EU President issues stark warning against nationalism

[pampango]

Source: EU Observer

EU Council President Herman Van Rompuy has issued a stark warning against growing nationalism, populism and anti-democratic forces across the EU, suggesting that the threat to peace in Europe remains a key issue.

The president was speaking in the German capital on the Schicksalstag, or 'fateful day,' the anniversary of five pivotal events in the nation's history: the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the fall of the monarchy in 1918, but also the Beer Hall Putsch in 1923, Kristallnacht in 1938 and the execution of a leader of the 1848 revolutions in the German states.

Quoting wartime US president Franklin Roosevelt, he said that the "biggest enemy of Europe today is fear," and that this ultimately could lead to war.

"Fear leads to egoism, egoism leads to nationalism, and nationalism leads to war," he said. "Today's nationalism is often not a positive feeling of pride of one's own identity, but a negative feeling of apprehension of the others. Fear of 'enemies' within our borders and beyond our borders."

"To those who say that war is so far away in our past that peace cannot be a key issue in Europe anymore, that it does not appeal to the younger generations, I answer: just go out there and ask the people there! And ask the young ones too!"

Read more: http://euobserver.com/?aid=31240

---

The European nationalist anti-democratic forces that the EU president refers to are far-right parties that have gained in popularity in the past few years.

http://www.nationalpolicyinstitute.org/2009/10/27/european-nationalist-parties-form-alliance/

Five European nationalist parties are forming an alliance in opposition to the European Union and globalization, officials said Saturday.

Hungary’s Jobbik, France’s National Front, Italy’s Three-Color Flame, Sweden’s National Democrats and Belgium’s National Front formed the Alliance of European National Movements, saying the British National Party, Austria’s Freedom Party as well as groups from Spain and Portugal would join them soon.

Nationalist parties are usually opposed to immigration and increased rights for homosexuals, say globalization will homogenize independent cultures and don’t want supranational bodies like the European Union to limit the rights of individual countries.

“This is an important step … for the renaissance of sovereign nations,” Marc Abramsson, president of Sweden’s National Democrats, said about the alliance. “It is a struggle for our own culture and heritage.” “Globalists would like to have one world, with one language and one culture. Their interest is to get money from selling the same products all over the world,” Abramsson said.

[and-justice-for-all]

1. So 'Teahadist' are a global threat....

wonderful. In other words, Nazism is not dead, but alive and thriving around the world.

[pampango]

2. Indeed, "Nazism is not dead". Immigrants, gays and the Roma seem to have replaced Jews

(though these parties are anti-Semitic, too) as the "others" that these nationalist parties like to blame for all their countries' problems. (Of course, the "original" Nazis exterminated gays and Roma in addition to Jews.)

It is instructive to see how much our right wing ("Teahadist") tea party has in common with the nationalist parties in Europe. They all "want their country back" from immigrants, gays, Roma (Gypsies) - indeed all kinds of minorities.