![Madrid regional government leader Isabel Diaz Ayuso waves to supporters upon arriving by motorbike to an electoral event ahead of regional elections in Valdemoro, Spain, April 29, 2021. [Sergio Perez/Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/2021-04-29T173714Z_1427759397_RC2T5N9PBC3F_RTRMADP_3_SPAIN-POLITICS.jpg?resize=270%2C180)
As the pandemic slowly comes to an end, a new and deadly form of populism is rising.
![Senior citizens receive the Chinese-made Sinopharm vaccine at a vaccination centre in an expo centre in Lahore on March 16, 2021 [Arif Ali/AFP]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/000_9639NM.jpg?resize=270%2C180)
Ideologies of western supremacy are hindering the global COVID-19 vaccination drive.
![Argentine football icon Diego Armando Maradona talks to a young fan while sightseeing after training with his new team, Napoli in Castel Del Piano, Italy on July 27, 1984 [File: Massimo Sambucetti/AP Photo]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/AP_8407270431.jpg?resize=270%2C180)
2020 took away from us a legend who turned playing football into a political act.
![Philosophers who have publicly reflected on this pandemic concur that this is the time to reconsider our 'way of being in the world', writes Zabala [Getty Images]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/bd95e5d2c169464caaa908ef3ace25e9_18.jpeg?resize=270%2C180)
Philosophical proposals on a reorganisation of global economy and political ecology could help us find the way forward.
![Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban arrives in parliament ahead of a vote on a special law to combat the coronavirus crisis in Budapest, Hungary on March 30, 2020 [Reuters/Zoltan Mathe]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/5dff05828ba441879a69060951287934_18.jpeg?resize=270%2C180)
And they are desperately trying to use it to stay in power.
![Co-founder Beppe Grillo, Davide Casaleggio, son of co-founder Gianroberto Casaleggio, and Italian Deputy PM Luigi Di seen at a Five Star Movement party rally in October 2018 [File: Max Rossi/Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/3effe27606af4f838eb92b6abca15129_18.jpeg?resize=270%2C180)
The new brand of populism which bases its political programme directly in the power of social media should scare us all.
![Main candidates for Spanish general elections prepare for a televised debate ahead of general elections in Madrid, Spain, November 4, 2019 [Susana Vera/Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/4fe0560b552e43428d24287694ac34f0_18.jpeg?resize=270%2C180)
Jailed Catalan leaders and the exhumation of Franco’s remains are the two issues at the top of Spain’s election agenda.
![Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini smiles with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban during a joint news conference in Budapest, Hungary on May 2, 2019 [File: Bernadett Szabo/Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/1abd00ec0a5a448880a2df1691572c65_18.jpeg?resize=270%2C180)
Fascism today aims to transform democratic systems from within, rendering it more dangerous than its past incarnations.
![Supporters of Spain's far-right party Vox wave Spanish flags as they attend an electoral rally before general elections in the Andalusian capital of Seville on April 24 [Reuters/Marcelo del Pozo]](/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/9ecae467d5b748cdaa4d19e4e979dda1_18.jpeg?resize=270%2C180)
A failure of the Spanish left to win the April 28 vote and form a government would usher the far-right Vox into power.
![Leader of far-right VOX Santiago Abascal and regional candidate Francisco Serrano celebrate results after the Andalusian regional elections in Seville Dec 2, 2018 [File: Marcelo Del Pozo/Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/7e99e07cb18947b1a80e4e3e36b861bc_18.jpeg?resize=270%2C180)
What is behind the unexpected rise of Spain’s racist, homophobic and anti-immigrant Vox party?