Everyday transnationalism of the far right: an interdisciplinary study of Polish immigrants' participation in far-right groups in Britain

极右翼的日常跨国主义：对波兰移民参与英国极右翼团体的跨学科研究

• 批准号: ES/W010151/2
• 负责人: Michal Garapich
• 金额: $ 63.31万
• 依托单位: London Metropolitan University
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2023 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=ES%2FW010151%2F2
• 关键词: Everyday; transnationalism; far; right; interdisciplinary

As a consequence of EU enlargement in 2004 over one million Polish nationals have moved to the UK, creating Polish communities in almost every British town. Although there has been a significant amount of research looking into what is now one of the biggest British ethnic minorities, research into their political activism is still lacking. Furthermore, there are worrying signs of growth in popularity of far-right ideologies and groups among Polish immigrants. This issue has been reported by the media, NGOs monitoring radicalisation and Polish communities themselves who in vast majority refrain from legitimizing far-right ideologies. The trend has also attracted the interest of the British authorities due to an observable increase in racially aggravated acts of violence perpetrated by Polish immigrants in the UK. Coupled with growing influence of the far right in Poland, it is clear that we are witnessing a new kind of transnationalisation of far-right politics not just in terms of transnational connections between distinct national groups, but in terms of immigrants from Europe being attracted to far-right groups in receiving countries, run by host local populations. In addition, many Polish political parties and organisations are active in the UK, some of them forming alliances with local political parties. For example, a well-known Polish far-right activist living in Wales was also a candidate in 2021 local elections on behalf of UKIP.This project is a pioneering, risky and innovative study of this new phenomenon using a combination of ethnographic, qualitative methods and political science tools of discourse and ideology analysis. In six locations in Britain we will carry out observations of public events, rituals and gatherings of these organisations. We will conduct semi-structured interviews with members of these groups, as well as interviewing their British colleagues, and some members in Poland. Alongside this, we will conduct discourse analysis of their written communication - manifestos, pamphlets, blogs, songs, political declarations and so on.We aim to explore the migration-radicalisation trajectory of people, their reasons to join far-right groups, the extent to which their activism was imported or stimulated by their migration history, and how they make sense of their far-right ideas as migrants, white Europeans, Brits and/or Poles. The project will also explore the extent to which British localities have acted as radicalisation stimuli. In particular we will analyse the intellectual, practical and personnel exchanges between the British and the Polish far-right groups.Due to rise of far-right populism the project's departing assumption is that it is vital to examine the phenomena on the ground not as distant and external observers but as ethnographers who wish to understand the person behind the ideology. The overarching objective of this project is therefore to understand in order to prevent and mitigate. We believe it is crucial to approach, talk to, understand and intellectually engage members of far-right groups in order to design educational and policy tools to prevent people from being attracted by far-right discourse or acting upon far-right ideas. This research thus has clear social impact, both locally and internationally. This project will disseminate the findings among user groups such as: state institutions, and political decision-makers as well as local Polish communities that will find this knowledge useful when attempting to understand and address the phenomena examined by this project.

由于 2004 年欧盟东扩，超过 100 万波兰国民移居英国，几乎在每个英国城镇都建立了波兰人社区。尽管对现在英国最大的少数民族之一进行了大量研究，但对其政治活动的研究仍然缺乏。此外，有令人担忧的迹象表明，极右意识形态和团体在波兰移民中越来越受欢迎。媒体、监测激进化的非政府组织和波兰社区本身都报道了这个问题，而波兰社区绝大多数都没有将极右意识形态合法化。由于波兰移民在英国犯下的种族暴力暴力行为明显增加，这一趋势也引起了英国当局的兴趣。再加上极右翼在波兰的影响力不断增强，很明显，我们正在见证一种新型的极右政治跨国化，不仅体现在不同民族群体之间的跨国联系方面，而且体现在来自欧洲的移民被接收国当地居民管理的极右团体所吸引。此外，许多波兰政党和组织在英国也很活跃，其中一些与当地政党结成联盟。例如，居住在威尔士的一位著名波兰极右活动人士也代表英国独立党参加了2021年地方选举。该项目结合了民族志、定性方法以及话语和意识形态分析的政治科学工具，对这一新现象进行了开创性、冒险性和创新性的研究。我们将在英国的六个地点对这些组织的公共活动、仪式和集会进行观察。我们将对这些团体的成员进行半结构化采访，并采访他们的英国同事和波兰的一些成员。除此之外，我们还将对他们的书面交流进行话语分析——宣言、小册子、博客、歌曲、政治宣言等。我们的目标是探索人们的移民激进化轨迹、他们加入极右团体的原因、他们的激进主义在多大程度上被他们的移民历史引入或刺激，以及他们如何理解作为移民、欧洲白人、英国人和/或波兰人的极右思想。该项目还将探讨英国各地在多大程度上刺激了激进化。我们将特别分析英国和波兰极右团体之间的知识、实践和人员交流。由于极右民粹主义的兴起，该项目的假设是，至关重要的是，不是作为遥远的外部观察者，而是作为希望了解意识形态背后的人的民族志学者来审视实地现象。因此，该项目的首要目标是了解以预防和减轻影响。我们认为，与极右团体成员接触、交谈、理解和智力参与至关重要，以设计教育和政策工具，防止人们被极右言论所吸引或按照极右思想行事。因此，这项研究在本地和国际上都具有明显的社会影响。该项目将在用户群体中传播研究结果，例如：国家机构、政治决策者以及波兰当地社区，他们在尝试理解和解决该项目所研究的现象时会发现这些知识很有用。