The Digital Crusades: the Media and Western European Nationalists
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The Digital Crusades: The Media and Western European Nationalists http://www.lemonde.fr/politique/article/2012/06/01/progres-et-reculs-du-vote- front-national_1711219_823448.html Haydn Rippon Principal Supervisor: Dr. Lee Duffield Associate Supervisor: Ass. Pro. Susan Carson Queensland University of Technology 2016 Abstract This thesis investigates the strategic media practices of the ‘new nationalist’ political parties and social movements in contemporary Western Europe. It refers to an extensive literature, interviews and a review of media artefacts related to these political parties and social movements, to establish how they achieved substantial public support in the present era. It uses four case studies, being three political parties and one activist social movement: the French Front National (FN), the Flemish Vlaams Belang (VB), Danish Dansk Folkeparti (DF) and the Europeanist-regionalist social movement, Bloc Identitaire (BI). The thesis draws on the work of Cas Mudde, who defines the parties as authoritarian, nativist and populist – referred to as ANPs in this research. It describes the central concern of the case study subjects with Islam in Europe, and their developing of the issue to gain support. In this monograph the broad issue, ‘Islam’, takes in mass immigration into Europe, integration or otherwise of Muslim populations, and the associated tensions. The research comes at a point when the party family is at a ‘tipping point’, with the growth of a political zeitgeist that is supportive of their broad thrust by an increasing number of voters in most of Europe, and this research considers the ANPs’ own efforts in the media field to be a contributing factor to the development of that zeitgeist. The research concludes that the ANPs have been successful in campaigning to substantially improve their political position, such that they may claim a legitimate place at the centre of political debate and decision making. They have jettisoned associations with fascism of the past, firstly as a necessary step to gain legitimacy, but also because they are within themselves amply attuned to the mores of contemporary democracy. The ANPs have generally adopted a degree of social liberalism, and put it forward as a counter to ‘Islam’. Yet, they can be seen as invoking a nostalgic interpretation of Europe from before the ‘post war’ era, with their rejection of mass immigration and ‘Islamisation’ as the most demonstrative and intense expression of their vision. The core of the thesis is divided into these parts: a substantial literature review, a discussion section which includes a treatment of the case study subjects and a review of media artefacts, and a conclusion. The literature review is divided into two sections: the first deals with the ANPs and the themes they use in their 2 representation of Islam; the second deals with media theory relevant to the ANPs’ communication practices. The principal data collection took place during fieldwork in Denmark, Holland, Belgium and France over a period of one month in 2013. This data collection included the recording of 17 interviews. The interviewees were party and social movement spokespeople, specialist academics in the field, and European journalists with knowledge of the ANPs. The media review surveys 28 items of media ranging through feature articles and commentary, posters, tweets, news articles from the tabloid press, sympathetic online content and self-penned polemical blog posts by movement figures. These reviews are used to demonstrate the way the ANPs work media and enable the researcher to make inferences as to the character of political communication taking place. This analysis is integrated with the themes extracted in the literature review and the data collected on the field trip. The concluding section of the dissertation assesses the possibilities of furthering and consolidating the ANPs’ drive for greater legitimacy, integration into mainstream political life, and ultimately participation in the wielding of decision- making political power. 3 Statement of Original Authorship The work contained in this thesis has not been previously submitted to meet requirements for an award at QUT or any other higher education institution. To the best of my knowledge and belief, the thesis contains no material previously published or written by another person except where due reference is made. Signature: QUT Verified Signature Date: 01.05.16 4 Research Ethics Then research involved human participants during the field trip when interviews were recorded. This research involved minimum risk to participants, and they did not experience anything beyond possible minor inconvenience, taking the time to meet. All were competent and well informed participants in their political organisations, or they were experienced academics and journalists, none being vulnerable subjects in the context of this research. Ethical clearance was obtained for this work, ref. number: 1100001406. 5 Dedications and Thanks A special thanks to Dr. Duffield who proved to be as noble as he is knowledgeable - guiding me through this PhD whilst I developed a serious illness at the start of this work - no easy feat. Thanks to Ass. Pro. Susan Carson and Prof. Brian McNair for their consideration and patience. Thanks to all the Creative Industries, Journalism and Library staff. Thanks to Dr. Tripta Chandola, my good friend and debating partner. Thanks to my friends and family as well. I would like to thank my interviewees: The academics: Ass. Pro. Susi Meret, Prof. Jan Erk, Ass. Pro. Koenraad Abts, Dr. Yves Camus and Ass. Pro. Cas Mudde. The Journalists: Ms. Tenna Petersen, Mr. Alexander Sokoler, Mr. Sander van Walsum, Mr. Geoff Meade and Mr. Lorenzo Consoli. The Party Members: Ms. Yvette Espersen, Mr. Soren Espersen, Mr. Anders Vistisen, Mr. Philip Claeys MEP and Mr. Ludovic De Deanne. The Activists: Mr. Yves Le Jeune, Mr. Simon Charles, Ms. Stephanie Vitali, Mr. Fabrice Robert and Mr. Georges Gourdin. This thesis is dedicated to people I only know from their words and pictures. The first is the Walloonian Belgian Journalist Tintin, the creation of the graphic novelist Georges Prosper Remi (AKA Hergé). His incomparable artistic and story telling powers have provided me no end of joy since my introduction to his work more than thirty five years ago, and lit the spark for my enduring interest in the World beyond Australia. The next three are British journalists: George Orwell, a genuine man not afraid to get in amongst it, and call obfuscation and tyranny for what it was, regardless of its ideological foundation, George Steer, who covered the attempted Soviet invasion of Finland and the Nazi bombing of the Basque capital, Guernica, amongst other conflicts, and Donald McCullin, a war photojournalist whose pictures still impress me to this very day. 6 Table of Contents The Digital Crusades: The Media and Western European Nationalists...... 1 Abstract ........................................................................................................... 2 Dedications and Thanks ................................................................................. 6 Abbreviations and Acronyms ...................................................................... 10 List of Illustrations ........................................................................................ 11 Preface ........................................................................................................... 13 SECTION 1: Introduction .............................................................................. 17 1.1 Introduction ........................................................................................... 17 1.2 Contribution to Scholarship .................................................................... 25 SECTION 2: Research Question .................................................................. 27 SECTION 3: Methodology............................................................................. 28 3.2 Methods .................................................................................................... 29 3.2.1 Case Studies ............................................................................................ 29 3.2.2 Media and Document Review ................................................................... 32 3.2.3 Observation and Semi-structured Interviews ............................................. 35 3.2.4 Structure of The Digital Crusades ............................................................. 39 SECTION 4: Literature Review ..................................................................... 40 4.1 Defining the Authoritarian Nativist Populists ......................................... 40 4.1.1 Authoritarian Nativist Populism ................................................................. 41 4.1.2 The Post World War II Evolution to Nativist Populism ........................ 45 4.2 Defining Characteristics: Authoritarianism, Nativism and Populism ... 51 4.2.1 Populism: The State Against the Nation .................................................... 51 4.2.2 Nativism: Our Own People First ................................................................ 54 4.2.3 Authoritarianism ........................................................................................ 57 4.3 Key Issues................................................................................................. 60 4.3.1 Parties and Social Movements of the ‘Betrayed’ ....................................... 60 4.3.2