James Downes  0:09  
Welcome, everyone to a very special episode today of the CARR Right Rising Podcast. My name is James Downes, and I'm a senior fellow at CARR and I'm also head of the populism Research Unit at CARR. Today we have a very special guest on our episode and this episode which is hosted by the CARR Populism Research Unit. Beatriz Buarque is a PhD candidate at the University of Manchester, who is investigating the legitimization of all trite conspiracy theories, such as white genocide, great replacement Cultural Marxism alongside the deep state in digital spaces. Her project proposes a novel way of exploring digital political phenomenon, engaging with different areas of expertise in a transdisciplinary way. Her main research areas are political communication, alternative rights, and conspiracy theories. Beatriz is also the leading investigator of the independent research group MACD mapping the far right truth industry, and founder of the award winner, NGO world's hill the world which empowers young people to challenge hate speech and develop strategies to tackle extremism. Beatriz what exactly is the alt right? How can we define the alt right? And where does this term come from?

Beatriz Buarque  1:19  
Okay, so the birth of the alt right is controversial in a gathering in 2008, and intellectual use the term alternative right to refer to an independent intellectual right, that was emerging to challenge multiculturalism and immigration. And although this intellectual denies in association with the alt right, his ideas inspired a young white man named Richard Spencer, to set up the website alternative right to promote white nationalist ideas. The name itself started circulating mainstream circles during 2016 elections in the States, especially after Trump's advisors, Steve Bannon announced that Braveheart news was the platform of the outright. I gave you a bit of context James because it is important to know the roots of the alt right. Despite Spencer's attempts to be perceived as the leader of the alternative rights, this phenomenon is much different from everything we have seen before. And not coincidentally, it has been called a creature of the internet. The alternative rights is a theory genius, amorphous, these centralised difficulties in understanding this phenomenon are reflected on the various proposal definitions. And I was very intrigued by that. I came up with my own definition of the right, inspired by two schoolers. So I mix it their proposal definitions to come up with a new one, which is the alt right is a set of digital communities of individuals who are united by discourses that communicate the common paranoid belief that white western race is under threat, been attacked by pro multicultural liberal elites and so called social justice warriors. So I know that this definition is very live. It's very long. But I thought this definition usable because it highlights three key features of the alt right. There have been some times overlooked in the literature. So the first feature is the solidarity between white and Western video. So this is not a localised phenomenon is not restricted to the to white people or even to the American landscape. They unite the Unity derived from share with the score. So that is this. The alternative, right is not something that has a centre of command, or that has a unified political dream. No, it is shared this horse that gives shape to it. And is essentially paranoid nature. So I know that when we use the term paranoid, some people may say, oh, but this is clinical when you say that they are like they have mental health problems and mental issues. No, it's not. I'm not using the term paranoid here. In this sense. I'm using the term paranoid here to say that our people who engage with these narratives, they display this, this feeling that the strong is exaggerated persecution, the feeling that they are that they're really like, the victims of society, they display this. This is exaggeration. So that's what what I mean when I use the term paranoid, so in a nutshell, that is the alt right.

James Downes  4:59  
Thank you. Beatriz that's just really interesting kind of hearing about your perspectives for the alt right, and also just now outlining, you know, this really original definition that you spoke about. So the second question that I'm leading into, for our listeners, listening back home, is about the fact that the alternative right has already been studied from the ideological perspective. And also as a social movement, your framework appears to be different from that. Could you tell us more about what your concept of the alt right multitude is? Exactly?

