Right-wing Groups Research Articles

How to characterise the discourse of the far-right in digital media? Interdisciplinary approach to preventing terrorism.

The fight against extremist discourse on the Internet and on social media is paramount in countering terrorism and radical recruitment. The approach could be simple and elected representatives and authorities seem to want to legislate quickly on this subject. However, from a scientific point of view, things are not so simple. Characterising a discourse that is coherent, repetitive and identifiable might be easy, but radical, terrorist discourse is a very complex linguistic and sociolinguistic phenomenon. Moreover, modes of its dissemination and communication are complex. Within the framework of a French research project (ANR: Défense) we analysed the public productions of extreme right-wing groups in order to collect pieces of discourse and try to characterise them with an interdisciplinary approach (sociology, political science, linguistics, sociolinguistics, communication). A mathematical and algorithmic modelling will allow an automation of searches in order to set up a warning mechanism, with a sociological objective of identification and thus validation for digital content producers and access providers.

Voices Against Disavowal, Obscurantism, and Exclusion: The Year in Lebanon

Voices Against Disavowal, Obscurantism, and ExclusionThe Year in Lebanon Sleiman El Hajj (bio) Prologue: Dissident Voices in a Bleak Political Landscape Life writing may have been acknowledged as an independent, if interdisciplinary, field in literary criticism in the North American and Anglophone European contexts in the 1990s, but in Lebanon the 1990s marked the end of a protracted civil war (1975–1990), and the country's staggering corpus of postwar literature, in Arabic, French, and English, has been mainly geared toward fiction, rather than nonfiction. Against the backdrop of considerable social and political censorship in Lebanon, real-life accounts have been engineered into fictional prose over the past three decades. Since fiction is not assessed by the same "metrics of authenticity" (Smith and Watson) as nonfiction, fictional texts have provided a heuristic space for self-expression as well as social critique. Lebanese women authors, for example, have folded into their postwar novels "graphic glimpses into the tragic human consequences of violence," and have thus been able to "transcend confessional and political loyalties in order to concentrate almost entirely on the omitted stories of pain and suffering" (Khalaf 13). The repressive political climate that has spawned such narratives continues to date, even if life writing and its subversive voices are now becoming more audible. A number of bitterly contested social media-related arrests of activists, accused of libel against leading politicians and party leaders, were widely criticized as infringements on free speech in 2018 and 2019 (Alami; Azhari). The country was also polarized over indie rock band Mashrou' Leila, which was accused of blasphemy, sedition, homosexuality, and devil worship—not sufficiently evidenced to warrant legal action but enough to galvanize sectarian mass protests. The subsequent threats of violence from Christian right-wing groups led to the cancellation of one of the band's concerts scheduled for August 9, 2019 in Byblos, Lebanon; [End Page 121] what followed was an outcry in international media by Lebanese activists calling for secular freedom and civil rights (Hall; Kayssi). The past year saw a rise in academic as well as public interest in life writing across different modes, namely digital, audiovisual, and onstage narratives, particularly among activists and cultural practitioners interested in the life stories of people who have had traumatic experiences or suffered persecution and stigma, such as refugees, LGBT people, veiled women, atheists, sex workers, gender non-conforming individuals, and prisoners. An atmosphere of growing unrest and discontent, and the relatively long production time for biographies, autobiographies, and other personal narratives in print form, may explain why the latter were not the main vehicles for life writing in Lebanon this year. Life Stories Online: Veiled Atheists from Lebanon and Syria The debate around veiling, whether forced or voluntary, gained renewed traction in 2017 with a dispute in the classroom between a hijab-wearing sophomore student and a retiring professor at the American University of Beirut ("AUB 'Hijab'"). Soon after, Sarah Harakeh, a high school English teacher, published an incendiary personal narrative titled "I Am an Atheist and I Wear the Veil" about how her wearing of the hijab was a collective family decision, rather than an emblem of personal conviction or faith, of which she was devoid after becoming an atheist. One year later, Harakeh published the stories of ten Lebanese and Syrian atheists living in Lebanon. These women had reached out in response to her testimonial and wanted to express their own experiences of physical and mental abuse and their desires to emigrate:1 We took off the black abaya after we left the ISIS-occupied area in Syria, but then my parents made me wear the veil in Lebanon, not taking my opinions or wishes into consideration. […] My views toward religion have changed drastically. […] I wish I can go live one day in a different country, where my choices are protected, where I can be free, and take my veil off. -Samah Despite my age [29] and the fact that I hold a master's degree and I have a job, I still can't take the veil off. I still have to wake up every morning and put the veil on before going out. […] The last time I opened...

