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Part III - A Spectre is Haunting Europe: Consequences and Calamity
The third of a three-part series into the rise of right-wing youth in Europe.
WORDS BY JOSHUA EDWICKER | EDWICKER@PROXYBYIWI.COM | 11 APRIL 2024
So, what does it all mean? What does the rise of the right-wing youth in Europe mean for the people of Europe and for the wider world? This is a complex question and – as I have neither a crystal ball nor an affinity with reading tea-leaves – my assumptions about the possible repercussions of this phenomenon are simply that, assumptions.
The first assumption is that (due to the continuing economic underperformance of Europe, extenuated by COVID-19) the trend of far-right parties achieving electoral success is far from over. As the ‘Children of the Financial Crisis’ get older, their views will become further entrenched and more conservative (as is common with any generation as it ages), and they will be in positions of social, political, and economic power.
The continued influence of far-right parties in Europe will lead to their normalisation, and as the power and cultural capital of this far-right generation increases, this kind of politics will become more potent and the right-wing ideals of many of the European countries mentioned before such as France, Germany and the Netherlands will have become entrenched.
If this does occur, what will this mean? We can glimpse at the possible answer by looking at the policies of these parties, and at the policies introduced by President Trump in his first term. A factor of European politics (for any American readers to understand) is that the centre-point of European politics is far more left-wing than the centre-point of American politics. For example, David Cameron’s Conservative Party (on the right of the European political spectrum) was aligned to American Democrats in the same period 2010–16.
In essence, with a shift to the right in European politics and policies, my fear is that Europe will align with the type of policies of Trump’s America. This would mean;
1. Decimating environmental regulations and failing to adequately mitigate on climate change.
2. Isolationism, potentially leading to the collapse of the European Union and NATO.
3. Polarisation and xenophobia.
4. The reduction and removal of woman’s rights, such as the right to abortion.
The politics of far-right populism creates an environment of selfishness, fear, and hatred. When we look forward to the second quarter of the 21st Century, these qualities may lead to the collapse of our ecosystem and our complex globalised social structures. Take climate change for example, the largest threat that mankind has faced, a product of greed, excess and profit. Climate change is a global problem, no one nation can solve it, it is complex, and it requires a level of international co-operation and sacrifice that our species has never experienced.
And yet, here we stand, on the precipice of no return, with knowledge of our impending downfall, in a global society which has stood idly by as climate change has caused famine, floods and death. We know we are the cause; the science is irrefutable. And yet here we are, in a situation where the dominant political ideology is one of nationalism, isolationism and an unwillingness engage with the issues of globalisation which the West itself created. In a world where far-right populists label climate change a hoax, where the responsibility for economic hardship is placed on those who are the worst off and where a human’s right to dignity and respect is no longer defined by their humanity but by their nationality and the colour of their skin, how can we ever hope to fix it?
Nationalism is also particularly dangerous for Europe right now. There exists a naivety and arrogance within Europe about its given right to peace in the region. It is true that Europe has been remarkably peaceful for large periods of the late 20th and 21st Century. However, the Balkans conflicts of the 1990’s and the Ukraine-Russia conflict of the 2020’s illustrates that peace is never guaranteed, peace is precious and so peace is fragile. It is now a serious possibility that, if re-elected, Trump will withdraw from or heavily reduce funding to NATO. If this happens, NATO will be as much of a façade as organisations such as the United Nations have become when attempting to deal with international conflict. War in Europe has been largely deterred by confidence in NATO and engagement in international co-operation. If these two ideals are ripped away, Europe becomes much more precarious.
This precariousness is exacerbated further by the far-right tendency to whip up vitriolic hatred for minorities and foreigners. Hatred corrupts, especially when indulged in by youth. Hatred, racism and xenophobia generates a particularly violent and extremist result. The last time the far-right populist parties of Europe were the most popular amongst the youth of the day was in 1930’s Germany and Italy. Even in the United Kingdom, such parties held widespread support, for example in a time of economic hardship after the 1929 Wall Street Crash. We all know where racism, hatred and xenophobia led the world in the following years. We must hope that we have learnt from the mistakes of the past and the error of political figures using hatred to create power.
Finally, we must ensure that the rights of citizens in Europe within their own countries are not reversed or taken away, as was seen with the reversal of Roe v Wade in America. The reversal of Roe v Wade offers Europe a staunch reality check. Perhaps I speak for myself, from an ignorant position as a European when I say that I never thought Roe v Wade would or could ever be overturned. This naivety is what Europe must avoid in the coming years, the belief that certain things can’t or won’t be done. History has proved that these things can and will be done if certain political beliefs are given the oxygen to catch light.
I appreciate that this may read as a particularly depressing appraisal of the state of Europe – but these are assumptions and worst-case scenarios. However, we must engage with them if we want to stop them from occurring. There is always hope of a better world and it takes a stupid man to place any bets on politics.