Smeared As ‘Far Right’? That Means You Must Be Doing Something Right

Anyone the Left disagrees with is "far right" by definition, just as they were "fascists" in times past. In fact, the latter epithet still crops up.

From The European Conservative

By Mick Hume

This is about more than words. The ‘far right’ slander is being used by the authorities to justify far-reaching attacks on democracy.

Reading recent scary headlines might make some people worry that jackbooted stormtroopers are on the march in European capitals again. 

We have been warned by the establishment media that the “Polish far-right’s win is a thunderclap above Europe” (Le Monde); informed of how “The hard-right’s champion blows up the Dutch government” (The Economist); told that German politics is now a pitched battle “between the far-right AfD and just about everyone else” (Euractiv); given a health warning that British democracy is threatened by a “populist far-right virus” (Politico). And much more along similar lines.

You would not know it from the language used, but what these stories are really describing is democracy in action. In different ways, in different countries, they are all about right-wing political leaders standing up for what they see as the interests and expectations of the demos, the people who elect them. And winning the support of masses of voters by sticking to their principles. 

The European establishment recoils in horror from such democratic displays. It tries to brand the rising populist parties as ‘far-right,’ ‘hard right,’ or ‘extreme right’ in order to delegitimise them and exclude them from normal democratic debate. 

The message is that these parties are a dangerous ‘virus’ that must be quarantined and destroyed. And by implication, that it would be safest if the millions who vote for them are ignored, censored, and potentially locked up by the political elites.

“The word Fascism has now no meaning except in so far as it signifies ‘something not desirable’.” Thus wrote George Orwell, British author of dystopian novel 1984, in his brilliant 1946 essay “Politics and the English Language.” Orwell exposed the way that, almost 80 years ago, Stalinists and the rest of the left had already turned “fascist!” into a catch-all insult to silence anybody who disagreed with them.

Today, an updated 2025 version of Orwell’s critique of political language might observe that, “’Far Right’ now has no meaning except ‘everything and everybody we hate, fear and loathe’.” 

For Europe’s political and media elites and their allies on the left, the label ‘far right’ is now wielded as an all-purpose political insult, used to smear anybody who dares to question the Brussels worldview. In particular, ‘far right’ is used to try to demonise and isolate national populist movements—and most importantly, to denigrate their mass of ordinary voters.  

Those of us who support the populist revolt across Europe should never be defensive or apologetic in response to the establishment’s smear campaign. The truth is that the opinions and policies smeared as ‘far right’ are shared by millions of people across Europe. Indeed, until quite recently, many of them would have been considered as common sense rather than extremism.

We need only look at the sort of ideas that have been branded ‘far right’ to see which side we are on in these debates. In recent times we have been instructed, for instance, that it was ‘far right’ to insist that a woman cannot have a penis, or that a biological man should not be allowed to beat up women in a boxing ring, or for parents to complain about their children being exposed to pornographic drag acts. 

We have been told by finger-wagging scolds that it is ‘far right’ to demonstrate your hatred for the Jew-haters of Hamas and protest against Islamist terrorism on the streets of London or Amsterdam.  You also risk being labelled ‘far right’ if you have shown support for Europe’s farmers, fighting against the agriculture-and-industry-destroying madness of the EU’s Net Zero dogma.  

And of course, it is always ‘far right’ to raise concerns about the devastating impact of uncontrolled mass migration on European societies and culture. Or worse, it is a “far-right dog whistle” to insist on exposing how the scandal of Muslim rape gangs terrorising white working-class girls in British towns and cities has been covered up by the Labour Party and the police. 

It is apparently not only ‘far-right,’ but also often illegal, to use your freedom of speech to express support for any of these or many other ‘extreme’ causes. While ‘far right’ parties can be (temporarily) excluded from power behind a political cordon sanitaire, supposed ‘far right’ posters on social media can find themselves behind prison bars. 

Looking at the ever-longer list of issues and opinions now branded ‘far right, it seems safe to draw one conclusion. If they try to smear you as ‘far right’ today, it is a sure sign that you must be doing something right. 

This is no time for being defensive in response to these official insults. Instead we should make clear that we stand with all those whose popular causes are being denigrated by the elites, regardless of what playground insults they choose to throw at us.

This is about more than words. The ‘far right’ slander is being used by the authorities to justify far-reaching attacks on democracy: from cancelling elections in Romania because the nationalist candidate was winning, to banning the national conservative candidate who was favourite to win the French presidency, and potentially banning an entire national populist party that has surged to the top of the polls in Germany.

These explicitly autocratic displays show the weakness, not strength, of the panicking anti-populist elites. We must stand firm in defence of democracy against them all. 

As ever, our great hope is the demos. Recent elections show once again that people do not like being ordered who to vote for by the unelected European Commission or courts. They do not believe Brussels’ lies, slurs and slanders about ‘far right’ extremism. And the undefeated populist revolt across Europe confirms that many now know right is on our side.