Post-Internet Far Right

by 12 Rules For What

Genres: Politics, Nonfiction

Paperback

Published January 1, 2021

Reviews

[Dessi Bocheva · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really brilliant book that gives a very digestible overview on the modern state of the far right and how it intersects and is largely dependent on the internet. I think some chapters could have done with a clearer thesis on their topics, it felt a bit like hoping from subtopic to subtopic at times with no real connection. However, I appreaciate that given the sheer breadth of things covered here its difficult to always link things, after all the far right digital ecosystem is incredibly disjointed.

I'm not sure I'm convinced by the closing arguments about how to approach dealing with extremist communities. I think the author missed a very obvious but interesting point at the end about how all collective action movements far right or antifacist suffer from ideological disjointedness, arguing that we can fight the far right if all the antifacist movements just banded together seemed ironic in this context. Nevertheless, this is a very difficult issue to make any sort of argument and the attempt was good.

[Hayley]

succinct, clear explanation of the far right in the 2010s, while teasing out the very real possibilities of eco fascism in the near future/in our present, tbh. ‘post Internet’ is done really well here in articulating the ways our political life are no longer simply delineated between the online and offline but the ways they co-exist and inform one another.

[George · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really interesting take on the development of a new right political sphere across the internet, with a lot of relevant examples and interesting theories about the use of memes and comment boards as forms of radicalisation. However, the book still feels like it is more reactionary to far right developments than preventative to them happening in the first place and while it is very informative, no new ground is really covered in how to deal with these issues

[Barry · Rating 4 out of 5]

'Post-Internet Far Right' is a short book written by the people behind the '12 Rules for What' podcast https://libcom.org/article/12-rules-w... and is an exploration of the nature of the far right in a post-internet age. The book tries to provide a practical analysis, underpinned by theory of how the far right has changed and how it can be fought in the digital age.

At times, it seems that the fight against the far right is a never ending battle, as fascist ideas and thinking becomes more tolerable and palatable in the public discourse (I write this in a week where a sitting government intends to deport asylum seekers from the UK into Rwanda to 'deter' people smugglers - how can this be viewed in any other way than a forced removal of people from a land based on the colour of their skin and economic status). This book acknowledges that but also addresses the role of the influencer, and the way they must skirt obtaining an audience to spread their views whilst avoiding deplatforming - it's notable that whilst fash see it as an occupational hazard getting booted from platforms some are very canny in varying their content to just stay within the lines of each platform. Also it seems sometimes that numerically the volume of people with fascist ideas is huge, particularly since certain platforms to different degrees can encourage the spread and visibility. It goes without saying that a handful of tech savvy fash shitposters can spread a lot of memes and give the impression of a movement despite being an isolated basement dweller.

The book also explores the contradictions in fascism which have largely always been present. Despite their love of power and order they are typically awful at organising anything and driven by individuals with significant ego issues (who by the nature of their activity are typically on the grift) sometimes it appears fascisms worst enemy are the fascists who invariably bicker, fall out, call out and self implode. Whilst they are always vulnerable to this, I guess the purpose of their activity now is to shift the window of discourse rather than take over the streets - and sadly they have been successful in places (I mean much of America closely resembles Gilead now...)

I appreciated the exploring of the nature of the far right, and how it has shifted from hierarchical parties to connected individuals forming part of a swarm. That makes it harder to fight in some cases but also there is something to learn about the spread of ideas from connected nodes of individuals acting more or less autonomously. There is interesting discussion about the blackpilled lone actors (often radicalised by platforms as common as youtube) and also the changing role of fascism on the streets. I liked the reflection of street tactics - it's always been a part of anti-fascism and needs to be. 'Back when I was a lad' the golden thread was to oppose fascists on the street and to destroy their positioning as one of strength. It was necessary then and is now, but that kind of anti-fascism requires a certain confidence, a certain physicality, clandestine activity and significant risk to life, freedom and security. It's nature excludes many anti-fascists. There is part of me that does get a kick out of seeing viral footage of fash getting run all over the place all over the world but the book makes an excellent argument that the far right whilst not exactly removing themselves from the streets has took their fight to their keyboards.

