‘Our diggers would turn in their graves’: nostalgia and civil religion in Australia’s far-right

Peucker, Mario; Lentini, Peter; Smith, Debra; Iqbal, Muhammad

doi:10.1080/10361146.2021.1935448

Cited by 3 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 30 publications

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“…Far-right extremism, as with most contemporary political movements, transpires across virtual and physical spaces. While social media platforms have become an increasingly popular medium for communicating far-right ideology (Berger et al 2020;Holt et al 2022), facilitating recruitment (Scrivens et al 2022), and mobilising action among the far right (Davey and Ebner 2017;Peucker et al 2021), offline activism and activities continue to play a significant role (Berger et al 2020). As Campion and Poynting (2021, p. 3) have warned, '[t]here are genuine implications for mis-conceptualizing the radicalization of the far right as either offline or online.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Online and Offline Coordination in Australia’s Far-Right: A Study of True Blue Crew

et al. 2022

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Far-right extremism transpires in virtual and physical space. In this study, we examine how the Australian far-right extremist group ‘True Blue Crew’ attempted to coordinate their offline activities with their social media activism. To this end, we conducted a thematic content analysis of administrator posts and user comments present on the group’s Facebook page prior to and following an organised street rally in June 2017. This online analysis was partnered with ethnographic field work to gauge the perceptions of group members and supporters during the rally in Melbourne, Victoria. The results highlight the multi-dimensional and intimate manner in which online and offline contexts are coordinated to support far-right activism and mobilisation. This study offers an empirical account of how far-right attitudes, activism, and mobilisation transpired in Australia in the years prior to an Australian committing the Christchurch terror attack. It reveals a growing frustration within the broader far-right movement, leading to later strategic adaptation that can be interpreted as an early warning sign of an environment increasingly conducive to violence. This provides a more nuanced understanding of the context from which far-right terrorism emerges, and speaks to the importance of maintaining a level of analysis that transverses the social and the individual, as well as the online and the offline spaces. Implications for security and government agencies responses are discussed.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Online and Offline Coordination in Australia’s Far-Right: A Study of True Blue Crew

et al. 2022

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Alternative Epistemology in Far-Right Anti-Publics: A Qualitative Study of Australian Activists

Peucker

Spaaij

2023

Int J Polit Cult Soc

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Beliefs in hostile conspiracies against ‘Western civilisation’ or ‘white people’ play a key role in tying divergent far-right tropes together under an internally coherent meta-narrative. Claims of having discovered this conspiratorial truth offer personal pride, create a sense of righteousness and urgency to stand up against these alleged secretive, malevolent forces, and help build a parallel counter-hegemonic community with its own distinct epistemology. Using qualitative interviews and a focus group, this study examines how actors engaged in ‘ordinary’ dissent in Australia developed an antagonistic fringe belief system, and the extent to which this alternative epistemology constitutes a manifestation of ‘anti-publics’ (Davis, 2021). The study found how participants’ ideological mindset has grown from rather benign manifestations of dissent into a hostile, counter-hegemonic, conspiratorial meta-narrative through processes of ‘doing their own research’, sharing their learnings with significant others, and incorporating each other’s ideological convictions. Their ideological radicalisation was characterised by personal feelings of pride and epistemic superiority, which created a sense of meaning, urgency, and purpose, as well as social recognition within their group. These psychological and social processes drew them further into a far-right ‘anti-public’ milieu and away from democratic expressions of dissent. The findings shed new light on how the complex and mutually reinforcing interplay between ideological and socio-psychological factors cements an alternative, oppositional epistemology. The study offers close-up insights into what drives radicalisation processes, creating or reinforcing a parallel ‘anti-public’ in hostile opposition to democratic processes and norms.

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News to me: far-right news sharing on social media

Dowling

2023

Information, Communication & Society

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‘Our diggers would turn in their graves’: nostalgia and civil religion in Australia’s far-right

Cited by 3 publications

References 30 publications

Online and Offline Coordination in Australia’s Far-Right: A Study of True Blue Crew

Online and Offline Coordination in Australia’s Far-Right: A Study of True Blue Crew

Alternative Epistemology in Far-Right Anti-Publics: A Qualitative Study of Australian Activists

News to me: far-right news sharing on social media

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