Extreme right on the rise

When the European Transport Workers’ Federation (ETF) held its latest congress in Budapest, Orbán had convened the finest of the populist right for a conference in the same city two weeks before. The CPAC (Conservative Political Action Conference) Hungary conference was held there on 19th and 20th May 2022. It was a conference where the far right of Europe and the United States came together for two days to discuss how to impose their agenda in both Europe and the United States.

The list of speakers included Mark Meadows, Donald Trump’s former chief of staff, Tucker Carlson then of Fox News, and George Farmer of the far-right media platform Parler. But Viktor Orbán himself and some of his ministers also took the floor at that conference. In addition to politicians from Austria’s far-right political party FPÖ, there was Italy’s Lega, Spain’s Vox and Tom Van Grieken from Belgium’s Vlaams Belang.

That CPAC conference called Hungary “one of the driving forces of resistance to the woke revolution”. “Conservatives in Europe and the United States must fight together to ‘recapture’ the institutions in Washington and Brussels,” Viktor Orbán said at the conference. According to him, these institutions are in the hands of “progressive liberals, neo-Marxists stunned by the woke dream” and, an Orbán classic, “people funded by George Soros”. To sum up: forces that “destroy the Western way of life that you and we love so much”, Orbán told the CPAC Hungary conference. A Hungarian talk show host present at the conference called Jewish people “stinking excrement” and Romani “animals”.

The growing influence of far-right politics and populism goes hand in hand with globalisation. For many years, populism and far-right parties around the world have been gaining influence. With a false narrative of protecting their ‘own people’, they are in fact aiming to demolish workers’ rights, promote racism and exclusion, etc. If the far-right was marginal in the latter part of the 20th century, far-right and fascist parties are now back with a vengeance.

In many places, the far-right plays a part in government or even takes power. Trump was President of the US and, after losing the election, he challenged the democratic result, with his supporters attacking the House of Representatives. Bolsonaro in Brazil was defeated by Lula but is preparing a comeback, Meloni in Italy is prime minister, Orbán in Hungary and so on.

Some people would have us believe that refugees and immigrants are the cause of the crises we face in the North. But we know that no one leaves their country just for fun. Refugees flee wars, famine, poverty and more. We must not only be extremely vigilant and strict about racism and exclusion, but we also need to take practical action to stop the influence of the extreme right by focusing more on worker education and by campaigning around key symbols such as wearing the red triangle (the symbol of political and trade union camp prisoners as a means of opening discussion), or promoting 8th May (the day of democracy’s victory over Nazism) as an official public holiday.

Democracy is under pressure all over the world. Authoritarian regimes, autocrats, dictators and the like are in power in more and more countries. There are authoritarian leaders in Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Europe who do everything they can to neglect democracy. The right to organise, the right to take industrial action, the right to demonstrate and the right to bargain are all at risk. Women’s rights are flagrantly violated in many countries, such as Iran and Afghanistan.

The extreme right is opposed to the unions

It is 16th October 2021. I am standing in a packed Piazza San Giovanni in Rome, along with 100,000 protesters. “Mai più fascismo!”, they chant in chorus. Maurizio Landini, the secretary-general of CGIL, one of the three organising unions, addresses the crowd. “We have not forgotten what happened in Italy, in Europe, before and during World War II. Because a country that forgets its past has a poor future!” In his long and inspiring speech, he argued for hope and perspective for young people, for more culture, for better jobs and a solid social safety net.

The trigger for the demonstration was an attack by Squadron Fascisti on 9th October 2021 on the CGIL’s central headquarters. On the same day, a vaccination centre at a hospital was also attacked and in the days that followed, CGIL regional union offices were bombarded with Molotov cocktails, others were smeared with swastikas… The CGIL’s website was also hacked in an attempt to sabotage the union’s computers.

Anyone who has read Antonio Scutari’s ‘M’ book series is bound to get déjà vu. The attacks are reminiscent of the fascist thugs who organised the physical hunt for the left in pre-fascist Italy. It is a clear example of how the far-right is against trade unions. Extreme right-wing parties may talk about how social they are (albeit only for their ‘own people’), but they are clear when it comes to trade unions: abolish! And if that cannot be done, then those unions must be made to suffer. By curtailing the right to strike, by hitting them financially, by prosecuting strike leaders and so on.