Another notable reflection for me reading the book is the way in which the far right have been able to latch onto themes of the modern age and move and act freely in, or adjacent to these themes and movements, from Qanon, to anti-vax to Covid-denial to gun rights and many more. An important link is made (often forgotten by myself) that fascism does not concern itself just with race, it is gendered too and therefore fash move freely with homophobic, transphobic and incel misogynistic groups. Nominally 'positive' movements, such as those who fight for the environment and animal rights are vulnerable to fascist infiltration and right shifts in thinking. Indeed, I have some suspicions about certain individuals online who may not post anything directly overtly racist but an analysis of their posting habits clearly indicate all the hallmarks of a fascist - this book helped my crystallize some of that.

The book isn't perfect. The Introduction in particular is a little heavy on theory that may require a second reading and some of the chapters are written in a manner that implies causality that I struggled to see (I had a few moments where I thought I generally agree but felt it was a bit of a leap in terms of an argument). Those looking for answers as to what to do next may be disappointed, but the book acknowledges this as part of the discourse. Anti-fascists have always needed to work this out for themselves and I think the book is a valued contribution to the question, 'the nature of fascist organising has changed, how are we going to respond to it?'

[Sinead · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book offered a great introduction into how the modern far-right operates. I found it very informative and think it’s a useful book in terms of understanding how modern facism came to be as we know it today. However, personally, I did find that sometimes it was a bit hard to read due to the language used, it could be a bit too ‘wordy’ at times and as a result I struggled to read it in long intervals, that did give me time to think about the books contents and reflect on the topics more, so maybe it was a silver lining.

I would recommend to anyone wanting to widen their knowledge on the topic, as this book is really relevant now more than ever.

[Kerry McManus · Rating 4 out of 5]

4/5 stars all around. incredibly interesting, thought provoking, and depressing, which is what i suspect this book is meant to be haha. spurred me to research a number of new terms & trends to keep an eye out for on social media. really good springboard! :)

[Jesse · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hard to follow at times because it’s so densely written with abstract ideas. I would have liked to have seen some empirical evidence cited but I understand it’s not that kind of book. Some absolute raw lines in it though and some great understandings. Best bits are in the first couple of chapters and the ecofacism chapter. Lovely drawings too.

I’d like to read the Turner Diaries just to try to understand what they’re on about.

This was spot on
“There is a widespread desire to play with the edges of acceptability. Edgy spaces become popular, because edginess is fun and panders to a vengeful sense of inferiority.”

I don’t think there’s a blurb for the book but it’s is best summed up by this passage
“We name this grouping the 'post-internet far right. The post-internet' is not a time after the internet, but a time in which the internet has receded into the background of how life appears simply to be. It is no longer remarkable that politics is mediated through the internet. The 'far right of the title consists of widely diverging groups, movements, and interests; however, threading them all together is racism in its various forms and reactionary gender politics. These exist on a spectrum, from the racism and misogyny of the street-based far right to blackpilled' fantasies of mass murder.”


“Why care about fascists' feelings? First, because that's where the radicalisation process begins.
Each chapter of this book articulates a stage
of the process through which feelings and emotions mutate into fully formed political movements. Without the later stages, fascist feelings might never become politically important, but without those initial feelings of inadequacy, hate, or alienation, and without their continual replenishment, the far right wouldn't have the purchase it does now. Second, although all political movements have an imaginary,' fascism's is particularly prominent, so prominent as to often seem like its principal driving force.
This is not because fascists are particularly imaginative but because, lacking a material basis for their politics (such as class struggle or the struggles of the oppressed), fascists instead think in terms of quasi-mythic, imaginary forms - always metaphysically clashing in a realm of pure strife, its images deeply freighted with feeling. And third, it's also here that the deradicalisation process can begin, a process we will discuss in our conclusion.”

