Inequality and decades of painting anything left as evil communism.

Plus liberals would rather hand the reins to fascists than socialists.

It started with the War on Terror of the 2000s destabilizing the Middle East and leading to an influx of refugees into Europe. White supremacists naturally freaked out when they saw more than one brown person, so this started an anti-immigrant sentiment which only continued to build throughout the years. Couple that with funding from rich white supremacists and propaganda from foreign agents like Steve Bannon, and here we are.

Same thing that happened to the US.

I see a lot of blame on “brainless idiots” or similar labels when discussing this, but I think that’s dismissive of issues many parties seems to be ignoring, or exacerbating, and that the alt-right is pouncing on.

Not everyone who voted Trump is an idiot, and doubling down on that thinking will make the issue worse.

Another is that the far-right parties tend to be “modern” and very social media savvy, whereas establishment centrist parties are out of touch, and campaign in archaic ways. And (from my impression on the outside) the more leftist European parties are prone to disunity and infighting. They don’t benefit from scandal and controversy like the far right does.

The predominant online presence of leftist anarchists all but vanished as corporations and social media took root. For a long time the corporate world remained skeptical of the internet. It was “just a fad” that would go away eventually. They started buying everything up, monopolizing, and controlling the narratives.

I have no doubt the fediverse makes them nervous again like they haven’t been in years. There are obvious bad actors running around these parts.

it makes the powerful people more money and power

that’s about it. also people are selfish and dumb and buy into it because they’re selfish and dumb

The failure of neoliberal capitalism to deliver freedom and equity.

We were told that’s what it would bring. But there is an inherent tension between the freedom to grow capital and the freedom of an individual. The wealthy and our legislators chose the former.

And so, people get left behind. They grow bitter and selfish and angry (just as capitalists intend.) Combine that with a lack of education that teaches critical thinking and healthy skepticism (again, purposefully defunded by capitalists, educated proletariat and all that), and you get people primed to hate. Individuals who care nothing for others and a community, only about themselves and how they’re affected. And taking on an abstract entity like a corporation or government is much harder for an individual to comprehend. But hating Muhammed next door? Or Hasan? Or Abdul? Or Devonte? Or Reshawn? That’s easy, especially when the news networks or their chosen news sources or influencers tell them to. They already look different and speak differently. And the unknown scares the uneducated. (I.e. see the creation of religions.)

There’s a lot more to it, but that’s a big one.

Billionaires

Social media

Anti-immigration sentiment and Islamophobia have surged in Western and Central Europe, especially when many of the establishment parties have made moves to increase immigration, i.e. the Boriswave in the UK, enacted by the centre-right party that wooed voters just months earlier by promising to “Get Brexit Done.”

Can’t really elaborate on the rise of National Rally in France and the AfD in Germany, but here in the UK we’ve had grooming gang scandals that have led to several national inquiries, numerous protests focused around the use of hotels to house asylum seekers, and three riots in the last two years which were sparked by violent crimes.

The internet and very wealthy, very evil people.

Elon.

Billionaires trying to distract people from their ever increasing wealth and the powerful people in positions of influence. Who owns the vast majority of media, at least in the global west?

It’s been seen so many times through history if the status quo is challenged find a scape goat. Every possible example can be seen, different religions, different skin colour, different political beliefs, different gender, different abilities, different sexuality, etc. As soon as power/money is threatened a different focus of hatred is found.

DW Griffith had to direct The Birth of a Nation to paint the KKk as the good guys, today you AI slop of it

People are dissatisfied with the economy and the far-right says, “This is happening because of immigrants,” the left says, correctly, “This is happening because of billionaires,” while liberals just say, “This isn’t happening, everything is fine.” The far right’s narrative beats the liberal one because it at least acknowledges that people are struggling, even if the reasons and solutions it offers are totally wrong. Unless the economic conditions can be reversed, and the far-right are the only ones people see offering an alternative, the growth of the far-right is inevitable.

As for the left’s (correct) narrative that the billionaires are the problem, it has the advantage of actually being true and making sense, but it has the disadvantage of threatening monied interests, which are going to try their best to subvert and silence it. Billionaires will generally prefer to promote the far-right because it doesn’t threaten their interests.

However, the left’s narrative is the only thing that can really counter the right’s narrative. You can’t keep insisting there’s no problem as things get worse and worse and expect it to work. The left is weak right now and faces an uphill battle, but it’s a battle where there’s a possibility of winning, while the liberals are ultimately doomed.

Ever since Neoliberalism became dominat amongst mainstream “center” large parties in the West:

• Inequality has explode.
• Social Mobility has collapsed.
• The super-wealthy who are behind all of it because they paid the mainstream politicians to reduce their taxes, to have the State stop controlling, shapping or in any way participating in even the provision of life’s essentials (most notably housing), to enact policies that support big asset owners all paid for with austerity for those who income mainly comes from their work and to remove any and all oversight over money making activities, have been heavilly funding political parties that blame the consequences for the many (especially those at the lowest end of the wealth ladder) of all that on foreigners (“immigrants”, “foreign interference”) as well as News companies to parrot such ideas.

I mean, the first two things could also have made the (non-center, non-mainstream) leftwing grow, but unlike the far-right the people who have most of the wealth aren’t funding parties fighting for more equality or buying newspapers to have them spreading the idea that we should tax the rich more to pay for universal healthcare and high quality education for free or that the democratically elected state should have greater oversight over and participation in the provision of life’s essentials such as housing, so the left only ever advances amongst the well-informed and politically aware, not amongst whose beliefs come tabloid headlines, privatelly owned “news” channels and loudmouth “influencers” who make money from ragebaiting and reinforcing those views.

There are a few little leftwing victories here and there (the recent win of Die Linke in Berlin’s municipal elections, Mamdani’s election as Mayor of New York and so on), but almost all of the money and pretty much all the propaganda that passes for News nowadays is pushing rightwings views so of which being pretty much Fascist views.