Without the delivery of integration work at the local level, any effort to counter extremism is effectively built on a shaky foundation with too much sand in the mix. “Communities Defeat Terrorism” was the tagline when I worked as the head of strategy and policy in the office of the UK’s National Coordinator for Prevent… Continue reading “To Defeat Terrorism, We Need to Invest in Communities”
The political goals of the New Right can largely be summarized by two central concepts: the intellectualization of right-wing extremism through the formulation of an intellectual metapolitics, and the pursuit of a (right-wing) cultural hegemony. Here, metapolitics denotes efforts to take intellectual control of public debates, shaping them on a theoretical meta-level by coining particular… Continue reading “On the Ideology and Strategy of the New Right”
In the wake of the right-wing terror attack on two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, countries across the globe are scrambling to improve surveillance and monitoring of right-wing extremists. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced an immediate review of New Zealand’s security agencies, with 250 police officers investigating why the terrorist was not on any security… Continue reading “How to Prevent Hate”
Like in the UK’s “Yellow Vest Movement,” the radical right is very skilled at hijacking movements unrelated to their own. How do we combat this? Prevent – the UK’s counter-radicalisation strategy is currently undergoing an independent review, in part designed to examine accusations that the policy is having potentially negative impacts upon communities. This has… Continue reading “We Need Innovative Methods To Combat Radical Right Extremism”
Decent people everywhere are still reeling from the tragic, senseless violence of Christchurch massacre. It appears that the accused killer was a product of the violent, hateful meme culture of the radical right online. Furthermore, he chose to livestream his rampage on a favorite platform used by anti-Muslim extremists: Facebook. Unfortunately, for many of us… Continue reading “Analysis of Anti-Muslim Images and Text on Facebook”
The political goals of the (German) New Right can largely be summarized by two central concepts: the intellectualization of right-wing extremism through the formulation of an intellectual metapolitics, and the pursuit of a (right-wing) cultural hegemony. Here, metapolitics denotes efforts to take intellectual control of public debates, shaping them on a theoretical meta-level by coining… Continue reading “New Right in Germany: Myth and Reality”
On February 1st 2019 a workshop was organized by the Zentrum für zeithistorische Forschung (ZZF) (Centre for Contemporary History) in Potsdam, with Frank Bösch, Yves Müller, Dominik Rigoll, Sarah Schulz, Julia Kleinschmidt, Christoph Schulze, Anke Hoffstadt, Henrike Voigtländer and Sebastian Bischoff, to name only those present on stage. The purpose of this workshop with approximately… Continue reading “Conference Report: “Right-Wing Extremism as a research object in Contemporary History””
In an article for the Centre for Analysis of the Radical Right (CARR) in May 2018, I argued that Poland has become a crucible for the radical right, encouraged and supported by its ruling party – the nationalist, social-conservative and Eurosceptic – Law and Justice (PiS). Since PiS came to power in 2015, the Polish… Continue reading “The Polish Radical Right in Britain: Recent Developments”
This month the former head of counter terrorism policing, Sir Mark Rowley, called for politicians, the media and the public not to underestimate the threat posed by far-right groups, highlighting as an example the step-change in organisation and sophistication represented by the proscribed National Action group. This is not about being alarmist, but we have… Continue reading “Time to “wake up” to the threat of the radical right”
On 22 May 2017, an Islamist suicide bomber detonated his bomb outside an Ariana Grande pop concert at the Manchester Arena. His chosen target was guaranteed to kill the most innocent in our society, young people, predominantly teenage girls enjoying a night of music and dancing. The Mayor of Greater Manchester, former MP Andy Burnham,… Continue reading “Here’s How We Should Combat Radical Right-Wing Terrorism”