#rally hungary

[spectrav10]

The waiting is finally over as the 2024 ERC season kicks off at the first round: V-Hid Rally Hungary. I finished drawing the Citroën C3 Rally2 at the 2023 rally that won, driven by Mads Østberg.

[rallytimeofficial]

Inizio tosto in Ungheria per i tre equipaggi di ACI Team Italia nel FIA Junior ERC

🔴 🔴 Inizio tosto in Ungheria per i tre equipaggi di ACI Team Italia nel FIA Junior ERC

Le prime due giornate di gara al Rally Hungary, prima tappa del FIA European Rally Championship, hanno offerto ottimi riscontri ai ragazzi di ACI Team Italia prima di una serie di sfortunati eventi. La squadra della Nazionale, che quest’anno schiera tre equipaggi nella serie giovanile europea, era partita molto bene e aveva proposto subito Davide Pesavento con Matteo Zaramella sulla Peugeot 208…

[rodaportal]

🔍 Unlocking Europe's Political Shift! 🌍🔐

Hey, deep thinkers! 🤔💡 Ready to understand the surge of conservative politics in Europe? 📈🗳️ Our latest YouTube video, "The Rise of Nationalism: Europe's Right-Wing Political Landscape," delves into the complexities shaping the continent's political future. 🚀✨

Discover the motivations, controversies, and electoral victories that define this political shift. From the transformation of Sweden Democrats to Marine Le Pen's National Rally, Hungary's resilience under Viktor Orban, Geert Wilders' controversies in the Netherlands, to Matteo Salvini's League in Italy—we cover it all!

#nationalism #europe #conservativepolitics

👉 Watch Now: https://youtu.be/uRVUo0hqc5M

[xtruss]

The EU’s 🇪🇺 Liberals Need Better Ways To Deal With Populists! Demonisation Isn’t Working

— September 14th, 2023 | Leaders | The Real Threat From Europe’s Hard Right

NPD Demonstration on the 8, May 2005, 60 Years of Ending of the World War II. Image: Justin Metz/Getty Images

Aspectre is Haunting Europe: the spectre of a rising hard right. In Germany the overtly xenophobic Alternative for Germany (AFD) has surged to become the country’s second-most popular party. Its success is polarising domestic politics and it seems poised to triumph in state elections in the east next year. In Poland the ruling Law and Justice Party is leading the polls ahead of a general election on October 15th, and it is being drawn further to the right by an extreme new party, Confederation.

As we explain in this week’s Briefing, there could be more grim news to come. Next year the hard right could gain more sway in elections for the European Parliament, due to be held in June. Marine Le Pen, the leader of National Rally, could win the presidential election in France in 2027. If she did, France would become the second big country to be run by the hard right, after Italy, where Giorgia Meloni and her Brothers of Italy took power last year in a coalition with the Nativist League.

Make no mistake, Europe is not about to be overrun by fascists, in a repeat of the 1930s. But the new right-wing wave presents a big challenge. Handled badly, it could toxify politics, disenfranchise a large share of voters and prevent crucial reforms of the European Union (eu). Rather than trying to exclude hard-right parties entirely from government and public debate, the best response is for mainstream parties to engage with them, and on occasion do deals with them. If they have to take some responsibility for actually governing, they may grow less radical.

Europe’s hard right has enjoyed several surges over the past quarter of a century. In 2000 Jörg Haider, an anti-establishment demagogue, shocked the continent by entering government in Austria: his Freedom Party is now the most popular there. A migration crisis in 2015, when over 1m people from poor and war-torn countries crossed the eu’s borders, led to another wave of support for xenophobic and Eurosceptic parties, including Britain’s Brexiteers.

The new wave that is breaking is different in three ways. First, the hard right has opportunistically found new topics to drum up fury about. Most such parties are still anti-foreigner, but having seen Britain’s experience, some have moderated their hostility to eu membership, and fewer want to ditch the single currency. All are animated by new concerns, most obviously hostility to pro-climate policies, which they argue are an elitist stitch-up that will fleece ordinary people. In Germany the afd has successfully mobilised opposition to a government push to require people to install expensive heat pumps in their homes, forcing the government to water down the measures.

The second shift is the breadth of their support. Our calculations show that 15 of the eu’s 27 member countries now have hard-right parties which have support of 20% or more in opinion polls, including every large country bar Spain, where the nationalist Vox did badly in July’s elections. Almost four-fifths of the eu’s population now live in countries where the hard right commands the loyalty of at least a fifth of the public.

The final shift is that the stakes have been raised, particularly at a European level. The war in Ukraine has created a pressing need for the eu to welcome new members in the east, ultimately including Ukraine. In tandem, it will need to streamline decision-making to reduce the veto powers member states wield. The presence of a larger bloc of anti-immigrant nationalists could make that crucial task far harder. Hungary’s Viktor Orban, a guru to other populist-nationalists, has consistently tried to block eu reform. Imagine if he gains more allies.

