engleski

‘One big family’? Affect, emotion and solidarity in young people’s activism

This paper seeks to add to our understanding of the meanings attached to activism among young people active in ‘radical right and patriotic’ movements across Europe. It draws on the analysis of ethnographic cases of nine such organisations in eight countries of Europe undertaken for the MYPLACE project. This cluster of cases for cross-case analysis provides a unique data set because it includes not only participation in or support for ‘extreme right’ political parties but a wide range of movements and forms of activism (from cultural institutions, football fan organisations and anti-immigration discussion groups to classic parties of the extreme and populist radical right parties such as Golden Dawn and The Finns). Data will be drawn on from across the nine studies but particular attention will be paid to three case studies: Russian Run (Russia) ; Torcida (Croatia) ; and the English Defence League (UK). The paper brings new insight to the study of young people’s activism in ‘extreme right’ groups by considering their activism not within paradigms of far right studies but drawing on wider social movement theory. The data appear to confirm, on the one hand, that ‘social movements are emotional movements’ (Castells 2012: 13). At the same time, the findings may be used also to challenge classic conceptualisations of social movements by revealing the role of space, performance and politics in young people’s activism (Hetherington 1998). The meta-ethnographic study of the groups revealed eight core concepts capturing how young people experience and understand their activism. These concepts confirm that activists may understand collective action in both emotional and rational terms and that, in some cases, the emotional and rational are entwined in motivations for, and meanings of, activism. In this paper, however, we focus on two core concepts expressing the emotional or affective dimensions of activism: solidarity and mutual support (‘one big family’) ; and the physical pleasure of activism, risk and violence (‘getting a buzz’). Solidarity and mutual support (‘one big family’) is the most prevalent meaning attached to activism among the cases considered and reveals the importance of the affective dimension of activism, which is variously articulated as a feeling of family, friendship, loyalty, solidarity, community and belonging. Refutational narratives also exist – in narratives about encounters with ‘infiltrators’, ‘backstabbers’ and ‘wrong uns’ – and indicate the significance of the transgression of affective alliances. The second concept – ‘getting a buzz’ – is more partial since it articulates the strong emotions - going ‘wild’, feeling euphoric, being over taken by a physical ‘buzz’ - experienced during certain kinds of activism. These are usually mass events or actions (involving elements of risk or violence) in which space, performance and politics are intertwined.

youth; affect; emotion; solidarity; activism

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