Vox became the first far-right party to enter Spain's parliament since the Franco era when it won 24 seats in the general election. Last week, the party fought its first mayoral campaign in El Ejido, a town in Andalucia with a population of 90,000 people, 30% of whom are migrants, often working in the 150 sq miles of fruit and vegetable greenhouses that surround the town. We follow the campaign and talk to Spaniards and migrants to find out why this socialist stronghold of 40 years is turning to the right
Continue reading...Category Archives: The far right
The Guardian view on German responses to antisemitism: frankness and honesty | Editorial
The rise of anti-Jewish actions in Germany is profoundly worrying, but Angela Merkel’s fightback sets an example of moral seriousness and rigour
The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, has spoken openly about the spectre of antisemitism in Germany. She told CNN that “We have always had a certain amount of antisemites among us ... Unfortunately there is to this day not a single synagogue, not a single day care centre for Jewish children, not a single school for Jewish children that does not need to be guarded by German policemen.” Her remarks came a week after the country’s ombudsman for antisemitism, Felix Klein, suggested that observant Jews would be wise not to wear kippahs (skullcaps) in public. Taken together, these developments might suggest that Germany is sliding back into its dreadful past. In fact, they are signs of a determination that this must not happen. The crime figures do not suggest there is a crisis under way – though crime statistics do not measure fear.
The Jews of Germany are alarmed. It is not just the success of the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) in recent elections that contributes to their feeling of unease. A short-lived campaign to ban circumcision in 2012 was the first alarm bell; large demonstrations against the Gaza war in 2014, in which hostility to Israel often seemed indistinguishable from antisemitism, was another. And they are aware of the rising currents of antisemitism around Europe, even if it takes different forms in different countries.
Continue reading...Belgian king’s meeting with far-right leader sparks controversy
First such audience since 1936 comes after Vlaams Belang wins 18 seats in election
The leader of Flanders’ far-right separatist party has had an audience with the king of Belgium for the first time in the modern political era.
According to Belgian media, 1936 was the last time a far-right leader held an official meeting with the king.
Continue reading...Angela Merkel says Germany must face up to ‘the spectres of the past’ – video
Angela Merkel has said antisemitism is a problem in Germany and the country has a historical responsibility to face up to the growing threat of far-right populism both at home and abroad. Her comments came days after Germany’s ombudsman for antisemitism, Felix Klein, warned German Jews not to wear kippahs in public after a spate of racist attacks
Continue reading...Jews in Germany warned of risks of wearing kippah cap in public
Government commissioner says lifting of inhibitions and rise of uncouthness are factors behind rising incidence of antisemitism
Germany’s government commissioner on antisemitism has warned Jews about the potential dangers of wearing the traditional kippah cap in the face of rising anti-Jewish attacks.
“I cannot advise Jews to wear the kippah everywhere all the time in Germany,” Felix Klein said in an interview published Saturday by the Funke regional press group.
Continue reading...Inside the neo-Nazi plot to kill a Labour MP – podcast
A plot to kill a Labour MP and a police officer was only disrupted after an informant within the neo-Nazi group National Action blew the whistle. Robbie Mullen passed the details on to Hope Not Hate’s Matthew Collins. Here, they tell their extraordinary story. Also today: the columnist Aditya Chakrabortty on his unlikely collaboration with the techno group Underworld
In the summer of 2017, Jack Renshaw, then aged 22, of the neo-Nazi group National Action, sat in a pub in Warrington and told his comrades about his plan to kill the Labour MP Rosie Cooper and DC Victoria Henderson, a police officer who had been investigating him. Around the table was Robbie Mullen, who had become disillusioned and passed on details of the plot to Matthew Collins of the anti-racism charity Hope Not Hate.
The two men tell Anushka Asthana their extraordinary story of covert meetings and intelligence gathering from within one of Britain’s most dangerous neo-Nazi groups. Last week, Renshaw was sentenced to life in prison after admitting the plot.
