Latest news with #internationalism
Japan Times
11-07-2025
- Politics
- Japan Times
Trump's rejection of America's founding principles
In late June and early July 1776, the Second Continental Congress framed, debated and adopted the Declaration of Independence. The document announced the creation of a new American republic and established its defining principles: a commitment to free trade, free immigration and internationalism. As the United States celebrated its 249th birthday on July 4, the determination of President Donald Trump's administration to abandon these founding principles has become starkly apparent. By doing so, they risk surrendering the key to America's prosperity and geopolitical influence at a moment when the world has never appeared so unstable. The Committee of Five — John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Robert Livingston and Roger Sherman — who drafted the Declaration of Independence condemned King George III for 'cutting off our trade with all parts of the world.' Since George III's accession in 1760, the British imperial government had erected tariffs and nontariff barriers on American trade with the French and Spanish colonies in the Caribbean and South America, depriving Americans of a vital outlet for their products and access to hard currency. This led Jefferson, in 1774, to implore Britain not 'to exclude us from going to other markets.' The following year, Franklin called on the monarchy 'to give us the same privileges of trade as Scotland received at the union (of 1707) and allow us a free commerce with all the rest of the world.' The declaration echoed these sentiments: Free trade was a central tenet of America's founding document, albeit accompanied by state support for the development of new industries. The authors of the declaration also condemned George III for his misguided restrictions on immigration. Well-designed states, America's founders believed, should promote the movement of people. They denounced George III for endeavoring to 'prevent the population of these states' and reversing generations of imperial policy by 'refusing to pass' laws 'to encourage... migrations hither.' By contrast, American patriots welcomed immigrants, who brought new skills to enhance production and immediately proved to be good consumers. 'New settlers in America,' Franklin maintained, cleared farms and established villages and towns, creating 'a growing demand for our merchandise, to the greater employment of our manufacturers.' America's founders declared their independence from Britain not because they wanted to turn their backs on Europe, but because, as the opening sentence of the declaration says, they wanted to situate themselves 'among the powers of the Earth.' That way, European imperial powers such as the Dutch Republic, France and Spain could support them in a global struggle against George III's tyranny. America's founders sought internationalism, not isolation — a goal that many of their successors shared. On July 4, 1821, U.S. President John Quincy Adams, the son of one of the declaration's framers, reflected on the importance of America's founding document when he claimed that its goal was 'to form connections of friendship and of commerce with foreign nations.' Adams concluded that 'never, never for a moment have the great principles, consecrated by the declaration of this day, been renounced or abandoned.' President Abraham Lincoln reinforced the view that the declaration, more than any other founding document, outlines the principles of American government. In his first inaugural address on March 4, 1861, Lincoln declared that the U.S. government was 'much older than the Constitution.' A few weeks earlier, in the hall where the declaration had been signed, Lincoln insisted that he had 'never had a feeling politically that did not spring from the sentiments embodied in the Declaration of Independence.' Later, on July 4, 1864, Lincoln endorsed the free movement of people by signing into law the Act to Encourage Immigration. No one truly committed to the original meaning of America's constitutional document can abandon the principles of free trade, free immigration or internationalism, as framed by Franklin and Jefferson, embraced by Adams and Lincoln and presumably celebrated each year on the Fourth of July. But recent developments suggest that today's political leaders are doing just that. The Trump administration's flurry of tariffs and trade barriers, terrorization and deportation of immigrants and increasing isolationism are more reminiscent of George III's policies than of those defended by America's founders. Over the past 249 years, the U.S. was arguably at its greatest when it fervently pursued its founding mission to guarantee the free flow of people and goods and to build international alliances opposed to tyrannical and autocratic governments. As the country approaches its semiquincentennial, one fears that it is also approaching its nadir. Steve Pincus is professor of history at the University of Chicago and the author of "The Heart of the Declaration: The Founders' Case for Activist Government" (Yale University Press, 2016). © Project Syndicate, 2025
Telegraph
05-06-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
Alastair Campbell's anti-Brexit newspaper drops ‘European' branding
