---
title: "Democracy under threat: The autumn New Humanist"
date: "2020-08-20T10:17:08+01:00"
modified: "2020-08-20T10:17:08+01:00"
url: "https://rationalists.org.uk/2020/08/20/democracy-under-threat-the-autumn-new-humanist/"
post_id: 7058
categories: ["Uncategorised"]
---

# Democracy under threat: The autumn New Humanist

***![Clean-2008-01-Cover](https://rationalists.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/images/Clean-2008-01-Cover.jpg)***

***The autumn 2020 issue of New Humanist is on sale now!* [*Subscribe here*](/subscribe) *for as little as £10 a year.***

**Democracy under threat** 
===========================

**Funding hate**

A shadowy network connects the US Christian right with reactionary politics across Europe, as **Peter Geoghegan** reports

> *The depiction of figures like Salvini* *and Abascal as grassroots insurgents storming the citadel with little* *more than an internet connection* *and a nativist dream is compelling …**Their advance, however, is also undergirded by net**works of dark money and hidden influence.*

**Watching the watchmen**

Amid Covid-19 curfews, the return of Turkey’s brutal auxiliary police force is striking fear into civilians. **Kaya Genç** is in Istanbul.

> *Between March and May 2020, dozens of violent inci**dents were reported at the hands of the* *bekçi, Turkey’s new auxiliary police force … None of the offending officers were disciplined. Instead, once lockdowns and curfews lifted on 2 June, parliament approved a bill that granted the “watchmen” powers on a par with the police, including the right to use guns against civilians.*

**Fear and loathing in Hong Kong**

As Beijing’s political dominance intensifies, so have tensions between ordinary citizens, as **Ting Guo** discovers

> *Am I a coloniser? I find myself increasingly ask**ing this question, as a woman from mainland* *China living in Hong Kong.*

**The Q&amp;A: Raymond Tallis**

J.P. O’Malley talks to the philosopher, poet, novelist and patron of Humanists UK about mortality, free will and the “unfinished business” of humanism today.

> *It’s perfectly obvious that in order* *to be conscious as a human being you need to have a func**tioning body, nervous system and brain. But that is not the* *whole story. What is missing in that story is what human**ists need to look at very carefully.*

***The autumn 2020 issue of New Humanist is on sale now!* [*Subscribe here*](/subscribe) *for as little as £10 a year.***

***![KDYRWR](https://rationalists.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/images/KDYRWR.jpg)***

### Also in this issue:

- **Samira Ahmed** on the challenge of creativity in a time of crisis
- Should trees have lawyers? **Nicola Cutcher** on the fight to radically expand legal rights
- **Cliff James**, a survivor of clerical abuse, takes a secular pilgrimage, funded by compensation money from the Church
- As many more of us self-diagnose, **Peter Salmon** interrogates sickness and health through the work of French philosopher Georges Canguilhem
- **Emma Warren** on the long link between bicycles and moments of social change
- When Covid-19 halted sport, **Andrew Mueller** realised he that what he loved was more than the game
- **David Wearing** takes on Britain’s national myths
- **Cal Flyn** on feminist dystopias
- **Caroline Crampton** writes that *I May Destroy You* is pushing the boundaries of TV
- PLUS: Columns from **Laurie Taylor** and **Marcus Chown**, book reviews, the latest developments in biology, chemistry and physics; cryptic crossword and **Chris Maslanka**‘s quiz

*New Humanist is published four times a year by the Rationalist Association, a charity founded in 1885. Our journalism is fiercely independent and supported entirely by our readers. To make a deeper commitment, why not* *[donate to the Rationalist Association](https://www.justgiving.com/rationalistassociation)?*