In a recent Aleteia piece titled “Is an Old Specter Haunting Europe?”, Mark   Gordon writes about signs of a fascist revival in Europe. I would like to take issue with   him. Not that fascism isn’t on the increase in Europe. It is. It’s just that Gordon’s list of   fascist groups fails to mention what is by far the largest fascist movement in Europe—  namely, radical Islam. 

As Gordon notes, “There are worrying signs of a fascist revival” in Europe, but   the majority of those signs, when they are not written in Arabic, say things like “Europe is the cancer, Islam is the answer,” “Slay those who insult Islam,” “Butcher those who insult Islam,” and—for a little variety—“Behead those who insult Islam.” 

As Gordon also correctly notes, anti-Semitism is on the rise, but it is not simply   the obsession of neo-Nazis and nationalists. Most of the anti-Semitism in Europe today   is fueled by Islamic ideology. In Copenhagen, for instance, the leader of the Jewish  community there has advised Jews not to wear yarmulkes and Stars of David in the   streets lest they be attacked by Muslim youth. In some French schools, Jewish students   have been advised to leave because the schools cannot guarantee their safety. In the  Paris suburb of Villepinte, roughly half of the Jewish families have left in the last three   years. JTA, a Jewish news agency, reports that much of France’s anti-Jewish crime is   committed by North African Muslims. According to Robert Sebbane, an eighty-one-year   old resident of another shrinking suburb, “They chased us from Algeria, and they   followed us here.” 

A recent survey by the Fundamental Rights Agency of the European Union found   that almost one in three European Jews has considered emigration, but right-wing anti- Semites were not their main concern. A plurality blamed “Muslim extremist views,”   followed by “left-wing political views,” and finally “right-wing views.” Note that “left- wing political views” is high on the list. In Ireland, a branch of the leftist Boycott,   Divestment, and Sanctions organization (BDS) has taped “boycott” stickers on Israeli   products in a supermarket chain that operates hundreds of grocery stores in Ireland.   Apparently, they have done so with the cooperation of the stores. Not coincidentally, the stickers are yellow, the same color as the yellow star arm bands used by the Nazis to   identify Jews during the Holocaust. Moreover, European anti-Semitism often carries a   semi-official sanction. For instance, public commemorations of Kristallnacht (the Nazis’   two-day pogrom against Jews in 1938) are sometimes used as an occasion to berate   Israel, the home of approximately half of the world’s Jews. 

Gordon writes of the “auxiliaries” that sometimes accompany the fascist right- wing parties and engage in street activism, intimidation, and violence. But these are   arguably less of a threat than the “Antifas” (anti-fascists)—militant left-wing groups who   join with Islamists in denying a public platform to critics of Islamic violence. According   to Ned May at Gates of Vienna: 

The Antifas are, in fact, widespread across Northern Europe, and reliably appear whenever any group even slightly right-of-center gathers in large   numbers. They rain missiles down upon the crowd, vandalize property,   and harass the police. 

In short, anyone who dares to speak up against Islamic extremism can expect to be met   with a bottle or a brick. According to a popular slogan “Fascism will come to Europe in the name of anti-fascism.”

 Another “anti-fascist” group with an Orwellian name is United Against Fascism.   Using the same violent tactics as the Antifas, the UAF has successfully broken up  numerous rallies and speeches in England, sometimes using darts to attack and silence   proponents of free speech. While the Antifas enjoy only tacit support from leftist and   socialist parties in Europe, the UAF is openly supported by many in the British  establishment, including Prime Minister David Cameron. 

In many respects, fascism has already arrived in Europe—but not in its right-wing  version. In his insightful book, Liberal Fascism, Jonah Goldberg makes the case that  fascism is basically a phenomenon of the left. Goldberg asserts that the standard   narrative which puts communism and fascism on opposite sides of the political spectrum  is a convenient myth created by communists and leftists to serve their own interests. 

Thus, the fact that most European governments are of the left-liberal variety is in  no way incompatible with their employment of fascist policies and methods (it should be  kept in mind that by American standards even “conservative” European parties are well to the left of center). The average European has very little say in his own governance  and his right to free expression is tightly circumscribed. 

