DOCSLIB.ORG

Political Trends & Dynamics

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Political Trends & Dynamics Briefing Political Trends & Dynamics The Far Right in the EU and the Western Balkans Volume 3 | 2020 POLITICAL TRENDS & DYNAMICS IN SOUTHEAST EUROPE A FES DIALOGUE SOUTHEAST EUROPE PROJECT Peace and stability initiatives represent a decades-long cornerstone of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung’s work in southeastern Europe. Recent events have only reaffirmed the centrality of Southeast European stability within the broader continental security paradigm. Both de- mocratization and socio-economic justice are intrinsic aspects of a larger progressive peace policy in the region, but so too are consistent threat assessments and efforts to prevent conflict before it erupts. Dialogue SOE aims to broaden the discourse on peace and stability in southeastern Europe and to counter the securitization of prevalent narratives by providing regular analysis that involves a comprehensive understanding of human security, including structural sources of conflict. The briefings cover fourteen countries in southeastern Europe: the seven post-Yugoslav countries and Albania, Greece, Turkey, Cyprus, Bulgaria, Romania, and Moldova. PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED • Civic Mobilizations • The Digital Frontier in • The European Project in the Western in Southeast Europe Southeast Europe Balkans: Crisis and Transition February / March 2017 February / March 2018 Volume 2/2019 • Regional Cooperation in • Religion and Secularism • Chinese Soft Power the Western Balkans in Southeast Europe in Southeast Europe April / Mai 2017 April / May 2018 Volume 3/2019 • NATO in Southeast Europe • Inequality in Southeast Europe • Youth Policy in Southeast Europe June / July 2017 June / July 2018 Volume 4/2019 • Emerging Leadership • Bilateral Disputes • Deficient Welfare States in Southeast Europe in Southeast Europe in Southeast Europe August / September 2017 August / September 2018 Volume 1/2020 • Beyond Reconciliation in • Ecology and Justice • The COVID-19 Pandemic in Southeast Southeastern Europe in Southeast Europe Europe: Experiences on the Ground October / November 2017 October / November 2018 Special Edition • Gender in Politics in • Romania’s and Bulgaria’s • Nature or Politics: Southeast Europe Membership in the EU: Disaster Response in SEE December 2017 / January 2018 Progress, Challenges, Prospects Volume 2/2020 Volume 1/2019 POLITICAL TRENDS & DYNAMICS IN SOUTHEAST EUROPE EDITORIAL Alida Vračić, Jasmin Mujanović and Ioannis Armakolas On October 12, Slovak far-right politician Marian Kotleba, leader of the far-right People’s Party Our Slo- vakia (LSNS), was sentenced to four years and four months in jail. This verdict was part of a wider crack- down on extremism in the country, which has seen several high-level figures charged with racist crimes in recent years. Earlier this month Greece’s Nazi Golden Dawn party was ruled a criminal organization and found guilty by a court in Athens of operating a gang of hit squads targeting the group’s opponents and critics. These rulings are part of a broader confrontation with the far-right, which has been forced upon European governments in light of the growing popularity and influence of such reactionary movements. In past years, these groups have often been dismissed as marginal actors, which has served to obscure the danger they pose to democratic societies. Such an approach has helped to facilitate the dramatic growth of far-right parties and movements in Europe, who have, in turn, successfully tapped into feelings of po- litical alienation, while promoting sectarian grievances, to establish themselves as a definitive part of the contemporary political mainstream on the continent. Online the growth of far-right radical and extremist viewpoints is even more pronounced, with sophisti- cated, and tailored messaging easily deployed across social media networks by these groups reaching mil- lions of people in the EU and the Western Balkans. And while the online far-right sphere is “diverse”, with differently constituted local and continental groups appealing to particular, regional grievances, there is nevertheless a set of shared values among them: a general tendency towards xenophobia and chauvin- ism, with a particular emphasis on antisemitism, Islamophobia, anti-feminism, and anti-immigrant/refu- gee sentiment. To date, the brunt of the academic and pol- icy literature has focused on these manifes- CONTENTS OF THIS ISSUE tations in the West. In this issue of the Po- litical Trends and Dynamics newsletter, we EDITORIAL . 