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NEOFASCISM GAINS IN EUROPE
(FORTUNE Magazine) – Stoked mainly by fears of more immigrants from North Africa and the former Soviet bloc, European voters have continued to back extreme right-wing candidates, as a number of recent election results show. Examples: -- In Italy, Alessandra Mussolini, granddaughter of Il Duce, won one of the neofascist Italian Social Movement's 34 seats (vs. 35 in 1987) in Rome's 630- seat Parliament. Gloats she: ''Many people still agree with my grandfather's thinking.'' -- In France, Jean-Marie Le Pen's racist National Front party won 14% in regional elections, up from 9.6% in 1988. -- In Germany's Baden-Wurttemberg region, voters ended 20 years of domination by President Kohl's Christian Democrats. Right-wingers and anti-immigrant factions oppose a more united Europe and want a ''Europe of Fatherlands.'' Is Europe at the brink of another Dark Age? Not yet. Demonstrations against right-wing extremists are usually noisier and larger than those supporting them. Another sign of European stability: Britons have reelected Prime Minister John Major's Conservative government. |
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