Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

[Sheb]

Yeah, actually the EFA is supposed to be progressive, it's strange to see the NVA there.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

Marine Le Pen is representing the Non-Inscrips, most of whom were part of Identity, Tradition, Sovereignty before it collapsed. In other words, off-the-wall crazy, or your average US Republican. They're technically even more conservative and/or eurosceptic than normal, since none of them were willing to join AECR.

[10ebbor10]

Well, not really. The main point behind the EFA is to create a Europe of regions. Ie, further European integration, with potential of removing countries, but no centralization of powers. Instead, diversion of powers to the regions. Fits pretty well with the plans of the NVA, I think.

In the Brussels Declaration of 2000 the EFA codified its political principles. The EFA stands for "a Europe of Free Peoples based on the principle of subsidiarity, which believe in solidarity with each other and the peoples of the world."[11]
The EFA sees itself as an alliance of stateless peoples, which are striving towards independence, autonomy, recognition or that want a proper voice in Europe. It supports European integration on basis of the subsidiarity-principle. It believes however that Europe should move away from further centralisation. It works towards the formation of a Europe of Regions. It believes that regions should have more power in Europe, for instance participate in the Council of the European Union, when matters within their competence are discussed. It also wants to protect the linguistic and cultural diversity within the European Union.
The EFA stands on the left of the political spectrum, and in the Brussels declaration it emphasises the protection of human rights, sustainable development and social justice. In 2007 the EFA congress in Bilbao added several progressive principles to the declaration: including a commitment to fight against racism, antisemitism, discrimination, xenophobia and islamophobia and a commitment to get full citizenship for migrants, including voting rights.
EFA members are generally progressive, although there are some notable exceptions such as conservative New Flemish Alliance, Bavaria Party and Future of Åland, Christian-democratic ProDG and Slovene Union, centre-right Liga Veneta Repubblica, and far-right[12][13][14][15] South Tyrolean Freedom.

[wierd]

(I decided to see what was in here-- The political landscape of the EU is apparently beyond the scope of my feeble capacity to comprehend, given my limited experience. I fully comprehend nationalist crazy though. We have that in abundance here.)

[XXSockXX]

Actually a lot of European right-wing parties are relatively progressive. Like the PVV or the FPÖ, they combine liberalism with right-wing populism. And among the Greens there are some quite conservative ones too, especially the ones rooted in farmers movements.

But yeah, turnout is gonna be low and national politicians usually don't help much by just sending C-list faces as candidates.

In Germany there will be only a threshhold of 3% instead of the normal 5%, so I definitely expect to get the (eurosceptic) AfD in, maybe the Pirate Party too, if they can get their shit together.

[Sheb]

The EFA stands on the left of the political spectrum, and in the Brussels declaration it emphasises the protection of human rights, sustainable development and social justice. In 2007 the EFA congress in Bilbao added several progressive principles to the declaration: including a commitment to fight against racism, antisemitism, discrimination, xenophobia and islamophobia and a commitment to get full citizenship for migrants, including voting rights.

But this seems at odd. I guess they simply don't have any better party for pro-european nationalists.

By the way, did you know that out of 13 European parties in the EP, 5 were eurosceptic?

BTW, I love how we have both a European Free Alliance (Regionalists)  and a European Alliance for Freedom (Nationalists). I'm getting a People's Front of Judea feel :p.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

I await the day when a Pirate Party suddenly dominates an election, just for the panic value. Something with low turnout rate, like this, would be perfect for that. Just have an underground internet campaign, and then bam! Suddenly the President of the EC is a Pirate, with an opposition of far-right nationalists and greens. Then the social and christian democrats cry. Forever.

[10ebbor10]

Well, the EU elections still have an average turnout of about 40%, so it would be quite hard to get a majority, even using that.

[Max White]

I like Pirates, they are bros. Or at least the ones here are, not sure what it is like in the old country.
Question: Are there wikileaks parties over in Europe? And if so are they also batshit crazy?

[Sheb]

The turnout is not low enough (yet). It was 43% in 2009. That's higher than in the 2010 election in the US.

[Helgoland]

XXSockXX, yeah, I meant the Bundestag - got confused there for a sec...
And sure, you'll find some pretty conservative types in academia - my own dad's a good example; but they are generally at least partly progressive, mostly pragmatic (can't do science without a healthy dose of scepticism) and trained in abstract thought. I wouldn't want them as legislators, but they make for a pretty good check on them.