How should centrist voters and parties respond to the threat from the hard right? The old answer was to erect a cordon sanitaire. Mainstream parties refused to work with the insurgents; mainstream media refused to air their views. That approach may have run out of road; in places it is becoming counter-productive. In Germany the isolation of the afd has reinforced its narrative of being the only alternative to a failed establishment. Mainstream parties cannot pretend for ever not to hear the voice of 20% of voters without eventually corroding democracy.

Meanwhile, there is more evidence that hard-right parties in Europe tend to moderate their views when they have to take responsibility for governing. Exhibit A is Ms Meloni, the first hard-right prime minister of a western European country since the second world war. Despite liberal fears, she has not, or at least not yet, picked fights with Europe, upended migration policy, or restricted abortion or gay rights. She has remained a supporter of nato and Ukraine, by no means a given on the hard right. In the Nordics a similar pattern has played out. The Finns and the Sweden Democrats, two nationalist parties, have become more pragmatic since either joining or agreeing to support a governing coalition.

Any decision to include a hard-right party in local or national government should be taken with extreme caution, especially in places where a history of fascism arouses acute sensitivity. Some rules of the road may help. One is that to be considered, any party must agree to renounce violence and respect the rule of law. Just as important is the constitutional context: at what level of government should they be included? What are the checks and balances created by the electoral system and other institutions? It may make sense to allow the afd to take part as junior members of local-government coalitions in Germany, for example. It would be a disaster if the hard right were to win France’s presidency, with its enormous powers.

Tame or Flame

Last, mainstream parties must accept that they have not done enough to satisfy a large and angry minority of their citizens. Trying to accelerate the green transition by loading people up with costs they cannot afford (Germany’s rules on boilers, for instance, or Emmanuel Macron’s ill-fated attempt to increase taxes on fuel) is just making greenery unpopular. Better communication and compensation for the worst-hit are both essential. Failing to control national borders alienates people, whereas a well-managed migration system could be shown to benefit them. The new success of the hard right in Europe is in part a failure of the centre—so the centre needs to raise its game. ■

— This article appeared in the Leaders section of the Print Edition Under the Headline "The Real Threat From Europe’s Hard Right"

[pajjorimre]

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/tens-thousands-rally-against-hungarys-orban-after-sex-abuse-pardon-scandal-2024-02-16/

Épp ideje, hogy ne Orbán legyen az összes hír főszereplője.

[mariacallous]

From Taiwan and Finland in January to Croatia and Ghana in December, one of the largest combined electorates in history will vote for new governments in 2024. This should be a cause of celebration and a vindication of the power of the ballot box. Yet this coming year is likely to see one of the starkest erosions of liberal democracy since the end of the Cold War. At their worst, the overall results could end up as a bloodbath or, marginally less bleakly, as a series of setbacks.

At first glance, the stats are impressive. Forty national elections will take place, representing 41 percent of the world’s population and 42 percent of its gross domestic product. Some will be more consequential than others. Some will be more unpredictable than others. (You can strike Russia and Belarus from that list.) One or two may produce uplifting results.

However, in the United States and Europe, the two regions that are the cradles of democracy—or at least, that used to project themselves as such—the year ahead is set to be bracing.

It is no exaggeration to say that the structures established after World War II, and which have underpinned the Western world for eight decades, will be under threat if former U.S. President Donald Trump wins a second term in November. Whereas his first period in the White House might be regarded as a psychodrama, culminating in the paramilitary assault on Congress shortly after his defeat, this time around, his menace will be far more professional and penetrating.

European diplomats in Washington fear a multiplicity of threats—the imposition of blanket tariffs, also known as a trade war; the sacking of thousands of public officials and their replacement with politicized loyalists; and the withdrawal of remaining support for Ukraine and the undermining of NATO. For Russian President Vladimir Putin, the return of Trump would be manna from heaven. Expect some form of provocation from the Kremlin in the Baltic states or another state bordering Russia to test the strength of Article 5, the mutual defense clause of the Western alliance.

More broadly, a Trump victory would arguably mark the final dismantling of the credibility of Western liberal democracies. From India to South Africa and from Brazil to Indonesia, countries variously called middle powers, pivot countries, multi-aligned states—or, now less fashionably, the global south—will continue the trend of picking and choosing their alliances, seeing moral equivalence in the competitive bids on offer.

The greatest effect that a Trump return could have would be on Europe, accelerating the onward march of the alt right or far right across the continent. Yet that trend will have gained momentum long before Americans go to the polls. French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz are looking over their shoulders as the second wave of populism affects the conduct of government.

The wedge issue that is threatening all moderate parties is immigration, just as it did in 2015, when former German Chancellor Angela Merkel allowed in more than 1 million refugees from the Middle East in what is now seen as the first wave of Europe’s immigration crisis. This time around, the arguments propagated by the AfD (the far-right Alternative for Germany party), Marine Le Pen’s National Rally in France, and similar groups across the continent have permeated the political mainstream.

The past 12 months have seen European Union decision-making constantly undermined by Prime Minister Viktor Orban in Hungary, particularly further support for Ukraine. For the moment, he stands alone, but he is likely to be joined by others, starting with the newly returned Prime Minister Robert Fico in Slovakia. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has struck a tacit deal with Brussels, remaining loyal on supporting Ukraine (against her instincts and previous statements) in return for effectively being given carte blanche in Italy’s domestic politics.