Take, for example, the proposed European National Statute for the Promotion of   Tolerance. Section 4 states “There is no need to be tolerant to the intolerant.” Section 6   calls for the establishment of a “National Tolerance Monitoring Commission.” Section 8 states that “the government shall ensure that schools, from the primary level upwards will   introduce courses encouraging students to accept diversity and promoting a climate of   tolerance.” Section 9 states “The government shall ensure that public broadcasting   stations will devote a prescribed percentage of their program to promoting a climate of   tolerance,” and so on. In short, the proposed “Ministry of Tolerance” seems designed to   serve the same purpose as the Ministry of Truth in Orwell’s 1984.  

What is intolerance? Section 2 states “Religious intolerance is understood to   cover Islamophobia.” What is “Islamophobia?” The statute doesn’t say. Apparently,   that will be up to the judges to decide. In fact, the judges are already deciding. Over the   past ten years numerous European citizens have been hauled before courts on charges of   criticizing Islam. 

In 2005, the Italian author Oriana Fallaci had to flee Europe to avoid prosecution   for having written two books which had, according to the prosecutors, defamed Islam. In   2011, Lars Hedegaard, the president of the Danish Free Press Society, was put on trial for   remarks he made during the course of a private conversation. He had simply observed   that Muslim families in Denmark had high rates of child abuse, but that was enough to   merit a hate speech conviction (he was later acquitted on appeal). Also in 2011,   Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff, an Austrian citizen, was tried and found guilty for the crime   of “denigration of religious beliefs of a legally recognized religion.” She had made the   mistake of referring to Muhammad as a pedophile during a seminar presentation. This  year, Mark Elchardus, one of the authors of a 426-page study of anti-Semitism in   Belgium, was the target of a lawsuit by Muslim Vigilance, a Muslim activist group. His crime? He concluded that Muslim anti-Semitism is theologically inspired. 

The cases above represent only a small sampling of similar cases throughout  Europe. One would like to say that these are the high-profile cases but, unfortunately,   very little attention was paid to these Star Chamber-like proceedings either by the European media or the American media. Have you ever heard of Lars Hedegaard?   Oriana Fallaci? Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff?  

You may, however, have heard of Geert Wilders, who is a member of the Dutch   Parliament and the leader of a rising political party. He is mentioned in Gordon’s article,   but only in the context that “interested readers would do well to track developments   involving Wilders’ Dutch Freedom Party”. What is left unsaid is that Wilders is   considered by many to be one of the great freedom fighters of our time—an eloquent   defender of free speech who has been compared to Churchill and to the leaders of the   Free French during the Nazi occupation. Wilders, who along with his family has had to   live in a government safe house since 2004, became a higher-priority target after the   release in 2008 of Fitna, a short documentary film which juxtaposed scenes of terrorism   with verses from the Koran. Fitna led to more death threats and also to a criminal   prosecution for hate speech. After defending himself in Dutch courts for three years,   Wilders was eventually acquitted, but not without losing valuable time that might better   have been spent alerting his fellow citizens to the dangerous combination of creeping   sharia and government appeasement. 

As it happens, Wilders has also written about the rise of a haunting specter. In an   October 2013 article he observed, “A specter is haunting the free world. Let us have the   courage to call it by its name: It is the radical ideology of Islam with its political aim to   abolish our freedoms and our democracy.” 

Which specter should Europeans be most worried about? There is a danger that   extreme right-wing fascists may eventually gain enough power to constitute a major threat to the European order. But right now the balance of power lies with Islamic   fascists and with their leftist enablers in government, academia, the courts and the media. 

An old specter is haunting Europe? It might be more accurate to say that a very   old specter is haunting Europe—a specter that pre-dates the fascist governments of the   thirties and forties by many centuries. In this regard, it’s worth considering that the most   popular name for baby boys in Europe today is not Benito, or Adolf, or Francisco. It’s   Mohammed.

 

William Kilpatrick taught for many years at Boston College. He is the author of several   books about cultural and religious issues, including Psychological Seduction, Why   Johnny Can’t Tell Right From Wrong and, most recently, Christianity, Islam and   Atheism: The Struggle for the Soul of the West. Professor Kilpatrick’s articles on   cultural and educational topics have appeared in First Things, Policy Review, American   Enterprise, American Educator, the Los Angeles Times, and various scholarly journals.   His articles on Islam have appeared in Catholic World Report, National Catholic   Register, Investor’s Business Daily, FrontPage Magazine, and other publications. He is   on the Board of Experts at Aleteia.org.