The European far right

Dark tales from the Vienna woods

European political leaders should do more to counter the appeal of the far right

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Readers' comments




Can't you see how well it turn out for Singapore when it was created out of Malaysia. It is a matter of implementation and planning.

You got a good point about not just Muslim being targeted but all minority throughout Europe. History tells us that either killing or love-making (cultural assimilation) can smear out the differences between ethnic groups.


Hanren... you've got to be joking. See how well Israel turned out? I'm sure Muslimland will be just as peaceful a place.
Besides, Austria's far-right might be growling at the Muslims, but Bulgaria's explicitely violent and radical ATAK party wants to get rid of the gipsies.
Nationalism is indeed rising, but it is not rejecting Muslims only.
Among the Dutch, a country which has been admired for its tolerance of migrants, there are many who now cast angry looks at those from African origin, as well as Easter Europeans, or Indians.
Something needs to be done to prevent sudden outbreaks of violence against minorities. However, there has to be a reason for the increase of xenophobia... whether it lies within poor economic performance or migrantion is truely turning into invasion, I'm not sure.


I guess racial cleansing is a matter of time, horrific thing will happen to EU that makes Hitler bashful. EU can shut the door of immigration anytime, but they can't prevent existing Muslim population from growing.

To avoid future ethnic clensing, EU may consider giving a patch of land to establish an independant Muslim country within EU, like what Malaysia did to create Singapore, or UK did to create Isreal. This is the middle ground between genocide against Muslium and conversion of EU to Muslim.

One way or another, hitory ultimately repeats!

snorri godhi

When a comment starts with "wooow!", I know that it only contains ad hominem arguments, so I only need to read the first sentence to know what side it takes: the rest is predictable. Sasakiyojiro is not alone in using ad hominem arguments (or even racist arguments against the Austrians and Europeans in general). This is not surprising, since The Economist itself uses ad hominem arguments in the article, labeling any party that they don't like as "far-right" without explaining what they mean by it. The Economist also includes antisemitism in the definition of "far-right", when they know very well that it is the "Left" that stokes antisemitism in Britain (and, to a lesser extent, the rest of Europe).Are the comments in this thread really written by bigots? Let's have a look at some of the most recommended. I'll leave aside Peter Pen, who can defend himself if he feels like it.Frankinaeus talks about "non-productive", criminal immigrants. Perhaps he is wrong, but bigoted? is it bigoted to say that Europe attracts a worse class of immigrants that America, prevents them from becoming productive citizens, and turns some of them to crime?EVN asks a simple question: is immigration under control?Matt C's first comment is a complaint about human right abuses in Turkey. He might or might not be right, but why is it bigoted to complain about human rights abuses?NB12 claims that Spain and Italy should have encouraged immigration from Latin America and blocked Muslim immigration. That sounds unrealistic to me, but where is the bigotry? Remember that Latin Americans are genetically more different from Europeans that Arabs are."Fairelection" is a Chinese who laments the lack of democracy and free speech in Britain: where is the bigotry in that? I disagree with his/her assessment of the BNP and the Iraq war, but how can it be bigoted to defend a legal party, or to be opposed to a war that most British people are opposed to?What all of these comments have in common with each other, and my previous comment, is that they complain about The Economist having lost touch with reality. Now that is something to discuss without ad hominem arguments!


There are extremist Muslim groups that aim to take subdue Europe through immigration and reproduction. They then plan to do the same to the US. Welcome to the new Crusades. It's here whether we want it or not. Will the West rise to the challenge? Or will it cower behind "tolerance"? It's not a war of Christianity vs. Islam, but of non-Muslims vs. Islam.

Since Mohammed created Islam in that dark cave in the 11th century, where he claimed to have heard demons speaking to him, Islam has been spread by the sword. There is absolutely nothing wrong with electing representatives who will try and oppose it.


I dont say anything .sasakiyojiro said enough. I am signing his comment. But i want to add something about immigration. I see that italians are very pessimistic with African immigrants and romans in Italia. i dont think that number of them are more than italians who immigrated to the Usa and Canada. But italians can not stand up these africans and Romans and blaming of them from almost all crimes while canadians and americans have standed up and been subjected to italian mafia crimes for years.


The success of the Austrian right-wing parties was mainly based on protest votes directed at the two mainstream parties that formed the past coalitions. That does not make the majority of the right wing voters racists but shows a good deal of immaturity if not stupidity. That's what you get when you give voting rights to kids of 16.

Randolph of Roanoke

It is amazing what The Economist considers racist. Opposition to mass immigration of a religious group that has proven rather difficult to integrate, to put it mildly, need not be driven by racism. Neither need the belief that the European Union should be a political union of Christan Europe be an expression of racism. After all, more than one EU state has an established church or refers to Christianity in its constitution. Moreover, these positions have _nothing_ to do with race and quite a lot with what a society should be about, which is to say they are not racist but simply political.It is true that the populist right in Austria sometimes panders to less than honorable sentiments, at least subcutaneously. Their appeal, however, may come just as much from voters being sick of being branded racists or bigots for opinions quite in the tradition of European mainstram thought. If perfectly defensible opinions are banished from polite society, it is not surprising that polite people may respond by voting for impolite rabble rousers.


wooow! i have never expected that there are so many bigots reading the Exonomist, so big surprise!

