Sure A Not

In Europe, the phrase “never again fascism” is one that also echoes. The horrors of previous years are still haunted by the death and destruction experienced by hyper-nationalist, autocratic state in the first half of the 20th century.

But, as the current European Union votes show, the dread of the far right is slipping. Far-right events are making benefits across Europe as their method of political commitment continues to pay off. The political reasoning of earlier decades no more holds in some quarters.

Landscapes that would have ended political careers in Europe a century before are now being rewarded with political success.

His party outperformed all of the parties in Germany’s ruling coalition, winning six new seats in the European parliament, despite the lead candidate of the far-right Alternative for Germany ( AfD ) party’s statement that members of the Nazi SS were not necessarily criminals.

In addition, the AfD did surprisingly well in local elections that took place at the same time as the German votes. With critical elections taking place in the eastern states of Germany, it’s still a mystery whether the AfD’s forbidden forbids collaboration with the far right may experience another political boom.

The French election was the most stunning. Marine Le Pen’s even- right National Rally ( recently National Front ) smashed President Emmanuel Macron’s weak coalition of centre- appropriate parties. One of the “wildest gambles in modern European story” was called by the president after the election resulted in the president calling a snap election.

Macron’s campaign against the extreme correct has now failed. One popular center- proper politician, Éric Ciotti, declared his conservative Democratic party ( the party of Jacques Chirac and Nicolas Sarkozy ) would visit National Rally in a coalition. This has set off what has been called” the wildest 72 hours in French politics” in a generation.

An important illegal that prevents political events from cooperating with Le Pen has been profoundly broken, regardless of whether the Democratic party joins National Rally in this political period.

It seems clear that, far from denying National Rally a private triumph, Macron has created a scenario in which, if last week’s vote is repeated, he did had handed them the “keys of energy”.

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If Macron wants the National Rally to be discredited before Le Pen can win the presidency, he should look at Italy and other countries in Europe, where a period of government has normalized rather than discredited the far-right.

Giorgia Meloni, the prime minister of Italy, won the first place vote in the European Union, confirming her leadership in the right. The right-wing illiberalism bulwark parties in Hungary ( Fidesz ) and Poland ( Law and Justice Party ) continue to have a lot of power even though their vote was less than their historic highs.

Even outside the EU, in Britain, Nigel Farage’s populist far- right Reform Party has overtaken the Tories in polling for the first time. Many people will be watching their election results on July 4 with a mix of dread and interest.

Only in Nordic nations did a clear retreat from the extreme right occur. In Sweden, the Social Democrats, the Left Party and the Greens together managed to secure almost 50 % of the vote.

Youth against fascism? Not in 2024

Is this slurch to the right a sign of a generational shift in young voters ‘ attitudes toward anti-democratic, racist values? The assertion has been made in numerous instances, but are the young voters in Europe to blame for the rise of the right?

In Germany, at least, the picture is more complex. Talk of a generational swing, in the eyes of Tim Gensheimer, a German researcher studying youth voting patterns, goes against the fact that voters between the ages of 16 and 24 were just as likely to vote left as right of center.

Generational generalizations, he insists, overlook the fact that young people are sharply divided on political matters. Despite having a sense of dissatisfaction with major parties whose promises of a cleaner environment, lower living costs, and a secure future have come to nothing, this is true.

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Nonetheless, something has clearly changed.

A close examination of German youth voting reveals that the Greens were the real losers. They made promises in the previous election, but they have n’t delivered much, resulting in a significant 23 % decline in their youth vote.

By comparison, the AfD and the Christian Democratic Union ( CDU) picked up an additional 11 % and 5 % of young people’s votes respectively. Although the social-democratic SPD vote among young people has remained largely stable, it continues to be dangerously low.

Further to the left, the Linke lost ground among young voters in what they perceived as a terrible election. However, 6 % of voters under the age of 24 favored the new populist Alliance Sahra Wagenknecht, a paleo-leftist outgrowth of the Linke stripped of its progressive green, gender, and migration politics, and who was genuinely skeptical about military support for Ukraine.

Young Germans voted more for micro-parties than any established party, rather than voting as a group for the far right. The 35-44 age group, particularly men who felt their economic situation was precarious, were the age group that was most likely to support the AfD.

Far more obvious than any age divide, however, was Germany’s east- west divide, with the AfD polling first in all ex- East German states. Even this, however, is not the whole story, with a north- south divide also emerging. In most of the southern states of Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg, the AfD placed second behind the CDU, while in the north-western states of the SPD were frequently in second place.

The narrative involving young people in France was similar, with young people voting for the Greens and centrist parties after their share of the vote to the left gradually increased. Young people in France remained more likely to vote left of center than other age groups.

However, it is obvious that many young French voters participated in the far-right’s wider political migration, in part because of Jordan Bardella’s young star power and the young voters ‘ desire for a brighter future. Through his renewal of the party’s image, 32 % of voters aged between 18 and 34 felt able to vote for National Rally. Macron’s candidate managed a paltry 5 %.

Elsewhere, Spain too saw a noticeable rise in the influence of the far right, with Vox collecting two more seats on the back of its anti- migrant, anti- Islam and anti- gender- politics platform.

Vox has gained popularity among young men because of its blending of old Francoist principles, such as anti-liberal nationalism and ostensibly traditional family values, with more recent forms of anti-immigrant sentiment and climate change denialism.

Why are there so many young people attracted to the far right?

For some pundits, the answer lies with the parties ‘ tech- savvy approach, which has built up a colossal presence on TikTok.

The use of social media to spread anti-immigrant sentiment and white supremacist idealizations of the “mother, father, child” family, as well as far-right talking points about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, has obviously made inroads among a young audience whose main interaction with the news comes through scrolling.

However, this ignores the fact that young Europeans have been screaming in the void for a number of elections already. They have been looking for a political home that gives them some respite from a cost-of-living crisis, unaffordable housing, a deteriorating ecosystem, and unending conflict.

If the youth vote continues to be overwhelmingly anti-the status quo, it is because the established parties ‘ campaign tendencies seem to be unpopular with those under 25. A well-founded pessimism regarding the ability of established politics to solve real, structural issues has provided fertile ground for far-right parties selling dangerously false solutions.

Matt Fitzpatrick is Professor in International History, Flinders University

This article was republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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