After the Bell: Why is the electoral power of the far right in Europe increasing?

Chatting to my friends in Germany, there seems to be a view of some that the immigration gates have been open a bit to widely for to long, the influx being to great for the country to absorb and support. Reasons include cultural issues, where immigrants refuse to adapt to their new homes culture, and locals seem to be inflexible to any foreign cultures. It is generally not unreasonable to have to adapt to the countries culture you are living in however and whether true or not there seems to be a perception that this is not the case for many immigrants. It also includes financial challenges, where people that have worked their entire lives in their own country are facing cuts in pension increases, increased cost of living, more taxes etc yet somehow need to support a steady stream of people that have just arrived and added little to the social system. While most foreigners are hard workers pulling their own weight I have no doubt, at least some of them are there for a free ride paid for by the very people that are now struggling. Sure, some of this is fueled by right wing media, but there seems to be some truth to it. When your locals feel like they are being treated worse than immigrants, and are then being told that they themselves are the problem, it's likely they will turn away from the current government and seek alternatives not because of their crazy policies, but in spite of. And after all, it is human to first try and find excuses for problems before looking at own behavior. But to ignore clear facts because they are inconvenient will cause people to not trust you. As an example, the fact that crime statistics show that while the number of German criminals increased by one percent compared to 2022, the number of crimes among non-German criminals, i.e. those with an immigrant background, increased by 17.8 percent in a single year plays well into the hands of right wing politics, the lefts inability to even discuss this fairly makes it even worse. While these increases in crime have more complex reasons than just the an increase in immigration, to even suggest that at least some of the increase in crime is due to immigrants is absolutely taboo for many on the left. The culture wars have exasperated all of this, and I firmly believe that it has deepened divisions. Gone are the days of moderate views, often accompanied by personal insults and virtue signaling by the hard left or right. Some topics of debate have become so taboo that the mere mentioning of them automatically push whoever dared to bring them up into an ideological corner and are then summarily silenced by bullying (online mainly) and ad hominem attacks. Traditionally in the past it was the right that did this the most, but in the last few years its been a loud vocal far left that is just as if not more guilty of this behaviour. And so, if a moderate citizen facing a decline in their quality of life even just brings up concerns deemed taboo by some, he/she will immediately be called an anti immigration right winger or similar. At some point you will alienate your voters, they will stop participating in debates or take them into their own echo chambers, coming out once every couple of years to vote. This silencing has caused that over 15% of German's support the right wing party AFD in my opinion, frightening for a country with a horrific right wing past. Maybe it's time to talk a little differently to voters, and maybe not just wave away all their concerns as racist (or some other label) ramblings.

Watching your native country being swarmed by vast numbers of foreign migrants, many with cultural and religious practises at odds with western liberal democratic values, doesn't sit equally we with everyone. Labelling anyone who isn't a mad fan of the prospect of becoming part of a minority in their native country or of biological males convicted of rape being incarcerated in a women's prison as being 'far right' is pretty much standard fare for the media I consume. Interestingly 'far left' and 'populist' barely ever make an appearance even in articles about mobs of communists rioting and burning things down in Paris.

Another element is that the centre of the left-right spectrum has moved substantially leftward over the last 20 years or so. Some views that would have been commonly held by classical liberals not long ago are now regarded as rightist.

Probably repeating other comments in this, however my own feeling is that the phenomenon has two main causes (among many others). Immigration, where it involves cultural/religious intolerance and failure to adapt, and the dogma of wokism, which is espoused by a very noisy minority which would have transvestites and not only transgenders given priority over normally recognised genders, the majority accused of racism when failing to conform to some loudly trumpeted but completely unverified minority view of "discrimination", and a completely skewed concept of freedom and human rights. The reaction is to be expected from what Richard Nixon termed the Silent Majority - they might not know what they want, but they sure as hell know what they don't want. So, they hope that by voting for an authoritarian government they can reverse the (equally authoritarian) system which would have the majority conform to the various minorities - impossible since they can't even agree with each other much of the time. This is the reaction which we saw in Italy and Germany in the 1930s. Sadly it seems that we have not learned from that, so a similar outcome may be expected. Not a happy outlook for democracy!

"Far right"? Do you mean national populist? I have yet to see a working definition of what the term "Far Right" actually means? During my studies, far right has always meant neo-fascist, Falangist, Fascist - grouped together by the utter disdain of democratic principles and structures, along ethno-nationalist principles - i.e. a complete overthrow of the democratic system. Similarly to the far left, as oppose to SocDems (like the SPD in Germany), whom are perfectly willing to work within the democratic system to achieve socialist goals. Communists (across the spectrum) hate SocDems - Stalin called them proto-facists. But then again, anything right of Stalin is fascist. What was considered moderate, slightly right of center, views is now termed "alt-right" or far right. It literally has lost any meaning. As Orwell said "The word Fascism has now no meaning except in so far as it signifies ‘something not desirable". Stop using the Left/Right spectrum to describe highly complex political systems and ideologies. The BBC also posted an apology and retraction for stating Reform UK as far-right, as it fell well below their editorial standards. I think Daily Maverick should up theres. This coming from a former Trotskyite.

Perhaps bombing fewer countries in the Middle East and supporting fewer conflicts there might reduce the number of refugees? Worth a try, you'd think.

I disagree with Tim on the age thing (not because I'm a grumpy ageing 50-something) because to me, it's much more about welfare. Not the welfare state, as such, but personal welfare (which to be fair has an element of age to it, but more from the perspective of uncertainty and angst that curmudgeonly bigotry). We've gone through a prolonged period now, from around the 2008 financial system collapse, where living standards have not improved, have been squeezed and in come cases declined quite markedly. As the world becomes more interlinked, it's bound to aggravate this. But its not new - the fear and loathing of 'the other' is well entrenched, certainly it has been for decades. Remember Galtieri in Argentina? Lost popularity so brought up the British bogey of the Falklands. When the Soviet Union collapsed, ethnic tensions and nationalisms were amongst the first things to manifest in those frightening, uncertain times - ethnic minorities across the ex-Soviet bloc copped it big time in places like Bulgaria, Romania, most brutally the Yugoslav collapse, and even in a genteel fashion, the Czechs and Slovaks turning up their noses at their forced union. We see it here parodically with the xenophobic violence (hello Gayton!) and accusations of the 'other' for keeping you down. Europe is in a financial mess, and it's easy for populists to rise to power by blaming that 'other' for all the ills of society.