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OPINION JULY 22, 2022 | The Indian Eye 10

The Challenges of Rising Far-Right

Extremism in the West

India and other Asian countries also must no longer depend on the West, led by the US, to uphold
the liberal democratic values that have sustained the post-World War II era

SAMAN AYESHA KIDWAI period between 2015 and 2020 has become corrupt and inefficient and ports noted that he had prepared 38
proved equally consequential for the must be violently overthrown for a bullets to be placed inside his hand-
ar-right extremism, rooted in far-right movement. The immigra- White-dominated order to emerge. gun. According to White supremacist
the anti-Semitic, White su- tion policies of the European Union, For this to occur, it contends that literature, 38 is a codeword for Heil
Fpremacist Nazi and Fascist particularly after the outbreak of the Jews, liberal elites, ‘race traitors’ (Hail) Hitler.
ideologies of the 20th century, has war in Syria, the Paris terror attacks (those indulging in inter-racial rela- Eco-fascism links cultural and
gained popularity across the first in November 2015, and the behead- tionships), and selected civilian and environmental degradation and
world countries due to a combination ing of Samuel Paty, a schoolteacher, state personnel groups would need is rooted in the belief that immi-
of factors. As per the Counter-Ter- in October 2020, gave far-right ex- to be systematically targeted and grants bear the sole responsibility
rorism Committee of the United tremists the mileage needed to ad- eliminated. The Capitol Hill Riots for negative climatic repercussions
Nations Security Council (UNSC), vance their cause. are attributed to this fringe far-right in predominantly European soci-
there has been a 320 per cent in- The Ukraine–Russia conflict has ideology. eties. Therefore, they believe that
crease in far-right activities during also brought to the fore issues associ- The attack on the Tree of Life immigration has to be permanently
2015 and 2020, accounting for 82 per ated with the threat of the far-right. Synagogue in 2018 in Pittsburgh, halted and homogenous White com-
cent of global terrorist deaths. In 2014 as well as in 2022, thousands Pennsylvania, in which 11 people munities must be carved out from
The US and European countries of foreign fighters have flocked to were killed and seven wounded, existing territories. Breton Tarrant,
have been most affected by this phe- Eastern Europe to fight on both sides including the perpetrator, Rob- the Christchurch shooter, was in-
nomenon. The January 2021 Capitol of the divide. While ideology has pre- ert Bowers, was possibly one of the spired by such ideas. It is pertinent
Hill riots in Washington D.C. killed sumably acted as the driving force for worst anti-Semitic attacks on Amer- to note that the idea of Lebensraum
six and injured at least 150, while their temporary migration, the con- ican soil. Bowers believed that syn- (Breathing Space) was central to Hit-
the mass shooting in a New York su- flict has also provided an opportunity agogues brought illegal immigrants ler’s expansionist designs and was the
permarket store in May 2022 killed for these individuals to acquire com- from Latin America, and resettled pre-World War II version of eco-fas-
ten black people while three were bat and arms training in a real-world them into the US, altering the coun- cism.
wounded. The percentage of far- scenario. try’s demography. A major narrative The alleged legitimization of
right prisoners in the United King- The Covid-19 pandemic has also that supports these conspiracy theo- far-right narratives by people in po-
dom during 2018 and 2020, increased exacerbated the crisis. The surge in ries is that George Soros, the influ- sitions of authority and influence,
from 33 to 44 per cent. One of the disinformation, as people have be- ential Jewish businessman, is funding such as US House of Representa-
significant far-right attacks outside of come more active on social media illegal migrant caravans bound for tives members Elise Stefanik and
these geographies is the 2019 attack and online forums amidst the pan- the US. Matt Gaetz, Fox News anchor Tuck-
on a Christchurch Mosque that killed demic lockdowns, has made people Such ideas have inspired Amer- er Carlson, political parties like the
51 and injured 40. susceptible to far-right indoctrina- ican neo-Nazis, such as Dylann AfD in Germany and the National
Among factors that have foment- tion. Anti-vax protestors also are Storm Roof, who murdered nine Rally in France, and commentators
ed far-right extremism and propelled often members of far-right move- African-American worshippers in a like Douglas Murray in the UK, have
the movement forward is Islamist ter- ments, convinced that liberal elites church in Charleston, South Caroli- only worsened the situation. Notably,
rorism, beginning in the 1990s, which plan to strip them of their freedoms. na, in June 2015. Roof’s action was the National Rally increased its vote
fomented fear, backlash and para- They hold immigrants responsible allegedly in retaliation for the “per- share from 8 to 89 per cent in the
noia. The 2008 financial crisis creat- for spreading the virus worldwide. secution” of Whites, especially White French parliamentary elections held
ed skepticism about the viability of Accelerationism is a belief that women, who he contended were be- in June 2022.
the Bretton Woods framework. The current liberal governments have ing raped by African-Americans. Re- Continued at next page... >>

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