> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.opendemocracy.net/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # The awful complacency of our establishments (Nov 26 – Dec 2): - URL: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/awful-complacency-of-our-establishments-nov-26-dec-2/ - Published: 2012-12-14T11:12:04.000Z - Updated: 2026-04-23T01:20:09.000Z - Description: People have a pent-up need for discussion’, remarks Finnish journalist Johanna Korhonen, winding up this week’s launch of a Counterpoint series on oD exploring rising right wing populism in Europe, and asking how to retrieve support for our democracies. We learn about a contrasting case of failed - Author: openDemocracy Supporters - Tags: The Week in 1 Minute, #Migrated, #en, #Import 2026-04-09 17:27, #appended-excerpt If **Our Kingdom** has anything to do with it, **a serious discussion of the public interest in UK media** and its [freedom without accountability](https://www.opendemocracy.net/ourkingdom/natalie-fenton/rubicon-too-far-prime-minister-has-shown-he-is-beholden-to-press) will take place after all, in the aftermath of [Lord Leveson’s report](https://www.opendemocracy.net/ourkingdom/ourkingdom/levesons-report-on-uk-press-reactions); and [Stuart White](https://www.opendemocracy.net/ourkingdom/stuart-white/democratic-wealth-exploring-ideas-for-citizens%E2%80%99-economy) launches [a new partnership](https://www.opendemocracy.net/ourkingdom/collections/democratic-wealth-building-citizens-economy) to explore whether republicanism can inspire a citizens’ political economy for the common good. [Trust Women](https://www.opendemocracy.net/5050/women-culture-and-law) and **50.50** launches on human slavery with [Lydia Cacho](https://www.opendemocracy.net/5050/lydia-cacho/challenging-merchants-of-human-slavery), who has risked her life defending the Mexican victims of traffickers and drug lords, and celebrates a rare victory by [domestic workers](https://www.opendemocracy.net/5050/nisha-varia/victory-against-modern-day-slavery); [16 Days](https://www.opendemocracy.net/5050/16-days-activism-against-gender-violence/16-days-of-activism-against-gender-violence-2012) of **Activism against Gender Violence** offers testimony from [Cameroon](https://www.opendemocracy.net/5050/%C3%AEssa-ngatansou-doumara/16-days-from-demystification-to-denunciation) to [Spain,](https://www.opendemocracy.net/5050/liz-cooper/no-more-%E2%80%98machismo%E2%80%99-domestic-violence-in-political-arena) poetry and short stories. On **oDRussia**, [Masha Karp](https://www.opendemocracy.net/od-russia/masha-karp/believing-in-tears-snapshot-of-new-russian-documentary-cinema) **looks at a new Russian documentary film**, [Dmitry Butin](https://www.opendemocracy.net/od-russia/dmitry-butrin/russia-paralysed-by-pragmatism) detects paralysing pragmatism, [Ben Judah](https://www.opendemocracy.net/od-russia/ben-judah/has-russian-opposition-lost-its-way) asks if the opposition has lost its way and [Augusto Come](https://www.opendemocracy.net/od-russia/augusto-come/corruption-corruption-corruption) exposes corruption in Russia’s education system, while [Donald Rayfield](https://www.opendemocracy.net/donald-rayfield/bidzina-ivanishvili-and-new-old-georgia) finds the Georgian Dream troubling. In addition, [Valeria Costa-Kostritsky’s](https://www.opendemocracy.net/5050/valeria-costa-kostritsky/france-and-veil-%E2%80%93-dark-side-of-law) warning that French anti-veil laws are de facto racist and Patrice de Beer’s tale of [two brawling Sarkosy successors](https://www.opendemocracy.net/patrice-de-beer/french-rights-lose-lose-election); [Sergio Casesmeiro’s lament](https://www.opendemocracy.net/sergio-casesmeiro/deconstructing-false-myths-spain-vs-catalonia) and [de Beer’s acknowledgment](https://www.opendemocracy.net/patrice-de-beer/elections-in-catalonia-it-takes-two-to-tango) of the reductive impact of politicians on the **Catalonian question**, alongside [Christophe Solioz’](https://www.opendemocracy.net/christophe-solioz/post-dayton-bosnia-other-path) account of how a virtuous circle has turned vicious in post-Dayton