“Who? Sociologist Luc Boltanski argues that, in modernig national boundaries of predictable reality have been overrun by capitalism's international drive. As capitalism overfon
"these stable sense-making boundaries, "the reality of realy becomes suspicious - things start to seem uncertain at g profound level.37
Because there exist now, either on the far right or in society at large, almost no structured programme of political education, ideas can rarely be overturned wholesale - they must be changed piece by piece. It is this transformation that memes afford, in part. They shift from very amorphous perceptions of isolated phenomena to very high-level and general explanations.
In modernity, everything can seem to be coming from the outside: zoonotic viruses, hijacked airplanes, government intervention into life, alien masters of the universe.
Conspiracy theories are often concerned intimately with space - not only with the location of the conspiracy's enormous distance from the conspiracist, but also with the need to localise power in space. In truth, of course, power is highly dispersed, nigh on unlocalisable. Fiat money, for example, is suspicious because it seems to be the mere assertion of the government's emanating power over society. It is juxtaposed often to the apparently clear, intrinsic, and localisable value of gold. Conspiracy theorists resist the distributed and complex character of modern life by reducing all mannet of social stress to the merely elaborate effects of some more simple but overwhelming power.”

“Conspiracies have a complex relationship with detail. They focus on particular moments, often circulating around stunning but unexplained coincidence (more common the more complex the world becomes). However, they evaporate on specifics: they condense the 'gears level' account of how the world operates into increasingly general statements, become unconcerned by the mechanisms through which power operates, as well as increasingly (as they totalise) concerned only with a general clash of abstractions. They therefore become immensely intricate as they run up against their own inconsistency - an inconsistency that can be used as further proof of secrecy.”

“If climate change has often been imagined as a single great wave breaking over New York City, or a series of blazing hot summers, now is the time to face reality;.
Climate breakdown will not be a single event, but a series of highly complex stressors on society like the COVID-19 pandemic: stressed global supply chains; an unprecedented contraction and the detachment of millions of people from it; shelter-in-place orders; a rise in state intervention into life; emergency legislation; and global racialised finger-pointing. These waves of shock will be highly unpredictable, but their overall frequency and intensity is likely to increase.
Like accelerating wave motion, eventually the pattern of social shocks will shift over into turbulence, and each crisis will become indistinct from the last, their effects rapidly spiralling beyond control.
As narratives of long-term material progress face their self-evident refutation and atrophy even further, people in Europe and North America will withdraw their support from industrial modernity and the liberal social order, and place it in L whatever promises to extricate them from their predicament.
Indeed, the struggle to articulate and explain the unfolding disaster of anthropogenic climate breakdown might well be the central challenge of political narrative-making in the 21st century and beyond. Why are we saying all this? In part, because the far right will almost certainly be positioned well to provide a compelling, if entirely false, narrative about both the breakdown's causes and its drastic solutions.”

[Mar · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book describing the structure and culture of the far-right since the internet has become seamless in everyday life, it also points to where fascism is likely heading - towards ecofascism and what this might look like going forward. I found the chapters on 'fascist feelings' (how/why/who get radicalised) and 'conspiracy theories' (why conspiracy theories appeal to people and the structures they take) especially interesting. There were parts where it helped to have done previous reading on the far right and anti fascism but generally this is a great overview and it is written in a very accessible way, not overly academic. I liked the illustrations and the book as an object. The style of the illustrations made me think of zine art. I'd really recommend the book to anyone that wants to learn more although obviously it isn't a light read, with many references to violence, racism and misogyny.

[Sara Sofea · Rating 5 out of 5]

(taken from 2024 year-end IG stories)

This book is important not only in understanding the fundamentals of far-right-wing thinking, but also the internet as a medium to create communities and languages to spread far-right messages that would otherwise be banned. This book chronicles the online history of far-right movements, including the rise of QAnon, and for me, provides a semblance of understanding of the rise of influencers such as Nick Fuentes during Trump’s campaign.

[Haniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

an immensely important book for understanding the roots of the right, Far-Right, and fascist politics and their collision with the internet!