Why is there a Sudden Surge in the Extreme Right?
Antifa and Right Wing groups clash in Berkley
Recently countries throughout the western world have shifted towards conservative sentiments, so much so that previous stigmas around many such ideas have almost disappeared. Isn’t Europe supposed to be progressive? How has this happened?
On the tail end of the European Recession many countries are still struggling, this is the perfect starting point for right-wing parties. Economic instability forces people to think and worry about their country’s stability as a whole. The number one priority for most people is their income, and as soon as it is put at any risk, even superficial risk, people start asking questions about who’s going to protect their jobs.
Enter populism, a core belief of Far Right parties. Populism is the focus on ‘the concerns of ordinary people’, a mixture of capitalism and nationalism. Support for populist ideals has increased along with the impact of the refugee crisis. Right-wing parties can now say that “immigrants will steal your jobs!” and people will believe them because of the situation at hand. Suddenly countries are becoming insular and xenophobic because of perceived fear. Right-wing parties hold their beliefs in individualism and the right to an opinion, whereas left-wing parties are built on solidarity and trust in the state. Naturally, left-wing parties struggle to promote globalisation in such a panicked environment.
Perception is reality. If people think there’s a problem, then they will react as such, and this is the basis of scare tactics and propaganda. A party creates the idea that something is wrong, then bases their policies around fixing that problem. Other parties don’t have policies because the problem doesn’t exist. Why would you fight something that isn’t there? All people see is that there’s one party who’s ‘fixing the problem’ and therefore they must be the better option. It’s manipulative and it’s subtle, but it’s there.
Everything is based around fear and insecurity; that’s how you influence a population. You spread rumours, you create paranoia, you burn certain ideas and worries into people. This can be seen in the Far Right’s perversion of logic in their stance against correct pronoun usage for trans people. One would think that it’s just the right thing to do however it’s been labelled as being politically correct and a slippery slope to censorship. One of the major points of contention in the US is about free speech and the Far Right has taken control of this issue by suggesting that leftists are attacking people’s right to an opinion. If you classify offensive material as an opinion, then the argument carries weight, but that’s not how it’s supposed to work. By trying to be inclusive and use safe language, we’re not attacking rights, we’re protecting them.
This is real. This is now. Parties that have previously been associated with Nazism are gaining support across Europe, Donald Trump is in power, France saw hints of a Far Right leadership and we’re losing critical interconnection between countries. Young people need to slow this ongoing rise of the Far Right, by arguing with logic, fairness and compassion; that’s what the left is about.
Credit to Val Farquhar