European Politics
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With 97% of votes counted, as expected and as in 2017 the last time there were Presidential elections in France, Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen go through to the last two. The near total collapse of the Gaullist and the Socialists continues
The surprise was perhaps the strong third place of the left-wing candidate Jean Melenchon.
Macron 27.35%, Le Pen 23.97%, Melenchon 21.7%
Melenchon did not endorse Macron but said four timeslast night that not a single vote from his supporters should go to Marine Le Pen.
Macron, despite his flaws and despite France being hit hard by inflation at the moment, is the favourite for re-election in two weeks time. He is absolutely dominating what's left of the centre ground of French politics.
It will be closer than 2017's 66-34 result, but barring a major surprise, Macron will serve a second term as President of France.
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Netherlands election has just been won by a right wing party (published as far right by many MSM).
Chatting about this yesterday at work with a few Dutch, it seems the results are in line with expectation of people on the ground. They don't seem to think they have much of a chance of forming a coalition with anybody though, as they are a socialist country at heart.
So the headlines are groundbreaking, but the actual change may not be as much as expected. However, the leading party in the Dutch election being anti-Islam is rather substantial.
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There's an increasing trend towards parties less inclined towards wholesale migration from cultures utterly incompatible with western liberal democracies. Too late for some now the barbarians are inside the gate...
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At some stage western governments - esp. European - are going to have address the increasingly big issue that their mainstream values and policies are anathema to an increasingly big section of their populations
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All kicked off in Dublin last night, huge riots, 34 arrested.
Started with a multiple stabbing outside a school & then, of course, the "far right" got involved and caused all the problems.
Absolutely nothing announced about motives / cause of the stabbings. However, here a couple of soundbites
Irish Police: unrest was driven by a "lunatic, hooligan faction driven by a far-right ideology. ignore misinformation about the stabbing online" and Ireland's justice minister said people are using "the appalling attack to sow division. This is not about immigration, this is not about the young children who are in hospital,"
Deliver Driver: "It looks like they hate immigrants. Well I am an immigrant, and I did what I could to try and save that little girl."So it's quite obvious. It was an immigrant who did the attack, and those that raise any sort of concerns about immigrants are smashed to pieces by "the establishment" and accused of bigotry.. When their concerns rear their head, this happens.
And people wonder why NL voted they way they did.
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@Dodge said in European Politics:
an immigrant did the attack, and an immigrant stopped him. Then a bunch of people with no political views just took advantage of the situation to do as much damage as they could for a laugh.
If they have no political views, why are the police openly calling them the far right?
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@Dodge said in European Politics:
an immigrant did the attack, and an immigrant stopped him. Then a bunch of people with no political views just took advantage of the situation to do as much damage as they could for a laugh.
As @MajorRage has mentioned, the authorities knee-jerk reaction was to blame "the far-right" - a seemingly catch-all explanation/bogeyman when events challenge their world-view and show everything isn't rosy in society's garden. If only it were that simple.
I don't know a thing about Dublin and maybe you're right with the mindless hooliganism, but there def. seems to be a Europe-wide problem with big, big sections of society feeling alienated and ignored.
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@Victor-Meldrew said in European Politics:
I don't know a thing about Dublin and maybe you're right with the mindless hooliganism, but there def. seems to be a Europe-wide problem with big, big sections of society feeling alienated and ignored.
When you cut through the bullshit, isn't this ultimately why Brexit happened?
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@MajorRage said in European Politics:
All kicked off in Dublin last night, huge riots, 34 arrested.
Started with a multiple stabbing outside a school & then, of course, the "far right" got involved and caused all the problems.
Absolutely nothing announced about motives / cause of the stabbings. However, here a couple of soundbites
Irish Police: unrest was driven by a "lunatic, hooligan faction driven by a far-right ideology. ignore misinformation about the stabbing online" and Ireland's justice minister said people are using "the appalling attack to sow division. This is not about immigration, this is not about the young children who are in hospital,"
Deliver Driver: "It looks like they hate immigrants. Well I am an immigrant, and I did what I could to try and save that little girl."So it's quite obvious. It was an immigrant who did the attack, and those that raise any sort of concerns about immigrants are smashed to pieces by "the establishment" and accused of bigotry.. When their concerns rear their head, this happens.
And people wonder why NL voted they way they did.
Not a fan of the subsequent riots. Dickheads took it too far and have lost any semblance of moral high ground.
But it kind of reminds me of Hamas vs Israel: fundamentalist with no respect for human dignity perpetrates an atrocity with the intention to provoke a reaction. Which inevitably comes.
Not an exact analogy but close enough.
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@MajorRage said in European Politics:
@Victor-Meldrew said in European Politics:
I don't know a thing about Dublin and maybe you're right with the mindless hooliganism, but there def. seems to be a Europe-wide problem with big, big sections of society feeling alienated and ignored.
When you cut through the bullshit, isn't this ultimately why Brexit happened?
possibly, lots of motivations tied into Brexit vote, IMO reality is a bitch and some people don't like it (eg don't want immigration, don't like doing the jobs that immigration is required to fill)
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Ireland Deputy PM: This is not who we are
Ireland PM: Rioting stemmed from hate, not patriotism and that the rioters brought "shame on Dublin, shame on Ireland, as well as on themselves and their families"So a bunch of Irish people, fed up of the changing of their country due to immigration from other cultures etc, rioted for Ireland & the leaders response is above.
They are both certainly respectful expected statements, but as always with these things, there doesn't seem to be a single shred of thought into what brought this on. Only that they are wrong.
This is EXACTLY why the Netherlands has voted the way it is. There is an "acceptable" path to be taken by the establishment, and everything else is is just far right / racism / biogtry. I'll never understand why people who hold more conservative views are continually talked down to. It's really not that hard to release a statement which can help things die down, as opposed to fan the flames of "hate".
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@Dodge said in European Politics:
@MajorRage said in European Politics:
@Victor-Meldrew said in European Politics:
I don't know a thing about Dublin and maybe you're right with the mindless hooliganism, but there def. seems to be a Europe-wide problem with big, big sections of society feeling alienated and ignored.
When you cut through the bullshit, isn't this ultimately why Brexit happened?
possibly, lots of motivations tied into Brexit vote, IMO reality is a bitch and some people don't like it (eg don't want immigration, don't like doing the jobs that immigration is required to fill)
Two points: Would help if politicians actually engaged with people and their concerns and tried to win arguments rather than disparage. Sadly, they don't/didn't.
On jobs, we need a carrot and stick. Not just to get people into work from welfare but also to compel employers to invest in training and recruitment rather than relying on immigration as a cheap fix.
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@MajorRage said in European Politics:
@Victor-Meldrew said in European Politics:
I don't know a thing about Dublin and maybe you're right with the mindless hooliganism, but there def. seems to be a Europe-wide problem with big, big sections of society feeling alienated and ignored.
When you cut through the bullshit, isn't this ultimately why Brexit happened?
Mainly. Brexit was a neat peg to hang all sorts of grievances on. Job adverts with a requirements to speak Polish or Bulgarian didn't help either