Symbol of Reconciliation and Far-Right Stronghold?

2021 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 56-78
Author(s):  
Susanne Vees-Gulani
Keyword(s):  
Social Identity ◽  
Blind Spot ◽  
Far Right ◽  
German Identity ◽  
Discourse Patterns ◽  
German City ◽  
Peace And Reconciliation

In the eastern German city of Dresden, populist and nativist far-right groups, such as the homegrown pegida and the AfD, enjoy particularly robust support among the population, even though Dresden is presented as a symbol of peace and reconciliation. Many residents base their personal and social identity on Dresden’s long-established narrative as an iconic baroque city that suffered an unparalleled loss and victimization in the 1945 Allied bombings, prior to its post-reunification revival. However, this narrative includes a blind spot about the Nazi context of the destruction, opening it up to various political appropriations from the gdr era to today. I suggest that the strength of the far right in Dresden is caused by a seamless linking of Dresden’s perception as a victim due to cultural losses and the far right’s fear of losing a unique German identity and homeland. As examples, I analyze discourse patterns of remembrance during the bombing anniversaries in 2015 and 2020.

scholarly journals Blind spot? Security narratives and far-right violence

2012 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 129-146 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arun Kundnani
Keyword(s):  
Blind Spot ◽  
Far Right

scholarly journals The Flux of Transmigrant Identities in Thomas Arslan’s Brothers and Sisters

2017 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 51-69
Author(s):  
Anna Bátori
Keyword(s):  
Social Identity ◽  
Social Exclusion ◽  
Textual Analysis ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
German Republic ◽  
German Identity ◽  
Constant Shift ◽  
Brothers And Sisters

Abstract The paper investigates Brothers and Sisters (Geschwister-Kardeşler, 1995), the first piece of Thomas Arslan’s Berlin-trilogy. While putting the film into the socio-historical context of the newly united German Republic, the study aims to highlight the characters’ struggle and constant shift between their Turkish and German identity. Through the narrative and textual analysis of Brothers and Sisters, the paper reveals the visual forms of social exclusion and concludes that in Arslan’s film, the characters bear with no social identity but various stages of identification, which keep them in an in-between, insecure position.

THE GREAT RANDOMIZER: USING VIRTUAL AGENTS FOR AUDITING THE EFFECTS OF YOUTUBE RECOMMENDATION ALGORITHM ON IDEOLOGICALLY-CHARGED NEWS CONTENT DISTRIBUTION

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mykola Makhortykh ◽  
Aleksandra Urman
Keyword(s):  
Terrorist Attack ◽  
Research Infrastructure ◽  
Political Affiliation ◽  
Controlled Environment ◽  
Virtual Agents ◽  
Far Right ◽  
Recommendation Algorithm ◽  
News Content ◽  
Series Of Experiments ◽  
German City

In this paper, we examine the effects of the YouTube recommendation algorithm on the distribution of ideologically-charged news content. For that purpose, we develop a research infrastructure and conduct a series of experiments using virtual agents (n=200) in a fully controlled environment. We specifically look at YouTube recommendations for videos related to the far-right terrorist attack in the German city of Halle in 2019 and examine how these recommendations differ depending on the type and political affiliation of videos watched by the agents. We find that YouTube recommendations are highly randomized that leads to fundamentally different recommendation trajectories under the condition of identical agent activity which was also synchronized to isolate the effect of time. We also find significant discrepancies in recommendations generated in browsers, with the recommendations for Firefox being slightly less randomized than those for Chrome. Finally, our observations suggest that the recommendations for the agents starting with right-leaning news videos are marginally more consistent than those for the mainstream and left-leaning videos.

scholarly journals The Anti-Feminism of the Far-Right Imageboard Terrorists

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Maia Kahlke Lorentzen ◽  
Kevin Shakir
Keyword(s):  
Far Right ◽  
Anti Semitism ◽  
Central Tenet ◽  
The Media ◽  
German City ◽  
Yom Kippur

When 27-year-old Stephan Baillet shot and killed two people in the German city of Halle on 12 October 2019, the media focus understandably fell on his outspoken anti-Semitism and anti-Muslim acts. His attack occurred on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year according to the Jewish faith, and was directed at a synagogue and a kebab shop. Had Baillet succeeded in shooting open the door to the synagogue, everything indicates that his attack would have ended in a massacre. What has been less of a focus in the aftermath of the Halle attack is Baillet’s vocal anti-feminism views, even though this is a central tenet of the ideology he subscribes to.    

Blind spot? Security narratives and far-right violence

2012 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 129-146 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arun Kundnani
Keyword(s):  
Blind Spot ◽  
Far Right

Working Hard to Achieve Self-Defining Group Goals: A Social Identity Analysis

2000 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 191-203 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kelly S. Fielding ◽  
Michael A. Hogg
Keyword(s):  
Social Identity ◽  
Group Identification ◽  
Group Norms ◽  
Identity Threat ◽  
Traditional Research ◽  
Identity Model ◽  
Group Goals ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Substantial Effort

Summary: A social identity model of effort exertion in groups is presented. In contrast to most traditional research on productivity and performance motivation, the model is assumed to apply to groups of all sizes and nature, and to all membership contingent norms that specify group behaviors and goals. It is proposed that group identification renders behavior group-normative and encourages people to behave in line with group norms. The effect should be strengthened among people who most need consensual identity validation from fellow members, and in intergroup contexts where there is inescapable identity threat from an outgroup. Together these processes should encourage people to exert substantial effort on behalf of their group.

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