Here are snapshots from an interactive map of the way Europe has been moving from one side of the political spectrum to another:
Here is March of 1976:
Here is November of 1998:
This is from October of 2008:
And, finally, we have arrived at today’s map:
The explanations for this phenomenon abound. The Left is not the real Left, which is why people don’t like it. (Like we haven’t been hearing this about the Left for decades.) The global economic crisis. (Like this tendency wasn’t obvious long before that).
All I wonder about is who will be the first person among the progressives to stop wimping out long enough to mention the main reason why the people of Europe are moving so massively towards the ultra-nationalist and near-fascist parties. We’ve tried discussing this issue on this blog a while ago but the discussion soon turned into a pandemonium. And we are not even in Europe.
You cannot address a problem without first mentioning it. But this is an issue that progressives seem to have no language for and, hence, choose to pretend it is not there. I’m not exempting myself from this charge, as you must surely understand.
Clarissa's Blog 
To be honest, when scrolling through the changing maps on the Guardian site, the widespread Left of the late 1990s and early 2000s could be viewed as the anomaly. (For example, in the UK there was 18 years of right-wing government between 1979 and 1997.) This is not to deny that the Right is extremely resurgent in Europe now – this is very clear, and I am sure there are many reasons for it including the economy and immigration.
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And Reagan was popular in France when he was President here.
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Could it be as simple as this – the governments of the ‘left’ failed.
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Yes, but it’s interesting to analyze what it is they failed to do.
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Wow, indignados are a real success! 😦
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Yes, the tragedy of Spain is that they have the Socialists who steal like there is no tomorrow and Conservatives (PP) who still a little less but are horrible ideologically. It’s very much like in the US with its 2-party system. 😦
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Leftists should stop taking pride in monopolizing statism and theyr should not let the Right monopolizing anti-statism…
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The spreading of right-wing ideology and the creeping of Nazism and fascism across corners of Europe is making me seriously reconsider my dream to move to Norway. It reminds me of how hate organizations began turning up in droves in Montana, like mushrooms after the rain, which is part of the reasons I left there.
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The Left failed. It failed on multiculturalism, it failed on economic policy, it failed on European integration, etc.
I don’t find this trend surprising at all.
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” It failed on multiculturalism, it failed on economic policy, it failed on European integration, etc.”
-Agreed, agreed, agreed.
I’m surprised not to see any major disagreement on this thread. I thought people would go ballistic to protect their favorite hobby-horse of multi-culturalism. Well, I guess its failure has become too obvious to deny.
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I think it’s simply the economy. When the economy tanks or disasters happen, people start looking for other people that they can blame. In America, the KKK got started largely because the South had nothing after the Civil War. In the Great Depression, there were lots of lynchings because there weren’t any jobs, and blacks and Mexicans were easier to find and blame than the stockbrokers. And look at the US and Europe now: no jobs, anti-immigrant sentiment all over the place and racists everywhere. (Instead of under their rocks, like they should be.)
I’m a bit surprised that you’re in favor of the rightward swing, Clarissa. I’m actually quite alarmed by it. But then, you want to nest and I don’t. Go figure.
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“I think it’s simply the economy. When the economy tanks or disasters happen, people start looking for other people that they can blame”
-This started long before the global economic crisis. I read the European press regularly and the shift to the Right has been going on for a long time before 2008. I’m not a Marxist, so I don’t believe that people vote on the basis of the economy. If only they did. . . But it never happens.
“I’m a bit surprised that you’re in favor of the rightward swing, Clarissa.”
-What on Earth gave you the idea that I’m in favor of this?? I view these events with horror because I’m terrified of the possibility of the rise of fascism in Europe.
“But then, you want to nest and I don’t. Go figure.”
-I honestly have no idea what this means.
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I think the economy is one factor among many, but I’ve been noticing a lot more obvious racism and insularity in the states, and a lot more racial tension worldwide. Take the riots in England for example- the police were harrassing people in poor neighborhoods and took it a step too far, the residents fought back, and in order to keep other poor people from rioting or protesting, the government came down hard on them. In any recession, immigrants tend to be blamed for being lazy or taking jobs, because the population there needs someone to blame.
Oh, sorry. It was the remark on the ‘hobby-horse of multi-culturism’ that made me think you were in favor of the rightward tilt. A lot of people on the right like to beat their chests over the idea that people of different races want to live in historically white countries, and I find it weird when a liberal-leaning person starts grumbling that diversity is a bad idea. Then again, I live in a city, where it’s pretty common to encounter people of different races and religions, and it’s easier for an immigrant to live in a city than a suburb or a rural town- more chance of finding a community, and less chance of running afoul of law enforcement or the locals.
