Far right gains across Europe

This year's May elections in Britain saw the neo-fascist British 
National Party (BNP) gain 17.2 percent and 13 percent of the vote in two 
neighbouring wards in the Midlands burrough of Tipton. Steve and Sharron 
Edwards, husband and wife, who together helped launch the local BNP branch 
in May 1998, have been instrumental in developing the far-right group in 
Tipton along the lines of what is termed "Euro nationalism", the more 
media-friendly, community-orientated approach used successfully by many 
European fascist groups in recent years.

They, and the newly elected BNP leader Nick Griffin from Welshpool, are all 
keen exponents of the new strategic shift, trying to position the BNP as 
the voice of disgruntled residents of Tipton and elsewhere in Britain.

In the run-up to the May 2000 council elections, the BNP is planning to bus 
in far right activists from across the country to support the neo-fascist 
party's efforts to gain a council seat in Tipton.

Across Europe the far-right are making electoral gains from an increasingly 
disillusioned electorate. Votes for fascist parties topped 11,000,000 at 
this year's European elections, a figure that reflects a level of support 
for fascist parties bigger than at any other time since the Second World 
War.

Only last month Haider's Freedom Party in Austria gained a comfortable 27 
per cent of the national vote. The same month, Switzerland's extremist 
right-wing People's Party, led by tub-thumping millionaire Christoph 
Blocher, scored a major electoral breakthrough, winning 23 per cent of the 
vote.

Right across Europe radical right-wing populist movements with openly 
fascist roots are gaining significant local and regional electoral support.

In Belgium, the neo-fascist Vlaams Blok outpolls all rivals with 30 per 
cent of the vote in Antwerp, the second-largest city.

Far-right parties have also gained at least 15 per cent nationwide in 
France, Italy and Norway.

"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 UN 
General Assembly, is the "increase in the power of the extreme right-wing 
parties", thriving in "an economic and social climate characterised by fear 
and despair".

Among the key factors fueling the far right, according to the UN report, 
are "the combined effects of globalisation, identity crises and social 
exclusion".

In Western Europe today, there are 50 million poor, 18 million unemployed 
and three million homeless — and Eastern Europe is faring much worse. Such 
conditions are ripe for exploitation by extreme-right organisations.

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 
organisations have softened their image and tailored their message to 
appeal to mainstream voters.

Riding the crest of a populist backlash against globalisation, 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.

Burgeoning ultranationalist movements are collateral damage inflicted by 
unfettered globalisation.

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.

Jim Cunningham, of the British group Anti-Fascist Action, says: "Many 
working class people rightly feel angry that their day-to-day problems are 
not being addressed on a meaningful political level. Many feel abandoned on 
housing estates, having to cope with high crime levels, economic hardship 
and overall neglect.

"However, our message to them is that rather than resorting to ultra right-
wing organisations like the BNP, communities should be seeking to represent 
their own interests — organising on a community level, piling pressure on 
councils to fulfill their obligations and provide adequate resources.

"A vote for fascism is no answer at all, no matter how they dress it up."