The screenshots below come from the CNN website.

I’m not sure what my feelings are about having been a partly persecuted and certainly often vilified migrant in England for so long and now seeing these shifts happening within the EU. The Netherlands, Germany, France, they are all becoming scary places. (Austria too, but in Austria, the far right has always been relatively strong, I think. I remember when the far right won the elections some years ago.)

(My initial feeling was: I want to run away from this and hide somewhere.)(Because I am so done with otherization and hate.)

What brought this on?

The answer may be “warring men”. Putin, the lot, sending millions and millions fleeing for their lives. And then you have these opportunist far-right politicians suggesting that “PEOPLE LEAVE THEIR HOMES AND SOMETIMES OTHER LOVED ONES AND BUSINESSES AND EVERYTHING THEY WORKED HARD FOR AND LOVED – STILL LOVE – BEHIND, RUNNING FOR THEIR LIVES TO STRANGE COUNTRIES WHERE THEY OFTEN FEEL HELPLESS AND LOST AND POWERLESS, JUST FOR FUN” and taking the rest of their rhetoric from there.

Is this explanation too simple? Probably. We’ve had the Le Pens for a while and Geert Wilders has been around for a while too. But they never made enough headwind to make a real difference until now. Rita Verdonk was also a pretty scary woman. (I was so relieved when she crawled back into the woodwork.)

But the effects of these wars appears to be what has given it this big push.

PLUS, the big voice of reason has dropped away. Angela Merkel was such a powerhouse. And yes, “Mutti” kept the petulant children in check, too, it seemed. I was so sad to see her step back. (And then Ardern in New Zealand dropped away too.)

This feels too reminiscent of the pre-WWII sentiment, doesn’t it? This idea that everyone who is “not one of us” is not a proper human being.

I need the UK to shift away from the far-right now, because these Nazi-like sounds had been echoing for too long there, already – Priti Patel was really scary – and I need to see signs of a counter-development. I also need Trump not to be re-elected.

There’s also of course, the matter of how we are treating the planet and other species. That goes hand in hand with the inclusivity versus otherization issue.

We need a new Mutti.

Dutch news: “EU Parliament shifts a little to the right but there are no big changes”.

So, who’s assessing this correctly? (I am seeing these tables with EU parties in various media, but they don’t mean a thing to me. I see considerable shifts in the numbers, though, and on the basis of that I can guess which ones are the far- right groups.)

Poland’s staying behind Tusk’s party (re EU). That’s reassuring.

(I also saw some headline about Slovakia and a pro-Russia candidate.)

CDU is staying way ahead of the far right in Germany, though. That’s good too.

Hmm. We’ll see.

I have no idea how these EU elections work these days. I don’t think I’d ever voted in them before. I’m pleased I did this time.

A little later, this popped up. Looks like that assessment by the Dutch news is accurate enough. Good!

And green left labour ended up with two seats more than geert wilders’ party, for the Dutch.

Okay. Work to be done. But no need to hide under my desk. 😁

Following morning: