Posted on 06/07/2008 7:24:29 PM PDT by NCjim
What is to account for the success of Europes Far Right? The attention the news media have devoted to the story of Islam in Europe has never been greater. And displeasure over concessions granted to Europes Muslims, fear and loathing of Sharia (Islamic) law and fears that Europe, in the rush to embrace the Other, may lose herself appear to be driving the continents electoral agenda. These concerns have sprung from items as ridiculous as Fortis Banks decision to do away with pig mascot Knorbert (for fear of offending Muslims) to the Archbishop of Canterburys declaration that adoption of elements of Sharia law in the UK seems unavoidable and would, in fact, be a great help to maintain social cohesion. In any case, it appears that a growing number are sufficiently discouraged by the imposition of the multicultural gag to take Europes latest war of religion to the voting booth. It is also the case, for many, that the persons who best speak to the continents concerns are not those moderate (or secular) Muslims who talk of assimilation, but the leading lights of Europes Far Right and the growing host of Muslim-baiters who sit in public office.
But the electoral success of the Far Right has been far from evenly distributed. And this, of course, has a great deal to do with perceptions of the Old Guard of Europes Far Right, the most familiar branch of the movement. Geert Wilders, the Netherlands puckish libertarian, for example, does not easily compare to Frances Jean-Marie Le Pen, either with respect to personal history or electoral sway. But as difficult as it is to stack Wilders among the blood and soil conservatives of the Old Guard, Wilders and other members of the progressive nationalist faction nevertheless constitute an important, second branch of the confederation one casually describes as Far Right. These are the Young Turks of the movement. And lastly, there is the success of right-wing populists, like those in Belgium and Switzerland, who clearly seek to transcend Old Guard allegiances and adapt their platforms to better respond to the continents Islam problem. These groups represent a third branch, and a slippery strength within the greater movement. All told, however, what describes the strength of Europes Far Right is the fact that votes have begun to derive, in meaningful numbers, from across the political spectrum: from the Godless Left to the fascist Right, and all points in between.
To describe the Old Guard, then, is to include the likes of two men: Nick Griffin, national chairman of the British National Party (BNP), and Jean-Marie Le Pen of Frances National Front (FN). Since their earliest days in politics, one has likened these men to public discourse as one likens hooligans to organized sports. What is now clear, however, is that these men have failed to unite the electorate behind their classic fear of European federalism, Turkish accession to the European Union, and more or less avowed anti-Semitism. Consider, in addition, that parties of the center-right have begun to appropriate the Old Guards once signature xenophobia, and one will understand that little remains of the old fight. What remains to be seen is whether Griffin and Le Pen will acknowledge that Islam is the new game in town.
The BNPs Nick Griffin, for his part, has admitted to privileging anti-Islamism for electoral gain and for the same reason, to discourage attacks against the Jews. In a branch meeting recorded in Burnley, Lancashire, in March 2006, for example, he said: But we bang on about Islam. Why? Because to the ordinary public out there, its the thing they can understand. If we were to attack some other ethnic group some people say We should attack the Jews it wouldnt get us anywhere, other than stepping backwards. It would lock us in a little box, which the public would think extremist-crank-lunatics, nothing-to-do-with-me, and we wouldnt get power. Whereas by making Islam the issue, when every time someone turns on the television, every time they pick up a newspaper they get a drip, drip, drip. Something else, which tells them, Yeah, Islam is a real serious problem; Im really worried about it; what kind of future are my children and grandchildren, my nephews and nieces, gonna have, in a Britain which is on the way to becoming the Islamic Republic? Thats what I want to stop. The British National Party are the only people talking about it. Yeah, I think theyre the ones for me. Thats the reason for the tactic.
But Frances National Front (FN), often cited as the vanguard of the continents Far Right, has drawn very different lessons from the past decades electoral chill. The FN has, since its inception, brandished a blood and soil anti-Semitism. This fact, and electoral debates within the party, prompted Michel Gurfinkiel, a French political scientist, to suggest that Le Pen was poised to strike an alliance with Frances Muslims. If this has not since come to pass, it remains that Gurfinkiels deduction stands to reason: The National Front is surprisingly popular among Muslim immigrants or second-generation Muslim citizens, he writes. For all its campaigning about immigration, Mr. Le Pens party has always extended support to Arab and Islamic causes abroad, from Saddams Iraq to Arafats or Hamas Palestine, and from Al Qaeda to Iran. And it is as firmly anti-American and anti-Jewish as the Muslim community itself tends to be. Members of Le Pens fold are now drawn to patently anti-Islamist groups, which has only encouraged the splintering of Frances Far Right and empowered Nicolas Sarkozy.
