Webinar: 'Contemporary Forms of Far-Right Populism and neo-Fascism, with particular attention to South Africa and the Global South'
Helen-Mary Cawood
Webinar: 'Contemporary Forms of Far-Right Populism and neo-Fascism, with particular attention to South Africa and the Global South'
Hosted by the Department of Philosophy and Classics, University of the Free State
Date: 29 - 30 September 2022
Should you be interested in attending this webinar, please RSVP by contacting the organiser, Helen-Mary Cawood at caw...@ufs.ac.za or Mark Amiradakis at amirad...@ufs.ac.za
Recent years have seen the global emergence of populist political formations, leading certain scholars to term our present age the “age of populism” (Krastev 2011, Nandy 2019, Ricci 2020) and some politicians, such as Hungary’s current prime minister Viktor Orbán, to proclaim that “the era of liberal democracy is over” (Santora & Bienvenu 2018). Contemporary forms of populism are characterized by ‘us’ (often ‘the people’ in an ethnic or communal sense) versus ‘them’ (usually liberal elites, the establishment, minorities, or immigrants) forms of binary thinking (Berman 2021). For some, the rise of contemporary populism inherently represents the resurgence of forms of reactionary populist nationalism, ranging from the ‘radical’ to the ‘extreme’ right, and the revitalization of forms of ideology that may be termed ‘neo-fascist’. The great challenge for contemporary democracies is that, in contrast to dictators who seize power via coups, the aforementioned political movements come to power via the ballot box (Levitsky & Ziblatt 2018).
In light of the revitalization of such political formations, the Department of Philosophy and Classics at University of the Free State will be hosting a Webinar on 29 September – 30 September 2022 in order to discuss and consider these issues in greater detail – with a strong, although not exclusive, emphasis being placed on the emergence of neo-fascism in the Global South. As such, this Webinar is aimed at casting a critical perspective upon the political dimensions of the current proliferation of extreme forms of reactionary politics and the social conditions that gave rise, and are in the process of giving rise, to such movements.
Presenters will explore the historical and theoretical roots of current forms of far-right populism and fascism (FRP/F), critical engagement with present-day problems that are resultant of their preponderance, as well as analyses of the cultural forces and tendencies that have led to, and are leading to, their contemporary ascendance. We also aim to extend these conversations into a conference in 2023.
Other considerations that will also be covered throughout the course of the webinar include:
- The question of whether it is possible to develop a general theory of FRP/F in contemporary society,
- In what ways are contemporary forms of FRP/F the products of capitalist society?
- What links FRP/F to a liberal/neo-liberal socio-economic past/present?
- FRP/F and Conspiracy Theories – To what extent do the political and social narratives propounded by FRP/F movements constitute a form of mythology, in that they preserve the existing social order by mystifying socio-economic conditions? What symbols/icons/myths/cultural apparatuses do FRP/F use as instruments of mass mobilisation?
- Beyond Tropical Fascism – Are there indigenous forms of FRP/F or do they always derive from the legacy of European settler colonialism? Is it even meaningful to apply theoretical categories derived from European history to contemporary societies outside the European sphere? Or are there universal commonalities in FRP/F thought? What is populism/far-right populism/fascism in the Global South? In what ways is each instance peculiar to its own socio-cultural circumstances?
- Environment and Politics – what role does environmental discourse play in contemporary far-right rhetoric?
- The analysis of fascism was a central concern of the first generation of the Frankfurt School. Do the Frankfurt School still offer us resources for the critique and comprehension of contemporary FRP/F? Or is their work outmoded? What thinkers should we draw upon to develop a contemporary understanding of FRP/F in general, and the Global South in particular?
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