| >Los Angeles Times, November 28, 1999, Sunday, Home Edition
> >by Martin A. Lee, Martin A. Lee is the author of "The Beast Reawakens," a >book about, neo-fascism > >Austria's far-right Freedom Party sent shock waves through Europe when it >won 27% of the vote in recent national elections. Joerg Haider, the Freedom >Party's youthful, charismatic fuehrer, is now in a strong position to >contend for the Austrian chancellorship, despite his penchant for >expressing pro-Nazi sympathies. > >While Austrian officials struggled to put together a viable governing >coalition, Switzerland's extremist right-wing People's Party, led by >Christoph Blocher, scored a major electoral breakthrough, winning 23% of >the vote in late October. Blocher, like Haider, is a tub-thumping, >xenophobic multimillionaire who rails against immigrants, government >corruption and the European Union. Blocher caused a stir when he praised >the author of a book that denied the Holocaust. > >Austria and Switzerland are small countries with comparatively little >influence on the world stage. But if such enthusiasm for the extreme right >extended across the border into Germany, it would be a matter of grave >concern for the entire international community. Currently, in economically >depressed eastern Germany, an alarming 15% to 20% of young men vote for >neo-fascist parties. "To say that one-third of East German youth is now >prone to the extreme right is an understatement," warns Berlin >criminologist Berndt Wagner. "The point of no return has already been >reached for many. It's growing. It's getting worse." > >"Neo-fascism and neo-Nazism are gaining ground in many countries, >especially in Europe," says Maurice Glele-Ahanhanzo, special rapporteur of >the United Nations Commission on Human Rights. Of particular concern, >Glele-Ahanhanzo noted in a recent report to the U.N. General Assembly, is >the "increase in the power of the extreme right-wing parties," thriving in >"an economic and social climate characterized by fear and despair." Among >the key factors fueling the far right, according to the U.N. report, are >"the combined effects of globalization, identity crises and social >exclusion." > >Radical right-wing populist movements with openly fascist roots have made >significant inroads into mainstream politics in several West European >countries, including Belgium, where the neo-fascist Vlaams Blok outpolls >all rivals with 30% of the vote in Antwerp, the second-largest city. >Far-right parties have also gained at least 15% nationwide in France, Italy >and Norway. While this percentage may seem inconsequential in terms of the >U.S. two-party system, it can carry great weight in parliamentary balloting >and determine the political makeup of government. > >Even when they lose elections, neo-fascists are like a toxic chemical in >the water supply of the European political landscape, polluting public >discourse and pressuring establishment parties to adopt extremist positions >to fend off challenges from the hard right. Scapegoating foreigners and >ethnic minorities, ultra-right-wing demagogues have touched a raw nerve in >a tumultuous post-Cold War world still reeling from the demise of >Soviet-bloc communism, the reunification of Germany, global economic >restructuring and major technological change. > >In Western Europe today, there are 50 million poor, 18 million unemployed >and 3 million homeless--and Eastern Europe is faring much worse. Such >conditions are ripe for exploitation by extreme-right organizations that >range from tiny splinter groups and underground terrorist cells to sizable >political parties. While skinhead gangs may function as shock troops of the >far right's march through Europe, leaders of the more successful mass-based >neo-fascist organizations have softened their image and tailored their >message to appeal to mainstream voters. > >Riding the crest of a populist backlash against globalization, far-right >opportunists couple their anti-immigrant tirades with pointed criticisms of >the European Union and the recent introduction of a single currency, the >euro. They have gotten mileage out of exploiting justifiable qualms about >the European Monetary Union, which they present as an attempt by Europe's >big business to adapt to the needs of the new global economic order. > >Full participation in the European Union required painful budgetary >retrenchment by member states, which, for better or worse, relinquished >authority on key fiscal matters to unelected central bankers in Frankfurt. >The adoption of the euro and the globalization of financial markets, in >general, have significantly limited the capacity of national governments to >regulate their economies and redress high unemployment by adjusting their >currencies and tweaking their interest rates. > >Not surprisingly, voter turnout among Europeans has dropped precipitously, >along with public confidence in elected representatives. Disenchantment >with the conventional political spectrum is heightened by the failure of >erstwhile left-of-center social democratic parties to offer an alternative >agenda to rigid EU policy nostrums. This, in turn, has strengthened the >hands of neo-fascists and other right-wing extremists who have successfully >tapped into widespread resentment of unresponsive state governments. > >President Bill Clinton has spoken about "the inexorable logic of >globalization" that no country can escape. While economically driven, this >phenomenon also has far-reaching social consequences. Global commerce acts >as the great homogenizer, blurring indigenous differences and smothering >contrasting ethnic traits. Consequently, many Europeans are fearful of >losing not only their jobs, but their cultural and national identities. >Where local traditions lose influence, individuals tend to become atomized >psychologically and thus more susceptible to the lures of ultranationalists >who manipulate deep-seated anxieties. > >The much-ballyhooed new information technologies have created an >environment conducive to financial speculation and the rapid growth of >global commerce. Increasingly, the key players in the global economy are >multinational corporations, transnational lobbies and elite trade >associations, rather than popularly conscripted officials. These global >forces have usurped many of the usual prerogatives of the nation-state, >while also calling into question democratic notions of political power and >representation. > >Though free markets are supposed to guarantee maximum efficiency, they have >instead magnified inequalities and hastened the breakdown of certain social >structures, leading to instability, mass migration and ethnic strife. At >the same time, the waning power of the nation-state has triggered a harsh >ultranationalist reaction, as demonstrated by the surge of support for >mass-based far-right parties in several European countries. > >Supporters of the EU have long argued that economic integration is a >crucial step toward creating a political union, which, they hope, will end >forever the scourge of pitiless nationalism that has ravaged the continent >in the past. But just the opposite seems to be happening. As economic >globalization has accelerated, producing definite winners and losers, so, >too, has the momentum of neo-fascist and right-wing extremist organizations. > >If anything, European integration is likely to foster the continued growth >of radical right-wing parties. Burgeoning ultranationalist movements are >collateral damage inflicted by unfettered globalization, which breeds the >very monstrosities it purports to oppose. And the extreme right provides an >alibi for globalization while revolting against it. > >A product of democratic decay, radical right-wing populism and its current >fascist manifestations, which vary from country to country, can only thrive >in situations where social injustice is prevalent. Converging economic, >political and social trends suggest that increasing numbers of people in >the Western democracies will become vulnerable to the appeals of >neo-fascists posing as national populists offering simple solutions to >complex problems. > >"It is becoming frighteningly evident that unspeakable evil can take the >stage again," Swedish Prime Minister Goran Persson declared at a recent >conference on resurgent racism and neo-fascism in Europe. The ghastly >miscarriage of free-market restructuring in much of the former Soviet bloc >and the Third World, the abdication of the socialist left as a vehicle for >discontent in Western Europe and the homogenizing juggernaut of >transnational capitalism across the globe--all are elements of a potent >witches' brew that propels mainstream governance further and further into >the politics of resentment. > >Shortly before he died in 1987, Primo Levi, a survivor of Auschwitz, warned >of the advent of "a new fascism . . . walking on tiptoe and calling itself >by other names." This new fascism is a decidedly contemporary phenomenon >that looks different in many ways from its antecedents. When Adolf Hitler >came to power, he took the world by surprise. Those who remain fixated on >images of the fascist past and neglect the growing dangers of the present >may be taken by surprise again. > |