An anti-Brexit newspaper edited by Alastair Campbell is dropping its European branding nine years after the UK voted to leave the EU. The New European, which counts Tony Blair's former spin doctor as its editor-at-large, will be renamed The New World as the title aims to distance itself from its founding mission. The weekly paper initially launched as a four-week pop-up publication in response to the Brexit vote in 2016, saying it aimed to 'rebalance the Right-wing extremes of much of the UK national press'. However, the title is now expanding its outlook globally as interest in Brexit wanes and amid broader geopolitical turmoil. Mr Campbell said: 'When we started the paper, you could never have predicted [where we are]. Just to look at the United States alone. 'You wouldn't have predicted that Ukraine and Russia were going to be fighting a war on the edge of Europe. Lots has happened – it's a reflection of that.' But he added: 'We're always going to be very passionately anti-Brexit, very pro-internationalism, liberal democracy. I will never resile from the view that Brexit is the biggest act of self-harm that we've inflicted upon ourselves, certainly in my lifetime.' The New European was formerly owned by local newspaper group Archant before being taken private by its founder and a group of angel investors in 2021. Mark Thompson, the former BBC director general, and Lionel Barber, the former editor of the Financial Times, are among the investors in the title, alongside serial tech investor Saul Klein and Taavet Hinrikus, co-founder of payments firm Wise. The New European raised more than £1m in a crowdfunding campaign in 2023 that valued the business at £6m. The company will seek further investment later this year as it looks to move into new markets. The revamped title has tapped a string of new writers, including former Observer columnist Sonia Sodha and Tom Baldwin, a former senior Labour adviser and Sir Keir Starmer's biographer. They will join existing contributors including Matthew d'Ancona, Marie Le Conte and Paul Mason. The title, which will be available in the UK, Ireland and selected European capitals, will also boast a redesigned format. The company said the relaunch aimed to build on a growing subscriber base. Since 2022, revenues have tripled and subscriptions have quadrupled, taking the total weekly paying audience to around 35,000. Matt Kelly, the founder and editor-in-chief, said: 'The New European was conceived as a pop-up provocation; a defiant middle finger to the rising tide of Right-wing populism that brought us Brexit. 'Nine years later, the world and The New European has changed dramatically. This is a reflection of that new reality. 'We have come a long way. We have built a profitable business and a vibrant alternative to tired old legacy media models. Now we are ambitious for more growth.'
Daily Mail
19-05-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
BREAKING NEWS Jacinda Ardern's swipe at Donald Trump as she declares the world is an 'all out dumpster fire' - and reveals how we can change it forever
Jacinda Ardern has re-entered the political fray with a rallying call for internationalism, rebuking the inward outlook of the United States under President Donald Trump. The popular former New Zealand prime minister spoke at Yale College's Class Day on Monday (Australian time), the undergraduate arm of the prestigious Ivy League university. Dame Jacinda, who has lived in the US as a Harvard-based fellow since late 2023, said she opted against 'the usual pep talk that perhaps you might expect' in an address witnessed by thousands. 'Suddenly didn't feel enough. Not when the world, over the course of a few short months, moved from tumultuous to an all-out dumpster fire,' she said. 'There are challenges to rules around trade, increases in migration flows and a decreasing regard for civil rights and human rights, including the right to be who you are,' she said. 'Not to mention an environment rife with mis- and disinformation fuelling not what I would characterise as polarisation, but entrenchment. 'We're living in a time where the small are made to feel smaller and those with power loom large.' 'There's the war in the Middle East and Europe, with both leaving questions over our sense of humanity. 'The daily reminder of climate change that bangs on our door but falls on deaf ears at the highest echelons of power. 'Challenges to rules around trade, increases in migration flows, and a decreasing regard for civil rights and human rights, including the right to be who you are.' Dame Jacinda said the world stood at an 'inflection point in global politics', fuelled by post-pandemic economic challenges, when politicians needed to care for the most vulnerable. 'Some of the greatest leaders here in the United States have recognised that amongst all of the challenges politicians face, they must meet the most basic needs of their citizens, first and foremost,' she said. 'FDR (former president Franklin D Roosevelt) said in 1944 while still governing a country at war, 'true individual freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence. People who are hungry and out of a job are the stuff of which dictatorships are made'.' Dame Jacinda supported unsuccessful Democratic candidate for president Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election, appearing at party events. In a thinly veiled attack on Trump's America First economic doctrine, Dame Jacinda said isolationism was an 'illusion'. 'You cannot remain untouched by the impacts of infectious disease. A trade stand-off can never just hurt your competitors,' she said. 'A warming planet does not produce extreme weather that respects borders, and far-flung wars may not take the lives of your citizens but it will take away their sense of security and humanity. 'We are connected. We always have been.' The 44-year-old said 'to be outwardly looking is not unpatriotic' and 'in this time of crisis and chaos, leading with empathy is a strength'. 'Now more than ever, we must restate these lessons of the past. Remind one another that to be outwardly looking is not unpatriotic, to seek solutions to global problems is not a zero sum game where your nation loses, that upholding a rules based order is not nostalgic or of another era, and crucially, that in this time of crisis and chaos leading with empathy is a strength. 'Empathy has never started a war, never sought to take the dignity of others, and empathy teaches you that power is interchangeable with another word, responsibility.' Dame Jacinda has become a worldwide poster child for empathetic leadership since her response to New Zealand's worst modern-day mass shooting, the Christchurch Mosques massacre, in 2019. Since leaving office, she has made few incursions back into public life, but is expected to expand on her time in office in her memoir, A Different Kind of Power, released in June by Penguin Random House subsidiary Crown.
