Behind German Far-right Party AfD's 'No to Ukraine' in the EU

Jul 1, 2024 | A leading figure of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party told DW News that Ukraine should not join the European Union. Beatrix von Storch also called for a halt to German weapon deliveries to Kyiv, an end to the fighting in Ukraine and the start of negotiations with Russia to cease hostilities.

The AfD deputy parliamentary group leader also shared her views on transgender rights, the results of the recent EU parliamentary elections and the upcoming regional elections in eastern Germany, where the AfD is projected to gain ground.

DW’s Chief Political Editor Michaela Küfner spoke to von Storch at an AfD party convention in the German town of Essen.

Will Macron’s Snap Election Gamble Backfire? | DW News

June 28, 2024 | France goes to the polls on Sunday in snap parliamentary elections. President Emmanuel Macron called the vote in response to his party's dismal showing in the European elections earlier this month. It's a gamble for Macron. He hopes to see off right-wing opponents - but may end up losing power. We spoke to DW’s correspondent Sonia Phalnikar in Paris about what's at stake for France.

Le Pen Claims Far Right Will Win Majority and Take Over Some Military Decisions

THE GUARDIAN: National Rally leader says Macron ‘won’t have choice’ but to appoint her protege as PM and he would make decisions on Ukraine support

Marine Le Pen has said she expects her far-right National Rally (RN) party to win an absolute majority in France’s general election, form a government and take over at least some defence and armed forces decision-making – including on Ukraine.

France’s constitution states that the president is head of the armed forces and chairs France’s national defence committees, but also that the prime minister is “responsible for national defence”, leaving the precise role of the premier open to interpretation. » | Jon Henley in Paris | Thursday, June 27, 2024

Why the Far Right Is Surging in Europe | FT Film

May 24, 2024 | The European Parliament has been a coalition of centre-left and centre-right delegates for decades. But elections in June could deliver more far right MEPs than ever before. Their success could influence EU policy on everything from immigration to agriculture and the energy transition. The FT speaks to politicians and voters across the continent to reveal the causes and potential impact

German Mainstream Scramble to Thwart Rising Popularity of the Far Right | DW News

Jan 27, 2024 | The Alternative for Germany (AfD), which the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution has partially classified as right-wing extremist, is enjoying record highs in opinion polls. At the same time, hundreds of thousands of people have been taking to the streets to demonstrate against the anti-immigration party.

The German Bundestag is also debating how to deal with the AfD, with the three governing parliamentary factions — the center-left Social Democrats (SPD), the Greens and the neoliberal Free Democrats (FDP)— submitting a motion on the issue. The topic: "Resilient democracy in a diverse country — a clear stand against the enemies of democracy and their plans of forced displacement."

The move was prompted by a media report about a meeting last fall of right-wing extremists, attended by AfD officials as well as members of the center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU). The gathering is said to have been about plans for the so-called remigration, or expulsion, of millions of people who have immigrated to Germany.

In the parliamentary debate, Bernd Baumann, the AfD's parliamentary secretary and chief whip in the German parliament, told lawmakers the meeting was no more than a "small, private debate club," but not a "secret meeting dangerous to the public."

But Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) called it "an active effort to shift borders and to spread contempt for democracy and misanthropy into the heart of society." Faeser said she could also imagine banning the party — but only as a last resort.

The Far Right in the US and Europe | The Politics of Hate (2017) | Full Film

Jan 26, 2024 | At 16 he became the leader of the Chicago Area Skinheads, later a white supremacist punk band. But when Christian Picciolini started a family, he began questioning his far right views. This timely doc explores a changing Western political climate, chronicling the rise of the far right in the US and Europe, and giving alarming insights into the ways the alt-right movement operates.

Thousands across Austria Take Part in Protests against Far Right

GUARDIAN EUROPE: ‘Defend democracy’ events were planned for Innsbruck, Salzburg and in front of parliament building in Vienna

Thousands of Austrians have taken to the streets of the country’s three largest cities, in a spillover of protests over the rise of the far right in neighbouring Germany.

Under the slogan “defend democracy”, gatherings organised by a broad alliance of civil society organisations, NGOs, political groups, church communities and trade unions took place in Innsbruck, Salzburg, and in front of the parliament building in Vienna.

The demonstrations follow days of protests in villages, towns and cities across Germany, where more than a million people from a broad cross-section of society turned out over the past two weeks despite the cold weather and a rail strike. They have been demonstrating against the rise of the far right, in particular the populist Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party after its members met the far-right Austrian Martin Sellner to discuss the mass deportation of foreigners and German citizens of foreign origin. » | Kate Connolly in Berlin | Friday, January 26, 2024

Germany Cracks Down on Another Far-Right Group

THE NEW YORK TIMES: The raids were the second such action in about a week and came about 10 months after the authorities foiled what they described as a far-right plot to topple the government.