3 show, however, that the far-right has made major inroads in Southeastern Europe and READY FOR THE RIDE ON THE CRISIS WAVE? the Western Balkans. Moreover, local radi- ON NARRATIVES, TOOLS AND TACTICS OF FAR cal and extremist groups have benefited RIGHT IN SOUTHEAST EUROPE . 5 from association with and tutelage by sim- Vedran Džihić and Gazela Pudar Draško ilar groups based out of the EU and the UNDERSTANDING THE ORBÁN-VUČIĆ U.S., as well as government-backed far- RELATIONSHIP . 7 right groups from Russia, such as the Night András Bíró-Nagy and James Hare Wolves motorcycle gang. And far-right ter- rorist attacks in the West - as in Christchurch THE SOUTHEAST FRONT: THE FAR RIGHT AND and Norway in 2011 – have shown a deep RUSSIAN INFLUENCE IN THE WIDER BALKANS . 10 ideological familiarity with Serb ultra-na- Mark Galeotti tionalist themes from the 1990s. THE TRANSATLANTIC CONNECTIONS BETWEEN AMERICAN AND SOUTHEAST The contributions in this issue examine the EUROPEAN RACIST EXTREMISTS . 13 narratives, tactics, and tools used by far- Heidi Beirich right across Southeastern Europe, their links to like-minded groups in the conti- POLITICAL TRENDS & DYNAMICS OVERVIEW . 20 HIGHS AND LOWS . 21 nent’s West, and the acute threat they rep- ELECTORAL UPS AND DOWNS . 22 resent to regional and collective security GOVERNMENT FORMATION . 24 and democracy in the 21st century. These EU ACCESSION . 25 timely interventions offer important educa- ECONOMIC FORECASTS . 25 tional perspectives for civil society activists SECURITY . 26 and policymakers in how to deal with the 3 FRIEDRICH-EBERT-STIFTUNG threat of a newly resurgent far-right. In short, these are no longer marginal groups; they are mobilized, well-organized, and militant. The defense of European democracy — within the EU and on its edges — will require a sustained policy framework that recognizes the true nature of the threat. Drawing on the perspective of local experts and policy analysts, we offer a series of essays on this topic with the hope that they will stimulate policy debate and conversation, as the global community tenta- tively looks to the “new normal” in the post-coronavirus world. After all, as much as the pandemic has dominated international attention, it has not eliminated the need for broader policy conversation. And as another wave of flooding presently strikes the region, we argue that now is the time to take stock — to prepare for the inevitable. 4 POLITICAL TRENDS & DYNAMICS IN SOUTHEAST EUROPE READY FOR THE RIDE ON THE CRISIS WAVE? ON NARRATIVES, TOOLS AND TACTICS OF FAR RIGHT IN SOUTHEAST EUROPE Vedran Džihić and Gazela Pudar Draško In a trial that involved 120 witnesses and took Vedran Džihić is a Senior Re- more than five years, in October 2020, Greece’s searcher with the Austrian Institute for International neo-Nazi Golden Dawn was been ruled to be a Affairs, Co-Director of the criminal organization. A court verdict in Athens Center for Advanced Studies also found the far-right group guilty of operat- of Southeastern Europe (Rijeka), and Senior Lecturer ing a gang of hit squads that aimed at eliminating at the Institute for Political perceived enemies. At least this time, Greece sanc- Sciences, University of Vienna. tioned the violence which is an extreme but inte- gral part of the political horizon of the far-right. The far-right and neo-fascist extremist party, Golden Dawn, was riding on the wave of popu- Gazela Pudar Draško (1982) is a researcher at the Institute for lar anger about EU-mandated austerity measures Philosophy and Social Theory, implemented in Greece in 2010. At the height of University of Belgrade. She is the crisis, it won 21 seats in the Greek parliament actively involved in the policy research and activities of the and became the third biggest political party in the civil society sector in Serbia, country. But, even before the financial crisis, there but also in the SEE region. Her were signs that political trust in the established fields of interest are political sociology, particularly social parties was rapidly declining. With the outbreak engagement. She writes on of the financial crisis, this potential for protest in- the intellectual engagement, creased. Golden Dawn’s extreme xenophobic, rac- social movements and gender. ist, and authoritarian discourse focused on anti- immigrant scapegoating and a rejection of the an counterparts. Analyst and philosopher Boris democratic political system in Greece. It was in Buden argues that together, they form a “right- particular young and disillusioned Greeks, who, wing pro-fascist International.”1 These groups’ plagued by high unemployment and a lack of op- skepticism towards Europe (and frustration with portunities, were attracted by the party’s right- globalization in general) often goes