Continue reading...Far-right Facebook groups ‘spreading hate to millions in Europe’
Avaaz uncovers 500 accounts using fake news to spread white supremacy message
A web of far-right Facebook accounts spreading fake news and hate speech to millions of people across Europe has been uncovered by the campaign group Avaaz.
Facebook, which is struggling to clean up the platform and salvage its reputation, has already taken down accounts with about 6 million followers before voting in the European elections begins on Thursday. It was still investigating hundreds of other accounts with an additional 26 million followers, Avaaz said.
Continue reading...Hungary accused of fuelling xenophobia with anti-migrant rhetoric
Council of Europe’s damning report says human rights violations must be urgently addressed
Europe’s top human rights watchdog has accused Hungary’s government of violating people’s rights and using anti-migrant rhetoric that fuels “xenophobic attitudes, fear and hatred”.
A damning report from the Council of Europe’s commissioner for human rights, Dunja Mijatović, concluded: “Human rights violations in Hungary have a negative effect on the whole protection system and the rule of law” and should “be addressed as a matter of urgency”.
Continue reading...Austrian government collapses after far-right minister fired
Freedom party members quit posts after Herbert Kickl sacked in wake of Ibiza video
Austria’s far-right interior minister, Herbert Kickl, has been fired in the wake of the “Ibiza” corruption scandal that has engulfed the Freedom party (FPÖ), leading to the complete collapse of the country’s governing coalition.
In response to the sacking, the remaining Freedom party ministers resigned from their posts, which included the ministries for defence, work and transport.
Continue reading...Ibiza scandal: why has Austria’s government collapsed? – video
Austria is preparing for an election in September after a video from 2017 appeared to show the far-right vice-chancellor, Heinz-Christian Strache, offering lucrative public contracts in exchange for campaign support. The country's coalition government, formed between the Freedom party and the Austrian People's party, will end. Twenty-four hours after the video was released Strache resigned.
Continue reading...Dutch Eurosceptics dream of united front to roll back EU
FvD will join divided ranks of Europe’s populist right where alliances are in flux
In the conference room of a slightly soulless hotel on the neat outskirts of the eastern Dutch town of Emmen, a crowd of 100 or so had gathered to hear a former MEP and European commission staffer tell them there is far too much Europe.
“Everyone wants more EU. We want less,” said Derk Jan Eppink. “Take power back from Brussels, return it to nation states. With our French, Italian, Polish, Spanish partners, we will be a united front.”
Continue reading...Austria’s ‘Ibiza scandal’: what happened and why does it matter?
Deputy chancellor and head of far-right party has resigned after video sting operation
On Friday night, two German media outlets published a video that shows the Austrian deputy chancellor and leader of the far-right Freedom party (FPÖ), Heinz-Christian Strache, talking to an unidentified woman purporting to be the niece of a Russian oligarch at a luxury resort in Ibiza. When the woman expresses an interest in gaining control of the country’s largest-circulation tabloid, Kronen Zeitung, Strache suggests he could offer lucrative public contracts in exchange for campaign support.
Continue reading...These elections could define Europe. It must urgently rediscover its founding spirit | Natalie Nougayrède
Facing challenges from Russia, China and the US, the continent can no longer neglect its core values of peace and human rights
Sometimes, when it comes to Europe, things are clearer from afar. Take Viktor Orbán’s encounter with Donald Trump last week: a love-fest perfectly timed to signal that this US president is out to disembowel the European Union, if not break it entirely. Ahead of the European elections, here was Hungary’s self-proclaimed “illiberal” prime minister – a man teaming up with Italy’s far-right strongman Matteo Salvini – receiving his long-awaited anointment from a white-nationalist US president who has called the EU a “foe”.
Meanwhile, in Syria, barrel bombs and Russian military ordnance continued to rain down on Idlib’s hospitals and schools, as the noose tightened on 3 million civilians trapped in the last rebel-held area that the president, Bashar al-Assad, wants to reconquer. Historians will perhaps one day tell us whether Vladimir Putin timed that particular offensive to coincide with other items on his EU-destroying agenda, already well on display with disinformation campaigns aimed at helping extremist political forces across the continent.
