World News and Trends: Right-wing movement sweeps Europe
The winds of political change are blowing across Europe, including upheavals in the Netherlands and France.
Dutch rightist and party leader Pim Fortuyn was assassinated on May 6, not long after his party's surprising showing at the Dutch polls. It came second in a country whose governmental structure usually embraces a coalition of parties.
In France, extremist party leader Jean-Marie Le Pen came in second in the French presidential race, consigning socialist Prime Minister Leon Jospin to third place and paving the way for his ouster from government. This left France in a state of shock, producing a national scare that in turn engendered the overwhelming victory of incumbent President Jacques Chirac in the runoff.
These headline-grabbing changes are indicative of what is taking place a little more quietly in much of Europe. According to The Economist: "A pattern may now be emerging across the EU [European Union]. Centre-left and social democratic governments are losing power to centre-right governments. In the past year the left has lost power in Italy, Denmark, Portugal and now the Netherlands. In France, the Socialists' candidate [Leon Jospin] failed to reach the final round of the presidential election."
Germany's Social-Democratic chancellor, Gerhard Schröder, faces a tough challenge from the farther-right Edmund Stoiber in September's elections. Jörg Haider's right-wing Freedom Party is gaining ground in Austria's ruling coalition. Racially extremist National Front movements are on the rise in both Britain and France. Said Claude Allégre, former education minister in the socialist Jospin government: "We are witnessing a Europe swinging back towards the right, and sometimes towards the extreme right. And France is no different. Why should it be? Pink Europe is finished."
The New York Times succinctly sums up the current situation: "From Spain to Scandinavia, European politics is drifting to the right. As the economy slows, political parties stressing law and order and stricter controls on immigration are gaining ground, and mainstream conservative politicians are becoming more popular."
At the heart of the problem is the westward refugee movement from Eastern Europe. The iron curtain and Berlin Wall are no more. People pour into the nations of Western Europe demanding asylum amid a climate of high unemployment (on the Continent) and strained social and financial resources. Often the citizenry resents the sudden presence of these refugees, however compelling their individual cases may be.
Margaret Thatcher's observations are instructive in her new book, Statecraft. "During my lifetime most of the problems the world has faced have come, in one fashion or the other, from mainland Europe, and the solutions from outside it" (2002, p. 320).
From time to time since the era of the Roman Empire, the European continent has been host to damaging revolutionary movements that periodically repeat themselves, devastating the land with pain and death. The worry is that a European superstate may lead the next wave. Our free booklet The Book of Revelation Unveiled shows where these trends fit in Bible prophecy. (Sources: The New York Times, The Christian Science Monitor [electronic edition], The Economist, Statecraft, The Sunday Times [London].)
An Article from:
Good News Magazine: July - August 2002
Course Content
Scott Ashley
Scott Ashley was managing editor of Beyond Today magazine, United Church of God booklets and its printed Bible Study Course until his retirement in 2023. He also pastored three congregations in Colorado for 10 years from 2011-2021. He and his wife, Connie, live near Denver, Colorado.
Mr. Ashley attended Ambassador College in Big Sandy, Texas, graduating in 1976 with a theology major and minors in journalism and speech. It was there that he first became interested in publishing, an industry in which he worked for 50 years.
During his career, he has worked for several publishing companies in various capacities. He was employed by the United Church of God from 1995-2023, overseeing the planning, writing, editing, reviewing and production of Beyond Today magazine, several dozen booklets/study guides and a Bible study course covering major biblical teachings. His special interests are the Bible, archaeology, biblical culture, history and the Middle East.
John Ross Schroeder
John died on March 8, 2014, in Oxford, England, four days after suffering cardiac arrest while returning home from a press event in London. John was 77 and still going strong.
Some of John's work for The Good News appeared under his byline, but much didn't. He wrote more than a thousand articles over the years, but also wrote the Questions and Answers section of the magazine, compiled our Letters From Our Readers, and wrote many of the items in the Current Events and Trends section. He also contributed greatly to a number of our study guides and Bible Study Course lessons. His writing has touched the lives of literally millions of people over the years.
John traveled widely over the years as an accredited journalist, especially in Europe. His knowledge of European and Middle East history added a great deal to his articles on history and Bible prophecy.
In his later years he also pastored congregations in Northern Ireland and East Sussex, and that experience added another dimension to his writing. He and his wife Jan were an effective team in our British Isles office near their home.
John was a humble servant who dedicated his life to sharing the gospel—the good news—of Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God to all the world, and his work was known to readers in nearly every country of the world.
Melvin Rhodes
Melvin Rhodes is a member of the United Church of God congregation in Lansing, Michigan.
