Tuesday December 30, 2014
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30.12.2014
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Yossi Beilin

No to European fascism

Nothing was shocking in Europe's recent parliamentary elections, save the surprise itself. If you had taken a walk through the halls of the EU parliament or commission, you would have seen several individuals packing up their desks because it was clear to them that their seats would be occupied by the far right wing, much of which refuses to believe in the EU's right to exist.

The EU startled itself. Especially France. It is asking itself, what happened? Where did we go wrong? And, mostly, what do we do now? Truthfully, there is absolutely no need to set off on an extensive soul-searching session. What must happen now, urgently, is for the Social Democrats and the Christian Democrats -- the center-Left and center-Right -- to come together in order to stand tall against the third that is extremist, anti-Europe, anti-Semitic, anti-Islamic and, most importantly, anti-democratic.

Europe knows well what happens when its economic situation is uncertain, while unemployment rises and the anti-democratic voice starts to prevail: it becomes unbearably easy to find an outlet among scapegoats (immigrants, the Romani people, whoever) against the apathy of the educated middle class. We cannot let this situation happen again. Germany is a fine example. Austria too. The two responsible actors in their political systems found common ground without much effort, and they have been working together for the sake of economic growth and against racism and extremism.

What Europe must do now is unite its forces and declare a war against all of the racist parties swearing that they're neither neo-Nazis nor Fascists, really, but simply nationalist (some of them even love Israel and seek our companionship whether as Jews or Israelis). Still, things are hardly simple. There are historical differences between the two political ideologies that alternately led European democracy since the end of World War II.

One group is conservative. It believes that the free market has the power to redress all the world's ills. It tries to reduce the power of labor unions and believes that employers know better than the employed what is in their best interest. It seeks limited state involvement and tries to shed financial responsibility for education and welfare, and sees class differences as deriving from human nature. The other believes in robust state involvement to ensure an economic foundation for all citizens. It stands loyally behind workers unions, is much more secular and struggles for human rights.

But Europe in the middle of the 21st century's second decade is a different continent. Most European countries boast an almost unchanging economic welfare policy. The impassioned ideological struggle that existed between Left and Right until mythological British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's disappearance has faded. It is completely obvious in the countries of Scandinavia or in Germany, and France and Great Britain have shown manifest signs. The difference between the Italian Left and Right mostly stem from former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's problematic character, not insurmountable ideological divides. Today's differences are much more nuanced, more of a basically different approach. The left-right paradigm will no doubt continue to characterize the political arena for some time to come, but the European parliament is in need of urgent reorganization. This is still a viable option. Two movements still make up a two-thirds majority. Instead of forming a coalition with extremist parties, now is the time when it is still possible to boycott, shun and say: Fascism in Europe will not do.

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