Bosnia, make it not so difficult to conclude with [Nicole Scicluna](https://www.opendemocracy.net/nicole-scicluna/democracy-in-state-of-emergency-greece-eu-and-eurozone-debt-crisis) that we are circling around a **deep-structural European failure** to live up to its ideals. An [exception may be Estonia](https://www.opendemocracy.net/ahto-lobjakas/charter-12-estonias-stab-at-direct-democracy), whose president is willing to back a novel democratic experiment (and comment on oD). Of course, there are some discussions which our establishments seem to encourage and some they don’t. A strenuous attempt to stop the world asking why Palestine shouldn’t become a state was [rebuffed this week](https://www.opendemocracy.net/opensecurity/valentina-azarov/from-periphery-to-centre-israels-legitimacy-palestines-un-bid-and-icc). In Ethiopia, [haunted by Meles](https://www.opendemocracy.net/opensecurity/ren%C3%A9-lefort/ethiopia-meles-rules-from-beyond-grave-but-for-how-long), the [anti-terrorism law](https://www.opendemocracy.net/awol-allo/politics-in-ethiopias-political-trials) is being used to eliminate the regime’s adversaries; [Joe Stork](https://www.opendemocracy.net/joe-stork/uae-human-rights-lens) says the UAE is belatedly coming under EU human rights scrutiny; while in Egypt, as [Amro Ali](https://www.opendemocracy.net/amro-ali/president-and-fatal-trilateral-logic-of-us-egyptian-and-israeli-relations) and [Karim Malak](https://www.opendemocracy.net/karim-malak/egyptian-revolution-take-two) point out, the fight is finally on as to **whether or not Egypt belongs to its people**, a question nobody’s asking about Syria according to [Ahmed E.Souaiaia](https://www.opendemocracy.net/ahmed-e-souaiaia/recognizing-new-syrian-national-coalition-alone-will-not-end-war-in-syria) and [Odai Alzoubi](https://www.opendemocracy.net/odai-alzoubi/three-syrian-interviews). India’s [Green Revolution is failing](https://www.opendemocracy.net/openindia/amritpan-kaur/india-burning), Honduras is the [most violent country](https://www.opendemocracy.net/matt-kennard/honduras-politics-of-violence) in the world, and Paul Rogers foretells [the era of drones](https://www.opendemocracy.net/paul-rogers/drone-wars-new-blowback). **Don’t miss:** - [Welcome to Palestine](http://en.avaaz.org/1170/see-who-voted-for-palestine?ref=opendemocracy.net) - [Palestinian and Israeli deaths: a timeline](http://visualizingpalestine.org/timeline-of-violence?ref=opendemocracy.net) - [The streets of Spain](http://thenewinquiry.com/essays/the-streets-of-spain/?ref=opendemocracy.net) by Dan Hancox **openDemocracy’s week in 1 minute is emailed to Members, Friends and authors who help pay for and create our great content. Please forward this to any contact you think might be interested and** [**want to join**](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/bb28beb484/946f39415f/51634b1085/openDemocracy/d4022f1a75/TEST/e64101092e&ref=opendemocracy.net) **or email us (**[**supporters@opendemocracy.net**](mailto:supporters@opendemocracy.net)**).** **People have a pent-up need for discussion’**, remarks [Finnish journalist Johanna Korhonen](https://www.opendemocracy.net/johanna-korhonen/crumbling-of-finland%E2%80%99s-consensus-culture-silence-into-rumpus), winding up this week’s launch of a [Counterpoint series](https://www.opendemocracy.net/can-europe-make-it/reluctant-radicals)on oD exploring rising right wing populism in Europe, and asking how to retrieve support for our democracies. We learn about a contrasting case of [failed consensus in the Netherlands](https://www.opendemocracy.net/yvonne-zonderop/how-populism-grew-its-roots-in-netherlands); the [ease of stigma in Denmark](https://www.opendemocracy.net/anders-rasmussen/headscarfs-and-homosexuals-feminist-ideals-in-xenophobic-politics); and [Greece’s self-defeating](https://www.opendemocracy.net/aristos-doxiadis-manos-matsaganis/national-populism-and-xenophobia-in-greece) ‘national exceptionalism’ as compared with ‘identity populism’ being a [‘no-go area’ in Germany](https://www.opendemocracy.net/herfried-m%C3%BCnkler/covert-and-hidden-populism-in-unified-germany).