In September, Austria seems almost certain to vote in a coalition of the far right and the conservatives. A country that has (ever since the withdrawal of Soviet forces in 1955) prized its neutrality and been keen to ingratiate itself with Moscow has already been uncomfortable giving full-scale support to Kyiv. We can expect that support to soon be scaled back.

One of the few countries with a center-left administration, Portugal, will see it join the pack of the right and far right when snap elections are held in March. The previous incumbent, the Socialist Party’s outgoing Prime Minister Antonio Costa, was forced to quit amid a corruption investigation.

The most explosive moment is likely to occur in June, with the elections to the European Parliament. This reshuffling of the Euro-pack, which happens once every four years, was always seen in the United Kingdom as an opportunity to behave even more frivolously than usual. In 2014, the British electorate, in its inestimable wisdom, put Nigel Farage and his U.K. Independence Party in first place, setting in train a series of events that, two years later, led to the referendum to leave the EU.

Having seen the damage wrought by Brexit, voters in the remaining 27 EU member states are not angling for their countries to go it alone. However, many will use the opportunity to express their antipathy to mainstream politics by opting for a populist alternative. Some might see it as a low-risk option, believing that the European parliament does not count for much.

In so doing, they would be deluding themselves. It is entirely possible that the various forces of the far right could emerge as the single biggest bloc. This might not lead to a change in the composition of the European Commission (the diminished mainstream groupings would still collectively hold a majority), but any such extremist upsurge will change the overall dynamics across Europe.

Far-right parties in charge of governments will see themselves emboldened to pursue ever more radical nativist policies. In countries in where they are junior members of ruling coalitions (such as in Sweden), they will apply further pressure on their more mainstream conservative partners to move in their direction.

Conversely, countries that saw a surprising resurgence of the mainstream in national elections this year are unlikely to see that trend maintained. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s success in staving off the right was achieved only by cutting a deal with Catalan separatists. This led to protests by Spanish nationalists and a situation that is anything but stable.

Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s victory in Poland was at least as remarkable because the far-right Law and Justice party (PiS) government had used its years in government to try to skew the media and the courts in its direction. Expect PiS gains in June.

The most alarming result of 2023 was the return to prominence, and the verge of power, of Geert Wilders. The Dutch elections provide a how-not-to guide for mainstream politicians. The willingness of the center-right party of the outgoing Prime Minister Mark Rutte to contemplate a coalition with Wilders’s Party for Freedom emboldened many voters who had assumed their vote would be disregarded.

In Europe’s biggest economy, Germany, the so-called firewall established by the main parties to refuse to govern with the AfD is beginning to fray. Already, the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) is working with them in small municipalities. Friedrich Merz, the CDU leader, has dropped hints that such an option might not be out of the question at the regional level.

If the AfD gains the largest number of seats in the June European Parliament elections (opinion polls currently put it only marginally behind the CDU and ahead of all three parties in Scholz’s so-called traffic light coalition), then the momentum will change rapidly. It could go on to win three of the states in the former communist east—Thuringia, Saxony, and Brandenburg—next autumn. Germany would enter unchartered territory.

These dire predictions could end up being overblown. Mainstream parties in several countries may defy the doom merchants and emerge less badly than forecast. Given recent trends, however, optimism is thin on the ground.

There is one election, however, due to take place in the latter part of 2024 that could produce not just a centrist outcome, but one with a strong majority in its parliament. Britain, the country that left the heart of Europe, the island that until recently was run by a clown, could emerge as the lodestar for modern social democracy. The irony would be lost on no one.

[contemplatingoutlander]

Current times in the U.S. are NOT as similar to 1776 as they are to 1932 Germany

I've been saying for a long time that America is currently in its Weimar Republic stage, and if we don't stop the creeping neofascism now, we will go the way of earlier fascist nations. Probably, we will never be as extreme as Nazi Germany, but we might very soon look much like a neofascist contemporary nation like Viktor Orbán's Hungary.

Given this, I was happy to see the comment below made in response to an opinion column in the WaPo by Charles Lane: U.S. institutions are polling about as well as King George III did in 1776

"No, not 1776 at all. Far more like Germany in 1932, when a demented clown and his party of bigots and bullies told millions they’d been stabbed in the back by liberals and socialists, that they could make Germany great again and have anything they wanted, that everything they wanted made sense — if they would only elect a demented, debauched political party and its scheming head to lead the country and join in a hysterical campaign of demonization and vilification of less than 1% of the population. "These same people pretended to be a movement espousing family values, where a woman’s place was solely in the kitchen, raising children and going to church. They held mass rallies where they encouraged their followers to jail their opponents and use violence against people who got in their way. Once in power they outlawed abortion, homosexuality, and jazz, suspended constitutional and legal rights, and claimed only white, blue-eyed people were deserving of life and liberty. "Democracy is so very fragile. Turns out it only takes only a witches brew of fear and demonization to undo in a flash what institutions and constitutions have worked to create and sustain over many generations. When brutish, loud-mouthed bullies promise to make your country great again, this is really what they have in mind." --cbl55 Sylvester the Cat, commenting on a WaPo opinion column: U.S. institutions are polling about as well as King George III did in 1776

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Horsey

* * * *

Biden goes on offense.

