White Rex, White Nationalism, and Combat Sport: The Production of a Far-Right Cultural Scene

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 19-37
Author(s):  
René Nissen ◽  
Kiril Avramov ◽  
Jason Roberts
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Qualitative Analysis ◽  
Business Model ◽  
Political Influence ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Combat Sport ◽  
European Network ◽  
Far Right ◽  
White Nationalism ◽  
Western European

Most of the scholarship on far-right hooliganism in Europe and Russia mentions only marginally the Russian far-right MMA gear and tournament brand White Rex (WR). A few authors have discussed WR’s right-wing connections and activities. Yet both the structures that enabled WR and, now, other similar brands to exert ideological and political influence and the influence itself bear further examination. This paper presents a qualitative analysis of information from intelligence reports, social media, open media, and interviews to show how WR modeled and cultivated a professionalizing trend in several far-right combat sport tournaments. We argue that WR’s entrance into the Western European far-right combat sport scene was a key development in the emergence of professionally organized, fight-focused events with explicit political messaging targeted at a far-right, primarily trans-European audience and a surrounding infrastructure of far-right organizations shaping the character of this developing scene. The business model that WR developed in Russia proved to be something the emerging European far-right combat sport scene could adopt in order to grow. Finally, we elaborate on how WR’s founder, Denis Kapustin, was able to establish a Western European network that temporarily gave him influence over one of the far right’s most significant cultural scenes.

‘Welcome to #GabFam’: Far-right virtual community on Gab

2021 ◽  
pp. 146144482110245
Author(s):  
Greta Jasser ◽  
Jordan McSwiney ◽  
Ed Pertwee ◽  
Savvas Zannettou
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Qualitative Analysis ◽  
Social Networking ◽  
Virtual Community ◽  
Far Right ◽  
Social Networking Service ◽  
Shared Experiences ◽  
Funding Model ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Technological Affordances

With large social media platforms coming under increasing pressure to deplatform far-right users, the Alternative Technology movement (Alt-Tech) emerged as a new digital support infrastructure for the far right. We conduct a qualitative analysis of the prominent Alt-Tech platform Gab, a social networking service primarily modelled on Twitter, to assess the far-right virtual community on the platform. We find Gab’s technological affordances – including its lack of content moderation, culture of anonymity, microblogging architecture and funding model – have fostered an ideologically eclectic far-right community united by fears of persecution at the hands of ‘Big Tech’. We argue that this points to the emergence of a novel techno-social victimology as an axis of far-right virtual community, wherein shared experiences or fears of being deplatformed facilitate a coalescing of assorted far-right tendencies online.

The Web of Hate: Fragmentation of Media Authority and its Link to Right-Wing Populism and Cyber Islamophobia

2021 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 231-243
Author(s):  
Zeynep Aydin ◽  
◽  
Albrecht Fuess ◽  
Thijl Sunier ◽  
Araceli González Vázquez ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Information Exchange ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
Political Influence ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Terror Attacks ◽  
Nation States ◽  
Blowing Up ◽  
Echo Chamber ◽  
Right Wing Populism

The twenty-first century has been marked strongly with two extremely significant developments, firstly the increase in international terror attacks and secondly the evolution of media and information consumption based on technological advancements. These phenomena together have led to the figurative and literal blowing up of mass media coverage, but, increasingly and more importantly, social media traffic. This shift in information consumption by the general public, especially after terror attacks, is leading to a fragmentation of authority that traditional media gained after years of being the monopoly of verified information exchange. The increased usage and wide accessibility of social media is allowing more people to feel connected globally after terror attacks and is leading to the creation of mediascapes by defining in-groups of like-minded people against Islam, as a common enemy, which leads to a drastic increase in online hate against Islam and Muslims. Digital mediascapes therefore have the ability to unify participants around an “us” that is specifically against the “other” that is labeled as an enemy. Islamophobia thus has become a useful tool for right-wing populists not only to gather a large following online but for right-wing parties to assemble electors in several European nation-states. This, in turn, can provoke the escalation of right-wing populism where people, who are experiencing the echo chamber first hand or those perceiving the viral developments from outside, can become easy prey for political influence. Therefore, social media groups, hashtags and sites can be seen as the feeding ground for right-wing populist political parties. Keywords: Echo-chamber, Islamophobia, cyberspace, social media, right-wing populism.

