Christchurch

Mar 26, 2019 07:07

Apparently the Christchurch killer was so enamoured with our lokal Nazis from Generation Identity in Austria that he donated them a large sum of money.

That is Austria in 2019.

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benicek March 26 2019, 07:23:32 UTC

If only liberals cared so much about their cause in other states.

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flake_sake March 26 2019, 07:35:14 UTC
No one in this story is a liberal.

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benicek March 26 2019, 07:39:17 UTC
That’s my point.

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flake_sake March 26 2019, 07:43:45 UTC
Then why write "in other states"?

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benicek March 26 2019, 16:19:39 UTC
Sorry, I'm not explaining myself very well. I mean liberal political parties tend to have cordial relations with each other across borders but they respect national sovereignty. To act directly in the political culture of another democratic state isn't done. It has a taint of Stalinism. The far right, however, has no such scruples, which seems ironic when you consider their inward-looking ideology, but makes more sense when you look at the influence of ideologues like Jean-François Thiriart. Now with the internet they are collaborating merrily. Where is the equivalent pan-European liberal movement? We need one.

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flake_sake March 26 2019, 16:43:29 UTC
Ah, thank you for explaining.

Fascism doesn't have much history with respecting the sovereignty of other countries. And if you think back to WWII the different fascists were also working in collaboration. The new (if you want to call it that, it's actually only the haircut that is new) pan-European white supremacy movement basically builds on that.

I think there are other pan_European movements, like the current climate protection movement, the movement to protect the open internet and also anti-fascist networks.

But I assume, that is not what you mean talk about liberalism?

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benicek March 26 2019, 16:52:09 UTC
It collaborates in niche groups but not much, and also it is often bitterly divided between left and centrist ideologies. Macron defeated Le Pen but it seems petrol taxes are more important and the French left despise him.

Oddly the best thing about Brexit in the UK has been the slow crystallisation of a large anti-Brexit liberal consensus across party lines. We'll see how that develops.

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flake_sake March 26 2019, 21:38:34 UTC
I think Generation Identity is actually a much smaller group than say the current climate activist coalition.

In my opinion one of the largest problems is conservatives (also sometimes flattering themselves as centrist) enabling downright neonazis. In Austria they formed a government with them and gave them authority over everybody who gets a gun in this country. The British Tories enabled the Brexit campaign. The European conservatives are not even able to exclude Orban.

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benicek March 26 2019, 21:56:27 UTC
I agree. Cowardly but also cynically oportunistic pandering to nationalism to shore up political power. The UK Conservatives here have long played on xenophobia while keeping the door wide open to tax-phobic capital and dirty money from every corner of the world. Ironically the Brexit referendum came about because the nationalists had started to threaten this status quo and it was intended as a tactic to neutralise them with an easy win. They are being eaten by their own dog.

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flake_sake March 26 2019, 22:25:37 UTC
Yep, and of course it was the same with the republican party in the US accepting more and more lunacy to expand their fringe until it overtook them and gave them Trump.

But since it keeps them in power they keep doing it in one country after the other.

I don't really know what would need to happen for people to abbandon them. And I have to admit that I am not a very good indicator of the "people's will". Values I find attractive in a party only seem to attract a tiny minority.

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