Brasilia, December 3 (RHC)-- Brazil’s Fernando Haddad, the former 2018 presidential candidate of the Workers’ Party, has been invited to join an international progressive movement fronted by United States Left-leaning politician Bernie Sanders, and former Greek finance minister, Yanis Varoufakis.

Local media reports said that Haddad confirmed his participation in the upcoming meeting planned for later this month to launch the movement.  The initiative, announced in October, is set to combat the rise of an “authoritarian axis” and “The Movement,” a far-right nationalist front with an international reach.

“All around the world, in Europe, in Russia, in the Middle East, in Asia and elsewhere we are seeing movements led by demagogues who exploit people’s fears, prejudices and grievances to achieve and hold on to power,” Sanders said in an article for The Guardian.
"Fernando Haddad, candidate of the @ptbrasil last presidential election, will participate in an international progressive front devised by U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders and former Greek minister Varoufakis. The launch will be December 1st in New York."
 
The far-Right threat the “The Movement” has been gaining publicity since Steve Bannon, former White House chief strategist for the Trump administration, joined ranks.

Progressives International’s aim is to challenge the hostile ideals within the rise of far-Right politics that are gaining prominence across the globe.  Sanders says the reactionary regimes, like those of U.S. President Donald Trump and others supported by "The Movement", share distinct characteristics such as a “hostility toward democratic norms, antagonism toward a free press, intolerance toward ethnic and religious minorities, and a belief that government should benefit their own selfish financial interest.”

It was formed in 2017 by Belgian right-wing politician, Mischael Modrikamen.  Bannon and Modrikamen announced a plan to launch the organization with an inaugural summit in Bruxelles in January 2019.

Yanis Varoufakis writes: “Fascists did not come to power in the mid-war period by promising violence, war or concentration camps.  They came to power by addressing good people...looked at them in the eye and promised to restore their pride… gave them a sense that they belonged to a larger ideal, while inventing a threat of a lurking ‘alien’ who threatened their revived hope.” 

According to the Greek activist, the 'Us-versus-Them' tactic can be seen in Donald Trump’s rhetoric around immigrants from Central America and in Brazil’s President-elect’s treatment of Afro-Latinos.   “Our era will be remembered for the triumphant march of a globally unifying rightwing -- a Nationalist International -- that sprang out of the cesspool of financialised capitalism,” Varoufakis writes in his blog. “Whether it will also be remembered for a successful humanist challenge to this menace depends on the willingness of progressives.”