The Rise and Fall of Japan’s New Far Right: How Anti-Korean Discourses Went Mainstream

2021 ◽  
Vol 49 (3) ◽  
pp. 363-402
Author(s):  
Sharon J. Yoon ◽  
Yuki Asahina
Keyword(s):  
Social Welfare ◽  
Political Influence ◽  
Past Research ◽  
Public Perceptions ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
Organizational Decline ◽  
Far Right ◽  
Welfare Benefits ◽  
Political Group

Why has right-wing activism in Japan, despite its persistence throughout the postwar era, only gained significant traction recently? Focusing on the Zaitokukai, an anti-Korean movement in Japan, this article demonstrates how the new Far Right were able to popularize formerly stigmatized right-wing ideas. The Zaitokukai represents a political group distinct from the traditional right and reflective of new Far Right movements spreading worldwide. In Japan, concerns about the growing influence of South Korea and China in the 1980s as well as the decline of left-wing norms opened up a discursive opportunity for the new Far Right. By framing Korean postcolonial minorities as undeserving recipients of social welfare benefits, the Zaitokukai mobilized perceptions of threat that has continued to powerfully influence public perceptions of Koreans even following the group’s organizational decline. While past research has focused on the new Far Right’s political influence, this article stresses their roles as ideological entrepreneurs.

Character assassination as a right-wing populist communication tactic on social media: The case of Matteo Salvini in Italy

2021 ◽  
pp. 146144482110392
Author(s):  
Carlo Berti ◽  
Enzo Loner
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Content Analysis ◽  
Qualitative Analysis ◽  
Communication Strategy ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Media Communication ◽  
The People ◽  
Individual Traits ◽  
Social Media Communication

The article conceptualizes character assassination (CA) as a tactic of populist communication on social media by using the case study of Italian politician Matteo Salvini. CA consists of personal attacks aimed at damaging the reputation of individuals, used as political means to attack the “enemies of the people.” By means of CA, populists operate a shift from issues and arguments toward individual traits and behaviors. CA’s importance is linked to the features of social media communication (i.e. disintermediation, speed, virality, fragmentation, emotionality). The article uses content analysis of tweets, and qualitative analysis of relevant examples; it demonstrates the strategic nature of CA in Salvini’s communication and identifies five functions (i.e. polarizing, personalizing, symbolic, discriminating, emotional) of CA in right-wing populist communication. CA’s logic is unpacked, by showing how the delegitimization of individuals is used to reinforce a populist communication strategy. Potential implications and responses to CA are discussed.

scholarly journals An Obstacle to Decolonising Europe

2021 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 112-122
Author(s):  
Jordan Kiper
Keyword(s):  
White Supremacy ◽  
The United States ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
New Wave ◽  
Far Right ◽  
Cultural Variations ◽  
Political Ideologies ◽  
Colonial Legacies ◽  
White Nationalism ◽  
Yugoslav Wars

While the central aim of decolonisation is undoing colonial legacies, a major obstacle is white nationalism. A new wave of transnational anti-globalist, Islamophobic, and white-grievance tropes have hybridised with local political ideologies of right-wing politics and authoritarian populists in Europe and the United States. Here, I review the cultural characteristics of this new wave of white nationalism by focusing on its co-option of Serbian nationalist propaganda from the Yugoslav Wars and shared receptivity to narratives among far-right political groups in former colonial powers. The portrait that emerges is one of cross-cultural variations on a common theme: maintaining white supremacy and actively countering ideological challenges to it. Critically, the new wave of white nationalism expands our anthropological understanding of white supremacy but also highlights the significance of white nationalism in obstructing justice initiatives that address the race crimes of colonialism. Less consensus has been reached, however, on how to counter white nationalist networks and transnational extremist propaganda. In addition to highlighting ways to counter white nationalist propaganda, I argue that decolonising Europe and achieving its envisioned relations of sociative peace will not be fully realised unless more is done to minimise the influence of white nationalism.

