As if the economic ramifications of a full-blown Greek default were not terrifying enough, the political consequences could be far worse. A chaotic eurozone breakup would cause irreparable damage to the European integration project, the central pillar of Europe’s political stability since World War II. It would destabilize not only the highly indebted European periphery, but also core countries such as France and Germany, which have both been the architects of that project.
The nightmare scenario would also be a 1930s-style victory for political extremism. Fascism, Nazism and communism were children of a backlash against globalization that had been building since the end of the 19th century, feeding on the anxieties of groups that felt disenfranchised and threatened by expanding market forces and cosmopolitan elites.
Free trade and the gold standard had required downplaying domestic priorities such as social reform, nation-building, and cultural reassertion. Economic crisis and the failure of international cooperation undermined not only globalization, but also the elites that upheld the existing order.
As my Harvard colleague Jeff Frieden has written, this paved the path for two distinct forms of extremism. Faced with the choice between equity and economic integration, communists chose radical social reform and economic self-sufficiency. Faced with the choice between national assertion and globalism, fascists, Nazis and nationalists chose nation-building.
Fortunately, fascism, communism and other forms of autocratic ideologies are passé today. But similar tensions between economic integration and local politics have long been simmering. Europe’s single market has taken shape much faster than Europe’s political community has; economic integration has leaped ahead of political integration.
The result is that mounting concerns about the erosion of economic security, social stability and cultural identity could not be handled through mainstream political channels. National political structures became too constrained to offer effective remedies, while European institutions still remain too weak to command allegiance.
It is the extreme right that has benefited most from the centrists’ failure. In Finland, the heretofore unknown True Finn party capitalized on the resentment around eurozone bailouts to finish a close third in April’s general election. In the Netherlands, Geert Wilders’ Party for Freedom wields enough power to play kingmaker; without its support, the minority liberal government would likely collapse. In France, the National Front, which finished second in the 2002 presidential election, has been revitalized under Marine Le Pen.
Nor is the backlash confined to eurozone members. Elsewhere in Scandinavia, the Sweden Democrats, a party with neo-Nazi roots, entered parliament last year with nearly 6 percent of the popular vote. In Britain, one recent poll indicated that as many as two-thirds of Conservatives want Britain to leave the European Union.
Political movements of the extreme right have traditionally fed on anti-immigration sentiment. But the Greek, Irish, Portuguese and other bailouts, together with the euro’s troubles, have given them fresh ammunition. Their Euro-skepticism certainly appears to be vindicated by events. When Marine Le Pen was recently asked if she would unilaterally withdraw from the euro, she replied confidently, “When I am president, in a few months’ time, the eurozone probably won’t exist.”
As in the 1930s, the failure of international cooperation has compounded centrist politicians’ inability to respond adequately to their domestic constituents’ economic, social, and cultural demands. The European project and the eurozone have set the terms of debate to such an extent that, with the eurozone in tatters, these elites’ legitimacy will receive an even more serious blow than it already has.
Europe’s centrist politicians have committed themselves to a strategy of “more Europe” that is too rapid to ease local anxieties, yet not rapid enough to create a real Europe-wide political community. They have stuck for far too long to an intermediate path that is unstable and beset by tensions. By holding on to a vision of Europe that has proven unviable, Europe’s centrist elites are endangering the idea of a unified Europe itself.
Economically, the least bad option is to ensure that the inevitable defaults and departures from the eurozone are carried out in as orderly and coordinated a fashion as possible. Politically, too, a similar reality check is needed. What the current crisis demands is an explicit reorientation away from external financial obligations and austerity to domestic preoccupations and aspirations. Just as healthy domestic economies are the best guarantor of an open world economy, healthy domestic polities are the best guarantor of a stable international order.
The challenge is to develop a new political narrative emphasizing national interests and values without overtones of nativism and xenophobia. If centrist elites do not prove themselves up to the task, those of the far right will gladly fill the vacuum, minus the moderation.
That is why outgoing Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou had the right idea with his aborted call for a referendum. That move was a belated attempt to recognize the primacy of domestic politics, even if investors viewed it, in the words of a Financial Times editor, as “playing with fire.” Scrapping the referendum simply postpones the day of reckoning and raises the ultimate costs to be paid by Greece’s new leadership.
Today, the question is no longer whether politics will become more populist and less internationalist; it is whether the consequences of that shift can be managed without turning ugly. In Europe’s politics, as in its economics, it seems there are no good options – only less bad ones.
Dani Rodrik, Professor of International Political Economy at Harvard University, is the author of “The Globalization Paradox: Democracy and the Future of the World Economy.” THE DAILY STAR publishes this commentary in collaboration with Project Syndicate © (www.project-syndicate.org).
(Lebanon) Daily Star
Showing posts with label Europe. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Europe. Show all posts
November 16, 2011
November 07, 2011
David Miliband warns against complacency over rightwing extremism
Former foreign secretary praises Demos report into rise of far right in Europe
David Miliband has joined those warning about the rise of a new wave of far-right nationalist parties across Europe, saying that it is important to keep track of their ascent.
In a rare foray into international politics since his defeat for the Labour party leadership 14 months ago, the former foreign secretary praised a report by the thinktank Demos which revealed a mass of mainly young, male Facebook-based supporters of such groups, who often held vehemently antagonistic views about immigrants and, in particular, Muslims.
"This report is an important antidote to any complacency about rightwing extremism," Miliband told the Guardian. "It shows that discontent with globalisation can fuel the politics of the right as well as the left. The Occupy protests have captured media attention but away from the public eye the hard right is also organising. The only way to defend the gains of globalisation is to understand its most dangerous critics, and this report helps us to do so."
The rise of such parties, which now hold significant parliamentary blocs in well over half a dozen western European countries, from Italy to the Netherlands to Scandinavia, has a particularly personal element for Miliband, whose Jewish immigrant parents fled Nazi Europe.
The Demos report sampled the views of more than 10,000 people who support such parties and street movements on Facebook pages, which for the 24 groups had a combined total of almost 450,000 mainly young fans. The breadth of such hard-right views means they are in danger of "becoming mainstream", warned Emine Bozkurt, a Dutch MEP of Turkish descent who heads the European parliament's anti-racism forum.
She said: "In some countries, for example the Netherlands, it even becomes the majority because mainstream right or centre-right parties are adopting the rhetoric of nationalist-populist parties in an attempt to attract their voters."
Observer
David Miliband has joined those warning about the rise of a new wave of far-right nationalist parties across Europe, saying that it is important to keep track of their ascent.
In a rare foray into international politics since his defeat for the Labour party leadership 14 months ago, the former foreign secretary praised a report by the thinktank Demos which revealed a mass of mainly young, male Facebook-based supporters of such groups, who often held vehemently antagonistic views about immigrants and, in particular, Muslims.
"This report is an important antidote to any complacency about rightwing extremism," Miliband told the Guardian. "It shows that discontent with globalisation can fuel the politics of the right as well as the left. The Occupy protests have captured media attention but away from the public eye the hard right is also organising. The only way to defend the gains of globalisation is to understand its most dangerous critics, and this report helps us to do so."
