Europe under strain: political extremism aspects

[davidbfpo]

With mounting youth unemployment (21%) and the opportunity provided by local elections on Sunday - a protest has started in Madrid, small numbers yes (25k) and spread across the country.

BBC Report:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-13481592

Note the decisions by the constitutional court and the police declining to act.

The Daily Telegraph has a series of photos and an introductory text:
With tents, mattresses, a kitchen, a workshop and even a pharmacy, a protest camp in Madrid has grown into a real 'urban village' for thousands of young people. Under blue plastic tarpaulins, demonstrators have gathered in the landmark Puerta del Sol square in the centre of the Spanish capital,. Many of them have spent several days and nights there, to decry politicians who left Spain with a 21 per cent unemployment rate. Calling for "Real Democracy Now," the protests popularly known as M-15 began on May 15, lamenting Spain's economic crisis, politicians in general, and corruption.

Link:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/picturegalleries/worldnews/8525938/Thousands-of-protesters-occupy-Puerta-del-Sol-square-in-Madrid.html

Popular, public demonstrations and protests have a strong, recent tradition in Spain; for example the massive protests denouncing ETA violence and after the Madrid terrorist attacks.

Will be interesting to watch how this develops.

[davidbfpo]

The protests continues:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-13481592 and http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-13466977

A commentary that IMHO deserves reading, if perplexing:
It is perhaps surprising that Spain's youth has taken quite so long to come out onto the streets. Unemployment among 16 to 29-year-olds is estimated to be around 45%.

The jobless rate for the whole population is over 20% - the highest in Europe. And not only are they fed up with their economic situation, they are also calling for an end to domination of the political system by the two main parties.

There is something inevitable about economic crisis leading to protest.

The student demonstrations in Britain, the riots in Greece, and the union protests in France, Italy, and Belgium were all born of the same frustration.

Europe's leaders have chosen, to a greater or lesser extent, to ignore the voices on the streets. Believing instead that austerity is the way out of the economic crisis.

And, so far, the protests across Europe have not grown into anything big enough to force them to change tack.

[Fuchs]

Well, this 'may' sound being driven by prejudice, but among Germans, Southern European countries have a reputation for a large grey sector, to say the least.

Unemployment statistics are furthermore not comparable internationally, nor are they meaningful without much detail on the methodology and legal situation.


I'd say cut the figures by half and the impression is likely more accurate.

[davidbfpo]

There is a long running thread on the economic aspects of the EU 'EUCOM Economic Analysis - Part I' on:http://council.smallwarsjournal.com/search.php?searchid=3507454

Elsewhere we have debated the possibilities for a revolution in the USA and touched upon extremism too, nowhere is there a thread for the much heralded re-emergence of political extremism - mainly from the right - in Europe. So here is a new thread.

Not to overlook the post-Oslo killings thread:http://council.smallwarsjournal.com/showthread.php?t=13830 and the murders in Germany:http://council.smallwarsjournal.com/showthread.php?t=14532

[davidbfpo]

Hat tip to ICSR's Insight article 'Who are Greece’s new fascists?' after the electoral success by Chrysi Avgi (Golden Dawn):
which gained 7% of the popular vote and 21 seats in parliament.

Golden Dawn is a fascist political party and a street movement with an occasionally violent history....Golden Dawn, therefore, is ingraining itself into the social fabric of the country and its success must not be written off as a temporary protest vote. Though its share of the vote remains small, its infrastructure and presence on the street is extensive.

This passage struck me as rather odd, particularly that such information was gained in exit polling:
Most disturbingly, exit polling shows that more than half of the country’s police officers voted for the party.

Link:http://icsr.info/publications/newsletters/1337176460ICSRInsightWhoareGreecesnewfascists.pdf

Surprisingly there is no mention of an active extreme left-wing, violent minority, who are not averse to attacking the centre left-led trade unions and of course the police - as seen in newsreel for months. IIRC the Greek Communist Party polled more votes than Golden Dawn.

