Trend alert: accelerationism

In this episode, we discuss why accelerationism has become a flagship doctrine of far-right violent extremism. To help us comprehend what accelerationism is and how it is reflected in the online sphere, Maygane Janin and Adam Hadley are joined by Professor Matthew Feldmann, Director of the Centre for Analysis of the Radical Right (CARR), and an expert on fascist ideology, neo-Nazism and “lone actor” terrorism, and by Ashton Kingdon, a PhD student at the University of Southampton and a fellow at CARR, whose research focuses on how far-right extremists use technology for recruitment and radicalisation. In today’s podcast, we also welcome Ben Makuch, a national security reporter with Vice News, who investigates far-right violent extremism, particularly neo-Nazism.

Together, they consider how propaganda is being repurposed on forums and mainstream platforms to coincide with particular events to misconstrue the narrative and cause political tension. We also discuss the emergence of accelerationist subcultures, and how they are using the pandemic to “initiate the collapse of society”, and discuss a rise in media attention on accelerationism in the US.