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Ardern lashes US isolationism in Yale address
Jacinda Ardern has re-entered the political fray with a rallying call for internationalism, rebuking the inward outlook of the United States under President Donald Trump. The popular former New Zealand prime minister spoke at Yale College's Class Day on Monday (Australian time), the undergraduate arm of the prestigious Ivy League university. Dame Jacinda, who has lived in the US as a Harvard-based fellow since late 2023, said she opted against "the usual pep talk that perhaps you might expect" in an address witnessed by thousands. "Suddenly didn't feel enough. Not when the world, over the course of a few short months, moved from tumultuous to an all-out dumpster fire," she said. "There's the war in the Middle East and Europe, with both leaving questions over our sense of humanity. "The daily reminder of climate change that bangs on our door but falls on deaf ears at the highest echelons of power. "Challenges to rules around trade, increases in migration flows, and a decreasing regard for civil rights and human rights, including the right to be who you are." Dame Jacinda said the world stood at an "inflection point in global politics", fuelled by post-pandemic economic challenges, when politicians needed to care for the most vulnerable. "Some of the greatest leaders here in the United States have recognised that amongst all of the challenges politicians face, they must meet the most basic needs of their citizens, first and foremost," she said. "FDR (former president Franklin D Roosevelt) said in 1944 while still governing a country at war, 'true individual freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence. People who are hungry and out of a job are the stuff of which dictatorships are made'." Dame Jacinda supported unsuccessful Democratic candidate for president Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election, appearing at party events. In a thinly veiled attack on Trump's America First economic doctrine, Dame Jacinda said isolationism was an "illusion". "You cannot remain untouched by the impacts of infectious disease. A trade stand-off can never just hurt your competitors," she said. "A warming planet does not produce extreme weather that respects borders, and far-flung wars may not take the lives of your citizens but it will take away their sense of security and humanity. "We are connected. We always have been." The 44-year-old said "to be outwardly looking is not unpatriotic" and "in this time of crisis and chaos, leading with empathy is a strength". Dame Jacinda has become a worldwide poster child for empathetic leadership since her response to New Zealand's worst modern-day mass shooting, the Christchurch Mosques massacre, in 2019. Since leaving office, she has made few incursions back into public life, but is expected to expand on her time in office in her memoir, A Different Kind of Power, released in June by Penguin Random House subsidiary Crown.
