Phobic Discourses of the Far Right: The Case of Volen Siderov

Abstract

This article focuses on one of the factors that is conducive to the rise of the far right in current European societies: the articulation of phobic discourses. Far-right leadership has engaged in a systematic manipulation of phobias that lie in fears, anxieties, and discomfort towards the unknown and unfamiliar, omnipresent in our globalised world. This article investigates a set of phobic discourses articulated by the leader of the far-right Bulgarian political party ATAKA, Volen Siderov, but not uncommon in other far-right parties. More specifically, it explores ethnophobia, implying that the nation is withering away and that the country is being transformed into a mere colony, focusing on the topoi of “treachery and disaster” and “threatened identity.” It then examines Islamophobia, encapsulating a fear of Islam and a fear of a threat from within, that is, the Muslim minority. Within this framework, the topoi of “perpetual cultural confrontation with Islam” and “religious terrorism” are analyzed. Last, it analyzes Romaphobia, denoting fear towards the marginalised group of Roma, and within this framework, the topoi of the “demographic explosion of Roma” and the “bad human capital.” Such phobic discourses are emphasised by the far right for electoral benefit.