March 11, 2024

ROBERT B. HUBBELL

If the campaigning over the weekend is a portent of things to come, Democrats should be feeling good. As Joe Biden continued the momentum gained from a commanding State of the Union address, Trump partied with the anti-democratic strongman of Hungary, Viktor Orbán. Biden and Trump gave dueling speeches in Georgia: Joe Biden delivered a fiery but traditional campaign speech. Trump rambled in a stream-of-consciousness manner that would have made James Joyce scratch his head in puzzlement.  

The difference in tone and comprehensibility of their respective campaign speeches in Georgia was palpable. In this clip, President Biden thanks his Black supporters for their key role in his 2020 victory and asks for their support in 2024. He also praises the bravery of the civil rights marchers—including the late John Lewis—who were beaten on the Edmund Pettus Bridge fifty-nine years ago on Bloody Sunday.

President Biden said:

Thursday marked fifty-nine years since hundreds of foot soldiers for justice marched across the Edmund Pettus Bridge named after the Grand Dragon of the Ku Klux Klan to claim the fundamental right to vote. They were beaten, they were bloody, they were left for dead—but they were unbowed. Our late friend, son of Georgia, John Lewis, was there. Five months later, what happened? We passed the Voting Rights Act [and it was] signed into law. But in the nearly six decades after that, the same forces are back, led by Donald Trump, taking us back in time, suppressing the vote, subvert[ing] elections. That’s why we have to stand up again. We know what to do. And my message to Georgia voters—and the voters all across the country—is to send me a Congress that will pass the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Act.

The new toughness in Biden’s speech is welcome. He is making a direct connection between the brutal voter suppression of the Jim Crow era and the reactionary tactics of MAGA extremists. And he is calling out Trump's submissive courting of foreign dictators. See The Guardian, Biden hits out at Trump in Georgia rally: ‘He’s been sucking up to dictators all over the world’.

Trump, on the other hand, attacked supporters of Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley—because nothing invites party unity like rubbing salt in the wound! He spewed venom and ugliness about immigrants, the media, judges, rigged elections, and Joe Biden’s State of the Union address—but heaped copious praise on the enemy of democracy in Hungary, Viktor Orbán.

Trump flitted from grievance to grievance, speaking in an opaque code that was comprehensible to few members of the audience. In the snippet below, Trump complains that people are saying Joe Biden appears to be more fit than Trump:

Somebody said he [Biden] looks great in a bathing suit, right? And you know, when he was in the sand, having a hard time lifting his foot through the sand, because, you know, sand is heavy, three solid ounces per foot, but sand is a little heavy, and he is sitting in a bathing suit. At 81, do you remember Cary Grant? How good was he, right? I don't know what happened to movie stars today. We used to have Cary Grant, Glark Gable, and today – I will not say names because we don't need enemies. I get enough enemies. Cary Grant was like Michael Jackson once told me, the most handsome man in the world, Cary Grant, and we don't have that anymore. The Cary Grant at 81 or 82, going on 100, this guy, he is 81 going on 100, Cary Grant would not look too good in a bathing suit either, and he was pretty good-looking, right?

Huh??

Of course, Trump's most reprehensible conduct was imitating President Biden’s stutter. In this post, you can see Trump mocking Biden’s stutter and a moving video of Joe Biden comforting and inspiring a young boy with a stutter. Watch the video of Joe Biden until the end. It will remind you (again) why he is admired and liked by all who have worked with him.

One man is a monster and a criminal, and the other is a decent, kind person who can empathize with the challenges faced by others.

This pattern will continue for the next eight months. Trump's hate-filled, rambling rallies will continue to alienate persuadable voters, while Joe Biden’s humanity will shine through. Of course, there is no guarantee of success in anything in life. But as between the two candidates, we should be encouraged and proud to have Joe Biden as our standard bearer.

[Robert B. Hubbell Newsletter]

[rosszulorzott]

"Every mother, sister, and daughter deserves freedom and safety. Access to abortion is not just a right—it's a beacon of freedom.  Yet, in too many places, this freedom is crumbling. In the US but also in European countries like Poland or Hungary, far right leaders are rolling back women's rights, playing political games with our bodies and our future.  Let’s not be naive: where the far-right gains power, they'll stop at nothing to force their archaic views on women. It's time to safeguard women's right to choose. France just enshrined this freedom in its Constitution—now it's Europe's turn. The clock is already ticking before the EU elections in June. A woman's body, a woman's choice—there's no turning back! People from all across Europe"

Across Europe and the world, right-wing forces are eliminating our right to abortion. From Poland to the US and Hungary, women and girls are experiencing an attack on their freedom to make choices about our bodies. But there’s hope: France just enshrined the right to abortion in its constitution. On International Women’s Day, let’s rally together to urge European leaders to safeguard this crucial freedom through EU fundamental law!

