From „old Europe” to „new Europe,” from Denmark to Poland and Hungary, the split is clear. It will be familiar to Tea Party America.
„What’s going on? When two founding members of the E.U. that were traditionally the most forthright in a federalist vision of Europe find their societies fissuring along ethnocentric lines, and the longtime motors of Europe, Germany and France, are embroiled in arguments over Islam and the expulsion of Gypsies, it’s clear that anger and anxiety have prevailed. Europe the integrator is on hold.
A fundamental political shift has occurred. Old labels of left and right have blurred in a center where liberal social values and global capitalism (however offset by welfare) prevail. Outside that middle, anti-immigrant and anti-Islam populist parties thrive on the unease generated by economic fragility, outsourcing and mass immigration. From »old Europe« to »new Europe«, from Denmark to Poland and Hungary, the split is clear. It will be familiar to Tea Party America.
Geert Wilders, the leader of the Dutch Freedom Party, which more than doubled its seats in the June election, has become the global rock star of the anti-Islam movement. As shameless as Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, he’s also the only Western politician as captivated by, and as adept at exploiting, the media’s fascination with a rogue. Of late he’s taken his message that Islam is a »retarded« culture and »totalitarian« ideology, and that New York must »never become New Mecca«, as far afield as Australia and the United States.”