Telegraph
18-05-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
The tragedy of Sir Keir? Even he doesn't believe what he's saying
Keir Starmer loves the European Union. He thinks we should be members of the largest political alliance in the world. His internationalist instincts and desire for a world run by a grand global rule book – overseen by judges and argued about by lawyers – fit with the EU's approach. When the Commission talks of human rights and equality, Starmer feels at home. The PM will say none of these things publicly because he knows not enough voters agree – and he is not the man to persuade them. In 2016, 52 per cent voted to leave the EU and 'take back control', particularly of the UK's borders. If ending free movement was the major reason for voting Leave then it is little wonder many are disappointed. In 2022 net migration flirted with 1 million, a record, because of the incompetence of Boris Johnson. Last week, Starmer said lots of things about controlling immigration he does not instinctively agree with. The PM is foreigner-friendly deep in his bones and sees free movement as a triumph of liberal economics. He wore the 'country of strangers' narrative awkwardly, like a young child trying on his father's suit. This week Starmer will try and repeat the trick, saying lots of things about Europe he does not instinctively agree with. In a parallel universe where the PM is free to speak his mind, Starmer would argue passionately that the UK should rejoin the EU, that the country's future is in alliance with Brussels and that the economy would flourish in a single market and customs union. If there is one area where the PM truly wants to go 'further and faster' it is towards the continent. Any speech explaining his position would be sincere – just as it was in 2019 when he argued for a second referendum, the PM demanding that the public be allowed to vote again on 'whether they wouldn't rather stay in the EU'. He was enthusiastically backed by David Lammy, the foreign secretary. Instead, this week voters will again be treated to the crab-like, stilted Prime Minister. He will argue, with as straight a face as he can muster, that red lines he never wanted on not joining the single market, the customs union or free movement remain in place. Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president, will stand alongside Starmer at the first post-Referendum EU summit in London and sense a man so worried about his ability to cling on in Number 10 that he no longer says what he thinks. As on immigration, Starmer is grasping for a middle ground on Europe even he is not sure exists. On defence and security, the UK will be allowed limited access to the EU's new rearmament fund worth £150 billion. Fishing rights will be traded. The UK will align on food standards, a move likely to mean oversight from the European courts. A youth mobility scheme will be agreed, meaning that young people under 30 can travel here from the EU with a visa. UK visitors to the continent will be able to use passport e-gates and not queue alongside far-flung foreign nations when going on holiday to Benidorm. Critics smell a rat. Is the PM trying to re-engineer the UK back into the EU via a series of bilateral deals that make us rule-takers? Kemi Badenoch has already said that Starmer is entering the negotiations 'with a white flag at the ready'. Nigel Farage, riding high in the polls, greets every contorted argument with glee. The PM should study his political history. Voters prefer principle over cold-eyed political calculation. In 1980, Margaret Thatcher was being assailed on all sides to ditch her anti-inflationary policies aimed at re-building a crisis-riven nation. Her response was to look her opponents in the eye and say 'You turn if you want to, the lady's not for turning.' She won the next two general elections. Tony Blair, despite one million people marching on Parliament demanding 'Stop the War', maintained his alliance with the United States and his resolve to remove the dictator, Saddam Hussein. Two years later, he won his third general election. Agree or disagree with the policies, Thatcher and Blair knew where they stood and were ready to make the argument for what they believed in. The more Starmer twists and turns – six years ago he was already being described by Labour MPs as a 'windsock' – the more the public see him for what he is, a man lacking a consistent political vision he is willing to fight for. Number 10 hoped for a very different first half of the year, Morgan McSweeney, Starmer's chief of staff, orchestrating a fight back strategy based around backing for Ukraine, a reset on immigration and reform of the NHS. If the economy showed some signs of life – and it is – then so much the better. Voters are not listening. Last week, Starmer's poll ratings hit new lows, his net favourability rating dropping 12 percentage points in a month to -46 per cent, its lowest ever. Most worryingly for his allies, the sharpest drop was amongst Labour voters, where it fell 17 percentage points. Downing Street is becoming increasingly desperate. There is now talk of reversing the wildly unpopular winter fuel allowance policy and rethinking cuts in disability benefits. The PM's problems go far deeper than the jettisoning of a few badly thought-through policies. Starmer lacks an authentic voice and an authentic set of proposals that he is not happy to drop in the hope of more favourable headlines. 'People always used to say to me: listen to the people,' Blair said in 2011. 'That was a fine idea, but unfortunately the people were all saying different things.' You cannot rule by focus group alone. Starmer wants to be in the EU, but cannot say so. He is pro-immigration but tells voters he wants to clamp down on numbers coming to the UK. He is on the left of Labour – in 2019 he believed Jeremy Corbyn should be in Downing Street – but is talking about welfare cuts that have left his allies baffled. He is both pro and anti regulation, adding state-run quangoes by the yard whilst at the same time insisting he is for the 'builders not the blockers'. Dominic Cummings said that Johnson had the mind of an errant shopping trolley. The same could be said of the present incumbent of Number 10. Voters are well within their rights to ask 'could the real Keir Starmer please stand up?'. The only problem is, even he no longer knows who that is.
