Category Archives: The far right

Netherlands set for first new prime minister in 13 years as voters head to polls

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Polls open for general election in the Netherlands, with four parties – ranging from left to far right – vying to take most votes

Dutch voters are voting in a knife-edge general election that will usher in the country’s first new prime minister in 13 years, with four parties from left to far right vying to become the largest in parliament.

From the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam to the islands of the Dutch Caribbean, more than 13 million voters will cast their ballot between 7.30am and 9pm in elections that could set the country on a different course after Mark Rutte’s four consecutive governments.

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‘Ghosts from the past’: fears of abortion setback after Milei wins in Argentina

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Newly elected president and far-right libertarian has vowed to repeal country’s 2020 landmark legalisation of abortion

Three years after Argentina made history as the first large Latin American country to legalise abortion, women’s rights campaigners are gearing up to again go to battle after the election of Javier Milei as president.

“It’s a very bleak picture,” said Soledad Deza of the Fundación Mujeres x Mujeres. “This is a government that is promising us greater inequality and – from the first minute – that the autonomy, sovereignty and independence of our bodies is not going to be supported by the state.”

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Not possible to return asylum seekers who arrived from Russia, Finnish president says – Europe live

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Sauli Niinistö calls for close cooperation on border security during visit to Poland

Israel’s foreign minister, Eli Cohen, has congratulated Javier Milei and invited the new Argentinian far-right libertarian president to visit Israel to open an embassy in Jerusalem.

Milei has previously said he would move the location of Argentina’s embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. “I don’t care if I’ll be criticized by world leaders. I truly believe that’s the right thing to do,” he said in a recent interview with the Times of Israel.

It’s obvious that Argentina needs a change. It was unacceptable that one of the most prosperous countries in the world should keep falling year after year into the same thing.

I wish the new government every success and I want them to know that they can count on Madrid, where we’ve worked to defend freedom from day one and where we’ve looked after so many Argentinians who have fled, terrified, from Peronism …

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Far-right Party for Freedom makes gains in poll ahead of Netherlands election

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Leftwing parties urge people to vote tactically to prevent Geert Wilders’ party winning power

Leftwing parties in the Netherlands have urged people to vote strategically to avoid a far-right government after a poll showed last-minute gains for Geert Wilders’ Party for Freedom (PVV).

Wilders, whose manifesto calls for an asylum “stop” and ban on “Islamic schools, Qu’rans and mosques”, said it was a “game changer” when a poll on Saturday evening put him level with Mark Rutte’s party, the People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD).

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Argentina holds breath as far-right Milei seizes narrow runoff advantage

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Populist provocateur appears slight favorite over Peronist Sergio Massa as 35m Argentinians vote to choose new president

Argentina is teetering on the brink of an unpredictable new political era this weekend with an erratic far-right populist known as “El Loco” (the Madman) the slight favourite to become president of South America’s second-largest economy in Sunday’s election.

As polls opened on Sunday morning against a backdrop of soaring inflation and widespread poverty, analysts believed Javier Milei, a TV celebrity turned congressman, held a slender advantage over his rival, the finance minister, Sergio Massa, but said the result was too close to call.

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Venice Biennale’s new, rightwing director has art world guessing

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Meloni’s party is pleased by the appointment but Pietrangelo Buttafuoco has surprised before – not least by adopting Islam

When Pietrangelo Buttafuoco, the incoming new president of the Venice Biennale, was once asked in an interview whether he was a fascist, the Italian rightwing journalist and public intellectual replied: “I am not a fascist. I am something else.”

After Buttafuoco was this week officially nominated to lead the oldest and largest cultural exhibition in the world, it is not just the artists, actors, architects, film-makers, dancers and musicians whose work will be shown at the coming biennales’ six events who are asking themselves what exactly that “something else” may be.

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David DePape found guilty in hammer attack on Nancy Pelosi’s husband

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Rightwing conspiracy theorist convicted of attempted kidnapping and assault in 2022 attack on Paul Pelosi

David DePape, the rightwing conspiracy theorist who attacked Nancy Pelosi’s husband in their San Francisco home, has been convicted of attempted kidnapping and assault.