Beatriz Buarque  5:30  
Yes, sure, James. So, in order to answer your question, I need to give you a bit of context about my research. So I am particularly interested in examining how and why outright conspiracy theories have been legitimised in digital space. Let the very beginning of my PhD, I faced an important challenge. How could I explain legitimation if the outright lacks a centre of command in the charismatic leader It doesn't it doesn't have this it doesn't have like a source a unified source of information and spreading that so no. Nevertheless, on the internet, I kept finding many individuals consuming and reproducing conspiracy theories such as the white genocide and great replacement as truth, suggesting that yes, there was a legitimate there is a legitimation process in place. Regardless of the presence of the absence of charismatically, there are unified source of information. So in order to investigate the legitimation of outright conspiracy theories, I saw myself literally forced to pursue a different way of understanding this phenomenon. And that is how I found the concept of the multitude useful. So the multitude is different from the plebs and the masses. Because it was originally conceptualised as a living flesh capable of ruling itself, a monster that emerges based on what is shared in common by multiple people. So it's not that it has any unity, or any or modernity. No, it is, it's something really like amorphous and capable of ruling itself. So examining the outright as a multitude, enabled me to shift my attention from observing it as a more or less concise social being, to focus on the elements to go really inside and observe the elements that give shape to it. The common shared conspiracy theories rooted in the belief that white western race is under threat. So in a paper that will come out next week, I describe all the characteristics of the outright multitude. But here, I will limit myself to point out I hope, I hope I may, I'm making myself understandable, because I know this is a bit abstract. So first, the alt right is not only made by multiple individuals, but also multiple peoples. It embraces different antagonisms that are all rooted in the same fear the white western race is under threat. So who are these peoples? That can be found in out right, sir. So that is the people comprised of white western individuals who questioned the perceived privileges of non white, non western individuals. That is the people formed by non Jewish white western defeated to question the perceived privileges of Jewish people. And there is also the people that is basically formed by why white western men who question the perceived privileges of women, and what I'm talking when I'm talking here about these different peoples that can be found within outright circles, we need to bear in mind that there is no like limited borders between those peoples. This is something that is under constant negotiation. And all these individuals they collaboratively produce the belief that White was the race is the fret, and these belief is conveyed attached to a number of meanings. So this is not something that is unified. And this leads to the second characteristic outright. And this is one of the points which I think that some people may find controversial, but because overall when we think about the alt right, there is a considerable amount of work focus on its goofy side on its Mimi's trolls on it's funny, funny within brackets, but there is also another side of the alt right so to Mi the outright multitude is made of thinkers and thinkers are individuals who use their mental faculties to come up with explanations for the perceived threat to the white western race. And it is precisely these sorts of knowledge produced by these thinkers

in shared by when they give shape to the outright multitude. So, the conspiracy theories, they can be interpreted as this effort to make sense of these fractures of this perceived threat. And if we look at the motivations that drive individuals to engage with the white genocide and grid replacements narratives, for example, we discover that many of them reproduce conspiracy theories as a means to explain their perceived feelings of dispossession and displacement. So their explanations may sound crazy for you For to me, but within their circles, they make perfect sense to pursue our explanations for the for the perception that white western race is under threat seems to motivate individuals to engage in collaborative authorship, embarking on a sort of mission, to discover the truth and also educate the of the people. So that's why for example, some scholars say that the red pill is the ideology of their rights is the key concept of the Okay, but what is behind the brand to build a red pill is construct around this mystique of the truth there is this, this thing that that prompts individuals to pursue the truth and to disseminate that they feel like especially empowered. And that is the thing that I'm that I really interested in examining. So I know that this claim is controversial. Because many scholars, they tend to emphasise the anti intellectual side of contemporary fire, right. However, I'd like to draw attention to another phenomenon that is going to be happening so at the same time that they are right doesn't accept. The narrative is produced by the establishment, that is the official institutions, digital meeting Kurds, individuals to constitute their own identities. And when it comes to knowledge and news, anyone can today present themselves as authoritative actors or thinker, who is speaking truth to power, not only we are witnessing the mergency, of new of new intellectuals, not only we are, we are witnessing these, and I'm going to cover these in my next piece to car. We also live in a witness age in which the simple act of sharing a post or writing a comment can be interpreted as a contribution made by a thinker, an individual who is using his mental faculties to make sense of the events that cause them anxiety in fear. So the multitude is basically, the outright multitude is, is this amorphous, leaving flesh, formed by shared conspiracy theories that convey the same believes that white western race is under threat. Thank you, Beatriz.

