Nationalism tends to feed on the poor and uneducated and when enough are fooled into believing immigration is at the root of all their woes, you end up with someone like Donald Trump in a position to pursue his prejudices.
Sadly, he might not be the only politician to ride into power this year on the back of racially-dubious policies. We in the UK aren’t, of course, immune from blame. While the European Union is by no means perfect, surely it is better to talk and trade with your neighbours rather than blaming them for everything from the state of the economy to the shape of your bananas. Yet enough believed the implausible claims of Nigel Farage and his cronies to vote for Great Britain to leave the EU.
Dutch far-right leader Geert Wilders is not without his supporters, even though he’s already been found guilty of inciting racial discrimination. Of course, terror attacks don’t help the moderates and Germany, Belgium and France have all been the target of enough so-called ISIS-inspired atrocities in recent times to fuel distrust of their immigrant populations. Paris has been hit harder than most – Charlie Hebdo, Bataclan and the Stade de France – but if the French think that Marine Le Pen is the answer to their problems, maybe they should think again.
Worryingly, the Front National leader is only a best 9/4 to win the French Presidential Election. She’s already called for an end to the Schengen agreement which allows free movement of citizens within EU borders. But, make no mistake, there is only one colour that Mme Le Pen is interested in on the Tricolore and it isn’t red or blue!
Le Pen’s father is a convicted racist who likes to make jokes about Nazis and gas ovens – he is the honorary president of his daughter’s party, which really tells you all you need to know. Yet, according to the polls, the far-right candidate is still likely to make the second round of voting in her bid to become French President in the spring, at about the same time as her father will be in court to face further charges of inciting racial hatred. France is at the very heart of Europe, economically and geographically. So let’s hope the French deal with the far-right in the same way as Austria did last year – with a resounding ‘non’.
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Macron is more in the Angela Merkel mould of politician in that he advocates federalism. A confirmed Europhile, he is probably France’s best hope of a peaceful solution to their problems – but who can safely predict how these referendums and elections will go nowadays?
French Election – Next President Current Best Odds
Emmanuel Macron (11/8), Marine Le Pen (9/4), Francois Fillon (6/1), Benoit Hamon (18/1), Alain Juppe (20/1), Francois Baroin (66/1), Francois Bayrou, Jean-Luc Melenchon and Nicolas Sarkozy (100/1)
