"The Trend to Extreme Right in Europe and the USA is Explained by the Fact that the Left and

[pampango]

Progressives are Failing

http://www.opednews.com/articles/The-Trend-to-Extreme-Right-by-Kevin-Anthony-Stod-101020-522.html

""Do you know, the horrible paradox is that, apart from some small leftist fringe parties, the only serious political force in Europe today which still is ready to appeal to the ordinary working people are the right-wing anti-immigrants? So you see, we, the leftists, we have no right, absolutely no right, to take this arrogant view of offended tolerant people who are horrored--no, we should ask the question, how we enabled what is going on." "

"This should worry us, not this arrogant--which always has a negative class connotation. When people attack common people's racism, it's always like we upper-middle-class liberals dismissing ordinary people. We should start asking ourselves what we did wrong.""

""I was sitting in a hotel room, jumping between two channels on TV. One was Fox News--you must know the enemy to fight it. The other one was PBS. On Fox News, it was a live transmission of a tea party in Texas where a singer, kind of a fake folk singer, was singing anti-Washington, anti-state-expenditure song. On PBS, there was a documentary on the great leftist icon Pete Seeger. I was shocked at how the words, although the political meanings of it, were almost the same. Both were singing about we small, ordinary people are exploited; big bad guys, bankers in Washington, and so on, Wall Street, and so on. This is the tragedy. ... when this grassroots movement and so on were more taken over by the right, like, no, the time of left, leftist, radical mass mobilization has passed now."

""We should ask more fundamental questions. . . . To cut a long story short, . . . one big left-of-center party, one big right-of-center party--they are the only two parties which address the entire population--and then small fringe parties. Now, more and more in Europe , another polarity is emerging: a big liberal capitalist party, which can even be in social matters like abortion, women's rights, relatively progressive--pure, let's call it, capitalist party--and the only serious opposition is the immigrant--anti-immigrant nationalists. It's something horrible that has happened. The anti-immigrants are establishing themselves as the only authentic--of course, they are not authentic politically, but in the sense of really experienced as authentic--voice of protest. If you want to protest, the only way to do it effectively in Europe is this. So, I think it's a matter of life and death for a slightly more radical left to emerge."
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Interesting how the far-right, anti-immigration conservatives of Europe can be viewed as an "authentic" grassroots movement (in much the same way that the tea party is viewed by some as an "authentic" grassroots movement) in opposition to the "big liberal capitalist parties in Europe and the US. The author here laments that this "authentic grassroots movement" has been controlled by the right instead of emerging out of leftist activism.

[OHdem10]

1. Not being meanspirited but if we are honest, the DLC, Third Way(UK))

deliberately chose to appeal to the same voters as GOP
actually ignoring the working class.

It was this past election that the focus even began on
the working class.(Democratic Party).

Let us examine our consciences here at DU. How many
posts do we see--"ignorant" "dumb" "stupid".

Third, think how hard some of our candidates struggle
to try to appear in touch with middle class.

Finally, everytime we get a Democrat who is authentic
what does the party do to him??? Howard Dean??? Grayson??
to name two????

I tend to be very direct. I am not being mean-spirited.
I am really just asking us to take a look at ourselves.
When Obama emphasized empathy, he was asking us to put
ourselves in the other person's place and walk a mile
in their shoes.

[bullwinkle428]

2. What disingenuous bullshit on the part of the writer. This "hugh right-wing

trend" in Europe COMPLETELY revolves around anti-immigration sentiment!

It has nothing to do with any kind of economic policies even remotely resembling what American wingnut politicians are salivating over.

[billlll]

3. Racism is GOPs strength

We need to blunt that issue.
Ideas?

-end job compeTition fear...Jobs for All

Site with r Reich, 2 nobel laureates

www.njfac.org

-Guarantee house values

[pampango]

4. The right-wingers certainly ride anti-immigration sentiment for all its worth. I think the author

meant that the dissatisfaction of the common people is being tapped into effectively by the right wing which they then use to pursue their own long-existing political goals like being against immigration.

His point is, I think, that if the left more effectively represented the people's dissatisfaction with the "great liberal globalist capitalist party", the "grass roots" opposition wouldn't fall to right wingers who have goals we don't believe in.