A raid on a property in Essen, Germany, on Wednesday belonging to a suspected member of a far-right group. | Friedemann Vogel/EPA, via Shutterstock
The authorities in Germany on Wednesday banned a relatively small far-right group and raided the homes of its members in a coordinated sweep, the latest in a series of moves against extremist organizations in the country.

The crackdown is the second such action taken in the past several days. The latest group targeted, called Artgemeinschaft, was described by the authorities as racist and antisemitic, and promoted a white supremacist ideology, including advocating white-only families.

In Germany, it is illegal to display or promote Nazi ideology or other antisemitic views.

About a week ago, the authorities carried out similar raids against another racist far-right group, called the Hammerskins, a violent neo-Nazi organization that originated in the United States in the 1980s.

The latest crackdowns come nearly 10 months after the authorities foiled what they described as a far-right plot to topple the democratically elected government in Germany and replace it with a group led by an obscure prince. » | Aishvarya Kavi and Christopher F. Schuetze, Aishvarya Kavi reported from Berlin, and Christopher Schuetze from Munich. | Wednesday, September 27, 2023

What the Collapse of Spain’s Far Right Means Going Forward

THE NEW YORK TIMES: About the only thing clear from Spain’s muddled election results was that Spaniards were turning away from the political extremes.

Supporters of the Spanish far-right Vox party gather outside the party headquarters in Madrid after Spain’s general election on Sunday. | Thomas Coex/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
Europe’s liberal and moderate establishment breathed easier on Monday after Spain’s nationalist Vox party faltered in Sunday’s elections, stalling for now a surge from far-right parties around the continent that seemed on the brink of washing over even the progressive bastion of Spain.

“A relief for Europe,” read a front-page headline in the liberal La Repubblica in Italy, where the hard-right leader Giorgia Meloni became prime minister last year and predicted “the hour of the patriots has arrived” in a video message to her Vox allies this month.

But instead of Vox becoming the first hard-right party to enter government in Spain since the end of the Franco dictatorship nearly 50 years ago, as many polls had predicted, it sank. The party’s poor returns at the polls also took down the underperforming center-right conservatives who had depended on Vox’s support to form a government.

As a result, no single party or coalition immediately gained enough parliamentary seats to govern, thrusting Spain into a familiar political muddle and giving new life to Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, who only days ago seemed moribund. Suddenly, Mr. Sánchez appeared best positioned to cobble together another progressive government in the coming weeks to avoid new elections. » | Jason Horowitz, Reporting from Madrid and Barcelona | Monday, July 24, 2023

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Poland Was Headed to the Far Right. Then Russia Invaded Ukraine

Jun 13, 2023 | For several years, Poland’s government was veering further to the right with its anti-LGBTQ, anti-immigrant and anti-European policies. Then Russia invaded Ukraine and it became home to refugees and a route for Western weapons, which CBC’s Terence McKenna found out put the country at a political crossroads. NOTE: At 9:28 in this video Adam Reichardt's name is misspelled.

Conflict with the Far Right Shrouds Jerusalem’s Pride Parade

THE NEW YORK TIMES: Much of Israel’s L.G.B.T.Q. community feels threatened by the right-wing government and its judicial overhaul plan — even with a gay speaker of Parliament.

The pride parade last year in Jerusalem. | Atef Safadi/EPA, via Shutterstock
One ultraconservative member of the Israeli government had pledged to abolish the Jerusalem Pride and Tolerance Parade. Another far-right minister with a history of homophobia, Itamar Ben-Gvir, who now oversees the police, is tasked with securing it.

The Jerusalem parade is normally a relatively staid annual tradition. But the event on Thursday is taking place at a fraught moment, five months after the most hard-line and religiously conservative government in Israel’s history took power.

L.G.B.T.Q. activists have reported a sharp increase in anti-gay abuse and violence in Israel in recent months, and say that they are expecting a large turnout for this year’s parade and bracing for possible violence.

Lehava, an extremist organization led by one of Mr. Ben-Gvir’s longtime associates, has planned a counter-demonstration nearby against what it calls the “abomination parade.” Lehava, which promotes strict separation of Jews and non-Jews, has been described by groups promoting religious tolerance as inciting ethnic hatred and even violence, and its leader has called for the expulsion of Christians from Israel. » | Isabel Kershner | Thursday, June 1, 2023

Across Europe, the Far Right Is Rising. That It Seems Normal Is All the More Terrifying

THE GUARDIAN – OPINION: Austria, France, Germany, Sweden and now Spain – the firewall between the mainstream and the far right is crumbling

Normalisation is the process by which something unusual or extreme becomes part of the everyday. What once provoked horror and outrage soon barely registers. The way the presence of Donald Trump became a mere fact of political life is perhaps the most familiar example. But the normalisation of the far right is happening across the democratic world.