"What gripes do the Arabs of the Gulf, Iranians, Bruneis etc have against the West? They sit on oil, let Europeans build the wells, let Indians and Pakis do the labour, let maids from Sri Lanka swipe their floors. These lazy people who swim in money for which they never did honest work are feeling hard done by?"

these people have been living in the desert thousands of years.did they never did honest work? i do not know your nationality, but have not your country never colonized any part of the world without hard work but with guns?
may i invite comments from spaniards or portuguese for this.

Italians should work harder with MAFIAs who are prospering by spreading OPIUM to otherr world killing destroying millions of people in the world, rather than fighting petit-crime by romas.

what do you mean by europe and non-europe for turkey? main religion is different NOW, but they were Romans for a long time.their blood contains at least 25% of romans, i guess.

the dutch or the flemish? it was these people who put apartheid in south africa over centuries and colonized indonesia before being kicked out by japanese.

millions of irish immigrated to usa due to famine. american indians were the victims.

the british and the french were two major colonialists in the world, and they know their history, so they are much more tolerant in the issue, not only for economical reasons but also for moral reasons, in my view. and i like it.

are those immigrants really thieves of the wealth of europe?



The two unsavory right-wing populists so predictably swept on top by this ("yet another", European) election is but the inevitable result of a culmination of decades of (esp.) Social Democrat condescension upon their hapless subjects.

What better way of lifting Hans & Grete Gem�tlichkeit out of their parochial ignorance and giving them a whiff of the wonderful diversity of the world out there yet so lamentably unbeknownst to those clueless Two - by bringing Anatolian village life smack to their urban doorsteps? Tribal customs, illiteracy, social atavism, and all, the whole 9 yards. Totally authentic.

The good intention may very well stem from the desire to let the electorial riffraff in on the joys of these same Politicos' vacationing experiences in their second homes at the Cote d'Azur/et al (courtesy their loot of those taxpayers in so dire a need of multicultural enlightenment).

But to radically transform ancient old-world cities & countries -grown & evolved over centuries- within decades, into Happy Globalized Utopias to try to prove their social theories & phantasies about man's nature...

Yes indeed.

Planet Earth (Vienna; co-callers: European capitals, mostly suburbs) to the London West End: Realism - it really broadens the horizon. Have (some of) your correspondents try it some time.


Regarding the views on capital punishment european far right parties are still to the left of the majority of the US american congress members.


The most immediate cause for the Crusades is also the most obvious: Muslim incursions into previously Christian lands. On multiple fronts, Muslims were invading Christian lands to convert the inhabitants and assume control in the name of Islam. That aside yes the continent has contributed to misery, and it can admit as much, slavery is still thriving in parts of Africa but because it is controlled by non-whites it is not an issue. You will never hear muslims admit to their misdeeds, islam has no place in the western world it is nothing but an anti-human cult.


This is news? It should suprise no one that the continent that brought us the Crusades (all seven of them), the Inquisition, institutionalized slavery and the Holocaust still harbors deep levels of racism. I didn't need to have the results of a poll reported to me to get that news flash.


“If the evil is allowed to prosper it is because men of good do nothing”.

Peter Pen your ignorance is so common; I wasn’t at all struck when I read your bigot post.
You speak of the Moslem domination, but Are Moslem a united community?
There are, Shias, Sunnis, with different customs and values according to the place they live in, I will teach you they often fight between one another.
Therefore you cannot speak of a united group.
On the other hand, there is “free peoples” that are Muslims, in France, the US, the UK, Spain and so forth.
I will again teach you that even Afghanistan are a “true” democracy, and that 222 million Indonesians are franchised, and can vote to elect their leaders, and not the case in the xenophobic White Caucasian Russia
Is your point that only white Christian or non Muslim can be free?
If I look on your sentence I see contradictory words: How can Muslim (free people in free countries) fight your so-called Muslim dominance?
You don’t know that a “Muslim” is before all a person who has friend, can be or cannot be (as everyone) respectful, and so forth.
There is no attempt of Moslem to run the world, because the economic hegemony is on the other side.
Perhaps, it is our acts of supremacy that has triggered the terrorist wave.
The true question is, perhaps, the way westerners have acted in the world so far.
And it deserves not less than resentment.


