The boots in our streets
Two elections ago, a nationalist party made it into our Parliament. They differ a bit from many other nationalist parties, as those often grow out of populist parties resisting taxes and state interference. Ours, however, grew straight out of the old neo-Nazi groups - they have just stopped wearing the uniforms. And 13% voted for them in the latest election. The public debate suffers from a few oddities concerning this party; foremost, the idea that they are democratic.
This is sometimes argued as proven by the fact that they were democratically elected, and that it is therefore somehow either incorrect or bad manners to say that they are not democratic. The precise logic escapes me. Furthermore, it is argued that their party programme is not overtly racist. I beg to differ - any party programme talking of "inborn essence" is overtly racist - but also, one needs to take into account what their elected politicians say and do, and what bills they put before Parliament. Once that is done, one can see that the racist agenda is present and accounted for.
It is also sometimes said that they aim at getting power through elections, and thus are not undemocratic. Surely the text for that is what they expect to do with the power once they have it? Reasonably prominent members, as in MPs, have stated that they will eventually 'deal with the press.' They aim at becoming the only party by having everyone vote for them, and are clearly incapable of seeing that a nation wwith only one party is a nation where politics is dead.
The members and followers of this party are fond of declaring that they will 'deal with' all kinds of people once they are in power. As a left-wing feminist who is active in the union, if I'm not one of the ones 'dealt with' it will be due to my not being particularly important. The latest move is the forming of vigilante teams who want to 'end crime by immigrants' by patrolling the streets - and while they are not explicitly associated with this party, it's clear that the rise of a nationalist party in Parliament has encouraged a lot of even more extreme groups to come out to play.
The solution of a lot of other political parties has been to tack themselves onto the nationalist agenda, by limiting immigration and talking about refugees as a problem, a horde, a great wave - not as people trying to escape a war zone. This is not the time for underhandedly trying to sell xenophobia as a politically viable standpoint. This is a time for resisting the thugs in our streets, the thugs in our Parliament, and the thugs inside ourselves.
This is sometimes argued as proven by the fact that they were democratically elected, and that it is therefore somehow either incorrect or bad manners to say that they are not democratic. The precise logic escapes me. Furthermore, it is argued that their party programme is not overtly racist. I beg to differ - any party programme talking of "inborn essence" is overtly racist - but also, one needs to take into account what their elected politicians say and do, and what bills they put before Parliament. Once that is done, one can see that the racist agenda is present and accounted for.
It is also sometimes said that they aim at getting power through elections, and thus are not undemocratic. Surely the text for that is what they expect to do with the power once they have it? Reasonably prominent members, as in MPs, have stated that they will eventually 'deal with the press.' They aim at becoming the only party by having everyone vote for them, and are clearly incapable of seeing that a nation wwith only one party is a nation where politics is dead.
The members and followers of this party are fond of declaring that they will 'deal with' all kinds of people once they are in power. As a left-wing feminist who is active in the union, if I'm not one of the ones 'dealt with' it will be due to my not being particularly important. The latest move is the forming of vigilante teams who want to 'end crime by immigrants' by patrolling the streets - and while they are not explicitly associated with this party, it's clear that the rise of a nationalist party in Parliament has encouraged a lot of even more extreme groups to come out to play.
The solution of a lot of other political parties has been to tack themselves onto the nationalist agenda, by limiting immigration and talking about refugees as a problem, a horde, a great wave - not as people trying to escape a war zone. This is not the time for underhandedly trying to sell xenophobia as a politically viable standpoint. This is a time for resisting the thugs in our streets, the thugs in our Parliament, and the thugs inside ourselves.