[Firn]

Hat tip to ICSR's Insight article 'Who are Greece’s new fascists?' after the electoral success by Chrysi Avgi (Golden Dawn):

This passage struck me as rather odd, particularly that such information was gained in exit polling:

Link:http://icsr.info/publications/newsletters/1337176460ICSRInsightWhoareGreecesnewfascists.pdf

Surprisingly there is no mention of an active extreme left-wing, violent minority, who are not averse to attacking the centre left-led trade unions and of course the police - as seen in newsreel for months. IIRC the Greek Communist Party polled more votes than Golden Dawn.

It may be mostly just votes of protest, however such angry votes did quite often no good for a couple of European countries in the not so distant past. Political sanctions by the EU are not expected in this case after the blunders of the one try against Austria with his right-center government and the dire need to get to an solutions.

Personally I would rate the political situation in Hungary as the most critical, with a Viktor Orban and Fidesz trying the hold power by many means.

[Fuchs]

Hungary's government has definitely learned too much from Putin. I doubt that the spook will end soon.


The situation is very different in most other European countries. There are extremists only powerful (to some degree) thanks to a mix of mobilising the 5-10% dangerous assholes that every country has and addressing some at least somewhat legitimate concerns.

The former is rather unavoidable (best case is if said assholes split up between left and right), while the latter is evidence of a failure of established parties.
Don't be surprised by extremists if you allow some outrageous problems to linger for long while claiming that any complaints about them are either politically incorrect or otherwise illegitimate.
The failure of the established parties can be compensated much better than with a rise of stupid extremists, of course: Simply allow for the rise of a new party.
I'm really thankful for not living in an entrenched two-party system.

[Bill Moore]

Posted by Fuchs


I'm really thankful for not living in an entrenched two-party system.

As compared to the successful multiparty system in Italy? The reality is democracy is hard to make work regardless of whether it is a two party or mulitiparty system, especially in times like this. Normally our two party system functions fairly well, but admittedly your word "entrenched" is currently correct. However, over the years we had different parties and it is possible a new party will rise and displace one of the current parties, or more parties will rise and displace both of them. We're not restricted to a two party system by law.

[Bob's World]

Of historic note, I believe many countries turned toward more 1-partyish extremes of socialism or fascism to get the unity of effort necessary to work out of the financial messes between WWI and WWII. To include the US. Wouldn't be surprising to see a re-emergence of such trends

[Fuchs]

Well, the threshold for establishing a new party is much, much higher than in proportional vote systems. Germany is about to establish its second new party since 1980 in order to address shortcomings of geriatric established parties which are increasingly uninterested in concerns of large parts of the population.
This doesn't even count the formation and establishment of an actual left wing party from parts of the social democrats and from the remainder of the East German communists.

A U.S. left winger in a right-leaning U.S. state sounds like a U.S. right winger in a U.S. left-leaning state, right?

Meanwhile a German gets to choose from an actual left winger in every state and an actual right winger in every state. Moreover, they're likely going to have a voice in parliament (and do their oversight job on the administration) as part of a minority caucus.

The system doesn't force them to adapt to the state's political culture; they rather remain quite true to their political orientation and the people get to choose.

This makes it easier for extremists to enter parliaments and get a forum for their noises, but said noises also allow to recognize their (lack of) qualities.

[Firn]

The success of a party like the pirates is certainly just possible in a "continental" system.

In Italy I would love to have a bit higher barriers for small parties. The landscape is too fractured. By the way Beppo Grillos movement Cinque stelle had already very recently an Italian "pirate moment" at the local level.

[davidbfpo]

Having found a diagram showing the results of the last Greek election I was surprised to see how many voted for parties that failed to get past the 3% barrier for being allocated parliamentary seats. It was 19.03%, that is a big minority who are disenfranchised. Even more stunning when you learn the leading party is allocated an additional fifty seats.


Votes cast from Left to Right:

KKE (Communist) 8.48%
Syriza 16.8%
Democratic Left 6.11%
Pasok 13.8%
New Democracy 18.8%
Independent Greeks 10.6%
Golden Dawn 6.9%

Link:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-17993894

It is remarkable IMO that the two extreme left and right parties polled so closely together. Not to overlook the KKE are reported to be an unreconstructed, if not Stalinist communist party. Extremes need each other.

