Europe’s ‘Mini-Trumps’ Survived His Fall. Now They’re Hoping for His Comeback

THE GUARDIAN – OPINION: From Orbán in Hungary to Fico in Slovakia, populists are looking to a Trump win to boost their power in the EU

Viktor Orbán and Donald Trump at the White House in Washington DC, 13 May 2019.Photograph: Chris Kleponis/EPA
When Donald Trump lost the White House in 2020, Europe’s strongmen, populists and climate change deniers lost a powerful ally and a protector. Yet most of Europe’s mini-Trumps have survived his fall, his denial of defeat and the storming of Congress by his supporters, and are now hoping that a comeback for the Republican frontrunner in next year’s US presidential election will put fresh wind in their own sails.

In his four years in office, Trump described the European Union as a “foe”and Nato as “obsolete”. He had earlier openly applauded the UK’s vote for Brexit and encouraged other countries to follow suit. He pulled the United States out of global agreements to fight climate change, tore up arms control treaties, slapped tariffs on his allies and picked fights with Germany over trade and defence spending. And he rolled out the red carpet for the populist leaders of Poland and Hungary just as they were defying EU censure over moves to snuff out judicial independence, civil rights and media pluralism. » | Paul Taylor | Tuesday, September 26, 2023

The Rise of Éric Zemmour Shows How Far France Has Shifted to the Right

THE GUARDIAN: The far-right media pundit is now a presidential candidate – and his toxic ideas have ever more mainstream support

Éric Zemmour announces his candidacy for the 2022 presidential election in a video broadcast on social media, Paris, 30 November 2021. Photograph: Thomas Samson/AFP/Getty Images
On 17 November, the far-right journalist and polemicist Éric Zemmour went on trial in Paris on charges of incitement to racial hatred. In September 2020, he had said on the French news broadcaster CNews that unaccompanied foreign minors were “thieves, they’re murderers, they’re rapists, that’s all they are. We must send them back”. He did not appear at the trial and was represented by his lawyers, who said the charges were unfounded. The verdict is expected to be delivered next year.

Zemmour has previously been convicted of incitement to racial hatred and religious hatred and been tried and acquitted in several other cases. But the stakes are different this time: the defendant is now a candidate for president of the French republic. In early November, polls indicated that up to 17% of the electorate would choose him for next president. This placed him behind only Emmanuel Macron, suggesting that the second round of the election could be between the two men. On 30 November, he officially announced his candidacy. » | Didier Fassin * | Wednesday, November 1, 2021

* Didier Fassin is a professor at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, and director of studies at the École des Hautes Études, Paris

Christchurch Mosque Killer’s Theories Seeping into Mainstream, Report Warns

THE OBSERVER: Call to tackle extreme white nationalist ideas propagating hatred and violence gaining traction on social media

The extreme rightwing ideology that inspired the Christchurch mosque killer has been promoted so effectively by the far right that it has entered mainstream political discourse, new analysis reveals.

Researchers have found that organised far-right networks are pushing a conspiracy known as the “great replacement” theory to the extent that references to it online have doubled in four years, with more than 1.5 million on Twitter alone, a total that is rising exponentially.

The theory emerged in France in 2014 and has become a dominant concept of the extreme right, focusing on a paranoia that white people are being wiped out through migration and violence. It received increased scrutiny after featuring in the manifesto of the gunman who killed 51 people in the Christchurch attacks in New Zealand in March.

Now the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD), a UK-based counter-extremist organisation, has found that the once-obscure ideology has moved into mainstream politics and is now referenced by figures including US president Donald Trump, Italian interior minister Matteo Salvini and Björn Höcke of the German Alternative für Deutschland (AfD). » | Nosheen Iqbal and Mark Townsend | Sunday, July 7, 2019

Le Pen and the Rise of the Far-right in France - BBC Newsnight

Marine Le Pen and her far-right Front National are expected to do well in upcoming elections in France. What does the rise of the far right mean for French politics? And what is her father, Jean-Marie Le Pen, doing now? Gabriel Gatehouse reports.

Misery Meets Greece's Migrants (May 22, 2009)

Germany Bans Two Far-Right Groups
BBC: German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schauble has shut down two far-right organisations, describing them as "reservoirs" of Holocaust deniers.

In a statement, the interior ministry said the authorities had raided 30 sites linked to the groups, which were based in three western German states.

Mr Schauble said they had been involved in "disseminating anti-Semitic propaganda" and glorifying the Nazis.

Holocaust denial is a criminal offence under German law.
The interior ministry said both groups had violated Germany's constitution.

They were named as Collegium Humanum and the Association for the Rehabilitation of Those Persecuted for Questioning the Holocaust, and were said to be based in Lower Saxony, Hesse and North Rhine-Westphalia. [Source: Germany Bans Two Far-Right Groups] | May 7, 2008

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Taschenbuch)
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Gebundene Ausgabe)