АКСІОЛОГІЧНИЙ ЧИННИК НЕСТАБІЛЬНОСТІ В СУЧАСНИХ МІЖНАРОДНИХ ВІДНОСИНАХ

Автори досліджують вплив цінностей поліетнічних спільнот як чинника нестабільності міжнародних відносин. Використано методологічний підхід на основі синергетичної теорії до розуміння політичної нестабільності міжнародних відносин, в яких аксіологічний чинник є домінуючим. Головна мета роботи: по-перше - аналіз наслідків боротьби між провідними геополітичними гравцями за сфери впливу, що спричиняє масову неконтрольовану міграцію до країн Заходу а разом з тим - політичну нестабільність на основі неконгруентності цінностей; по-друге окреслити шляхи подолання конфліктності, спричиненої аксіологічним чинником. Дослідники показали основні наслідки цих процесів на прикладі Західної Європи: ксенофобію, негативне ставлення місцевих жителів до мігрантів; зростання популярності правого радикалізму в Європі; сплеск міжнародного тероризму тощо. Автори зазначили намагання політичних структур ЄС протистояти конфліктності. Як висновок, автори вказали перспективи зниження конфліктності через організаційну роботу з гармонізації міжкультурної взаємодії та створення нормальних соціальних умов у країнах-донарах міграції.

“We Should Stop the Islamisation of Europe!”: Islamophobia and Right-Wing Radicalism of the Russian-Speaking Internet Users in Germany

AbstractStarting from 2015, the Russian-speaking residents in Germany have expressed their anti-refugee position in the form of rallies and rising voting support for the right-wing populist party, Alternative für Deutschland (AfD). Due to the absence of social cues, unlimited space, immediate responses, and minimal censorship online, platforms for communication have reflected the offline mobilization and became the major platforms for the spreadability of discriminatory discourse. This article sets out to investigate why Russian-speaking internet users residing in Germany justify anti-refugee discourse and how they construct the notion of “others.” Based on the netnographic analysis of the chosen online discussions and conducted interviews with its members, this article argues that, with the appearance of new “others,” Russian-speaking migrants have redefined their symbolic boundaries in order to draw the line between the incoming migrants and themselves—people with a migrant background. In many ways, participants of the analyzed discussions employed the politicized civilizational rhetoric that allowed them to redefine existing categorizations. This research explores, for the first time, the reasons lying behind the online populist activity of the Russian-speaking residents in Germany.

About and Based on the Book by Mikhail Taratuta “Russians and Americans”. Book review: Taratuta M. America and Russia. We are so Different. Moscow: Alpina Publisher; 2019. 318 p

In her review of Michail Taratuta’s recently published volume “Russians and Americans”, Natalia Bubnova offers a thorough analysis of how the book depicts the troubled state of affairs in the U.S.-Russia relations, the historic and cultural factors that formed the national identities of Americans and Russians and the resulting differences in the mentalities of the two peoples, as well as the state of the current domestic life in the United States and Russia, the particularities of their health care and educations systems, their special features of gender relations, the functioning of local charity organizations, etc. Having lived and worked for many years in America, Taratuta, on a whole number of topics, focuses primarily on the United States. These include the ongoing political schism under the Trump’s Administration, the migration crisis and racial contradictions, the gun control problem, and the rise of both the left- and right-wing radicals. While siding with Taratuta’s assessments on a number of issues, Bubnova offers an alternative viewpoint on others, yet acknowledges the importance of the book’s overall perspective on the United States as a vibrant, resourceful and dynamic society, and not necessarily aggressive or conspiring against Russia. Though proceeding from an assumption that Americans and Russians have few similarities, Taratuta simultaneously believes that it is imperative to overcome the current confrontation, for which he blames both sides. The review points out to the social trends - some of which are reflected in the book - which, despite the political alienation, nevertheless manifest certain signs of cultural rapprochement.

