Roger Casale- New European People´s Forum, on the Panel “The Rise of Far-Right Nationalism”, at the Conference “ Defending Democracy and Human Rights”, December 12, 2024, Skopje.
Nationalism and authoritarianism march down the same road side by side, and it’s the road to war. So we need to reflect on that. Not just this week, the human rights week, but at all times. And as a European, I know that Europe is a peace project, but I am not old enough to have had that experience of the war, but I did have direct experience of the Berlin Wall coming down, in 1989, in fact I lived in Berlin at that time. And I know that it’s not naïve to believe that big changes are possible and big changes can come.
I lived in Bologna when the Italian Republic fell, under the way of its own contradiction, bribery and corruption. And so, I don’t want to be told that it’s naïve to believe that change can come. I know that change can come, I’ve seen it.
And I went back to Britain, in the early 99’s, and I became a member of Parliament for the Labour Party, and people told me “you’re naïve that change can come”, but change did come. We live in a constant time of flux, in a constant time of change, and the climate is changing, not just in the nature environment, but the political climate is changing. And there is a big storm coming, storm after storm towards us, and we have seen this in Britain as well, with the rise of right wing populism, that pushed Britain out of the EU, and also brought the worst possible government that Britain has had.
When you look at this right wing populists, like Nigel Farage and Boris Johnson, we shouldn’t have the illusion that they really want what they say that want. Once in power, they are not going to do what they said they are going to do.
They are not ideologically committed to what they say it is going to be, this is a trick they play. A lot of the time, what they want is to use power to their own personal advantage. So you are going to see corruption, crime and so on as result of these coming to power.
And we shouldn’t say that all the people who vote for these parties, are extreme right wing populists, they are not. Often the left and the center, you react by saying they are all fascists, all extremists. Not necessarily the voters, the question you have to ask is, and we have to understand, why people who are not fascists, vote for parties that are fascists. That’s the question that we have to ask, and find the answer to that.
The other lesson is that the right wing extremist benefit from polarization, they provoke, and then they polarize, and that’s their pathway to power. And when in power, there is a pot of gold, not for you or me, but for them. They want to get the power so there can be no rule for them.
So what do we do, there is a tendency where you see the monster in the horizon, to focus and tackle the monster. They have to be held to account, and there is a lot we have to do for ourselves, as committed democrats. The new vision for Europe has to be a vision that is going to be not just a peace project, but also a Europe that is safe space for democracy and human rights.
And we as citizens, as organizations, as civil society, are responsible to build that new Europe from the grassroots every day. And a lot of it is about a culture of civility, about how we relate to each other.
D. Tahiri
Camera: Atanas Petrovski/ Igor Chadinovski
Editing: Arian Mehmeti
Photo: Robert Atanasovski
CONFERENCE, FULL VIDEO, Streamed live on December 12, 2024:
https://youtube.com/live/1f2Eo1ZXEQ0
PHOTO ARCHIVES: #DefendingDemocracy, Panel 1: Democracy under Siege
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.994398716055531&type=3
#DefendingDemocracy, Panel 2: The Rise of Far-Right Nationalism
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.995019619326774&type=3
#DefendingDemocrcy Panel 3: Countering Authoritarianism
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#DefendingDemocracy conference, Panel 4: Commitment to democracy
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#DefendingDemocracy Conference (overall)
https://www.facebook.com/media/set?set=a.993726732789396&type=3
#DefendingDemocracy – workshop and meeting with the press
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#DefendingDemocracy PRESS CONFERENCE
For more information on the Conference, please visit the special website DefendingDemocracy
