The Translocal Far Right in Europe: Exploring the Mobilization Against ‘Gender’

Descripción del proyecto

La lucha contra el extremismo de extrema derecha en Europa

En toda Europa, los grupos de extrema derecha se han movilizado cada vez más contra la igualdad de género y la diversidad sexual, enmarcando sus protestas como una lucha contra la llamada ideología de género. La creciente ola de activismo antigénero amenaza los valores democráticos y la inclusión social, pero su dinámica sigue sin explorarse lo suficiente. Con el apoyo de las acciones Marie Skłodowska-Curie, el proyecto REXGEN analiza cómo los movimientos de extrema derecha en Francia, Alemania, Polonia y Portugal se organizan a nivel local y transnacional contra el género y la diversidad sexual. Mediante el análisis de las protestas en vídeo y la etnografía digital, el equipo de REXGEN examina el modo en que estos grupos enmarcan su oposición y ganan adeptos. El proyecto arroja luz sobre esta forma evolutiva de movilización de la extrema derecha, aportando ideas fundamentales para los responsables políticos, la sociedad civil y los investigadores que pretenden contrarrestar el extremismo antigénero en Europa.

Objetivo

The Translocal Far Right in Europe: Exploring the Mobilization Against 'Gender' (REXGEN) explores pressing issues in the study of the extreme right, gender equality, and sexual diversity in contemporary Europe. Emphasizing the role of protest and the different scales of far-right mobilization, the project’s core questions are (1) how the far right conceptualizes gender and sexuality in the context of anti-gender politics, (2) how the interplay between the local and (trans)national levels of far-right politics shape anti-gender mobilization, and (3) how far-right actors and ideas are mainstreamed in the context of local anti-gender protest. REXGEN relies on a comparative analytical framework, studying far-right mobilization against sexual diversity in the center-east (Poland), center-west (Germany), west (France), and south (Portugal) of Europe. It employs a mixed-methods research design drawing from both established and new approaches to qualitative data collection and analysis in the study of the far right, including protest event analysis, (digital) ethnography, and frame analysis. REXGEN pursues three innovation objectives: First, it builds new, interdisciplinary theory by asking different questions and using novel concepts such as 'translocalism' to study the far right. Second, it develops an innovative research design and methodology by applying a comparative approach and using some of the most recent approaches to data collection and analysis, namely video-enhanced protest event analysis. Third, it generates original data by focusing on a recent form of far-right mobilization: protest against the public display of queerness such as in pride parades and 'drag queen story hour'. While extreme-right actors fight a self-declared ‘culture war’ against what they denounce as ‘gender ideology’, the project’s unprecedented empirical findings will be of immeasurable value for the social sciences, European democratic institutions, and civil society.