The European Election and the rise of Right Wing Politics in Europe

Weren't 8 years of American right wing politics enough for the whole world? Must we?

This is absolutly the worst thing that could have happened. UKIP look like they might be the next shadow party. just reading about the MEP for the BNP makes my skin crawl: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Brons

however this is quite a nice 'fuck you' interview from the BBC news coverage with the BNP leader Nick Griffin http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/8088501.stm - My god he's such a horrible little bastard

It's becoming so tiring. The xenophobia, the nationalism, the fear-stricken avoiding brown people (whilst clutching falafel). Like in Europe, one can find many (bourgeois) people here who still think of those from non-western lands as Exotic and Mysterious, such as when visiting upper-class ethnic restaurants, and those attachments easily turn into Dangerous and Unknowable. But now there are politicians who are fascist~ly against those cultures they perceive to be fascist. But I think the self-identified left is also partially responsible - many apparently have no doubt in how they perceive the world and themselves, or rather, no more or less than a self-identified right-winger. I remember seeing something online of a reporter going around a pro-environment rock concert asking people to sign a petition banning water, and everybody bloody signs it. I wish I could find that link! Argh. But really, whether left or right, I suppose it's meaningless, and electing a representative will not usually get shit done.

Uh-oh...

ETA:

Really? No shit? Jesus.

Warren Ellis is having a conniption:

My "Uh-oh" was joking, just in case anybody thought I was genuinely worried.

I can't believe this is the same legendary snooty liberal Europe we've heard so much about the last eight years. We finally vote in a progressive, you vote in neo-Nazi types. WHEN WILL YOU BE SATISFIED, EUROPE!? We're always a few steps behind what's cool, apparently.

Lets bring this in perspective:
Europe rightwing isnt USA right wing, not by a long shot. As an example, the current governing party in germany is considered conservative, but its actually centrist or even democratic by USA standards, simply because conservative stands for entirely different values in that case.
Another example is Austria. Austria is a tiny country. Its not even 1/10 of the population of germany, and its politics are EXTREMELY amateurish, simply because Austria has absolutely no desire to play a big role in anything outside their own country.
Which means that naturally, stuff like the European Union and its elections just arent very interesting for a lot of people.

The austrian right wing party got 13% roughly. Yeah, in my opinion thats too much, but frankly, 13% of votes with a barely above 50% turnout in an 8 million people country is not much. Given the fact that said party is trying to copy the entire US republican playbook of election campaigns, I am surprised they didnt even get more, because they sure dumped a LOT of money on it. I am currently residing in Vienna, and its a veritable warzone in terms of political campaigning out here, but everything is on such a small scale compared to the rest of europe, it really isnt very threatening.

Actually, I believe France is the biggest risk right now. Britain and Austria are both countries who really try to distance themselves from the EU at every turn, who try to get the advantages, but remain on the outside doing their own thing a lot. Thats not really europe.

Germany isnt going to go right wing in the next century by any standards, as there simply is NO party further right than centrist which is worth mentioning. The northern european countries I dont know enough about, but their "right wing" isnt anyone elses "right wing" either.

France as the exception, I dont think Europe is in some sort of transition politically, I just think the enthusiasm for the EU has taken a severe blow, and since a lot of the right wing parties put anti-EU stuff into their programs, thats why people vote for them in an election that frankly doesnt even have much impact. Its not that people are happily voting for the racists here. Thats not a level on which this election works.

For all intents and purposes though, I could easily see Austria have another lapse into right wing extremists at the helm soonish. Just like the last time, it ll blow over at the earliest possibility because these people just cant get anything done at all, which plays really bad with a populace that isnt actually so big on blindly voting for the same guys all the time, but Austria is probably one of the more inherently right-wing countries in europe anyway.

Dont Panic.

I came here to post pretty much what Khaunshar has posted before me already, albeit he did it in better words.

Another thing to keep in mind though would be the fact that even with all these fringeheads on the right and the left (which should not be excluded here) in the new EU parliament, their actual impact on politics will be next to nothing. Since the parlamentarians from the member states form EU-wide fractions and are not in the parliament under the umbrella of their national party the politics will turn out not that much different from what happened before. Though the parliament is under a way more comfortable conservative (in EU terms that is) reign for the years to come.

But these elections of right wing and fashistic parties does show an alarming trend when it comes to the understanding and acceptance of Europe in particular and about the state of democracy in our sour times in general.

But I guess "Don´t Panic" indeeed.

Please fuck off with this 'Left, right, it's all the same. Who cares. Why bother. Blah blah blah.' bullshit.

It's the most worthless and stupid view on politics possible.

Er, no, I was advocating for direct action, not doing nothing and it all being pointless. We can make a difference. I've just been leaning towards some vague anarchist ideals lately. If I was american, must I be a democrat to support gay marriage, or even like marriage to support it? No.