The rise of such parties, which now hold significant parliamentary blocs in well over half a dozen western European countries, from Italy to the Netherlands to Scandinavia, has a particularly personal element for Miliband, whose Jewish immigrant parents fled Nazi Europe.
The Demos report sampled the views of more than 10,000 people who support such parties and street movements on Facebook pages, which for the 24 groups had a combined total of almost 450,000 mainly young fans. The breadth of such hard-right views means they are in danger of "becoming mainstream", warned Emine Bozkurt, a Dutch MEP of Turkish descent who heads the European parliament's anti-racism forum.
She said: "In some countries, for example the Netherlands, it even becomes the majority because mainstream right or centre-right parties are adopting the rhetoric of nationalist-populist parties in an attempt to attract their voters."
Observer
Labels:
anti-immigrant,
anti-Muslim,
Europe,
Facebook,
far-right,
hard-right,
nationalist
March 02, 2009
Recession swings politics right
The threat of political nationalism as a result of the economic crisis
Last month The Economist warned that the world recession was leading to a new wave of economic nationalism. It claimed that countries were rejecting global solutions and free trade, and turning inwards, trying to protect their own financial systems, markets and jobs. The USA had initially inserted a “Buy America” clause into its stimulus package, the French and British governments were trying to force banks to lend to the home markets, which in turn would result in the repatriation of cash, and the Chinese were accused of manipulating their currency for their own economic interests.
The article warned that the mistakes of the 1930s could potentially be made again. “Economic nationalism – the urge to keep jobs and capital at home – is both turning the economic crisis into a political one and threatening the world with depression,” the magazine noted.
“If it is not buried again forthwith, the consequences will be dire.”
But political nationalism is already emerging as a consequence of our economic downturn. Thousands of people, backed by the majority of the public and large swathes of the national press, backed construction workers in the power industry who protested against foreign labour.
The dispute flared up in response to the use of foreign labour on construction projects at oil refineries and power stations. What began at Lindsay Oil Refinery soon spread to almost 20 other plants where similar issues had emerged.
The unions were quick to distance themselves from a nationalist approach. “We are not against Italian or Spanish workers working over here but we just want a level playing field,” said Dave Smeeton, a Unite branch secretary at Staythorpe power station. “We actually want to work alongside them, just as we work in Spain and Italy. But we are not being given the chance.”
Dave was one of 50 people who had gathered outside the power station last month in protest at the use of exclusively foreign labour on a new power station being built.
For Dave and others at the protest this is a problem that has been brewing for some time. They say European workers have been here for a while, often on worse pay and conditions, but this changed over time as they interacted with unionised British workers. They say that the decision to refuse to employ any British workers can only be because hiring from abroad is cheaper (i.e. they are cutting corners on pay and conditions) and/or so they can’t interact with British workers who might be able to unionise them.
With many workers using Gordon Brown’s slogan of British jobs for British workers against him, the BNP saw an opportunity. It quickly produced downloadable leaflets, a Wildcats website and short online videos explaining how this was the consequence of membership of the EU, mass immigration and a Labour government that no longer cared about the white working class.
There was little sign however that the BNP made any impact amongst the protesters. At Lindsay Oil Refinery BNP members from Wakefield tried to leaflet the pickets but were quickly told they were not welcome. There was a similar hostile reaction to the BNP at Staythorpe.
While the BNP appears to have made little headway in winning support from union activists it is bound to be more successful among the wider population. Recent council by-elections have shown a surge in support for the BNP, helped in no small part by a daily diet of incendiary headlines from the Daily Mail, Daily Express and Daily Star.
The BNP won a council by-election in Swanley well ahead of the other candidates and it is now predicting successes in the European election.
European unrest
Britain is not alone in experiencing unrest. In France, more than one million people marched for jobs and wages, while 350,000 marched in Dublin. Riot police were used in Greece to quell protests by farmers demanding more assistance, and in Bulgaria windows were smashed and shops attacked after demonstrations calling for economic and social reform. Latvian farmers blocked roads in the capital and laid siege to the Agricultural Ministry, while in Lithuania 80 people were arrested and 20 injured after protesters pelted the parliament building in anger over spending cuts. In Russia there have been demonstrations in almost every city against the government’s handling of the economic crisis.
And the situation is only likely to get worse as the recession deepens and economic insecurity grows. This will play out differently in each country but nationalism is likely to be a major winner.
Britain has escaped the rise in the far right that has been experienced by many other western European countries over the past decade, but this could well change this summer. The BNP poses a serious threat in three regions in the European election and a more moderate threat in a further three. The nationalist tone under which the elections will be contested, again fuelled by Eurosceptic media, will benefit the BNP.
In countries such as France the leftwing parties will attract a substantial proportion of the disgruntled working-class vote, but in Britain, without such an option, the BNP could benefit by positioning itself to the left of Labour on some issues and to the right of the Conservatives on others.
“The BNP has been steadily growing over the last few years during a period of benign economic conditions,” Jon Cruddas MP noted recently. “Now the economy is going into recession we are really going to face some problems.”
The question is how we respond to these threats. Part of the answer will be to challenge the nationalist responses to the recession, particularly exploding the myth of the British jobs for British workers approach. The slogan might be a catchy sound bite but it is no political solution. Over 300 of the largest 800 companies in the UK are foreign owned and hundreds of thousands of other UK jobs are reliant on foreign contracts.
If the BNP and the rightwing media support a British jobs for British workers approach then they must logically support a US jobs for US workers line, even if that means companies such as Rolls Royce and British Aerospace lose contracts to US firms.
It is also vital that we stand up for the rights of migrant workers and prevent one group being pitted against another. What is needed is to improve workers’ rights and conditions throughout Europe, including full rights for temporary and agency workers and paying the right rate for the job in the country where the work is undertaken. By doing this we can reduce the exploitation of vulnerable migrant workers, reduce the likelihood of unscrupulous employers using foreign workers to undercut their UK counterparts and so hopefully reduce the friction between groups of workers.
We must also stand in defence of immigration, particularly at a time when immigrants are under such attack. Just as we should remember the contribution foreign-born workers have made to the UK economy we should also think about the 5.5 million Britons who work and live abroad.
Can you imagine the nationalist outrage from the BNP and rightwing press if hundreds of thousands of British migrant workers working across Europe or in the Middle East were ordered out?
It is this sort of hypocrisy that needs to be exposed.
The BNP also needs to be taken on politically, not just morally. Over recent weeks Searchlight has been approached by representatives of all three major political parties wanting to know our assessment of the BNP threat and how they can get involved in the campaign against them. Our answer to them all has been simple. Bland and empty rhetoric about BNP extremism is at best ineffectual and at worst counter-productive. A political party needs to say more than don’t vote BNP because they racist – it needs to offer a political reason why people should vote for it rather than the BNP.
Simply moralising, particularly at a time of such economic problems, will be seen as political bankruptcy.
Over the next year we are likely to see growing social unrest. Unless the political parties, the trade unions and anti-fascists develop a more combative approach to dealing with the BNP – based on issues – then we are going to face a really difficult time. The Economist warned of a return to the failed protectionist remedies of the 1930s. We should equally be very wary of a retreat into political nationalism.