REHABILITATION OF THE NAZI REGIME, ITS SUPPORTERS AND ACCOMPLICES IN THE EUROPEAN CINEMATOGRAPHY: CURRENT STATE AND NEW TRENDS IN DEVELOPING MEMORY POLICIES

The presented study is dedicated to the rehabilitation of the Nazi regime, its supporters and accomplices in modern cinema as part of the memory policy. The relevance of this work is determined by the growing influence of ultra-right politicians in a number of economically developed countries, an increase in the number of memorial wars due to the rehabilitation of Nazism accomplices and the spread of right-wing radicalism in the United States and European Union states. The aim of the study is the evaluation of the rehabilitation practices of Nazism and its supporters in new motion pictures, which have not been previously studied by representatives of the expert community from this perspective. Indirect apologetics of the Nazis and their adherents, including representatives of organizations recognized as criminal in accordance with the decision of the Nürnberg Tribunal, are widespread in modern cinema. The thesis is being promoted that even numerous members of organizations recognized as criminal secretly opposed the Nazi regime. Cooperation is considered as a necessary measure. The audience gets the impression that even highranking representatives of the army leadership were not aware of war crimes. People who for many years supported Hitler’s regime are shown as its victims. There have been attempts to re-evaluate certain aspects of the Nazi regime as a positive experience, in a way of referring to actual matters nowadays.

Collective identity and discourse practice in the followership of the Football Lads Alliance on Twitter

Previous studies of online (collective) identity have explored how social media–specific practices like hashtags can enable identity construction and affiliation with a wider community of users. Practices such as mentioning and retweeting have also been discussed in the literature but the practice of following as a discourse practice is underexplored. This article presents a corpus-based Critical Discourse Analytical approach to the study of collective identity on Twitter that focuses on the relationships between following and language use and details a study conducted on the language used by followers of the Football Lads Alliance – a protest group who say they are ‘against all extremism’. This approach was fruitful in identifying correlations between salient discourses in follower profile descriptions and their tweets and suggests that a portion of the followership constructs identity in relation to radical right-wing and populist discourse specifically concerning Islam/Muslims.

Counterterrorism Policies and Attitudes Towards Out-Groups: Evidence from a Survey Experiment on Citizens\u2019 Attitudes Towards Wiretapping

Terrorism often leads to increased stigmatization of groups perceived as “out-groups”. We test two versions of out-group theory and ask whether citizens clearly distinguish between radical Muslims and Muslims in general, or if the fear of terrorism is associated with a general distrust of Muslims? We conducted a survey experiment among Norwegian citizens designed to determine the effect of group treatments on the participants’ attitudes towards wiretapping. We find that our group treatments strongly influence the participants’ attitudes towards wiretapping. However, the hypothesis that the fear of terrorism leads to a backlash against Muslims in general is rejected. Still, Norwegians are prepared to give the police leeway towards the two groups identified by the police as the greatest security risks, i.e., radical Muslim and extreme right-wing groups. Our evidence suggests that citizens are capable of discriminating between groups who aim explicitly at undermining democracy and groups perceived as different from themselves.

Populism and Media in Germany: How different newspapers report about the AfD

It has generally been established that the media has an effect on populism and can either help or hinder it. However, there is a lack of research on how populist parties are portrayed in the media. In this paper, I investigate four German newspapers and the way in which they cover the German populist party “Alternative für Deutschland”. The German case is special, as the past German experiences with right-wing radicalism, have led the media in Germany to develop fear of contact or “Berührungsangst” with populism. By conducting a qualitative discourse analysis, I find that all newspapers try to contain the AfD and show signs of “Berührungsangst”. However, it becomes clear that the traditional categories, established through quantitative content analyses, are inadequate to accurately cover all possible responses of the newspapers. Thus, I argue that more qualitative discourse analyses are needed in this field, in order to establish more nuanced categories, upon which future quantitative and qualitative research can build.

