Rutger Bregman Profile picture
Sep 23, 2020 6 tweets 3 min read Read on X
1/ The home of all my journalism, @The_Corres, is celebrating one year of publishing hopeful journalism this month! If you are a founding member, it would be so great if you'd renew your membership by the end of the month via corr.es/renew-now Image
2/ Here are just a few of the stories I’ve published this year:
--> A chapter that I ended up leaving out of my book, about Peter Kropotkin, the Russian prince-turned-anarchist who had a VERY dangerous idea: most people are pretty decent.
thecorrespondent.com/443/brace-your…
3/ A few months into the pandemic, it became clear that the era of neoliberalism is over. But what comes next? I wrote that the time has come for ideas that seemed impossible just months ago:
thecorrespondent.com/466/the-neolib…
4/ And I’ve also published several extracts from my book HUMANKIND, including this essay about the remedy for hatred and prejudice (hint: get to know those who are different to you).
thecorrespondent.com/668/science-sh…
5/ If you’re a founding member, please do renew your membership before 30 September to support ad free, independent journalism. corr.es/renew-now Image
6/ If you’re not a member, but enjoyed some of these articles, become a member! Membership is pay-what-you-want, because we know that most people are pretty decent, and will pay what they can afford for independent journalism:
thecorrespondent.com/join [the end]

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More from @rcbregman

Jun 27
96 private jets full of corrupt elites and celebs flying into Venice, a city destroyed by tourism, to celebrate the wedding of the world’s most shameless tax dodger: Jeff Bezos.

Well, it's the perfect anecdote for future historians writing about this Second Gilded Age --> 🧵
The location is very fitting. The fall of the Republic of Venice is one of history’s most telling examples of how great civilizations can rot from within—not through external conquest, but through elite decadence and corruption.
At its peak, Venice was a marvel of commerce and innovation. A small city built on a lagoon had become a maritime empire, dominating Mediterranean trade routes for centuries.
Read 9 tweets
Jun 14
Yes, this is fascism.

For years, historians and experts were cautious about using the f-word to describe today's events. But that hesitation is gone now. 🧵 Image
This thread is a summary of this brilliant piece by my former colleague Rosan Smits. It went viral in the Netherlands—and you can read the English translation now -->
decorrespondent.nl/16177/this-is-…
Let's start with the experts. Robert Paxton, the world’s foremost scholar of fascism, long resisted calling Trump a fascist. But after January 6th, he changed his mind.

“It’s the real thing. It really is,” Paxton told The New York Times in the fall of 2024. Image
Read 29 tweets
Jun 13
How to stop authoritarian takeovers, 6 simple lessons from history:

1. Build a broad pro-democracy coalition. No purity politics. Learn to work with people who annoy you. You can go back to dunking on them after democracy is safe.
2. Draft a positive, optimistic agenda. So not just: ‘our institutions must hold!’ Successful movements framed democracy as freedom, dignity, equality.
3. Target blatant corruption and cronyism as rallying issues. This is the soft underbelly of autocrats. Citizens across the political spectrum appreciate a vigorous anti-corruption agenda.
Read 6 tweets
May 21
A new analysis of that “One Big Beautiful Bill”: we knew this would happen, but seeing the numbers like out like this...

The con is just so blatant, so obvious, it almost feels like parody. Image
In 2026, the richest 1% would receive $138 billion in tax cuts.

That’s more than the entire bottom 60% of Americans combined — who would receive just $92 billion.

itep.org/house-tax-plan…
What does that look like per person?

The average tax cut for the top 1%: $79,000.

The average for the bottom fifth: pocket change.
Read 6 tweets
May 18
A U.S. government plan is being enacted right now to surveil, silence, and deport people who speak out for Palestinian rights.

It’s called Project Esther — and it makes “cancel culture” look like child’s play.

Free speech defenders, where are you? 🧵 Image
Project Esther is the Heritage Foundation’s plan to destroy the pro-Palestinian movement in the U.S.

The same group behind Project 2025 — the authoritarian wishlist for Trump’s second term — is now taking a victory lap.

Because the crackdown has already begun.
They call it a “strategy to fight antisemitism.”

But in reality, it equates any criticism of Israel with terrorism.

The goal? To deport, defund, sue, fire, expel, and cancel anyone who challenges Israeli policies — especially on campus.
Read 11 tweets
May 15
Incredibly powerful investigation in Dutch newspaper NRC: Seven of the world’s leading genocide scholars — including renowned Holocaust experts — describe Israel’s actions in Gaza as genocidal.

And according to them, nearly all of their peers agree. Image
These are not activists. They include Holocaust scholars and the heads of major genocide research centers. Scholars from Israel, the U.S., the U.K., Australia and the Netherlands.

And they are not divided. Without exception, they describe Israel’s actions as “genocidal.”
Raz Segal (Israeli scholar): “Can I name someone whose work I respect who doesn’t consider it genocide? No."

Uğur Ümit Üngör (University of Amsterdam & NIOD): "I don’t know them.”
Read 17 tweets

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