Once Trump became “normal”, events that seemed even more extreme did too. A 2022 survey found that two in five Americans thought civil war was “at least somewhat likely” in the next decade. One political scientist speaks of the possibility of rightwing dictatorship in the US by 2030.

The same creep of normalisation is happening in European politics. At the turn of the millennium, when Austria’s far-right Freedom party (FPÖ) – led by Jörg Haider, who had made comments suggesting he was sympathetic to the Nazi regime – entered a coalition with the conservative People’s party, mass protests not only erupted in Vienna but across Europe and in the US. The EU even imposed diplomatic sanctions on Austria. It was understood that an important red line had been crossed; that given Europe’s blood-soaked history, the far right had to be kept firmly outside the tent. » | Owen Jones | Wednesday, May 31, 2023

Frilly Dresses and White Supremacy: Welcome to the Weird, Frightening World of ‘Trad Wives’

THE GUARDIAN – OPINION: No longer a far-right subculture, the movement’s anti-feminist tenets are now inserting themselves into mainstream western politics

Protesters at the Women’s March for abortion rights in Washington DC, 22 January 2023. Photograph: Bryan Olin Dozier/NurPhoto/REX/Shutterstock
“In some more traditional relationships (but not all) the man disciplines the woman either physically (like spanking) or with things like writing lines and standing in the corner,” one woman advises another on the Red Pill Women forum, an online community of rightwing, anti-feminist women.

Welcome to the weird and frightening world of trad wives, where women spurn modern, egalitarian values to dedicate their lives to the service of their husbands. My research into this far-right subculture began during the writing of my book on the far right and reproductive rights. I was curious to learn how the movement, determined to reduce women to reproductive vessels to aid white male supremacy, recruited women to its cause. The answer was a toxic combination of anti-feminism, white supremacy, normalised abuse and a desire to return to an imagined past. » | Sian Norris | Wednesday, May 31, 2023

"The Undertow": Author Jeff Sharlet on Trump, the Far Right & the Growing Threat of Fascism in US

Apr 6, 2023 | We speak with award-winning journalist and author Jeff Sharlet, who has spent the last decade reporting on the growing threat of fascism across the United States. In his new book, _The Undertow: Scenes from a Slow Civil War_, Sharlet says the language of "civil war" has become central to right-wing rhetoric, mainstreamed by former President Donald Trump, Congressmember Marjorie Taylor Greene and other Republicans.

Hungary’s Far-right PM Calls for Trump’s Return: ‘Come Back, Mr President’

THE GUARDIAN: Viktor Orbán, addressing European CPAC summit, attacks liberalism as a ‘virus’ and says his country is model for world

Viktor Orbán, the Hungarian prime minister, delivers the keynote speech in Budapest on Thursday. Photograph: Szilárd Koszticsák/EPA
The Hungarian leader Viktor Orbán has called for Donald Trump’s return to office, claiming their shared brand of hard-right populism is on the rise around the world, in a speech to US Republicans and their European allies in Budapest.

Orbán was addressing the second annual meeting of the US Conservative Political Action Coalition (CPAC) in the Hungarian capital, aimed at cementing radical rightwing ties across the Atlantic. He said that conservatives have “occupied big European sanctuaries”, which he listed as Budapest, Warsaw, Rome and Jerusalem. He added that Vienna “is also not hopeless” .

He noted that Washington and Brussels were still in the grip of liberalism, which he described as a “virus that will atomize and disintegrate our nations”. » | Flora Garamvolgyi in Budapest | Thursday, May 4, 2023

The very last thing this world needs now is another term of office with Donal Trump at the helm. Perish the thought! – Mark

Beyond the Wall: Part 1 - The Rise of Germany's Far Right; Part 2: From Germany to Bulgaria, What Happened to Hope? | People & Power

Poland’s Far Right Are Attacking Everyone They Hate | Decade of Hate

Apr 30, 2021 | In Poland, these are just some of the reasons the far right might attack you: for carrying an LGBTQ flag, for peacefully protesting outside a church, for marching in a Pride parade, for being pro-choice. Why are adult angry white men attacking women and people holding rainbows? In short, the government is encouraging it.