Ironic humor on social media as participatory boundary work

2018 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 729-749 ◽  
Author(s):  
Noam Gal
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Boundary Work ◽  
The Other ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
Power Structures ◽  
Far Right ◽  
Social Division ◽  
Digital Environments

This article explores the use of irony for boundary work in social media. It suggests that the combination of the polysemy inherent to ironic humor and new decontextualized digital environments entails greater potential for misinterpretation, thus turning humorous interactions into segregating tools. Using the case of left-wing mockery of a far-right-wing group in Israel, I trace the ways in which online irony serves as a means for social consolidation and differentiation. Findings indicate that the combination of medium (Facebook), keying (ironic humor), and content (social divides) works to empower one group and marginalize the other, potentially deepening existing social gaps. In addition, I show how this triangle leads to the construction of a new overarching social division between intellect (associated with left-wingers) and physicality (associated with right-wingers). Finally, I discuss the implications of social divides for our understanding of relations between irony and power structures in digital environments.

Mobilizing Meanings: Translocal Identities of the Far Right Web

2016 ◽  
Vol 34 (4) ◽  
pp. 34-53 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patricia Anne Simpson
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Asylum Seekers ◽  
Family Values ◽  
Terrorist Attacks ◽  
The Political ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Far Right ◽  
Angela Merkel ◽  
The Right ◽  
Refugees And Asylum Seekers

Europe has witnessed the rise of a multigenerational, populist shift to the right, characterized by the unapologetic deployment of extremist symbols, ideologies, and politics, but also by repudiations of right-wing labels associated with racism, xenophobia, and nativist entitlements. The political lexicon of far-right rhetoric derives its considerable persuasive force from mobilizing and normalizing extremist views. This article examines the intricately and translocally woven connections among representative movements, organizations, and media personalities who popularize and disseminate far-right views through social media and their own internet websites. With diatribes about the threat against Russia, the uncontainable and intolerable influx of refugees and asylum seekers, whom they blame for terrorist attacks, deteriorating family values, the loss of national German identity, and the antidemocratic politics of Chancellor Angela Merkel, the cadre of self-credentializing experts and politicians, some in alignment with Pegida, mobilize historical moments and meanings to make connections with a broad spectrum of supporters.

scholarly journals Social representations of sociopolitical groups on r/The_Donald and emergent conflict narratives: A qualitative content analysis

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Quinnehtukqut McLamore ◽  
Özden Melis Uluğ
Keyword(s):  
Content Analysis ◽  
Race Relations ◽  
Qualitative Content Analysis ◽  
Social Representations ◽  
Political Influence ◽  
The United States ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Far Right ◽  
Online Spaces ◽  
Conflict Narratives

Social media has been integral for the organization and success of right-wing populist movements in the United States and Europe. Within online communities, discussions take place in which ideologies are formulated, iterated upon, and disseminated. One particular forum, hosted on the popular website reddit.com, r/The_Donald, has received media attention for its political influence. Despite the influence of online spaces in populist, far-right movements, relatively little attention has been paid to qualitative content of discussions that take place within such spaces, including r/The_Donald. Guided by a social representations approach, we analyzed how discussions on r/The_Donald represent sociopolitical groups. We focused on discussions of political affiliations, race relations, immigration, and culture. From a dataset of 8,198 posts, we selected 1,292 segments from 883 unique Reddit usernames and analyzed them using qualitative content analysis. The results showed that the majority of posts discussed liberals, race relations, and conspiracy theories, and in these posts, liberals and liberal ideas were delegitimized and mocked through their representations. These posts represented conservatives through antinomic contrast and comparison to liberals and liberal policies. The meanings of those representations in intergroup relations are discussed.

Magic and Politics

2020 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 5-14
Author(s):  
Sabina Magliocco
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
North America ◽  
Human Behavior ◽  
Presidential Election ◽  
The United States ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Far Right ◽  
Cultural Expression ◽  
Spirit World

This essay introduces a special issue of Nova Religio on magic and politics in the United States in the aftermath of the 2016 presidential election. The articles in this issue address a gap in the literature examining intersections of religion, magic, and politics in contemporary North America. They approach political magic as an essentially religious phenomenon, in that it deals with the spirit world and attempts to motivate human behavior through the use of symbols. Covering a range of practices from the far right to the far left, the articles argue against prevailing scholarly treatments of the use of esoteric technologies as a predominantly right-wing phenomenon, showing how they have also been operationalized by the left in recent history. They showcase the creativity of magic as a form of human cultural expression, and demonstrate how magic coexists with rationality in contemporary western settings.

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