Searchlight
Last month The Economist warned that the world recession was leading to a new wave of economic nationalism. It claimed that countries were rejecting global solutions and free trade, and turning inwards, trying to protect their own financial systems, markets and jobs. The USA had initially inserted a “Buy America” clause into its stimulus package, the French and British governments were trying to force banks to lend to the home markets, which in turn would result in the repatriation of cash, and the Chinese were accused of manipulating their currency for their own economic interests.
The article warned that the mistakes of the 1930s could potentially be made again. “Economic nationalism – the urge to keep jobs and capital at home – is both turning the economic crisis into a political one and threatening the world with depression,” the magazine noted.
“If it is not buried again forthwith, the consequences will be dire.”
But political nationalism is already emerging as a consequence of our economic downturn. Thousands of people, backed by the majority of the public and large swathes of the national press, backed construction workers in the power industry who protested against foreign labour.
The dispute flared up in response to the use of foreign labour on construction projects at oil refineries and power stations. What began at Lindsay Oil Refinery soon spread to almost 20 other plants where similar issues had emerged.
The unions were quick to distance themselves from a nationalist approach. “We are not against Italian or Spanish workers working over here but we just want a level playing field,” said Dave Smeeton, a Unite branch secretary at Staythorpe power station. “We actually want to work alongside them, just as we work in Spain and Italy. But we are not being given the chance.”
Dave was one of 50 people who had gathered outside the power station last month in protest at the use of exclusively foreign labour on a new power station being built.
For Dave and others at the protest this is a problem that has been brewing for some time. They say European workers have been here for a while, often on worse pay and conditions, but this changed over time as they interacted with unionised British workers. They say that the decision to refuse to employ any British workers can only be because hiring from abroad is cheaper (i.e. they are cutting corners on pay and conditions) and/or so they can’t interact with British workers who might be able to unionise them.
With many workers using Gordon Brown’s slogan of British jobs for British workers against him, the BNP saw an opportunity. It quickly produced downloadable leaflets, a Wildcats website and short online videos explaining how this was the consequence of membership of the EU, mass immigration and a Labour government that no longer cared about the white working class.
There was little sign however that the BNP made any impact amongst the protesters. At Lindsay Oil Refinery BNP members from Wakefield tried to leaflet the pickets but were quickly told they were not welcome. There was a similar hostile reaction to the BNP at Staythorpe.
While the BNP appears to have made little headway in winning support from union activists it is bound to be more successful among the wider population. Recent council by-elections have shown a surge in support for the BNP, helped in no small part by a daily diet of incendiary headlines from the Daily Mail, Daily Express and Daily Star.
The BNP won a council by-election in Swanley well ahead of the other candidates and it is now predicting successes in the European election.
European unrest
Britain is not alone in experiencing unrest. In France, more than one million people marched for jobs and wages, while 350,000 marched in Dublin. Riot police were used in Greece to quell protests by farmers demanding more assistance, and in Bulgaria windows were smashed and shops attacked after demonstrations calling for economic and social reform. Latvian farmers blocked roads in the capital and laid siege to the Agricultural Ministry, while in Lithuania 80 people were arrested and 20 injured after protesters pelted the parliament building in anger over spending cuts. In Russia there have been demonstrations in almost every city against the government’s handling of the economic crisis.
And the situation is only likely to get worse as the recession deepens and economic insecurity grows. This will play out differently in each country but nationalism is likely to be a major winner.
Britain has escaped the rise in the far right that has been experienced by many other western European countries over the past decade, but this could well change this summer. The BNP poses a serious threat in three regions in the European election and a more moderate threat in a further three. The nationalist tone under which the elections will be contested, again fuelled by Eurosceptic media, will benefit the BNP.
In countries such as France the leftwing parties will attract a substantial proportion of the disgruntled working-class vote, but in Britain, without such an option, the BNP could benefit by positioning itself to the left of Labour on some issues and to the right of the Conservatives on others.
“The BNP has been steadily growing over the last few years during a period of benign economic conditions,” Jon Cruddas MP noted recently. “Now the economy is going into recession we are really going to face some problems.”
The question is how we respond to these threats. Part of the answer will be to challenge the nationalist responses to the recession, particularly exploding the myth of the British jobs for British workers approach. The slogan might be a catchy sound bite but it is no political solution. Over 300 of the largest 800 companies in the UK are foreign owned and hundreds of thousands of other UK jobs are reliant on foreign contracts.
If the BNP and the rightwing media support a British jobs for British workers approach then they must logically support a US jobs for US workers line, even if that means companies such as Rolls Royce and British Aerospace lose contracts to US firms.
It is also vital that we stand up for the rights of migrant workers and prevent one group being pitted against another. What is needed is to improve workers’ rights and conditions throughout Europe, including full rights for temporary and agency workers and paying the right rate for the job in the country where the work is undertaken. By doing this we can reduce the exploitation of vulnerable migrant workers, reduce the likelihood of unscrupulous employers using foreign workers to undercut their UK counterparts and so hopefully reduce the friction between groups of workers.
We must also stand in defence of immigration, particularly at a time when immigrants are under such attack. Just as we should remember the contribution foreign-born workers have made to the UK economy we should also think about the 5.5 million Britons who work and live abroad.
Can you imagine the nationalist outrage from the BNP and rightwing press if hundreds of thousands of British migrant workers working across Europe or in the Middle East were ordered out?
It is this sort of hypocrisy that needs to be exposed.
The BNP also needs to be taken on politically, not just morally. Over recent weeks Searchlight has been approached by representatives of all three major political parties wanting to know our assessment of the BNP threat and how they can get involved in the campaign against them. Our answer to them all has been simple. Bland and empty rhetoric about BNP extremism is at best ineffectual and at worst counter-productive. A political party needs to say more than don’t vote BNP because they racist – it needs to offer a political reason why people should vote for it rather than the BNP.
Simply moralising, particularly at a time of such economic problems, will be seen as political bankruptcy.
Over the next year we are likely to see growing social unrest. Unless the political parties, the trade unions and anti-fascists develop a more combative approach to dealing with the BNP – based on issues – then we are going to face a really difficult time. The Economist warned of a return to the failed protectionist remedies of the 1930s. We should equally be very wary of a retreat into political nationalism.
Searchlight
Labels:
BNP,
Europe,
Gordon Brown,
Lindsay Oil Refinery,
nationalism,
recession,
Unite
January 31, 2009
The BNP is no friend of British workers
The BNP is trying to exploit the protests in Lincolnshire for its own racist ends by turning an issue about contracts and jobs into a racist one.Everyone should be alert to the dangers of this protest spiralling out of control, as the BNP would wish, setting worker against worker rather than tightening employment rules to ensure that employers cannot use one group of workers to undercut another – of whichever nationality or race they may be from.
It is also vital that people are not fooled by fascist propaganda. Their policies would crash the British economy. Millions of Britons depend on foreign-owned firms for the jobs. If the BNP got their way and all non-whites and foreigners were booted out of the country then why wouldn’t all these foreign-owned companies pull out as well?
Despite the announcement of 2,500 job cuts this week, the steel company Corus still employs 24,500 people in Britain. When the BNP kick its Indian management out of the country they would be throwing these people onto the scrapheap.
