Abstract
The increased presence of far-right political activity across Europe has received academic focus in terms of electoral politics, and on how social media has impacted the far-right’s strength in these electoral processes. Less focus has been given to how social media has been used to organise far-right political activity outside of state political systems, including in terms of mass mobilisation, whether for peaceful protest or violent rioting. This paper compares how nativist actors have used social media to mobilise participants to the riots that took place in Chemnitz, Germany in 2018 and in Dublin, Ireland in 2023, and makes the argument that the riots in Chemnitz were of a larger scale due to a combination of weaker social media regulation, and due to a significantly greater organisational capacity among the German far-right, while the riots in Dublin instead were of a much smaller, but much more universally violent character, due to its de facto leadership by a smaller far-right contingent with foreign backing, rather than being a true widespread grassroots movement such as was seen in Chemnitz.
Presenters
Noah KennedyStudent, MSc Global Economic History, London School of Economics, United Kingdom
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
SOCIAL MEDIA, ONLINE, NATIVIST, RIOTING, POLITICAL VIOLENCE, COMMUNICATIONS, MIGRATION
