The STOPFARRIGHT project was motivated by the concern that far right groups may be a growing problem in Ireland, as they were visibly present at demonstration against Covid 19 public health measures. The research side of the project focused on finding out how the population sections most affected by far right discourse could counter it.
Through a series of five webinars, the project promoted exchanges of information between Irish, European and international civil society groups and academics on the theme of far right extremism.
The output of the research is a report titled ‘Resisting the Far Right: Civil Society Strategies for Countering the Far right in Ireland’. The authors of the report, Barry Cannon, Richard King, Joseph Munnelly and Riyad el-Moslemany, surveyed 130 NGOs and community groups among the affected population, namely migrants, ethnic and sexual minorities, feminists and anti-far right groups. The data collected is based on 42 responses to the survey and seven follow-up interviews.
67% of respondent organisations have had staff or clients experiencing threats or violence from the far right. 100% of the respondents reported online harassment or threats, while 75% reported verbal harassment or threats, 50% physical and close to 40% property damage. The overwhelming majority of responding organisations (80%) felt that such attacks had increased in the last five years. Most participants felt that the state’s attitude towards the far right and its discourse is too tolerant and recommended that stronger controls be placed on social media platforms, the main source from which such discourse is proliferated.
Participants to the study suggested a series of policy measures to combat far right discourse, such as more educational and community-based initiatives, among minority and majority groups, facilitating social and knowledge exchange between different communities, addressing inequalities and hardships in Irish society which often cause disillusion about democracy among citizens, leaving them vulnerable to far right discourse and organising, diligent monitoring of far right groups by state organisations, and media literacy initiatives for children and adults to help them recognise far right misinformation.
The report concluded that survey participants, interviewees and experts in Ireland concur that while there is not an immediate and urgent threat to Irish democracy from the far right, this could change rapidly, and Irish society should prepare itself for this possibility.
Original article by the authors of the report has been published here.