Consider now the Young Turks of Europes Far Right. This group represents a new breed of politician, who, although tarred with the extremist brush for their attacks on Islam, speak most loudly to themes dear to libertarians and social democrats. And now is their magic moment. In the past decade, the progressive nationalism of these politicians has come to enjoy support the moribund Old Guard has only imagined; for these represent a new generation of politician: libertarian and socially democratic personalities who feel that to legislate Islamic space is to assault core progressive European values.
This is a portion of the movement that came to prominence under the openly gay and socially libertarian Pim Fortuyn, who abandoned mainstream politics to found his Pim Fortuyn List (LPF). Most remarkable is the fact that the Dutch were quick to adopt his message: Assassinated shortly before the 2002 vote, Fortuyns party still went on to claim 26 of 150 seats and become the second party in parliament. His most natural successors, both in matter of abrasive charisma and fire-breathing anti-Islamism, are Geert Wilders of the Netherlands Party for Freedom (PVV) and Pia Kjærsgaard of the Danish Peoples Party (DF). Like Fortuyn, both abandoned establishment parties to form groups prompt to defend national values against the multiculturalisme mou (milquetoast multiculturalism) of the new Europe.
Wilders transformation to become Despiser of the Faith came as something of a shock to the Dutch public. He is now best known for his short file Fitna (strife), which seeks to expose the fascist program of the Koran. The Guardian profiled Wilders in February, making the point that he views himself as a libertarian provocateur like the late Pim Fortuyn or Theo van Gogh. It mentions also that he [rails] against Islamisation as a threat to what used to be the easy-going Dutch model of tolerance. My allies are not Le Pen or [Jörg] Haider, he wishes to make clear. Well never join up with the fascists and Mussolinis of Italy. Im very afraid of being linked with the wrong rightist fascist groups. Instead, as reported by the daily, Dutch iconoclasm, Scandinavian insistence on free expression, the right to provoke are what drive him.
Danish politician Pia Kjærsgaard speaks a similar language, remarking last year to the Associated Press: The most important thing for the Danish Peoples Party (DF) is to maintain the Danish identity. And like Wilders, she is quick to reject comparisons to Europes Old Guard, saying: There is nothing racist about what I have said, I know that. My driving force is the love for my home country. I want Denmark to be a safe and good and cozy nation that has a good relationship to the rest of the world. Her party today is the parliaments third largest, having garnered 14% of the legislative vote in November 2007. This was also a moment for the party to affirm its anti-Islamist credentials: a campaign poster depicted a cartoon illustration of Mohammed, underscored by text that read: Freedom of speech is Danish, censorship is not.
Add to the Old Guard and the Young Turks of resurgent nationalism a third group, comprised of right-wing populists often associated with the likes of Britains Griffin and the Frenchman Le Pen. These are the nationalist (and regionalist) parties of Austria, Switzerland, and Belgium. Like the Old Guard, these groups are often socially conservative and subject to accusations of anti-Semitism (and, perhaps, too fond memories of Hitlers Reich). These groups have packaged themselves under nationalist-populist wrap to play on perceptions that establishment parties are deaf to the cause of the people; and they are interesting for having reoriented their politics and policies in calculation of popular support. Like the Young Turks, however, this populist Right has learned to exploit fears of insurgent Islam to great electoral success.
First to Belgium, where Vlaams Belang (the former Vlaams Blok) occupies 12% of the Chamber of Representatives. Party chief Filip Dewinter appears more than eager to transcend the politics of the Old Guard and declaim Europes debt to Judeo-Christian tradition. Active support for Israel is a fine way to begin, he imagines. For example, in a 2006 interview with the American New Republic, Dewinter stated: Its disgusting, its infamous, its treacherous, but many Socialist and Green politicians hope they can win over the Islamic vote bank by bashing Israel and the United States, and by turning a blind eye on the virulent anti-Semitic rhetoric in Islamic publications and Islamic websites. These facts mirror a remarkable switch of alliances in many European countries: The right-wingers defend Israel and warn against Islam. The left-wingers are bashing Israel and the United States, and kowtow for Islam.
In Switzerland, the Swiss Peoples Party (SVP) defied electoral expectations to walk away with 29% of the legislative vote in October. This was accomplished with no small help from the partys outspoken (and hotly controversial) position on the expulsion of law-breaking immigrants as well with the announcement, in May 2007, of the partys motion to ban minarets. Austrias Far Right has clearly sought to capitalize on the groups Swiss Quality. In August 2007, Jörg Haiders Alliance for the Future of Austria (BZÖ) introduced an initiative to ban construction of unusual structures in the federal state of Carinthia. The reason? Minister of urban planning Uwe Scheuch explains: With the help of this law, it will be de facto impossible to construct mosques or minarets.