James Downes  13:23  
That's really insightful to learn more about the great multitude, and particularly, you're mentioning about, again, your own definition of the multitude. So I learned a lot, a lot of new information there. So my next question is kind of leading into a question about conspiracy theories that you just touched upon at the beginning of the second question. And so another concept developed by you in your research is that the alt right has triggered conspiratorial regimes of truth. What exactly does that mean?

Beatriz Buarque  13:51  
Okay, so I just explained how the alt right can be examined as a multitude formed by common shared conspiracy theories. And I am particularly interested in one type of conspiracy theories. Those ones originally produced this truth under the form of knowledge and news. So my main argument is that no other ways of claiming authority like today, anyone can use editing techniques, or can use the credential of researcher for example, to set up a YouTube channel when site conveying conspiracy theory resists truth. But in addition to these new novel ways of playing the authority, we also have regimes of visibility, contributing to further legitimise these narratives. And my main arguments is that these two things the novel ways of claiming authority and regimes of visibility, have enabled a more force and these centralised phenomenon such as the alt right to trigger it origins of truth. So in the past, we use it to really attach this concept of regimes of truth to institutions. So the state was responsible for producing the troops, academia. And now we live in a situation in which this authority has somehow been eroded. Some scholars even speak of a crisis of political legitimacy. And, you know, at the same time that we have the legitimacy of these institutions on the quest, we also have like, collaboration made by individuals of non autonomous and also independent way. 3d Ring, parallel regimes of truth. So in the case of the outright, I talk about conspiratorial regimes of truth because its truths are essentially conspiratorial. So what are the truths that the white race is on decline, the white and Western views have been replaced with non white non western individuals, the multiculturalism has been promoted by Marxists who are infiltrated at universities through Marxism, and also by a secret society that supposedly holds the power of Western governments specially the United States. So all these narratives, they have been constructed as truth. And they have been disseminated by individuals across different platforms as roof. So I'm very, very intrigued by these because conspiracy theories themselves, they are very appealing, because they offer these explanation that makes sense, that is the thing they they offer the the satisfied our needs for an explanation. And when they are conveyed us through, they are even more compelling, because it's not somebody an ordinary person who is telling you that the white race is on decline. No, it is an intellectual, or it is a documentary with those of intellectuals in is very appealing because that it is as if the truth was the Holy Grail, you know, and is available there. And now, each of us can pursue the truth in our independent way. So in my research, I'm using a video I'm using videos available on YouTube and bitch shoot as objects of investigation. I use them as a starting point to check how conspiracy the conspiracy theory was performed was constructed as truth. And then I also examined how it circulates across different platforms. So I'm checking how individuals are producing or sharing this video on Facebook, Reddit, forums and websites. So that is the concept of conspiratorial regimes of truth I think this is a very

overlooked topic when it comes to their writings. And sometimes even when I talk about resources he I feel like a bit cuz I really don't see people talking about this. And I think this is so important too, because this content is not available on the internet. We have like intellectuals producing books organising conference, I have videos that conference for a large audience, in producing this conspiracies as truth. And if you think for example, in the Nazi regime, the Nazi regime invested in centres of research to legitimise antagonism towards you, towards Jewish, the Jewish community. And it was a centralised action. Now we don't have like a state to do thing this conspiracy is a slew of no now we have millions of people collaboratively producing this and what is even more worrisome that sometimes a person for example, can believe in the deep state and not agree with the white genocide. But they this conspiracy they overlap the scenes this course is very fluid and they they may have to really contribute to disseminate this narrative so

James Downes  19:35  
thank you, Beatriz, I think for our listeners to who will be listening back home we can really see the wide ranging you know, fret that the the modern, right or the contemporary Alright, really pose for what Beatriz was just saying and that third question. And the final question then is a question kind of digging a little bit deeper into conspiracy theories, and also about your research Beatriz. And so what conspiracy theories are you examining right now? And could you share one or two main findings with us?

