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Issue 268, Friday 26 August 2011 - 26 Ramadan 1432 Europe’s far right influence mainstream Islamophobia discourse By Hassan Joudi
The strong Islamophobic dogma behind the Norwegian terrorist attacks by Anders Behring Breivik has highlighted the recent rise of Muslims-taking-over-Europe rhetoric in the public sphere. Far-right political parties all over Europe have enjoyed increasing popularity and bigger share of votes in parliamentary elections since September 2001. They have thrived on fears of Islamification, often xenophobic anti-immigration policies and complaints of multiculturalism eroding national identity. Media labels for these parties have included nationalist, populist, far-right, conservative, extremist or right-wing. But many commentators argue to drop the “extremist” label as many of these parties have gained significant support from their national electorate, that they can no longer be considered on the fringes of the political scene. Many have strong links with each other, with members travelling across Europe to speak at each other’s conferences. Conversely, others deny links with each other and reject their policies as too extreme or too moderate. Since the Norwegian terrorist attack on July 22, far-right parties have been scrambling to distance themselves for Breivik’s actions, but not necessarily his ideas. France’s right-wing party, the National Front, has gradually gained momentum in the last decade. In January 2011 it elected a new leader Marine Le Pen. She succeeds her father who founded the party in 1972 and who was convicted for racist and anti-Semitic comments in the past. In response to accusations by anti-racism lobby group MRAP of a link with Breivik, Le Pen said, “The National Front is of course quite unconnected with the Norwegian killings, which were the work of a solitary unbalanced individual.” In local elections in March the National Front won 15% of the overall vote, and Le Pen is a strong contender to oust Nicolas Sarkozy in next year’s presidential elections. Recently, Sarkozy has been accused of courting the far-right vote by pushing for recently introduced niqab ban. Since April 11, it is illegal for a woman to wear the full-face veil in French public places. The new law adds to a controversial 2004 law which banned wearing headscarves and other religious symbols in state schools. Belgium beat France as the first EU nation to ban a form of dress. The legislation in April 2010 prohibiting people wearing clothes that hide their face in public gained support from liberals and far-right politicians alike, passing by 149-1 votes in Parliament. However, the law only came into force on July 23, 2011. The Vlaams Belang (Flemish Interest) party is very critical of Belgium’s current immigration policies and garnered 13% of the vote in 2010 elections. Switzerland’s SVP (Swiss People’s Party) was behind a 2009 referendum where 57.5% of voters approved a ban on the construction of new minarets in Switzerland, despite only four minarets existed in the country before then. Their infamous 2007 election campaign poster featured three white sheep kicking a black sheep off a Swiss flag, promoting their policy of expelling foreign-born criminals, was widely-accused of being outright racist. Following the successful Swiss referendum, Geert Wilders announced he would pursue a similar ban in the Netherlands with the similar aim of “stopping the Islamisation of Europe.” Wilders is leader of the Dutch Freedom Party which won 24 of the 150 seats in Dutch parliament in 2010, up from just 9 seats in 2006. This makes it the third biggest party in parliament, and while it has formally stayed out of the governing coalition, its support is regularly needed to achieve a majority. He produced the controversial 17-minute film Fitna which vehemently attacks Islam, and has compared the Qur’an to Hitler’s Mein Kampf. In Norway the Progress Party gained a significant 22.9% of the vote in 2009, making it the second largest party in parliament. Breivik was a member of the far-right party between 1999 and 2004, but left disillusioned that it was not extreme enough. Party leader Siv Jensen has complained that, “The reality is that a kind of sneak-Islamisation of this society is being allowed…We are going to have to stop this.” Anti-immigration tendencies in Sweden have been championed by the Sweden Democrat party, with the slogan “Keep Sweden Swedish.”. It won 5.7% of the vote in September 2010 elections, getting seats in parliament for the first time. The failed terrorist attack by an Iraqi-born man in protest at cartoons of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) in December 2011 may have propelled anti-Islam fears and increased support for the party. In response to the terrorist attack in Norway, Sweden Democrat party representative Eric Hellsborn told the Hallands Nyheter newspaper, “Breivik is a product of the multicultural society. If Europe had not become multicultural then the shootings would not have happened.” He added that “in a Norwegian Norway this tragedy would never have happened.” True Finns has seen a spectacular rise in popularity in Finland, winning 19% of the overall vote in 2011 elections, making it the third largest party in parliament. This was up from just 4% in 2007. The party has combined both social welfare policies, with nationalist rhetoric that pushes for anti-immigration and euro-skeptic policies. Italy’s right-wing party Liga Nord (Northern League) is a junior partner in Silvio Berlusconi’s coalition Government. Mario Borghezio MEP was quoted in a radio interview as saying that “some of the ideas [of Breivik] are good, in certain cases even excellent.” This promoted center-left politicians in Italy to call for his resignation. In Britain the British National Party (BNP) has re-elected Nick Griffin MEP as party leader in July 2011, narrowly beating the party’s only other MEP Andrew Brons. However party infighting and resignation of senior members since 2009 has weakened them. A mongst their unusual policies are to pay non-white people a “resettlement grant” to return to their countries of ethnic origin to prevent Britain becoming overcrowded. The English Defence League (EDL) is a movement formed in 2009 following protests by the group al-Muhajiroun in Luton against British soldiers returning from Afghanistan. Their website home page states, “If you, like us, are fed up and sick to the back teeth of Islamic Extremism in the UK, then sign up…” It has organized about 25 demonstrations around England some of which have provoked violence and counter-protests by anti-fascist groups. The group Stop Islamisation of Europe (SIOE) originated in Denmark in 2007 following Prophet Muhammad (p) cartoons controversy, but now has branches in several European states, including Britain. Their stated aim is to “combat the overt and covert expansion of Islam in Europe.” The slogan on their website states, “Racism is the lowest form of stupidity! Islamaphobia is the height of common sense!” Related Article: Norway atrocities ‘a wake-up call’ that far right extremists are a huge threat Over 70 people massacred by a self-proclaimed Christian Bias media coverage of the Norway terror attack…blaming the Muslims |
Islamophobia and the rise of far right in Europe