Continue reading...Teacher suspended after her pupils criticise Italian far-right law
Schoolchildren’s video presentation compared Salvini decree to 1930s racial laws
An Italian teacher has been suspended over a video made by her students that compared a security law drafted by Italy’s far-right interior minister, Matteo Salvini, to Mussolini’s racial laws, provoking a storm of protest against her suspension across the country.
Rosa Maria Dell’Aria was last week suspended for 15 days on half pay after an investigation by the education ministry’s provincial authority in Palermo found she had not “supervised” her students’ work.
Continue reading...Violence breaks out at Tommy Robinson election event
Police promise robust response after fracas in Oldham at European campaign stop
Police have warned there will be arrests after two police vehicles were damaged during a disturbance at a Tommy Robinson campaign event.
Footage posted on social media showed clashes between supporters of the campaigner, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, and counter-demonstrators in Oldham, Greater Manchester, on Saturday afternoon.
Continue reading...Europe’s far-right leaders unite with a vow to ‘change history’
Matteo Salvini and Marine Le Pen are joining with allies to create what may be the third-largest bloc in the European parliament
Italian deputy prime minister Matteo Salvini led a rally of his European far-right allies in front of Milan’s Gothic cathedral on Saturday. He pledged to change history after this week’s EU elections by making the populist alliance one of the largest groupings in the European parliament.
Flanked by France’s Marine Le Pen and leaders from nine other nationalist parties, Salvini began his speech to the packed Piazza del Duomo by quoting the British writer GK Chesterton: “The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him but because he loves what is behind him.” He added that his group would remould Europe “not for our sake, but for our children”.
Continue reading...‘Punches, attacks, milkshakes’: inside the Tommy Robinson campaign
As the far-right activist fights to become an MEP, the Guardian learns new details of his modus operandi and support network
A drone hovers high above the crowd on a Wigan housing estate. About 300 men, women and children are gathered before a mobile billboard on a sun-drenched spring evening. A cheer erupts when the main speaker arrives.
Waving a St George’s flag, Tommy Robinson wants the crowd to send a deafening message to “treacherous politicians” and vote him into the European parliament on 23 May. “I am one of you,” he shouts across the estate. “They don’t breathe the same air as us. They do not care about us. But I can guarantee you: I am one of you.”
Continue reading...‘They have free rein’: Rio residents fear police violence under far-right rule
New governor promised ‘slaughter’ of gangsters, drawing comparisons with bloody Philippines drug war
The residents were chatting outside when the police helicopter swooped over the polluted river at the end of their street in Rio’s sprawling Maré favela complex. They fled as the officers riding in it fired volleys of bullets during a raid to catch a renegade gang boss.
Controlled by two rival drug gangs and a small paramilitary group, this roughshod community has grown used to violence and gunfights. But the police response was extreme even by those standards.
Continue reading...Marine Le Pen makes ‘OK’ hand gesture used by white supremacists
France’s far-right National Rally leader asks ally to remove controversial selfie from Facebook
Marine Le Pen, the leader of France’s far-right National Rally, has asked an Estonian ally to remove a selfie from Facebook in which the pair made a controversial “OK” hand gesture, which has been linked to white-power messaging.
Le Pen was in Tallinn to meet MPs from Estonia’s far-right EKRE party, which recently became part of the country’s coalition government, as part of cross-continent negotiations on setting up a new bloc of nationalist and far-right forces after European elections next week.
Continue reading...Same-sex selfie kiss kickstarts Matteo Salvini photobomb protest
Far-right Italian deputy is hounded by photobombers after image goes viral
When two Sicilian women shared a kiss on 26 April, they kickstarted a “selfie-guerrilla’’ photobomb protest against Italy’s far-right deputy prime minister, Matteo Salvini.
Matilde Rizzo and Gaia Parisi, both 19, approached Salvini, the leader of the League, for a selfie after a rally in Caltanissetta, Sicily. While Salvini was preparing to smile for the photo, the trap was set by the two young women who kissed in front of the camera.
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