Notre-Dame fire ignites the West's far right

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A strange - though not altogether surprising - thing happened in the shadow of Monday's tragedy in France. As many around the world watched an iconic cathedral in Paris go up in flames, others immediately set about trying to spark new fires.

On both sides of the Atlantic, denizens of the far right took to social media to grind their culture-warring axes, locating in the calamity a parable for the political moment - or, at least, their understanding of it.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on April 19, 2019, with the headline Notre-Dame fire ignites the West's far right. Subscribe