NEW POPULISMS AND THE EUROPEAN RIGHT AND FAR RIGHT PARTIES. THE CHALLENGE AND THE PERSPECTIVES FOR THE LEFT NUOVI POPULISMI E LE DESTRE ESTREME IN EUROPA LE SFIDE E LE PROSPETTIVE PER LA SINISTRA 1 EDIZIONI PUNTO ROSSO Via G. Pepe 14 – 20159 Milano Telefoni e fax 02/87234046 [email protected]; www.puntorosso.it Redazione delle Edizioni Punto Rosso: Nunzia Augeri, Alessandra Balena, Eleonora Bonaccorsi, Laura Cantelmo, Loris Caruso, Serena Daniele, Dilva Giannelli, Roberto Mapelli, Stefano Nutini, Giorgio Riolo, Roberta Riolo, Nelly Rios Rios, Erica Rodari, Pietro Senigaglia, Domenico Scoglio, Franca Venesia. 2 Presentation Giorgio Riolo Introduction. Peril from the Right Walter Baier Why Populism? Ernesto Laclau The Populism of Precarity Andrea Fumagalli The extreme right and right-wing populism in Germany Gerd Wiegel (Translation: Susann Kamme-Davies) Italy: The Northern League and Berlusconi’s Populism Roberto Biorcio Nach Rechts! Demystifying the Rise of Populist and the Far-Right in Post-Transition Hungary Adam Fabry The Panorama of the European Extreme Right: Populisms and Extreme Rights, East and West Saverio Ferrari Right-wing political models for the future of Europe: What is the Political Right up to in the European Parliament? Thilo Janssen Confronting the Extreme Right: A Challenge for the Left Lessons Learned From the 2012 Elections in France Elisabeth Gauthier Beyond the Extreme Right: the European Populist Challenge Yannis Stavrakakis Why Ever Should the Working Class Vote for the Left? Mimmo Porcaro Conclusions Luciana Castellina Nicola Nicolosi Annex Karlsruhe’s Shortsightedness Luciana Castellina From “Il Manifesto”, 13 September 2012 3 WORKSHOP New populisms are haunting Europe. These populisms are shaping the European political Rights. Both in the West and in the East. These new waves of the old discriminations, from the social, cultural, political, racial etc. point of view, are sharpened by the new discriminations due to the changes in the contemporary world. The context of the global crisis of capitalism and the environmental and climate crisis triggers the dynamics of the management of “fear” and of “emergency”. Popular strata and the lower strata of the middle classes of European society form the mass basis of these populisms and these Rights. The “construction of the enemy” forms the cultural background of legitimacy of the ruling classes. The aim of the meeting is to analyse the new phenomena and to discuss the conduct and the state of the European Left parties and social movements, grappling with the new context, and with the old problems of the redefinition of traditional political forms and of organizational forms. Milan – Friday 9th and Saturday 10th March 2012 - Casa della Cultura – Via Borgogna 3 programme. Friday 9th March 2012 - h. 3.00-8.00 p.m. Giorgio Riolo - An introduction to the workshop Onorio Rosati (General Secretary Camera del Lavoro di Milano) – a First session, introduction by Walter Baier – Nationalism and populism in Europe 1. A theoretical framework: the crisis of capitalism and the cultures and subcultures that express it - Ernesto Laclau (University of Essex) - Populism as a theoretical concept - René Monzat - New populisms vs. old populisms: the case of Front National in France - Andrea Fumagalli (University of Pavia) - Labour and populism: the cleavage between “skilled” and “unskilled” labour and precarious work 2. The cases and the national realities Dimosthenis Papadatos-Anagnostopoulos - Greece Gerd Wiegel - Germany Bernhard Heizelmaier - Austria Roberto Biorcio (University of Milano) - Italy: Lega Nord and the Berlusconi’s populism Saturday 10th March, first session (second part) – h. 9.30 – 13 a.m. 2. The cases and the national realities (second part) Adam Fabry – Hungary Saverio Ferrari (Osservatorio Democratico) - The European Far Right landscape with special attention of East European populisms and Far-Right parties 3. The European Rights as a crisis of the traditional attitude and the new context Thilo Janssen (Rosa Luxemburg Foundation) - What is the political Right up to in the European Parliament? second session (first part) 4. The European Lefts: crisis of the traditional approach and the new context contributions by Elisabeth Gauthier (Espace Marx - France) Yannis Stavrakakis (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki - Greece) Mimmo Porcaro (Associazione Culturale Punto Rosso) second session (second part) h. 3 – 6.30 p.m. final round table The challenge for the Lefts: new perspectives for new tasks introduction by Walter Baier contributions by Luciana Castellina (former EP), Marga Ferre (European Left Party), Nicola Nicolosi (National Secretary Cgil), Klaus Sühl (Rosa Luxemburg Foundation) organized by Rosa Luxemburg Foundation, Transform! Europe, Associazione Culturale Punto Rosso in cooperation with Camera del Lavoro Cgil di Milano and the review Progetto Lavoro-Per la sinistra del XXI secolo. 