Meanwhile, Italy has lurched to the right. Giorgia Meloni, figurehead of a neofascist party is prime minister of Italy. Those who thought that all would be well, and that those neo-fascists would calm down once they were in government, are being contradicted by the facts.

And that the Meloni government is also pursuing anti-social policies is evidenced by the abolition of the citizen’s income. A reddito di cittadinanza is a combination between unemployment benefit and the living wage, introduced by the previous government. Giorgia Meloni announced earlier that she would abolish that social benefit. It would only motivate the ‘idlers’ to do nothing… The fact that with the abolition of that living wage many families would be plunged back into poverty did not appear to be an issue.

Italian academic Antonio Scurati said in a newspaper interview: “History is not fixed in advance, it is the outcome of a struggle. The same thing applies to democracy. Our generation inherited democracy from our parents and grandparents. We are lucky bastards. We feel that democracy is taken for granted, that it will always exist. Whereas, of course, it will not. It has to be constantly defended.”

In Belgium too, fascists have physically attacked the unions. On 1st May 2018, a right-wing shock troop entered my own confederation’s building and stole the union flag, which was flying at the building. Afterwards, they posted a film on social media in which they urinated on that flag, finally setting it on fire. The group was called Schild & Vrienden (Shield & Friends), led by Dries Van Langenhove. It began as a group of far-right students and young people. They organised training camps because (I quote) “youth needs to be in good physical shape”. But those camps were also places where lectures, supposedly educational training courses, etc. were organised. Members were in contact with each other through a WhatsApp group where racist and bigoted messages about dissenters were exchanged.

Following a TV report, the Belgian judiciary opened an investigation into violation of anti- racism laws. The group’s leaders spoke of an attack on freedom of expression. The leader of the group subsequently sat for the far-right Vlaams Belang in the Belgian parliament for some time. The group has still not been convicted of racism (which is a criminal offence in Belgium).

Meanwhile, a movement called the May 8th Coalition has been started in Belgium. That coalition is pushing for the recognition of May 8th as an official holiday. It is the day of the capitulation of Nazi Germany in 1945. Quite a few countries already commemorate that day. To send a clear political signal that there is no place for the far right, we must work to make 8th May a paid holiday everywhere in Europe. Symbols are more important than ever.

The unions must dare to dot the I’s

The success of far-right parties, including electorally, is only possible because part of our own constituency also feels attracted to the far-right discourse. It’s an erroneous discourse that seduces ‘ordinary people’.

The extreme right sets the agenda with a narrative that is simple and straightforward. Everything that goes wrong is the fault of foreigners. The immigration movement we face globally, with people fleeing war, poverty, impoverishment and hopelessness, creates an influx of newcomers into our society. And what is new, strange, or different often instils fear in people.

The far right feeds these fears by deliberately exaggerating. They speak of a tsunami of refugees, of an overrun of illegal migrants, of a tidal wave. In doing so, they stir up unrest and create an atmosphere of hatred and envy against foreigners.

The other day I read the story of Daniel Esteve, a former boxer operating in Barcelona. He stokes unrest in Barcelona neighbourhoods by threatening squatters and organising demonstrations against them. With his company, Desokupa, he organises evictions of squatters from empty buildings where they have taken up residence. More recently, he has started interfering in local elections. He used public consternation after the murder of a shopkeeper in Madrid to call for revenge against “the Algerians” who were allegedly behind the killing. Vox party leader Santiago Abascal spoke on Twitter about a perpetrator with a North African background. The local police solved the case within 24 hours. It was not a ‘Mohammed’ who stabbed the woman to death, after all, but a Spanish ‘Jesús’, a criminal with drug problems. But for 24 hours, Vox and Desokupa kept fanning the false flames on Twitter and TikTok. Partly because of Daniel Esteve, the election campaign in Barcelona suddenly revolved around housing and security, and not around tourism and mobility which are two major challenges in the city. It is a great example of how the far right uses false narratives to bend the public agenda to its will.

Within the unions, we need to be clearer about what we are doing. We should not have any complexes about daring to bend the public agenda to our will. Putting the issues that really matter on the agenda.

Too easily we have allowed the discourse of the far-right to fester. More to the point, we have, in a sense, resigned ourselves to it. The narrative marketed by right-wing populists is allowed to stand far too much without contradiction.

