this post was submitted on 27 Feb 2025
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Europe

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Yeah, and now we have the party of conservatives that never lead any positive change, the fossilised socialists that kinda forgot they're supposed to make stuff better for non-business owners and the "modern" economists that want to privatise everything.

Idk guys, but the choices here currently are between a new hitler or the same shit that caused the rise of our new hitler in the first place.

The only sane person in our government is our federal president, which is soon up for election again, where the far right will have a good chance of winning, because people here are mostly misinformed and full of hate.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

At least van der Bellen has demonstrated many times now that the president is absolutely crucial in keeping democracy working.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 20 hours ago

True. He also demonstrated how absolutely radicalised the FPΓ– are, by assigning them the contract to form a government and then having them fail because they refuse to compromise with anyone.

[–] [email protected] 131 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (2 children)

It's a bit sad that most of the wins we can celebrate recently are basically "narrowly avoiding a far-right triumph" but hey, I'll take it. Happy for Austria. Hope the new government can show competent leadership.

[–] [email protected] 65 points 1 day ago (2 children)

I’m afraid those centrist governments are just kicking can down the road and we’ll be getting less lucky as time goes on.

[–] [email protected] 36 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Yep. Case in point: America.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 1 day ago (2 children)

learn from us. enforce consequences on the political corruption of nazis

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

But that would mean that the not-quite-fascist conservative establishment would also face consequences for corruption, and we can't have that because the not-quite-fascist conservative establishment are the good guys that protect you from evil communists, you know?

(/s, just in case)

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 day ago

i find it frustrating how unaware the centrists are that they're absolutely going up against the wall, just like the rest of us. but they'd rather have cushy jobs than not get executed

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 day ago (2 children)

The issue is not that there are no people who know what the right thing to do would be. It's that those people don't end up in powerful-enough positions.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

That's clearly by design, too 😐 who could possibly give up all the time and money and has the amount of influence and power to get there in the first place? All the real money is centralized in the wrong hands at this point, and they will gladly gatekeep

[–] SplashJackson 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

How powerful of a position do you need to posses in order to start a riot?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago

I was referring to people who, from their position would be able to take formal action.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 day ago

In Germany, the resurgence of Die Linke (a hard-left party who reject the prevailing wisdom that there is organic demand for far-right policies and the way to beat the fash is by stealing their policies and presenting them in a more acceptable form) at a time when the Social Democrats (who did exactly that) lost votes may be a beacon of hope.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 day ago

Sobs in Netherlands. Thanks YesilgΓΆz

[–] [email protected] 47 points 1 day ago (4 children)

Like for any country with a "cordon sanitaire" as we call it in Belgium, this coalition now needs to address the fundamental reason motivating people to vote for the far right. If they fail to do so, the far right will gain points elections after elections until they reach the outright majority.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

The problem is social media. It amplifies certain problems so they look worse than they seem and also manufacturers ones that don't exist at all all to promote far right.

And this isn't a coincidence. This is purposefully astroturfed by Russia. Notice that most of far right groups (all?) strangely are pro Russia.

And yes, there are actual issues they exploit, but they blame them on immigrants, LGBT, woke, whatever when the real cause why it is getting worse is corruption and disappearance of a middle class.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 21 hours ago

As an Austrian I completely agree with you... but at the same time a sad chuckle escaped my throat.

We all know they won't.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 day ago (4 children)

People keep saying this but never provide a solution. Restricting immigration does not work. Adopting far right policies does not work. The far right gets stronger because of misinformation, social media and the ongoing economic downturn in western nations. This is not something that can be fixed by one government alone.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 20 hours ago

Those don't work because these issues are not the actual reasons for far right votes. Wealth inequality is. Your kids not having it better than you anymore is. Rising cost of living and stagnating wages are. Right wing voters see these issues and blame them on immigrants, but fixing them with strong progressive policies and actually improving living situations for the majority would go a long way in reducing those numbers.

It's just that conservatives don't want to do that because it would cost their donors money.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 day ago

You pivot left. You give in to the left. You become leftist. Liberalism cannot cope with fascism.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 day ago (1 children)

People lay blame on immigrants but the issues they talk about are very much real. The reason coalitions like this fail is because the center and conservative parts of them block any change that would actually address the root causes.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago

Ah yes, the very real and common problem of checks notes trans people in sports/bathrooms/existing in general

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Not a policymaker but I'd guess the cause of the far right appeal is linked to

  • Growing inequalities, enrichment of the richest, and trickle up
  • Unchecked power of big tech and media companies like GAFAM, X, and traditional media being centralized in ownership.

Both can be tackled by regulations at the EU level.

Edit: actually, centralization/monopolization seems on the rise, no? Be it tech, media, food, transportation...

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Article about how the Danish left appeased the far right https://t.co/stX8vPkgn4