print:Far-Right Extremism Echoes Across Europe

Germany has seen a new record high in the number of politically motivated criminal cases in 2020, Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said on Tuesday. Tellingly, according to Far Right Extremism in Europe report of January 2021, Europe faces a growing threat of far-right terrorism.

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Germany has seen a new record high in the number of politically motivated criminal cases in 2020, Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said on Tuesday.

The number of such crimes has increased by 8.5% in the past year -- to just under 45,000, he said at a news conference in Berlin. That is a new high, said Seehofer, calling the latest figures "very worrying."

Tellingly, according to Far Right Extremism in Europe report of January 2021, Europe faces a growing threat of far-right terrorism. But the movements are not confined by borders or seaboards, instead, "the modern far-right is currently undergoing a broader and more fundamental shift" the report says, "the emergence of a transnational and post-organizational threat."

Building on recent trends internationally, and following in the footsteps of the hyper-polarization of politics in the United States, far right-terrorism continues to pose a threat in Europe, according to the State of Hate report.

More than 100 pages report pointed out that 2020 saw the European far-right become extremely animated in response to the Black Lives Matter demonstrations that took place across the continent and existing racial nationalist activists and organizations, already preoccupied with the concept of race, have used the Black Lives Matter protests to push their existing political platform to a wider audience.

Some elements of the far-right that have traditionally distanced themselves from open racial politics, promoting instead 'cultural nationalism', have become more willing and open to explicitly racial politics in response to Black Lives Matter protests. Whether this shift is permanent will remain to be seen but in the short-to-medium term we have seen cultural nationalism cede ground to racial nationalism within parts of the European far-right.

The report cited far-right events, such as the mass shooting in Hanau, Germany, at two Shisha bars that claimed nine lives, to the re-election victory of far-right leader Andrzej Duda in Poland taking place in 2020. A large number of arrests and activity online related to terrorism and violence existed as well in the past year, the report says, which surveyed more than 11,000 people across eight European countries, with networks of individuals perpetuating acts of violence spreading internationally.

An international far-right
Under the title of "an international far-right" the Report said:

"While it remains important to explore trends in traditional far right organisations such as political parties, the modern far-right is currently undergoing a broader and more fundamental shift; namely the emergence of a transnational and post-organisational threat. The European far-right scene today is a mixture of formalised far-right political parties, such as the Sweden Democrats, Vox in Spain, Lega in Italy and the AfD in Germany, and a series of looser, transnational far-right movements comprised of a disparate array of individuals collectively but not formally collaborating.

"In the age of the internet we have seen the emergence of disparate movements such as the anti-Muslim 'counter-jihad' movement and the international alt-right. While all these groupings have formal organisations within them, they are often post-organisational. Thousands of individuals, all over the world, offer micro-donations of time and sometimes money to collaborate towards common political goals, completely outside traditional organisational structures.

"Now, from the comfort and safety of their own homes, far-right activists can engage in politics by watching YouTube videos, visiting far right websites, networking on forums, speaking on voice chat services like Discord and trying to convert 'normies' on mainstream social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook. The fact that this can all be done anonymously greatly lowers the social cost of activism.

"These new movements are best understood as a many-headed hydra. If one prominent activist or leader falls from grace, it is no longer a fatal hammer blow; others will simply emerge and the besmirched are discarded. Of fundamental importance is that these movements are genuinely transnational. While activists will generally be primarily preoccupied with local or national issues, they invariably contextualise them continentally or even globally.

"Often activists from all over the world come together for short periods to collaborate on certain issues and these loose networks act as synapses passing information around the globe. An Islamophobe in one country outraged by the serving of halal chicken in their local fast-food restaurant can post on social media and the story will spread through the network. If picked up by a 'supersharer' (an especially influential activist with a large social media following) that local story will be picked up by likeminded Islamophobes all over the world and act as more 'evidence' and further convince them of the threat of 'Islamification'.

"If we are to truly understand the contemporary far right, we must therefore change our thinking. We live in a shrinking world: be it in our own community, our own country, continent or globe, we are interconnected like never before.

"The tools at our disposal to build a better, fairer, more united and collaborative world are also in the hands of those who are using them to sow division and hatred around the world. If we want to understand the dangers posed by the politics of hatred and division we can no longer just look at our street, our community or even our country, we must think beyond political parties, formal organizations and even national borders."

Christchurch Shooters Extensive Links to European Far Right Revealed
In August the Christchurch killer Brenton Tarrant was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole after pleading guilty to 92 counts of terrorism, murder and attempted murder. A Royal Commission into the attack was released in December found that the killer had made at least 16 donations to international far-right groups and people since 2017, including a total of £2,500 to numerous European branches of the Identitarian network Generation Identity.

The far-right threat in 2021
On the far-right threat in 2021, the report pointed out that despite their absence from the parliament and the scarce quantity of votes collected in the last elections, far-right groups will condition public opinion through their propaganda. Far-right groups will continue to promote nationalism by advocating the withdrawal from EU accession talks. It is rather difficult to estimate how Serbian pro-EU political forces will react, given that the EU itself does not have a solid ideological strategy to oppose captivating although biased and superficial far- right arguments. The far-right might succeed in passing the message that the EU is an ephemeral organization and that it is not worth waiting for it.

The inability of Balkan governments to pursue a coherent foreign policy strategy and the existence of mutual diffidence and ethno-national antipathies, makes it difficult to overcome current issues through diplomatic initiatives, the report said adding: The Serbian government is conditioned by the far-right and separatist trends that pervade the country and seems unable to get rid of them partly because it does not want to, and partly because it is does not want to lose popular support. The influence of far-right ideas and think-tanks on the government encourages militarization policies that in turn stimulate symmetrical responses from other Balkan countries - some of which are NATO members - that feel threatened when Serbia acquires new weapons.

Propaganda against minorities and migrants, and attacks against them from organized far-right groups, are likely to continue and become more frequent if the government does not take countermeasures to prevent them. The sense of insecurity engendered by anti-migrant propaganda and the Covid-19 situation contributes to making vigilante and humanitarian services provided by far-right groups acceptable and desirable. Ethnic relations inside Serbia will depend on the attitude of far-right party leaders who try to mobilize local communities. The presence of Srpska Desnica members in city councils of Southern Serbia regions where Albanian and Serbian communities live intermingled or close to each other, might have effects on local relations.

The State of Hate, Far-Right Extremism report was co-authored by 24 authors and sponsored by HOPE not Hate Charitable Trust of UK, The Amadeu Antonio Foundation of Germany and Expo Foundation of Sweden.

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