Well, women who want to become mothers and wives have a different set of values then women who are single and don’t want to settle down. They tend to be more conservative and want to live among people who look the same and act the same as them.
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” It was the remark on the ‘hobby-horse of multi-culturism’ that made me think you were in favor of the rightward tilt.”
-Slavoj Zizek is a passionate opponent of multi-culturalism and just as passionate a Marxist. 🙂 You don’t have to be conservative to see the grave limitations of this silly approach to structuring human societies.
“A lot of people on the right like to beat their chests over the idea that people of different races want to live in historically white countries”
-This isn’t about races at all.
“Well, women who want to become mothers and wives have a different set of values then women who are single and don’t want to settle down. They tend to be more conservative and want to live among people who look the same and act the same as them.”
– Are you trying to be funny here or something? Do you realize how horribly insulting you’ve just been to women? I already understand that you despise men. But now you despise women, too? This pretty much leaves nobody else in the world that you don’t see with utter contempt.
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You guys do realize that not every nation in europe has a two party system and that The Left and The Right are not nearly as monolithic as they are in the US?
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Yes, of course. But the tendency in Europe is towards the far right at this moment. There has been a re-birth of neo-fascist organizations in most European countries. 😦
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Could it be that the “far left” had control for the last little while and that leads to many people thinking that a return of “extreme right” thinking is what is needed? Rarely does the pendulum swing a moderate swing. 😉
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The far left never was in power in Western Europe, as far as I’m aware. Socialists and democratic socialists are being displaced by the right. Which countries are you referring to when you say that there was a far left in power there in the 80s, 90s and 2000s?
P.S. The far left means communists and anarchists, of course.
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I don’t know about most other european countries, but the far left in Germany consists mainly of whiny ex-SED functionaries that are feeling weird nostalgia for East Germany and their one party socialist rule. They spend most of their time bemoaning and complaining about how other parties try to make things work while almost never doing any constructive work on their own.
It is not hard to see why they alienate people. Seriously, they are so left, that not even the other, more moderately left parties want anything to do with them. Thankfully, they never had any real power.
…
“The far left never was in power in Western Europe” – That was my point. Good I refreshed the page before typing more.
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Oh and when I say far left, I meant so far left as possible while still being votable.
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I know, that is why I said extreme right. Many of the leaders of the left that have been in power could be considered the “far left”. Originally many felt Obama was too far left.
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Is Obama left at all?
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Obama is right at the center and then maybe a couple of inches to the left. 🙂 And even that makes him next to unvotable in this country. We are currently lucky that all of the Republican candidates are so ridiculous. Otherwise, Obama wouldn’t stand a chance. The words “universal healthcare” once uttered in the US can’t be taken back.
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‘Many of the leaders of the left that have been in power could be considered the “far left”.”
-Could you give some examples?
“Originally many felt Obama was too far left.”
-We are talking about Europe, though.
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Not anymore LMAO……… 😉
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Ok, considering the social policies I would say Greece is pretty left.
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Clarissa: Once again, you’ve mistaken an observation about a group for an insult. I wasn’t making a value judgement on mothers or women who were planning to be mothers, I was just saying that they value different things than I do.
I’m not really sure how one can value one culture over another and not be a racist. European countries don’t encourage assimilation like America does; one can hardly blame European immigrants for clinging to their culture if it’s all they have. And even in America, one can’t really expect immigrants to embrace American culture in just one or two generations. Also, culture can be drastically different in the same country; even if there weren’t immigrants, the society would be different depending on what region one lived in.
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” I wasn’t making a value judgement on mothers or women who were planning to be mothers, I was just saying that they value different things than I do.”
-And what are those different things that supposedly make all mothers vote Conservative? I’d really like to see that list of things.
“I’m not really sure how one can value one culture over another and not be a racist.”
– Different cultures can be practiced by members of the same race. An example: a white Ukrainain and a white American have extremely different cultures. I happen to value the American culture more than I value my native Ukrainian culture. I find it makes me happier. Does that make me a racist?
“one can hardly blame European immigrants for clinging to their culture if it’s all they have”
-According to this logic, one can hardly blame Europeans for clinging to their own cultures and wanting to protect them from strangers. Note that this isn’t my logic, it’s yours.
“And even in America, one can’t really expect immigrants to embrace American culture in just one or two generations. ”
-As an immigrant (twice), I can tell you that I consider anybody who immigrates without learning to speak the language of the new country, learning about the political system, customs, traditions, history etc. of the new country and first deciding how capable one will be of adapting to all these things and to what extent to be an extremely irresponsible individual.
