A few days ago we learned of the resignation of Finnish Minister Vilhelm Junnila, a member of the far-right Finns Party, which governs the Nordic country in a coalition with other right-wing parties. The reason was some humorous statements with Nazi and other racist undertones, which even mobilized several members of his own coalition against him. Nothing new so far, a…
A few days ago we learned of the resignation of Finnish Minister Vilhelm Junnila, a member of the far-right Finns Party, which governs the Nordic country in a coalition with other right-wing parties. The reason was some humorous statements with Nazi and other racist undertones, which even mobilized several members of his own coalition against him. Nothing new so far, another expression of the schizophrenia of this group of parties that collapse when they talk to their own parties and deny the image of normality that they try to project when integrating into the institutions. Is it Dr. Strangelove Syndrome, portrayed so well by Peter Sellers in Kubrick’s unforgettable film “Red Telephone”? We fly to Moscow, the former Nazi who enters US service during the Cold War and is forced to constantly clutch his arm to suppress an automatic Nazi salute.
I fear that there are many crypto strangers in European law firms; the reason for the normalization in Europe and apparently here too is less understandable. This is the big question that concerns political scientists and to which we have not yet found a convincing answer. The pragmatic answer is to point out that they have a large handful of votes and that democratic processes and the interests and machinations of the various political forces will do the rest. Yes, okay, but the secret lies precisely in this: why are they elected? If the cause were rampant neoliberalism and inequality, it would be logical that they would do it to the left-wing parties, and not to those who do not show hatred against capitalism, even though it is directed primarily against the nation-state. It is globalization, say others, including inevitable migrations, that has given rise to crazy theories about the “replacement” of native populations. And the exclusive focus on cultural factors is not entirely convincing either, this hypothesis of cultural backlash, the conflict between the progressive moral values of the elites and the subsequent conservative reaction of the “good people” that Vox insists on so much.
As almost always, there is a bit of everything. It can be traced back to the formula that we feel bad about our lives and end up voting for the extreme right, almost like a mechanical reaction to a diffuse malaise. But don’t lose sight of another reason: the new communication strategies. Watch another Adam McKay movie “Don’t Look Up” on Netflix that denies that a meteorite will hit the Earth even if it is clearly visible in the night sky. Not looking into the future would be the ultra currency today, what is repeated again and again in their echo chambers is looking into the past. The future lies in climate change, ethnic diversity and lifestyle pluralism, and the need to resort to global governance mechanisms, all of which they reject. The more they grow, the less our ability to deal with them diminishes.
