'Resurgent fascism haunts West': London Mayor Sadiq Khan warns as Trump returns to White House

As the United States and the rest of the world is bracing for Donald Trump to assume office in his second term, London Mayor Sadiq Khan has warned that fascism is returning to the Western world.

In an article for The Observer, Khan said that progressives are facing a “century-defining challenge”. He went on to say that the “stakes for liberal democracy couldn’t be higher”.

Writing on the eve of Trump’s inauguration, Khan said that while he understands the need of governments to engage with Trump, including the engagement of his Labour Party’s British government of Sir Keir Starmer, the political parties must start working to counter rise of the far-right. While he blamed the domination of social media platforms by the far-right as one of the reasons for how things stood, he also flagged the failure of the left and called for a course-correction.

Khan said that the left should work to tell the people that the left and democracies can deliver for the working-class.

“By exploiting economic concerns and a growing distrust of political and media institutions, these reactionary populists have been able to attract new supporters… We must take a hard look at our own political shortcomings and have the self-awareness to acknowledge that while social media is fuelling racist populism and polarisation, it’s not the only reason people are gravitating to extremes,” said Khan.

Drawing a parallel with 1920-30s when fascism rose in Italy and Nazism in Germany, Khan said, “As historians and commentators increasingly find echoes of the 1920s and 30s in the present day, we cannot afford to throw in the towel.”

Khan’s warning comes at a time when far-right forces are rising across the West: Trump in the United States, Reform party in the UK, National Rally in France, AfD in Germany, etc. Such a near-simultaneous rise is not just driven by a crisis among mainstream parties, it is also facilitated by collaboration among far-right leaders.

Trump’s principal ally, Elon Musk, has been running a regime change operation across the West where he has pledged to topple incumbents everywhere and replace them with far-right leaders aligned to him. So far, he has pledged to overthrow Justin Trudeau in Canada, Starmer in the UK, and Olaf Scholz in Germany. While Trudeau has already announced his resignation, Musk is now focussed on toppling Starmer’s government.

Khan flagged Musk in his article. Referring to his weaponisation of his social media platform X, he said, “A billionaire bully shouldn’t be able to use his social media platform as a propaganda tool to amplify lies and advance the cause of the far right. Nor should social media companies be able to evade responsibility for algorithms that maximise –and monetise– hate.”