Then there are the hundreds of thousands of British workers who rely on British companies winning overseas contracts. If it’s “British jobs for British workers” then will the BNP support the American aviation industry withdrawing all work from British Aerospace and Rolls Royce and giving it to American companies?
And finally, what about the millions of Britons living and working abroad? If the BNP kicked out everyone in Britain who they did not like why wouldn’t other countries do the same?
We live in a complex and interwined global economy. As we have so graphically seen during the recent financial collapse what happens in one country quickly affects another.
What we need is for workers to enjoy the same rights and conditions across Europe and for people to be paid the rate for the job in the country they are working in. This, together with proper trade union organisation of all workers – British and “foreign” – and not racial scapegoating is how we stop exploitation of workers and undercutting of wages. The BNP is no friend of the British worker.
HOPE not hate
Labels:
BNP,
Corus,
Europe,
fascist,
global economy,
propaganda,
racist,
trade unions
October 23, 2008
BNP seeks to reactivate far-right alliance in European Parliament
Jobbik:Hungarian Master Race?Mr Griffin was invited to the two East European countries by representatives of extremist parties who had made trips to Britain earlier in the year.
A fragile pan-European Parliament alliance last year collapsed in disarray after five Romanian nationalists walked out, claiming they had been insulted by their Italian colleagues. The effect of the walk-out was to put the group below the minimum number of seats required to allow it to participate in the parliament.
Now Mr Griffin is planning another attempt to bring together extremists - the BNP calls them "nationalists" - from Belgium, Austria and Italy, as well as the Czech Republic and Hungary. After a first stop in Budapest, he will be heading to Prague for Czech National Day on October 28. Earlier this year, a Czech right-winger spoke at the BNP's Red, White and Blue Festival.
Gerry Gable, the veteran anti-fascist and publisher of Searchlight magazine, said: "They are clearly hoping they will be able to pick up the extra seats they need. However, they may not be successful because the European Parliament has increased slightly the number of seats necessary.
"In the past year, Griffin has associated himself with a number of very hard-line extremists. In May, members of an extreme group from Hungary came here and a member of the Czech Republic was here several weeks ago to talk to the Greenwich and Bexley branches of the BNP. Only a few days ago, a number of people were sprayed with acid in an antisemitic attack in Hungary.
"I know Griffin has made overtures to the community in the past couple of years to try to shed the BNP's image of being antisemitic, and has been firmly rebuffed. But when he is consorting with these people in Europe, it rather gives the lie to what he says he trying to do."
Winston Pickett, director of the newly formed European Institute for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism, said: "Griffin's tour has come against a backdrop of renewed and increased political activities by the Hungarian far-right.
"In particular, the Jobbik party [Movement For a Better Hungary] wants to forge alliances with other right-wing groups in order to create a united front ahead of the European elections next June."
Simon Darby, the party's deputy leader, confirming the invitations, said the BNP was following only what other groups had done in Europe in trying to form a "nationalist bloc".
Labels:
Czech Republic,
Europe,
Griffin,
Hungary
September 18, 2008
Antisemitism and Islamophobia rising across Europe, survey finds
Antisemitism and Islamophobia are on the rise across Europe, according to a survey of global opinion released yesterday.
In contrast to the US and Britain where unfavourable opinion of Jews has been stable and low for several years at between 7 and 9%, the Pew Survey of Global Attitudes found that hostile attitudes to Jews were rising all across continental Europe from Russia and Poland in the east to Spain and France in the west. The survey found that suspicion of Muslims in Europe was considerably higher than hostility to Jews, but that the increase in antisemitism had taken place much more rapidly.
"Great Britain stands out as the only European country included in the survey where there has not been a substantial increase in antisemitic attitudes," the survey found.
Antisemitism has more than doubled in Spain over the past three years, with a rise from 21% to 46%, the survey of almost 25,000 people across 24 countries found, while more than one in three Poles and Russians also had unfavourable opinions of Jews. In the same period antisemitism in Germany and France also rose - from 21% to 25% in Germany and from 12% to 20% in France among those saying they had unfavourable opinions of Jews.
"Opinions of Muslims in almost all of these countries was were more negative than are views of Jews," analysts said. While Americans and Britons displayed the lowest levels of antisemitism, one in four in both countries were hostile to Muslims.
Such Islamophobia was lower than in the rest of Europe. More than half of Spaniards and half of Germans said that they did not like Muslims and the figures for Poland and France were 46% and 38% for those holding unfavourable opinions of Muslims.
People who were antisemitic were likely also to be Islamophobes. Prejudice was marked among older generations and appeared to be class based. People over 50 and of low education were more likely to be prejudiced.
Guardian
In contrast to the US and Britain where unfavourable opinion of Jews has been stable and low for several years at between 7 and 9%, the Pew Survey of Global Attitudes found that hostile attitudes to Jews were rising all across continental Europe from Russia and Poland in the east to Spain and France in the west. The survey found that suspicion of Muslims in Europe was considerably higher than hostility to Jews, but that the increase in antisemitism had taken place much more rapidly.
"Great Britain stands out as the only European country included in the survey where there has not been a substantial increase in antisemitic attitudes," the survey found.
Antisemitism has more than doubled in Spain over the past three years, with a rise from 21% to 46%, the survey of almost 25,000 people across 24 countries found, while more than one in three Poles and Russians also had unfavourable opinions of Jews. In the same period antisemitism in Germany and France also rose - from 21% to 25% in Germany and from 12% to 20% in France among those saying they had unfavourable opinions of Jews.
"Opinions of Muslims in almost all of these countries was were more negative than are views of Jews," analysts said. While Americans and Britons displayed the lowest levels of antisemitism, one in four in both countries were hostile to Muslims.
Such Islamophobia was lower than in the rest of Europe. More than half of Spaniards and half of Germans said that they did not like Muslims and the figures for Poland and France were 46% and 38% for those holding unfavourable opinions of Muslims.
People who were antisemitic were likely also to be Islamophobes. Prejudice was marked among older generations and appeared to be class based. People over 50 and of low education were more likely to be prejudiced.
Guardian
May 09, 2007
Extreme nationalist elected speaker of Serbian parliament
· Acting PM deserts alliance of democratic forces
· Setback to EU hopes of pro-western government
Serbia lurched back towards the pariah status of the 1990s yesterday when the acting prime minister switched his support to an extreme nationalist, making Tomislav Nikolic the influential speaker of the Serbian parliament.
For the first time since Slobodan Milosevic was overthrown in 2000, the prime minister, Vojislav Kostunica, ordered his MPs to vote for the senior figure in the extremist Serbian Radical Party, whose leader is a former warlord on trial at the tribunal in The Hague for war crimes.
The decision by Mr Kostunica to desert Serbia's pro-European Democrats in favour of anti-western nationalists who advocate an alliance with Russia and China and remain loyal to the legacy of the late authoritarian, Slobodan Milosevic, marked a watershed in the country's failing attempt to escape a disastrous last 15 years.
"Serbia faces new self-isolation, a drastic worsening of its relations with its neighbours, and hard conflicts," predicted the country's Social Democratic Union.