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Western Europe and Canada (not yet the U.S., I believe) have birth rates below the replacement level. Women have a choice, and choose not to have lots of children. The population is aging, and declining. It’s necessary to have immigration to support the aging population. Canada takes a lot of immigrants from India and China, who seem to adapt well, but Canada is also taking an increasing number of immigrants from the Middle East, who come from cultures that, generally, don’t respect women. While many of them adapt, there is a visible and (to me) disturbing number of immigrants who retain practices that I find objectionable. The immigrants who treat women poorly are also the ones who refuse to let women have control over pregnancies, and so have large families. Given that Canada and Western Europe need immigrants, what is your alternative to multiculturism?
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I think twicerandomly is spot-on in this analysis. It’s great to have you as a reader here, twicerandomly!
As somebody who immigrated to Canada in 1998, I could suggest that Canada could try to facilitate immigration for people from countries with a strong feminist tradition, like mine, for example. We don’t procreate as much but we will not don burqas and erode the feminist achievements either. As things stand right now, the numbers of completely unadaptable (and not even remotely interested in adapting) immigrants in Canada grows. And we know where that leads based on the example of Europe.
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Want a higher rate of children (not necessarily births) in North America eh? How about getting rid of social and legal barriers around queer couples adopting, becoming parents, or being foster parents so that they can raise loving families of children with Canadian values? *ahem*
That’s one way of doing it I can get behind, as an immigrant to Canada and someone who wants to one day be a parent. 😉
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Clarissa: Mothers, in the US, tend to value security; more law ‘n order, harsh criminal punishments, and a strong country (militarily and politically speaking.) They all value education, but most younger (20-30) mothers would prefer to educate their child at home.They also prefer that their child be raised in a religious environment, and be raised among members of it’s own race. (whites stick to white neighborhoods, for example.) Most parents prefer to raise children in the suburbs, and dislike visiting the city.
Well, no, but if you went up to a Mexican family, and told them ‘you can’t celebrate the Day of the Dead, you’re in America now,’ that’d be racist. I don’t see any reason why people can’t live here and keep some of their traditions alive, as long as they’re willing to adapt to certain new realities.
And the European culture? Um, okay, except the people who make a big deal out of things like that would support bringing back witch hunts.
I’d agree on the language, but not a lot of other things. I don’t think having an encyclopedic knowledge of the ins and outs of government is that neccessary. And there are a lot of local ‘traditions’ that don’t need to be memorized or indeed, make much sense. For example, this year, the local Somali community found itself in the middle of the local Zombie Pub Crawl. And there’s also a number of weird food traditions my state has that don’t need to be inflicted on everyone else. Although a certain amount of weather knowledge would be a neccessity.
But, compared to a lot of the immigrants we get up here,Clarissa, you’re pretty privileged. You got an education in the states, and got to write your own ticket. The immigrants here? They came only because their family could scrape up the money to get them out of their imploding country, or to get them out of the camps. Or because the economy in their home countries is even shittier than the states’ at the moment. It seems kind of insensitive to tell them to leave their religion and traditions at the disembarkation gate.
Personally, I’ve only seen two women in niqabs, on days when the temperature was below zero. Make of that what you will.
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‘They all value education, but most younger (20-30) mothers would prefer to educate their child at home.They also prefer that their child be raised in a religious environment, and be raised among members of it’s own race. ”
-Thank god in heaven, I don’t meet any people like that. Of course, this type of creepazoid exists but as far as I remember, fundamentalist evangelicals form quite a tiny segment of the population. Why extrapolate their weirdness onto the majority? We have many women visit the blog who have children. They are all very progressive (otherwise, what would they do on this blog?)
” I don’t see any reason why people can’t live here and keep some of their traditions alive, as long as they’re willing to adapt to certain new realities.”
– Hear, hear. Especially about the part I bold-typed.
“But, compared to a lot of the immigrants we get up here,Clarissa, you’re pretty privileged. You got an education in the states, and got to write your own ticket. ”
-Do you suspect that I got this education thanks to my rich relatives? Or my powerful connections?
“The immigrants here? They came only because their family could scrape up the money to get them out of their imploding country, or to get them out of the camps. Or because the economy in their home countries is even shittier than the states’ at the moment. It seems kind of insensitive to tell them to leave their religion and traditions at the disembarkation gate.”
-I always said that there is a lot of condescension behind every multi-culturalism.
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Clarissa: You went to Yale. There’s three ways to get into an Ivy League school: Luck, relatives with money and connections on the inside. Students who get scholarships have to function without sleep for four years of high school, and even then, they might not get in. And the price tag for the Ivy League schools are so high that somone would have to work overnight throughout college (and possibly their whole working career), and their grandkids would still be in debt. Let’s not pretend that Yale is a community college, okay?
