22 avril 2021
Roberto Laghi, « #TheF-word – Language, media and far right: a lethal convergence », HAL-SHS : linguistique, ID : 10670/1.fltlq3
The use of social networks and online communication by the far right has been an element in its success at a global level (media success, when not political): the election of Donald Trump in 2016 allowed the access to the mainstream of groups that, until then, had played – often in a dominant position – a cultural battle on the internet, made of meme and trolling (Nagle, 2017). But the media exposure of neofascist forces could not have been possible without another ally: the “official” media. The role of televisions, newspapers and main information hubs has been fundamental to build a polished narrative of these movements, their actions and their ideology, even for considering neofascist representatives as acceptable speakers in the frame of a democratic debate, in particular in Italy, where a revisionist process of reinterpretation of 20th century history was already taking place since long ago. Why is it almost impossible to find in the media the terms “fascism/fascist” when referring to certain movements (and their actions), even when these same movements define themselves publicly as fascist? When medias talk, each time, about “supporters”, “opposite extremists”, “criminal elements”, instead of about fascists, of which unexpressed feelings are these “linguistic habits” (Eco, 1997) a symptom? Of which reasons and purposes? While, on one side, the “newspeak of neoliberal economy” (Fitoussi, 2019; 2020) works on language to reduce the field of experimentation of political alternatives, on the other the rhetoric of the far right, which responds also to a need of belonging and redemption (Markovits, 2019), has allowed to bring in the foreground an “arrogant indifference” (Butler) towards institutions and the democratic way of life. As we ask ourselves about the reasons of these processes, we must take into account that if we want to elaborate new forms of resistance it’s also necessary to work on rebuilding the language, to retrieve words that stick to reality and have roots in history.