Mr Kostunica's decision to switch sides followed months of bad-tempered negotiations with the pro-western Democratic party over a new government coalition.
Although Mr Kostunica is acting prime minister, Serbia has been without a new government since elections last January. The bargaining collapsed at the weekend because Mr Kostunica, whose party came third in the ballot, insists on remaining prime minister and retaining control of the powerful security services and police.
His rival, President Boris Tadic, leader of the pro-European Democratic party, refused the terms and Mr Kostunica switched sides. If no agreement on a new government is reached by next week, there has to be new elections. The extremist Radicals are the biggest single party, but unable to form a government, and could emerge strengthened from a new election.
The drama in Belgrade comes as Serbia takes the chair of Europe's human rights body, the Council of Europe, with its parliament headed by a politician from a party led by Vojislav Seselj, the ex-warlord being tried in The Hague, and the security services sheltering the genocide suspect General Ratko Mladic.
"I am not a danger to Serbia or anyone else's children," said Mr Nikolic after a marathon parliamentary session that saw him elected speaker early yesterday.
Dusan Petrovic, the Democrats' parliamentary leader, said Mr Kostunica's decision to support the extremists marked a departure from the values of October 2000 when Milosevic was overthrown in Belgrade. The upheaval coincides with western efforts to establish independence for Kosovo, Serbia's southern province. Mr Nikolic has threatened violent resistance to Kosovo independence.
Last night the crisis was deepening with the democratic forces boycotting the election of other key parliamentary positions and committee chairs, meaning that all senior posts in the chamber could fall into the hands of extremists and nationalists.
The developments in Belgrade represent a severe setback to EU efforts to engineer a pro-western government in Serbia. "The election of an ultra-nationalist as Serbia's parliamentary speaker is a worrying sign," said the EU's enlargement commissioner, Olli Rehn. On Monday, Javier Solana, the EU's foreign policy chief, said that President Tadic should gain control of the police and security services, seen as crucial to hopes of arresting Gen Mladic.
Guardian
· Setback to EU hopes of pro-western government
Serbia lurched back towards the pariah status of the 1990s yesterday when the acting prime minister switched his support to an extreme nationalist, making Tomislav Nikolic the influential speaker of the Serbian parliament.
For the first time since Slobodan Milosevic was overthrown in 2000, the prime minister, Vojislav Kostunica, ordered his MPs to vote for the senior figure in the extremist Serbian Radical Party, whose leader is a former warlord on trial at the tribunal in The Hague for war crimes.
The decision by Mr Kostunica to desert Serbia's pro-European Democrats in favour of anti-western nationalists who advocate an alliance with Russia and China and remain loyal to the legacy of the late authoritarian, Slobodan Milosevic, marked a watershed in the country's failing attempt to escape a disastrous last 15 years.
"Serbia faces new self-isolation, a drastic worsening of its relations with its neighbours, and hard conflicts," predicted the country's Social Democratic Union.
Mr Kostunica's decision to switch sides followed months of bad-tempered negotiations with the pro-western Democratic party over a new government coalition.
Although Mr Kostunica is acting prime minister, Serbia has been without a new government since elections last January. The bargaining collapsed at the weekend because Mr Kostunica, whose party came third in the ballot, insists on remaining prime minister and retaining control of the powerful security services and police.
His rival, President Boris Tadic, leader of the pro-European Democratic party, refused the terms and Mr Kostunica switched sides. If no agreement on a new government is reached by next week, there has to be new elections. The extremist Radicals are the biggest single party, but unable to form a government, and could emerge strengthened from a new election.
The drama in Belgrade comes as Serbia takes the chair of Europe's human rights body, the Council of Europe, with its parliament headed by a politician from a party led by Vojislav Seselj, the ex-warlord being tried in The Hague, and the security services sheltering the genocide suspect General Ratko Mladic.
"I am not a danger to Serbia or anyone else's children," said Mr Nikolic after a marathon parliamentary session that saw him elected speaker early yesterday.
Dusan Petrovic, the Democrats' parliamentary leader, said Mr Kostunica's decision to support the extremists marked a departure from the values of October 2000 when Milosevic was overthrown in Belgrade. The upheaval coincides with western efforts to establish independence for Kosovo, Serbia's southern province. Mr Nikolic has threatened violent resistance to Kosovo independence.
Last night the crisis was deepening with the democratic forces boycotting the election of other key parliamentary positions and committee chairs, meaning that all senior posts in the chamber could fall into the hands of extremists and nationalists.
The developments in Belgrade represent a severe setback to EU efforts to engineer a pro-western government in Serbia. "The election of an ultra-nationalist as Serbia's parliamentary speaker is a worrying sign," said the EU's enlargement commissioner, Olli Rehn. On Monday, Javier Solana, the EU's foreign policy chief, said that President Tadic should gain control of the police and security services, seen as crucial to hopes of arresting Gen Mladic.
Guardian
Labels:
Europe,
Milosevic,
nationalist,
Serbia,
Serbian Radical Party,
The Hague,
war crimes
May 02, 2007
The BNP fields record number of candidates in long-term drive for Europe
The British National Party is putting forward a record 879 candidates in the forthcoming elections. This is more than double last year’s figure and higher than anything achieved by the National Front in its heyday in the 1970s.
However, it must be stressed that this is an organisational triumph for the BNP rather than a reflection that its membership or support has more than doubled in the past 12 months.
There are 744 BNP candidates in the borough and district council elections in England and seven in Scotland, another 76 standing for town and parish councils, 32 in the elections to the Scottish Parliament and 20 in the Welsh Assembly elections. This is a massive increase over the 363 candidates the BNP fielded in 2006, which itself was a big rise compared to the 221 in 2004. When Labour came to power in 1997 the BNP could only manage 53 council candidates.
The bulk of BNP candidates are in its traditional working-class heartlands of West Yorkshire, East Lancashire, the West Midlands and Essex. There are 207 candidates in total in the Yorkshire and Humber region, 118 in the North West and 127 in the West Midlands. There are complete BNP slates in Birmingham (40), Leeds (33), Sunderland (25) and Harrogate and Thurrock (both 16).
Other large concentrations of BNP candidates include Kirklees (22), Barnsley (18), Bradford (17) Coventry and Sedgefield (both 16), Sandwell (15) and Gateshead and Newcastle (both 13).
The North West has seen the biggest increase in the party’s traditional strongholds with a rise of 65 to 118 candidates (including one for a parish council). Burnley has 10 candidates, followed closely by Liverpool with nine, up from one in 2006, Wigan and Tameside, both with eight and Blackpool with seven.
The BNP is also standing in a number of areas that it has not previously contested, particularly in the East Midlands where there are 101 candidates in total. They include 14 for Charnwood Borough Council, 12 in Lincoln and 10 for Broxtowe Borough Council. However, despite the BNP euphoria over its candidate list, there are a number of key local authorities where the party’s failure to find enough candidates has reduced its chances of election. These include some of the most "at risk" areas where the BNP has achieved its highest votes in recent years. Despite boasting that it would field a full slate in Bradford there are only 17 candidates out of a possible 30, just one more than last year. There are only two more BNP candidates in Stoke-on-Trent this year compared to last, which is a great relief as there is hardly a ward where the party would not come close to winning. In Sandwell, the BNP only managed to find an extra six candidates over last year, again in an area where the party boasted it would achieve a full slate.
