August EWJ 24 - Flipbook - Page 84
Netherlands, the People’s Party for Freedom, led by
Geert Wilders has the largest number of seats in the
Dutch Parliament with Wilders currently organising
a coalition government and gained 6 MEP seats in the
2024 EU parliament elections. In France the National
Rally Party led by Marine le Pen secured 30 MEPs in
the 2024 EU Parliament elections. This led French
President Macron to call a general election where at
the time of writing it appears National Rally are the
third largest political party with a total of 142 seats, an
increase of 53, in the French Parliament. A similar pattern occurred in Austria where the Freedom Party
gained a further 3 MEPs in the June 2024 EU,
totalling 6 MEP’s and in Germany where, having 92
seats in the Reichstag, 15 MEPs from the Alternative
fur Deutschland party were elected. Two key political
issues have brought about this electoral success, one is
immigration with the second, linked to immigration,
the influence of Islamist ideology is having among
some of European states’ citizens, that is eroding traditional national culture. The latter has been exacerbated with the current pro-Palestinian protests where
some protesters have been calling support for the
groups Hamas that is proscribed/listed as a terrorist
organisation in most European countries. As these
political parties are seeking change through legitimate
democratic processes under the rule of law, it is
problematic to label them as extremists.
Norway and Finland along with support from neoNazis in Denmark and Iceland. This is not unique to
this group, the US neo-Nazi group, Atomwaffen is
proscribed as a terrorist organisation in the UK and is
another example of the growing transnational threat
the extreme far-right pose as Atomwaffen were responsible in forming chapters in the UK (Sonnenkreig
Division) and in other European states (Feurekreig Division). Clearly, it is the direct threat posed by the extreme far-right’s ideology that meets the current UK
definition of extremism.
Conclusion
Determining forms of extremism that pose a threat is
a fine balancing act in assessing if what they say or believe in is protected under freedom of expression.
One might not like what some extremists espouse and
may be offended by it, but crucial to determining extremism that poses a threat is if it promotes violence or
incites hate. That violence includes overthrowing liberal democratic democracies. The examples Micheal
Gove gave did not seem to meet this criterion, even
though you may suspect there is an underlying intent
with the groups he mentioned to promote violence
and hate, there is no evidence of it. It is important that
extremism definitions do not widen to the point that
what is legitimate protest or expressions from minority opinion groups that are not part of mainstream
thinking are included in this. One absurdity and an
example of how the new extremism definition can be
misinterpreted was seen with Rishi Sunak’s statement
that Scottish nationalists were extremists. It is submitted that in its current format, due to the terms ‘intolerance’. ‘negate’ and ‘undermine’, the definition
needs to be amended to ensure it is fit for purpose. As
stated, the best starting point in determining what
amounts to extremism is to focus on groups and
ideologies that do pose a threat to the state and its
citizens’ safety such as those covered above.
Extreme Far-Right
In relation to the extreme far-right it is important to
identify and recognise the variations that can incorrectly label groups and individuals connected with the
right. In identifying the extreme far-right, these are
individuals and groups directly linked to white
supremacist, neo-Nazi ideology. In essence this ideology is racist, anti-Semitic, anti-Zionist, anti-Muslim, homophobic and anti-EU seeing liberal democracies and
multicultural society as weak that needs violently overthrowing. In addition to this, like the Islamist ideology, the extreme far-right are increasingly becoming
internationalised. Examples of the threat the extreme
far-right pose includes the murder of politicians who
advocated liberal democratic principles with the killing
of UK MP Jo Cox in June 2016 by Thomas Mair and
the murder of German Christian Democratic Union
politician, Walter Lubcke in June 2019 by Stephan
Ernst, where both Mair and Ernst were deeply imbued with the neo-Nazi ideology. In December 2022
the group Reichsburger planned a coup d ’tat of the
German government. Again, in the UK, Jack Renshaw was convicted in 2019 for planning and preparing acts of terrorism where he planned to kill UK MP
Rosie Cooper. On 24 April 2024 in Sweden members
of the Nordic Resistance Movement entered an event
organized by the Left Party outside of Stockholm
where they attacked the event’s 50 participants. After
vandalizing the property, the members set off smoke
bombs before fleeing the scene. Three of the Left
Party participants were injured and taken to the hospital. The Nordic Resistance Movement is a good example of how neo-Nazi groups are increasingly
becoming transnational in nature having chapters in
EXPERT WITNESS JOURNAL
About the author
Dr David Lowe is a retired police officer and is
currently a senior research fellow at Leeds Law
School, Leeds Beckett University researching terrorism & security, policing, criminal law and human
rights. He has many publications in books and journals in this area. David recently contributed to two
Parliamentary Committee reports in 2023 and 2024
for the UK government covering how extremists and
paramilitaries exploit and recruit vulnerable young
people. David is an expert panel member of the UN’s
UNESCO chair on radicalisation and extremism. He
is regularly requested to provide expert commentary
to UK national and international mainstream media
on issues related to his research areas and he provides
an expert witness service. When he is not working, he
is a passionate Everton supporter.
Email d.lowe@leedsbeckett.ac.uk
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