The federal jury’s decision on Thursday comes after a dramatic trial in which Paul Pelosi testified about the “traumatic” hammer attack he suffered on 28 October 2022, days before the midterm elections. DePape also took the stand in his defense, saying he had planned to interrogate the former House speaker and post footage of her online.

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Pro-Palestine protesters assemble in London as police jostle with far-right groups

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Organisers say rally on Armistice Day could be one of the largest political marches in British history

Protesters have begun assembling for a pro-Palestinian rally in London that is expected to draw hundreds of thousands on Saturday, while police have jostled with far-right groups attempting to reach the Cenotaph.

Organisers say that the pro-Palestine march, which has been the backdrop to a political row over Suella Braverman’s public criticism of the policing of protests, could be one of the biggest political marches in British history.

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Spanish PM Sánchez set to stay in power with controversial Catalan amnesty deal

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Socialist party wins separatist support with offer that has provoked furious opposition, protests and questions from Brussels

Spain’s acting prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, is on the verge of securing another term in office after his socialist party won the support of Catalan separatists by offering a deeply controversial amnesty for those who took part in the illegal and failed push for regional independence six years ago.

The deal between the Spanish Socialist Workers’ party (PSOE) and the centre-right Junts (Together) comes after a week of tense negotiations and amid widespread concerns over the amnesty, which have led to street protests, dire warnings from conservative judges and questions from Brussels.

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Dozens injured in protests at Spanish socialist party’s Madrid headquarters

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About 7,000 demonstrated against deal plan for Catalan separatists with 30 police and others hurt in violence

Thirty-nine people, including 30 police officers, have been injured outside the Madrid headquarters of Spain’s ruling socialist party amid angry demonstrations against the party’s plans to offer an agreement deal to Catalan separatists to help it secure another term in government.

About 7,000 people gathered outside the offices of the Spanish Socialist Workers’ party (PSOE) on Calle de Ferraz on Tuesday night to protest against the proposed agreement. The demonstration, which was attended by members of the far-right Vox party and by fascist and neo-fascist groups, led to skirmishes between protesters and riot police, who responded with teargas and baton charges.

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Chile’s right wing presents draft conservative constitution

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Draft, which some observers consider a step backwards, could threaten rights to abortion and collective strike action

Chile’s radical right wing have presented their conservative vision for the future in a draft constitution that some observers consider a step backwards for the country.

The new draft, which could replace the current Pinochet-era charter, was drawn up by a council led by the far-right Republican party and could threaten access to abortion, curb the right to collective strike action, and would reduce the number of deputies elected to Chile’s congress.

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Hungary sacks museum chief for not enforcing under-18s ban at LGBTQ+ exhibition

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László Simon dismissed after National Museum allowed children to visit a World Press Photo show

The director of Budapest’s National Museum has been fired from his role over a contentious anti-LGBTQ+ law that he himself voted for when he was a member of parliament.

Hungary’s government on Monday dismissed director László Simon after his museum allowed under-18s to visit a World Press Photo exhibition featuring images of LGBTQ+ people, despite laws banning the “promotion of homosexuality” to minors.

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Marine Le Pen’s support of Israel seen as move away from party’s antisemitic past

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National Rally has firmly supported Israel’s right to defend itself and promised to protect French Jews

The French far-right leader Marine Le Pen’s support of Israel in the wake of the Hamas attacks is being seen as part of a long-running drive to move her National Rally party away from its toxic, antisemitic past before a run for the presidency in 2027.

National Rally, which is now the biggest opposition party in the French parliament and is polling ahead of Emmanuel Macron’s centrists for next year’s European elections, has firmly supported Israel’s right to defend itself since the Hamas attacks on 7 October and the ensuing bombardment of Gaza.

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BTS and Taylor Swift fans give Javier Milei and his running mate an earful

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Argentinian Swifties say ‘Milei is Trump’ as devotees of BTS decry ‘hatred and xenophobia’ of Victoria Villarruel’s tweets about group

Weeks before Argentina’s run-off election, far-right populist Javier Milei and his running mate, Victoria Villaruel, have found themselves under pressure from an unexpected quarter: an alliance of Taylor Swift supporters and K-pop fans.

