“far right”

What do journalists mean when they use the term ‘far-right?’

This month, a reader e-mailed to question the use of the term “far-right” in news articles. Who defined this term, and does it not convey an editorial opinion rather than fact?

The reader was referring to coverage of the European Union elections, which took place June 6 through 9. Indeed, “far-right” has appeared in headlines, reported news, analysis, explainers and opinion pieces in The Globe, as in other news media. But how is it different from “hard-right,” “extreme-right,” “alt-right” or just plain “right-wing?”

There’s no nuance about it. It’s shorthand for Nazi.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"extremists", "far right", The Media, The Media Lies

The Myth of the European “Far-Right Surge”

There has been much talk of a “far-right surge” in the European Parliament. For example, BBC ran a headline, “Far right eyes Europe vote surge…,” shortly before the elections. On June 5th, Politico reported, “As the far right surges, this week’s European Parliament election will reorder the Continent’s political landscape.” One of CNN’s post-election headlines ran, “Far right surges in European Parliament elections but center still holds.” These sorts of headlines may make for exciting reading, but they reveal a profound lack of understanding of what is really going on politically in Europe.

h/t NE

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"far right"

Alarmist Headlines About Europe’s ‘Far Right’ Ignore Failures of the Continent’s Liberal Elite To Heed Voter Concerns

“The far right made big gains in European elections,” reads the Associated Press headline on last week’s European Parliament elections. Lest you wonder why you should dread gains by the “far right,” the lead sentence of the article notes that the European Union has “roots in the defeat of Nazi Germany and fascist Italy.”

For many readers, that juxtaposition is a reminder of the sharp rise in Nazi party percentages in Weimar Republic elections to 43 percent in 1933, 33 and 37 percent in 1932, and 18 percent in 1930, from 3 percent in 1928.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"extremists", "far right", Europe

Farage’s Reform UK Party Overtakes Sunak’s Conservatives: Poll

Europe’s marked shift towards populism appears to be accelerating, as Nigel Farage’s Reform UK Party has surpassed Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Conservatives in an opinion poll for the first time, signaling a potential shift in the British political landscape as the nation approaches the July 4 general election.

Are you ‘far-Right’? Take our quiz!

It’s the favourite buzzword of Left-wing news outlets and pundits. But what exactly do they mean by it?

h/t DS

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"extremists", "far right", UK

The trouble with calling everyone ‘far right’

There is a favourite Fleet Street story about the legendary Sun editor Kelvin MacKenzie. While editing the paper, he discovered that his horoscope writer was recycling copy. He decided to dispense with her services in a letter that opened: ‘As you will no doubt have foreseen…’

You do not have to hold claims to being a mystic to predict certain things. The results of last week’s EU elections were easily predictable, as was the response from much of the British media. As I uncannily prophesied in last week’s column, the BBC’s Europe editor, Katya Adler, went with: ‘The far right is on the march.’ Elsewhere, she offered the claim that people across the continent often say: ‘This feels like the Europe of the 1930s.’

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Elites vs. Populists", "extremists", "far right"

Time to retire the ‘far right’ slur

Millions of Europeans have not suddenly turned into fascists. We need a new political language.

As the EU establishment struggles to make sense of last week’s revolt in the European elections, one thing is clear: our outdated vocabulary is not up to the task of describing today’s political landscape.

Gains for France’s National Rally, Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy and the Alternative for Germany (AfD) have been described as a ‘far-right surge’ in newspapers and TV reports, not just across Europe but around the world. Even before the election results came in, labels like far right and extreme right were bouncing off commentators’ keyboards. All agree that the far right is on the rise and ordinary people need to worry. This is Europe’s ‘Trump moment’, explained Politico. Some go further. Marine Le Pen’s National Rally is described as ‘neo-fascist’, while academics calmly ask if the AfD is the new Nazi Party. ‘Fascism has arrived’, declared French author Emilia Roig when the election results became clear. Yet with almost a quarter of Europe’s voters having backed a party branded ‘far right’, it is worth asking how accurate this label is and what purpose it now serves.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Elites vs. Populists", "extremists", "far right", Europe, European Union

How Europe’s young voters flocked to the hard-Right

Unbuttoning his carefully ironed white shirt, Jordan Bardella took a sip of water at a sweltering political rally during his European election campaign and apologised for the pause by saying: “I’m already getting hot.”

“You’re the one making us hot,” screamed a girl from the young crowd.