At a time when the growing influence of populism, nationalism and right-wing extremism in Europe is threatening democracy, we trade unions must also discuss this issue within our own ranks. Social inequalities, increasingly precarious working conditions and the dismantling of the social security system have left the population prey to uncertainty, dissatisfaction and fear of the future. Right-wing populists and extremists offer easy solutions to complex problems and think in terms of categories of “friends” and “enemies”. This paves the way for discrimination, exclusion and degradation.

Trade unionists in particular have a duty to act in a collegial and supportive manner and, as an important part of society, to speak out actively and openly every day against anti-democratic sentiments and right-wing extremism and populism. Anyone who is opposed to democracy, diversity and equal participation for all is also opposed to trade unions. Populist or right-wing extremist parties are directly or indirectly hostile to workers and/or trade unions.

As trade unions, we have a mission to fulfil today, just as we have done in the past by forming a bastion against the far right: after the Second World War, trade unions were in the front line in the fight against historic fascism and provided resistance against the far right.

As Germany’s first trade union, my union, the EVG, took a clear stance in 2019: supporters of right-wing populist or extremist parties, such as the AfD, are not welcome in our trade union community. EVG takes a clear stand against the right.

MARTIN BURKERT
°14/10/1964. Germany.
President of the German trade union EVG (Eisenbahn und Verkehrsgewerkschaft). Member of the Management Committee and Executive Board of the European Transport Workers’ Federation (ETF). Member of the Executive Board of the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF).

Not since the end of the Second World War have far-right political parties and populist figures on the radical right enjoyed such electoral success. And this success has not been limited to votes and parliamentary seats. The centre and the conservative right have lowered the drawbridge to accommodate the far right. But this doesn’t just mean that they have taken up the essence of its proposals and rhetoric, thereby further normalising them in society. It also means that, in order to come to power or remain in power, the right has no problem in joining forces with the far right. In addition to the declared illiberal regimes in Hungary and Poland, the far right, either by becoming a coalition partner or by offering crucial support, has de facto come to political power in EU Member States such as Sweden, Finland, Italy, etc. In Spain, too, the conservative right and the far right have joined forces. Although they have bitten the dust at federal level, they now share power in six autonomous regions and more than a hundred local authority areas. In the two countries on which the European axis has historically been built, France and Germany, the far right is riding high in the polls.

The success of the far right on different continents is confirmed at a time when globalisation is having a direct and destructive impact on the world of working people. There has been banking crisis, the climate crisis, the pandemic, the energy crisis, wars, migratory flows and so on. These are global challenges that have a direct destabilising effect on our working, living and housing environments. They sow doubt, uncertainty, sometimes fear and frustration, anger and unease. The far right exploits these fears and exacerbates them. Regardless of the differences in their programmes or their historical roots, these parties essentially offer the same simplistic and misleading alternative solution to a bewildered world population.

It’s an alternative solution that may appeal both to the ‘have-nots’ struggling to make ends meet and to the better-off who, out of economic chauvinism and political selfishness, want to ward off the “misery of the world”.

The far right’s global alternative is based on two closely related ideas. Firstly, there is the idea of withdrawing into oneself, by creating hard borders and imposing strict delimitations. Fostering the illusion that you can cut yourself off from the big bad world. Secondly, there is a desire for internal homogenisation. Being different or coming from elsewhere, etc. is not tolerated in various ways. The population must be given a hierarchy: first “their own people”, then transients who have fewer rights and occupy a position lower down the pecking order and, finally, undesirables who are stigmatised and dehumanised and must be expelled. This programme is called nativism and is a mixture of nationalism and racism.

It goes without saying that trade unions which defend the interests of all workers, which are the emanation of international solidarity, which are the best conquerors and defenders of social and democratic rights and freedoms, etc. are the declared enemies of the extreme right. Just as it did in the 1920s and 1930s, contemporary fascism in the 21st century will not hesitate, once it has enough power, to destroy the unions. It is up to the trade union movement in each country, individually and together, to block the road to the extreme right and wring its neck. By denormalising it again. By demystifying the social nativism of the far right, its lies and demagoguery in the workplace and in public spaces, through its own channels. By imposing and supporting a strong social policy that breaks with the neo-liberal logic. By proposing global alternative solutions and prospects for the working classes. This may be more difficult, because these alternatives are not based on lies, but on the real material interest of workers in once again allowing solidarity and comradeship to take precedence over hatred and jealousy.