Milei, a radical libertarian who has proposed dollarizing Argentina’s economy and even legalizing the organ trade, topped the polls ahead of Sunday’s first round, but was beaten into second place by the centrist finance minister, Sergio Massa.

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Orbán is lonelier than ever on the European stage – but he’s still got cards to play

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The defeat of Poland’s Law and Justice party and Turkey moving towards ratifying Sweden’s Nato bid have further isolated Hungary’s PM

Viktor Orbán is more isolated than ever – but he is still fuelling frustrations across Europe.

The Hungarian leader, one of Europe’s most prominent far-right politicians, has long been an outlier on the European stage. But, as he arrives in Brussels on Thursday for a summit of EU leaders, he will be even more lonely than usual.

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German firebrand politician quits far-left Die Linke to set up her own party

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Sahra Wagenknecht joined by nine other MPs in migration-sceptical party which will court unhappy voters on left and right

A leading German radical-left politician who has questioned the green transition and blamed the west for Russia’s war on Ukraine has left her party to set up a new one, in a move likely to cost the far right votes and further fragment the nation’s politics.

Sahra Wagenknecht, the charismatic former co-leader of the far-left Die Linke, said on Monday that the new association – named after herself – would court unhappy voters on the left and right, starting with next June’s European parliament elections.

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‘Steve Bannon is watching us closely’: Naomi Klein on populists, conspiracists and real-world activism

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Author speaks candidly about a ‘mirror world’ that feeds our anxieties, distorts reality and fuels the polarisation of society

Naomi Klein is aware that her new book, Doppelganger, looks strange. A distorted picture of her face stares at you from the front cover. “Everyone who holds it looks like they’re holding my severed head, including me. It feels like Macbeth,” she says. Her laugh punctures the quiet communal space we’re sitting in on the first floor of a London hotel in late September.

But the weirdness is intentional. It’s supposed to capture what she’s writing about – a mirror world where her sense of self becomes distorted. Her starting point is her very own doppelganger, the writer Naomi Wolf. For more than a decade Klein has repeatedly been confused with Wolf. What at first irked her became more frustrating – destabilising, even – as it moved to social media and Wolf dived full on into conspiracy culture, allying with the far right in the process. The two are so frequently mixed up that social media algorithms began to autocomplete Klein’s name when people were writing about the latest thing Wolf had said or done.

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London police defy ban on badges linked to far right and white supremacy

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Met officers seen wearing divisive ‘thin blue line’ symbol at sensitive protests despite orders to remove them

Metropolitan police officers are openly defying orders not to wear badges appropriated by the far right and linked to white supremacy.

In July, the force’s chief, Mark Rowley, banned officers from wearing the “thin blue line” badge saying that in the US an equivalent symbol had been used by “hard-right groups”.

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Far-right AfD says it is now ‘major all-German party’ after state elections

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Alternative für Deutschland comes second in Hesse and third in Bavaria as support spreads from east of country

The far-right, anti-immigration Alternative für Deutschland has declared itself a “major all-German party” after winning its biggest ever vote share in a western German state.

The AfD, once seen as a party most relevant to post-communist eastern states, won 18.4% of the vote on Sunday in the powerhouse state of Hesse, around Frankfurt, and came second only to the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). In Bavaria it came third, behind the rightwing populist Freie Wähler (Free Voters) party.

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Mass protest in Barcelona against possible amnesty for Catalan separatists

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Tens of thousands demonstrate in Spanish region’s capital as Pedro Sánchez weighs move in attempt to form government

Tens of thousands of people have joined conservative and far-right Spanish political leaders in Barcelona to protest against the Socialist party’s decision to consider an amnesty for those involved in the failed, unlawful and unilateral push for Catalan independence six years ago.

Sunday’s demonstration, organised by the anti-independence group Societat Civil Catalana, was called after Catalan separatist parties said they would only consider supporting a new, socialist-led government following July’s inconclusive general election if they were offered an amnesty in return.

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