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Zack Beauchamp at Vox:

“Are we a country that looks out for each other ... or do you go down a path of amplifying anger, division and fear?”

That’s how Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau described the stakes in his country’s upcoming election in an interview with Vox’s Today, Explained this week — outlining the 2025 contest as no ordinary election but a referendum on the very soul of Canada. This existential framing is an unsubtle shot at Trudeau’s rival, Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre, a populist firebrand who is currently outpolling the prime minister by a wide margin. Poilievre rose to party leadership as a champion of the extremist trucker convoy that occupied Ottawa in January 2022, and since then has regularly pandered to far-right voters. He has proposed defunding the CBC (Canada’s widely respected public broadcaster) and repeatedly promoted a conspiracy theory in which Trudeau is in league with the World Economic Forum. There’s a reason that Trudeau and many others have directly linked Poilievre to Trump: His political style practically invites it. But how accurate is the comparison? Is Canada really poised to be the next Western country to fall to the far-right populist global wave? The answer, as best as I can tell, is mixed.

It’s true that, by Canadian standards, Poilievre is an especially hard-nosed figure, one far more willing to use extreme rhetoric and attack political opponents in harsh terms. But on policy substance, he’s actually considerably more moderate than Trump or European radicals. Mostly eschewing the demagogic focus on culture and immigration that defines the new global far right, Poilievre is primarily concerned with classic conservative themes of limited government. His biggest campaign promises at present aren’t slashing immigration rates or cracking down on crime, but building more housing and repealing Canada’s carbon tax. Poilievre is basically just a conventional Canadian conservative who wraps up his elite-friendly agenda in anti-elite language aimed at working-class voters. He’s the kind of politician that some Republicans wish Donald Trump was: a tame populist. Understanding Poilievre isn’t just of interest to Canadians. There are reasons that his brand of populism is less virulent than what’s cropped up in many other Atlantic democracies — ones that hold important lessons for safeguarding democracy around the world.

Why Pierre Poilievre doesn’t fit the far-right script

The University of Georgia’s Cas Mudde, one of the leading scholars of the European right, has developed what is (to my mind) the most useful definition of radical right politics today. In his account, this party family — factions like Hungary’s Fidesz, France’s National Rally, and the US GOP — share three essential qualities. First, they are nativist; they strongly oppose immigration and multiculturalism. Second, they are willing to use aggressive, even authoritarian measures to deal with social disorder like undocumented migration and crime. Finally, they are populist, meaning that they define politics as a struggle between a virtuous people and a corrupt elite. Poilievre is certainly a populist. A right-wing operative and politician since he was a teenager, he rocketed to the top of the Conservative Party hierarchy after emerging as the most vocal champion of the 2022 Ottawa occupation. The uprising, which began against pandemic restrictions but swiftly became a broader far-right movement, was quite unpopular nationally. But inside the Conservative Party, there was enough support for its “pro-freedom” message that Poilievre rode his pro-convoy stance to victory in the party’s subsequent leadership election.

Since then, his populism has focused relentlessly on attacking the media, “globalists,” and (above all) Trudeau. Casting the fight between his Conservatives and Trudeau’s Liberals as the “have-nots” versus the “have-yachts,” he has argued that the prime minister embodies a debased Ottawa establishment out of touch with the needs and values of ordinary Canadians. In a recent speech, Poilievre cast Trudeau as an “elitist” leader gunning for Canada’s freedoms. “If he had read Nineteen Eighty-Four, he would have thought it was an instruction manual,” Poilievre argued. Somewhat ironically, Poilievre also believes Canada’s criminal justice system should be harsher. Blaming Trudeau for a recent rise in car thefts, Poilievre has argued for a reimposition of mandatory minimum sentences and other tough-on-crime policies. This means there’s at least a case that he also fits the second prong of Mudde’s definition of radical right politics. But on the first prong, nativism, Poilievre clearly diverges from Trump and the European far right. He has publicly insisted that “the Conservative party is pro-immigration,” and he has made appealing directly to immigrants a central part of his campaign strategy.

[...] Arising primarily in Western provinces (Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Poilievre’s native Alberta), Canadian “prairie populism” historically draws strength from the notion that the federal government cares more about the population centers in Quebec and Ontario than the rest of the country. Prairie populism, which comes in left- and right-wing varieties, focuses far more on regional and economic issues than the cultural obsessions of the modern far right. “We have had a long history of populism — particularly in the prairie provinces, the Western provinces — going back to the 1920s and 30s,” says Keith Banting, a professor at Queen’s University in Ontario. “Populism draws less extensively on anti-immigrant sentiment in Canada than it does almost anywhere else.” Indeed, Poilievre’s biggest focus is cost-of-living issues — blaming ordinary people’s economic pain on high taxes and big government. His signature proposals are repealing Trudeau’s carbon tax, cutting spending to fight inflation, and removing restrictions on housing construction.

[...]