hand in hand wing ideology and racist stance vis-à-vis immi- with a strong affirmation of national identities grants and other groups. Finally, it was also young and the territorial unity of the nation-state. The people’s general lack of historical awareness of main discursive tools of the far right are haunt- the history of fascist movements in the country ingly reminiscent of the Second World War - in- that helped Golden Dawn increase their votes and cluding “Natives First”, “blood and soil”, xenopho- promote its revisionist and fascist views. bic and chauvinistic constructions of the “Other”. In Europe it was mainly the so called “migration As the economic crisis and a disillusionment with crisis” of 2015 that sparked the big resurgence of the EU served as a catalyst for a massive rise of the far-right: the fear of mass immigration and Is- Golden Dawn, its fall will have ramifications for lamophobia (toward refugees and already-exist- the far right across Europe.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Srebrenica Genocide and the Denial Narrative
    DISCUSSION PAPER The Srebrenica Genocide and the Denial Narrative H. N. Keskin DISCUSSION PAPER The Srebrenica Genocide and the Denial Narrative H. N. Keskin The Srebrenica Genocide and the Denial Narrative © TRT WORLD RESEARCH CENTRE ALL RIGHTS RESERVED WRITTEN BY H. N. Keskin PUBLISHER TRT WORLD RESEARCH CENTRE July 2021 TRT WORLD İSTANBUL AHMET ADNAN SAYGUN STREET NO:83 34347 ULUS, BEŞİKTAŞ İSTANBUL / TURKEY TRT WORLD LONDON PORTLAND HOUSE 4 GREAT PORTLAND STREET NO:4 LONDON / UNITED KINGDOM TRT WORLD WASHINGTON D.C. 1819 L STREET NW SUITE 700 20036 WASHINGTON DC www.trtworld.com researchcentre.trtworld.com The opinions expressed in this discussion paper represent the views of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the TRT World Research Centre. 4 The Srebrenica Genocide and the Denial Narrative Introduction he Srebrenica Genocide (also attribute genocidal intent to a particular official referred to as the Srebrenica within the Main Staff may have been motivated Massacre), in which Serbian by a desire not to assign individual culpability soldiers massacred more than to persons not on trial here. This, however, does eight thousand Bosniak civilians not undermine the conclusion that Bosnian Serb Tduring the Bosnian war (1992-1995), has been forces carried out genocide against the Bosnian affirmed as the worst incident of mass murder in Muslims. (United Nations, 2004:12) Europe since World War II. Furthermore, despite the UN’s “safe area” declaration prior to the Further prosecutions were pursued against the genocide in the region, the Bosnian Serb Army of Dutch state in the Dutch Supreme Court for not Republika Srpska (VRS) under the command of preventing the deaths of Bosniak men, women and Ratko Mladić executed more than 8,000 Bosniak children that took refuge in their zone located in 2 (Bosnian Muslims) men and boys and deported Potocari.
    [Show full text]
  • Identity Evropa
    AGAINST IDENTITY EVROPA AGAINST THE ALT RIGHT Big Nazi On Campus May 15, 2016 ON FRIDAY, May 6th, white nationalist Richard Spencer, President and director of National Policy Institute (NPI), (a think tank aimed at mil- lennials and educated adults that puts on conferences), and head of its publishing arm Washington Summit Publishers, arrived just before 3pm at UC Berkeley. Encircled by three other white nationalists, Spen- cer walked from the street through several corridors and hallways until finally making his way to Sproul Plaza where a group of other supporters had already gathered and started to live-stream and hold signs. In doing so, Spencer was stepping out of the world of paid con- ferences and weekly podcasts and into the terrain of street activism. Having announced the event on his twitter 48 hours before hand and working with Red Ice Radio, a live-streaming and in home studio run by a white nationalist married couple, the National Policy Institute along with Identity Europa, the youth wing of the American Freedom Party, (a key organizer for ANP is David Duke’s former right-hand man, Jamie Kelso), a Neo-Nazi formation, was working to create a “virtual rally.” The event itself was billed as a “Safe Space” to talk about race in America, using language common among left-wing, ac- tivist, and anarchist spaces. Before the rally even began, Spencer’s fellow white nationalists at Red Ice were already playing up what they imagined was going to happen that day. “Here is is, the birth of the free speech movement, and all of these liberals aren’t going to be able to stand white people talking about race,” they stated, (as if somehow Further resources Berkeley was devoid of white people doing just that).
