deutschland in Germany, Rassemblement Nationale in France, and now Reform UK in Britain.
Our economy is tanking because we have an economic system that is haemorrhaging money to the super-rich, with global billionaire wealth increasing by $2 trillion in 2024. However, these far right parties blame our society’s poverty and economic stagnation on immigrants, trade unions and on net zero policies, not on the billionaires that fund them. Trump and Farage claim to stick up for ordinary, hard-up folk but they are wolves in sheep’s clothing.
I feel physically nauseated that Trump has been invited on a state visit to the UK: Not in my name – and we must ensure that this dangerous man never sets foot in Shetland.
We will defeat this slide towards 21st century fascism, not by pandering to anti-trade union, anti-immigrant, anti-LGBT+ and anti-climate rhetoric, but by fighting for a positive vision of economic, social and environmental justice.
Let us transform billionaires to millionaires, and properly fund our councils, public transport and NHS. Wealth taxes now!
Cllr Alex Armitage
Shetland South
Scottish Green Party
