7 replies to this topic

[Wizard]

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/europe/0....html?hpt=hp_c1

Does anyone else agree with this? I consider myself to the right, but come no where close to believing that anyone in Europe is suffering as a result of multiculturism?

[Alias]

Well, considering this is CNN, I'm assuming the author is American, and therefore far right for an American is pretty extreme on the European scale. BNP/Geert Wilders and beyond, not so much the Conservative party.

The mainstream right wing parties of Europe/Australia are further left than the left wing party of America.

Edited by Alias, 25 July 2011 - 14:50.

[Wizard]

Indeed, but the BNP have, in recent memory clawed their way into several European seats, ironically. Mostly in areas that have seen extreme amounts of immigration though. Whilst I can't believe that there is a "revival" going on. I can at least understand that there is a nominal increase in those agreeing with some of their policies. I just want to know if there are people on the forum who have heard of friends/colleagues who believe this way.

[Chyros]

 Alias, on 25 Jul 2011, 16:50, said:

Well, considering this is CNN, I'm assuming the author is American, and therefore far right for an American is pretty extreme on the European scale. BNP/Geert Wilders and beyond, not so much the Conservative party.

Lol, the average American is far more right-wing than anything even Geert Wilders would dare come up with, and I am definitely not a Wilders supporter.

I'll have a look through that site when I get back from buying groceries.

[Ion Cannon!]

The rise of the BNP in some areas is due to a low level of general education. People will soak up what the BNP or others say as fact, and won't even bother to question it. As far as some of them are concerned the immigrants "stole their jobs" they want to blame someone for the mess the country is in right now and are ignorant to the fact the cause stems from our country not something else. Traditionally rightwing parties do gain a boost in times of hardship.

I had one friend who supported UKIP, but nobody more rightwing than that, most of my friends are lefties. I consider myself left, but I have a wierd mix, doing that political quiz I was an authoritatian libertarian.

[Chyros]

Now that I've had time to read the article, I can see what they mean, but they are leaving it deliberately vague - they don't really define what "far right" is and in any case it can only refer to far right by European standards because otherwise it wouldn't make any sense. But really it's not as if there is a resurgence of them, at least not in the Netherlands. There have always been parties with far-right opinions here. The only time they actually had a substantial say was right after the murder of Pim Fortuyn which knocked up so much anger that a vast amount of people voted on his party.

I can't speak for other countries but for the NL this wouldn't have been news 50 years ago.

[CJ]

I can say that the Front National, which is basically a bunch of racists in France who made a party, has reached 40% in the opinion polls, and is getting more and more important. Considering that back in 2002, they got flattened by Jaques Chirac in the elections (his score was of 82% against 18% for the FN), I'd say that yes, this is a revival of the right side, at least in France.

It is very understandable, though when you look at the kind of morons that end up in France illegally... I mean, most of the immigrates don't even bother adapting to the country they're in, and want instead to force the French to adopt their culture...

[Ixonoclast]

Whereas the rightwing in the USA is mostly populated by economic conservatives and religious conservatives, in the Netherlands, the rightwing is usually populated by economic liberals, but lately with Pim Fortuyn, Geert Wilders and Rita Verdonk, the ringtwing is also features... well... people that would vote for anything.

That's all there is to it. People that vote for anything that's radical.

I don't recall exactly which party it was, but one rightwing party here in the Netherlands got some bad coverage in the news, and in the elections, the SP skyrocketed. And the SP is basically as socialistic as it can get in the Netherlands. The people that were planning on voting for a pretty far-rightwing party opted to vote for a very leftwing party instead. The people that vote for Wilders don't vote because they believe in rightwing politics. They just want government money/jobs, and muslims/blacks/foreigners out of the Netherlands.
And they can't seem to understand, or don't want to understand the plans of either of the normal parties, whether they are rightwing or leftwing.

Needless to say, I have zero, absolutely zero respect for the populistic rightwing.

A nice example of how much Geert Wilders supporters actually know about Geert Wilders' political program was when I was sitting down in a coffeeshop, and saw a man explain to some guys who were talking about voting for Wilders, that Wilders is in favour for banning coffeeshops. They honestly didn't know. They simply voted for him because Wilders is against the Islam.

Edited by Ixonoclast, 25 July 2011 - 17:20.