9.9.26
Dear Partners in Thought,
The AfD victory in Saxony-Anhalt, even if not absolute, is a natural development of a trend seen across Europe for some years. The East-German past of this region can explain the AfD’s results as may be the case in other eastern German regions. It is, of course, amazing to many given the Nazi past of Germany and its efforts to put it away for decades – even if quite a few AfD supporters would appear to openly share some neo-Nazi feelings. This development should be good to focus on the forces behind this hard-right populist development across Europe and what is needed to stop it for good.
The far-right is doing very well in the polls in most key European countries. France may be the first country to generate a far-right presidential win with Marine Le Pen next April, creating a pan-European shock that would threaten the very existence of the EU. Her antisemitic father, Jean-Marie, who founded the Popular Front in the late 1960s with former Vichy officials and OAS de facto terrorists, would likely not believe that it could have happened. Britain was also experiencing a rising Reform UK leading in the polls even if ill-fated Brexit-surviving Nigel Farage’s questionable party funding made it slide substantially in recent months. Italy offered Europe a unique case of a far-right leader who, when in power, showed a better understanding of country governance and the need for moderation while belonging to the EU and not showing a pro-Russian stance – unlike Alice Weidel and her AfD. It would be interesting to understand why these parties are leading the polls at around 35 per cent today even if many voters would likely still vote “against” them and not really “for” anyone in the final electoral rounds across Europe.
Immigration, especially of the illegal kind, has been the key focus of all far-right parties across Europe. This focus helped grabbing votes based on genuine exasperation about too many illegals staying in European countries and often disrupting societies, at times violently , even if the cases did not involve most of them. While immigrants were needed to work in many areas where the locals did not wish to work anymore, the influx was at times too big (like with the Merkel open door policy of 2015). Immigration, illegal or not, was not the sole issue at stake and was hard to deal with for liberal governments given the potentially racist nature of the problem at stake. The issue of illegal immigration was also linked to the ethnic origin of the immigrants as they came from black African or Arabic countries, also with a Muslim religion that was not the one of Europe and was sadly tainted by wars and terrorism of all kinds in the 21st century. Liberal governments were simply not able to deal with the sensitive nature of illegal immigration as if still feeling guilty for colonialism and wanting to live in true liberalism in our modern days, thus opening the road for hard-right populist parties to control the topic and indeed eventually win elections on this key matter. Liberal governments did not want to focus on the rising issue of national identity that most of their citizens felt strongly about for fear of being seen as racist. Such a matter became increasingly too hard to manage after years of immigration and some areas being almost entirely populated by non-ethnic Europeans as seen in some suburbs of Paris. The preservation of national or continental identity was not a racist matter but was too hard to manage or even mention for traditional European governments, sadly giving a great podium to far-right parties.
While they can easily secure votes and even win elections across Europe today – indeed their main if only top skillset – far-right parties are not equipped to manage modern governments efficiently and indeed in a democratic manner. The only way for them to eventually stay in power after a while, as their countries and even voters would likely suffer in many ways, especially economically, would be to dismantle the democratic set-up of their countries. History repeats itself and shows us many lessons of that nature. When looking at all the far-right leaders, from Farage, to Le Pen, Bardella or Weidel, they are not equipped with the backgrounds and skills to efficiently manage Britain, France and Germany. They also do not have the teams of ministers and competent public officials that liberal governments usually enjoy, even if they could be used better. A far-right win would eventually create social, economic and political chaos in the key countries of Europe. Looking at the US today and while the Trump administration and “different” Republican party are not yet of a far-right nature (a topic that can be argued at length), it is clear that their country has changed (not to mention the world) and not for the better, including for their own citizens. A lesson to be learned.
Liberal democratic governments of a left or right flavour should clearly seize the topic of illegal immigration and deal with it in a forceful and legal way, no doubt leading to sending back individuals who should not be in their countries. It is a fact that illegal immigration involves many individuals coming from continents like Africa that have different ethnic and cultural features than Europe, making such deportation policies favoured by the far-right tainted with an element of racism. However, illegal immigration is indeed illegal, often accompanied by crime, and should be dealt with efficiently by any European governments, including the liberal democratic ones that still run European countries today. There will always be a clear desire from European populations to protect national and indeed continental identity, which should not be perceived as an expression of racism but a need to keep countries “what they have been for centuries”. Dealing with what is perceived as excessive immigration should also be focused on legality and dealing efficiently with crime that historically has come along with such a trend. Prisons should then be built to deal with crime instead of releasing many inmates as there is no space in current locations. Such policies would make the stay of legal immigrants, many of whom are fine individuals and needed by local economies, much better for all parties. By being tough on illegal immigration and associated crime, democratic politicians and governments will take away the one and at times only policy focus of far-right parties which will become naked and seen for what they are: nothing or bad, especially for managing the future of their countries beyond their strong and indeed key vote grabbing skills. It is time to wake up and stop avoiding focusing on what matters as it is at times too sensitive for the nice liberal mind. Democracy needs to be fought for and hard decisions taken to ensure its future. In this respect and given our times, increased spending on defence, security and sensible immigration management are also key.
Warmest regards,
Serge
Desperate Measures 