[davidbfpo]

A timely review of the situation in Europe, just after the first anniversary of the lone wolf Anders Breivik's murderous attacks in Norway:http://www.opendemocracy.net/opensecurity/robert-lambert/failing-to-take-far-right-violence-seriously

The opening sub-paragraph:
The threat of far right terrorism and political violence ought to be taken at least as seriously as the radical Islamic one. Obstacles include the false belief that far right violence is local and not globally connected.

Citing Arun Kundnani’s report 'Blind Spot? Security Narratives and Far-Right Violence in Europe' for the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism (ICCT) in The Hague and looking at the German neo‐Nazi group – the Nationalsozialistischer Untergrund (NSU, National Socialist Underground) – which operated:
for thirteen years without arrest, during which time eight people of Turkish origin, a Greek man, and a policewoman had been killed, despite federal and regional intelligence services reportedly having infiltrated the group’. .. it remains unclear why the NSU was not intercepted earlier.....appears that part of the problem was that efforts to counter right‐wing violence rested with regional states, which did not consider it a priority, in contrast to initiatives to counter the threat of jihadist violence, which were well‐resourced and centrally co‐ordinated at the federal level.

This passage makes the argument far better:
since 1990, at least 249 persons have died in incidents of far right violence in Europe, compared to 263 who have been killed by jihadist violence, indicating that both threats are of the same order of magnitude

I have seen Europol reports on acts of terrorism which show nationalist attacks far outnumber Jihadist attacks; nationalist cannot always be equated with far right IMO.

There is more detail on the issue on:http://www.opendemocracy.net/opensecurity/jon-burnett/abandoned-to-far-right

[Fuchs]

I'm more concerned by authoritarians who are not openly extremist (gun-toting, tattooed, bald head and stuff), but manager to get government powers.

I'm thinking about Hungary and Romania here.
These countries are about to become political untouchables in the EU because of their deviation from democracy and hard turn towards right wing authoritarian governments with controlled media etc.

[davidbfpo]

The full title of this paper is 'The Roots of Extremism: The English Defence League and the Counter-Jihad Challenge', which uses polling data from October 2012 and one point is:
The data indicate that supporters of such groups are not just young, uneducated, economically insecure or politically apathetic. They are not simply anti-Muslim or overtly racist, but xenophobic and profoundly hostile towards immigration. They expect inter-communal conflict and believe violence is justifiable. And their beliefs about the threatening nature of Islam have wider public support.

Link:http://www.chathamhouse.org/publications/papers/view/189767

There is data on whether institutions are trusted which indicate politicians and parliament have shrinking credibility.

[J Wolfsberger]

There is data on whether institutions are trusted which indicate politicians and parliament have shrinking credibility.

I would add Chatham House as one of the institutions on that list. I've only skimmed it so far, and owe you a better response after I read it again and think a bit about it, but ...

The author's assumption seems to that people should sit passively while watching their culture dismantled by those same politicians, parliaments and institutions, all of whom cheerfully explain that the culture was irredeemably evil. Those who aren't passive about it are "extremists."

As the saying goes "Well, there's yer problem."

(This one jumped out: "... groups like the defence leagues have essentially outflanked mainstream elites, developing successful narratives around a perceived ‘threat’ that is not being addressed, namely Islam ..." That the author thinks this extremism can be explained, even partially, in terms of dueling narratives is an example of what's causing that "shrinking credibility.")

[Firn]

I'm more concerned by authoritarians who are not openly extremist (gun-toting, tattooed, bald head and stuff), but manager to get government powers.

I'm thinking about Hungary and Romania here.
These countries are about to become political untouchables in the EU because of their deviation from democracy and hard turn towards right wing authoritarian governments with controlled media etc.

This is a big concern indeed. In Italy we have a terrible record of governance and it is absolutely correct to talk about a political caste, especially in some regions. We also had laws made for a single person and attempts to modify the constitution to get the president more power - designed by the same person - but so far there has been no stark turn towards an authoritarian state.

Now Grillo does behave like a little dictator in the M5S and is the face and the voice of the movement but I do think that a lot of it has to do with the understandable fear that other politcal forces - especially on the right - might once again to buy votes and undermine the M5S. While it may sound wild the richest man in politics faces two unrelated trial for doing just that...

