PoliticalChic
Diamond Member
Nationalism: The Pendulum Swings
1. If Muhammad were alive today and living in the Netherlands, Geert Wilders says he would have him tarred and feathered as an extremist and deported. Wilders calls the Koran an inspiration for murder and wants radical mosques shut down. Wilderss anti-immigration Party for Freedom (PVV) won a stunning 24 parliamentary seats out of 150 in the Netherlands national elections on June 9. This nearly tripled the nine seats the PVV had previously. Pundits assumed Europes financial troubles would cause the election to be dominated by economics, not immigration. They were wrong. Wilderss party is probably the most benign; his policies could be seen as a reasonable response to problems caused by Islam and immigration. Many of the other fringe groups, however, are neo-Nazis.
a. Many of these parties that are attracting 15 or 20 percent of the vote are violently racist. Wilderss party, which simply opposes Islam, is actually in the minority: The majority of right-wing fringe parties are anti-Semitic and would gladly bring back concentration camps.
2. In April, the far-right, anti-Semitic party Jobbik won 17 percent of the vote, and 26 seats, in Hungary. Jobbik has strong links with the paramilitary Hungarian Guard; its leader, Gabor Vona, was one of the Guards co-founders. The Guard, whose uniforms copy those of Hungarys fascist party during World War II, has attacked Roma settlements and vilified Jews.
3. In September 2008, two pro-Nazi parties won a third of the seats in Austrias national election. Six months later, Austrias main far-right party, the Future of Austria (BZÖ), won a landslide victory in regional elections in the state of Carinthiataking 45 percent of the vote. As well as being anti-Semitic, both parties are anti-Islam.
a. The head of the BZÖ, Stefan Petzner, has said he will not deviate one millimeter from the path of his predecessor, Jörg Haider, who led the party until his death in 2008. Haider admired SS soldiers as men of honor and once praised Hitlers economic policies as being superior to those of the current Austrian government. He called Nazi concentration camps punishment camps. Spiegel Online reported that his popularity derived from his constant, often xenophobic, attacks on immigration and his vocal opposition to accelerating European Union integration (March 2, 2009).
4. Elsewhere on the Continent, mainstream parties are enacting laws that would have once been seen as extreme. Switzerland banned the construction of new minarets after 57.5 percent of voters supported the measure in a national referendum. In Belgium, a ban on wearing the burka has just become law. France is considering a similar ban.
5. For years, liberal European politicians have bent over backward to accommodate Muslims, who have migrated to the Continent in enormous numbers. Now, many Europeans are surveying the results of that policy and dont like what they see. f the 2008 economic crisis has revealed one thing, wrote think tank Stratfor, it is that nationalism is slowly becoming politically convenient, and a successful political strategy (April 13).
a. We are witnessing a process in which the eliteonce happily co-opted by EU solidarityturns toward nationalism, Stratfor continued. We can therefore expect to see not only a rise in far-right nationalism, but also a reorientation of center-right parties toward a more traditional nationalist platform.
b. Last year in Italy, for example, the mainstream center-right party, the People of Freedom bloc, merged with the pro-fascist National Alliance party, whose leaders have openly praised Benito Mussolini.
6. Wilders has said that the Western world is in an undeclared wara clash of civilizations. With mainstream parties supporting burka bans, European governments are starting to push back against Islam on the domestic front.
a. Nationalism is tied to war. French leader Charles de Gaulle once said, Patriotism is when love of your own people comes first; nationalism, when hate for people other than your own comes first.
7. Imagine a Europe led by nationalistic parties, looking to an imperialistic, anti-Islamic Catholic Church. This would be a Europe completely different to that of the past 50 years. It would be more akin to the Europe of Hitler, Napoleon, the Habsburgs and Charlemagne.
How to Be Popular in Europe | theTrumpet.com by the Philadelphia Church of God
1. If Muhammad were alive today and living in the Netherlands, Geert Wilders says he would have him tarred and feathered as an extremist and deported. Wilders calls the Koran an inspiration for murder and wants radical mosques shut down. Wilderss anti-immigration Party for Freedom (PVV) won a stunning 24 parliamentary seats out of 150 in the Netherlands national elections on June 9. This nearly tripled the nine seats the PVV had previously. Pundits assumed Europes financial troubles would cause the election to be dominated by economics, not immigration. They were wrong. Wilderss party is probably the most benign; his policies could be seen as a reasonable response to problems caused by Islam and immigration. Many of the other fringe groups, however, are neo-Nazis.
a. Many of these parties that are attracting 15 or 20 percent of the vote are violently racist. Wilderss party, which simply opposes Islam, is actually in the minority: The majority of right-wing fringe parties are anti-Semitic and would gladly bring back concentration camps.
2. In April, the far-right, anti-Semitic party Jobbik won 17 percent of the vote, and 26 seats, in Hungary. Jobbik has strong links with the paramilitary Hungarian Guard; its leader, Gabor Vona, was one of the Guards co-founders. The Guard, whose uniforms copy those of Hungarys fascist party during World War II, has attacked Roma settlements and vilified Jews.
3. In September 2008, two pro-Nazi parties won a third of the seats in Austrias national election. Six months later, Austrias main far-right party, the Future of Austria (BZÖ), won a landslide victory in regional elections in the state of Carinthiataking 45 percent of the vote. As well as being anti-Semitic, both parties are anti-Islam.
a. The head of the BZÖ, Stefan Petzner, has said he will not deviate one millimeter from the path of his predecessor, Jörg Haider, who led the party until his death in 2008. Haider admired SS soldiers as men of honor and once praised Hitlers economic policies as being superior to those of the current Austrian government. He called Nazi concentration camps punishment camps. Spiegel Online reported that his popularity derived from his constant, often xenophobic, attacks on immigration and his vocal opposition to accelerating European Union integration (March 2, 2009).
4. Elsewhere on the Continent, mainstream parties are enacting laws that would have once been seen as extreme. Switzerland banned the construction of new minarets after 57.5 percent of voters supported the measure in a national referendum. In Belgium, a ban on wearing the burka has just become law. France is considering a similar ban.
5. For years, liberal European politicians have bent over backward to accommodate Muslims, who have migrated to the Continent in enormous numbers. Now, many Europeans are surveying the results of that policy and dont like what they see. f the 2008 economic crisis has revealed one thing, wrote think tank Stratfor, it is that nationalism is slowly becoming politically convenient, and a successful political strategy (April 13).
a. We are witnessing a process in which the eliteonce happily co-opted by EU solidarityturns toward nationalism, Stratfor continued. We can therefore expect to see not only a rise in far-right nationalism, but also a reorientation of center-right parties toward a more traditional nationalist platform.
b. Last year in Italy, for example, the mainstream center-right party, the People of Freedom bloc, merged with the pro-fascist National Alliance party, whose leaders have openly praised Benito Mussolini.
6. Wilders has said that the Western world is in an undeclared wara clash of civilizations. With mainstream parties supporting burka bans, European governments are starting to push back against Islam on the domestic front.
a. Nationalism is tied to war. French leader Charles de Gaulle once said, Patriotism is when love of your own people comes first; nationalism, when hate for people other than your own comes first.
7. Imagine a Europe led by nationalistic parties, looking to an imperialistic, anti-Islamic Catholic Church. This would be a Europe completely different to that of the past 50 years. It would be more akin to the Europe of Hitler, Napoleon, the Habsburgs and Charlemagne.
How to Be Popular in Europe | theTrumpet.com by the Philadelphia Church of God