New to the game, so not sure if such a category already exists, but I thought it might provide useful to have a place where we can all share papers, reports, podcasts, OSINT etc. revolving around populism in Europe. I’ll start
" State of Hate: Far-Right Extremism in Europe is a landmark report exploring the state of far-right extremism across Europe. It is a collaboration between three leading European anti-fascist research organisations - HOPE not hate Charitable Trust (UK), EXPO Foundation (Sweden) and Amadeu Antonio Foundation (Germany).
The report includes contributions from 34 leading scholars, researchers and activists from across the continent and 32 country profiles. The report includes an exclusive survey of 12,000 people across eight major European countries (Sweden, France, Germany, UK, Hungary, Poland and Italy), measuring attitudes toward immigration, minoritised communities, feminism and political disaffection."
QAnon spreading Conspiracy Theories on Twitter (Disclaimer: I think the term conspiracy theory is unfortunate and misguiding, I think one should use conspiracy myths or narratives)
@Djan many thanks for all of this. As soon as I find a moment, I will study these materials and add stuff from my collection. I am not sure if you had time to check out our Publications and Working Papers on the POPREBEL site. For example in the Manifesto I wrote (Working Paper 1), there is an extensive bibliography. It is a bit old now, but I never have time to update it. I am also working with Aga Pasieka, who is an anthropologist working on far right movements. I am attaching her piece that I really like @amelia - I am not sure I mentioned this to you): PASIEKA-2019-Anthropology_Today.pdf (1.1 MB) .
@Jan thanks for attaching Pasieka’s piece! I have only had time to browse through some publications on the POPREBEL sight so far, but will add it to the reading list
For anyone interested i the origins and evolution of transgressionist alt-right online movements, Nagle’s book “Kill All Normies: Online Culture Wars From 4Chan And Tumblr To Trump And The Alt-Right” is a MUST read. (Also rather short, so no excuses ).
Many fascinating aspects in this one. Not only how mostly young men have created an ecosystem where the unacceptable is made acceptable, but also how strategies/methods from the left have been coopted/adopted.
But since everyone is busy etc:
an interview with the Economist which covers her basic concepts/ideas:
Nitzan Shoshan’s ethnographic research among young neo-Nazis in East Berlin served as the basis for his award-winning publication ‘The Management of Hate’. In a conversation the author talks about the ongoing polarization of society, the resurgence of right-wing extremist movements, and why public agitation and normative judgements in academic debates tend to hinder real debate about the problems.
Ivan Krastev, when asked about the declining power of populists such as Trump and Orban, as a result of the covid crisis:
"This is certainly true. I would argue that populism is not rooted in fear, it is rooted in anxiety. This is a very diffuse kind of fear and people respond by looking for somebody to represent their anxiety. But then comes a crisis like the coronavirus pandemic, and they look for politicians who can take responsibility and solve problems.
And, in this respect, the populists didn’t offer anything. Certainly, many of these strongman leaders who try to pretend they’re in control don’t like this crisis because to a certain extent, crises like these need leaders who have the capacity to cooperate with society."
Violent and racist crimes are on the up in Germany, according to official statistics on politically motivated crimes. Crimes by right-wing extremists hit their highest levels since records began in 2001.
Germany’s Interior Minister Horst Seehofer presented the official statistics for politically motivated crimes committed in 2020 on Tuesday. The minister expressed concerns over increasing incidences of politically motivated crimes, especially those carried out by right-wing extremists, such as the murder of 11 young people with immigrant heritage in the city of Hanau in February last year. “Politically motivated crimes are increasing significantly,” Seehofer said, adding that 8.5% more cases were recorded in 2020 over the previous year. The data is very “concerning” because it represents a dangerous trend, despite only representing around 1% of all crimes, he added.
Over the past couple of weeks I was collecting various reports that talk about the state of democracy, free speech and such issues in Poland. Here’s what I have found:
A study by V-Dem on autocratizations shows Poland takes a number one place as a state that got autocratized the most ACROSS THE WORLD over the past decade. The second place belongs to Hungary.
Democracy Perception Index Report 2021 shows Poland being last and having the largest disparity when it comes to perceived democratization of the country and the perceived level of the importance of democracy - respondents see it as very important (8 out of 10), but they see Poland as not very democratic (3 out of 10, when 10 is very democratic).
