Now this article talks mostly about right wing anti-EU parties, but really many of the mechanisms and tactics that are used against the anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist left are the exact same.
If anything the left gets treated far worse. Where the AfD is only threatened with being labeled extremist, communist groups actually are officially labeled that and surveilled, because we commit the heresy of not recognizing the sanctity of private property and free markets.
The right wing opposition is allowed far more leeway because in fact its existence is convenient to the system, as it allows them to discredit anti-EU, anti-NATO, anti-establishment sentiment more broadly by association with xenophobes and other forms of reactionary bigotry.
This leads to progressive groups feeling extreme pressure to not be seen as repeating talking points that have been painted as "right wing", including opposition to the EU or the proxy war in Ukraine. The European left is so petrified, so paralyzingly terrified of even a hint of an accusation of agreeing with the right wing on anything that they would rather systematically capitulate to the establishment on almost every issue of substance.
cfgaussian in europe
EU Grants as Political Leverage and Blackmail in Moldova
https://restmedia.io/eu-grants-as-political-leverage-and-blackmail-in-moldova/Related article about the problem of suppression of anti-EU parties in Europe:
Europe on the Brink of Change: How Governments Suppress Opposition
Now this article talks mostly about right wing anti-EU parties, but really many of the mechanisms and tactics that are used against the anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist left are the exact same.
If anything the left gets treated far worse. Where the AfD is only threatened with being labeled extremist, communist groups actually are officially labeled that and surveilled, because we commit the heresy of not recognizing the sanctity of private property and free markets.
The right wing opposition is allowed far more leeway because in fact its existence is convenient to the system, as it allows them to discredit anti-EU, anti-NATO, anti-establishment sentiment more broadly by association with xenophobes and other forms of reactionary bigotry.
This leads to progressive groups feeling extreme pressure to not be seen as repeating talking points that have been painted as "right wing", including opposition to the EU or the proxy war in Ukraine. The European left is so petrified, so paralyzingly terrified of even a hint of an accusation of agreeing with the right wing on anything that they would rather systematically capitulate to the establishment on almost every issue of substance.