The rise of the extreme right can be found everywhere in the Western world. We can see that Italy knows a new government that admires Mussolini, is homophobic… If we combine with the French elections, the American ones… The extreme right is today spreading everywhere in the Western world. Those factors show, in my opinion, a symptom of decadence. The fall of the level of education, a society of consumption that is more in a short run prospects that building real projects for society are leading at the end of the course to this disaster.
From the beginning of the XXIst century we assist to a rise of intolerance, of communautarism that has changed with the September 11 attacks. We can see that with the fall of the level political debates, the focus on details, of “small sentences”… we assist to a real decadence of the public debate. It can be seen in the 2022 French presidential elections. The mediocrity of the debates is sometimes giving to political debates the level of teenage disputes : it was for instance a terrible syndrome to see the debate in March 2022 between Eric Zemmour and Valerie Pecresse. Both were laughing at each other. This mediocrity looks to spread everywhere, when we see the evolution of the level of education. For instance the level of French pupils in mathematics is creating concerns for companies.
Those factors show in my opinion a vote of anger, which doesn’t excuse the fact the extreme right has not to benefit from it. First extreme parties are often based on primary human instincts, which are to find scapegoats for a state of decline, that include accusing foreigners. But the political world has a great part of responsibility in this disaster. We assist today to a world of politicians that only focus on their interest and their ambitions. There is no project, no vision for the future, and many politicians fail to meet basic moral principles. It reminds, in a much smaller scale, the scandal that impacted the Radical party in France in the 30s, that favored the extreme right. Today the decadence of the Vth Republic is showing this position.
In my opinion it is necessary to refocus on two objectives. The first is to be far more ambitious in the education system. Teacher should be a lot more put at the heart of politics, as they prepare the future. But today the way they are treated show that they are more despised than something else. It shows a society that doesn’t think in the long run, that despise a demanding education that is however favoring more equality into society.
The second objective is to invest more in the long run. Today the French and European politician fail to have a long run vision, they don’t wish to innovate, to invest in high technologies. Even if the 2030 investment plan is going to the right direction, it looks not to be ambitious enough. How to pretend play a role in scientific innovation in the future when at the same time to suppress mathematics as a compulsory field in high school? It is not coherent.
Building a real vision for our societies would in my opinion contribute to fight the rise of the extreme right. However the trend we see it worrying, even if it is logical to some extend. All the time “moderate” parties failed to meet basic moral standards, it has favored extremes. This trend is visible today. To which extend this worrying trend will continue?
The observer 