Frank Furedi: What The Populist Surge In The EU Tells Us

Hello classmates and welcome to Thinking Class. Today I'm speaking with Dr. Frank Furedi. Frank is an author, social commentator and Emeritus Professor of Sociology at the University of Kent, author of more than 26 books, Frank's studies have been devoted to an exploration of the cultural developments in Western societies. And in recent years, he's published several studies on the impact of the culture wars on family life, socialisation, education, and public life. Frank is also the Director of @mccbrussels.
In this episode, Frank and I talk about what the recent shift toward populist, sovereigntist parties in the European parliament elections means for Europe, how it may be the beginning of a replacement of the current political class, as we spoke about in episode 10 of Thinking Class, the 2024 French presidential elections, and how feelings of estrangement and dispossession are driving this populist wave; the response of the politicians, parties and institutions in danger of being swept up by it and the methods they're employing in a bid to hold on to power; how Gen-Z and younger generations appear to be yearning for tradition and national identity, rather than naturally inclining to left-liberal ideas; why the old left and old right seem to be cooperating to overthrow the current status quo; the universal recognition across Europe that the close alliance between leftism and Islam is not a good thing; whether France is skirting with civil war, the threat of 'financial terrorism' to torpedo any Rassemblement National government; whether the attempt to keep populist parties down is delaying the inevitable; why populist parties need a coherent governing strategy should they win power to be successful in the long term; the need to preserve Western civilisation and its cultural heritage, and what Frank has changed his mind on in the course of his life.
I really enjoyed being able to welcome Frank back on the show. He's straight talking and he's got an uncanny ability to boil down political developments and philosophical concepts, practically and in bite sized ways. There's lots I can learn there. If you haven't listened to episode 10, where Frank also features, please do so because it's a natural precursor to this one.
Enjoy the show Classmates. And don't forget to subscribe.
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About Thinking Class:
Thinking Class is a free-speech RUclips show and podcast about the state of our world. Join John Gillam and his guests to understand why elites and their ideas matter, and how what they think, say, and do impacts the health of our society, culture, and civilisation. This podcast explores what made our civilisation, what is unmaking it, and how each of us might respond to keep it together.

[@joe6167]

Could it be trying to tell you that, "people don't like getting mass raped and impoverished and their cultures destroyed?

[@dlwilkinson]

Thanks John for the video. I look forward to a conversation with Peter Hitchens.. ;.)

[@michellejohansson4025]

Change is coming, a wide ranging discussion thank you

[@user-zi8lx5fw1w]

Reform will win. I can feel it in the air.

[@futures2247]

lets hope not, goodbye NHS and everything will be privatised and inequality will increase even more.

[@shrunkensimon]

​@@futures2247 NHS has been finished for years, it's a joke

[@futures2247]

@@shrunkensimon its actually an amazing system still doing a lot of great work despite being hollowed out, packaged off and sold to the private sector and lumbered with unrealistic KPI's targets and mass staff burnout - not long ago it was rated the best health care system in the world by far. All we ever hear are bad stories in the media - this is an old trick to get dummies to think 'its a joke' and will welcome the false promises and wholesale sell off - as usual we don't know what we've got until its gone - unless you are one of those wankers with enough money not to care about an NHS.

[@aion5837]

When demographics rapidly shift, I'm not sure how the organic past of native peoples' can be maintained. The question seems to be, how people from numerous cultural backgrounds, can live together in some kind of cohesive way. Organic change occurs slowly over time. It's adaptive. To artificially speed-up this adaptive process requires draconian measures ie white guilt, hate speech laws etc. Of course, there will be negative backlash as people feel an increasing sense of alienation. Steps taken by the EU economically or politically to reverse this trend will ultimately fail, because it won't or can't address the core issue. The EU will change or it will cease to exist. It's unavoidable.
Sorry about the bold text.