Really, not the Bundesrat? Well, doesn't matter...

Fuck, twice in a row... Bundesrat, obviously. In my defense, that was at - I think - 2am and I had just finished my exercises.

And while academics can be very weltfremd, they have the advantage of being trained in critical thinking, making them better at finding, evaluating and correcting mistakes. Ideology doesn't get you very far in academia...

Wouldn't be a very good name. Most of the Roman Empire is beyond Europe, we'd need to annex Turkey, North Africa, the Levant...

Sounds good to me

[XXSockXX]

I await the day when a Pirate Party suddenly dominates an election, just for the panic value.

The german Pirates did well in a few state elections a while ago, but it seems that was mostly protest votes. A year ago I would have guessed they had a chance to make it over the 5% into federal parliament, but since then they are mostly just infighting, so I'm not sure whether they'll make it into the EU parliament. With the 3% they might, but there's no guarantee.

Fuck, twice in a row... Bundesrat, obviously. In my defense, that was at - I think - 2am and I had just finished my exercises.

I thought so.  But wasn't that important anyway.

[Guardian G.I.]

So I take it that everybody is ready for the upcoming European Parliament elections, and the resultant inevitable rise to power of Glorious Comrade Overlord Alexis Tsipras? I suppose you all could always elect Marine Le Pen, but she's kind of, you know, slightly insane. How insane, you say? Vladimir Zhirinovsky, yes, the very same Vladimir Zhirinovsky who leads the Liberal (Far-Right) Democratic (Authoritarian) Party of Russia (Ultranationalist, Hyperexpansionist), wrote this blurb praising her and her crazy father. She even hates America, so the usual small amount of good that I can find in far-right Europeans isn't present here either!

In Russia, Zhirinovsky has always had the reputation of a clown. His antics are hilarious, but his chances of getting elected President of Russia are very low and have always been low. Zhirinovsky's LDPR party won the 1993 State Duma elections because a lot of people were fed up with Yeltsin and Gaidar's pro-American neoliberals and their shock therapy policies. It was basically protest voting. Plus, any other patriotic, anti-liberal and anti-Western political opposition was crushed earlier along with the Supreme Soviet of Russia. Even then, Zhirinovsky had no influence on Russian politics whatsoever - pro-American neoliberals still ruled the country. It's rather weird that American and European mass media got so scared of him in the 1990s.

Also, by Russian political standards, Marine Le Pen is a very moderate politician.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

In Russia, Zhirinovsky has always had the reputation of a clown.

More of a racist thug, from where I'm standing.

His antics are hilarious, but his chances of getting elected President of Russia are very low and have always been low.

Something I think we are all glad for. As much as I don't like Putin, he's no Zhirinovsky.

It's rather weird that American and European mass media got so scared of him in the 1990s.

It's not exactly a positive sign when somebody like him has any level of power. Golden Dawn isn't going to take over Greece, but that doesn't mean their electoral victories aren't shockingly bad.

Also, by Russian political standards, Marine Le Pen is a very moderate politician.

That is not a good thing.

[Guardian G.I.]

It's rather weird that American and European mass media got so scared of him in the 1990s.

It's not exactly a positive sign when somebody like him has any level of power. Golden Dawn isn't going to take over Greece, but that doesn't mean their electoral victories aren't shockingly bad.

He didn't have any actual political power. The Communist Party of Russia, which won the parliamentary election of 1995 also didn't have any power. The real power in the country was concentrated in the hands of a group of neoliberal politicians, their American advisors (yes, President Yeltsin had American advisors) and a group of oligarchs financially supporting the neoliberals. Russian anti-liberal patriotic publications had a very accurate term for them: "Semibankirschina" (Russian for "the rule of the seven bankers", an allegory on Semiboyarschina, the group of Russian noblemen which overthrew the Russian Tzar Vasili IV in 1610 and submitted Russia to Polish rule shortly after that).

Also, by Russian political standards, Marine Le Pen is a very moderate politician.

That is not a good thing.

To be honest, Marine Le Pen is much less radical than many Russian nationalists. She doesn't advocate for establishment of apartheid-style settlement policies and birth control for non-French, she doesn't advocate for the return of territories formerly ruled by France by using military force, she doesn't advocate for the purge of liberal activists, etc. Marine Le Pen doesn't fit in the Elite Liberal world of EU politics, so it's no wonder she's portrayed in EU media as someone who'll start rounding up immigrants in concentration camps when given the opportunity.