Left-wing Policies Have Promoted the Rise of Barbarism

EXPRESS: THE fashionable progressive agenda is wrecking our once stable, free society. In the name of tolerance, the craven political establishment has promoted barbarism in our midst. For decades, our rulers have presented mass immigration and multi-culturalism as forces for social advancement.

But in the aftermath of the Woolwich atrocity, the malign consequences of this strategy are all too clear. Far from bringing harmony and compassion, the politically correct state has achieved the very opposite. The transformation of our social fabric has led to segregation rather than integration, distrust instead of unity, fear in place of freedom.

Multi-cultural diversity might be portrayed as a liberal policy but in practice it has led to discrimination, misogyny and oppression across our urban areas, while encouraging the growth of extremism.

In a speech in 2011 David Cameron proclaimed that “a genuinely liberal country believes in certain values and actively promotes them: freedom of speech; freedom of worship; the rule of law; and equal rights regardless of race, sex or sexuality.”

His rhetoric was laudable but has hardly been matched by the actions of the Government, which has long shown a craven reluctance to uphold the liberal traditions of Britain.

OBSESSED with the ideology of diversity, our political masters have not only allowed the immigration rate to reach more than 500,000 arrivals every single year, but also have refused to demand that newcomers accept the British way of life.

Instead immigrants have been encouraged to cling to their own cultures and customs.

During their 13 years of misrule, Labour was particularly enthusiastic about enforcing this destructive strategy, partly through their instinctive loathing for their own country, which they liked to portray as outdated and racist, and partly through their desire to expand their client army of supporters, given that 80 per cent of immigrants vote Labour.

What is so tragic is that a party of the Left, trumpeting its supposedly liberal credentials, should have pursued a policy that is so fundamentally illiberal. Labour’s fixation with identity politics and mass immigration had led to the import of deeply reactionary, anti-democratic, superstitious tribalism on an epic scale. Read on and comment » | Leo McKinstry | Thursday, May 30, 2013

'Sick Conditions': Why Greeks Will Vote for Tsipras

SPIEGEL ONLINE INTERNATIONAL: Greeks have spurned the politicians who represent the country's broken system, and many are now following rising star Alexis Tsipras. The radical left-wing politician has pledged to free Greece from painful austerity measures while keeping the euro, but no one knows how he plans to fulfill his promises.

Alexis Tsipras, the man who will very likely emerge again as the winner of the upcoming Greek parliamentary election, is campaigning throughout the country primarily under one slogan: "We won't pay any more."

He doesn't say what would replace the "barbarism of the austerity dictates," which he maintains that the European Union partners, above all German Chancellor Angela Merkel, have forced upon his country. He argues that the Europeans are only bluffing -- and he promises that they will continue to help, even if the Greeks no longer service their debts. He says: Elect me and all this misery will come to an end.

Stavros Lygeros, 59, is sitting in a café in the posh Athens neighborhood Neo Psychiko. Lygeros is a political commentator and a bourgeois intellectual. He's endeavoring to explain why the Greeks are following Tsipras in droves, although this young politician is clearly a seductive new star and his successful radical left-wing Radical Left Coalition (Syriza) cannot explain who will pay the future salaries of civil servants, doctors and nurses. Lygeros says that many Syriza voters don't even believe that this party has a solution.

The tragedy is that Greeks don't really have a choice when they return to the polls on June 17 -- their only option is refusal and protest. Suddenly all of Europe is demanding that they vote once again for, of all people, the very politicians who brought them all this misery in the first place, namely the socialists under Evangelos Venizelos and the conservatives under Antonis Samaras.

Because the discredited parties stand for the loan agreement and the conditions laid down by the lenders, many Greeks see Tsipras as their only alternative. At 37, he is young compared to the usual gerontocrats who dominate Greek politics. With an annual income last year of €48,000 ($61,000), a motorcycle and a modest apartment, he's fairly poor for a politician, which is yet another factor that fuels his popularity among voters. And he's the only one who promises to free Greece from the yoke of the austerity measures -- yet retain the euro. » | Julia Amalia Heyer | Monday, May 21, 2012

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Alexis Tsipras Warns Greek Crisis Is Also Europe's

THE GUARDIAN: Greece's leftwing leader tells Paris audience that other EU countries will be next if they fail to oppose radical austerity drive

The rising star of Europe Alexis Tsipras, the radical left Greek leader, has arrived in Paris to warn EU countries that their turn would come if they failed to oppose the radical austerity that is driving Greece to the brink of "collective suicide".