The French call it “Bardella-mania”.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Elites vs. Populists", "extremists", "far right"

Europe’s Establishment Press Rattled by Successes of the Right

Mainstream newspapers are doing all they can today, on June 10th, to echo Ursula von der Leyen’s triumphant message that “the centre is holding.” But reporters and pundits are unable to hide their concerns surrounding the shift to the Right which, however much they try to downplay it, they accept will raise serious difficulties for the establishment parties.

Coverage of Viktor Orbán’s performance in the European Parliament (EP) elections is indicative of this, with his 44% share of the Hungarian vote—a proportion that most other European political leaders can only dream of—dismissed as a “stumble” or a loss because it is lower than that achieved in previous polls. Reuters in particular framed Orbán’s smaller-than-expected lead as an example of “strong performances by centrist parties” in eastern Europe.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"extremists", "far right", Europe

Warped: Fascists who insist you believe men are women warn against normalizing Europe’s “far right”

Typical transvestite who insists you believe up is down

Monika Magashazi is a fighter. The 52-year old trans woman lives in Hungary — a country that has been ruled by Viktor Orban’s nationalist Fidesz party since 2010.

For transgender communities, the situation “has been becoming worse and worse and, unfortunately, we are desperate today in Hungary,” she told DW. She said the government was trying to portray trans people as pedophiles and criminals, using seemingly every opportunity to discriminate against them.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"extremists", "far right", Big Tranny, WTF?

It’s not just boomers, young people are voting far right too

Far-right parties are surging across Europe — and young voters are buying in.

Many parties with anti-immigrant agendas are even seeing support from first-time young voters in the upcoming June 6-9 European Parliament election.

In Belgium, France, Portugal, Germany and Finland, younger voters are backing anti-immigration and anti-establishment parties in numbers equal to and even exceeding older voters, analyses of recent elections and research of young people’s political preferences suggest.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Elites vs. Populists", "extremists", "far right"

Poilievre flirts with far right while media looks away says silly woman who went moist between the hams for Venezuelan dictator

A dozen years ago, Pierre Poilievre was a relatively obscure political figure who was mostly regarded — to the extent he was regarded at all — as a fiercely anti-labour guy on the far-right of the Harper cabinet.

But there he was in Parliament last February, voting in favour of pro-labour legislation banning scabs in federal workplaces.

Has he fundamentally changed his thinking — or was that simply part of his new, air-brushed “friend of the working man” look?

More on Linda and her fellow travelers: Venezuela’s collapse and the ‘useful idiots’ of the Canadian left

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"extremists", "far right", Canada, Conservative Party, The F$CKING Toronto Star, WTF?

Far-right Reichstag plotters go on trial for planning ‘violent coup’

One of the largest state security trials in German history, involving suspected members of a far-right plot to seize power which “would involve killing people”, started in Stuttgart on Monday.

In the first of three separate court cases against a total of 27 suspects, nine alleged members of a suspected terrorist organisation went on trial accused of high treason and plotting a violent coup d’état. They are alleged to have planned to storm the Reichstag and install a Fourth Reich, led by the disenchanted aristocrat Heinrich XIII Prince Reuss.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"extremists", "far right"

St George’s Day rally in London descends into chaos

A St George’s Day rally in London descended into chaos today as riot officers clashed with crowds and a police horse was attacked near Downing Street.

Mounted police intervened after a group broke through a cordon formed to stop people moving past the area that had been allocated for the event.

This led to scuffles breaking out, with footage appearing to show one of the horses being struck by a man with an umbrella.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"extremists", "far right", UK

Belgian Dissident Sent to Jail for Memes

Jonas Greindberg, a German-based journalist who covers conservative parties in Europe, conducted an interview with Mr. Dries Van Langenhove last week after Langenhove was sentenced to one year in jail for memes found in his possession. Mr. Langenhove is a former member of the Belgian parliament, founder of the Flemish Identitarian movement “Schild & Vrienden,” and an influential political dissident in Belgium.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Criminalizing Dissent", "extremists", "far right", Belgium

Germany: Many far-right extremists licensed to own arms

Hundreds of far-right extremists and members of the Reichsbürger group were still in possession of a weapons license at the start of last year despite incipient efforts to disarm them, German media reported on Friday.

As of December 31, 2022, 1,051 extremists and some 400 Reichsbürger had permission to own at least one weapon, the corporate newsroom RedaktionsNetzwerk Deutschland said, citing the Interior Ministry’s response to a parliamentary question from the Left Party.

A year previously, 1,561 extremists and some 500 Reichsbürger possessed arms licenses, according to the ministry.

A steady drumbeat of articles about the “Far Right” threat is in my view driven by the establishment’s fear of the growing popularity of the AfD party.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"extremists", "far right", Germany