While far right politics have long been considered exclusively a party phenomenon, in recent years various organizations have emerged throughout Western Europe that are engaged in street politics, extra-parliamentary activities, and hybrid forms of mobilization. In particular, the refugee crisis acted as a catalyst for far right street politics, which have developed into an integral part of the broader anti-immigration movement, especially in terms of direct social activism and vigilantism. The Paper provides an account of the rationale, nature and form of mobilization against refugees in Italy and France, two countries characterized by very different patterns of migration politics. Quantitatively, we use protest event analysis to trace the major characteristics and trends in far right mobilization against refugees since the beginning of the crisis. Qualitatively, we draw on 18 face-to-face interviews with key activists from different types of far right organizations in the two countries: Forza Nuova, CasaPound Italia and Lega Nord in Italy, and Bloc Identitaire, Calaisiens en colère and Front National in France. This allows exploring the meaning of far right mobilization in terms of targeted groups, repertoires of contention, and frame construction.
Our findings indicate that the refugee crisis changed not only the size and scope of anti-immigration protest, but also its nature. First, contemporary anti-refugee mobilization involves far right political parties, as well as social movements and grassroots organizations. Second, these actors engage in a variety of actions, ranging from demonstrative and pacific street demonstrations, to confrontational actions which often lead to violence. Third, vigilantism stands out as a crucial feature of far right mobilization in the wake of the refugee crisis. This leads us to suggest that the refugee crisis has changed far right mobilization not only in quantitative, but also in qualitative terms, since street politics, and vigilantism in particular, are increasingly central to the strategies of the anti-immigration movement.