Well, living in a very strict 2-party-system like the USA has, I understand how it all boils down to this overly stereotypical thinking, and subsequent disenchantment with democracy.
You cant compare that to the european reality, where there are far more parties, and they change stance and plans on things far more readily because not a lot of stuff is inherently coded as "democrat" or "republican".
Here, its no big deal if a conservative party, as one isolated issue, also is pro-choice, or pro-gay marriage. Its not something that belongs to the portfolio of a certain party, its something that depends a lot on the plan for the next years.

That makes it somewhat harder to discuss the merit and nature of democracy with americans if both sides really only know their version, as its really a huge actual difference in how politics is viewed and played over here.

So in other words it makes more sense. Gotcha.

I wish my wife was as spontaneous as I am. I would have relocated to Europe a few years ago.

Well, it doesnt necessarily make more sense to everyone. I think there is a lot of comfort to be found in the US system, where the "choice" is pretty much made for you by your lifestyle. I imagine most people can pick Democrat or Republican early on, and then pretty much only tune in if they are particularly interested. In europe, we have the pretty serious problem of bad participation because every 4 years or so, in order to responsibly vote, you ll have to check out a lot of parties all over again, since they do change stances on stuff.
As an example, if gay marriage is something you absolutely abhor, and its a dealbreaker for you, there is no "go-to" party in germany or austria which has and always will take the same stance on it. So, you are then left in the uncomfortable position of having to consider if this issue is so big for you, you vote for someone else, whose party may not match your ideas as well.

You guys just vote, and let the senators etc. deal with carrying democracy to your doorstep on state level (well, or not). As far as I can tell, much of the day-to-day politics isnt overly influenced by the national level, war on terror aside. In most european countries, the local/statewide elections arent that big, so we got a more complex and diverse system at the top level.
For people like you and me, politically interested and somewhat responsible, I suppose europe is better. For Old Joe from Mississippi, its a pain having to keep up every so often with what goes on and who does what, and he is probably more happy with your system.

Yeah, don't expect the far-right to become a major player in Europe any time soon. Yes there have been some bad results, but they're probably just because most big parties in Europe have given up playing with Euro-scepticism, therefore that type of audience had to find other places. If anything, especially if like me me you're for a more integrated, federal style EU, instead of just a loose trade union, the apparent strengthening of the France-Germany axis is good news.

ETA: I'd really like to know the opinions of the other Chewers, especially the Europeans, about how they want the EU to turn out.

I want it to turn into a wonderously diverse collection of member states forging forward as one to rival the other major superpowers of the world.

Oh and I'd like that collection to offer all Australians working visas so they can work in all member nations for as long as they want.

...but I'm guessing that second part's just me.

They're just radical enough to appeal to people's desire for something drastically different.

It's such a shame drastically different has to be these guys. I'd like "non-corrupt" as a pleasant drastic change. The expense scandal's hardly surprising, given that these guys essentially governed the rules themselves over what they could spend - but i'd imagine it's hardly the worst of their crimes either.

This year was the first time I chose to vote in the local elections, I make no excuses for having not voted before, but the scandal was enough to drive me into doing it - I hope it does the same for the (apparently 25%?) rest of the population who don't normally vote.

Small silver lining:

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/us_w...lections_.html

What I find more frightening than the rise of right wing politics (although I´d rather argue that the tide is merely turning and the pendulum is swinging back from left to right) is the fact that merely 42 % of all people (well here in Germany that is - but from what I gathered it is somewhat similar or worse in other countries as well) went voting.

At least voters for right parties exercised their right to vote. But nearly 60 % remained in apathy. Which is the death of what I would consider a lively democracy with a purpouse. The inherent danger of this for the building called Europe is deemed infinitely higher than voting for extremists in my eyes.

Yeah, that is another thing that has been bothering me.

From what I can tell for Germany, Netherlands and Belgium (I had to cover the elections there for work) the elections have been about everything but actual European politics. Basically the votes have been cast in large for national issues but weren´t related at all to Europe.

And as long as there isn´t a real European political culture but merely national issues projected for better or for worse on Europe, a broad discussion about the final stages of the EU are bound to be futile.

Voter apathy can suck my dick. As far as I'm concerned, by not voting you give up any right to complain about politics or the government. You obviously don't care enough to spend 15 fucking minutes voting, so why should anyone care about what you think? I may even have a smaller problem with those voting for crap like BNP than those who didn't even bother to show up.

There is this politician here in Greece that said something I agreed with totally. He called those not voting fools, and asked them not to even consider voting for him in the future. Of course he's known for running his mouth but I can't say I disagree with the sentiment.