Poilievre’s “plutocratic populism”

While Poilievre is a very Canadian figure, fitting solidly into the right-wing prairie populist tradition, his politics also have a lot in common with a concept developed for the United States: political scientists Jacob Hacker and Paul Pierson’s “plutocratic populism.” In their book Let Them Eat Tweets, Hacker and Pierson argue that the Republican Party uses culture war as a vehicle to attract popular support for a party that primarily caters to the interests of the rich. This strategy of “exploiting white identity to defend wealth inequality” allowed Trump’s GOP to attract downscale, non-college-educated voters without abandoning its core commitment to tax cuts and deregulation.

But in the United States, the populists ate the plutocrats. Trump’s anti-democratic instability and economic heterodoxy on issues like trade led some GOP billionaires, like the Koch family, to try and unseat him in the 2024 primary. They failed miserably and now are slinking back. In the Republican Party, MAGA is calling the shots. Poilievre, by contrast, keeps his populism within plutocrat-acceptable bounds. His rhetorical gestures toward the working class are paired with solidly pro-rich policy views and a distinct absence of attacks on the democratic system itself. In 2013, he claimed to be “the first federal politician to make a dedicated push” toward imposing US-style right-to-work laws in Canada. He has endorsed tax cuts for the rich and cuts to social spending. His trade policy is far more free-market than Trump’s. There are no signs that he would challenge the legitimacy of Canadian elections, let alone stage a January 6-style insurrection.

Vox reports on Conservative Party of Canada leader Pierre Poilievre's brand of right-wing populism is tamer than Donald Trump, Viktor Orbán, or Marine Le Pen's.

[determinate-negation]

Again I say. The NK is ALSO bad on the front that the align with fash parties in Hungary. It's not just religious opposition. Why are we letting the fact that they align with the Jobbik party slide?

yeah its definitely not something i agree with lol its pretty insane but a few NK members meeting with them literally 10 years ago is not really my priority? is this an ongoing thing or did they go to one of their rallies once? cause thats what it seems. obviously they have done some weird stuff but i feel like theres a bizarre and excessive focus on calling them out in palestine spaces when quite fucking honestly theyve been at every single protest ive been to and talk to press and say over and over that judaism isnt zionism and jews are opposed to zionism all the time while many other anti zionists jews do much less to show up

[neuvettel]

Team Waffle's advice for Norbi Michelisz ahead of Rally Hungary (x)

[nation-of-bros]

The EU has long been a failed project

And why any "white identity" is a pipe dream

Self-proclaimed "white Americans" are often seen fantasizing about a "white racial identity" in order to unite against the "threat" from other "races." However, everyday politics in Europe proves perfectly that there is absolutely NOTHING that binds "white nations" together; neither language, culture nor any interests. They don't even agree on their rejection of the EU; and as long as they play the EU game and are part of the political system, none of them seem credible anyway, but just another flavor in the game of the elites.

The right-wing parties of Italy and France are now distancing themselves from the AfD after its leading candidate in the EU election said that not all SS men should be prejudged because not all of them automatically did bad things. He was referring to his grandfather, who was recently mentioned in the media in an attempt to discredit him. That was clearly too much for the Italian Lega and Le Pen, especially since Le Pen is doing EVERYTHING to finally be able to govern, but it is questionable whether it will then be a major upheaval, or simply a different continuity of the system, where the destination of the elites remains unchanged.

The point is, there is absolutely nothing that unites these countries, and even after 80 years the historical differences still exist, not least because the other EU states like to make it easier for themselves to blame Germany. The fact that Italy invented fascism and half of France collaborated with the Nazis is often forgotten. The Germans had even recruited numerous Arabs and North Africans into the SS at the time, something that also does not fit into any white image of American Nazi sympathizers. And parties like the Lega or Le Pen's converted FN certainly don't want to hear anything about Italian or French SS members.

The differences have always been huge, and that will never change, even if the elites try to homogenize Europe as much as possible, not least through mass immigration and ethnic mixing. In the end, the EU will only ever be held together by money: As soon as this stops flowing, Poland, Hungary, France and many others will no longer enjoy any advantages and will see less sense in accepting the EU's disadvantages such as unbearable bureaucracy. The EU, as an elitist transatlantic project, has long since failed, and also proves that there is absolutely NOTHING that connects "white nations" other than the coincidence of being on the same continent; Although "white" itself is a questionable term, since the external differences between "white people" are very serious, even within a European country.

[josefavomjaaga]

Mathieu Dumas gets scolded

@snowv88 wrote

I've never heard of that story with Berthier, Dumas and Eugene, would love to hear it 😆 

Well, it’s actually not much of a story but more of an image that seems to be taken right out of some slapstick comedy. Plus, I’m sure I had already translated this bit before but I seem unable to find it again. So here’s a fresh translation (thank you, Deepl!):

From the Souvenirs du lieutenant-général Mathieu Dumas, Tome 3:

For context: this takes place in 1809, after the battle of Wagram and the armistice of Znaim. Dumas is charged with monitoring the execution of the armistice with the Austrians.

