The extreme right is on the march, or so we are told. The European elections saw the BNP win their highest profile positions of power thus far, and right-wing parties experienced gains across Europe. Two horrifying acts of violence in the United States, gunshots echoing from across the ocean, have left a Kansas abortion doctor and a guard from Washington’s Holocaust Memorial Museum dead. Judith Warner and Paul Krugman both write in today’s New York Times about these incidents amid US government warnings about a sharp rise in the activities of right wing groups and individual extremists. What is going on? One must be cautious not to over extrapolate from these headlines: fewer people voted BNP this time than last, people want the state to help them through the recession, and a black man now sits in the Oval Office.
Nevertheless, it is important to question why anyone is turning to far-right ideas and, indeed, violence. It may actually be a sign of social progress; nothing gets right-wing extremists fired up more than concrete evidence that their worst fears about blacks, gays, and women gaining are being realised. The best way to counter paranoid responses like these is through public education and an open, honest, and resolute assertion and debate on the progressive values we hold are best for society. In other words, to reinforce a liberal society, redouble efforts to engage in a liberal civic discourse. Government efforts for increased citizenship education are a good first step. The opening up of our democracy through a constitutional reform effort that brings together parties, activists, and ordinary citizens is an important next one. Finally, ensuring that people don’t feel left behind in the wake of social, political, and economic change is vital to keep people from turning to the right and its imagined vision of a ‘better yesterday’. We must not, therefore, ignore calls for improvements in public service provision, expansion of social housing options, and widening opportunities in education and skills training. Far right attitudes, while springing from many sources, are indeed a defensive and fearful reaction to real and perceived economic dislocation and societal change. We must work to bring people in, and address their needs and concerns, to ensure that these developments on the far-right remain the fringe phenomenon that they are.
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