Again, I state facts, you see an insult. My point is that culture is all most immigrants have. Wagging fingers at them and muttering darkly about how ‘outdated and medieval’ their culture is, is not going to give them an incentive to integrate. It’s actually going to discourage them, so they’ll retreat into their own enclaves instead of integrating. Time will make them adapt, anyway, so it’s best to let them do it on their own terms.
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‘Clarissa: You went to Yale. There’s three ways to get into an Ivy League school: Luck, relatives with money and connections on the inside. ”
-You are wrong on all counts. I went to grad school at Yale, which makes money irrelevant. Are you not aware that people go to grad school at the Ivies for free AND get paid a salary to do so? As for luck, ha ha ha. Of course, it’s easy to dismiss the achievements of others without even taking the trouble of learning about them but you are just making yourself look silly when you do so.
“And the price tag for the Ivy League schools are so high that somone would have to work overnight throughout college (and possibly their whole working career), and their grandkids would still be in debt. ”
-Once again, I went to grad school at Yale. Nobody pays a dime for that (in the Humanities). Maybe it would be a good idea for you not to pontificate about things without first learning at least some basic facts.
“Again, I state facts, you see an insult. My point is that culture is all most immigrants have.”
-It is not your place to decide what offends a certain group of people if you don’t belong to it. As an immigrant, I’m telling you that statements you make about immigrants (including the one I just quoted) are highly offensive. You sound like a white dude trying to convince a black person that there is nothing offensive about the N-word.
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I was talking about *undergrad* school. I also wasn’t denigrating anyone; if you’ll notice, I said that a student could work really, really hard, and getting in would still be a major crapshoot.So maybe you didn’t have to pay a dime, but most students would be facing a hefty bill.
So you= all immigrants? Good to know.
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“I was talking about *undergrad* school.”
– You started your comment on Yale by saying “You went to Yale.” Which is why I thought we were discussing me and my experiences.
“So you= all immigrants? Good to know.”
-There is no need to pretend that you don’t understand that you have no right to decide what is offensive to a group to which you don’t belong.
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Let’s turn it around: Why do you and other intellectuals feel that you can make a blanket condemnation of non-western immigrants who might not be able to adjust instantly to Western society? You have decided that the existence of women in hijabi and other garments is offensive to Western society; I am suggesting that while I may not be an an immigrant, I can at least keep my mind and ears open.
And Yale is an Ivy League school. Ivy League schools are notorious for being bastions of the wealthy and privileged. I guess you either didn’t know this or forgot it.
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Please do a search of this blog using the word “Yale” and you will discover that I have denounced it in far stronger terms than you ever could.
I consider it the greatest mistake of my life that I ended up in that place precisely because being surrounded by spoiled rich brats was intolerable to me.
I heard many of the same speeches on multiculturalism from them as the ones you are delivering. That isn’t surprising because contempt for immigrants was a huge part of their identity.
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I am of the opinion that those who decide they want to tolerate migrants very often have a stereotypical idea in mind of the kind of migrant they are prepared to “tolerate”. These have to be exotic and yet bashful, keen to learn Western ways but also sufficiently of their own culture (perhaps even to the extent of being a little critical of Western ways) to give the Western liberal the masochistic jolt he’s keen to experience. (Better to experience such a jolt than to experience nothing.) He/she also has to be sufficiently childlike to justify the Western liberal taking him/her under their wing.
Any other kind of migrant — which tends to be the majority of migrants – is more threatening that justifying of the Western liberals’ typical self-adorning ideology of Mea Culpa.
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Exactly.
Miserable degraded women in burqas are no threat to them, so these pseudo-Liberals are prepared to defend the rights of these women to be objects.
Of course, they forget that such women are always accompanied by men who are schooled to see us, the immodest Western women, as whores. And tolerating that becomes a bit more tricky.
I lived as a single woman in a heavily Muslim area of Montreal and, let me tell you, the ogling, the whistling, the nasty comments, the condescending remarks about how I’m so beautiful that he wants to take me home and put me in the corner to admire as a statue get really annoying after you get them every day for 5 years.
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One of the Mullahs in Australia, a couple of years ago, suggested that for women to remain uncovered was like leaving meat out for a cat. It was good to see that enough people had sufficient common sense and defensive instinct to raise an outcry about that kind of language.
On the other hand, I think some people are so divorced from any kind of sensation whatsoever, that they don’t see what the big deal is about that.
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Religion makes no sense at all, and it’s a waste of time to deal with it. One can’t reason with fundamentalists, but the culture can shame them and encourage the younger generation to drift away from fundamentalism, and eventually only the moderates are left. But what Europe, Canada and Australia do is encourage the fundamentalists by limiting where immigrants live and what they can do. If they’re left in isolation, they don’t have any incentive to adjust.
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How about the immigrants who are fundamentalists?
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