---

Democracy is an ongoing process and no final, steady state. Sadly looking east towards Hungary, Romania, Ukraine, Belorussia and Russia we have plenty of such examples...

[davidbfpo]

Not the current Crimean crisis, but the far wider issues of political disengagement, primarily by the young, although also seen with nationalism / regionalism and the socio-economic factors.

There is an older thread 'Europe under strain: political extremism aspects' into which this could fit, but these factors are not unique to Europe and SWC has touched upon the domestic US application too - now awhile ago.

This thread is prompted by two new articles, one on Europe and another on the UK (after all I am British). Plus thanks to a "lurker" a series of displays of socio-economic factors.

Disengagement and this is the headline:
Why aren't Europe's young people rioting any more? Denied their dreams of education and jobs, young people have been sapped of rebellious energy. But their anger is growing

Link:http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/apr/01/europe-young-people-rioting-denied-education-jobs?CMP=EMCNEWEML6619I2

The displays /maps come under a headline:
Interactive map: Europe’s social polarisation and the generational struggle - what do indicators measuring poverty and inequality actually show?

It ends with:
Social pain has already undermined the citizens’ trust in the EU and their own governments. This could devitalize the acceptability of painful structural reforms and fiscal consolidation measures and, in turn, diminish the reform momentum or even lead to political instability.

Link:http://www.bruegel.org/nc/blog/detail/article/1290-interactive-map-europes-social-polarisation-and-the-generational-struggle/

The British economic and fiscal problem, one that has suddenly caught attention:
Selling UK Plc is the only way we can avoid a full-blown crisis. Overseas buyers should be thanked: they are bailing us out and financing our lifestyle

Link:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/10737749/Selling-UK-Plc-is-the-only-way-we-can-avoid-a-full-blown-crisis.html

[Fuchs]

Moderately.
http://www.tradingeconomics.com/united-kingdom/balance-of-trade
http://www.tradingeconomics.com/charts/united-kingdom-balance-of-trade.png?s=uktbttba&d1=19550101&d2=20141231

Deficits of about GBP 40 billion per year are only about half of the United States' trade balance deficit (in per capita).

The UK has rather a domestic economic structure problem; it still thinks that he leeching City of London special economic zone is more of a benefit than a drag as long as it leeches mostly on foreign economies.

And the tunnel was apparently not enough to help the UK in the markets for 'just in time' deliverable intermediate goods.

_____________
By the way; there's a major rally and protest march in my vicinity in but a few days. The topic is a civil rights topic.
We even have two new parties of note (below 5% nationally, though): Piratenpartei for the young people; copyright, anti-censorship et cetera and AfD for the rather conservative older people; anti-Euro currency zone

The political grassroots and protest movements aren't necessarily about the old topics (in 80's West Germany: anti-nuclear power, anti-Cold War and ultimately anti-DDR), but there's some activism.

[Firn]

Scottish independence: Cameron, Clegg and Miliband make Scotland 'No' vote plea (http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-29136699)

It is quite possible the great recession is having a big impact on the Scottish referendum. Much of the economic policies of the current government have been terrible and of counter-productive austerity but this is, if painful and still relevant, old news. Simon Wren-Lewis offers an interesting perspective (http://mainlymacro.blogspot.co.at/):

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Pnp42Ntzptg/VA63gOzI2LI/AAAAAAAAAv4/ycxVm06iSGE/s1600/Yougov.jpg


As far as I know there has been no compelling new evidence that has emerged between these two dates, so the obvious inference is that as people have become more exposed to the economic arguments, they have found the pro-independence side more convincing.

At one level this seems odd, because for me the evidence that Scotland will be worse off for at least the first decade of independence seems pretty clear. The fiscal position of an independent Scotland also looks worse, as the highly respected and impartial IFS explain. These views seem to be shared by a large majority of UK economists: here is the CFM survey of mainly academic economists selected for their macroeconomic expertise. Now this survey is more equivocal about whether the UK is right to rule out currency union, but again the general view is that in such a monetary union Scotland would face severe fiscal constraints.