[…] Despite the line of demarcation being very clearly drawn in the convention, I often had, in concert with my colleague the Austrian commissioner, to rectify some small infringements in the position of the outposts. The most remarkable was the one which Prince Joseph Poniatowsky allowed himself on the frontier of Gallicia: informed that an Austrian column of a few militia battalions, having with them four pieces of cannon, was withdrawing into Hungary, where the whole Austrian army had rallied, he crossed the line of demarcation with a strong detachment, cut off this column, took an advantageous position on Austrian territory, and pretended to keep it, as well as the prisoners and artillery he had captured. I submitted to the major general the very well-founded complaints of the Austrian commissioner, and asked him for his orders before writing to Prince Poniatowsky. The major general answered me that this affair did not concern him, and that the execution of the treaty of armistice was entrusted to me under my responsibility.

Berthier: Oh, no, no. Leave me out of this. You know perfectly well how this will turn out. Go get through this one yourself.

I did not hesitate to give Prince Poniatowsky the order to comply with the treaty, to return the prisoners and the artillery, and to bring his troops within the line of demarcation. The emperor, directly informed by the prince of his incursion and of the advantages which could result from it in the event of the resumption of hostilities, did not approve my decision. He sent for me to give him an account of it in the presence of the prince major general and the viceroy of Italy; he strongly reproached me, as well as the major general, for wanting to protect the interests of the enemy and for courting them at his expense.

"What do you think you are doing, gentlemen, deciding on your own authority on matters of such importance? It is you who command the army, and I am here il ré di cope? Let us see, General Dumas, your register of correspondence."

[The Italian expression is unknown to me.]

I handed it to him, pointing out my last letter to Prince Poniatowsky; he went through it, displayed great irritation, and threw the register on the floor. As I was answering the questions he addressed to me on various points in dispute relating to the execution of the armistice, and more particularly on the place of Zara, in Dalmatia, which he demanded to be handed over immediately, Prince Eugène, who was walking with him, turned around and gestured to me not to answer; but this was impossible. Berthier kept the most obstinate silence.

This is the scene I just love to imagine: Napoleon, giving his sermon while stomping through the room, Eugène always at his heels and signaling in exasperation behind Napoleon’s back to Dumas to shut the F up, man, while Berthier pointedly stares at a corner of the room, zoomed out.

"You believe yourselves to be very important men, messieurs chiefs of staff! I have made you into too great lords, and you caress those of the Austrian court. If an Austrian general officer had taken it upon himself to give such orders, he would have been sent to a fortress. The chiefs of staff must only be instruments; I have only to bring in young Marboeuf, an ordinance officer, who is there in the salon de service, and I will make him my major general."

Which, I guess, shows how much respect Napoleon had for Berthier and his co-workers. Not. He basically states that every dimwit could do Berthiers job. (We’ll see about that during the Hundred Days, Your Imperial Snobbiness...)

After having thus indulged us, he dismissed us, and there was no more talk of this affair. [...] Although I feared that I had displeased him by doing my duty, I was nonetheless very well treated: the emperor named me grand officer of the Legion of Honour, and granted me an endowment of thirteen thousand francs from the property of convents suppressed in the duchy of Parma [...].

But as is the case so often, Napoleon is all bark, no bite 😊.

[mariacallous]

As 400 million Europeans get set to elect 720 EU parliamentarians in June, polls are predicting big gains for right-wing populists. As a result, for the first time since the European Parliament was directly elected in 1979, it is expected to have a solid majority on the right. This will mark a “sharp right turn” for Europe, the European Council of Foreign Affairs (ECFR) recently noted. The consequences for European politics and policy are already coming into view.

The center-right European People’s Party (EPP) and the left-leaning Socialists and Democrats party (S&D) are again expected to finish in first and second place, although both may lose a handful of seats. The EU’s far-right groups, Identity and Democracy (ID) and the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR), will improve their tally mainly at the expense of liberals and Greens. According to ECFR, populists are likely to be the top vote-getter in nine countries, including Austria, the Netherlands, France, Hungary, Poland, and Italy. In nine others, including Spain and Germany, they could emerge as strong second or third-place contenders.

ID—which includes the main anti-immigrant and Eurosceptic parties in Germany (Alternative for Deutschland or AfD), France (National Rally), and Italy (the League or Lega)—is likely to become the EU parliament’s third-largest group after elections are held between June 6 and 9. The ECR is led by Georgia Meloni, Italy’s prime minister and leader of the post-fascist Brothers of Italy party, and is home to Sweden’s Sweden Democrats and Poland’s Law and Justice party (PiS). If authoritarian Hungarian leader Viktor Orban’s Fidesz party, a member of the EPP until a few years ago, joins the ECR as expected, the far-right could claim a quarter of the total seats.

Political machinations already seem to be underway among some establishment parties to create cooperation with this newly powerful bloc. Experts say if the EPP, the strongest conservative party in the EU, welcomes far-right politicians in its fold or co-opts their policies, as it has lately been accused of, the balance of power in Europe will decisively shift to the right and have major implications for not just the EU’s common agenda but may also influence how member states decide critical policies.

“I think in our campaign we will ask the EPP to be pragmatic, to pick the alternative to a center-left majority,” Marco Campomenosi, a Lega politician and the head of the Italian delegation in ID, told Foreign Policy.