In this episode of Decade of Hate, host Tim Hume looks at how Poland’s populist government and powerful Catholic Church are stripping women and the LGBTQ community of their rights, and how the far right is using the opportunity to physically attack people who don’t fit their narrow world view. As Poland lets hate groups do its dirty work, we hear from activists who are determined to keep up the fight for their rights.

Putin’s Secret Neo-Nazi Armies | Decade of Hate

Aug 22, 2022 | Putin has long claimed that he is “denazifying” Ukraine, but these claims are hypocritical. In the early 00s, a wave of revolutions swept across countries in the former Soviet Union, calling for democratic reform and changing of political leadership. Fearing a similar uprising could start in Russia, Putin’s Kremlin clandestinely fostered relationships with far-right groups and ultra-nationalists in a policy that has been dubbed “managed nationalism”. These groups proved vital in turning Russia into the authoritarian regime that we see today. However, these relationships also proved useful in Russia exerting its power abroad, and have cultivated groups that will now fight abroad, and train foreign white supremacists – all with deadly consequences.

Italian Voters Appear Ready to Turn a Page for Europe

THE NEW YORK TIMES: With the hard-right candidate Giorgia Meloni ahead before Sunday’s election, Italy could get its first leader whose party traces its roots to the wreckage of Fascism.

Supporters of Giorgia Meloni at a joint rally on Thursday for the Brothers of Italy, League and Forza Italia parties in Rome. | Andreas Solaro/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
ROME — Giorgia Meloni, Italy’s hard-right leader, resents having to talk about Fascism. She has publicly, and in multiple languages, said that the Italian right has “handed Fascism over to history for decades now.” She argued that “the problem with Fascism in Italy always begins with the electoral campaign,” when the Italian left, she said, wheels out “the black wave” to smear its opponents.

But none of that matters now, she insisted in an interview this month, because Italians do not care. “Italians don’t believe anymore in this garbage,” she said with a shrug.

Ms. Meloni may be proved right on Sunday, when she is expected to be the top vote-getter in Italian elections, a breakthrough far-right parties in Europe have anticipated for decades.

More than 70 years after Nazis and Fascists nearly destroyed Europe, formerly taboo parties with Nazi or Fascist heritages that were long marginalized have elbowed their way into the mainstream. Some are even winning. A page of European history seems to be turning.

Last week, a hard-right group founded by neo-Nazis and skinheads became the largest party in Sweden’s likely governing coalition. The far-right leader Marine Le Pen — for a second consecutive time — reached the final round of French presidential elections this year.

But it is Italy, the birthplace of Fascism, that looks likely to be led not only by its first female prime minister in Ms. Meloni but the first Italian leader whose party can trace its roots back to the wreckage of Italian Fascism. » | Jason Horowitz | Saturday, September 24, 2022

Related articles: En français. Auf Deutsch. In English.

Sweden Is Becoming Unbearable

Supporters of the Sweden Democrats political party during its election night rally. | Jonathan Nackstrand/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
OPINION: GUEST ESSAY
THE NEW YORK TIMES: STOCKHOLM — “Helg seger.”

Those two words, spoken by Rebecka Fallenkvist, a 27-year-old media figure and politician from the Sweden Democrats, the far-right party that took 20 percent in Sweden’s general election last week, sent shivers down spines throughout the country. It’s not the phrase, which is odd and means “weekend victory.” It’s the sound: one letter away from “Hell seger,” the Swedish translation of the Nazi salute “Sieg Heil,” and the war cry of Swedish Nazis for decades.

Ms. Fallenkvist was quick to disavow any Nazi associations. She meant to declare the weekend a victorious one, she said, but the words came out in the wrong order. Perhaps that’s true. But the statement would be entirely in keeping with the party Ms. Fallenkvist represents which, after a steady rise, is now likely to play a major role in the next government.

For Sweden, a country that trades on being a bastion of social democracy, tolerance and fairness, it’s a shock. But perhaps it shouldn’t be. Steadily rising for the past decade, the Swedish far right has profited from the country’s growing inequalities, fostering an obsession with crime and an antipathy to migrants. Its advance marks the end of Swedish exceptionalism, the idea that the country stood out both morally and materially.

There’s no doubt about the party’s Nazi origins. The Sweden Democrats was created in 1988 out of a neo-Nazi group called B.S.S., or Keep Sweden Swedish, and of the party’s 30 founding fathers, 18 had Nazi affiliations, according to a historian and former party member, Tony Gustaffson. Some of the founding fathers had even served in Hitler’s Waffen SS. » | Elisabeth Asbrink * | Tuesday, September 20, 2022

* Ms. Asbrink is the author of “1947: Where Now Begins” and “Made in Sweden: 25 Ideas That Created a Country.”