I absolutely agree with you on a superficial level that non-voters can suck my, your, hell even Sarah Palins dick. They sure have lost any reason or validation to bitch about anything related to actual politics.

But I don´t think that this invalidates my earlier point. Society, or more precisely in this instance democracy, does not participation to function and not turn into an empty shell that is nothing more than the emperors new clothes. Point being that these two arguments are not mutually exclusive at all.

I don't know if you have this in Germany but here along with the party ballots you also get a blank one. Picking that actually tells me that you think everyone is shit and should go fuck themselves. Not showing up to vote shows that you don't care, not that you're angry or disappointed. It shows that you're an idiot according to the ancient Greek root of the word.

I'm always in favour of soiling the ballot paper rather than not voting.

It shows you’re pissed off enough with the main parties to register a protest but you are still exercising your right to vote.

Doesn't exist in Britain, and therein lies a problem - how do I register my "none of the above" selection? Abstention is a valid statement that at the moment cannot be distinguished from "couldn't be arsed"

Fascism and Communism are just two of the underlying problems with socialism. Remember kiddies Hitler only got ever got 43.9% of the vote.

What?

Thom Hartmann made an interesting point a few days ago on his radio show that what's happening in Europe is a preview of what can and most likely will happen in the US, unless the left gains control of the pro-American sentiment by actually talking about sane protectionist trade policies and reining in multinational corporations. When given little information about the larger machinations of foreign intervention, when people rally together they tend to blame whoever's closest and easiest to single out, i.e. immigrants. Wrong villain, as usual, but that's who they see. I do hope the left gets wise.

What indeed. Putting it kindly, you don´t even know what the fuck you are talking about.

I absolutely agree with you about the fact that immigrants, islam, brown people, marsians or whatever are surely easy to be blamed for the uneducated.

But I don´t really get the "vision" or as you said "preview" of that guy. The real problem of the "left" (and I hope that my quotation marks show that this label is misleading and oversimplifying from an European point of view to say the least) is the fact that the left completely failed to raise to the occasion. Judging by textbook standards the left should shine right now. But in fact the opposite is happening. It is a sad state of affairs if conservative politicians are the sane voice of reason right now over here while the left is stuck in the politics of the seventies. It works on short term notice to gain a few votes but in the long run it is more than obvious that this emperor does not have clothes at all as well. If the left would have a sustainable vision that is applicable in todays world things would be different. But people with visions (disprooven ones in this instance) should consult their doctor.

Unfortunately we don´t have that option over here. But having that in mind your point is way more convincing for me suddenly. And good call on idiot according to the ancient Greek root of the word. Seconded - or whatever internet-lulz word is appropriated in this instance.

When I tried to vote and exercise my constitutional right they turned me down at the voting booth. Cause the town has me filed under "moved away". Yeah right fuckers, I moved alright, I moved 200 meters away to a new apartment.
How they knew without me telling them is still a mystery, as is why I couldn't even vote for EU parliament. I was really pissed.

I heavily doubt racism against foreigners is going to have that much pull mid-term in europe, simply due to the reasons that its not a single nation with an identity, but an alliance, which means we already deal with playing along foreigners in a lot of things, and because quite frankly because its just not a topic that consistently works well in politics here. I mean, you reliably can get a 15% or so , and you reliably lose 15 to 20% on the other side whenever you come up with racism. Some smaller countries are different, but lets face it, Austria isnt going to move the EU one way or the other anyway.

There are populist strategies that work, but largely due to the lack of a unified media front, and due to the multiple parties, you just cant that much momentum behind a few single issues right now. Its just a pendulum swing, largely motivated by the economy crisis we are facing.
Actually, I would venture a guess and say that the "evil brown immigrant" is in the process of being replaced by different "enemies" of the "upright citizen", such as greedy bankers, rich managers etc. From what I see, I believe Europe is headed into the (and I dont applaud it) direction of more intersocial conflict, rather than inter-racial or -national conflict at the street level.

with the economy as it is, people are always going to be dissatisfied with their leadership, especially as the status quo has been in place for most of this millennium (certainly in the UK and US).

The european elections are often seen as a joke but more importantly, in countries that have been forced into the EU without a mandate from the people (in the UK, Blair promised a referendum on europe in 1997- 12 years of labour rule later - no sign yet) so people use each european election to make a statement on europe, by electing nazis or isolationists they are saying that they want out of europe and are trying to make it as hellish for the Europarl as possible.

The MEPs have so little power unless they are a part of the larger voting blocks that a few malcontents are unlikely to be anything but a bit of an embarrassment. It's not like the British nationalists are going to form a pact with the French or German nationalists.

It simply shows the total disconnection between the electorate and the political establishment. The solution that always gets banded about: compulsory voting.
= Total bullshit.

Hopefully all of this shit will crystalize in people's minds the utter futility of democracy.