A different point of view from an Italian emigrated more than ten years ago in the US:
European countries have created a social network of services and citizen rights through hard work and sacrifies: universal/social health care system, public education, welfare checks, low income housings etc. Now, illegal immigrants enjoy the same rights of the Western European citizens, which has translated in a constant rising of the taxes to keep up with the social services. And the illegal population has expected all those services: low income houses are occupied with force and nobody pays the rent, the emergency rooms have become the shelter for the illegal extracomunitaries. In the elementary schools, half of the class does not speak the Italian language, and the school lunch room will be shaped by absurd religious bans. In a traditional Christian country like Italy, the Cross is removed from public places and careful to name Merry Christmas: you can hurt the feelings of people who have no respect at all for our culture and traditions. Who are the landlords? The small criminality is 75% brought by the 10% of the population (guess who) and the prisons are so full that fellons are on the streets in no time to steal and rape again.
If someone tries to raise the voice against the topic, a bunch of hypocrits scream at the lack of civil rights for the immigrants.
The unhappiness and mounting rage against the immigrants is against illegal immigrants who don't respect the new country they are living.


What a surprise Peter, i don't think i will ever agree with bigots. Governments shouldn't hand out special treatment, they should respond fiercely with just words to extreme elements, and then they should expect peace to come because it will.

Peter Pen


Never thought I would so whole heartedly agree with a Chinese fellow.

Maybe it is time for the free peoples of the world to unite and take a stand against the obvious Muslim attempt at world domination.


To the Economist writer:Has it ever occurred to you that the reason why so many people oppose the entry of Turkey into the EU is because Turkey is not a European country? Why not suggest that Australia and New Zealand enter the EU (if they want to)?


Democracy in Europe is once again criticised if it delivers the 'wrong' result. Maybe it is the case that Islam is incompatible with all other cultures?

Here in China Muslims on our boarders carry out suicide bombings - the same in London, Scotland, Spain, Thailand, India, Phillipines and the world over.

In Europe cartoons and films have caused muslims to kill. Shira law is growing along with Islamic finance. Europe has been cowed by extreme left wing politics into changing its core values - its the muslim way or get blown up.

Anyone speaking out gets name called, beaten, or is sacked from their job eg the recent sacking of an off duty police officer in Manchester for wearing a BNP badge at a football match. The BNP are a respectable anti-immigration, pro-freemarket party that opposes war with other countries. In contrast the police allow Labour and conservative Party members who voted for the war in Iraq to work in the police force - yet these parties have resulted in the murder of hundreds of thousands of innocent people. The police also have muslim and black police associations but no all white English police association.

As a student in London a number of years ago, it did not take a rocket scientist to predict you would be experiencing muslim bombs in Europe - everything is done the mulsim way or else! Just take a look at the very extreme student population around London and left wing lecturers - with time on their hands.

Europe has even changed its language - you do not call say muslim bombers you say British bombers, your unelected home secretary refers to mulsims bombers as 'anti-islamic acts', you waste tax payers money on providing boots for sniffer dogs and provide muslim meat in hospitals and schools. You allow muslims to get away with carrying posters saying death to all those who insult Islam; you chase through the courts people such as Bridget Bardot that speak out against the Islamification of Europe.

Time to respect democracy or admit Europe does not really have one. England with its extreme unelected warmongering Scottish Labour governemnt does not have a meaningful democracy. The extreme pro-muslim left running Europe hand in hand with the media - including the Economist - have no respect for democracy. Give people a simple vote - yes or no to the Islamification of Europe. Then act on that vote. Otherwise simply admit you do not favour democracy. If not when hard times do hit civil war is the likley outcome of illusional democracy.


Matt C,"What do Native Americans have to do with this? "That little history lesson on the adventures of benevolent Europeans up and down the Americas was prompted by your comment "[Turkey's] genocidal history against the peoples of Europe (hint: Turks are not native to Turkey)". Of course you understood that, but hypocrisy won't give up easily, will it?When I told you that your assertion "Turkey's ongoing efforts to exterminate the few thousand Christians" was an outright lie, you came up with an *opinion* piece in IHT written by Nicholas Gage, born Nikola Gatzoyiannis, a Greek-American with hardly an objective view on the subject. So I'm still waiting for evidence in support of that claim. Incidentally, I couldn't find where in that opinion piece the word "exterminate" was used. It's also rather amusing that according to the article "The Patriarch of Constantinople himself has said that he believes the risk is worth taking and that he strongly supports Turkey's admission [to EU]."Another historical fact that you have forgotten is that Istanbul became Turkish in 1453, so for over 500 years, "the Patriarchate of Constantinople, the spiritual center of 300 million Orthodox Christians throughout the world" has chosen to remain in Istanbul, among people who allegedly persecute and "exterminate" the Orthodox Christians! Either the Turks are extremely inept in persecution, for they haven't been able to finish the job in over 500 years, or your claims don't have any basis in fact! Turks, on the other hand, left Greece in late 19th century, and almost all trace of their 500-year presence (from mid 14th century to the 19th century) has almost completely disappeared. Do you see the asymmetry in the treatment?Your comments on the demographics of present-day Cypress, or Turkish political history are no less inaccurate, but those we will leave to another time.



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