Is 2019 the Year Britain's Post War Far Right Finally Died? A Long Read. - podcast episode cover

Is 2019 the Year Britain's Post War Far Right Finally Died? A Long Read.

Mar 01, 202013 min
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Episode description

In 2010 the BNP were able to run 338 candidates for Parliament,  humiliatingly the 2019 general election saw them field just one - and he lost his deposit.

This trajectory marks a historical low-point for the traditional British far-right parties. But it doesn't tell us the whole story. With many of the far-right's ideas mainstreamed, and Brexit shifting the agenda from immigration, the attractiveness of the far right was severely limited by a Conservative party that drained the far right's traditional voter base. However the shift to a post organisational model, largely online, has allowed for an anonymous, amorphous mass of far right activists (making micro-donations of time and money) to continue the cause of far-right ideology, with little or no social cost involved and often with huge rewards. 

While it is difficult to measure the effect of this new far-right in regards to shaping society, it is also unclear that the old antifascist methodologies can continue to be effective against the work they perform, mostly online, anonymous, and counter-cultural.

As antifascists we must adapt in order to continue to be effective.

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