Owning their extremes
Melanie Phillips
Mainstream politicians on both left and right must lay down red lines against the unconscionable on their own side
Mainstream politicians on both left and right must lay down red lines against the unconscionable on their own side
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This is an expanded version of my column in today’s Times (£).
Today’s political polarisation takes many forms. One of the most insidious is a way of thinking, among both left-wingers and right-wingers, that holds there can be no enemies to the left of you or no enemies to the right of you.
It’s what might be called sectarian myopia, the refusal to acknowledge a lurch into dangerous extremism on your own side. It’s causing damage and danger in America and Britain. And in France, it has led to a lynching.
Last week, a 23 year-old reportedly right-wing student, Quentin Deranque, was murdered in the southern French city of Lyon after being kicked in the head by a group of extreme-left activists belonging to a group called the Young Guard. Deranque had volunteered to help protect feminists protesting against mass immigration. Eleven people were arrested and seven have been charged with his murder.
Last year, the French government proscribed this group because it attacked feminists, Jews and political opponents. Like other far-left activists such as Antifa and Black Lives Matter, the Young Guard claims to be “fighting fascism”.
In fact, the unprovoked violence committed by such groups hardly fits the definition of anti-fascism. But most of the mainstream left won’t call them out for such behaviour or take action against them. Indeed, many even support them...
