Rise of the far right

[BardsAreAssholes]

I am watching election news with increasing fear. The deranged Trump conspiracy theorists supporters in the US, overturning Roe Vs Wade, the far right gaining traction in Europe, some of the rhetoric here. Hell, the fact the Rwanda idea was not immediately dismissed as insane.

Then outside the West there’s the threat to women’s lives in Afghanistan, Iran…

How does this end? How does it reverse? Other than a WW2 scenario, how do we secure the safety and freedom of women and girls?

I want to be optimistic, but I’m struggling to see a route to progress. I’m hoping the much more knowledgeable souls of FWR will know.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali is not far right. Which of her views are abhorrent?

There's a big far right movement amongst women in the US at the moment as well. I can't name all their names but there are various organisations you can look up. They certainly do not have feminism on the agenda.

Maybe not typically? However comparing Black Lives Matter to ISIS, asking Christians to convert non-threatening muslims, her rebuttal of atheism and it not being comparable with the western world and its ideals. I’m not sure I’d agree with her that Islamophobia is made up either. She lazily collates Wahhabism with Islam in an attempt to garner popularity amongst the uneducated and right-wing.

Many of them are strongly anti abortion.
I'm always a little shocked when I see the anti abortion protestors in the USA and there are so many women prominent in the photos.
Lynn Fitch basically ended Roe-Wade.
Many women, including those in power aren't for women.

The pendulum is swinging. It went far to the left, now it is going far to the right. It will eventually settle as it always does.

Marjorie Taylor Greene certainly isn't!

Bring in changes that noticeably make people's lives better when they are in power is whst they can do.

That's what New Labour did and it got them 3 terms and they weren't exactly wiped out by a landslide defeat when the coalition got in. People were getting miffed after a drop in living standards after the 2008 crash snd a noticeable rise in immigration which the right used to persuade them immigrants were the issue.

But now that the cons have done brexit and it's made things worse, people can't pay their bills and buy food and rent and mortgage costs are huge. They also let slip with the Truss budget what they would actually be prepared to do to normal households to impose their idea of the right way to run a country- resulting in very little financial security for most people.

So the country turns to the centre/left again and thinks let's give this lot a chance.

EU parliament votes were always seen as a bit of protest vote in the UK. I expect its the same elsewhere in Europe.

In the UK it's very difficult because we don't have an independent press. Out press is owned by a handful of billionaires who don't want a left/socialist government. Blair had to abandon a lot of left leaning policies and get in bed with Murdoch.

Scapegoating is a huge problem. Neo Liberalism creates huge divisions in society, lack of investment compounds it and immigrants are the perfect scapegoat.

Etcetera Etcetera

The Guardian? The Independent? The New European?

All completely captured by gender ideology, which is not popular with large swathes of the population, so that doesn't help.

The Independent is owned by Lebedev. No one reads The New European.

People do read the Mail, Mirror, Sun, Telegraph and the Times however.

No mention of the Guardian, I note. Not that it has a huge readership.

And the Mirror is consistently pro Labour.

However, the question is, are people influenced by the papers and websites they happen to read, or do they read papers and websites that echo the opinions they already have?

Bit of a chicken and egg situation.

Do you seriously think the Guardian could swing an election?

People tend to live in cosy bubbles and echo chambers. You only have to look at Brexit, the lies and spin to see how gullible and ill informed people are. How many leavers do you reckon actually researched opposing views? Populist politics and soundbites. Not that I want to derail ...

I think people have an idea of what is right and then search out stuff that confirms their biases. I think thats true regardless of politics. I also think claiming people are all brainwashed is quite insulting really. It is a bit of an assumption to think they are thick because they see things differently. We have an environment where instead of arguing in good faith people people throw personal insults rather than bothering to look honestly at their arguments and refuting them with good debate.

I don’t go on twitter much but I do follow a variety of accounts when I haven’t deleted it for being a bit of a cesspit. Recently my feed switched from vehemently pro-Israel to vehemently pro Palestine quite quickly. for some reason I keep getting racist accounts popping up, I’m a BAME woman so no thank you, I think I looked at a few out of curiosity and I’m now bombarded with them. Goes to show that whatever you express an interest in you will receive confirmation of your views.

People do not feel listened to. Do you really think that immigration is not really a problem and people aren’t scared to end up like Iran? Most major cities with Left wing leaders are in a dire grim state. San Francisco, New York, Barcelona, London to name a few. Contrast that with Madrid, Malaga, Miami? As uneducated as you can perceive me I travel and I notice. People just want safety and security for their own. Also, to earn a decent living without being taxed so much. Yes, banning abortion is crazy but at the moment people have other priorities. Middle class is disappearing and there is so much resentment at least in this country. Nothing really improves no matter who is in.