    [Show full text]
  • Title: Utøya – Christchurch – Halle. Right-Wing Extremists' Terrorism
    Title: Utøya – Christchurch – Halle. Right-wing Extremists’ Terrorism Author: Karolina Wojtasik Citation style: Wojtasik Karolina. (2020). Utøya – Christchurch – Halle. Right-wing Extremists’ Terrorism. "Security Dimensions" nr 33 (2020), s. 84-97, doi 10.5604/01.3001.0014.2670 SECURITY DIMENSIONS NO. 33; 2020 (84–97) DOI 10.5604/01.3001.0014.2670 UTØYA – CHRISTCHURCH – HALLE. RIGHT-WING EXTREMISTS’ TERRORISM Karolina Wojtasik1 ABSTRACT The article deals with three terrorist attacks of right-wing extremists: in Norway (2011), New Zealand (2019) and Germany (2019). First, the modus operandi of perpetrators was shown and the course of each attack was analyzed. It was indicated what tactics the attackers used and why it was or was not effective. Secondly, the ideological background and motivations of the perpetrators were shown. It was possible to analyze the manifestos that the perpetrators left, and thus their way of thinking, their ideologies, and the purposes of organizing the attacks. Thirdly, issues related to the publicizing of the attacks by the perpetrators were shown. The goal of the article is to show that radical ideology of right-wing extremists (expressed in manifestos) leads to tragedies. In analyzed cases radical appointment of the perpetrators caused three deadly attacks. The article shows that the radical actions are preceded by radical speech, expressions, manifestos. The 1 Karolina Wojtasik, Ph.D., University of Silesia, Katowice, Poland; correspondence address: Instytut Socjologii UŚ, ul. Bankowa 11, 40-007 Katowice, Poland; email: [email protected] Utøya – Christchurch – Halle. Right-wing Extremists’ Terrorism second goal is to pay attention to hate speech (also expressed in manifestos), which is just as dangerous as bullets or improvised explosive devices.
    [Show full text]
  • Spencer Sunshine*
    Journal of Social Justice, Vol. 9, 2019 (© 2019) ISSN: 2164-7100 Looking Left at Antisemitism Spencer Sunshine* The question of antisemitism inside of the Left—referred to as “left antisemitism”—is a stubborn and persistent problem. And while the Right exaggerates both its depth and scope, the Left has repeatedly refused to face the issue. It is entangled in scandals about antisemitism at an increasing rate. On the Western Left, some antisemitism manifests in the form of conspiracy theories, but there is also a hegemonic refusal to acknowledge antisemitism’s existence and presence. This, in turn, is part of a larger refusal to deal with Jewish issues in general, or to engage with the Jewish community as a real entity. Debates around left antisemitism have risen in tandem with the spread of anti-Zionism inside of the Left, especially since the Second Intifada. Anti-Zionism is not, by itself, antisemitism. One can call for the Right of Return, as well as dissolving Israel as a Jewish state, without being antisemitic. But there is a Venn diagram between anti- Zionism and antisemitism, and the overlap is both significant and has many shades of grey to it. One of the main reasons the Left can’t acknowledge problems with antisemitism is that Jews persistently trouble categories, and the Left would have to rethink many things—including how it approaches anti- imperialism, nationalism of the oppressed, anti-Zionism, identity politics, populism, conspiracy theories, and critiques of finance capital—if it was to truly struggle with the question. The Left understands that white supremacy isn’t just the Ku Klux Klan and neo-Nazis, but that it is part of the fabric of society, and there is no shortcut to unstitching it.
