Column
| Published date | 01 September 2002 |
| Date | 01 September 2002 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/016934410202000301 |
| Subject Matter | Column |
| Column*
Rec ent election s in several Wes t-Europ ean coun tries have shown the elector ate maki ng
a swing to the righ t, or to t he extr eme rig ht, as some m ight arg ue. They point to H aider
in Austr ia, Le Pen in France , Ber lusconi i n Italy and F ortuyn in th e Ne therlan ds. Ar e
thes e successes re ason for con cern from a hum an rights pers pective ? Som e p eople
would answer this qu estion in th e affirmati ve. The ir argu men t is rat her strai ghtforw ard
and simple. Part ies of th e ext remis t righ t are thou ght to hav e nation alist, a nti
dem ocratic, racist, xeno phobic , or even neo-fascis t charac teristics, an d thes e
char acterist ics a re detrim enta l to the ide a o f hum an rights. I hesita te t o acc ept th is
argument.
For one th ing, is th ere re ally conclusive evidence that in Austr ia, where the p arty of
Ha ider h as been in g overn ment now for se veral years, the huma n rig hts sit uation has
bee n going from bad to worse? I am not aware o f any conclusive evi dence in thi s regard,
but of course I am p rep ared to st and co rrected . In any case, t he Eu rope an Un ion ha d
to st op its ill-c onceived polic y of isolatio n toward Austria, as ther e was no go od reas on
for its c ontinua tion. I s ubmit th at the same goes fo r Italy, und er Ber lusconi, e ven if one
is app alled by his pol icies. I d on’t see any sign o f Europ ean g overnm ents, or ele ctoral
majo rities, tha t wan t to curb th e fu ndam ental hu man righ ts, that are roo ted in the
dom inan t Eu ropea n cultu re.
O f course, we hav e to b e al ert to politic al dev elopm ents that migh t en dang er th e
idea of huma n rights . The first thin g we have to do is to an alyse politi cal devel opmen ts
very ca refully. In France , for insta nce, th e initia l success of Le Pe n in th e first ro und o f
the pres ident ial election s was for a grea t deal the resul t of the beha viour of left-wing
vote rs who g rante d themse lves the luxury to vot e for fringe partie s, or no t to vote at all,
ra ther tha n cau sed by a massive sup port for L e Pen ’s ex tremi st idea s. In th e s econd
rou nd, and in the parli amen tary ele ctions, Le Pen didn ’t st and a chance.
It is true tha t th ere h as bee n a sw ing of the elect oral p endu lum to th e rig ht. Afte r
some y ears o f left-win g domin ance, this is a r ath er na tural develo pmen t. But we mu st
no t equa te right -wing s uccesses with an ups urge of right- wing e xtremis m. Th e Du tch
case is inte restin g in this respec t. N ever b efore, a ne w pa rty was so successful as the
part y of Pim Fortuy n, who was m urd ered on the eve of th e elec tions. In a lan d slid e
victory, t hat m ight hav e be en even g reate r if he ha dn’t been mur dered , his par ty (LPF)
pol led 17 %, becom ing th e second la rgest pa rty in the Second C hambe r. But is the LPF
an e xtrem ist right -wing par ty, th at is a da nger for democra cy and hum an rig hts in th e
Net herlan ds? My answ er to thi s quest ion ten ds to be no.
For tuyn was a charism atic polit ician. P erhaps , he ca n be c haract erised a s a pop ulist,
bu t no t as a right-w ing extre mist. Fortuy n’s success can part ly be ex plaine d as a prote st
aga inst the cartel of the e stablish ed par ties who be came less a nd less re sponsiv e to the
nee ds an d com plain ts of the citizens. The politi cal elite s had far too l ong de nied the
pro blems i n the field o f healt h care, educa tion a nd pub lic tra nspo rt. Th ey den ied t he
da rker side o f the m ulticul tural society, t he dev elopm ent of no-go are as, insecu rity and
crim inality in the cities, th e prob lems of illegal m igrati on. I t is im porta nt to n ote th at
Koen Koch, S enior L ecture r Int ernatio nal Relations, Political Science Depar tment, Leid en
University a nd Visting Pro fessor Inte rnation al Relations , Gron ingen University.
Views exp ressed in t his column ar e of a striclty perso nal nat ure an d are n ot necessarily shar ed
by the editors
Net h e r lands Q ua rte r ly o f H um an R ig h t s , V o l . 20/3,271-272,2002.271
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