Is there really a far right rise in Europe?

[Delenda Carthago]

In the last days there has been a buzz on the greek media about the "rise" of the far right party(LAOS) which supposed to reached a 9% at a poll. Despise the fact that this is so obviously fake(3 weeks ago it was at 5% on multiple polls and since then nothing happened to change that), the media are trying to say that this has come through the big rise of the far right in the whole Europe.

Is this true? Is there a wave of conservative rise in the political life of Europe?I know about a poll in France that supposed to show that Lepen's party went no1,but despise the fact that it was a rightist newspaper that did the research, there is no non far right alternative in France(Sarkozy and Stros Kahn are not by even relevance not far right). And how could we compare it with the rise of workers movements?

[Luisrah]

It seems that far right movements are rising due to the fact that the centralization of Europe and it becoming a sort of federation are making countries obsolete. The left is weak and/or not supporting national independence movements, and the far right uses that.

[pastradamus]

In the last days there has been a buzz on the greek media about the "rise" of the far right party(LAOS) which supposed to reached a 9% at a poll. Despise the fact that this is so obviously fake(3 weeks ago it was at 5% on multiple polls and since then nothing happened to change that), the media are trying to say that this has come through the big rise of the far right in the whole Europe.

First up, dont listen to polls. Polls are usually used as a tool by political parties, sympathisers or affiliates to sway support of a certain number of people toward a candidate. We have seen this at work in Ireland in the recent election.


Is this true? Is there a wave of conservative rise in the political life of Europe?I know about a poll in France that supposed to show that Lepen's party went no1,but despise the fact that it was a rightist newspaper that did the research, there is no non far right alternative in France(Sarkozy and Stros Kahn are not by even relevance not far right). And how could we compare it with the rise of workers movements?

Well, lets look at history.

Everytime in history where we seen a rise in leftist movements we see a counter movement in the far-right.

For example Mussolini and the Communist party in Italy. One moved in popularity to counteract the other. The same in Spain, Germany, Hungary and many other place.

Greece seems to be a place where the workers are expressing leftist views and so, the far-right will probably grow also.

[Queercommie Girl]

A rise? definitely so. Minority groups in Europe are certainly feeling more threatened now than they used to be.

Muslims bear the brunt of the racism at the moment, but obviously racism would fundamentally affect all minority groups.

I wouldn't exaggerate the rise of the far-right too much though, but it is certainly something that people need to take into consideration.

[Tim Finnegan]

I tend to think that the real danger that the far-right represents, at least in Western Europe, is the extent to which they are able to influence mainstream discourse, rather than any individual property. When hard-line reactionaryism gains popularity, especially if it manages to present itself as a movement of "Ordinary People", it encourages/permits (delete as necessary) centrist politicians to shift rightwards in an attempt to placate the hoi polloi, whom, it would seem, they casually assume to be a mob of ignorant bigots. This is heavily complemented by the decline in working class political involvement, allowing the middle class to tip the scales in some traditionally working class areas and giving superficial weight to the media's ramblings about an alienated "white working class". ("Western", because I don't know enough about the ultra-nationalist movements of the former Eastern Bloc to dismiss them as independently viable political forces.)

The Question Time on which Nick Griffin appeared a while back illustrated this very well. While the representatives of each major party were quick to condemn Griffin for his racism and crypto-fascism, they readily accepted his movement's key premise: that immigration is a Bad Thing, and that immigrants represent a threat to British society. As it was put to me, each speech went more or less along the lines of "You're an awful racist, now here's my incredibly draconian immigration policy".

[smk]

Europe has always been filled with racists. it is just now that immigration is so high from North Africa and the Middle East that it is really showing. I wouldn't call them far-right, but they are definitely more conservative.

[irfanlal]

At the start of this year I watched a preview of events that happened in last year and one of the things I saw was political changes in Europe...according to the documentary, last year was very good for right orientated parties 'cause on political scene it was the biggest change after fall of USSR because in most of countries right orientated parties are the rulling parties...I'm writing this because if rigth if getting stronger then far right will follow it...but also if left wants to spread a word or two and rise the right will of course try to do the same so this may also be a reason why you think there is a far right rise in Europe...

[Queercommie Girl]

Europe has always been filled with racists.


So has America. It isn't really that different all across the developed Western World really.

Even developed Japan can be quite xenophobic and racist, not so much towards whites, but certainly towards Asians, Blacks and other groups, especially the Chinese.

[Le Socialiste]

I think there has been something of a rise in the number of people in Europe who identify with the politics and tactics of the far-right; however, the reasons for this are many, and require an in-depth look at the region as a whole.

1) The collapse of the USSR, which had - much like the former Yugoslavia - kept a tight lid on potentially explosive ethnic/national tensions, helped pry open the floodgates of nationalist rhetoric and a swing towards rightist policies (the Soviet Union could arguably be considered to the right as well - however not in the way I'm thinking). With the dissolution of the Soviet government and bloc, countries like the Baltic states, Poland, Ukraine, Georgia, etc. etc. saw an explosion of far-right and nationalist groups/parties. Countries like Armenia and Azerbiajan rediscovered past hostilities once their national identities were reestablished; even Russia has experienced a rise in xenophobia and white supremacist organizations. Rediscovering their independence from Russia brought along with it the celebration of pro-fascist/Nazi partisans and individuals who worked and collaborated against the USSR during WWII. Immigrants were - and continue to be - viewed with suspicion, and are often the victims of hate crimes and life-threatening injuries. Curiously enough, this rise in far-right activity happened after pro-free market governments assumed power and influence. The wealth-gap and general disparity between the rich and poor exacerbates the social and ethnic tensions already present in these societies, which could potentially give rise to the far-right.

2) The expansion of the EU into southern and central/eastern Europe has contributed to the rise as well. As someone has already pointed out, some Europeans may feel as though their national identities are being taken away from them in favor of a pan-European identity. This could strengthen the far-right, as most far-right groups tend to rail and denounce the EU.

3) Immigration plays a major role as well. I've noted this already, but the stream of immigrants coming into Europe for work may contribute to the increase in far-right parties and organizations that decry immigration/immigrants as "soiling" or "corrupting" the social fabric of the nation and its cultural identity. The fact that the "mainstream" parties of some European countries are jumping on this anti-immigrant bandwagon shows that there is something to this particular point. If the major parties are joining in on and furthering such xenophobic tensions, it may say that they see the potential in dumping their nation's financial ills and troubles on the presence of these communities.

4) Let's not kid ourselves - capitalism has a lot to do with it as well. As the "protector" of capital and its greed, the state does not shy away from playing certain groups and communities off one another in order to protect capitalism's interests. Such practice has been going on for centuries. It's curious that we've seen a rise in far-right groups during the current economic crisis.

5) And lastly: "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it".