Tsipras, who is leading an austerity-backlash, said the future of Europe and the euro depended on the outcome of the Greece debt crisis. And he said he could feel a "wind of change" blowing across the continent that he hoped would lead to the "complete re-founding of Europe based on social cohesion and solidarity".

To continue down the path of austerity, he warned, would turn the Greek tragedy into an European catastrophe.

"Greece is a link in a chain. If it breaks it is not just the link that is broken but the whole chain. What people have to understand is that the Greek crisis concerns not just Greece but all European people so a common European solution has to be found," he told a press conference in Paris.

"The public debt crisis is hitting the south of Europe but it will soon hit central Europe. People have to realise that their own country could be threatened.

"We are here to explain to people in Europe that we have nothing against them. We are fighting the battle in Greece not just for the Greek people but for people in France, Germany and all European countries."

"I am not here to blackmail, I am here to mobilise," he said.

"Greece gave humanity democracy and today the Greek people will bring democracy back to Europe." » | Kim Willsher in Paris | Monday, May 21, 2012

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Greek Leftist Leader Alexis Tsipras: 'It's a War between People and Capitalism'

THE GUARDIAN: Greece's eurozone fate may now be in the hands of the 37-year-old political firebrand and his Syriza party

"I don't believe in heroes or saviours," says Alexis Tsipras, "but I do believe in fighting for rights … no one has the right to reduce a proud people to such a state of wretchedness and indignity."

The man who holds the fate of the euro in his hands – as the leader of the Greek party willing to tear up the country's €130bn (£100bn) bailout agreement – says Greece is on the frontline of a war that is engulfing Europe.

A long bombardment of "neo-liberal shock" – draconian tax rises and remorseless spending cuts – has left immense collateral damage. "We have never been in such a bad place," he says, sleeves rolled up, staring hard into the middle distance, from behind the desk that he shares in his small parliamentary office. "After two and a half years of catastrophe Greeks, are on their knees. The social state has collapsed, one in two youngsters is out of work, there are people leaving en masse, the climate psychologically is one of pessimism, depression, mass suicides."

But while exhausted and battle weary, the nation at the forefront of Europe's escalating debt crisis and teetering on the edge of bankruptcy is also hardened. And, increasingly, they are looking towards Tsipras to lead their fight.

"Defeat is the battle that isn't waged," says the young politician who almost overnight has seen his radical left coalition party, Syriza, jump from representing fewer than 5% of Greeks to enjoying ratings of more than 25% in polls.

"You ask me if I am afraid. I'd be afraid if we continued on this path, a path to social hell … when someone fights there is a big chance that he will win and we are fighting this to win."

Before Greeks went to the polls on 6 May, neither Tsipras nor his party were a name to be reckoned with. If anything both were the butt of vague mockery: a former pony-tailed student communist leading a rag-tag band of ex-Trotskyists, Maoists, champagne socialists and greens. Tsipras's assistants – wielding Louis Vuitton bags and fashionable sunglasses – readily admit they are signed up "militants" mostly of the anti-globalisation cause. » | Helena Smith in Athens | Friday, May 18, 2012

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Austerity Anger Boosts European Extreme Parties
In the Netherlands and across Europe, the growing anger towards austerity measures is leading to a boost in support for the far-left and far-right parties. Al Jazeera's Jonah Hull reports from The Hague.

Related here, here, here, here, here, and here.

After the Oslo Massacre, an Assault on Free Speech
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: Norway's left seeks to silence Islam's critics by linking them to a mass murderer.

Last July 22, a powerful explosion rocked a government building in downtown Oslo, killing eight people. Later that day, 69 people, mostly teenagers, were shot to death by a lone gunman at a Labor Party camp on the nearby island of Utøya. By nightfall, police had a suspect in custody: a 32-year-old Norwegian named Anders Behring Breivik, who had apparently carried out both attacks on his own.

Contrary to nearly everyone's original assumption that Islamic terrorists were behind the Oslo attack, a 1,500-page "manifesto" by Breivik showed that he opposed the mass immigration of Muslims into Norway and had targeted the Labor Party gathering because of the party's role in shaping the country's multicultural immigration policy.

