right-wing extremism

Events in Thuringia highlight a lack of principles among the traditional right, now as in the pastBerlin is not Weimar and the Alternative for Germany party (AfD) is not the Nazi Party (NSDAP), but after Thuringia’s minister-president was elected with AfD votes, it is all but impossible not to see the historical parallels. The Weimar Republic perished due to a lack of democrats. It was not torn apart by conflict between the extreme right and the extreme left, a pet hypothesis that is trotted out time and again, even today, to ...
read more "When it comes to beating the left, any way is the right way"

Parliamentary elections in Austria

Barbara Steiner, Director transform! europe
Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) down 10% – Greens back in National Council with 14%Fresh elections were held in Austria on Sunday, 29 September. They were called after the Ibiza video had blown apart the governing coalition between the right-wing conservative Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) and the far-right Freedom Party (FPÖ) and a motion of no confidence by the Social Democratic Party (SPÖ) had prevented the ÖVP from governing alone. The ÖVP, led by the youngest-ever chancellor of Austria, Sebastian Kurz, emerged as the clear victor, with 37% of the...
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Image: picture alliance / DPR
Image: picture alliance / DPRDPR

The end of Swedish exceptionalism

Petter Nilsson / Rikard Warlenius
The day after the election, no one knows who will be governing Sweden in the coming four years. The two traditional coalitions are tied at almost exactly the same result. The current governing red/green coalition; the Social Democrats, the Greens and passive support from the Left Party, received 40.6% of the votes, while the challenging centre-right coalition; the Moderates, Liberals, Centre Party and Christian Democrats, ended up with 40.3%. The rest was made up of the right-wing populist Sweden Democrats at 17.6%, which makes them the third biggest party and,...
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The NSU-verdictIt is finished. But then again – not quite. Finally, after 438 trial days spanning over five years, the 6th Senate of the Munich High District Court – the state security senate – has issued its long-awaited verdict in the NSU ("National Socialist Underground") trial. Beate Zschäpe was found guilty of being complicit in 10 murders, 43 attempted murders, 2 severe bombing attacks and 15 bank and other robberies, and sentenced to life in prison. As expected, the court confirmed her "particularly grave guilt". This means that Ms. ...
read more "Comment on neo-Nazi-trial by Fritz Burschel"
The NSU-verdictIt is finished. But then again – not quite. Finally, after 438 trial days spanning over five years, the 6th Senate of the Munich High District Court – the state security senate – has issued its long-awaited verdict in the NSU ("National Socialist Underground") trial. Video Comment by Fritz Burschel in German with English subtitles (length 11:08 min.)Beate Zschäpe was found guilty of being complicit in 10 murders, 43 attempted murders, 2 severe bombing attacks and 15 bank and other robberies, and sentenced to life in prison. As...
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A love-hate relationship

Thilo Janssen
Far-right parties and the European UnionEU 2016: the political crisis follows the financial and economic crisis. Right-wing populists have taken over the government in Hungary and Poland. In France the far right Front National is making gradual inroads towards power; Member of the European Parliament Marine Le Pen wants to become president in 2017. In the European Parliament parties on the extreme right managed to secure almost a quarter of the seats in the 2014 European election and set up three factions. This study traces the dangerous success of extreme right ...
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Golden Dawn on Trial

Dimitris Psarras
After many years of bloody action on the streets, the leaders and officials of Golden Dawn are in the dock facing charges of directing and participating in a criminal organisation. No special legislation or political intervention was required. All that was needed was the state’s decision to allow the criminal code to be applied and the combining of dozens of case files on the activities of Golden Dawn’s hit squads. The representatives of the Nazi organisation like to talk about a “conspiracy” and “political persecution”. They deny any relationship with national ...
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On 20 April started the trial against members of the nazi party Golden Dawn (Chrysi Avgi). As presently one of the most important trials in Greece, it receives significant attention, not only in Greece but also worldwide. The trial represents a societal and juridical milestone in the handling of neo-Nazism and regards all of us.The liaison office of the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung in Athens supports the initiative Golden Dawn Watch, an observatory that monitors the trial against Golden Dawn. At the end of each day a summary report in English and Greek ...
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The Far Right in Europe

August 2015
Reader for the European Summer University for Social MovementsOn the occasion of the European Summer University for Social Movements and in co-operation with Attac we prepared two workshops, both concentration on the situation of the far right in Europe.The first workshop will map the far right political subjects and analyse their different peculiar aspects in several European countries. On this basis we will analyse the new role that the far right is assuming in different European countries and discuss possible forms of resistance.Our reader collects the contributions ...
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Edited and with an introduction by Dimitris Christopoulos. Authors: Dimitris Christopoulos, Dimitris Kousouris, Dimosthenis Papadatos-Anagnostopoulos, Clio Papapantoleon, Alexandros SakelariouThis study does not cover ultra-right political culture in Greece in a general way, nor even Golden Dawn per se, but poses a simpler question: How is to be explained that Golden Dawn is being treated by the State as another organization in the mould of the “17 November” group, despite the obvious fact that the latter,...
read more "Mapping Ultra-Right Extremism, Xenophobia and Racism within the Greek State Apparatus"