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Abstract
In this paper we examine how offline protests attended by members of the Australian far-right shape online interactions. Tweets about the 2019 St Kilda beach rally were collected. Users were manually classified as supporters (n = 104) or opponents of the rally (n = 872). Network analysis demonstrated that interactions between the two groups increased at the time of the rally. Natural language processing showed that both groups became angrier and used more “othering” language during the rally. However, there were stark differences in the moral worldviews, highlighting the very different moral positions that underpin engagement with, and opposition to, the far-right agenda.
Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful to Silas Ellery for his assistance with this research.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 “Director-General’s Annual Threat Assessment,” updated Monday 24 February 2020, accessed 21 March 2020, https://www.asio.gov.au/director-generals-annual-threat-assessment.html.
2 Imogen Richards, “A Dialectical Approach to Online Propaganda: Australia’s United Patriots Front, Right-Wing Politics, and Islamic State,” Studies in Conflict & Terrorism 42, no. 1–2 (2019): 43–69.
3 See Geoff Dean, Peter Bell, and Zarina Vakhitova, “Right-Wing Extremism in Australia: the Rise of the New Radical Right,” Journal of Policing, Intelligence and Counter Terrorism 11, no. 2 (2016): 121–42.
4 Ana-Maria Bliuc, John Betts, Matteo Vergani, Muhammad Iqbal, and Kevin Dunn, “Collective Identity Changes in Far-right Online Communities: The Role of Offline Intergroup Conflict,” New Media & Society 21, no. 8 (2019): 1770–86.
5 Odağ, Özen, Özden Melis Uluğ, and Nevin Solak. “‘Everyday I’m çapuling’: Identity and collective action through social network sites in the Gezi Park protests in Turkey,” Journal of Media Psychology: Theories, Methods, and Applications 28, no. 3 (2016): 148; Sandy Schumann and Olivier Klein, “Substitute or Stepping Stone? Assessing the Impact of LowThreshold Online Collective Actions on Offline Participation,” European Journal of Social Psychology 45, no. 3 (2015): 308–22.
6 But see Williams, Matthew L., and Pete Burnap, “Cyberhate on Social Media in the Aftermath of Woolwich: A Case Study in Computational Criminology and Big Data,” British Journal of Criminology 56, no. 2 (2016): 211–38 for an analysis of how online far-right communities are affected by terrorist events.
7 Emma F. Thomas and Winnifred R. Louis, “When Will Collective Action be Effective? Violent and Non-Violent Protests Differentially Influence Perceptions of Legitimacy and Efficacy among Sympathizers,” Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 40 (2014); Della Porta, Donatella, “Protests as Critical Junctures: Some Reflections Towards a Momentous Approach to Social Movements,” Social Movement Studies 19, no. 5–6 (2020): 556–75.
8 Bliuc et al., “Collective Identity Changes in Far-Right Online Communities: The Role of Offline Intergroup Conflict.”
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11 See Lorraine Bowman-Grieve, “Exploring “Stormfront”: A Virtual Community of the Radical Right,” Studies in Conflict & Terrorism 32, no. 11 (2009).
12 David Hiscox, “Reclaim the Beach: Rally at St Kilda Beach 1pm Saturday 5/1/2019,” updated 3 January 2019, https://www.xyz.net.au/reclaim-beach-rally-st-kilda-beach-1pm-saturday-5-1-2019/.
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31 Nicole Tausch et al., “Explaining Radical Group Behavior: Developing Emotion and Efficacy Routes to Normative and Nonnormative Collective Action,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 101 (2011), https://doi.org/10.1037/a0022728.
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36 Simon and Klandermans, “Politicized Collective Identity: A Social Psychological Analysis.”; Stefan Stürmer and Bernd. Simon, “Pathways to Collective Protest: Calculation, Identification or Emotion? A Critical Analysis of the Role of Group-Based Anger in Social Movement Participation,” Journal of Social Issues 65 (2009).
37 Emma F. Thomas, Craig McGarty, and Kenneth I. Mavor, “Transforming ‘Apathy into Movement’: The Role of Prosocial Emotions in Motivating Action for Social Change,” Personality and Social Psychology Review 13 (2009).
