Tracing Far-Right Online and Offline Transnational Activism

Despite the increasingly high relevance and visibility of far-right transnational activism, it still remains a rather understudied phenomenon, at least in terms of considering it from a social movement perspective. Compared to the study of most progressive movements, the exploration of far-right transnational collaboration and collective action in fact also often provides larger methodological conundrums for researchers, particularly in terms of gaining access to the studied activists. This is mainly due to the involvement of various security-, secrecy-, context- and ethics-related challenges and/or restrictions that are often exacerbated by the differences in worldview between the researcher and the research objects. Numerous hardships are thus likely to arise for researcher when wishing to gather sufficient and reliable empirical evidence, especially when tracing connections and activities across multiple countries, cultures, and languages. Moreover, the contextual diversity of far-right expression forms only aggravates the challenge, entailing the requirement of (at least basic) knowledge and understanding of the explored activists and their domestic settings before venturing into the data collection. Drawing on the researcher’s own prior and ongoing work, the paper outlines and critically reflects upon possible methods and data avenues to pursue, when researching far-right transnational activism. The work involves the exploration of transnational networking, framing, and protest activities of 1) named trans-European coalitions (Generation Identity, PEGIDA, and Fortress Europe) and 2) a regional anti-Islam network (the diffusion of Rasmus Paludan’s Islamophobic Koran burnings across Scandinavia). Through the introduction and application of a moderated process tracing approach that primarily focuses on the evidencing of far-right transnationalisation efforts, the paper will primarily provide reflections on the empirical data collection. These deliberations will both consider the possible collection tools and access points, and the more ethical questions involved. The paper concentrates on the collection of primary online and offline sources (including the far-right actors’ digital platforms and interview statements) and secondary sources (such as reports from anti-racist organisations, news media, and expert interviews). Besides from presenting strategies to ensure the obtainment of useful data, the paper also focuses on ways to alleviate the impact on the researcher’s mental and physical safety. This both relates to the psychological toll of extensively studying far-right digital milieus, the conduct of both face-to-face and online interviews with activists from unfamiliar societal and lingual settings, and suggestions for available methodological alternatives, when or if the researcher’s safety becomes at risk (due to e.g. being ‘exposed’ on far-right platforms or studying very hostile and (potentially) violent activists). It is the overarching aim of the paper to provide methodological suggestions and pathways for scholars, who intend to explore similar far-right or anti-gender transnational activism processes, including from a more global perspective.