    [Show full text]
  • Australia Muslim Advocacy Network
    1. The Australian Muslim Advocacy Network (AMAN) welcomes the opportunity to input to the UN Special Rapporteur on the Freedom of Religion or Belief as he prepares this report on the Impact of Islamophobia/anti-Muslim hatred and discrimination on the right to freedom of thought, conscience religion or belief. 2. We also welcome the opportunity to participate in your Asia-Pacific Consultation and hear from the experiences of a variety of other Muslims organisations. 3. AMAN is a national body that works through law, policy, research and media, to secure the physical and psychological welfare of Australian Muslims. 4. Our objective to create conditions for the safe exercise of our faith and preservation of faith- based identity, both of which are under persistent pressure from vilification, discrimination and disinformation. 5. We are engaged in policy development across hate crime & vilification laws, online safety, disinformation and democracy. Through using a combination of media, law, research, and direct engagement with decision making parties such as government and digital platforms, we are in a constant process of generating and testing constructive proposals. We also test existing civil and criminal laws to push back against the mainstreaming of hate, and examine whether those laws are fit for purpose. Most recently, we are finalising significant research into how anti-Muslim dehumanising discourse operates on Facebook and Twitter, and the assessment framework that could be used to competently and consistently assess hate actors. A. Definitions What is your working definition of anti-Muslim hatred and/or Islamophobia? What are the advantages and potential pitfalls of such definitions? 6.
    [Show full text]
  • Far-Right Anthology
    COUNTERINGDEFENDING EUROPE: “GLOBAL BRITAIN” ANDTHE THEFAR FUTURE RIGHT: OFAN EUROPEAN ANTHOLOGY GEOPOLITICSEDITED BY DR RAKIB EHSAN AND DR PAUL STOTT BY JAMES ROGERS DEMOCRACY | FREEDOM | HUMAN RIGHTS ReportApril No 2020. 2018/1 Published in 2020 by The Henry Jackson Society The Henry Jackson Society Millbank Tower 21-24 Millbank London SW1P 4QP Registered charity no. 1140489 Tel: +44 (0)20 7340 4520 www.henryjacksonsociety.org © The Henry Jackson Society, 2020. All rights reserved. The views expressed in this publication are those of the author and are not necessarily indicative of those of The Henry Jackson Society or its Trustees. Title: “COUNTERING THE FAR RIGHT: AN ANTHOLOGY” Edited by Dr Rakib Ehsan and Dr Paul Stott Front Cover: Edinburgh, Scotland, 23rd March 2019. Demonstration by the Scottish Defence League (SDL), with supporters of National Front and white pride, and a counter demonstration by Unite Against Facism demonstrators, outside the Scottish Parliament, in Edinburgh. The Scottish Defence League claim their protest was against the sexual abuse of minors, but the opposition claim the rally masks the SDL’s racist beliefs. Credit: Jeremy Sutton-Hibbert/Alamy Live News. COUNTERINGDEFENDING EUROPE: “GLOBAL BRITAIN” ANDTHE THEFAR FUTURE RIGHT: OFAN EUROPEAN ANTHOLOGY GEOPOLITICSEDITED BY DR RAKIB EHSAN AND DR PAUL STOTT BY JAMES ROGERS DEMOCRACY | FREEDOM | HUMAN RIGHTS ReportApril No 2020. 2018/1 Countering the Far Right: An Anthology About the Editors Dr Paul Stott joined the Henry Jackson Society’s Centre on Radicalisation and Terrorism as a Research Fellow in January 2019. An experienced academic, he received an MSc in Terrorism Studies (Distinction) from the University of East London in 2007, and his PhD in 2015 from the University of East Anglia for the research “British Jihadism: The Detail and the Denial”.
    [Show full text]
  • Azov Phenomenon How Ukrai
    INFORMATION GROUP ON CRIMES AGAINST THE PERSON (IGCP) INFORMATION GROUP ON CRIMES AGAINST THE PERSON (IGCP) Azov Phenomenon How Ukrainian Neo-Nazis Became Infl uential Political Force “IGCP Reports” (published since 2016) Head of the Project A.R. Dyukov. Issue 3. Editor M.A. Vilkov. Maltsev V. Azov Phenomenon How Ukrainian Neo-Nazis became Influential Political Force / Information Group on Crimes against the Person (IGCP). M.: “Istoricheskaya pamyat” Foundation, 2017. — 98 pages. There were the days when participants of right-wing and neo-Nazi groups in the Ukraine were marginal ones, being expelled to the edge of political and social life. Everything changed in 2014, during the so-called “Revolution of Dignity”. Ukrainian neo-Nazis gained money and weapon, they were given official status as Army, Police and Special Forces units, they got representatives in the Parliament. The history of “Azov” — notorious neo- Nazi detachment of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Ukraine — became an image of such transformation. “Azov” offsprings hold leading offices in Ukrainian Police, raise the youth in neo-Nazi ideology encirclement, effectively expand their representation on the Ukrainian political field and getting ready for the struggle for power. This report is devoted to the process of Ukrainian nationalists becoming influential political power. IGCP, 2017. Contents Preface ............................................................................7 Chapter 1. Street Militants...............................................11 Social-National Party of Ukraine .................................... 13 The Social-National Assembly ........................................ 25 Chapter 2. Neo-Nazis Get Armed ..................................... 41 Chapter 3: Forced March to Power ..................................69 Preface “Any man who has once acclaimed violence as his METHOD must inexorably choose false- hood as his PRINCIPLE.” A.I.
