Tech Against Terrorism

Far-right violent extremists and meme culture

April 29, 2020 Tech Against Terrorism Season 1 Episode 7
Tech Against Terrorism
Far-right violent extremists and meme culture
Show Notes

During the recent protests against the coronavirus lockdown in the US, a protester was spotted with a flyer referring to “Boogaloo”, a popular far-right violent extremist slang term calling for a new civil war that has turned into a meme culture of its own amongst violent extremists. One year earlier, before attacking two mosques and killing 51 people, the Christchurch shooter posted on messaging board 8chan, encouraging readers to continue to make memes. 

Join Maygane Janin and Jacob Berntsson as they discuss how memes have become an unconventional strategy for violent extremists to easily spread their ideologies. They are joined by Maik Fielitz, a researcher at the Jena Institute for Democracy and Civil Society, and a fellow at the Centre of Analysis of the Radical Right specialising in far-right extremism in Germany; and Lisa Bogerts, an expert of visual communication, both of them are contributors to the 2019 book, ‘Post-Digital Cultures of the Far Right’. They discuss how far-right violent extremists take advantage of the intrinsic virality of seemingly harmless online jokes to reach out to new audiences and penetrate mainstream culture.

Resources

Full list of resources on our website: https://www.techagainstterrorism.fm/far-right-violent-extremists-and-meme-culture/

Maik Fielitz (@maik_fielitz) 

Lisa Bogerts