As an American who had lived in Oslo since 1999, I was deeply distressed by the atrocities of July 22. But when I learned that they were the work of a native Norwegian who claimed to have acted in opposition to Norwegian multiculturalism, I was even more devastated. For I saw at once what this would mean.

Consider this: Criticizing Islam is now a punishable offense in several European countries. In the past few months alone, a Danish court fined writer Lars Hedegaard for talking about Islam's treatment of women in his own home, and activist Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff was found guilty of lecturing about Muhammad's marital history in what an Austrian court considered an inappropriate tone.

Critics of Islam have yet to be put on trial in Norway. But as I watched Norwegian TV's coverage of the massacre in Oslo and at Utøya, it was clear to me that such critics—who were already used to being labeled racists and "Islamophobes"—would have an even rougher time after July 22.

"In Norway," I wrote in these pages on July 25, "to speak negatively about any aspect of the Muslim faith has always been a touchy matter . . . . It will, I fear, be a great deal more difficult to broach these issues now that this murderous madman has become the poster boy for the criticism of Islam."

This statement was harshly criticized by Norway's multicultural left. How dare anyone speak of such issues at a time like this! It was as if the concerns I had raised were abstract or narrowly political.

On the contrary, Islam's rise in the West is a subject that needs to be discussed frankly, without euphemism or disinformation. The survival of secular democracy, individual liberty and women's rights depends upon it. » | Bruce Bawer *| Tuesday, February 07, 2012

• Mr. Bawer's e-book about the aftermath of the July 22 atrocities in Norway, "The New Quislings," has just been published by Broadside Books, an imprint of HarperCollins.

WIKI: Bruce Bawer »

Arianna Huffington: Beyond Left and Right
The co-founder of The Huffington Post on why the old concept of the political left and right marginalises issues.

A Map without Israel: Germany's Left Party Faces Charges of Anti-Semitism

SPIEGEL ONLINE INTERNATIONAL: Swatiskas intertwined in the Star of David, a map of the Middle East with Israel missing, boycotts of Israeli products: Germany's far-left Left Party, many feel, has a growing anti-Semitism problem. The issue threatens to divide the party.

Germany's far-left Left Party has been struggling for months to have its voice heard on the national political stage. Falling membership numbers, shrinking support and a very public leadership battle this spring have all left the party struggling to find relevance.

Now, though, the party is facing yet another challenge. For years, the Left Party -- a partial outgrowth of the East German communists -- has been criticized for harboring anti-Semitism and being overtly critical of Israel. Just recently, Left Party floor leader Gregor Gysi pushed a resolution through the party's parliamentary faction stating: "In the future, the representatives of the Left Party faction will take action against any form of anti-Semitism in society."

The party, the resolution read, will no longer participate in boycotts of Israeli products, will refrain from demanding a single-state solution to the Middle East conflict and will not take part in this year's Gaza flotilla.

That resolution, however, did not sit well with the party's left wing. The group protested against being "muzzled," complaining that Gysi's declaration was "undemocratic" and "dangerous," as Left Party parliamentarian Annette Groth complained. And Gysi, formerly head of the party, gave in. This week, he plans to compose a further resolution on anti-Semitism.

He provided a hint at what it might contain in a recent interview with the leftist paper Neues Deutschland. "I don't see a problem with anti-Semitism in the Left Party," he said. "I am not a fan of the inflationary use of the term 'anti-Semitism.'" Gysi himself is from a family that has Jewish roots, several members of which were murdered by the Nazis in the Holocaust. » | cgh -- with reporting by Markus Deggerich | Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Ed Miliband: I Would Raise Taxes Higher Than Gordon Brown
THE TELEGRAPH: Ed Miliband’s Labour Party will push for increases in taxation at a higher rate than that proposed by Gordon Brown at the last general election.

The new leader said that he wanted to do “more” from taxation, adding that plans by Alistair Darling, the former chancellor, to cut the deficit over four years were only a “starting point”.

Mr Miliband, who joined in the traditional singing of the Red Flag at the close of Labour conference, has hit out his characterisation as “Red Ed” after he defeated his brother for the party leadership with the support of the trade unions.

But in a break from the New Labour era, when Tony Blair’s ministers shied away from advocating tax rises, he made clear that he was unafraid of being labelled left-wing. >>> Rosa Prince, Political Correspondent | Thursday, September 30, 2010

Israel Opinion: America Turns Left
YNET NEWS: Sever Plocker says Obama win opens unfamiliar social-democratic chapter in US history

It wasn’t about skin color, but rather, about the views. For the first time in history, a statesman who can be characterized as a European-style social-democrat will enter the White House. It never happened before and it wouldn’t have happened now had it not been for the American financial crisis, which exposed the failure of unrestrained, merciless, rampant capitalism.

