Faced with rising far right, Soros Foundations look West
Source: Reuters
WORLD NEWS JUNE 20, 2019 / 12:07 PM / UPDATED 11 HOURS AGO
Faced with rising far right, Soros Foundations look West
Thomas Escritt
4 MIN READ
BERLIN (Reuters) - George Soross Open Society Foundations, best known for funding civil rights activists across Eastern Europe and the developing world, are increasingly turning their attention to affluent western Europe in response to the rise of the far right there.
Officials at the hedge fund magnate and philanthropists charity, which disburses around a billion dollars a year, said the nationalist rights recent electoral successes were triggering the same contraction in the space for independent activism that had earlier been seen in Eastern Europe.
In southern France, the foundation has stepped in to replace funding to local migrant rights and anti-discrimination groups whose financing was frozen when Marine Le Pens then-National Front, since renamed National Rally, took power in a number of municipalities.
With Germanys anti-immigration Alternative for Germany set to make gains in regional elections across the countrys east in the autumn, the foundation is preparing to take similar steps, said Selmin Caliskan, a director in its new Berlin office.
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https://www.reuters.com/article/us-germany-soros/faced-with-rising-far-right-soros-foundations-look-west-idUSKCN1TL233