''Europe's fascist dawn''
Posted on Friday, May 03, 2002 @ 04:47:28 EDT ( )
By Chiedozie Chigbo
YellowTimes.org Columnist (United Kingdom)
(YellowTimes.org) – Last week, 73 year-old former French paratrooper, Jean Marie Le Pen, pulled off a stunning upset that has left the French political establishment floundering and desperately looking for answers. It was widely expected that after the first round of voting in France's presidential election, the incumbent and conservative President Jacques Chirac and the Socialist Prime Minister Lionel Jospin would get through to the next round of voting. At least that was what the opinion polls suggested. But it did not go according to the script. Lionel Jospin was forced to quit the race after being beaten into third place by the extremist leader of the National Front, Mr. Le Pen.
What started out as one of France's most boring presidential elections, which had most of the public turned off, has now become a battle for the soul and the meaning of being French. Massive anti-Le Pen demonstrations have taken place across France, as the shock and outrage at what has happened brought about and uneasy alliance of center right and left parties, hoping to prevent Le Pen from becoming president. The National Front has countered with their own rallies to drum up support for their leader, Le Pen, as he goes head to head with Chirac this weekend.
Alarmed by the election result, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and other European leaders have been queuing to warn against extremism and falling under the spell of Le Pen's National Front. They have good reason to be worried. Was the French election result a one-off, or was it a signal of something much deeper?
It is easy to dismiss the success of the far right in France as benign because of the three-way split of the left's vote between Jospin and the Trotskyists, Arlette Laguiller and Olivier Besancenot. There was also widespread apathy among French voters because of the mistrust of France's tired and corrupt ruling class. Before the election, there were growing calls for an inquiry into President Chirac's alleged misappropriation of government funds for political gain.
Growing crime and the fear of terrorism has also left people feeling very insecure, and the political establishment has so far failed to reassure them of a better future. The anti-immigration National Front has cashed in on the situation, offering simple solutions which people find attractive. This is a picture that is not restricted to just France. It seems that there is a resurgence of the far right in Europe as a credible alternative to what many now see as a tired, and in some cases, corrupt political ruling class.
From London to Berlin to Rome, the left of center governments that dominated the political landscape four years ago are falling like dominoes. And the far right parties appear to be making the most of the changing situation.
In Italy the Northern League led by Umberto Bossi, and Jörg Haider's Freedom Party in Austria, have made political capital of rising crime and played on people's concerns about immigration and asylum seekers in those countries. What is worrying is that both extremist parties have now achieved political respectability by forming coalition governments with mainstream conservative parties in Italy and Austria.
In Holland, the far right anti-immigration Livable Netherlands party has taken control of the municipal government in Rotterdam, Holland's second largest city. Opinion polls suggest that the party has about 17 percent support in Holland and will do well at the upcoming national elections. Livable Netherlands' maverick leader Pim Fortuyn enjoys celebrity status in Holland; he is hardly out of the news, and his book, a collection of political statements, is a Dutch bestseller.
What seems remarkable about Livable Netherlands is that it has black candidates contesting some of the elections, along with wide support among black voters. The law and order spokesperson for the party, Rabella de Faria, a black businesswoman, attributed 99% of crime in Rotterdam to immigrants who are mainly of Turkish and Moroccan background. She accused immigrants from Islamic countries of not wanting to integrate, saying that it was unacceptable that some people could still not speak Dutch after living in the country for so many years.
Here in the United Kingdom the British National Party (BNP) believes that it can make inroads into British politics for the first time in its 20 year history. The party, which has had very little electoral success over the years, expects to make major gains at local government elections that take place in the UK this weekend.
Nick Griffin, the leader of the BNP wants to tap into the distrust and resentment felt by many white people in some northern cities like Oldham, following the race riots that affected several northern cities and towns last year. The BNP has been buoyed by the success of the National Front in the French presidential election and believe that other issues like the ongoing war on terror and skepticism about Britain's involvement in the European Union (EU) would improve the party's fortunes at the polls.
The European Union is a divisive issue in Britain where many people resent what they see as constant meddling by the EU, and the erosion of national sovereignty. In a recent poll, more than a fifth of British people said they would vote for a strongly nationalist party that adopted tough anti-immigration policies, and reviewed the UK's membership of the EU.
The BNP is fielding 68 candidates, and it is targeting areas such as Tipton in the Midlands of England, the home of the so-called "Tipton Taliban." This small and quiet town produced a significant number of British Asians held in Camp X-Ray, at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Europe's history has shown that during times of great uncertainty and crises we Europeans tend to turn to what we believe is strong leadership. Unfortunately that strong leadership has not always proved to be responsible leadership. In spite of our belief in our intellectual superiority over others, it seems we are easily taken in by the offer of simple solutions to very complex problems. Immigration and racial scapegoating continue to be political weapons at elections - employed not just by far right parties but also by mainstream parties. This will continue until mainstream politicians in Europe are prepared to take a bold and pragmatic view on immigration.
Chiedozie Chigbo encourages your comments: cchigbo@YellowTimes.org
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