In 2006, the BNP averaged 33% in the wards it contested in Sandwell, 30% in Stoke-on-Trent and 26% in Bradford.
Despite an overall increase in candidates in the North West, the party has declined in two of its four strongest areas. In Oldham, where the BNP first emerged as a major force after the 2001 riots, it has only four candidates, one of whom is also standing for a parish council seat. The BNP has two candidates fewer in Blackburn (five compared to seven last year), which given the potential in the town will be a major disappointment for the party.
BNP strategy
This election marks a significant change of electoral strategy for the BNP. In previous years it has focussed on maximising its average vote so it could portray itself as a rising force in British politics. This has resulted in fighting wards where the party believed it would achieve its highest results.
This year, it has concentrated on putting forward as many candidates as possible. Given the wider political picture, most will be guaranteed a decent vote. In its key local authority areas the BNP will once again be looking for average votes of between 25% and 35%, with private predictions of 50-60 new councillors.
However, the real purpose of fielding so many council candidates has more to do with the next European elections in 2009, which are fought under proportional representation. Given the continuing decline of the UK Independence Party, the BNP will believe it can win European representation in most regions of England. With several MEPs the BNP would be transformed overnight, both financially and politically. Fielding 879 candidates now gives a large number of voters, including everyone in Wales and Scotland, a chance to support the BNP and over the next few years become firm BNP voters.
So what are the BNP’s chances of success this year? At the start of the year Searchlight identified 93 wards which we believed were at risk to some extent. Just over a third of them were deemed high risk. While some are now no longer considered to present such a threat, new concerns have emerged in other wards. The BNP itself has predicted that it will double its councillor base in May, which if one includes parish and town councillors is certainly achievable.
Although most people will judge the success or failure of the election campaign by the number of council victories the BNP achieves, the share of its vote over all the wards it contests is a far more significant marker in the long run. Last year the BNP won 33 council seats, 12 of which were in Barking & Dagenham. While most commentators saw this as a political breakthrough, the BNP still held only a tiny fraction of council seats in the country.
Much more important was the party’s 19.2% average vote.
There are still people in the political parties who try to dismiss the BNP as a fringe force with only isolated pockets of support. With over 14 million people being given the chance to vote for the BNP in these elections, this “fringe force” concept will be severely tested.
Searchlight is confident that the BNP will not make huge council breakthroughs but this will only be achieved if every anti-fascist and anti-racist activist puts that extra bit of activity in before 3 May. It is no good moaning about BNP success after the event if we have not done all in our power to prevent it happening.
Town hall politics
In another change in strategy, the BNP has put forward 76 candidates in town and parish council elections across the country, the bulk in the East Midlands and West Yorkshire.
Getting candidates elected to these councils is not too difficult as the mainstream political parties do not contest most of them and many are hardly contested at all. Indeed, the BNP has ten new town and parish councillors already after standing unopposed.
While town and parish councils have little real power, gaining seats on them is advantageous for the BNP. It increases the party’s number of councillors (as the BNP con-veniently fails to distinguish these from its councillors at borough/district/city level) and gives the BNP a credible base to challenge for borough/district/city elections in the future. It is this striving for greater respectability and normal-isation that is the real drive behind the BNP’s tactics.
In the West Yorkshire towns of Morley (part of Leeds) and Mirfield (part of Kirklees), the BNP is looking to take control of the town councils. The party has 12 and nine candidates respectively and can be assured of some success. Many of their opponents are unorganised “independents” who do not have the base to run coordinated campaigns. However, there may be a backlash from voters who are not used to having political parties so involved in a generally non-party environment.
Searchlight had feared strong BNP contests for control of Padiham Town Council (Burnley) and Keighley Town Council (Bradford) but these failed to materialise.
The BNP is likely to see many of its town and parish candidates elected in May but it is time the media began to view them separately from district and borough councillors. Several months ago Searchlight warned that the BNP was switching its focus to town and parish councils. Political parties and anti-fascists generally have neglected to get involved in these councils. Let us just hope that we are not punished for our oversight in towns such as Morley and Mirfield.
Searchlight
However, it must be stressed that this is an organisational triumph for the BNP rather than a reflection that its membership or support has more than doubled in the past 12 months.
There are 744 BNP candidates in the borough and district council elections in England and seven in Scotland, another 76 standing for town and parish councils, 32 in the elections to the Scottish Parliament and 20 in the Welsh Assembly elections. This is a massive increase over the 363 candidates the BNP fielded in 2006, which itself was a big rise compared to the 221 in 2004. When Labour came to power in 1997 the BNP could only manage 53 council candidates.
The bulk of BNP candidates are in its traditional working-class heartlands of West Yorkshire, East Lancashire, the West Midlands and Essex. There are 207 candidates in total in the Yorkshire and Humber region, 118 in the North West and 127 in the West Midlands. There are complete BNP slates in Birmingham (40), Leeds (33), Sunderland (25) and Harrogate and Thurrock (both 16).
Other large concentrations of BNP candidates include Kirklees (22), Barnsley (18), Bradford (17) Coventry and Sedgefield (both 16), Sandwell (15) and Gateshead and Newcastle (both 13).
The North West has seen the biggest increase in the party’s traditional strongholds with a rise of 65 to 118 candidates (including one for a parish council). Burnley has 10 candidates, followed closely by Liverpool with nine, up from one in 2006, Wigan and Tameside, both with eight and Blackpool with seven.
The BNP is also standing in a number of areas that it has not previously contested, particularly in the East Midlands where there are 101 candidates in total. They include 14 for Charnwood Borough Council, 12 in Lincoln and 10 for Broxtowe Borough Council. However, despite the BNP euphoria over its candidate list, there are a number of key local authorities where the party’s failure to find enough candidates has reduced its chances of election. These include some of the most "at risk" areas where the BNP has achieved its highest votes in recent years. Despite boasting that it would field a full slate in Bradford there are only 17 candidates out of a possible 30, just one more than last year. There are only two more BNP candidates in Stoke-on-Trent this year compared to last, which is a great relief as there is hardly a ward where the party would not come close to winning. In Sandwell, the BNP only managed to find an extra six candidates over last year, again in an area where the party boasted it would achieve a full slate.
In 2006, the BNP averaged 33% in the wards it contested in Sandwell, 30% in Stoke-on-Trent and 26% in Bradford.
Despite an overall increase in candidates in the North West, the party has declined in two of its four strongest areas. In Oldham, where the BNP first emerged as a major force after the 2001 riots, it has only four candidates, one of whom is also standing for a parish council seat. The BNP has two candidates fewer in Blackburn (five compared to seven last year), which given the potential in the town will be a major disappointment for the party.
BNP strategy
This election marks a significant change of electoral strategy for the BNP. In previous years it has focussed on maximising its average vote so it could portray itself as a rising force in British politics. This has resulted in fighting wards where the party believed it would achieve its highest results.