Maybe not typically? However comparing Black Lives Matter to ISIS, asking Christians to convert non-threatening muslims, her rebuttal of atheism and it not being comparable with the western world and its ideals. I’m not sure I’d agree with her that Islamophobia is made up either. She lazily collates Wahhabism with Islam in an attempt to garner popularity amongst the uneducated and right-wing.

Isn't she an ex Muslim? I imagine she understands the issues better than most non Muslim people and has the right to decide for herself what she thinks.

Me too - the Left have caused this swing with their fucking lunacy.

She is an amazing woman.

And a victim of FGM.

I look at the USA and I probably wouldn’t vote in the next election. Some states are trying to now undo the damage of laxer drugs laws and lax policing, democrats are on the trans bandwagon. On the other hand I loathe Trump for all the reasons so I couldn’t blame anyone for sitting this one out.

Tbh though not much has changed in the EU parliament in terms of power. French election will be one to watch.

Also Ayaan Hirsi Ali is a woman who has suffered a lot and had the intelligence and drive to have a very different life to the one circumstances could have led her to. It takes some serious backbone to publicly disavow Islam. She was an atheist for a long time and I imagine her views are very much informed by the Islam she grew up around, there are Iranians for example who are anti-religion precisely because it was used as a tool of oppression against them, quite a few see it as colonialist project.

Of course people practise religion differently and that doesn’t reflect on others who don’t feel oppressed by the faith they grew up in. I know many happily non oppressed muslim women.

The pendulum is swinging far to the right because its swinging equally far to the right. Roe v Wade did not make abortion illegal.

Being a pro life conservative is not the same as being ‘far’ right.

Pro life is a significant faction of the republican party. It represents the views of a part of the population - as democracy does.

Most pro abortion democratic states in the US have far more permissive abortion laws than 90% of european countries.

Immigration is a good thing when people do it legally and want to assimilate into the culture of the people they are trying to join. It is not when it is illegal and not accompanied by these sentiments. Up til 5 minutes ago everyone left and right mostly agreed to this.

I understand why people might feel afraid. But the danger is not the far right it is the extreme choking out the middle.

also, by the by Trump’s view on the issues this time around is far more Centrist than Biden’s. He’s just a more polarizing figure.

Why on earth are people here equating feminism with needing to be right wing? Honestly it doesn't matter what someone's gender politics is, if they don't support better public services, benefits and caring for those people unable to take care of themselves I'm not interested in. True feminists wouldn't vote Tory

I think you'll find this is more a closet Tory thread than a feminist one.

The left worry far more. It’s terrifying to imagine that women’s rights and women themselves are about to be erased a few weeks from now in the U.K. and you are worrying about Trump etc. We have a far bigger problem here tbh.

The US has very different views on abortion to the UK. I believe approx 90 per cent of the UK believe in abortion and in the US it's 50 per cent for both sexes, so is certainly not a far right issue. However, elimination of women's rights is a far right issue.

Immigration and nationalism is a hot topic all over Europe. Many countries have been overwhelmed by migrants and feel invaded. They are concerned about cultural identity and a 'religious takeover' seeing it as a threat to their liberal way of life.

What do you mean by 'choking out of the middle '?

Trump is a polarising figure because of his chauvinism, racism, misogyny, which includes allegations of rape and sexual assault. His lack of diplomacy, his isolationism, his regressive views and most recently his corruption offences. He worked with the far right to dispute the election results. The far right love him.

The far left, left, centrist and right wing parties have all failed to actually improve people's lives and deal with their concerns. All of them are merely flavours of the same shit sandwich. Anything and everything is smeared as far right and racist. With zero humility to understand issues and accept that THEY are ones that have pushed people towards parties that claim to have the solutions to society's problems.

The sheer arrogance to think the 'little people' are empty airheads easily swayed by reading 'bad' things online and in newspapers. But somehow THEY themselves are never brainwashed. No, no, they are smart and intellectual and righteous. Everything they read is very clever and always accurate and honest. Not like those idiots running after the 'far right'.

They denigrate and insult white people all the time. Look down on anything that respects history and culture. Constantly lecturing and forcing bat shit ideologies and beliefs onto people, and labelling dissent as 'hate speech'. Why would immigrants give a shit about your country when you don't even respect it yourself?

The 'far right' would have zero traction if people's problems and concerns were genuinely being dealt with. But even right wing parties have zero respect for their countries and their people, preferring cheap labour instead of actually investing in their citizens. They are obsessed with 'the market' and are deluded in thinking it can miraculously solve every single problem. Government intervention and public funding is required to deal with housing and employment issues, falling birth rates etc and therefore they can't bring themselves to do that because they are devoted to 'small' governments.