Can the Right Save Europe?

This article first appeared in New English Review



It seems the news coming out of Europe is so bad that many of us wonder if the entire continent is doomed to a fate of Islamization. Terror attacks have hit major cities like Paris, Brussels, Nice and others. Crime on the part of immigrants, migrants, asylum-seekers, and so-called refugees is seemingly at an all-time high. As I write, Paris has been wracked by five nights of rioting by immigrants over an alleged police brutality incident. Immigrant riots are a regular occurrence throughout France as well as  Sweden's third-largest city, Malmö, which is 25% Muslim. The overwhelming majority of incidents of immigrant crime are attributed to Muslims.

Meanwhile, Sweden is the rape capital of Europe with Germany threatening to catch up thanks to Angela Merkel's insane acceptance of some one million people who have flooded in from the Middle East and North Africa. From Italy to Norway, the picture is pretty much the same; growing Muslim minorities, unassimilated and seething in suburbs/ghettos, now called "no-go" zones, where native Europeans dare not to tread.

Jews are leaving countries like France, the Netherlands, and Sweden in droves due to constant harassment and assaults by Muslim immigrants while the Europeans and their political leaders turn  a blind eye. A continent that should be sensitive to anti-semitism seems not to care largely as a result of their opposition to Israel. They would rather lose their productive Jewish communities than offend their restive Muslim newcomers. Meanwhile, as Muslim imams scream their hatred of the West from their mosques, citizens who dare to speak out  and call for a halt to Muslim migration risk being arrested, prosecuted, fined, or even imprisoned. Ask Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff of Austria. She is an activist who has been convicted and fined for so-called "hate speech". Ask Dutch politician Geert Wilders. He has been prosecuted multiple times, most recently convicted and fined for speaking out against Muslim immigration and crime.

And where are Europe's political leaders? They are paralyzed and refuse to stop the insane policies of allowing their borders to be overrun. Indeed, under the Schengen Agreement, once anyone lands in a EU country, they can travel freely across borders with no checks. This is also EU policy.
Let them come. It is a picture of a continent apparently committing suicide.

One asks, is there any hope or is it too late? I see a ray of hope, but the window of opportunity is closing fast and much depends on coming elections. The first victory was Britain's vote to leave the EU. Other countries may follow if the coming elections put the right people in place. Everyday people are frustrated by the centralized control of Brussels as well as the EU's policies on immigration. Self determination is becoming a big issue.

An election will be held this year in France, and it is possible that Marine LePen of the Front National will be elected. Her main opponent, François Fillon, is now embroiled in a nepotism scandal involving large amounts of money paid to his wife. LePen is France's leading voice against continued immigration. The current president, François Hollande, with an approval rating in single digits, has wisely decided not to run again.

Later this year, Angela Merkel must stand for reelection in Germany. It seems incredible given the public outrage at her policies, that she could be be reelected. Last month, Alternatif fuer Deutschland, an anti-immigrant party,  hosted a conference in Koblenz that featured as speakers their own Frauke Petry, LePen, Geert Wilders, and Matteo Salvini from Lega Nord in Italy. They all called for a new Europe with controlled borders and independence from the EU.

In Italy, Salvini is the leading voice of change. He heads Lega Nord (Northern League), which began as a political organization in northern Italy resisting the burden of financially supporting the poorer south. It has now expanded to oppose immigration and membership in the EU. Lega Nord is joined by Fratelli d'Italia (Brothers of Italia), headed by Giorgia Meloni. On January 28, Salvini joined Meloni in a protest in Rome which drew thousands from all over the country. They are attempting to form an effective center-right coalition with Forza Italia (under Enrico Berlusconi). They have already helped defeat a reform effort by Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, which led to his resignation and are now calling for immediate elections. Like the rest of Europe, the Italians are fed up with waves of migrants, mostly North Africans who are being housed in hotels and hostels while recent avalanche victims huddle in the cold.

In the Netherlands, the aforementioned Wilders, an eloquent and  courageous figure who lives under constant bodyguards in safe houses with his family while being hounded by prosecutors and his own parliament, may be the country's next leader. His party the Partij voor de Vrijheid (Party for Freedom) is leading in the polls. His is a voice of sanity and reason in a country that has long needed it.

With the possible exception of Germany, Sweden is the country that has gone farthest off the cliff in its acceptance of immigrants who, rather than assimilate, are making its cities unsafe. Rape is through the roof. Yet, those who speak out are castigated as racists. The Sweden Democrats under Jimmie Åkesson, are rising in popularity. The party, which is only a couple of decades old, is hampered by its early years in which some members were neo-Nazis. These were eventually driven out of the party, which has attempted to be more mainstream. Yet its political opponents still accuse them of being racist. Åkesson, is a young, charismatic figure who is trying to bring  Sweden to its senses.

Ironically, it is the eastern European countries, only recently communist, who are most resisting the influx of migrants. One of its strongest voices against immigration is Hungary's controversial leader Viktor Orbán, who refuses to allow the EU to dictate how many migrants Hungary must accept. He openly states that immigrants from the Middle East and North Africa have shown they will not assimilate. Of course, the preference of the migrants is not countries like Hungary, rather Germany or Sweden with their more generous benefits.

This year, which features several elections in Europe, may be the decisive year. Europe is in crisis and the people are angry. In my view, having spent a total of eight years living in Germany and Italy, if the elections do not bring in new leaders who will reverse this trend, the people will turn to more radical leaders who will promise more radical solutions.

Or Europe will simply surrender and become what many are already calling it: Eurabia.