Should we be worried about right-wing populism?

Can I ask a question please?
In the 1930s in Germany, was there a sudden increase in immigrants? Either controlled or uncontrolled?

I am genuinely distressed by many of the comments I read dismissing right-wing populism.

Time for Godwin's Law...

I've mentioned before that I studied German at degree level. I also studied 1930s Germany for an OU history degree and have read many books, propaganda materials, speeches, etc from that period. Although the most extreme were in German, sadly there were many in Britain who supported the ideology or at least turned a blind eye. That mentality has not gone away.

Nationalism was seen as positive and we all know who the chosen scapegoats were. Nobody in the early 1930s knew what was about to happen. With very few alterations, what is being written and said now would fit very well into the 1930s.

I am frightened by what we're becoming and for the future of my children. This referendum (so-called) debate has certainly brought out the worst in people. Much of the reasoning is irrational. I wouldn't worry so much if there had been reasoned debate, but there hasn't. It has become more a reflection on how we see ourselves as a country and. from my perspective, it's ugly. I see the rise in anti-semiticism as a symptom of that.

What's happening in some other countries is even uglier and I fear it will end in tears or worse.

www.hopenothate.org.uk/ukip/farage-s-day-out-with-the-edl-4914

If you look at the HopenotHate website you will find lots of photos of Farage smiling and shaking hands with EDL members, among others.

Farage has also teamed himself up with Boris, who has said this on the EU.

' "Johnson, sacked by The Times in 1988 for fabricating a quote, made his mark in Brussels not through fair and balanced reporting, but through extreme euro-scepticism. He seized every chance to mock or denigrate the EU, filing stories that were undoubtedly colourful but also grotesquely exaggerated or completely untrue.

The Telegraph loved it. So did the Tory Right. Johnson later confessed: “Everything I wrote from Brussels, I found was sort of chucking these rocks over the garden wall and I listened to this amazing crash from the greenhouse next door over in England as everything I wrote from Brussels was having this amazing, explosive effect on the Tory party, and it really gave me this I suppose rather weird sense of power." '

I do not wish to go along with someone who thinks that the EU and the British response to it is one big power game.

I agree, daphnedill. I'm very afraid of what the future holds.

I wish I shared your optimism. I think we'll see the opposite. The haters' hand will have been strengthened.

It doesn't mean 'anything goes' nor is it the opposite.

I am now going to say something which I think you will not like.

If there is a Brexit win, I think hate stuff will calm down.

That is not at all to say I think that people should vote that for that reason, I am saying it as a statement.

With Brexit, uncontolled immigration becomes top of the political agenda. If people see that the Government is taking the issue seriously, they might calm down a bit.

I always have a problem with the word liberal. To me it tends to mean "anything goes". Which is opposite to what I think you mean? Or is it?

I think frankly that whatever political persuasion you are you should find it easy to resist and fight the sort of nationalistic narrative that is being pushed by some.

Without us all coming together this narrative will thrive by default and we will only have ourselves to blame if it is allowed to do so without challenge. So if you are Labour, Lib, or Conservative. In or out. Speak up against the division these narratives will cause. Britain, we like to think is a liberal minded country , known by the rest of the world for its open mindedness. To lose this would be an absolute tragedy.

If anyone wants to understand what I mean by a fascist narrative I can give several examples which have grown exponentially over the proceeding months.

Look at the poster launched by the leave campaign the morning or day before the killing of someone killed because she was diametrically opposed to that sort of filth.
That is what fascist propaganda looks like. Be under no illusion. There are miriad Nazi posters pre war with which you could switch the visual image and not notice.

This is what hate is about. This is what we must fight.

Yes dj I think he is right. It is exactly the same narrative being used as in Nazi Germany, but wrapped in different packaging. It never went away but found the climate too difficult until time and people's memories have allowed this narrative to find a foothold.
Finding a way to deal with these fascist narratives - because that is what they are -will be difficult - it will take strong leadership and an alternative strong message.

Granny2016
No they don't have the upper hand if you just ignore them

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/jun/17/mainstream-politicians-clueless-on-how-to-deal-with-migration-debate-says-jo-coxs-husband

I did not want to put this on the Jo Cox thread. But it needs to be read.

I have been on GN for just a few weeks.
I have noticed a handful of people who seem to delight in posting acerbic remarks in answer to others,presumably to maintain what they perceive to be the upper hand.
The political threads appear to be the worst.

I do not have to remember anything. All I have to do is right click on the link then copy and paste it into the box. No need to bother about anything else. No time wasted.

Not my problem, Elegran, it's yours.
You still would not have looked at the link whatever I had done, would you?
Have you looked at it?

Widgeon3

I think that is a post that would be perfectly acceptable on any forum in any country so I rather like your post.

'Je Suis Culturalist'

No doubt we will now be called racist/xenophobics by the same old same olds but I think that is a sentiment widely shared throughout the nations of the free thinking world. It doesn't require a definition for me.

This would have put up your reference with the title as the link, dj (but with double square brackets [[ and ]] - I have used single ones as that doesn't do it, but shows up as what I typed. You do have to remember to put one space between link and title.
[opendemocracy.net/westminster/andrea-mammone/european-democracies-and-far-right Does calling far right parties populist legitimise them?]

It comes out like this:-
Does calling far right parties populist legitimise them?
There - another link to the article.

practical hasn't so far told me off for replying to a general question instead of following one of her links, so I haven't needed to explain to her why.

Thanks for the lesson, Elegran. I'll try and remember next time.
If it wasn't for GN, I would never have thought of learning how to do links, so I am very grateful for any help I can get from here.
I do normally acknowledge my sources. However, I thought it was easy for anyone to find out. Gransnet tells me that links are converted automatically. I'll continue using their advice on that as I really do not need to use brackets to link.
Perhaps you should give practical a lesson, too, as she rarely admits to her sources.

A post needs to make sense in itself, without following a reference to somewhere else. A link is just a reference, as found at the foot of an article, to be followed if someone wants more information than is given.

If you just type a question without indicating that you are not posing it yourself, it is just that - a general question. You got MY answer to YOUR question.

With the minimal addition of inverted commas at each end, or putting it into italics, or putting the title after the link, with [[ ]] at each end of the whole thing, you would have shown that it was a quote from the article. That is not nit-picking, or the grammar police hounding you. It is common usage when quoting from someone else's work to add an acknowledgment.

If you'd looked at the link, you would have realised it was the title, and the question was answered in the link.

'Culturalist' is a new term to me. What does it mean?

What do you mean by Right wing? Once a so-called definition is used it is then regareded as understood and then used as a term of opprobrium Racist? I am a culturalist. if people accept my language and culture and do not try to change me in my own country, pay their taxes and abide by our rules here, why on earth should I wish to expel them?
.

I was answering the question in your post, which had no quotation marks round it.