 
Let's begin our exploration of contemporary
antisemitism, by examining the first major
realm from which it emanates - the Far-right.
As mentioned, in the immediate post-war years,
Far-right parties were marginalized in their
ideologies, including racial antisemitism,
were discredited due to the horrific actions
taken by the Nazis and their collaborators
during the war, particularly during the Holocaust.
These ideas remained in the fringes of society, having close to no effect on the mainstream
political sphere, though they did continue
to develop.
Major issues that arose in the second half
of the 20th century, especially from the 1970s
onwards, such as globalism, worldwide immigration,
economic instability served to popularize
these previously marginal voices, allowing
them to gain a more central political position.
Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, Far-right political parties and movements enjoyed victories
in elections across Europe.
Major political gains were made throughout
the 2010s.
Encouraged by a general dissatisfaction following
worldwide recessions, by rising unemployment
by separatist leanings surging in Europe,
and by a continuing immigration and refugee
crisis, nationalism and populism are becoming
ascendant political forces to be reckoned
with.
Following a rising sense of disappointment
in democracy and the welfare state, Far-right
movements and related political parties are
gaining ground in many European states,
as well as in the United States; voices from the
margins of the political landscape are moving
to its center,
transforming from fringe voices to persuasive
political actors who set the agenda and frame
media debates.
We have seen how in the past, groups and movements
active in this sphere, advocated xenophobia,
racism, and antisemitism.
What characterizes the Far-right today?
As we will now hear, some general commonalities
can be found among the various groups defined
as belonging to the Far-right,
though there are of course differences, especially
when describing the more extreme, blatantly,
anti-democratic parties in relation to the
so-called Populist ones.
It's very difficult to generalize about the
Far-right, but there are some characteristic
dimensions which you can attribute to all
of these parties
in spite of the very different traditions
and contexts. It's important to state that
some of these Far-right parties are what we
call 'one issue parties.' So, for example, they
are only directed against Islam or Muslims.
This is specifically the Dutch party of
Geert Wilders and then there are other Far-right
parties, such as the Austrian Freedom Party
or the Hungarian Jobbik and Fidesz or the
the German AFD which have big traditions
and roots in fascism and National Socialism,
and cover a huge range of different aims and
objectives.
And then I would also like to make a distinction
between extreme right and right-wing populist,
although the boundaries are blurred. But extreme
right parties endorse violence, going towards fascism.
I would certainly say that the Golden
Dawn in Greece, or the Jobbik in Hungary are
extreme right neo-Nazi parties.
They have paramilitary troops. They run through the
villages of Roma, in Hungary, for example.
They beat people up. They've killed people. The same is true for the Golden Dawn movement.
Whereas the other right-wing populist parties
like the Austrian or German or also Swedish
or other parties still stay inside the democratic
institutions, even though they try and hollow
them out from inside.
Antisemitism, I believe, is always part and
parcel of Far-right ideologies.
And it's important to emphasize that "Far-right
discourses" always means that they have certain
ideological content. So it's not just form,
it's always also content.
Because we have a limited set of linguistic
resources, so they have to be sort of filled
or merged with certain ideological contents, and one of these contents
is always hatred of Jews.
