The far-right ties that bind

OTTAWA—Some weeks I struggle to find a topic about which to write. Other weeks, it’s a cornucopia of delectable stories that turn the world on its ear. This is one of those weeks where 2024 continues to generate news stories of emperors with no clothes. You love to see it. You know what else I love to see? When I’m right. You know what I hate to see? When I’m right—because I’m usually right about very bad things. Europe is falling apart, threatening western hegemonic liberal democratic structures, policies, and values. From June 6-9, Europeans went to the polls to elect their representatives for the European Parliament. Referred to as Members of European Parliament (MEPs), they are elected for five-year stints. The Parliament retains legislative power over budgetary issues, and—indirectly—foreign affairs (they must approve all grants going overseas). All seats are allocated proportionally. Unlike many bicameral legislative branches, the MEPs are organized into groups that are aligned more by political affiliation rather than by nationality. The centre-right parties were the biggest winners of the night, capturing a projected 185 out of 720 seats. Politico Europe ascertains: “The European People's Party (EPP) scored a clear victory in Sunday's European Parliament election, tightening its grip on the chamber even as far-right groups made major gains across the bloc.” They continue to explain the implications of these results: “From its position of power, the EPP is best placed to set EU policy, tilting the agenda to the right.” Future European Union policies and politics will veer more to the right since in many of the European states—such as Germany, France, and Italy—the far right won big. In France, the National Rally—Marine Le Pen’s baby—is projected to win 31.5 per cent of the vote, whereas President Emmanuel Macron’s party only attracted half of that vote. This caused the French president to dissolve the National Assembly, and call a snap election. In Italy, Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy (Fratelli d’Italia) stood tall. In Germany—a country that has never been on the correct side of genocide—the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) gained six seats, increasing their vote share to 15.9 per cent. That’s mostly due to former East German votes, and AfD's vote share rose from 11 per cent in the 2019 elections. In fact, Politico Europe emphasizes: “Far-right parties also came first in Austria, tied for first place in the Netherlands, and came in second in Germany and Romania.” This is no surprise, since Europe has been moving towards that end of the political spectrum for years. In fact, the western world has been moving to the right for quite some time. In Canada, that has come in the form of the People’s Party of Canada, whose rhetoric and values Pierre Poilievre has imbibed since becoming Conservative Party leader in 2022. For years, the Conservatives have mirrored MAGA, including voting in 2018 to end birthright citizenship, much like then-United States president Donald Trump tried to do in the same year. We all hear the dog whistles. I’m struggling to tell the difference between the Conservatives in Canada, Republicans in the U.S., the Tories in the United Kingdom, and these European election results. All of them have embraced far-right language and policies on immigration, touting Canadian/American/British/European values as a form of nationalism, a tenet of fascism. Don’t forget that three Canadian Conservative MPs invited AfD MEP Christine Anderson to dinner last year. According to CBC: “Anderson visited Canada as part of a tour organized by supporters of last year's ‘Freedom Convoy’ protests near Parliament Hill in downtown Ottawa, which she publicly supported.” All of these fascist elements tend to find each other and political support in the halls of power. I told you that the Ottawa convoy was the bellwether of far-right organizing. In 2021, I also predicted that “Canada is not ready for what comes next.” And we’re not. Years of denial have morphed into the normalization and rationalization of the extreme right in Canada. Remember when the Munk School in Toronto invited Trump adviser Steve Bannon to debate under the banner of free speech? That’s a normalization of white supremacy that was allowed to be rationalized for the Canadian public. As we can see free speech is not for everyone. Bannon attended the congress of Le Pen’s National Rally party. He also formed an organization to spread his marketplace of ideas in Europe: “The Movement is a Brussels-based right-wing populist organization founded by Steve Bannon of the United States to promote right-wing populist and economic nationalist groups in Europe that are opposed to the European Union governments and political structures of Europe.” They are all connected. These far-right actors now have armies of supporters that concoct targeted attacks on female, racialized journalists, and mostly female politicians. The deluge of far-right harassment experiences prompted Alberta NDP MLA Shannon Phillips to resign from politics. In her speech, she noted “the far right has absolutely organized themselves to take over the information environment…I want to be very clear on who’s responsible here: the far right is responsible.” She continued with highlighting the fact that no one knows what to do about them. Before you do anything about anything, you must first admit there’s a problem, and we’re not even there. Stevie Wonder can see what happens next. Erica Ifill is a co-host of the Bad+Bitchy podcast. The Hill Times

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The far-right ties that bind

The results of the European Parliament elections are just one of many signposts along the path to nationalism on which Canada finds itself.

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