FAR-RIGHT POLITICAL FORCES OF THE USA AND GREAT BRITAIN: IN SEARCH OF ANSWERS TO THREATS TO NATIONAL IDENTITY

The article attempts to analyze the rhetoric and methods of promoting the ideas of far-right groups in the United States of America and Great Britain in the context of immigration processes and the multiculturalism policy connected with them. The authors draw attention to the tendency that right-wing radical groups hold different positions: from moderate to most radical. The focus of the study is on comparing the tactics and discourse of such organizations whose degrees of radicalism differ because of their positions on the problem of national identity. The study attempts to highlight the activities of previously unexplored right-wing radical groups in the United States and Great Britain. The focus is on “Proud Guys” and “Generation of Identity”, trying to create a socially acceptable image; Richard Spencer and Tomi Robinson, who are trying on the image of extreme right-wing leaders; Andrew Anglin and members of "National Action", who occupy ultra right positions in expressing their views. The study deals with a massive selection of sources: mass media materials, statistical reports of public organizations and accessible official resources of right-wing forces. The authors conclude that the modern far-right associations of the USA and Great Britain are similar on the agenda and in its implementation. The main enemies of the right radicals are immigrants, Muslims, Jews and feminists. In this sense, adepts of such ideas constitute a threat to the stability of a democratic society.

Unfairness and Radicalization.

This article reviews the relationship between people's perceptions of unfairness and their tendencies to think, feel, and act in radicalizing ways. Various theories of radicalization processes are reviewed that examine key aspects of the psychology of perceived unfairness. The review shows that experienced group deprivation and perceived immorality are among the core judgments that can drive Muslim radicalization, right-wing radicalization, and left-wing radicalization. Symbols of injustice, the legitimization of revolutionary thought, and the experience of unfair treatment can also increase radicalization. The review also examines core moderators (e.g., uncertainty and insufficient self-correction) and mediators (e.g., externally oriented emotions) of the linkage between perceived unfairness and core components of radicalization (e.g., rigidity of thoughts, hot-cognitive defense of cultural worldviews, and violent rejection of democratic principles and the rule of law). The review discusses how the study of unfairness and radicalization contributes to a robust and meaningful science of psychology.

Law, state and right-wing extremism in India

ABSTRACTThe past few years in India have seen an increase in coordinated vigilante violence by right wing groups on issues such as gaukashi (cow slaughter). This has led to the mob lynching of persons belonging to religious minorities. Killings of rationalists and dissidents, and a few cases of bombings targeting Muslims, have also been attributed to right wing groups (RWGs). The recent elections for the Indian Parliament have sparked debate over the role of investigative agencies and the criminal justice system in the handling of bombings attributed to RWGs. An examination of state policy and legal responses to the violence that has characterised right wing extremism (RWE) in India shows that the association of religion with RWE does not explain its distinctiveness. The RWGs in India have become significant because of their relationship with the ruling party in India and the dominant political ideology of Hindutva. An examination of public discourse and legal responses to RWE shows a relationship between the dominant ideologies of political regimes and the construction of terrorism. This has implications for constitutional democracy and the rule of law.

Right-wing radicalism is shaping the political agenda in the post-Soviet space

Right-wing radicalism is shaping the political agenda in the post-Soviet space

Response to Allen Dunn’s “Ethics, Identity, and Political Mediation in Right-Wing American Populism”

Abstract Allen Dunn’s article is based on American right-wing populist groups that feel undermined and alienated. Right-wing populist groups feel a sense of abandonment and that their real (or perceived) demands are not being addressed by the government. Dunn’s article could have advanced this conversation by addressing questions such as these: How does a federalist democracy like the United States reconcile opposition voices (or ideological-minority voices)? Likewise, who defines liberty, oppression, and subversion or fairness in society? And since all populist (left- and right-wing) groups tend to be anti-pluralist, how can political mediation in American-style democracy exist?

CasaPound Italia: ‘Back to Believing. The Struggle Continues’

This article aims to be a contribution to the ongoing debate among scholars concerning the question whether recently formed right-wing radical parties represent a new phenomenon and a break with the fascist tradition or whether they remain close to a fascist ideology. The author focuses on a specific national radical right-wing party: CasaPound Italia (cpi), founded at the beginning of this century, which declares itself to be ‘fascist’. While existing research insists on the intervention of external factors such as the economic crisis of 2008 in order to explain a new ‘wave’ of right-wing radicalism in Italy, this article will show the constant evolving of right-wing radical discourse over a longer historical period. The analysis will mainly delve into the ideological and political role played by three leading exponents of the Italian and European radical right: Pino Rauti, Roberto Fiore and Gabriele Adinolfi. Through a narrative style, and using a historical approach and qualitative analysis, this paper argues that their experiences represent the roots and sources for Gianluca Iannone’s project with cpi.