These state- and nation-wide initiatives to ban mosque and minaret have also borne continental fruit. A grand multi-party rally erupted in Antwerp in February, under the banner Cities Against Islamisation. The organization, which boasts an online platform in six languages, speaks to the rise of Far Right populism across the continent. Event coordinator Filip Dewinter (who insists his politics are merely right-wing) explained: We already have more than 6,000 mosques in Europe, which are not only a place to worship but also a symbol of radicalization. These kinds of symbols have to stop.
The Young Turks have profited from this language, of course; and that is quite the point. Denmarks Kjærsgaard sums up the mood among Europes right-wing elites: I am convinced that the Islamists want to sneak Sharia (Islamic law) in through the back door, that they want to combat Western society and they want Islam to become the main religion. And when asked by the Associated Press whether she believed Islam had anything to contribute to Danish society, she replied: I dont think so at all. Ditto for Wilders, who told the Washington Post in an interview: Islam and democracy are fully incompatible. They will never be compatible not today, and not in a million years.
One might prefer to dismiss Wilders and Kjærsgaard as hotheads, or merely out of touch. But a report just now released by the World Economic Forum (in partnership with Georgetown University) on the subject of West-Islamic world dialogue, suggests that the Far Rights anti-Islam turn is far more representative of Europes fears than one has wished to believe. According to the results of surveys gathered by the Gallup Institute, 60% of Europeans surveyed see the growing interaction between the Muslim world and the West as a menace to freedom. Whats more, the study claims that the citizens of Wilders Netherlands and Kjærsgaards Denmark are most fearful, with 67% of Dutch and 80% of Danes surveyed in agreement with this statement. Whats more, like Kjærsgaard, fully half of Danes consider Islam incompatible with democracy. (Sadly, Gallup failed to collect opinions in France, Germany, or Great Britain.)
In the end, the phenomenon of right-wing populism (or left-wing reaction) is as good a marker as any to insist upon the new ground being broken among these figures and parties of the Far Right. And it is clear that perceptions of Islam as an intolerant faith are driving the agenda for Left and for Right, and across the political spectrum. For this reason, one can no longer easily dismiss the hodgepodge of characters, all platforms considered, who bang on about Islam. And if Britains Nick Griffin is correct in his estimation that Islam is soon to dominate political discussion, we can expect to hear noises like his own from the continents mainstream political elite. It is unlikely that Old Guard formations like the British National Party will ever enjoy the support of the Swiss and Danish Far Right both for reasons of their history and the promise of fresh libertarian faces like Wilders. But in the meantime, Britains flagging passion for diversity presents sure opportunity for the party as it does for anyone interested in the popular vote.
now by far right he would mean sightly conservative democrat here?
There is a certain segment of the population of Europe, Canada, and the United States that blindly ignores dangerous trends until the point of desperation. I’ve told my beer buddy liberal that things won’t change here until something drastic happens (e.g. another 911 or worse) to wake people up.
What’s a “far right” ? I’ve never seen one. Is that like the Great Pumpkin ?
“Evolve”? Who’s to say anything has evolved? I, for one, am in favor of monarchy and the barter system.
But you will note they say nothing about cutting taxes and government spending.
You may get your wish on the former come November.
Nice use of the old Nazi slogan to smear the nationalists he targets as "far right."
This polemic is a good illustration of why "Old" Europe as we know it will die in our lifetimes.
Really? From what I’ve seen, events like 9/11 (in the US) or the Madrid Train bombings (Spain) only drive liberals to surrender. Their reaction to such events is to agonize over what THEY DID to bring it on.
This is one of their biggest modus operandi. They feel they are like the Old Testament prophets, calling judgment down on the evils of America. They themselves feel guilty for living in a country that is not a third world hell hole, and they want everyone to share that guilt with them.
LOL! So are the Muslims!!
PERCEPTIONS? Let the author go to any Islamic country and speak out against Mohammed. Perceptions that Islam is anything but intolerant will doom the West.
If the London bombings and Madrid train bombings weren’t enough, what would be big enough?
An article that manages to be both frivolous and cynical at the same time. It starts with the assumption that opposition to the spread of Islam in Europe is simply a political stunt for the sole purpose of winning votes.
Well, it is from the typical European liberal viewpoint; where anyone who doesn’t believe in the abolition of private property counts as a “right-wing extremist.”
The more that is exposed about the Islamic fanatics, the better. It is truly a deranged religion.
bookmark
The “Far Right” are afflicted with an inexplicable “fear and loathing” of Sharia Law. These right wing extremists are against the honor killings of women. They fail to appreciate the mutilation of girls. They have an extreme intolerance for the idea that gays and “heretics” and “infidels” should be executed. It has been rumored that these right wing extremists even believe in quaint ideas like freedom of speech and tolerance.
Don't be like our elected Republicans and accept the premises of the Left, attack those premises. Make them defend keeping criminal illegal aliens, make them defend giving drivers licenses and thereby the vote to illegals.
Shine the light on these roaches and watch them scatter.
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