Strategies and communication channels of right-wing movements

Since it began in early 2020, the coronavirus pandemic has had national and international repercussions on a political, economic and social level. An initial general overload of how to deal with the events led to different approaches and measures, which led to resistance in parts of the population, especially as the pandemic continued. Various groups used these particular emotional affects in combination with political decrees, the restriction of almost all areas of life and increasing dissatisfaction as points of contact. In order to convey this to citizens, communication channels were primarily focused on the digital sphere and social media platforms, which in turn led to the development of different strategies. My research, part of which I would like to present in the lecture, deals with right-wing extremist groups, their strategies and communication approaches in the time frame of the corona pandemic (early 2020 to June 2023). The qualitative study focuses primarily on Telegram messages during this period, which are analyzed according to content analysis method by P. Mayring. Of course, shared media such as photos, videos and podcasts are also included. The "Freie Sachsen" movement and party, which operates in Saxony (Germany), was selected as the target group. In addition to weekly Monday demonstrations, they communicated and interacted with interested individuals and supporters primarily via the Telegram platform, which acts as a central object of investigation alongside the homepage. By presenting themselves as the mouthpiece of the 'general' population, they managed to win over a large number of people for their interests and, over time, to underpin this with their actual ideologically far-right content: Xenophobia, racism, relative deprivation, rejection of politics and the government. In addition, they stood in regional elections with representatives, making two paradoxes clear: on the one hand, they want to use anti-establishment rhetoric to promote themselves as a movement for the "little people", yet become part of the establishment themselves. This is where the second paradox of right-wing parties or groups comes in: they instrumentalize the rules of democratic systems to achieve their goals and thus act in direct contradiction to their own convictions. The means and strategies used by the group to attract interested individuals and followers range from visual to audio-visual to written methods as part of their online presence. In principle, this strategy of communication and networking has proven to be very profitable, partly due to the contact restrictions. The deliberate structure with elements for recognition, the high frequency of all shared posts in combination with the emotional manipulation, exaggeration and also presentation of false facts has ensured sustained interest even beyond the central corona topics. In this presentation, I would like to show communication approaches and strategies that newer right-wing movements and parties use to generate and mobilize supporters. One focus will be on the use of social media platforms and variable methods.