Transnationalising reactionary conservative activism: A multimodal critical discourse analysis of far-right narratives online

ABSTRACT

By conducting a qualitative content analysis of 400 far-right posts collected from two UK-based websites – British First and Politicalite, and two Australia-based websites – The Unshackled and XYZ, this article identifies their transnational correspondences in terms of thematic focuses, philosophical foundations, and racial frames. It discusses not only topical issues and events that drive transnational far-right activism, but also its philosophical traditions – from Maurice Barrès’ fin-de-siècle nationalism to Alain de Benoist’s Nouvelle Droite (ND – New Right) thinking and birth-cultural nationalism – and its use of racial frames, such as white guilt, ‘anti-white’ racism and ‘white genocide’. A multimodal critical discourse analysis of selected posts further adds to an understanding of a reactionary backlash against the perceived dominance of liberalism and ‘political correctness’ in contemporary Western democracies.

KEYWORDS:

• Alternative online media
• multimodal critical discourse analysis
• reactionary conservative
• racism
• white genocide conspiracy theory

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Author agreement statement

The authors have agreed to the submission and that the article is not currently being considered for publication by any other print or electronic journal.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Melbourne Research Scholarship;Australian Research Council [DP210101302];

Notes on contributors

Xinyi Zhang

Xinyi Zhang is a PhD Candidate in the School of Culture and Communication at the University of Melbourne, Australia. Her doctoral research focuses on Australian and British reactionary conservative actors online.

Mark Davis

Mark Davis is Head of the Media and Communications programme at the University of Melbourne, Australia. He researches the impact of networked digital media on public culture, with a focus on online anti-publics and the platformisation of extremism.