4 Presentation A workshop aiming at studying the present situation of the populist and Far-right parties in Europe Giorgio Riolo Since the early Nineties of the last century in Europe some populist and Far-right parties, with specific features in each country, have appeared and developed. Some of them are openly Fascist and Neo-Nazi parties and movements, especially in East Europe, but not only. At that time the background of these new phenomena was the collapse of the so-called real Socialism and the deep crisis of the old Communist and left parties, mainly in Western Europe. In question was the political representation of the popular strata and the lower strata of the middle-class (the old “petty bourgeoisie”). Those were the effects of neoliberal policies (crisis of the social state, of the welfare state, privatizations, globalisation and the devaluation of labour etc.). In Italy, this was the background for the rise of Lega Nord and, later on, of Berlusconi’s populism. The former as criticism of the old political parties (as anti-political attitude, “Roma ladrona”-“Robber Rome”) giving a strong localist identity with other strong symbolic references. The latter as a new version of old Bonapartism (“it was people who elected me, therefore democracy, rules and the Constitution itself etc. are constraints to remove in order to get quick decisions for the benefit of our people ”). This framework is still valid to explain the presence and danger of the populist Right and its development on account of the present economic crisis. The real danger is the shift to the right as an outcome of the crisis. Globalization and, in Europe, decisions made outside each national State (Bce, EU, the Fmi, the “markets”, the new terrible Yahweh of Old Testament), the evident worsening of the living conditions of the popular strata and of the lower strata of the middle-class, the frustration and the need for symbolic compensations, the construction of the enemy (migrants, Rom people, foreigners or groups living in the same country etc.), the danger of the enviromental crisis (water, land, climate etc.), all these features create the danger of a further development of these phenomena. The challenge for the Left parties in Europe is very hard, very pressing. The aim of the workshop that the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation, Transform! Europe, Associazione Culturale Punto Rosso organized, in the last 9-10th March, 2012 in Milan (Italy), was to analyse the present situation from the theoretical point of view (in the first part) and to offer some case studies (in the second part). But the ultimate aim is to contribute to the strategy of the European Left parties in order to fight these phenomena. This ebook don’t contain the presentation by René Monzat because we did’t receive it. We choose to publish only the papers by the authors, not the transcription of the contributions in the seminar. The ebook is only a tool for the political activity and not a scientific work. 5 Introduction. Peril from the Right1 Walter Baier Many serious observers hold that the crisis in Europe has not come to an end. With the restructuring of the Greek national debt and the enlargement of the European Stability Mechanism, only time was bought, yet the fundamental problems of over-accumulation 2 and the imbalances of the current accounts among the members of the Eurozone still persist. Moreover, the agreement on the fiscal pact last March targets a sustained cementing of austerity politics accompanied by an authoritarian and centralist turn of EU integration under German hegemony. Should the fiscal pact indeed take effect, which under the complex ratification processes of 25 states is not to be taken for granted3, and should it be administered with the intended hardships, it will end by destroying the European social model, including dramatic reductions of living standards of populations in all parts of Europe. Under these conditions, a renewed outbreak of the European debt and banking crisis within the foreseeable future is not unlikely. Probable consequences – this is the hypothesis of what follows here – would be a more or less voluntary departure of several single states from the monetary union. However, this is not first and foremost an economic question, but primarily a political one. The breaking apart of the monetary union would make manifest and transform the latent crisis of European integration into a hard fact. It would lead to a qualitative shift in power relations in favour of the highest performing export oriented economies of the EU and could be the overture to a deep political earthquake all across the EU. In a situation like this, nationalist, xenophobic and authoritarian right-wing forces could begin to go beyond the roles they have thus far played. A theoretical concept of “populism” In the period between June 2009 and March 2011, right-wing parties obtained 155 of 3,066 seats in 13 parliaments, which represents approximately 5 % of the electorate. Moreover, this trend was also expressed by a strengthening of right-wing populist, Euro-sceptical parties in the European Parliament elections in 2010. Even though national specifics are relevant to understanding the phenomena, these developments indicate a profound change in European political geography.