Forces are coalescing in Germany for the emergence of a new pseudo-populist right-wing party based

[pampango]

on nationalism, the defence of the interests of the ruling elite, and an uncompromising onslaught on the past social gains of the working class.

In a number of other European countries, including Italy, Austria, Denmark, Holland and Hungary, ultra-right and racist political formations are already either in government or playing a leading role in determining policy. In France, President Sarkozy has sought to steal the colours of the neo-fascist National Front with campaigns against the country’s Muslim and Sinti and Roma communities.

In every case, the rise to prominence of the extreme right is closely linked to the offensive launched by the ruling elite against the living conditions of European workers and the welfare state system.

The encouragement of right-wing populism is aimed at dividing workers along nationalist lines and creating the best conditions for this offensive. This is also the source of the chauvinist campaigns by many European governments against the most oppressed social layers.

http://axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/Article_61817.shtml

The ol' "divide and conquer" strategy using nationalism (to promote an "us vs them" mentality based on nationality rather than class) - the European right's new "uncompromising onslaught on the past social gains of the working class".

[baldguy]

1. How do you say "Tea Party" in German?

[SpiralHawk]

5. That would be "Teegesellschaft" (R)

aka SuckerPuppets (Schweischraube) (R)

[NuclearDem]

10. Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei

[eShirl]

2. having a deja vu moment here

[T Wolf]

3. It will be interesting to see how far this goes - there AND here. Europe is ahead of the US

in many things, including the timeline for political change.

If we want to see what our future will be like, look to the east.

I only hope for them that their "right" is as wimpy as the "left" in the US. But, given the history of both their right and left, they are in for rocky times.

But, only by going through those rocky times is there any chance for real progress. Here in decadent, lazy Amerika, it will be a long time before we get to that point.

[Democracyinkind]

4. Put Switzerland and ALL of eastern Europe on that list too, EU or not.

While I'm not convinced that this is a concerted effort by the "ruling class" of Europe, it is nonetheless true: European Politics has taken a huge step to the right in the last decade. Today you have people and parties that were considered way to fringy to ever succeed in the 90's sitting in government positions.

The way I see it, this is just the Americanization of European politics: The fusion of Europe as a place of many political discourses into a place where there is only one all-encompassing discourse (the european one) has led to a polarization of politics and a race to the bottom for the lowest common denominator, which is - in Europe just as everywhere else - "the others", be it the other race, other belief, other religion or whatever (god forbid all in one)....

This has brought forward rhetoric and memes (f.e. the whole "Race" and "Religion" debates)that were long considered taboo in certain European countries and were deliberately left out of the political debate. With the ongoing consolidation of the EU such taboo-themes have started to trickle into the discourse of all countries and there's no way of getting rid of them anymore.

Anyways, I'm clueless. While Europe is so different from the US, it is really just the same, and it is getting more so with every day. The rise of the EU-right wing forces is, I guess, just something I'll have to learn to live and deal with.

I certainly miss the "good old times" where you couldn't hang up posters of "black sheep" without incurring the wrath of the people. But things change - take away the illusion of ever-expanding economic growth and nobody will be bothered by "black sheep" posters anymore, in fact, they'll silently endorse such messages at the polls.

Oh... ANd BTW... Who knows how "nationalist" these movements really will be. The way I perceive it, the Right in Europe is trying to go pan-national by creating a European-wide narrative of a supposedly "white culture", very much like the fascist "heartland" BS that Beck peddles. Just without the Nationalist overtones... IMHO this is trying to create a political constituency in Europe that equals the Repug-followers in the US by appealing to an invented "cultural and moral majority" and pitting them against the "others" in a false dichotomy. That's just a hunch but it becomes apparent when you see that the Nazi-RW ideology in Germany is losing most of its Anti-Slav rhetoric and replacing it with anti-muslim BS... It used to be the other way around; and there was way more nationalist rhetoric involved back then... But again.. That's just a theory.

Yes within a couple of years the old European right will have reinvented itself along the lines of faux-populism like the RW has. No doubt about it.

[Donald Ian Rankin]

6. What's pseudo about their populism?

They represent the views of a large number of people - probably rather more than agree with the views of self-proclaimed populist left-wing movements in the US, sadly.

[baldguy]

7. No, they've conned a large number of people into believing that.

In actuality, they represent the views of the owners of a very few extremely large multinational corporations - which are diametrically opposed to any populist or nationalist agenda.

[Donald Ian Rankin]

8. I do not think either half of that holds water.

It is xenophobia among the electorate that gives rise to xenophobic political movements, far more than vice versa, and the people who come to power heading them are usually neither bright nor subtle enough to be described as conning their voters.

And "large multinational corporations" are generally all in favour of migration - it makes it easier for them to hire the people they want, where they want, and often for lower wages.

This movement is far more genuinely populist than most left-wing movements, sadly.

[Democracyinkind]

9. ...

...

"This movement is far more genuinely populist than most left-wing movements, sadly."

This is not necessarily true. If you look at the rise of xenophobic European policies in the last 10 years, you will see that a majority of them was launched by initiative. Now you can look at initiatives and petitions as something genuinely populist but I don't think that that is the case necessarily.

Take Switzerland, for example: The "black sheep" campaigns may have been rewarded with high numbers at the polls, but the impetus for it did not come from "the people". If it were not for the die-hard determination of some Swiss RW fat cats, who were willing to drown a considerable amount of their money into these campaigns, they never would have succeeded. Even in a small country like Switzerland (8 Million inhabitants) the cost of launching an initiative is prohibitive (upward from 1 million swiss francs per campaign). Generally, left-wing movements do not have the financial resources to push initiatives long enough for them to come to a vote, because that would mean a campaign costing millions. On the other hand you have millionaires who are so xenophobic that they pledge some of their millions to such initiatives, they don't care if the proposed content is so devoid of meaning that it will take years to bring it to the ballot, the have the determination to pay for it. Add to that the services such campaign receive from foreign xenophobes pro bono and the successes of these campaigns look more like intricate political conspiracies than bona-fide populist movements.

Once such initiatives are on the ballot, a majority will vote for it because bashing, blaming and penalizing "the others" is always a popular measure in bigoted countries. Populism my ass.

On election days, such measures seem like populist outbursts, on all other days, it's apparent that their not the result of grassroots populism but of carefully crafted astro-turfing. No one would work for these initiatives freely, but everyone says yes to them at the ballots. It's questionable how populist that is.