We must confront false prophets' lies about our history that deny our common ground with refugees

Pundits such as Russell Brand and Steve Bannon are distorting our past oppression, when it should be a source of solidarity with asylum seekers, writes Emma Dabiri

Russell Brand was quick to chime in after the Dublin riots, interpreting and distorting the significance of events in Ireland for international consumption. File photo: James Manning/PA

Western liberal democracies are apparently inhabited by vast and increasing numbers of disaffected, dissatisfied citizens who could conceivably put populists in power on both sides of the Atlantic over the coming year. 

Donald Trump’s White House comeback bid should be the stuff of dystopian fantasy, not a news story. But as Naomi Klein describes brilliantly in her new book, Doppelganger, our collective trajectory away from reality seems to be in freefall.