    [Show full text]
  • Identitarian Movement
    Identitarian movement The identitarian movement (otherwise known as Identitarianism) is a European and North American[2][3][4][5] white nationalist[5][6][7] movement originating in France. The identitarians began as a youth movement deriving from the French Nouvelle Droite (New Right) Génération Identitaire and the anti-Zionist and National Bolshevik Unité Radicale. Although initially the youth wing of the anti- immigration and nativist Bloc Identitaire, it has taken on its own identity and is largely classified as a separate entity altogether.[8] The movement is a part of the counter-jihad movement,[9] with many in it believing in the white genocide conspiracy theory.[10][11] It also supports the concept of a "Europe of 100 flags".[12] The movement has also been described as being a part of the global alt-right.[13][14][15] Lambda, the symbol of the Identitarian movement; intended to commemorate the Battle of Thermopylae[1] Contents Geography In Europe In North America Links to violence and neo-Nazism References Further reading External links Geography In Europe The main Identitarian youth movement is Génération identitaire in France, a youth wing of the Bloc identitaire party. In Sweden, identitarianism has been promoted by a now inactive organisation Nordiska förbundet which initiated the online encyclopedia Metapedia.[16] It then mobilised a number of "independent activist groups" similar to their French counterparts, among them Reaktion Östergötland and Identitet Väst, who performed a number of political actions, marked by a certain
    [Show full text]
  • Mobilizing White Power
    1 MOBILIZING WHITE POWER Music, Culture, and Politics here’s a whole other genre of music out there that no one ever “Thears about and its [sic] real powerful, especially at that awkward stage where no one exactly knows who they are.”1 This California teen- age skin girl is talking about white power music. Resistance Records, once the major distributor in the United States, has dubbed white power music “the soundtrack to the white revolution.”2 Mainstream Americans recently heard more about white power music due to sev- eral high-proÀle hate crimes. Wade Michael Page, the 2012 Sikh Temple shooter, played in multiple white power bands and belonged to Ham- merskin Nation, a racist skinhead group known for its annual music festivals. Paul Craig Cobb, the internationally known white suprema- cist arrested for terroristic threats in Leith, North Dakota, planned to host white power music festivals on his rural land.4 Anders Behring Breivik, who committed the July 2011 terrorist attack on a socialist labor party camp in Norway, also enjoyed white power music, though he reportedly preferred hip hop.5 They are only a few of the individu- als, many of them teenagers, radicalized by white power music often accessed over the Internet. The importance of white power music for an expanding network of white supremacists across the globe should come as no surprise. However, the role of music in politics generally receives too little 1 © 2016 State University of New York Press, Albany 2 TRENDY FASCISM attention from scholars, politicians, and citizens—and white power music is no exception.
    [Show full text]
  • Olena Semenyaka, the “First Lady” of Ukrainian Nationalism
    Olena Semenyaka, The “First Lady” of Ukrainian Nationalism Adrien Nonjon Illiberalism Studies Program Working Papers, September 2020 For years, Ukrainian nationalist movements such as Svoboda or Pravyi Sektor were promoting an introverted, state-centered nationalism inherited from the early 1930s’ Ukrainian Nationalist Organization (Orhanizatsiia Ukrayins'kykh Natsionalistiv) and largely dominated by Western Ukrainian and Galician nationalist worldviews. The EuroMaidan revolution, Crimea’s annexation by Russia, and the war in Donbas changed the paradigm of Ukrainian nationalism, giving birth to the Azov movement. The Azov National Corps (Natsional’nyj korpus), led by Andriy Biletsky, was created on October 16, 2014, on the basis of the Azov regiment, now integrated into the Ukrainian National Guard. The Azov National Corps is now a nationalist party claiming around 10,000 members and deployed in Ukrainian society through various initiatives, such as patriotic training camps for children (Azovets) and militia groups (Natsional’ny druzhiny). Azov can be described as a neo- nationalism, in tune with current European far-right transformations: it refuses to be locked into old- fashioned myths obsessed with a colonial relationship to Russia, and it sees itself as outward-looking in that its intellectual framework goes beyond Ukraine’s territory, deliberately engaging pan- European strategies. Olena Semenyaka (b. 1987) is the female figurehead of the Azov movement: she has been the international secretary of the National Corps since 2018 (and de facto leader since the party’s very foundation in 2016) while leading the publishing house and metapolitical club Plomin (Flame). Gaining in visibility as the Azov regiment transformed into a multifaceted movement, Semenyaka has become a major nationalist theorist in Ukraine.