I'm convinced by those arguments, but as Simon puts it a large share of the public doesn't seem to be or doesn't know those. For many the future seems to look brighter as nation. I mentioned during the discussion about the Crimean economy that severing the deep, intricate ties to Ukraine and attaching new ones will be painful for both Russian and the annexed territory. Now we won't seen anything that extreme for obvious reasons but at least in the short run a 'yes' would mean considerable economic stress and friction.

[Red Rat]

Despite the Scottish Government stating that a 'Yes' vote in the referendum in Scotland on 18 Sep would be a mandate to negotiate towards their vision Scotland's Future (http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2013/11/9348/0), most people I speak to who are canvassing for a Yes vote are unaware of the contents of this and hold their own (often irreconcilable) views as to what independence should look like.

Of more interest to this forum is that half to two thirds of those I speak to who are actively campaigning for a 'yes' vote see this as wholly or significantly a 'vote against the system'. There is a strong anti-establishment verging on anarchist tendency running through the street polemic.

[Firn]

Of more interest to this forum is that half to two thirds of those I speak to who are actively campaigning for a 'yes' vote see this as wholly or significantly a 'vote against the system'. There is a strong anti-establishment verging on anarchist tendency running through the street polemic.

Such tendencies might have been present in quite a few of fateful big decisions in nations and other entities with both good and bad outcomes in the longer term. Frankly I have little to no idea about the political realities around that referendum, however it is difficult to refute the points raised by UK academics about the economic one. They don't seem to get heared much, as it seems.

[davidbfpo]

The Scottish referendum has a long history and the nationalist (SNP) campaign initially appeared to be a further step to gain more devolved powers, then it became "we want out of the UK".

Nationalist aspirations are found in a number of European nations, some appear to be a residual, occassionally violent threat; Corsica for example. Or a popular cause that steadily gains power, not independence like in Catalonia. Not so far away is the Basque cause, which has been harmed IMHO by ETA's terrorism, but remains a potent non-violent cause for many. The UK of course has Northern Ireland! Independence is currently parked as an aspiration by popular agreement, except for a few "die-hards".

In the UK and maybe in other, established West European democracies there appears to be an increasing disconnect between the electorate and those in politics and government. Here that is shown in a steady decline in local and national elections. Plus a drammatic fall in political party membership and in the last twenty years trade union membership.

So yes there is pressure building. Economics do not necessarily dominate the public debate, although for social welfare reasons the under-employed or unemployed appear content to stay at home playing games on the TV, drinking, taking drugs and more.

[Firn]

Things change over time which is a bit of a truism. While it seems that the No will prevail it is rather useful to look at the Velvet Divorce (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dissolution_of_Czechoslovakia), the dissolution of Czechoslovakia. The circumstances were quite different, of course, but is still of interest.


Many Czechs and Slovaks desired the continued existence of a federal Czechoslovakia. Some major Slovak parties, however, advocated a looser form of co-existence and the Slovak National Party complete independence and sovereignty. In the next years, political parties re-emerged, but Czech parties had little or no presence in Slovakia, and vice versa. In order to have a functional state, the government demanded continued control from Prague, while Slovaks continued to ask for decentralization.[1]

In 1992, the Czech Republic elected Vclav Klaus and others who demanded either an even tighter federation ("viable federation") or two independent states. Vladimr Mečiar and other leading Slovak politicians of the day wanted a kind of confederation. The two sides opened frequent and intense negotiations in June. On 17 July, the Slovak parliament adopted the Declaration of independence of the Slovak nation. Six days later, Klaus and Meciar agreed to dissolve Czechoslovakia at a meeting in Bratislava. Czechoslovak president Vclav Havel resigned rather than oversee the dissolution which he had opposed; in a September 1992 poll, only 37% of Slovaks and 36% of Czechs favoured dissolution.[2]

In many European cases more regional rights seem to be a fine enough long term solution but there are of course many variables. In Italy's case the minorities are all relatively small and a stronger autonomy with a somewhat higher public spending is rather affordable, even if some disagree.