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39 Ibid.
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44 See also Michele Roccato and Silvia Russo, “Right-Wing Authoritarianism, Societal Threat to Safety, and Psychological Distress,” European Journal of Social Psychology 47, no. 5 (2017).
45 Mackie, Devos, and Smith, “Intergroup Emotions: Explaining Offensive Action Tendencies in an Intergroup Context.”
46 Thomas, McGarty, and Mavor, “Transforming ‘Apathy into Movement’: The Role of Prosocial Emotions in Motivating Action for Social Change.”
47 Bliuc et al., “Collective Identity Changes in Far-Right Online Communities: The Role of Offline Intergroup Conflict.”
48 Linda J Skitka, “The Psychology of Moral Conviction,” Social and Personality Psychology Compass 4, no. 4 (2010); Maarten P Zaal et al., “By Any Means Necessary: The Effects of Regulatory Focus and Moral Conviction on Hostile and Benevolent Forms of Collective Action,” British Journal of Social Psychology 50, no. 4 (2011).
49 J. Ginges et al., "Sacred Bounds on Rational Resolution of Violent Political Conflict," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 104 (2007); Allison G Smith, “From Words to Action: Exploring the Relationship between a Group’s Value References and Its Likelihood of Engaging in Terrorism,” Studies in Conflict & Terrorism 27, no. 5 (2004).
50 Marlon Mooijman et al., “Moralization in Social Networks and the Emergence of Violence during Protests,” Nature Human Behaviour 2, no. 6 (2018).
51 Linda J Skitka and Elizabeth Mullen, “The Dark Side of Moral Conviction,” Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy 2, no. 1 (2002).
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53 Patrizia Milesi and Augusta Isabella Alberici, “Pluralistic Morality and Collective Action: The Role of Moral Foundations,” Group Processes & Intergroup Relations 21, no. 2 (2018).
54 Jesse Graham et al., “Mapping the Moral Domain,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 101, no. 2 (2011).
55 e.g. Graham et al., “Mapping the Moral Domain.”
56 Milesi and Alberici, “Pluralistic Morality and Collective Action: The Role of Moral Foundations.”
57 Richards, “A Dialectical Approach to Online Propaganda: Australia’s United Patriots Front, Right-Wing Politics, and Islamic State.”
58 Milesi and Alberici, “Pluralistic Morality and Collective Action: The Role of Moral Foundations.”
59 See also: Bliuc, Ana-Maria, Laura GE Smith, and Tina Moynihan, “‘You Wouldn’t Celebrate September 11’: Testing Online Polarisation between Opposing Ideological Camps on YouTube,” Group Processes & Intergroup Relations 23, no. 6 (2020): 827–44.
60 Fathali M Moghaddam, Mutual radicalization: How Groups and Nations Drive Each Other to Extremes (American Psychological Association, 2018).
61 See Ana-Maria Bliuc et al., “The Effects of Local Socio-Political Events on Group Cohesion in Online Far-Right Communities,” PloS One 15, no. 3 (2020).
62 Bernd Simon et al., “Politicization as an Antecedent of Polarization: Evidence from Two Different Political and National Contexts,” British Journal of Social Psychology 58, no. 4 (2019).
63 Barberá et al., “The Critical Periphery in the Growth of Social Protests.”
64 Bliuc et al., “Collective Identity Changes in Far-Right Online Communities: The Role of Offline Intergroup Conflict.”; van der Vegt et al. “Online Influence, offline Violence: Language Use on YouTube Surrounding the ‘Unite the Right’ Rally.”
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69 Laura GE Smith, Jeffrey Gavin, and Elise Sharp, “Social Identity Formation during the Emergence of the Occupy Movement,” European Journal of Social Psychology 45, no. 7 (2015).
70 Simon and Klandermans, “Politicized Collective Identity: A Social Psychological Analysis.”
71 Wohl, King, and Taylor, “Expressions of Political Practice: Collective Angst Moderates Politicized Collective Identity to Predict Support for Political Protest (Peaceful or Violent) among Diaspora Group Members.”
