By Paul Nyssen
I know a few people who have turned to the far right. Anti-migration, anti-Jew, anti-Muslim, anti-homosexual, anti-lefty – and especially “them greenies” – anti anything they can be against. No exactly bad people, just people; sadly when things get a little complicated, people reach for the quick and easy fix.
Going up the coast to check whether my yacht is still afloat, I was reading an article about the “concerning rise” of the far right here in Australia. A concern, yes, because hating a five-year-old because of its skin colour is ugly. After giving a few stats this article went on about legislation as the solution, but not once questioning what is is feeding the far right? The article was on a centre-left news app, one which likes to neatly divide society into good and bad people, persecutors and the persecuted. Most often such gothic divisions miss the point.
It’s useful to look back at the most spectacular rise of the far right: Nazi Germany. Germany did not start World War I, but when defeated, it was the most harshly punished. Crippling war reparations designed to destroy, a collapsed economy resulting in political chaos, and people pushing a wheelbarrow of worthless money to buy a loaf of bread. To make matters worse, the Kaiser was removed, creating a political vacuum the far left and far right vied to fill. Along came the National Socialists, the Nazis, with promises of ripping up the 1919 Treaty of Versailles, cease paying reparations which otherwise would have continued until 1984. They promised to make Germany great again. They also assured the German people they would not start another war. Some might remember the German film “The Tin Drum?” The little boy called Oskar who seeing the adult world decides against growing up. It’s set in the lead up to WWII and there’s a telling line in the script when Oskar says – I paraphrase – “There was once a naive people who believed in Santa, until one day, they discovered Santa was the Gas Man.”
When people cannot see a solution to real world problems, they turn to whoever offers a solution, and very often the problem is that living is unaffordable. People feel their concerns are not being taken seriously. In Australia, rents and house prices are ever increasing, and if you apply for public housing, you can expect to wait for twelve years before getting an affordable place to live. Food prices appear to be set by a simple calculation of how much major retailers can get away with charging. In fact, were it not for cheap online goods, life in Australia would be near impossible. We have another problem here and it is that we have too many unskilled people, we lack highly skilled people and entrepreneurs. The economy here is near banana republic and as an economist said, “If the measure of a nations’ collective intelligence can be assessed by the diversity of its exports, then Australia is dumb and getting dumber.” Digging up coal and dumping it on a ship bound for East Asia, is New South Wales’ biggest source of income. People in Australia appear to believe they can all get rich by buying and selling houses to each other. The situation is as complex as would be the needed solutions, therefore successive governments have kicked the bucket down the street. The far right suggest a simple solution, kick out migrants because migrants fill social housing, and push up house and rent prices. Would a sudden decrease in both be a desirable thing? Probably not for those with a ridiculous mortgage, which is near half the population. There’s no quick and painless fix.