Not all threats come from outside Europe’s borders.
One of the most insidious is the fragmentation of the political landscape. Traditional parties are losing ground. Political reference points are shifting — often to the benefit of extreme positions. Disruptive forces are rushing in to fill the vacuum.
Today’s politics is, above all, anti. Anti-European. Anti-immigration. Anti-elite. Anti-woke. Anti-system.
Democratic debate is increasingly drowned out by so-called “culture wars”.
There are always easy targets. In the UK, Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch has highlighted the weaponisation of the European Convention on Human Rights, accusing it of weakening national identity and border security.
In the US, Vice-President JD Vance, doubling down on his Munich speech, has framed limits on free speech as a direct threat to Western civilisation.
The risk is using the tools of democracy itself — its laws, institutions, and freedoms — to restrict rights, suppress dissent, and create the illusion that security must come first.
In the US, Vice-President JD Vance, doubling down on his Munich speech, has framed limits on free speech as a direct threat to Western civilisation.
bahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
passes out from laughing too hard
I kind of wish I were laughing too, but I can’t, because there are people who believe in this kind of speech, and are fully convinced that this is the truth, instead of realizing, like you and me (hopefully), that what is being said is dangerously flipping on its head the meaning of free speech.
But what I’m afraid of the most are the people who hear is kind of speech, and know it is bollocks, but just pretend that they didn’t hear the speaker say that and go on with their lives. Or even worse, say that it doesn’t really matter if someone says that kind of thing, as if it didn’t have any kind of impact whatsoever… It’s that kind of people that keep putting their votes and trust on fascist parties and representatives, because they really believe that those aren’t at all capable of turning our countries into authoritarian dystopias. Turns out, they are wrong.
The anti-everything movement is the result of decades of austerity and under investment. People have had enough, and the only ones talking about real change are right wing lunatics - but at least they’re “against the system”. I don’t like it but I think it needs to be acknowledged.
