How online interaction radicalises while group involvement restrains: a case study of Action Zealandia from 2019 to 2021
September 18, 2023
Scholars have long seen radicalisation as a predominantly group based phenomenon, occurring largely through ‘real world,’ in person interaction. By contrast, the internet is seen as playing only a limited ‘facilitating’ role in radicalising people to violence. However, a series of attacks by far right extremists over the past decade has demonstrated that this perspective ...
Ecofascism: An Examination of the Far-Right/Ecology Nexus in the Online Space
September 18, 2023
With Patrick Crusuis’ 2019 attack that killed twenty-two people in El Paso, Texas, discussions of ecofascism were thrust into mainstream news outlets and magazines. In his manifesto, Crusius described himself as an “ecofascist” seeking to challenge the “environmental warfare” of immigration. His choice of target, a Walmart frequented by Mexican immigrants, reflects this ideological connection ...
Radical Right Activities in Nusantara’s Digital Landscape: A Snapshot
September 18, 2023
This study analysed three social media movements linked with extreme right‑wing activities online. Such activities were carried out by right‑wing extremists and those who support their philosophy of nationalism and religious conservatism, whether actively or passively. This study also investigated how themes and narratives from across the globe, such as US political discourse, Russian disinformation ...
Strain theory, resilience, and far-right extremism: the impact of gender, life experiences and the internet
September 18, 2023
There has been a notable increase in support for far-right ideologies across the West. The seriousness of this threat has been acknowledged by the UK government which has banned certain far-right groups using terrorism legislation. While criminological theories have been useful in explaining general criminality, they have been under-utilised in explaining extremism and terrorism. Agnew’s ...
For God, for Tsar and for the Nation: Authenticity in the Russian Imperial Movement’s Propaganda
September 18, 2023
This paper will examine how extremist organizations manage to present themselves as credible actors in the eyes of potential supporters on social media. This paper will address this question by exploring the role of authenticity in strategic narratives, which is believed to help these groups achieve this purpose. Apart from introducing this new theoretical concept, ...
Digitalization and the Musical Mediation of Anti-Democratic Ideologies in Alt-Right Forums
September 18, 2023
Popular music research has explored digital technologies’ potential for democratizing music consumption, distribution, and production. This article, however, focuses on the anti-democratic implications of digitalization for popular music by exploring discussions of music in 1,173 posts in 6 Alt-Right forums, from 2010–2018. It demonstrates that, first, owing to algorithmic architecture, interpretations of musical politics are ...
The hidden hierarchy of far-right digital guerrilla warfare
September 18, 2023
The polarizing tendency of politically leaned social media is usually claimed to be spontaneous, or a by-product of underlying platform algorithms. This contribution revisits both claims by articulating the digital world of social media and rules derived from capitalist accumulation in the post-Fordist age, from a transdisciplinary perspective articulating the human and exact sciences. Behind ...
On Frogs, Monkeys, and Execution Memes: Exploring the Humor-Hate Nexus at the Intersection of Neo-Nazi and Alt-Right Movements in Sweden
September 18, 2023
This article is based on a case study of the online media practices of the militant neo-Nazi organization the Nordic Resistance Movement, currently the biggest and most active extreme-right actor in Scandinavia. I trace a recent turn to humor, irony, and ambiguity in their online communication and the increasing adaptation of stylistic strategies and visual ...
Digital Dog Whistles: The New Online Language of Extremism
September 18, 2023
Terrorists and extremists groups are communicating sometimes openly but very often in concealed formats. Recently Far-right extremists including white supremacist, anti-Semite groups, racists and neo-Nazis started using a coded “New Language”. Alarmed by police and security forces attempts to find them online and by the social platforms attempts to remove their contents, they try to ...
Jihadist, Far-right And Far-left Terrorism In Cyberspace – Same Threat And Same Countermeasures?
September 18, 2023
This paper investigates whether the counter-terrorism measures developed and implemented within the European Union have a universal character and are equally effective in the context of various types of terrorism. The authors focus on the strategies applicable to the terrorist activities online, since information and communication technology is perceived as the fastest growing and continually ...