We believed for long that right-wing extremism was defeated after the fall of fascism. People started believing that democracy had taken strong roots, the societies had become liberal and the impact of the holocaust trauma had made the return of right-wing extremism impossible.

 

We were wrong. The right-wing extremism is back.

 

It is no more an insignificant movement at the periphery of society. The mainstream politics under-estimated, deliberately ignored, even cooperated with the far-right and adapted many of their policies. The states downplayed the threat while the law enforcement and intelligence agencies have been warning against the far-right terrorist dangers and their infiltration into the state institutions. As a result, the rightwing not only gained legitimacy, became stronger, but it has also shifted the whole political spectrum to the right and made it a new norm.

 

The far-right is now an established force in the USA, Brazil, India, Philippines, and across Europe, pretty much in most of the world. It is more organized, more planned and coordinated, more lethal, and part of everyday life. It is influencing all political decisions directly and indirectly, inside and outside the parliaments. It manifests itself in various forms in different societies. From Oklahoma, Capitol Hill, Christchurch, Utøya, Rio de Janeiro, Sukma-Bijapur, Kashmir, Afghanistan, Lahore, to Hanau or Halle, we saw it in the forms of nationalism, white supremacy, anti-immigration, Islamophobia, religious extremism, anti-abortion, racism, sexism, anti-Semitism, eco-fascism, etc.

 

In this Dialogue, we have discussed the rise of the far-right, its causes, the ideology, its various forms, its relationship with conventional politics and capitalism, its consequences, and the threats to democracy and freedom.