For some far-right activists, the global lockdown was an occasion to celebrate closed borders. Whereas some denied the pandemic and used the global response to evoke global conspiracies, others sought to use the opportunity to crack down on civil liberties. The pandemic briefly shifted global attention away from migration, especially in the Global North, while the environment of uncertainty and fear seemed to favor far-right politics. A new era of statism brought about not just what has been called “vaccine nationalism,” but also a reassertion of state control. Meanwhile, global anti-vaccination movements drew on far-right themes of distrust in global elites, conspiracies, and distrust in science. The panel discusses how the pandemic fueled nationalism around the globe and how different far-right groups and movements responded.
Panelists:
Moderator: Florian Bieber (University of Graz, Austria)
