Monday Morning Meeting on “Far-Right Extremism in the West”

Ms. Saman Ayesha Kidwai, Research Analyst, Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (MP-IDSA), spoke on “Far-Right Extremism in the West” at the Monday Morning Meeting held on 27 June 2022. Dr. Adil Rasheed, Research Fellow, chaired the session. Ambassador Sujan R. Chinoy, Director General, MP-IDSA, and research scholars enriched the discussion with their remarks and questions.

Executive Summary

Incidents of far-right extremism have increased in both the United States of America  (U.S.A.) and Europe, especially in the past few decades.
To that effect, the presentation highlighted its driving factors, ideological foundations, strategies of operation, and impact on the post-World War II rules-based order. While touching on prospective threats to Indian interests in this context, the presentation proposed corrective measures.

Detailed Report

The speaker highlighted the surge in far-right extremism over the past five years. According to the United Nations Security Council’s Counter-Terrorism Committee, between 2015 and 2020, over 82 percent of deaths recorded due to extremist violence were perpetrated by far-right extremists. Three recent incidents were pointed out in this context, such as the Christchurch attacks in New Zealand in March 2019, the Capitol Hill riots in Washington, D.C., in January 2021, and the Buffalo shootings in May 2022.

Additionally, she spoke about factors, including the 2008 financial crisis, European Union’s well-meaning but awry immigration policy, particularly amid the Syrian refugee crisis in 2015, and the beheading of Samuel Paty in a suburb of Paris in October 2020, re-enforced the far-right narrative and thrust it into mainstream discourse. Simultaneously, it was underscored how the far-right musical festival in Kyiv and the participation of thousands of foreign fighters in the Ukraine-Russia conflict, driven by their ambition to acquire arms and combat operational training to foment devastation and anarchy in their native countries, have continued to worsen the security dilemma. More recently, it was emphasised how the COVID-19 Pandemic and a surge in disinformation with increased access to social media and online gaming platforms have swelled the ranks of the far-right.

The far-right ideologues, spanning the political, media, and literary spectrum, are also responsible for drawing out the crisis.

Ms. Kidwai also emphasised that abovementioned factors have collectively resulted in the gradual normalisation of far-right extremism. However, the phenomenon often derives its legitimacy from extremist ideological foundations. For example, the Great Replacement Theory, mainstreamed by Renaud Camus, has suggested a deliberate attempt to bring in an influx of illegal migrant workers into predominantly white European societies, converting the white Christians into a minority in their homelands and eventually ridding them. This theory found considerable popular support as white genocide in the U.S.A. and EurAbia across Europe, inspiring the Charleston Church Shooting in June 2015. Furthermore, Accelerationism, a fringe far-right ideology that propounds that the current liberal democratic framework is highly inept and requires to be violently overthrown for a white-dominated order to emerge, found support in the Tree of Life Synagogue attack in Pennsylvania in October 2018. Finally, Eco-fascism links the ideas of cultural degradation with environmental deportation. It holds the immigrants solely responsible for environmental degradation in predominantly white European communities. People like Brenton Tarrant, the Christchurch shooter, were inspired by such beliefs.

The speaker mentioned that there appears to be an absence of notoriety in the aftermath of a violent attack staged by far-right supporters. They also operate in a decentralised manner, inspired by James Nolan Mason and Louis Ray Beam, in contrast with the 20th-century hierarchical systems in Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. Nevertheless, they remain inspired by ISIS’ martyrdom tactics, rely on social media to further their agenda, and even convene through offline training camps organised by groups such as The Base. An equally significant of far-right characteristic is according white males who carry out acts of mass violence, titles such as “Saints.”  

Ms. Kidwai also delineated how self-publishing service platforms like Google Play Books allow authors to bypass the censorship guidelines that reputable publishing houses would generally upload. Moreover, the ability of fictional books to inspire acts of large-scale violence can be found in The Oklahoma City bombings of April 1995, inspired by works such as The Turner Diaries. The complexity surrounding the lone-wolf narrative and the deepening ties between the radical Islamists and far-right extremists, mainly over the past year, is a matter that is of increasing concern. Furthermore, ideological malleability displayed by far-right ideologues, their infiltration into armed and police forces, and increasing penetration of boundaries of even Asian countries like Singapore, are some of the unnerving trends demonstrated by the speaker, who also spoke about the civil society’s response to addressing this threat. Initiatives such as EXIT- Germany have achieved satisfactory success in this regard.

Moreover, funding more research in the area and ensuring setting up a mutually accessible database would be crucial. But, unfortunately, a lack of collaborative efforts has hindered the duplication of such success worldwide.

Before concluding the presentation, the speaker deconstructed potential threats to Indian diaspora, officials, and investments given the violent extremist’s belligerent attitudes towards immigrants and globalisation. She also emphasised the implications of neo-Nazi outfits colluding with anti-India elements to undermine its national security, should they choose to come together.  

As the presentation drew to an end, the need to eradicate the far-right challenge from its root was addressed before moving to how unless it is brought to an absolute halt, the end of the post-WWII liberal international framework could become a foregone conclusion. 

Key Takeaways from the Q&A Session

The insightful remarks shared by the audience added depth to the presentation. The discussion had primarily focused on four critical areas:-

1. The need to further explore the historical background of the emergence of the far-right.
2. A comparative study with the emergence of left-wing extremism and cult-based groups.
3. An analysis of any pre-existing response mechanisms to the stated threat.
4. A detailed study of the factors driving this ideology, especially Islamist extremism, economic inequality, and cultural affinities.

The points raised were well taken and proposed to be incorporated as subjects of further study.

This report was prepared by Ms. Tejusvi Shukla, Intern, Internal Security Centre, MP-IDSA.