(MENAFN- The Arabian Post) By Nitya Chakraborty

Europe which was the main centre of two world wars in the last century is showing signals of many of the features of the politics of the continent in the pre- second world period spanning 1925 to 1939 in political and military terms. Though in term of economy, the threat of great depression of 1929 is still not visible, economists are not ruling out accentuating crisis in the economies of the European nations after the US President Donald Trump's aggressive trade policies defying decades old multilateralism take full effect.

On Saturday, London witnessed the biggest ever demonstration of the far right and their fringe elements against the immigration policy of the Labour Government of Sir Keir Starmer. The participation of more than a lakh people voicing jingoist demands against the immigrants, the asylum seekers as also the liberals and Left had an international character with the solidarity expressed by the far right AFD of Germany and RN led by Marine Le Pen of France. Elon Musk, the financier of the international far right addressed the gathering through a video asking them to be prepared for the final battle against the Left and liberals. Musk was openly supporting the far right anti- immigration Reforms Party in the last British general elections.

Just coinciding with this massive far right resurgence in London urging for regime change even, came the US President Donald Trump's call to fight and eliminate the Left from the American politics using the occasion of the far right preacher Charlie Kirk's assassination. Even though there are no firm reports about the assassin's political connections with the Democratic Party and specially, the Sanders group of socialists, the MAGA supporters as also the US corporate media led by Fox News have started a vicious campaign against the Left leaning members of the Democratic Party including Zohran Mamdani, the potential Mayor of New York city. The Trump led MAGA supporters will intensify the present campaign to blur the real electoral issues before the crucial midterm polls in USA in November 2026.

Trump on Monday announced a US$15 billion law suit against the liberal New York Times newspaper alleging that the daily has been serving as paper of the Left and writing against him since a decade. This lead given by Trump in respect of NYT is likely to be followed up as a strategy to silence all dissenting opinions in the regional media in US. The NYT is strong enough to fight, but in the regions, it will be tough for the media to express anti-Trump views. The Republican Right wants to have full control over the media before the 2026 midterm.

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Even the liberal daily London based The Guardian expressed its big worry at the Saturday really of London and said in its editorial the next day“The story here is not just scale, though that is striking. It is that the far right is increasingly organized, transnational and opportunistic. While Labour was self injuring, Mr. Robinson and his allies staged a large scale political mobilisation, laced with shocking aggression. British grievance alarmingly is now louder. American branded and better funded”

As the Guardian pointed out the killing of the American far-right influencer Charlie Kirk threw fuel on to the fire. The US right has swiftly turned the death of Kirk – shot dead at a university campus event – into a rallying cry. His widow promised that his mission would grow stronger. Donald Trump refused to call for calm – instead blaming the radical left and striking a vengeful tone. It was a moment to de-escalate. He, unsurprisingly, chose not to. Mr Trump has a track record of inflaming hatred and using violence for political gain. It is appalling that Britain will roll out the red carpet for him this week.” Significantly Trump will be in London on an official visit to Britain on September 17.

With Reform UK topping the opinion polls and the Labour leadership in a flux on its strategy to deal with far right, the disgruntlement of the workers has grown due to the decline of real wages and the health facilities under NHS being denied enough funds for expansion. With the Conservative Party clueless about its future plans and the Labour Left led by Jeremy Corbyn yet to emerge as an alternative, the far right Reforms Party is getting full advantage of a cluttered political pitch. Every party has been tested by the people in Britain, excepting the far right Reforms Party.

This same attitude among the people fed up with traditional parties has led the AFD upsurge in the last Sunday state elections to North Rhine Westphalia of Germany. This state is about one fourth of 83.51 million people of Germany and projects the political mood of the nation as a whole. In the Sunday elections, the ruling CDU of the German chancellor Frederick Merz got 33.3 per cent of the votes as against the far right AFD which got 14.5 per cent. But the important feature is AFD increased its vote share by 9.4 per cent as against its performance in the last elections. The CDU will be ruling the state again but the far right is on a steep rise.

In German Parliament, the CDU/CSU ruling combination has got 208 seats while the AFD is now the second largest party with 152 seats putting the Social Democrats SDP to the third position. The bright feature is that the Leftwing de Linke improved its position to 64 seats in the present Bundestag as against a total of 38 including its rebels in the last one. But the AFD is making all efforts to come back to power by eroding the base of the CDU and the SPD. AFD is getting all support from the MAGA lobby of Trump.

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Similarly in France, the far right party RN has come up to the third position from its inconsequent position a decade back. Out of the 577 seats in the French national assembly, the Left block has got 182 followed by the Ensemble, the centrist party of President Macron at 163 followed by the far right RN of Le Pen at 143. President Macron in order to deprive Left of the task of government formation is continuing with his ministry making with outside support by the RN. As a result, one by one the ministries are falling. The third government is now functioning under President Macron after the July 2024 elections. Marie Le Pen is building her ground to contest and win the 2027 presidential elections hoping that there will be no understanding between the centrists and the Left.

Europe is thus under a far right spell in the year 2025 though there are pockets of resistance, especially in Spain and Portugal as also in Norway which defeated the Right in the recent elections. But the advantage of Right is that now it is transnational and it has international backers led by Elon Musk, his billionaire friends as also President Trump. The far right is serious in its war against the liberals and the Left, but the centrists and the Left are not. Only Bernie Sanders is talking of a united Front of all anti right forces seriously and to some extent Brazilian president Lula.

The time has now come to work for the rally of all anti fascist forces in Europe under one banner to fight the far right. The immediate issues which have led many to join the far right have to be freshly assessed. The London rally is another wake up call to the liberals and the left that time is running out. The way Trump has called for fight against the Left in America, the Left has to call for fight the same away against far right in Europe. There is need for the Left to give a new call again that fascism will not pass in Europe. (IPA Service )

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