The broad and overwhelming objection to the collapsing “Wall Street system” enabled Obama to convey his message to the masses: Things will change. No more business as usual! I will lead the change. America under my leadership will forever part ways with the decayed financial system that brought us here, Obama told the young men and women who melted in the face of his gaze and quivered to the sound of his voice.

And what will replace the old system? Obama has remained economical in respect to the details of his presidential plans. However, his latest appearances conveyed great credibility because of the three figures standing by him: Former Treasury Secretaries Larry Summers and Bob Rubin, as well as former Fed Chairman Paul Volcker. The three aces.

Republican candidate John McCain not only lacked such [a] dream team – during his election campaign he relied on the advice of dubious economists bordering on charlatanism. Only towards the end of the campaign he brought in some distinguished characters, such as the plumber from Ohio and the governor of California. But that was too late.

I do not view the election of a dark-skinned citizen as America’s president as a historic revolution. Afro-Americans have already served in the most senior government position: Secretary of state. Had Colin Powell or Condoleezza Rice run for president and won, the change in America’s political life would be minor; marginal even.

The great turnaround has to do with the unique blend featured by Obama: Not only is he a social-democrat, he is black too; not only is he black, he is young; not only is he young, he is a Muslim who became Christian; Not [sic] only is [he] a Muslim-turned-Christian, he’s pro-Zionist; not only is he pro-Zionist, he is black too; not only is he black, he’s a social-democrat.

This multifaceted blend excited Americans to the point of losing all senses, including the natural sense of criticism and skepticism. Leading American intellectuals, ranging from columnists to physics professors, from authors to filmmakers, bowed down before Obama. And they were not the only ones. According to a poll by British weekly The Economist, citizens of the world would have granted Obama 80% support, at least, had they been able to vote in the elections. >>> Israel Opinion | November 5, 2008

The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Paperback (US) Barnes & Noble >>>
The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Hardcover (US) Barnes & Noble >>>

Not a Question of Left, Not a Question of Right
There is a general feeling among many people that to be for the containment of Islam and against its rapid advance is to be extreme right wing.

In my opinion, this is not a question of right-wing or left-wing; rather, it's a question of common sense and a strong desire to maintain and strengthen our own civilization.

To allow Islam to grow apace in the West is tantamount to weakening our civilization, since Islam is our civilization's main competitor. It always has been, and always will be. To weaken one is to strengthen the other. Unashamedly, I am for strengthening ours. I make no apologies for that, since our civilization is based on Judeo-Christianity, and it has served us well. It has guaranteed far more and far better human rights, it has given us freedom of speech and freedom of expression, and a plethora of other freedoms which people in many other countries can only dream of. So, I re-iterate: It is not a matter of the politics of the left or the right; but it is a question of common sense and the will to survive!

What we need is good, solid, strong leadership: leadership by men of vision. Leadership by people who can see the problems ahead of us clearly, and leadership by people who can avert the disasters which may well befall us.

Unfortunately, today, the West is bereft of good, strong leadership. At the very time we need it, we don't have it. Would that society could throw up another Churchill or Roosevelt. Where would the West be today but for their sound leadership in times of crisis?

Today, wherever we look, leadership is flawed: In the US, we have President Bush - his leadership has been greatly weakened by his misguided attempt to bring democracy to Iraq. This is one experiment which is destined to fail, ultimately, since, as I have said many times before, Islam and democracy make strange bedfellows. In the one, all power rests with Allah and filters down; in the other, all power rests with the people, and filters up. It's difficult to square that circle! It seems quite fair to say that Bush's understanding of the main threat facing us - Islam - is wanting.

In the UK, we have a Prime Minister who is looking increasingly like a lame duck. He has spent eight years tinkering with the workings of government - unsuccessfully, it would seem to me - and has busied himself banning this, and banning that, and taking away people's freedoms into the bargain. Moreover, under his watch, we have a National Health Service which is in dire need of change, for it no longer functions as it should. Waiting lists to get treatment are long, and appear to be getting even longer. Our education system, too, is fouled up: educational standards no longer match up to the claims made for them. In addition, Tony Blair has sucked up to the Muslim community, and even wishes to introduce a bill which will stifle healthy debate about religion, fearing that healthy debate will offend the Muslim community! This man does not understand Islam - the main threat facing the Western world today!