Beatriz Buarque  20:05  
Yeah, so basically, I am examining for conspiracy theories, my genocide, rape, replacement, cultural Marxism and deep states, the white genocide narrative and the bridge replacement is very evident that they communicate this fear that white western races on the fret, cultural Marxism can be more subtle, but is only is only a feeling because it is there. We have many like intellectuals communicating this idea that Marxists are controlling the universities and they have promoted this political correctness. And that pose a threat to our for history. Some intellectuals, for example, that is a female intellectual in a conference, this part of my research, that she says that these social justice warriors have been erasing our history because they want to rewrite history for another lens, as if White people were problematic. And the deep state also overlaps with these narratives. Because, for instance, there is a documentary a very long documentary about the deep state in which they say that there is this group of people who is infiltrated in all levels of the Western government specially in the US, and their foreign policies contribute to mass immigration, which inevitably pose a threat to themselves. So it is like a cascade effect that they construct something that was orchestrated. So the outcome, the mass immigration is interesting for Ben, I'm just finishing a paper with some of the findings and I will share one of them with you. So why are looking for authoritative performance of the great replacement on YouTube, for example, I found a documentary that starts with an intellectual explaining the suppose it theory that Western DVDs are being replaced. These intellectual has published dozens of books, the documentary promoted books, and some of them are even available on Amazon. Let's not forget that the great replacement was used as a justification for some of the most deadliest terrorist attacks in recent years. So this is just an observation. So the video was uploaded on YouTube in 2020. And I checked it yesterday, it is still available on YouTube. Now with over seven to 72,000 views and over 6000 likes, the likes of themselves indicate an approval of the content. And among the comments, a number of individuals explicitly Express belief in the suppose of veracity of the conspiracy theory. Some some individuals even express gratitude for having become aware of this problem. In terms of reproduction, in March this year, I conduct a search on Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, Yahoo, Bing, and Google. And I found 459 posts reproducing this conspiracy theory as truth.

Conversely, many of them were reproducing the conspiracy as truth. tweets were made by individuals located in many countries, including the US, Canada, England, France, Iceland, and Slovenia. These are only some of the countries I found more. All the six websites reproducing the conspiracy, as true for found via Google highlighted the importance of also examining how authoritarian and discriminatory ideas such as the ones we find their rights can be easily assess it through search engines. And overall, if you solely take into account the potential outrage of this video, on Twitter and Facebook, the great replacement as truffe could reach over 287,000 people. And this is still available in can be widely assess two of the websites presented Vince themselves as and I think that this finding really indicates that more needs to be done in terms of examining how this narratives that circulates James because my feeling is that we have Have a considerable amount of work focus on Twitter, or Reddit Now Instagram, but these narratives they don't keep limited to only one platform, this circulates. And I think that more like holistic approaches, they may be beneficial to our field.

James Downes  25:24  
Thank you for sharing Beatriz about and, again, speaks a lot about the the implications there and also, potentially, this this growing threat of the alt right. If we also think about it from a policy perspective for the future in terms of, of governments and what other governments can kind of do here. So, Beatriz, my final question. It's not really it's not not a question at all. But it's about working on right raising podcast listeners learn more about your important and insightful research. Do you have a Twitter account, for example, where lessons can follow your latest research, writings and also your publications?

Beatriz Buarque  26:01  
Yeah, sure. And so anyone interested in my research can assess my website, the reviews there, so it's www dot bigotries be uarqub.com.

James Downes  26:16  
Thank you very much for coming on today to Right Rising.

Beatriz Buarque  26:20  
Thank you so much. It was a pleasure.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai