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From http://www.foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.php?story_id=4940
Five extremist parties that, whether it's thanks to the financial crisis or security fears, are quickly finding their way into the mainstream.
BRITISH NATIONAL PARTY
Country: Britain
Leader: Nick Griffin
On the rise: Founded in 1982, British National Party (BNP) restricts its membership to whites only, actively campaigns against racial integration, and advocates the repatriation of nonwhites living in Britain. The party's founder, John Tyndall, flaunted his admiration for Nazi ideology, but under current leader Nick Griffin, the BNP has made a bid for respectability, severing its ties with neo-Nazi groups and even reaching out to Jewish supporters. Griffin hasn't softened too much though. He has been indicted for inciting racial hatred on several occasions, called the Holocaust a hoax, and said that "nonwhites have no place here at all and [we] will not rest until every last one has left our land."
The BNP is hoping to exploit the recent scandal over Labour and Conservative MPs' expense reports in upcoming local and European elections. The BNP needs only 8 percent support in some friendly districts to win seats in the European Parliament. Worried that the recent uptick in support for the party could carry over into next year's British parliamentary elections, Britain's major parties have held joint strategy meetings to plan how to keep the BNP out of government.
SERGEI SUPINSKY/AFP/Getty Images
FREEDOM PARTY
Country: Ukraine
Leader: Oleh Tyahnybok
On the rise: The Freedom party stunned observers in March by taking 50 of the 120 assembly seats in a local election in the Ternopil region, traditionally a stronghold of the country's pro-Western Orange Revolution. Formerly known as the Social Nationalist Party, Freedom was once a member of President Viktor Yushchenko's anti-Russian coalition, but was expelled in 2004 after party leader Oleh Tyahnybok gave a speech calling for the overthrow of the "Muscovite-Jewish mafia that runs Ukraine today." Tyahnybok retorted that his expulsion was done "in accordance with the Talmudic principle."
Tyahnybok, who is contesting the upcoming presidential election against Yushchenko and Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, has called for the expulsion of Jews and Russians from Ukraine and advocates restoring the Soviet practice of marking ethnic background on Ukrainian passports. But the growing popularity of the Freedom party probably has more to do with widespread disappointment with Ukraine's mainstream parties than with enthusiasm for anti-Semitism. The country's government is mired in political deadlock and has been largely unable to address Ukraine's worsening financial crisis and growing unemployment.
MARCEL ANTONISSE/AFP/Getty Images
PARTY FOR FREEDOM
Country: Netherlands
Leader: Geert Wilders
On the rise: Firebrand Dutch politician Geert Wilders is best known outside the Netherlands for his controversial short film Fitna, which depicts Islam as a religion that encourages violence, and for being banned from entering Britain in February. But all the international controversy has only boosted the popularity of Wilders's Party for Freedom. The party, which holds nine seats in the Netherland's lower house of parliament, enjoys a narrow lead in opinion polls over the Netherlands' ruling Christian Democratic party and is widely expected to pick up seats in next month's European parliamentary elections.
The Freedom Party's platform combines free market economic principles and libertarian social views with a strong opposition to immigration from the Middle East and outspoken opposition to the alleged "Islamification of Europe." Most controversially, the party has called for a complete moratorium on immigration from Islamic countries and has sought to classify the Koran as hate speech. Due to the high number of death threats he regularly receives, Wilders lives under round-the-clock police protection but shows no signs of shying away from the limelight. He has begun work on a sequel to Fitna highlighting the dangers of Islamification in Europe and the United States.
Lior Mizrahi/Getty Images
YISRAEL BEITEINU
Country: Israel
Leader: Avigdor Lieberman
On the rise: Few parties have moved from the fringe to positions of national influence quite as quickly as the Israeli nationalist party Yisrael Beiteinu. Founded by Moldovan-born politician Avigdor Lieberman in 1999, Beiteinu has its base in Israel's rapidly expanding community of immigrants from the former Soviet Union. The party opposes talks with Palestinian leaders and favors requiring Israeli Arabs to take a loyalty oath to the Israeli state. Lieberman's plan to cede Arab-populated areas of Israel to the Palestinians in exchange for Israeli settlements in a "population swap" has drawn criticism from both Israeli Arabs and Jewish right-wingers alike.
Yisrael Beiteinu was once thought of as a fringe movement, but Hamas rocket attacks on southern Israel have changed the country's political calculus. The party won 12 percent of the vote in this year's legislative elections, earning the notoriously undiplomatic Lieberman the post of foreign minister in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government. While in power, Yisrael Beiteinu has continued to court controversy. It recently proposed banning the commemoration of the Palestinian exodus, or "Nakba," and jailing those who take part in demonstrations on its anniversary. Lieberman is also under investigation on bribery charges, but foreign leaders appear resigned to living with him. Despite earlier threats to shun him over past anti-Egyptian comments, Egypt's government decided this month to invite him to Cairo for talks.
Flickr user eTombotron
COMMUNIST PARTY
Country: Japan
Leader: Kazuo Ishii
On the rise: The Japanese Communist Party (JCP) was founded in 1922 and flourished in the lean years after World War II. But with the fall of the Berlin Wall, the JCP's once formidable organization, with its traditional Leninist ideology, had begun to look like a relic.
Now, with Japan's economy in shambles and its political system paralyzed, the Communists are pushing their agenda to a whole new generation of would-be comrades, and it seems to be catching on. More than 14,000 people have joined the party since the beginning of 2008, a quarter of them under age 30. The revolution is being webcast as well, with clips of speeches by party leader Kazuo Ishii making the rounds on YouTube. A manga version of Das Kapital has also been selling like hot red-bean cakes.
Ishii's change in emphasis away from revolutionary change toward working within Japan's democratic institutions to achieve communist reforms has also helped, but the party hasn't gone mainstream yet. Party leaders insist they will not join a coalition with any capitalist opposition party, even if doing so would mean turning the hated ruling Liberal Democratic Party out of office.
Five extremist parties that, whether it's thanks to the financial crisis or security fears, are quickly finding their way into the mainstream.
BRITISH NATIONAL PARTY
Country: Britain
Leader: Nick Griffin
On the rise: Founded in 1982, British National Party (BNP) restricts its membership to whites only, actively campaigns against racial integration, and advocates the repatriation of nonwhites living in Britain. The party's founder, John Tyndall, flaunted his admiration for Nazi ideology, but under current leader Nick Griffin, the BNP has made a bid for respectability, severing its ties with neo-Nazi groups and even reaching out to Jewish supporters. Griffin hasn't softened too much though. He has been indicted for inciting racial hatred on several occasions, called the Holocaust a hoax, and said that "nonwhites have no place here at all and [we] will not rest until every last one has left our land."
The BNP is hoping to exploit the recent scandal over Labour and Conservative MPs' expense reports in upcoming local and European elections. The BNP needs only 8 percent support in some friendly districts to win seats in the European Parliament. Worried that the recent uptick in support for the party could carry over into next year's British parliamentary elections, Britain's major parties have held joint strategy meetings to plan how to keep the BNP out of government.
SERGEI SUPINSKY/AFP/Getty Images
FREEDOM PARTY
Country: Ukraine
Leader: Oleh Tyahnybok
On the rise: The Freedom party stunned observers in March by taking 50 of the 120 assembly seats in a local election in the Ternopil region, traditionally a stronghold of the country's pro-Western Orange Revolution. Formerly known as the Social Nationalist Party, Freedom was once a member of President Viktor Yushchenko's anti-Russian coalition, but was expelled in 2004 after party leader Oleh Tyahnybok gave a speech calling for the overthrow of the "Muscovite-Jewish mafia that runs Ukraine today." Tyahnybok retorted that his expulsion was done "in accordance with the Talmudic principle."