This year, it has concentrated on putting forward as many candidates as possible. Given the wider political picture, most will be guaranteed a decent vote. In its key local authority areas the BNP will once again be looking for average votes of between 25% and 35%, with private predictions of 50-60 new councillors.
However, the real purpose of fielding so many council candidates has more to do with the next European elections in 2009, which are fought under proportional representation. Given the continuing decline of the UK Independence Party, the BNP will believe it can win European representation in most regions of England. With several MEPs the BNP would be transformed overnight, both financially and politically. Fielding 879 candidates now gives a large number of voters, including everyone in Wales and Scotland, a chance to support the BNP and over the next few years become firm BNP voters.
So what are the BNP’s chances of success this year? At the start of the year Searchlight identified 93 wards which we believed were at risk to some extent. Just over a third of them were deemed high risk. While some are now no longer considered to present such a threat, new concerns have emerged in other wards. The BNP itself has predicted that it will double its councillor base in May, which if one includes parish and town councillors is certainly achievable.
Although most people will judge the success or failure of the election campaign by the number of council victories the BNP achieves, the share of its vote over all the wards it contests is a far more significant marker in the long run. Last year the BNP won 33 council seats, 12 of which were in Barking & Dagenham. While most commentators saw this as a political breakthrough, the BNP still held only a tiny fraction of council seats in the country.
Much more important was the party’s 19.2% average vote.
There are still people in the political parties who try to dismiss the BNP as a fringe force with only isolated pockets of support. With over 14 million people being given the chance to vote for the BNP in these elections, this “fringe force” concept will be severely tested.
Searchlight is confident that the BNP will not make huge council breakthroughs but this will only be achieved if every anti-fascist and anti-racist activist puts that extra bit of activity in before 3 May. It is no good moaning about BNP success after the event if we have not done all in our power to prevent it happening.
Town hall politics
In another change in strategy, the BNP has put forward 76 candidates in town and parish council elections across the country, the bulk in the East Midlands and West Yorkshire.
Getting candidates elected to these councils is not too difficult as the mainstream political parties do not contest most of them and many are hardly contested at all. Indeed, the BNP has ten new town and parish councillors already after standing unopposed.
While town and parish councils have little real power, gaining seats on them is advantageous for the BNP. It increases the party’s number of councillors (as the BNP con-veniently fails to distinguish these from its councillors at borough/district/city level) and gives the BNP a credible base to challenge for borough/district/city elections in the future. It is this striving for greater respectability and normal-isation that is the real drive behind the BNP’s tactics.
In the West Yorkshire towns of Morley (part of Leeds) and Mirfield (part of Kirklees), the BNP is looking to take control of the town councils. The party has 12 and nine candidates respectively and can be assured of some success. Many of their opponents are unorganised “independents” who do not have the base to run coordinated campaigns. However, there may be a backlash from voters who are not used to having political parties so involved in a generally non-party environment.
Searchlight had feared strong BNP contests for control of Padiham Town Council (Burnley) and Keighley Town Council (Bradford) but these failed to materialise.
The BNP is likely to see many of its town and parish candidates elected in May but it is time the media began to view them separately from district and borough councillors. Several months ago Searchlight warned that the BNP was switching its focus to town and parish councils. Political parties and anti-fascists generally have neglected to get involved in these councils. Let us just hope that we are not punished for our oversight in towns such as Morley and Mirfield.
Searchlight
Labels:
anti-fascist,
anti-racist,
Barking and Dagenham,
BNP,
Europe,
parish,
Searchlight
April 10, 2007
Le Pen's mask slips as he plays the race card against Sarkozy
The candidate who claims to be closest to the people rarely leaves his office, except to go to the radio or TV studio. The candidate who promises never to lie to the electorate refuses to say what he would do if elected.
Jean-Marie Le Pen, 78, is the "invisible man" of the French presidential campaign: invisible but ever-present, like a virus. He began the campaign pretending to be a more mellow, and more tolerant, man. But in his latest broadcast appearance - he seldom appears in public - the veteran far-right leader reverted to his favourite theme: xenophobia.
The front-running, centre-right candidate, Nicolas Sarkozy, "comes from an immigrant background," Mr Le Pen told a radio interviewer on Sunday. By comparison, he, Mr Le Pen, was a candidate of the terroir: literally, a candidate rooted in the native earth.
"It's obvious, there's a difference," Mr Le Pen said. "There is a choice there which might be considered fundamental by a certain number of French people".
This is Jean-Marie Le Pen at his most poisonous and his most plausible - and also his most effective.
Mr Sarkozy, 52, the man who is favourite to be the next President of France, is indeed half-Hungarian and a quarter-jewish on his maternal, French side. He does not look particularly French; his name does not sound French. Ask almost anyone in France if this will make a difference to their choice in the presidential election on 22 April and 6 May and they will say "no". Mr Le Pen knows, however, that it does make a difference, for a significant minority of French people, especially people on the hard right, tempted to vote for Mr Sarkozy.
Mr Le Pen, and he alone, has been prepared to break the taboo and make a public issue of Mr Sarkozy's Hungarian and Jewish blood. When challenged - as he knew he would be - he immediately pointed out that Mr Sarkozy had himself boasted of his immigrant background during the campaign. If Mr Sarkozy had not mentioned his family, Mr Le Pen said, he would not have mentioned it either.
At 78, fighting his fifth - and presumably last - presidential campaign, Mr Le Pen has lost none of his tactical brilliance or his moral cynicism. He knows, better than anyone, how to touch the buttons of inchoate anger and xenophobia.
Although placed fourth by the polls, Mr Le Pen insists that a "tsunami" of "rejection of the system" will carry him into the crucial top two places in the first round on 22 April. Can he repeat his extraordinary coup of 2002 and reach the second round?
Mr Le Pen has been creeping up in the opinion polls, to around 13 or 14 per cent. Last time he knocked out the Socialist prime minister, Lionel Jospin, with just under 17 per cent. There are two candidates ahead of him this year: the unconvincing Socialist, Ségolène Royal, and the likeable but undynamic centrist François Bayrou.
Mr Le Pen predicts that they will cancel one another out, and he will dart between them, with about 20 per cent of the vote, and reach the second round.
There are a number of reasons to believe that Mr Le Pen will fail. First, he has never scored more than 18 per cent in a national election. Second, he is an old man and beginning to look his age. (His decision barely to go on the road is partly strategic but may also be intended to conserve his flagging energy.)
Finally, he has a candidate running against him this time - Mr Sarkozy - who has stolen and moderated many of his favourite issues: immigration, insecurity, excessive taxation and nationalism.
Another shock cannot not be ruled out, however. Mr Le Pen predicts that somewhere around 5 per cent of the 30 per cent of voters now supporting Mr Sarkozy will return to the far right on 22 April. Hence his decision to make Mr Sarkozy's Hungarian - and implicitly his Jewish - blood an election issue.
And there is a further complication. Pollsters in France have never managed accurately to gauge Mr Le Pen's support. Le Pen voters systematically lie. This year his electorate is even harder to plumb than ever.
An unknown but significant minority of far left voters - and even Arab and African - voters say they are tempted to vote Le Pen this time out of bloody-mindedness, frustration or determination to "make the system explode". Last fling or not, Mr Le Pen may have one shot left in his locker.