In France, we have Chirac. Chirac is trying desperately to hold on to power at a time when his country is in crisis. A crisis caused largely by the Muslim community. Chirac, too, is a leader who shows no sign of understanding either Islam or how to deal effectively with its growth in France. Jacques Chirac lacks the courage and strength to take the necessary measures to deal with the crisis.

In Germany, we have Angela Merkel. She has come to power to boost the German economy, the engine of Europe. She has started badly, however, since she has had to appease the left in the 'grand coalition' by increasing taxes significantly in Germany to satisfy their demands, in return for being allowed to be the leader of the coalition. Increases in taxes in Germany make no sense, since the economy there is sluggish enough as it is. The increases in taxes which have been proposed will make the economy even more sluggish.

One thing, however, Angela Merkel has going for her: She wishes to put a stop to the ambitions of Turkey to accede to the EU, preferring instead to offer Turkey a privileged partnership. I fear she will have to gain in strength if she is to achieve the ambition of stopping Turkey, since there are many leaders in Europe, and in the USA, who seem very determined to get Turkey admitted and in so doing destroy Europe's heritage.

It has been said that Merkel has a strong potential ally in Nicolas Sarkozy, for he, too, is determined to keep Turkey out. Further, it is doubtful that the French themselves will be enamoured of the idea of allowing seventy odd million Muslims into Europe, especially after the mayhem that has been caused in France recently by their Muslim communities!

What we really need is someone to lead us to strength and victory. For, as Churchill was given to saying: without victory there is no survival! Our politically correct leaders today are far too mealy-mouthed to state such facts. They prefer to pander; for most of them live by the popularity polls! Doing what is popular is rarely the good option. As the Iron Lady used to say: I didn't come into politics to be popular; I came into it to do the right thing! Many leaders could learn a lesson from Mrs Thatcher! She led by her convictions, not by the popularity polls!

These days, it seems that we can only turn to royalty here in Europe if we wish to have some leadership! Our wonderful and gracious Queen Elizabeth II has affirmed her belief in the "uniqueness" of the Christian faith as a point of reference in the modern world. She said:

For Christians this pace of change represents an opportunity. When so much is in flux, when limitless amounts of information, much of it ephemeral, are instantly accessible on demand, there is a renewed hunger for that which endures.

In saying this, the Times said that she defied Al Qaeda. The Queen, it appears, is prepared to show solidity and courage in the face of evil.

Further, the Queen of Denmark is on record as saying:

We are being challenged by Islam these years - globally as well as locally. It is a challenge we have to take seriously. We have let this issue float about for too long because we are tolerant and lazy.

We have to show our opposition to Islam and we have to, at times, run the risk of having unflattering labels placed on us because there are some things for which we should display no tolerance.

And when we are tolerant, we must know whether it is because of convenience or conviction.

- Queen Margrethe of Denmark, from her recent biography.

President Bush has also shown some courage today on his trip to China, but has ruffled some feathers by holding Taiwan up as a rôle model for the Chinese! He pressed the Chinese authorities to allow more political and religious freedoms to the people of China. Isn't it strange that he can find the courage to challenge the Chinese on these matters, yet finds it so difficult to challenge the Saudis, and other Middle Eastern potentates to do the same? Does he not know how constrained the ordinary people of the Middle East are? Does he not know that they have no freedom to worship in the manner they wish, or not do so, as the case may be? Does he not know that people are tortured there for daring to defy the Islamic faith? Does he not know that people are beheaded in the public square for trivial reasons? Does he not know that churches may not be built, and that Christians are not free to worship in the Christian way, and are not even allowed to wear the crucifix around their necks? Does he not know that women are not free to drive, or free to go outside the home unaccompanied by male family members? Not even free to go into a café on a hot day to buy a cool drink? What kind of freedoms does the President call these? I wonder why he isn't lecturing there in the Middle East the same way as he is lecturing the Chinese?

You see, what we need is firm, strong leadership - leadership which is not hypocritical, and leadership which cares for the future of the free world, so that all peoples can live in peace, and freedom, and harmony. Not under the suppression of the growing influence of Islam!

©Mark Alexander

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