BlackFlag

After this year’s European Parliament elections, it was obvious to all but the most casual observer that the major victors at the polling booth were the far right. Far-right reactionaries made a sweep of European Parliamentary seats, running the gamut from simple Euroskeptic anti-immigration racists such as UKIP and Front National in the UK and France, to outright Nazis such as Golden Dawn and Jobbik in Greece and Hungary.

This was obviously a qualified victory in many ways; turnout for EU elections is low, meaning that results will often emphasise and amplify the more extreme aspects of representation, and even with this in mind, the far right in no way maintains anything resembling a majority of seats. It would be foolish to write off these results, however, since they most assuredly reflect a growing sentiment within the European community that must be addressed. 

Why are Europeans starting to vote for fascists again? Has nothing been learned from history? In a time when the crimes of the Nazis still exist in living memory, when the relics of concentration camps and Brutalist architecture are still plainly visible, when people still carry the scars of fascist totalitarianism, what is suddenly becoming attractive about fascism again?

The answer is simple. People are scared.

A huge amount of Europe is either struggling through or staring down the barrel of major economic and social issues. The inexorable march of unfettered neoliberalism, in no small part thanks to the actions of the EU and other far-reaching neoliberal bodies such as the IMF, has severely weakened the economic and social structures of Europe, and the cracks are beginning to show in the dam.

The traditional balance to liberalism, the left, has itself become coopted as part of the same structure. British Labour happily tout the economic policies of Margaret Thatcher. The Parti Socialiste engaged in a crippling program of economic austerity. The Pan-Hellenic Socialist Movement govern in grand coalition over the ruins of the Greek economy. “The left” as most people see it is a milquetoast sham of a movement that advocates for maybe not destroying the future of society for the enrichment of a wealthy few as quickly as the liberal right. The ever-present spectre of neoliberalism has successfully convinced people that the difference between “left” and “right” are just dials on a control panel of the same basic liberal structure of government.

In short, what used to offer an alternative for the forcefully radicalised no longer exists. Fascism, however, firmly occupies that vacated space. Fascism offers people a focus for their fears, an enemy to fight, a core message and a simple and easily-grasped political narrative that stands in stark counter to the minor gradations in shades of liberalism offered by traditional politics. It always takes root when things are looking their worst, only this time, thanks to the concerted efforts of the ruling elite for many decades, there no longer exists a powerful, organised anarchist or communist left to stand against it.

It is conceptually and narratively difficult to untangle the web of complex economic and monetary decisions that lead to a country of productive workers suddenly being unable to maintain their social structures. It is easy to blame immigrants. It is hugely difficult to explain to people that the state has become divorced from any semblance of democratic control and placed into the hands of unaccountable technocrats and private interests. It is easy to maintain that if we strengthen the state and rule with an iron fist everything will be okay. Radicalisation is difficult. Reaction is easy. Xenophobia, racism and fascism are the path of least resistance when society crumbles.

All is not lost, though. From the ruins of the two hardest-hit countries of the Eurozone crisis, Spain and Greece, another voice is appearing. Greece, at the same time as the rise of the jack-booted Golden Dawn, now has as its offical opposition a coalition of radical left and communist parties known as SYRIZA, who have successfully ridden the wave of people fleeing PASOK to be within reach of a parliamentary plurality at the next elections, as well as gaining the largest number of Greece’s MEPs. In Spain, the economic crisis has given birth to, rather than racists and Euroskeptics, the grassroots left movement Podemos went from whispers amongst the Indignados, protest movements against austerity, to 1.2 million popular votes and 5 MEPs in four months of concerted campaigning.

While fascists might be seeing media attention, the left is revitalising. It will take effort and struggle, but out of the collapse of the current order there’s no reason we cannot see a movement to a system that works for the people.