72 Graham, Haidt, and Nosek, “Liberals and Conservatives Rely on Different Sets of Moral Foundations.”
73 See Milesi and Alberici, “Pluralistic Morality and Collective Action: The Role of Moral Foundations.”
74 Moghaddam, Mutual Radicalization: How Groups and Nations Drive Each Other to Extremes.
75 As per Smith et al., “Detecting Psychological Change through Mobilizing Interactions.”
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85 Tajfel and Turner, “An Integrative Theory of Intergroup Conflict.”
86 Bliuc et al., “The Effects of Local Socio-Political Events on Group Cohesion in Online Far-Right Communities.”
87 Moghaddam, “Mutual Radicalization: How Groups and Nations Drive Each Other to Extremes.”
88 Barberá et al., “The Critical Periphery in the Growth of Social Protests.”
89 Simon et al., “Politicization as an Antecedent of Polarization: Evidence from Two Different Political and National Contexts.”
90 van Zomeren, Postmes, and Spears, “Toward an Integrative Social Identity Model of Collective Action: A Quantitative Research Synthesis of Three Socio-Psychological Perspectives.”
91 Emma F Thomas et al., “Testing the Social Identity Model of Collective Action Longitudinally and Across Structurally Disadvantaged and Advantaged Groups,” Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin (2019).
92 Consistent also with Bliuc et al., “Collective Identity Changes in Far-Right Online Communities: The Role of Offline Intergroup Conflict/”
93 Bliuc et al., “Public Division about Climate Change Rooted in Conflicting Socio-Political Identities.”
94 Moghaddam, Mutual Radicalization: How Groups and Nations Drive Each Other to Extremes.
95 Jetten and Wohl, “The Past as a Determinant of the Present: Historical Continuity, Collective Angst, and Opposition to Immigration.”
96 Wohl, King, and Taylor, “Expressions of Political Practice: Collective Angst Moderates Politicized Collective Identity to Predict Support for Political Protest (Peaceful or Violent) among Diaspora Group Members.”
97 Ali Teymoori et al., “Revisiting the Measurement of Anomie,” PloS one (2016).
98 Jetten and Wohl, “The Past as a Determinant of the Present: Historical Continuity, Collective Angst, and Opposition to Immigration.”
99 Mooijman et al., “Moralization in Social Networks and the Emergence of Violence during Protests.”
100 Ginges et al., “Sacred Bounds on Rational Resolution of Violent Political Conflict."
101 Milesi and Alberici, "Pluralistic Morality and Collective Action: The Role of Moral Foundations.”
102 Organisation, “Director-General’s Annual Threat Assessment.”
103 Milesi and Alberici, “Pluralistic Morality and Collective Action: The Role of Moral Foundations.”
104 Richards, “A Dialectical Approach to Online Propaganda: Australia’s United Patriots Front, Right-Wing Politics, and Islamic State.”
105 Haslam, Reicher, and Platow, “The New Psychology of Leadership: Identity, Influence and Power.”
106 Moghaddam, “Mutual radicalization: How groups and nations drive each other to extremes.”
107 Thomas, McGarty, and Louis, “Social Interaction and Psychological Pathways to Political Engagement and Extremism.”; Louis, Winnifred, Emma Thomas, Craig McGarty, Morgana LizzioWilson, Catherine Amiot, and Fathali Moghaddam, “The Volatility of Collective Action: Theoretical Analysis and Empirical Data,” Political Psychology 41 (2020): 35–74.
108 Tausch et al., “Explaining Radical Group Behavior: Developing Emotion and Efficacy Routes to Normative and Nonnormative Collective Action.”
109 Emma F. Thomas, Craig McGarty, and Kenneth I. Mavor, “Group Interaction as the Crucible of Identity Formation: A Glimpse at the Origins of Collective Identity and Action,” Group Processes and Intergroup Relations 19 (2016).
110 Smith, Blackwood and Thomas, “The Need to Refocus on the Group as the Site of Radicalization.”