The 1993 Solingen arson attack marked the climax of radical-right violence in Germany following reunification. This year, the fatal arson attack in Solingen, a North Rhine-Westphalian city of around 160,000 inhabitants, marked its 25th anniversary. Chancellor Angela Merkel, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, his Turkish ministerial colleague Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, as well as members of the victims’… Continue reading “Germany Remembers Solingen Arson Attack”
The death of the categories of Left and Right is a frequent trope in political analysis. The familiar distinction borne out of the French Revolution has seen its relevance challenged on several occasions throughout the Western world, including in the 2017 French presidential election. In an election fought between the ‘both Left and Right candidate’… Continue reading “Right? Left? Neither? Why Radical Right Parties Reject the Politics of Left and Right”
What animates the politics of the radical right today? My colleague Sarah Valdez and I identify neo-nationalism as the common denominator of contemporary radical right parties. Nationalism is a political ideology concerned with congruence between the nation (people) and the state (government). Real or perceived threats to this principle may mobilize nationalist sentiments to advance… Continue reading “The Return Of Nationalism And The Rise Of The Radical Right”
In late May 2018, I was invited to a conference to run workshops with a group of safeguarding professionals in London. The topic of my talk was “Right wing extremism and the Prevent Duty”. While preparing for these workshops, I reflected upon my work over the last eight years; first within counter terrorism policing, then… Continue reading “The Cuckoo in the Nest – Countering Violent Extremism”
The European International Tolerance Centre in Riga has recently published, “Contemporary Far-Rights. Right Radicalism in Europe: Ideology, Social Basis, Prospects”. The Editor in Chief and Project Head of the report is Dr. Valery Engel, Chairman of the Expert Council of the European Centre for Tolerance. Dr. Engel is also a Senior Fellow at CARR. Find the… Continue reading “Report: “Contemporary Far-Rights. Right Radicalism in Europe: Ideology, Social Basis, Prospects””
The Home Office has recently released its latest set of statistics on the UK Prevent strategy and Channel programme for the period April 2016 to March 2017. Perhaps the standout headline was that radical right referrals to Prevent have risen by more than a quarter since the previous year. In fact, individuals with a radical right ideology… Continue reading “Journey of a Radical Right Prevent Referral”
One doesn’t have to be an expert to attest that Greece has a fundamental problem with violence from the radical right. Alone in the first months of this year, we see a culmination of different forms of violence. In early March, the police arrested a group of militant neo-Nazis called AME, responsible for 34 arson… Continue reading “Greece’s Problem With Radical Right Violence and the Politics of History”
Running counter to a common narrative holding that Britain has become a more intolerant country since the Brexit vote, data continues to emerge that British attitudes to immigration have relaxed since the Brexit vote – and continue to. As Professor Rob Ford and Dr Maria Sobolewska of Manchester University commented in a British Future report published… Continue reading “What Impact Will Britain’s Increasingly Relaxed Attitudes to Immigration Have on Radical Right Support?”
It is impossible to understand the Brexit vote and the political culture that has emerged in its wake without appreciating Britain’s lurch to the right. Earlier this year, an intriguing lens was cast on the nature of radical and far-right ideas in post-Brexit Britain. At the center was a graphic tweeted by Leave.EU — the… Continue reading “The Underlying Radicalism of Brexit”
Last month my latest book was published by ibidem-verlag which covered the Auschwitz Concentration Camp, its history, biographies and remembrance. Having written and had published three books on the Aktion Reinhardt Camps, Belzec,Sobibor and Treblinka, this was a new path for me. Those three camps are not as well-known as Auschwitz. There are many books on Auschwitz,… Continue reading ““Auschwitz Concentration Camp: History, Biographies, Remembrance””