[Firn]

I was pretty impressed by the Gordon Brown's speech at Maryhill (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J39bBV7CBJk). A very powerful rallying cry with mostly very sound arguments. So after he did more then his share in saving the British finance system and softening the blow for the British economy, for which he took a beating, he stepped up when his native nation was close to making a dangerous one...

[davidbfpo]

Although the furore over the massive flow of refugees from Syria and migrants from elsewhere has been reported upon, it is rare to see MSM report on the extreme right (XRW) and their hopes for 2016:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/immigration/12031679/Across-Europe-with-Tommy-Robinson-inside-the-new-wave-of-anti-immigration-protest-coming-soon-to-Britain.html

I don't follow Czech politics, but when their President speaks at a XRW rally in Prague last month one must wonder what is happening:
The country’s President Milos Zeman, who is an outspoken critic of Islam, immigration and the EU. Six thousand people turned out in Prague to listen.

[davidbfpo]

This seems like the best place to add this allegation. The report starts with:
Podemos, the leftist party that emerged as the major success story in last month’s indecisive Spanish general election, has been accused of receiving illicit funding from the Iranian government. The party, which campaigned on a platform of combatting corruption and slowing the pace of crippling austerity, is reported to be under investigation by a division of the Spanish police that has previously looked into graft allegations against other political parties.
Link:http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/podemos-spains-anti-corruption-party-received-illicit-funding-from-iran-a6813006.html


Or if you read Spanish, the original allegation:http://www.elconfidencial.com/espana/2016-01-15/la-investigacion-sobre-podemos-ya-esta-en-manos-de-anticorrupcion-y-de-hacienda_1136490/

[davidbfpo]

An explanation that crosses the continent to find answers and here is an example, one that had slipped past my sight:
Spain, meanwhile, whose voting system was designed after its return to democracy in the 1970s to deliver strong majorities and a stable two-party system, remains without a government nearly three months after it went to the polls on 20 December (http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/dec/20/peoples-party-wins-spanish-election-absolute-majority).
Link:http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/mar/29/support-europes-mainstream-political-parties-parliaments

[davidbfpo]

Via John Schindler on Twitter:
Frank Hannig: "From the Stasi to Pegida. As a lawyer with Stasi past helped build Pegida."

He cites a report in German, which is not a language I know and no translation option is offered:https://correctiv.org/blog/2016/04/01/ex-stasi-spitzel-half-bei-gruendung-von-pegida-verein/

I am assuming this ex-Stasi officer may have a Russian affiliation still.

[mirhond]

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/suspect-sought-after-french-soldier-attacked-in-strasbourg/


PARIS - French police say they are looking for a man who attacked a soldier with a box cutter in the eastern city of Strasbourg.

Local government official Dominique Jane told Europe 1 radio the incident happened in Strasbourg's train station on Saturday evening. Jane said Sunday that the soldiers pushed back the aggressor, who managed to escape, as he was trying to attack one of them. One soldier was slightly injured on a cheek. The man's motives remained unclear. Jane said the attacker spoke in Arabic, but he doesn't know the content and translation of his words.

:confused::eek:

TWO (2) armed(?) soldiers vs ONE (1) assailant with a box cutter.
Gosh, my second thought was : "Phew, at least they did not surrender"

[davidbfpo]

A "broad brush" commentary by RUSI's Raffaello Pantucci; sub-titled 'Rightwing extremists are a grave danger in themselves, let alone when you factor in their influence on mainstream politics, and on terrorism':https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/jun/28/brexit-europe-far-right-rightwing-extremists-politics-terrorism? (https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/jun/28/brexit-europe-far-right-rightwing-extremists-politics-terrorism?CMP=share_btn_tw#comments)

Those who have watched this will not be surprised by:
In the RUSI-led research, a particularly striking finding was that in about 40% of cases of far-right extremists, they were uncovered by chance – the individual managed to blow himself up or was discovered while authorities conducted another investigation. By contrast, around 80% of violent Islamist lone actors were discovered in intelligence-led operations – in other words, the authorities were looking for them.In the UK the far right find a ready audience IMHO amongst, as the Home Secretary stated today:
There is still one in ten 18-24 year olds in the UK who are unemployed.Link:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-37561035

[davidbfpo]

A different way to explain this issue and taking the UK's once very active "far right" group, the English Defence League (EDL) and the author's first-hand research watching them:
...reveals that the participation of grassroots members was driven by the club goods of access to violent conflict, increased self-worth and group solidarity.

