Ahead of the European election, striking data shows where Gen Z and millennials’ allegiances lie.

Far-right parties are surging across Europe — and young voters are buying in.

Many parties with anti-immigrant agendas are even seeing support from first-time young voters in the upcoming June 6-9 European Parliament election.

In Belgium, France, Portugal, Germany and Finland, younger voters are backing anti-immigration and anti-establishment parties in numbers equal to and even exceeding older voters, analyses of recent elections and research of young people’s political preferences suggest.

In the Netherlands, Geert Wilders’ anti-immigration far-right Freedom Party won the 2023 election on a campaign that tied affordable housing to restrictions on immigration — a focus that struck a chord with young voters. In Portugal, too, the far-right party Chega, which means “enough” in Portuguese, drew on young people’s frustration with the housing crisis, among other quality-of-life concerns.

The analysis also points to a split: While young women often reported support for the Greens and other left-leaning parties, anti-migration parties did particularly well among young men. (Though there are some exceptions. See France, below, for example.)

  • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    You think the EU didn’t have a hand in that? Who did Libya again? Who was famous for doing stuff in Northern and Western Africa? Who drew the lines that fucked half the world? Who insisted on keeping their colonies until it was absolutely too late to stop strong man rebellions from becoming dictatorships?

    The US is in the picture, but it’s not alone by a long shot.

    • acargitz@lemmy.ca
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      5 months ago

      God no, the EU countries are not blameless. But they by far not the prime mover of the blowing up of the Middle East.

      Junior partners are junior.

      • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        Oh? The US forced the French to keep operating in Africa until (checks notes) last year? The US forced them to operate colonies until they couldn’t be militarily sustained anymore? The US forced the dumbest drawing of country borders? The US forced Europe to take part in cold war geopolitics?

        Take some responsibility.

          • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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            5 months ago

            Are you aware of what’s happening in Gaza right now? Did you know France was one of Saddam’s biggest arms suppliers during the Iran Iraq war?

            You really really need to read more history.

            • acargitz@lemmy.ca
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              5 months ago

              None of this negates my argument.

              I’m making the argument that the Europeans, while being junior partners in imperialist domination are not the main drivers, and are in fact an order of magnitude less powerful than the US. Wtf is your argument? That they are co-equal to the Americans?

              • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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                5 months ago

                Arguably the hard right foreign policies of the US from the last 10-20 years are responsible for a lot of the migrant waves Europeans are fearing.

                That’s not what you said. The conflicts from the last 10-20 years are rooted in colonialism, the break up of the Ottoman empire, and the rise of single resource economies. The US is certainly the leading imperial power right now, but they didn’t set this stage.

                • acargitz@lemmy.ca
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                  5 months ago

                  Sure, but why stop in the 1600s? Let’s go all the way back to the agricultural revolution. I blame Sumer.

                  • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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                    5 months ago

                    We should never have started planting food. It was all down hill from there. Big Sumer ruined everything!