re: #364 gegenkritik

How surprising, gegenkritik. Not a single word on the connections between the NPD, Voorpost and the Vlaams Belang. That’s understandable, of course, when you seek to pretend that the VB is something else entirely, and that I am silly to name both the NPD and the VB eurofascist.

As you probably know, de Benoist is one of several post-WWII ideologists who have had significant influence on the development of fascist theory.

This influence is not only found in the “new right” movement he helped found, but also outside of it - for instance through others employing the ideas and rhetoric of de Benoist’s thinking on socalled “ethnopluralism”. You don’t really have to look very hard to find “ethnopluralism”-thinking in the NPD. The fact that Molau - one of the more notable Benoist-supporters in the party - has gone over to Frey’s DVU and was kicked out of the NPD as recently as this fall, does not really remove the ideological impact de Benoist and other new right thinkers has had.

Anyway, I hardly disagree with you if you call the NPD Nazi, even if I think it’s more approriate to speak about neo-fascism. The reason I believe neo-fascism is a better term is because using the word Nazism suggest that there’s been little ideological development at all, when for instance the “new right” insistance on “ethnopluralism” is now widely used by neo-fascists around Europe.

Obviously, there are differences between different Eurofascist parties, based on national circumstances, ideological development, varying views on economic policies and many other things. Journalist Adi Schwartz described the reality quite accurately when he named his interview with Filip Dewinter “between Haider and a hard place”. In that context, NPD was and still is the hard place.

Funny still, how Dewinter had a poster in his office signed by not only the NPD - but also by the former Italian neo-fascist party MSI.

Hanging on the wall of Dewinter’s office, where the interview takes place, is a large poster from the 1960s that reads: “Europe, free yourself!” The banner is signed by an organization of nationalist parties in Europe, including the Italian Socialist Movement (MSI), the neo-fascist party established by Mussolini’s supporters, and the German National Democratic Party (NPD), one of the most extreme far-right movements in Europe, which some say is really neo-Nazi. On the windowsill are several small flags of sister parties of Dewinter’s party: the party of Austrian Joerg Haider, the French National Front of Jean-Marie Le Pen and the German Republican Party. Among these parties, Mude explains, Vlaams Belang is very close to Le Pen’s party - more extreme than Haider, but more moderate than the German NPD. Mude considers it one of the most extreme, well-organized and successful movements in Europe.

adi-schwartz.com

Why do you think Dewinter had that poster on his wall?