Growing up, most of us rely on the comforting belief that our parents always know best, that they will always act responsibly, and will be there to take care of any difficult situation. The moment you realise your parents are fallible and – just like you – are capable of making mistakes, is one of the most disconcerting in any child’s formative years.
As adults, many of us hold onto similar, comforting notions. In my own case it was a belief that there would always be a system in place to prevent any serious threat to liberal democracy. I am part of the generation that grew up believing the world had seen in the 1930s and 1940s how low humanity could sink, and that cleverer people than me – what is now called ‘the establishment’ – would always find ways to stop it happening again.
2016 in general, and the election of Donald Trump in particular, prove that I was wrong and that no such safeguards exist. The shock is not just that bad things have happened, but that the media and many liberal-minded people, rather than being there to protect us, seem desperate to minimise the potential consequences: that maybe Brexit will not be so bad after all, that maybe Trump will moderate his views and his behaviour once in office.
Our challenge now as progressives is to recognise that there is no paternalistic system waiting in the wings to save us; that the fate of our civilised society lies in our own hands; and that we must resist at every turn the normalisation of extremism.
The next profound threat to our way of life comes in next year’s French presidential elections. The French Front National are emboldened by what they see as a break-down in the liberal consensus that has governed for so long. They exploit the legitimate fears and concerns of many, and amplify the prejudices of others. They have deep antisemitic and Islamaphobic roots, and are committed to the total destruction of the European Union.
The Front National have celebrated Trump/Brexit as part of a ‘new world’ being created. Well, we have seen their world before – our grandparents defeated it and now we must act to stop it gaining a foothold again.
The first step is to challenge the complacency that seeks to deny the significance of the threat. Do not believe that Marine Le Pen is unelectable, or that the French electoral system will prevent it. We have heard ‘it can’t happen’ too many times this year already. The reality is several credible pathways exist for her to take power.
In due course, it will be vital for us to get active. Everyone who did whatever they could to campaign for Hillary Clinton – and everyone else who did not have the opportunity – must do the same in the fight against Le Pen. Whatever it is our French brothers and sisters deem appropriate for us to do (assuming door-knocking is linguistically out of the question for most of us) we must do. In the coming weeks and months, I and others with links to our sister parties across Europe will provide concrete suggestions and actions to channel this energy and commitment.
In the meantime, we must mobilise in the best traditions of Labour party rebuttal. First, we must call out every use of language designed to normalise the Front National as anything other than a fascist party. Their leader might be invited onto the BBC, but we cannot concede to seemingly innocuous descriptions such as ‘populist’ or ‘alt-right’ to describe what is blatantly extremism. Second, no racist, misogynistic, homophobic or any other discriminatory statement can go unchallenged. Call them out always and wherever they occur, even in private. Third, no lie must go uncorrected: no actually, immigrants do not get free houses and instant jobs when they arrive; no, French culture is not being systematically destroyed from within.
Mainstream politics is showing itself incapable of rising to the threat to our way of life. Many in Westminster and the media are underestimating the challenge and becoming complacent about things that just a few months ago would have given us sleepless nights. Indeed, Britain’s own foreign secretary is said to be relaxed about the return of the death penalty in Turkey, or the appointment of a white supremacist as a White House adviser.
Let us come together and say this far and no further. Let us all get out there and stop Le Pen!
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Seb Dance is a member of the European parliament. He tweets at @SebDance
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Whilst the organisation is deeply unpleasant and no doubt has fascists amongst its members, constantly referring to the whole of this ultra right organisation as if it is a mimic of the 1930’s nazis, just devalues the language and gets very waring for those who just do not get this idea. It is a particularly disturbing suggestion that Brits. should start to have a role in the French elections. The French are unlikely to need lessons from the Brits as to what constitutes nazism.
If the British Labour party had used in influence amongst the French socialist Party by warning of the fault lines of Blairism maybe Holland would not be such a rejectionist state as he now is.
What will you do when the Pope denounces Le Pen, as he did Trump? When Hollande says that Le Pen would be unfit for office, as Obama did for Trump? These people illustrate the stage of “post-truth” against which nothing seems to prevail. I wish France well in its election but it is best to believe that if Le Pen does not become President next year it will be by the narrowest of margins and they will be in for “one more push” and the entire system of liberal, progressive, democratic politics is under threat.