Experts say any such shift will have major implications for the EU as a whole, tainting its recent promises to pursue a humane migration policy and to establish rule of law at home that encourages democratic checks and balances. An empowered far-right may also keep coordination on a common defense policy to the bare minimum in the face of a looming threat from Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The EU’s flagship Green Deal climate framework, which has set a goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, is also at stake, as the populists try to push the EU to erode its commitment to renewable energy development and other climate policies.

Charlie Weimers, a member of the far-right Sweden Democrats that supports Sweden’s minority center-right government, said, his party’s priority is to push for a “Migration Pact 2.0,” with more stringent measures to stop the influx of immigrants than already listed in the new migration pact. “We need to stop asylum,” he told FP over the phone. “We need breathing space to deal with the immigrants already here otherwise we can never catch up.”

Lega’s Campomenosi said, “it’s not about the money” but about the “trouble” immigrants make. (Under the new migration pact an EU member state which refuses to accept an asylum seeker should pay a sum of 20,000 euros to an EU fund.) “If there are too many immigrants they can’t be integrated,” he added.

Three far-right parliamentarians told FP that with bigger numbers in Parliament they will be able to apply more pressure on the EU commissioner to throw out or dilute the green deal.

It “needs to go away,” Joachim Kuhs, the acting head of the AfD delegation in EU which is polling as the second strongest party in Germany, told FP in his office in the parliament. “It should be repealed and replaced,” Weimers added.

The liberal groups say the center-right has strengthened the far-right by co-opting its policies and forming alliances in individual member states.

Pedro Marques, a vice president of the S&D group, said the EPP parties have been “eroding the Cordon Sanitaire,” erected to keep the far-right out of governments and important positions. “The EPP is dancing with the far right,” he added, with grave consequences for the future of the union.

The cordon sanitaire is crumbling in many European nations. In Italy, the far-right is in power, in Sweden the center-right government is backed by the far-right. In Austria, center-right and far-right have been in a coalition, and the latter is polling ahead of all others in the run up to national elections. In France, Marine Le Pen is leading the polls, and in Germany, the conservatives have hinted at future cooperation at a regional level with the far-right AfD.

The legitimization of the far-right isn’t limited to member states. Ursula Von Der Leyen, a member of the EPP and EU commissioner, has alluded to Meloni’s inclusion in her grouping. She said it wasn’t clear which parties will remain in the ECR after the elections and which will leave, and “join EPP.”

Hans Kundnani, writer of a book called Eurowhiteness, said the boundaries between the ID, ECR and the EPP have always been “very fluid.”

“As soon as Meloni indicated she won’t be disruptive in the Eurozone, that she won’t be pro-Russian, centrist pro-European EPP said that’s great, we don’t mind,” Kundnani said. “The center right has no problem with far-right at all, they just have a problem with those who are Eurosceptic.”

Experts say Von Der Leyen has often backed off on key policies to appease the far-right. Just over the last few months as the farmers protested against the provisions of the green deal, the far-right found another issue to mobilize against mainstream parties. During election season, Von Der Leyen quickly conceded and granted several concessions to the agriculture sector that will affect the 2050 net zero target.

The best example of how the EU commissioner validated the far-right’s worldview, Kundnani argued, was when she created a post for an EU commissioner to promote a European way of life.

“The big theme of the European far-right is that the immigrants threaten European civilization,” he said. When Von Der Leyen created the position, she framed “immigration as a threat to the European way of life,” and in doing so legitimized the far-right.

It is unclear if co-opting the far-right’s talking points benefits the center right in keeping their traditional voters from moving towards populists, but there is an emerging consensus that it strengthens the radical right in the longer run. For its part, the far-right has moderated its own positions on many issues to appeal to the voters more to the center. The far-right parties say they are no longer calling for an exit from the EU, but merely to reform it from within. They say they back Ukraine and not Putin.

Many parties on the far-right advocate return of border controls in violation of the EU’s founding principle of free movement of people and goods. Last year, the AfD described the EU as a “failed project,’’ while Sweden Democrats said they had “good reasons to seriously reevaluate our membership in the union.” There is still a lingering suspicion that the rank-and-file members of the far-right parties harbor sympathy for Putin. Last month, Lega’s leader Matteo Salvini deflected when asked if he blamed Putin for Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s sudden death.

The parliamentarians of the ID and ECR with whom FP spoke expressly rejected Von Der Leyen’s proposal to appoint a dedicated defense commissioner to improve coordination among member states on matters of defense.

“We say that we want to manage immigration in a humane way, we can do better to manage the borders,” added Marques of the S&D. In response to the far-right’s demand to externalize the screening of asylum seekers, he said it was difficult to find credible partners. “We did this agreement with the Tunisian authorities, but when we tried to go there to check the conditions, to see how European money will be spent, they said we don’t want your agreement anymore. These have to be credible partnerships.”

The center-left S&D party simply dismisses the moderated stances of far-right parties as a charade. They believe the far-right simply wants the benefits of being in the union, not the costs that sometimes come with upholding its values. “They want an EU without the rule of law, without humanity,” Marques said. “That’s not what we built after the Second World War. They want to change the EU into something that it isn’t. Their values are not European.”