(Ends with) To understand the appeal of EDL activism, it is not enough to examine the group’s ideological appeal; the costs and benefits of activism must also be identified.Link: http://www.radicalisationresearch.org/debate/morrow-2016-loyal-footsoldiers/?

[AdamG]

On November 13 last year, three teams of militants from the so-called "Islamic State" (IS), armed with Kalashnikovs, stormed the Stade de France stadium, the Bataclan concert hall and several pubs in Paris. The rampage left 130 people dead, 85 of them in Bataclan, where the band, the Eagles of Death Metal, was playing.
Meanwhile, investigations have revealed that all nine men involved in the attacks had traveled to Europe together with the stream of refugees that entered the continent in 2015. According to German weekly "Welt am Sonntag," the country's spy agency, the "Bundesnachrichtendienst," (BND) has warned that IS is specifically training terrorists to merge with asylum seekers looking for safer havens in Europe. The report's authors say that the BND suggests that terrorists train potential attackers on how to answer questions during border interrogations so they can prove their credibility as refugees.

http://www.dw.com/en/islamic-state-reportedly-training-terrorists-to-enter-europe-as-asylum-seekers/a-36389389

[OUTLAW 09]

France's Le Pen fully supports Putin and Assad in Syria.........

The term for this is the Fascist Internationale:http://mobile.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSKBN13B230#
…

[OUTLAW 09]

For those that do not believe Crimea...eastern Ukraine.....Syria...Brexit...and the US elections are not intertwined in the Russia non linear war with the US....

UKIP spent EU money on its #brexit campaign. Misused £400,000 in total, the Indy reports
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/brexit-ukip-eu-money-misspending-eu-referendum-campaign-a7422471.html#

AND former leader of UKIP visiting Trump before any major foreign leader does.....

[davidbfpo]

Hope not Hate is a UK-based advocacy group, some are critical of its stance, not just its opponents.

They have just published a 'special' (70 pgs) on the UK and European far right scene, with some pointers to Russian links:http://edition.pagesuite-professional.co.uk/launch.aspx?eid=3a775a92-2424-4e47-8166-4b6d6b344fd5

UKIP do feature, but as today's BBC News reports they have their own problems with a by-election:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-38976044

We shall what the electorate @ Stoke think of UKIP's new leader when they vote. The constituency was strongly pro-Brexit and the sitting Labour MP has resigned, having been offered a better job.

[OUTLAW 09]

Latest "Trump affect" on European far right and or neo right populists seems to be doing them in not helping them...

France's Le Pen now behind going into the first round of voting which definitely means if confirmed she will lose in the second round...

Dutch far right party not even in position to threaten anything going into the election.

Danish populist party in the same position....not going anywhere

Italian far right was just in Moscow to sign something that they thought might help them..but their polling is weak ater the trip....

Germany...important...the neo/far right AfD were at a high in the polls of 12-13% now after five weeks of Trump and a neo Nazi party leader pro Hitler comments....THEY dropped to a 8-9% level...and still are sinking....

So maybe Europe should be thanking Trump and his merry band of neo rightists....for showing a bulk of European voters where the far right is heading....

[davidbfpo]

A commentary on how in the UK, under a Labour government in 2009-2010, there was a programme to counter the extreme right, by the minister involved. A few passages set the scene:
I learned a lot from Connecting Communities about engaging in the predominantly white, working class communities that are also typical of the ‘post industrial’ economy. I also understood more about why electoral support for Labour had tumbled since 1997 (even if those areas still elected Labour MPs and councilors).A gulf has opened between many people in post-industrial communities and many who genuinely want to stand in solidarity with them. We need to acknowledge this and understand why.
The starting point must be the recognition of the deep thread of powerlessness, of lacking a voice, of being ignored; and, equally important, the belief that others are always being heard first.Link:http://www.theoptimisticpatriot.co.uk/post/158928643488/listening-to-england