The far right spreads its wings over Europe

[Melech 9,900]

 

 

Europe’s already rampant right-wing, anti-immigration political parties have been swift to seize on the jihadist attacks in France as ammunition for their cause.

In Holland, Geert Wilders, head of the Party for Freedom  currently leading public opinion polls  said Europe is “at war†with the Muslim world. He called for the closing of borders to immigration and the “de-Islamization†of the Netherlands.

In France itself, Marine Le Pen, head of the National Front party and still leading early poll projections for the 2017 presidential elections, called for an end to what she called the “hypocrisy†of government’s refusal to condemn Islamic fundamentalism.

In Britain, the leader of the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP), Nigel Farage, blamed the Paris attacks on multiculturalism and said Muslim immigration has spawned cells of “fifth columnists … We’ve got people living in these countries, holding our passports, who hate us.â€

As xenophobia grips many in Britain, Farage’s UKIP is expected to make significant gains in national elections in May. UKIP and Le Pen’s National Front (NF) were among four European right-wing parties that topped the polls in European Parliament elections in mid-2014. Le Pen’s NF and Wilders’ Dutch Party of Freedom have even made a formal alliance, which they hope will become a pan-European coalition of right-wing parties.

It’s a realistic aim. Right-wing parties with anti-immigrant and anti-Islamist leanings are on the rise across Europe, notably in Italy  a prime destination for refugees from Africa and the Middle East  Spain and even traditional havens of left-wing liberalism like Sweden and Denmark.

The rise of right-wing, anti-Muslim, anti-immigration sentiments is, predictably, most wrenching in Germany where guilt over the Holocaust has become part of the national DNA. But that feeling isn’t nearly as strong in the old East Germany, where nearly half a century of post-war isolation within the Soviet Bloc insulated people from the soul-searching that consumed the country’s West.

Throughout Europe, there is a vast gulf between the actual size of the Islamic terrorist threat and its footprint in the public’s imagination. In most recent years, Islamic terrorism accounted for less than a quarter of terrorist acts in Europe, most of which tend to be driven by separatist or other political aims.

Every Monday for months now, tens of thousands of people have marched through the streets of the old city of Dresden calling for a ban on refugees and immigrants. They call themselves Pegida, an acronym for Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of the West. Pegida is an odd political phenomenon. The marchers are resolutely peaceful, mild-mannered and keep well clear of any overtly racist statements. But more pushy nationalist parties, such as Alternative for Germany and the National Democratic Party, are attempting to mine the seam of public disquiet that Pegida opened up.

Saxony, the state of which Dresden is the capital, was in East Germany before the fall of the Berlin Wall 25 years ago and is a slightly odd place for an anti-immigration movement to take hold. Less than one per cent of the state’s population is Muslim and there are few foreigners of any kind living there. But Saxony  economically, culturally and politically  is prime evidence that the re-unification of Germany is still a work in progress. It illustrates what the experience of other European countries such as Britain and France proves: Muslims and other immigrants tend to get blamed for all society’s ills.

Throughout Europe there is a wide gap between the reality of Muslim immigration andIslamic terrorist incidents  and the perceptions of the public at large. In Germany as a whole, Muslims make up six per cent of the population. Recent polls show Germans believe the proportion is 19 per cent. In France, Muslims make up eight per cent of the population; the French public puts that figure at 31 per cent. The British public thinks Muslims make up 21 per cent of the population; the true figure is five per cent. Polling shows Swedes believe their population is 17 per cent Muslim; the actual share is five per cent. The biggest gap between reality and perception is in Spain, where only two per cent of the population is Muslim  but the average Spaniard apparently thinks the figure is 16 per cent.

That gap is understandable in Spain, where 191 people were killed in al Qaida attacks on commuter trains in Madrid in 2004. But throughout Europe, there is a vast gulf between the actual size of the Islamic terrorist threat and its footprint in the public’s imagination. Since early 2011 there have been 31 killings in Europe that police attributed to Islamic terrorists, including those killed in the Charlie Hebdo attack in in Paris this week.

In most recent years, Islamic terrorism accounted for less than a quarter of terrorist acts in Europe, most of which tend to be driven by separatist or other political aims. For example, in 2011 the Norwegian far-right terrorist Anders Breivik killed 77 people in a bomb attack and shooting spree targeting young people at a socialist party summer camp.

 

 

Thoughts about that?

 

I don't agree with the far right parties. Something need to be changed about radicals, yes but the whole muslim population is not to blame in Europe 

[monsterdreams 1,529]

Jeez how deluded are some of these people

[Azor Ahai 18,861]

RIP Europe , this whole situation gives me Hitler tease...

[bionic 50,111]

It's 2015... Multiculturalism is inevitable and the right thing to do in a globalised world. The acts of few =/= the beliefs of many

[Melech 9,900]

It's 2015... Multiculturalism is inevitable and the right thing to do in a globalised world. The acts of few =/= the beliefs of many

Exactly but how are you gonna try to change the believes of thousands in europe? 

[bionic 50,111]

Exactly but how are you gonna try to change the believes of thousands in europe? 

 

Of the radicalists or the common folk?

[Qualle1 1,385]

Thoughts about that?

 

I don't agree with the far right parties. Something need to be changed about radicals, yes but the whole muslim population is not to blame in Europe

Could you please post a link to your source?

[Melech 9,900]

Could you please post a link to your source?

totally forgot 

http://www.ipolitics.ca/2015/01/09/the-far-right-spreads-its-wings-over-europe/

[Andy McQueen 4,484]

[Rome 176]

RIP Europe , this whole situation gives me Hitler tease...

[Melech 9,900]

Of the radicalists or the common folk?

both 

[teo 609]

This is really scary, I really hope most people won't fall for their blatant populism.

[Farron 257]

it scares me

[Mr Josh 3]

Better education is the key to everything

[Luc 4,776]

It always surprises me how low the muslim population actually is in Europe, it feels like >40% when I go from my own city (Schiedam) to Rotterdam by bicycle, 8 km, but then there's cities in the 'Bible Belt' and anything outside the big cities basically where there's barely any immigrants, but surprisingly the most extreme discrimination against muslims and the most extreme right-wingers.

 

It's scary how this is all happening. Luckily the media hasn't paid much attention to Le Pen and Wilders here, being muslim does not mean that you can't be a good, well-integrated citizen. Take the mayor of Rotterdam, Achmed Aboutaleb, for example. He gave an amazing speech a few days ago (mostly Dutch, partly French):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjYqrwxumbc

best part is from 1:58 to 2:20

 

But yeah, muslims have become mostly a scapegoat, it scares me. Populist, far-right wing parties becoming important in all big European economies would be disastrous. Luckily Geert Wilders will never get a government, because nobody wants to work together with him besides the Socialist party (populists) and the Liberal party. And these won't have a majority in the Parliament and/or Senate.