The role of the media in the mainstreaming of the far right
2022; Wiley; Volume: 29; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1111/newe.12306
ISSN2573-2331
Autores Tópico(s)Eastern European Communism and Reforms
ResumoThe urgent need for more accountability from agenda-setters Viktor Orbán, the Hungarian prime minister, recently “sparked outrage” for declaring that Hungarians are not “a mixed race” and do not want “to become a mixed race”.11 Noack R (2022) ‘Hungary's Viktor Orban faces outrage after saying Europeans shouldn't become “mixed race”’, Washington Post, 27 July 2022. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/07/27/viktor-orban-mixed-race-cpac/ In a letter of resignation, one of his long-time advisers, Zsuzsa Hegedüs, told him in no uncertain terms that he had crossed a line, saying what was once “anti-migrant and anti-Europeanism” had now turned into “a pure Nazi speech worthy of Goebbels”.22 Hvg.hu (2022) ‘Prime minister's agent Zsuzsa Hegedüs resigned due to Orbán's “pure Nazi text”’, Hvg.hu. https://hvg.hu/itthon/20220726_Orban_Viktor_Hegeds_Zsuzsa_lemondas At a time when the resurgence of far-right politics has become commonly acknowledged as one of the key challenges facing democracies, it may feel reassuring to see prominent figures taking a stand. Yet often, when reactions to, and discussion of, the far-right take an adversarial approach, they tend to portray the threat as exceptional, as a shocking digression from our mainstream norms. Note how Hegedüs appeared comfortable with Orbán's conscious and sustained slide towards far-right politics for years, until the little veneer of respectability was lost and it was no longer possible to deny his far-right status – in this case, comparable to the Nazis no less. “the mainstream in liberal democracies is not immune to far-right politics” “Exceptionalising the far-right … fails to engage with how such politics have come to be normalised in society” It is as if, in much of our public discourse, racism remains ‘frozen’ in time.77 Lentin A (2020) Why Race Still Matters, Polity Press Of course, this ignores the incredible wealth of research conducted on the concept, demonstrating that, unsurprisingly, it has evolved with its times and taken new shapes and forms.88 See among many others and in various contexts: Bonilla-Silva E (2006) Racism without Racists: Color-blind racism and the persistence of racial inequality in the United States, Rowman and Littlefield; Eddo-Lodge R (2017) Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People about Race, Bloomsbury; Goldberg DT (2016) Are We All Postracial Yet?, Polity Press; Mills CW (1997) The Racial Contract, Cornell University Press; Ray V (2022) On Critical Race Theory: Why it matters & why you should care, Random House; Zuberi T and Bonilla-Silva E (2008) White Logic, White Methods: Racism and methodology, Rowman & Littlefield Yet it is common to see what should be described as racism, based on most serious research on the matter, instead euphemised under other, less precise, but also stigmatising terms such as ‘nativism’ and ‘populism’. This in turn is what allows those responsible for embracing far-right politics for cheap political gain or clickbait to separate themselves from the caricatural understanding of ‘racism’ when it becomes too obvious, as in the Hungarian case: how can I be racist myself if I denounce racism? This was particularly striking during Euro 2020 when members of the UK government condemned racist abuse directed towards Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka. As England teammate Tyrone Mings rightly pointed out: “You don't get to stoke the fire at the beginning of the tournament by labelling our anti-racism message as ‘Gesture Politics’ and then pretend to be disgusted when the very thing we're campaigning against, happens.”99 BBC (2021) ‘England's Tyrone Mings criticises Patel over racism response’, BBC, 13 July 2021. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-57778668 That the racism denounced is just the most illiberal articulation of a malleable ideology serves to excuse, conceal or downplay more mundane but also systemic and liberal articulations.1010 Mondon A and Winter A (2020) Reactionary Democracy: How racism and the populist far right became mainstream, Verso “it is a matter not just of poor terminological accuracy or even euphemisation, but also of the legitimisation of far-right politics” As a result, saying that the far-right is a serious threat is not enough. We must not exceptionalise, euphemise or detract from the agenda-setting capacity that elites hold in society. What we urgently require is more accountability for those with privileged access to shaping public discourse. As Katy Brown shows in her research, talking ‘with’ and talking ‘about’ the far-right can mean legitimising, hyping and mainstreaming such politics.1717 Brown K (2022: forthcoming) ‘Talking “with” and “about” the far right: putting the mainstream in mainstreaming’, PhD thesis, University of Bath As such, we must of course seek to understand the far-right, the roots of its appeal and its trajectory, but this must always be in order to combat it. Understanding should never mean excusing, euphemising or providing exaggerated platforms to ideas that not only threaten already weakened democracies but also put the lives of many at direct risk. Katy Brown is a final-year PhD student at the University of Bath whose research focuses on the mainstreaming of the far-right in Europe. Her thesis aims to theorise mainstreaming and analyse the role of elite discourse in this process, using the Brexit referendum as a case study. She has published articles on far-right opposition to Turkish accession to the EU, the Guardian's use of populism with Aurelien Mondon and the mainstreaming of the far-right with Aurelien Mondon and Aaron Winter. Aurelien Mondon is a senior lecturer in politics at the University of Bath. His research focusses predominantly on the impact of racism and populism on liberal democracies and the mainstreaming of far-right politics through elite discourse. His first book, The Mainstreaming of the Extreme Right in France and Australia: A populist hegemony?, was published in 2013 by Routledge and he co-edited After Charlie Hebdo: Terror, racism and free speech, published by Zed Books in 2017. His latest book is Reactionary Democracy: How racism and the populist far right became mainstream, co-written with Aaron Winter and published by Verso in 2020.
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