Independent
Jean-Marie Le Pen, 78, is the "invisible man" of the French presidential campaign: invisible but ever-present, like a virus. He began the campaign pretending to be a more mellow, and more tolerant, man. But in his latest broadcast appearance - he seldom appears in public - the veteran far-right leader reverted to his favourite theme: xenophobia.
The front-running, centre-right candidate, Nicolas Sarkozy, "comes from an immigrant background," Mr Le Pen told a radio interviewer on Sunday. By comparison, he, Mr Le Pen, was a candidate of the terroir: literally, a candidate rooted in the native earth.
"It's obvious, there's a difference," Mr Le Pen said. "There is a choice there which might be considered fundamental by a certain number of French people".
This is Jean-Marie Le Pen at his most poisonous and his most plausible - and also his most effective.
Mr Sarkozy, 52, the man who is favourite to be the next President of France, is indeed half-Hungarian and a quarter-jewish on his maternal, French side. He does not look particularly French; his name does not sound French. Ask almost anyone in France if this will make a difference to their choice in the presidential election on 22 April and 6 May and they will say "no". Mr Le Pen knows, however, that it does make a difference, for a significant minority of French people, especially people on the hard right, tempted to vote for Mr Sarkozy.
Mr Le Pen, and he alone, has been prepared to break the taboo and make a public issue of Mr Sarkozy's Hungarian and Jewish blood. When challenged - as he knew he would be - he immediately pointed out that Mr Sarkozy had himself boasted of his immigrant background during the campaign. If Mr Sarkozy had not mentioned his family, Mr Le Pen said, he would not have mentioned it either.
At 78, fighting his fifth - and presumably last - presidential campaign, Mr Le Pen has lost none of his tactical brilliance or his moral cynicism. He knows, better than anyone, how to touch the buttons of inchoate anger and xenophobia.
Although placed fourth by the polls, Mr Le Pen insists that a "tsunami" of "rejection of the system" will carry him into the crucial top two places in the first round on 22 April. Can he repeat his extraordinary coup of 2002 and reach the second round?
Mr Le Pen has been creeping up in the opinion polls, to around 13 or 14 per cent. Last time he knocked out the Socialist prime minister, Lionel Jospin, with just under 17 per cent. There are two candidates ahead of him this year: the unconvincing Socialist, Ségolène Royal, and the likeable but undynamic centrist François Bayrou.
Mr Le Pen predicts that they will cancel one another out, and he will dart between them, with about 20 per cent of the vote, and reach the second round.
There are a number of reasons to believe that Mr Le Pen will fail. First, he has never scored more than 18 per cent in a national election. Second, he is an old man and beginning to look his age. (His decision barely to go on the road is partly strategic but may also be intended to conserve his flagging energy.)
Finally, he has a candidate running against him this time - Mr Sarkozy - who has stolen and moderated many of his favourite issues: immigration, insecurity, excessive taxation and nationalism.
Another shock cannot not be ruled out, however. Mr Le Pen predicts that somewhere around 5 per cent of the 30 per cent of voters now supporting Mr Sarkozy will return to the far right on 22 April. Hence his decision to make Mr Sarkozy's Hungarian - and implicitly his Jewish - blood an election issue.
And there is a further complication. Pollsters in France have never managed accurately to gauge Mr Le Pen's support. Le Pen voters systematically lie. This year his electorate is even harder to plumb than ever.
An unknown but significant minority of far left voters - and even Arab and African - voters say they are tempted to vote Le Pen this time out of bloody-mindedness, frustration or determination to "make the system explode". Last fling or not, Mr Le Pen may have one shot left in his locker.
Independent
Labels:
Europe,
France,
Front National,
immigrant,
Jewish,
Le Pen,
nationalism,
Sarkozy,
xenophobia
March 15, 2007
Elected less than a week, and already targeted by racists
Northern Ireland's first Chinese politician has vowed not to be deterred by racists after abuse was posted about her on a high-profile website.
Police are continuing their investigations into allegations of racism against south Belfast MLA Anna Lo after new bigoted footage appeared on the video website YouTube. The videos, which are seen 100m times a day, were removed after they appeared in the comedy category showing a poster of the new Alliance MLA being defaced while the culprits ridiculed her accent.
The footage was removed as soon as the Belfast Telegraph alerted Ms Lo, the PSNI and the website to the material.
This is the latest in a series of racist on- line attacks against Ms Lo, who is the first politician of Chinese descent to be voted into government in Europe. Ms Lo's face has been maliciously posted onto pornographic websites and she has been abused on a hate site which links into a network "for national-socialists world-wide" and claims to be part of the infamous neo-Nazi group Combat 18.
Ms Lo today said that, while the racist slurs are upsetting, the overwhelmingly warm response she has received following her election as south Belfast MLA is much more representative of local people.
"I have had a meeting with police about this kind of thing before but they cannot do much because no actual threats have been made against me. When the sites are shut down, they are just re-opened somewhere else. In all societies there are small elements who are against you simply because of who and what you represent. I think my election shows how far we have actually progressed as a society. The fact that Northern Ireland is the first place in Europe to vote in a (Chinese) politician is a very positive image for the province world-wide. Therefore, I try not to think about the abuse on the internet."
A PSNI spokesman said: "Police inquiries are ongoing into an existing issue regarding internet content. The PSNI do not monitor internet sites on a day-to-day basis; however, we will take appropriate action when we receive a complaint of a criminal offence in our jurisdiction."
Nobody from YouTube was available to comment.
Belfast Telegraph
Police are continuing their investigations into allegations of racism against south Belfast MLA Anna Lo after new bigoted footage appeared on the video website YouTube. The videos, which are seen 100m times a day, were removed after they appeared in the comedy category showing a poster of the new Alliance MLA being defaced while the culprits ridiculed her accent.
The footage was removed as soon as the Belfast Telegraph alerted Ms Lo, the PSNI and the website to the material.
This is the latest in a series of racist on- line attacks against Ms Lo, who is the first politician of Chinese descent to be voted into government in Europe. Ms Lo's face has been maliciously posted onto pornographic websites and she has been abused on a hate site which links into a network "for national-socialists world-wide" and claims to be part of the infamous neo-Nazi group Combat 18.
Ms Lo today said that, while the racist slurs are upsetting, the overwhelmingly warm response she has received following her election as south Belfast MLA is much more representative of local people.
"I have had a meeting with police about this kind of thing before but they cannot do much because no actual threats have been made against me. When the sites are shut down, they are just re-opened somewhere else. In all societies there are small elements who are against you simply because of who and what you represent. I think my election shows how far we have actually progressed as a society. The fact that Northern Ireland is the first place in Europe to vote in a (Chinese) politician is a very positive image for the province world-wide. Therefore, I try not to think about the abuse on the internet."
A PSNI spokesman said: "Police inquiries are ongoing into an existing issue regarding internet content. The PSNI do not monitor internet sites on a day-to-day basis; however, we will take appropriate action when we receive a complaint of a criminal offence in our jurisdiction."
Nobody from YouTube was available to comment.
Belfast Telegraph
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