Many articles have been written and will be written about the far right and the dirty tricks, through which it has risen to prominence. But we will find very little about the responsibilities of our political system that has allowed its rise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The people are usually moderate and prefer the stability of the parties around the center. They only find themselves in the extremes when they feel they have no other choice. Many of our fellow citizens are disheartened and betrayed by the current political edifice, which brought about the memoranda to our country and still fosters many pathologies and corruption. So, people's confidence in the system is lost. What is more, this untrustworty system chooses to be indifferent to the concerns of these people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But why are the problems of these people not being heard? Because we progressives often prefer to judge them. Many of our fellow citizens see the world around them changing radically and often react with fear. Many of the constants are now flactuating in an equally changing world. So when people in areas around the border react to waves of immigration that radically change the environment they live in, we call them racist. When we see the classic institution of the nuclear family changing and some people insisting on the old ones, we call them religious nuts and homophobic. When many see their personal liberties compromised in favor of a mandatory medical procedure like the Covid vaccine, we call them conspiracy theorists. In their every reaction to a changing society, we point fingers and marginalize them. Is it so unepxected then that these people are pushed to the extremes?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Surely society's progress cannot stop, nor should it. There will always be a part of the world that will react to progress, without being driven to the extremes. However, the portion displaced to the extremes is growing alarmingly. This is because the inclusivity we serve, ends up excluding many. I served as an infantryman in Evros (a part of Greece very close to the border) and there I experienced the real pride and love of the people for the armed forces. Because there they know more than anyone what it means to live in a border area. There, the military is an institution that offers the security and relief that someone cares about their problems. In the urban centers, we call pride in the army a remnant of the past, and those who feel it are called nationalists and fascists. Of course, we forget what they truly are: our fellow citizens. We forget to share their concerns and fears first, before rushing to isolate them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The far right cannot be made up only of extreme right-wingers, especially when it reaches such high percentages. It is also made up of people who feel that there is no space for them in our modern world and political system. That is why, we the citizens, must speak to and listen to the people who are fleeing to the extremes. The political system, of course, must make even more changes. The real opponent to the far right in my opinion can only be the center-left. But the center-left needs to change its political product. With some changes, the center-left can stand for all citizens and bring them back to the democratic arc. It will achieve that not by changing the people in the lead but by changing the way communicates its values are communicated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the key benefits that the extremes offer their supporters is the promotion of patriotism. It is true that patriotic messages are so absent from the progressive parties, that it has become a taboo word. Let us remember that the left, however, was not always like this. Andreas Papandreou (founder of Greece's socialist party) used to say: \"Greece belongs to the Greeks\" showing us the patriotic left. Such a shift can be a step towards attracting people whose patriotism is misnomered by the excessively progressive forces as nationalism, xenophobia, racism etc. without it being true.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Also, a milder progressive agenda is needed. Since Greece is conservative, the very ambitious progressive goals will have to wait. The reason is simple: if it is not done gradually, society will show more resistance and for good reason. Progress is best achieved if it is accepted, not forced. Some believe, however, that you often have to force change. Thus, here looms the creeping question, and perhaps the main reason the far-right is on the rise: do we as progressive forces want to defeat the (far-) right, or stick to an agenda that the world demonstrably doesn't care about? The dilemma is simple: either we change, or we surrender our country to conservatism and extreme ideologies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After all, extremes always show the worst side of society. But they are made to represent a tiny minority. However, when they reach such high percentages that make them able to sway political power, then we have a problem. Right now the far-right and its rise is built on people who are not extermists but want to show their displeasure toward a system that not only doesn't serve them but mocks them. For us citizens the quest is one: labels are a divisive game that does not help us find solutions. Only by listening to our fellow citizen (with whom we disagree) can we understand why they believe what they believe. For the political system and especially for the center-left, we need to understand something more important: it is time for a more patriotic agenda that will not lose its progressiveness aspect, but adapt it to a larger audience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It's simple. The far right is not here to stay; unless we let it.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It's time to find out who is to blame for the far right's rise to prominence.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3401,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[289,10,8,284],"ppma_author":[304],"class_list":["post-3400","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-289","tag-10","tag-8","tag-284"],"authors":[{"term_id":304,"user_id":2,"is_guest":0,"slug":"gterzo8","display_name":"\u0393\u03b9\u03ce\u03c1\u03b3\u03bf\u03c2 \u03a4\u03b5\u03c1\u03b6\u03cc\u03c0\u03bf\u03c5\u03bb\u03bf\u03c2","avatar_url":{"url":"https:\/\/politiquill.gr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/420077173_334756852719970_5720109162751130944_n-\u0391\u03bd\u03c4\u03b9\u03b3\u03c1\u03b1\u03c6\u03ae-e1741618858347.webp","url2x":"https:\/\/politiquill.gr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/420077173_334756852719970_5720109162751130944_n-\u0391\u03bd\u03c4\u03b9\u03b3\u03c1\u03b1\u03c6\u03ae-e1741618858347.webp"},"0":null,"1":"","2":"","3":"","4":"","5":"","6":"","7":"","8":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/politiquill.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3400","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/politiquill.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/politiquill.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/politiquill.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/politiquill.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3400"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/politiquill.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3400\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3406,"href":"https:\/\/politiquill.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3400\/revisions\/3406"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/politiquill.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3401"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/politiquill.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3400"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/politiquill.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3400"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/politiquill.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3400"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/politiquill.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=3400"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}