Digital Media Strategies of the Far Right in Europe and the United States

With the leverage of digital reproducibility, historical messages of hate are finding new recipients with breathtaking speed and scope. The rapid growth in popularity of right-wing extremist groups in response to transnational economic crises underscores the importance of examining in detail the language and political mobilization strategies of the New Right. In Europe, for example, populist right-wing activists organized around an anti-immigration agenda are becoming more vocal, providing pushback against the increase in migration flows from North Africa and Eastern Europe and countering support for integration with a categorical rejection of multiculturalism. In the United States, anti-immigration sentiment provides a rallying point for political and personal agendas that connect the rhetoric of borders with national, racial, and security issues. Digital Media Strategies of the Far Right in Europe and the United States is an effort to examine and understand these issues, informed by the conviction that an interdisciplinary and transnational approach can allow productive comparison of far-right propaganda strategies in Europe and the United States. With a special emphasis on performing ideology in the far-right music scene, on violent anti-immigrant stances, and on the far right’s skillful creation and manipulation of virtual communities, the contributions foreground the cultural shibboleths that are exchanged among far-right supporters on the Internet, which serve to generate a sense of group belonging and the illusion of power far greater than the known numbers of neo-Nazis in any one country might suggest. Moreover, with attention to transatlantic right-wing movements and their use of particularly digital media, the essays in this volume put pressure on the similarities among the various national agents, while accommodating differences in the virtual and sometimes violent identities created and nurtured online.

Table of Contents:
Table of Contents Acknowledgments Introduction: Digital Media Strategies of the Far Right in Europe and the United States Patricia Anne Simpson and Helga Druxes I. Extremisms and the Internet Swastikas in Cyberspace: How Hate Went Online Chip Berlet and Carol Mason The Lone Wolf Comes From Somewhere, TooØyvind Strømmen and Kjetil Stormark Mobilizing on the Fringe: Domestic Extremists and Antisocial Networking Kyle Christensen, Arian Spahiu, Bret Wilson, and Robert D. Duval Hijacking Academic Autonomy: Neo-Aryanism and Internet Expertise Alexandar Mihailovic II. Far-Right Politics and Internet Identities Identity, Tradition, Sovereignty: The Transnational Linkages of Radical Nationalist Political Parties in the European Union Glen M. E. Duerr Manipulating the Media: The German New Right’s Virtual and Violent Identities Helga Druxes The Imitated Public Sphere: The Case of Hungary’s Far Right Domonkos Sik Right-Wing Campaign Strategies in Sweden Lara Mazurski The Identitarian Movement: What Kind of Identity? Is it Really a Movement? Fabian Virchow III. Homophobia, Race, and Radicalism Singing for Race and Nation: Fascism and Racism in Greek Youth Music Alexandra Koronaiou, Evangelos Lagos, and Alexandros Sakellariou “The Order of the Vanquished Dragon”: The Performance of Archaistic Homophobia by the Union of Orthodox Banner Bearers in Putin’s Russia Alexandar Mihailovic Pure Hate: The Political Aesthetic of Prussian Blue Patricia Anne Simpson The New “Great White Hope?” White Nationalist Discourses of Race, Color, and Country in the Career of Mexican Boxer Saúl “Canelo” Álvarez Justin D. García The Roots of East German Xenophobia Freya Klier About the Contributors Index

About the Author :
Patricia Anne Simpson is professor of German studies at Montana State University in Bozeman. Helga Druxes is professor of German at Williams College.

Review :
Simpson and Druxes’ edited collection provides a timely exploration of the role of digital media in political radicalism across Europe and North America. Drawing on an impressive array of rigorously researched studies, the volume considers not only Internet extremism, but the media strategies of contemporary far right parties and movements as well as how homophobia, racism, and radicalism are transmitted through a range of popular cultural forms. Avoiding the temptation to ascribe agency to the Internet itself, this book constitutes a rounded and nuanced contribution to the debate about how digital media is employed by the far right today. This is a truly impressive volume. The range of topics covered provides substantial breadth while each chapter offers a richly textured level of analysis. For scholars of social movements, political extremism, and digital culture this volume is a must read.