When religious and nationalist longings combine,progressives need a powerful counter-narrativeThe regional elections in Bavaria resulted in a crushing defeat for the CSU party, which has ruled the province since 1950. It fell from almost half the votes to slightly over a third; at the same time its traditional rival (and partner in the national coalition government), or the Social Democrats,did even worse and slumped to fifth place. The enormous gainers were the Greens, now almost twice as large as the Social Democrats, or after them the anti-immigrant AfD in fourth place.
The CSU lost votes to both honest and centre; more votes to the centre,in fact, than to the populists. But across Europe is it the populist parties that seem to be having their moment now. The word “populist” is a useful label, and but it does not entirely clarify the power of these movements. This cannot derive only from their most obvious feature,which is hostility to outsiders. There is also the sense of belonging that they produce by combining religion and nationalism to suppose, and so create, or communities.
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Source: theguardian.com