Activity of modern right-wing radical parties in the Czech Republic

The author investigates political radicalism in the Czech Republic, a rather heterogeneous current considering the structure of participants: from political parties to the extremist organizations. The peculiarity of the Czech party system is the existence, along with typical radical parties, of other non-radical parties whose representatives support xenophobic, nationalist and anti-Islamic statements. This is primarily the Civil Democratic Party, known for its critical attitude towards European integration, and the Communist party of the Czech Republic and Moravia, which opposes Czech membership in NATO and the EU. Among the Czech politicians, who are close to radical views, analysts include the well-known for its anti-Islamic position of the Czech President M. Zeman and the leader of the movement ANO, billionaire A. Babich. Voters vote for them not because their economic or social programs are particularly attractive to the electorate, but because of dissatisfaction with the economic situation in the state. Almost all right populist parties oppose European integration, interpreting it as an anti-national project run by an elite distorted by a deficit of democracy and corruption.
 Keywords: Czech Republic, right-wing radical political parties, European integration, nationalism.

Eesti 1930. aastate ajaloo kirjutamisest paguluses

Eesti 1930. aastate ajaloo kirjutamisest paguluses

Whitewashed empire: Historical narrative and place marketing in Vienna

ABSTRACTThe historical narrative of Habsburg grandeur has played a decisive role in branding the Austrian capital of Vienna. While scholars have situated place-marketing strategies within de-historicized frameworks of the neoliberal city, the nostalgic framing of imperial spatial assemblages should be critically interpreted from a historical vantage point. In tourist spaces such as the Kaiserforum, urbanists, museum curators, right-wing groups, and real-estate investors employ the discourse of Habsburg patrimony to leverage past spatial inequalities for contemporary purposes. Such nostalgic narratives obfuscate the historical material conditions of their making. I argue that this very obfuscation constitutes a continuing legacy of empire. I call this process ‘whitewashed empire,’ the redeployment of imperial structures through the preservation, renovation and assemblage of material heritage. As a memorial assemblage of narrative selection and a political economic relation of exploitation, imperial nostalgia extends the work of Habsburg spatial production into the present.

A comparative analysis of right-wing radical and Islamist communities’ strategies for survival in social networks (evidence from the Russian social network VKontakte)

This article presents a comparative analysis of online communities of right-wing radicals and Islamists, who are considered to be numerous and dangerous extremist groups in Russian society. The online communities were selected based on the content posted on the largest Russian social networking site VKontakte. The goal of this article is to determine the strategy and tactics employed by extremist online communities for survival on social networking sites. The authors discovered that both right-wing radical and Islamist groups employ similar behavioural techniques, with the mimicry of ideologically neutral content as the most common. In addition, every extremist community also applies some unique methods. For example, if there is a risk of being blocked, right-wing radicals tend to shift their activity and communication to the other internet-based platforms that are not under state control; however, Islamists prefer to suddenly change the content of their communities (i.e. by using secondary mimicry).

El mito antisemita en la crisis española del siglo XX

El presente artículo pretende aproximarse al tema del antisemitismo español en el crítico periodo de la República, la Guerra Civil y la 2.ª Guerra Mundial. En él se presenta una tipología del antisemitismo contemporáneo, y se sitúa al español dentro de la corriente cristiana, diferenciada de la del racismo völkisch alemán. Se aporta una visión de conjunto de las manifestaciones antisemitas de los diversos grupos de la derecha antiliberal española del periodo citado y de sus antecedentes. Se relaciona el antisemitismo español con la filosofía de la historia dominante en el sector ideológico estudiado. Se resumen las consecuencias que tuvo este antisemitismo en el trato que el régimen franquista dio a los judíos españoles y a los que intentaban huir de la Europa nazi durante la 2.ª Guerra Mundial. Y, finalmente, se aporta una interpretación sobre las funciones ideológicas e históricas del fenómeno estudiado.