When I discuss democracy, and Russia comes up, not everybody is convinced that the elections themselves are rigged, but it is more about Putin not allowing the opposition to run. Their representatives are often arrested for tax crimes or whatever, just before people go to vote. In other words, it is a system where all the important institutions are in place with the parliament, the president, the parties, etc., but we have an outside influence manipulating the electoral playing field.
And now we have a similar situation in Europe, where the most popular presidential candidate Georgescu in Romania is jailed for right-wing extremism, and Le Pen in France is not allowed to stand in the elections on charges of economic crime, and AfD in Germany is classified as right-wing extremist and may not be allowed to stand either.
If you remember, this has happened before, as the Vlaams Blok party in Belgium was banned back in 2004, on charges of right-wing extremism. They were best known for wanting to split up Belgium and leave the French-speaking part, as well as opposing immigration.
The EU has long operated under similar principles, and accusations of racism seem to be an important part of the operation, with the ultimate aim of keeping the Union together.
I wonder what kind of racism they are really referring to, the kind that involves throwing Jewish children into gas chambers, or the kind that involves preventing one’s homeland from becoming Islamized?
Racist as racist? Whether they want to boil soap on people – or defend your borders and culture? Are they the same thing? At least that’s what our leaders would have us believe.
Socialist parties, on the other hand, are not treated in the same harsh way. There is always some sort of apologetic attitude towards them, even if they are revolutionary or anti-Semitic and spread their message openly. The left is good, regardless of their repeated historical mistakes.
What is also strange is that most of these right-wing parties that have been banned do not call themselves racist. Whereas the old gas chamber parties placed great value on being precisely racist, that was the whole point of their politics. No, today’s racist parties are supposedly racist, they want to fool us into thinking they are not racist, and then when we least expect it, they strike and become real racists, and start boiling soap by the minute. It is a kind of creeping racism, which may not exist right now, but which can be sensed and felt. And then, of course, it is best to ban them while there is time, so that they do not destroy our democracy, introduce bans on free speech, censorship – and perhaps start banning our parties?