    [Show full text]
  • A History of Antisemitism Fall 2019
    A History of Antisemitism Fall 2019 Dr. Katherine Aron-Beller Tel Aviv University International [email protected] _____________________________________________________________________ An analysis of articulated hatred toward Jews as a historical force. After treating precursors in the pagan world of antiquity and in classical Christian doctrine, the course will focus on the modern phenomenon crystallizing in 19th-century Europe and reaching its lethal extreme in Nazi ideology, propaganda, and policy. Expressions in the U.S. and in the Arab world, as well as Jewish reactions to antisemitism, will also be studied. Course Outline 1. Wednesday 23td October: Antisemitism – the oldest hatred Gavin Langmuir, Toward a Definition of Antisemitism. (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1990)pp. 311-352. Peter Schäfer, Judaeophobia: Attitudes Toward the Jews in the Ancient World. Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 1997, pp. 34-64, 197-211. 2. Monday 28th October: Jews as Christ Killers – the deepest accusation New Testament (any translation): Matthew 23; 26:57-27:54; John 5:37-40, 8:37-47 John Chrysostom, Discourses Against Judaizing Christians, Homily 1 at: www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/chrysostom-jews6.html Marcel Simon, Verus Israel. Oxford: Littman Library, 1986, pp. 179-233. 3. Wednesday 30th October: The Crusades: The First Massacre of the Jews Soloman bar Samson: The Crusaders in Mainz, May 27, 1096 at: www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/1096jews-mainz.html Robert Chazan, “Anti-Jewish violence of 1096 – Perpetrators and dynamics” in Anna Sapir Abulafia Religious Violence between Christians and Jews (Palgrave, 2002) Daniel Lasker, “The Impact of the Crusades on the Jewish-Christian debate” Jewish History 13, 2 (1999) 23-26 4.
    [Show full text]
  • Loud Proud Passion and Politics in the English Defence League Makes Us Confront the Complexities of Anti-Islamist/Anti-Muslim Fervor
    New Ethnographies ‘These voices of English nationalism make for difficult listening. The great strength of Hilary PILKINGTON Pilkington’s unflinching ethnography is her capacity to confound and challenge our political and preconceptions and makes us think harder. This is an important, difficult and brave book.’ Les Back, Professor of Sociology, Goldsmiths, University of London ‘Pilkington offers fresh and crucial insights into the politics of fear. Her unflinchingly honest depiction of the EDL breaks apart stereotypes of rightist activists as simply dupes, thugs, and racists and Loud proud PASSION AND POLITICS IN THE ENGLISH DEFENCE LEAGUE makes us confront the complexities of anti-Islamist/anti-Muslim fervor. This terrific, compelling book is a must-read for scholars and readers concerned about the global rise of populist movements on the right.’ Kathleen Blee, Distinguished Professor of Sociology, University of Pittsburgh Loud and proud uses interviews, informal conversations and extended observation at English Defence League events to critically reflect on the gap between the movement’s public image and activists’ own understandings of it. It details how activists construct the EDL and themselves as ‘not racist, not violent, just no longer silent’ through, among other things, the exclusion of Muslims as a possible object of racism on the grounds that they are a religiously not racially defined Loud group. In contrast, activists perceive themselves to be ‘second-class citizens’, disadvantaged and discriminated against by a two-tier justice system that privileges the rights of others. This failure to recognise themselves as a privileged white majority explains why ostensibly intimidating EDL street demonstrations marked by racist chanting and nationalistic flag waving are understood by activists as standing ‘loud and proud’; the only way of being heard in a political system governed by a politics of silencing.
    [Show full text]