Taking a Closer Look at France's Far Right National Rally

   

The snap election that French President Macron called for are just about here. He called it because of the threat of the rise of the extreme right in France. Indeed, it used to be known as the Front National under founder Jean-Marie Le Pen. But his extremism, and what many took to be blatantly racist and/or xenophobic comments kept many people at arm's length. 

Here is how it was described by Kim Willsher in a recent Guardian article (see link below):

After Le Pen took over the FN she set about cleaning up its image, at the time inextricably linked to the xenophobic, shaven-headed neo-Nazi thugs who supported her father. Members were expelled for racist and antisemitic remarks or for defending Philippe Pétain, the head of France’s Nazi-collaborating Vichy government in the 1940s. In 2015, after several warnings about his behaviour, she expelled her own father. 

However, the movement's image softened a bit for better public consumption when his daughter, Marine Le Pen, took over. She kicked her father out, and the party's new, more politically correct image, if you will, helped it gain more traction than it had under her father. The party was renamed the Front Rassemblement (National Rally). Now, they have a bright young star whose apparent good looks (he is likened to a movie star) are helping to draw still more supporters.  

In time, the following of this political movement has just continued to grow, until it is now one of the largest and most influential political parties in France. And the upward surge of momentum also seems to be on the side of this party. They just always seem to gain from where they were previously with each new election. 

How much has the party surged over time? Again, we go back to Willsher's article in The Guardian:

Critics said the laundering operation was more about style than substance, but it worked. In 2012, Le Pen polled 17.9% of votes in the first round of the presidential election. In 2017 that rose to 21.3%, and in 2022 to 23.15%. In 2014, the RN’s list of candidates, headed by Bardella, won the European elections in France, with 24.9% of the vote, sending 25 representatives to the European parliament.

So it feels like France is at an important crossroads, politically. That feels true for all of Europe, really. But perhaps it is especially true for France. After all, this is a major European nation, second in terms of population among EU members to Germany. It is also the largest nation in terms of size in Western Europe, and it borders many other big nations, including Germany, Spain, and Italy. In short, what happens in France is bound not only to be noticed, but to have an effect on the rest of Europe. 

Yet that is not the full story. After all, it stands to reason that if France could influence the politics in other European countries, than the reverse is also true. And the rise of fascism and intolerance, and a wave of antidemocratic spirit, has undeniably been on the rise in Europe, and for a long time, at that. Remember how the far-right Jörg Haider got to be part of the government of Austria in 2000, marking what was then the most extreme, far-right government in Europe since the end of World War II? A few years later, the Golden Dawn movement in Greece got enough representation in Parliament to be the third biggest political party in that country. More recently, the longstanding far-right political movement of Geert Wilders and his "Party for Freedom" in Netherlands just scored huge gains across the nation just last year. And while Viktor Orban's created a political trend in Hungary which he himself has a difficult time describing, the themes of intolerance for minority rights and the deterioration of democracy in that country are clear enough to recognize. They are also consistent with the deterioration of democratic government in Europe, to the point where many experts no longer even view Hungary as a democratic nation at all anymore.

In a recent BBC article that I feel is absolutely worth looking at and comes highly recommend (see link below), there is a focus on Viktor Orban and the troubling situation in Hungary which seems like a warning to the rest of Europe and the world, Orban's political transformation from seeming freedom fighter back in the early days of the post-Cold War emergence of a free Hungary, into the exact opposite these days:

Political scientist Zoltan Lakner believes Viktor Orban shifted ideology during the second half of the 1990s. As Hungary was governed by a liberal-socialist coalition, he realised "to gain political success he had to turn his back on liberalism and transform his party into a nationalist, anti-liberal political force".

Orban himself was described in this same article in what I feel is an illuminating, yet simultaneously alarming, manner:

Veteran Hungarian-born journalist Paul Lendvai sees a staggering reversal in Viktor Orban - "from one of the most promising defenders of Hungarian democracy into the chief author of its demise".

That, of course, is not the full story. After all, far-right wing parties and individuals have been consistently making inroads into mainstream politics for quite a long time now. Italy's current Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has shown fascist leanings in her practices. Nor does it seem to really bother her that some of her supporters have, at times, done fascist salutes and shouted "Sieg Heil," as Nazis under Hitler once did. That, of course, is entirely in keeping with the seeming revival of the Mussolini family. Yes, Benito Mussolini's family. Mussolini was for along time a shameful name, and anyone associated with him or his political leanings or styles was once automatically discredited and dismissed. Nowadays, things are very different. Benito's granddaughter is gaining traction politically, as well. Clearly, fascism is something on the rise in Italy, and has been for years. 

So it is not just the political rise of far right extremists in France which is troubling. This is a trend all across Europe. But the situation in France is growing ever more serious with each election. Much like here in the United States, it feels like many in Europe just are losing faith in democracy and the economic realities that we are living under. And increasingly, they are turning to more severe extremes as a seeming solution, even though this itself is creating more tensions with, and problems for, much of the rest of the society. Look at the rise of Trumpism in the United States. France clearly is not immune from this. Which is why Macron's call for snap elections is a political risk, because it is not unthinkable that he could, in fact, be helping the far right gain still more ground in France. 

France’s far-right National Rally elects new president to replace Le Pen by Kim Willsher in Paris, Sat 5 Nov 2022:

This article is more than 1 year old Jordan Bardella, 27, who joined the party as a teenager and is a protege of Marine Le Pen, replaces her as leader 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/nov/05/frances-far-right-party-rn-elects-new-president-to-replace-le-pen

Who is Viktor Orban, Hungarian PM with 14-year grip on power? 13 February 2024 By Paul Kirby & Budapest correspondent Nick Thorpe, 

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-67832416