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.

A lot of perceived transphobia is actually homophobia.

People should use the phrase 'far-right' more carefully. BBC coverage of the EU elections was laughable. If I had ten pounds for every time they said 'far-right' (dragging out the a to make it faaaar right) I could retire. The real threat isn't from the 'faaaar right', it's from the far-left. They have much more power and influence. They dominate everything from the BBC and the universities to publishing and the arts. And many of them are breathtakingly intolerant. In fact, I suspect many left-wing activists would ditch democracy if they could. It's pretty much baked into their loony Marxist ideology – you know, the proletariat seize power, establish a temporary dictatorship (temporary!! lol, as if anyone ever voluntarily gives up power), and then, after a bit of unpleasantness, the state "withers away" and we have utopia.

Who are these far-right thugs we keep hearing about? I've never met any. And I've never witnessed a far-right march or demonstration. However, I have experienced bullying and aggression from 'woke' left-wingers. For crying out loud, just wander into the history section of Waterstones. Glance over the history books and within seconds you'll find one attacking British history and identity. The liberal-left have an overwhelming influence. The 'long march through the institutions' is pretty much complete.

Right-wing parties did well in the EU elections, true, but the chances of a genuine far-right party taking power are zero. In reality, most people who voted for them just want immigration brought under control. That hardly makes you faaaar-right. Wanting illegal immigrants deported does not make you far-right either. It makes you sensible and rational. The clue is in the word illegal. If I moved to the U.S., for example, and overstayed my Visa, I would expect to be deported, just as I would expect to be arrested if I broke into someone's house. There is no hunger for genuine far-right policies. Even the people who voted for these parties do not want capital punishment, or the persecution of gay people, or war with their neighbours, or idiots in shiny black uniforms strutting around. Like I said, they just want a sensible approach to mass immigration.

That’s because they are. As a progressive it is important to call even the slightest transgression from the orthodoxy out so that we can build a better future. Free thinking is a terrible idea that leads to problematic movements such a trans exclusionary radical feminism or European skepticism and it must be discouraged utterly at every level.

Nothing to see here then.🙄 I don't understand the posters on this thread who deny the existence and danger of far right British groups and sentiment.

www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/reform-uk-candidates-are-facebook-friends-with-fascist-leader-8zzhzxjkt

There was some guy on Politics Live the other day.

He was saying the biggest danger of the far right was normalising it. Ie moderate right parties merging with far right as with the rise of Nazism.

Rishi trying to capture Reform voters is how it starts.

It’s a massive minority and they are not worth the oxygen tbh ( the extreme right or left to be clear)

Yes they are silencing and muzzling opinion as not worthy if it doesn't exactly match their world view. It’s terrifying. Truly terrifying.

The FR are looking distinctly pro libertarian these days and seem happy to discuss all views. I think we are entering very dangerous territory now. Even the media are completely incapable of neutral reporting and the bbc is like a Labour PR machine that we are all paying for.

AfD came second in the EU election. Daniel Halemba was arrested for totalitarian symbols and was heard chanting Siege Heil. Maximilian Krah was booted out after saying that the SS weren't necessarily criminals. He also said that immigration was 'colonisation' and the 'oriental landgrab' leads to 'sexual abuse of European girls.'

Bjorn Hockey ended a speech with 'Everything for Germany.' A Nazi slogan. He described a Holocaust Memorial as 'a monument of shame'. Apparently there was a secret meeting where mass deportation of non ethnic Germans was discussed.

I don't think people realise how a lot of this behaviour and radicalisation is being done online. And yes, it's a slow creep towards normalisation as more moderate parties take on board more extreme views to retain power.

So what are we to do? The left is the same. Many predicted the backlash of trying to absorb tens of millions of arrivals…

I think we should sit back, relax and await our goose stepping overlords

What are you talking about?

So what are we to do?

Acknowledgement and awareness of the problem is a start. Denial is is dangerous.

Germany has had a big rise in sexual assaults and murder by Middle Eastern asylum seekers in the last few years. This has led to alot of women voting for the AFD as the authorities have tried to cover these crimes up (the same thing happens in the UK on a smaller scale).

I don’t think we have an extreme problem in the U.K. atm. I can’t see a huge swathe of support for the EDL or the BNP quite the reverse.

Agreed, often what people are calling a far-right viewpoint is something that was accepted as normal, sane, widely-held belief until recently.

One of the ways we can counter the rise of the far right is to make sure we police our communities and hold people accountable when they say things that we as a society deem out of line. If your uncle at the dinner table expresses any negative sentiment about mass immigration then you should be able to report him to a designated community officer who can then keep a file of all relevant transgressions and forward them to law enforcement if necessary.

It’s all well and good wringing our hands over the rise of the far right but we as decent and tolerant people need to do more to curb the scourge of wrongthink before these ideas permeate and people start a populist movement against democracy.

Decent and tolerant people? What, like you?

Dob your uncle in for expressing the opinion that maybe there are too many people coming into the UK… good Lord! (And I say that as an immigrant.)

People like you are the reason for the so-called rise of the “far right”.

You say this as if by virtue of the fact that he is my uncle means he deserves any more protection for his repugnant views than anybody else. A racist is a racist regardless of whether he is my family or not.

I had a cousin who thought he could lecture me about the so called Rotherham grooming scandal and let’s just say, his girlfriend found out a day later that he had been cheating on her while she was out at work. I had been holding on to that information for weeks, it didn’t matter one jot that he was family.

I think they're joking.

I'd love to see those stats. I can't find a breakdown by sex of who votes for the AfD. If you also have the data on reasons for voting for them, eg rise in crime by immigrants, that would be great. Thanks

These delightful Far right sweethearts up in Scotland at the start of the year who kicked some old people.

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/b/h-scotland-2nd-year-ends-fascist-whimper-erskine
Absolutely charming.@

https://v4na.com/en/migrants-assault-over-7000-women-in-recent-years-in-germany-123988/ there are lots of articles since cologne on increase in attacks on women in Germany. Have seen opinion pieces on women and young people increasingly voting for afd but will look for stats.

What? The innnate superiority of white men people?

Thank you I appreciate it. I know there has been an increase in crime in Germany but can't find a breakdown on who votes for the AfD and their reasons for doing so. I know they attract a lot of young people but the far right tends to attract a lot of young men. German women tend to be more left leaning but it will be interesting to see if that's changed and the reasons for that.

Ha that’s a funny one. White men are the most bigoted, racist, sexist and dangerous men on the planet.

Not exactly sure what they have got to feel superior about.