Tyahnybok, who is contesting the upcoming presidential election against Yushchenko and Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, has called for the expulsion of Jews and Russians from Ukraine and advocates restoring the Soviet practice of marking ethnic background on Ukrainian passports. But the growing popularity of the Freedom party probably has more to do with widespread disappointment with Ukraine's mainstream parties than with enthusiasm for anti-Semitism. The country's government is mired in political deadlock and has been largely unable to address Ukraine's worsening financial crisis and growing unemployment.
MARCEL ANTONISSE/AFP/Getty Images
PARTY FOR FREEDOM
Country: Netherlands
Leader: Geert Wilders
On the rise: Firebrand Dutch politician Geert Wilders is best known outside the Netherlands for his controversial short film Fitna, which depicts Islam as a religion that encourages violence, and for being banned from entering Britain in February. But all the international controversy has only boosted the popularity of Wilders's Party for Freedom. The party, which holds nine seats in the Netherland's lower house of parliament, enjoys a narrow lead in opinion polls over the Netherlands' ruling Christian Democratic party and is widely expected to pick up seats in next month's European parliamentary elections.
The Freedom Party's platform combines free market economic principles and libertarian social views with a strong opposition to immigration from the Middle East and outspoken opposition to the alleged "Islamification of Europe." Most controversially, the party has called for a complete moratorium on immigration from Islamic countries and has sought to classify the Koran as hate speech. Due to the high number of death threats he regularly receives, Wilders lives under round-the-clock police protection but shows no signs of shying away from the limelight. He has begun work on a sequel to Fitna highlighting the dangers of Islamification in Europe and the United States.
Lior Mizrahi/Getty Images
YISRAEL BEITEINU
Country: Israel
Leader: Avigdor Lieberman
On the rise: Few parties have moved from the fringe to positions of national influence quite as quickly as the Israeli nationalist party Yisrael Beiteinu. Founded by Moldovan-born politician Avigdor Lieberman in 1999, Beiteinu has its base in Israel's rapidly expanding community of immigrants from the former Soviet Union. The party opposes talks with Palestinian leaders and favors requiring Israeli Arabs to take a loyalty oath to the Israeli state. Lieberman's plan to cede Arab-populated areas of Israel to the Palestinians in exchange for Israeli settlements in a "population swap" has drawn criticism from both Israeli Arabs and Jewish right-wingers alike.
Yisrael Beiteinu was once thought of as a fringe movement, but Hamas rocket attacks on southern Israel have changed the country's political calculus. The party won 12 percent of the vote in this year's legislative elections, earning the notoriously undiplomatic Lieberman the post of foreign minister in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government. While in power, Yisrael Beiteinu has continued to court controversy. It recently proposed banning the commemoration of the Palestinian exodus, or "Nakba," and jailing those who take part in demonstrations on its anniversary. Lieberman is also under investigation on bribery charges, but foreign leaders appear resigned to living with him. Despite earlier threats to shun him over past anti-Egyptian comments, Egypt's government decided this month to invite him to Cairo for talks.
Flickr user eTombotron
COMMUNIST PARTY
Country: Japan
Leader: Kazuo Ishii
On the rise: The Japanese Communist Party (JCP) was founded in 1922 and flourished in the lean years after World War II. But with the fall of the Berlin Wall, the JCP's once formidable organization, with its traditional Leninist ideology, had begun to look like a relic.
Now, with Japan's economy in shambles and its political system paralyzed, the Communists are pushing their agenda to a whole new generation of would-be comrades, and it seems to be catching on. More than 14,000 people have joined the party since the beginning of 2008, a quarter of them under age 30. The revolution is being webcast as well, with clips of speeches by party leader Kazuo Ishii making the rounds on YouTube. A manga version of Das Kapital has also been selling like hot red-bean cakes.
Ishii's change in emphasis away from revolutionary change toward working within Japan's democratic institutions to achieve communist reforms has also helped, but the party hasn't gone mainstream yet. Party leaders insist they will not join a coalition with any capitalist opposition party, even if doing so would mean turning the hated ruling Liberal Democratic Party out of office.
