> Things have changed since the 1930s. The modern far right's
> main targets in Europe are immigrants (not so much African as
> Middle- Eastern), neither Jews nor homosexuals. The cutting
> edge of the modern right are pro-gay, and the anti-immigrant
> discourse is presented as defense of Europe's Enlightenment
> from the sexist and homophobic Muslims who don't assimilate
> and yet tax the welfare state. In this context, occasional
> prosecutions of pathetic anti- Semites like Ernst Zundel (who
> denies the Holocaust _and_ believes in
> _UFOs_!!!) are solely for the purpose of providing the
> state's "anti- fascist credibility." Pym Fortuyn is the type
> of the modern far right vanguard who have helped to transform
> politics.
I think the political landscape has changed so much that the old right-left categories do not fit anymore. Most of new European parties embrace positions that used to belong to both end of the right-left spectrum. In the old country they even invented a term for it "Radish Left - outside red, inside white" (the colors represent the division in Russia during the Civil War). This was also the essence of Clinton's innovation on this side of the pond, known as "triangulation" - which took the US political establishment by surprise. It seems, however, that the Reupgs quickly got the drift and out-triangulated the triangulator.
The bottom line is, however, where does that leave us. Quite honestly, I think that the left needs to re-invent itself in this new "triangular" world, sacrifice some of its holy cows, develop an entirely new way of framing the issues that is relevant to modern political realities. Otherwise, we face political extinction, like dinosaurs.
Wojtek