{"id":31801,"date":"2025-09-20T00:04:08","date_gmt":"2025-09-20T00:04:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/31801\/"},"modified":"2025-09-20T00:04:08","modified_gmt":"2025-09-20T00:04:08","slug":"how-the-global-far-right-uses-ireland-to-spread-anti-immigrant-narratives-online","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/31801\/","title":{"rendered":"How the global far-right uses Ireland to spread anti-immigrant narratives online"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last Saturday, at the protest march in London led by far-right activist Tommy Robinson, many in the crowd held up a picture of their hero. It wasn\u2019t Robinson, real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, but the recently murdered Charlie Kirk<\/a>. Most probably few in the estimated 100,000 plus crowd even knew Kirk\u2019s name ahead of his killing in Utah the previous Wednesday. But in death he had taken on the mantle of a martyr for those espousing anti-immigrant anger.<\/p>\n

The protest was billed as being in the name of \u201cfree speech\u201d. And in that context, Kirk\u2019s murder put a topical spin on the ostensible reason for it. He was well known to a younger generation, mainly through his use of the TikTok platform. But for the vast majority of the protesters in London, Kirk could have been any one of the hundreds of right wing \u201cinfluencers\u201d who inhabit social media.<\/p>\n

There was an earlier attempt to export to the UK Kirk\u2019s organisation that propagated his politics in college campuses, Turning Point USA. There was very little take-up, suggesting that no commonality existed between him and similarly disposed elements in the UK. His murder changed all that.<\/p>\n

At the conclusion of the march there was a minute\u2019s silence in honour of the man who had over the course of the few days since his death been elevated to martyrdom.<\/p>\n

\"InIn death, Charlie Kirk had taken on the mantle of a martyr for protesters in London espousing anti-immigrant anger.\tPicture: AP<\/p>\n

The gesture didn\u2019t go unnoticed back in the US. \u201cThousands of British patriots just fell silent in honour of Charlie Kirk in London,\u201d tweeted Eric Daugherty, an editor at the conservative Florida Voice website. The marketing slogan for the website is \u201cHonest political reporting to Florida minus the mainstream talking points\u201d.<\/p>\n

The gesture didn\u2019t go unnoticed in this country either. On Wednesday, when the D\u00e1il was re-opened, the Independent Ireland party requested that a minute\u2019s silence be held for Kirk in advance of the day\u2019s business. The request was rejected.<\/p>\n

\n Back at London last Saturday, what the occasion demonstrated is the breaking down of borders these days among far-right elements. These elements find that they have common cause and they effectively cross-pollinate.\u00a0\n <\/p>\n

Online, the result is amplification which in turn provides for a greater volume of hate being tossed about and all the results that flow from such activity.<\/p>\n

The issue is one affecting this country at a time when anti-immigrant sentiment is rising, shows a report published in July by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD) which monitors online activity.<\/p>\n

\u201cIreland\u2019s anti-migrant mobilization is not only shaped by local actors on the ground but increasingly amplified online by far right networks across Britain, Europe and North America,\u201d the report stated.<\/p>\n

It pointed out that the people involved are not necessarily directly organising protests or violence but play a key role in spreading footage and \u201creinforcing grievance narratives\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis activity transforms local incidents into transnational talking points, helping to embed Ireland\u2019s protest movement within a broader global far-right discourse.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is a particularly sinister front in the campaign being raged by far-right elements to spread their message. They take situations and issues particular to one country, and identify with it, disseminate it among their own supporters as an example that that which they claim to be opposing is a worldwide phenomenon.<\/p>\n

So it has gone with the proliferation of tricolours being displayed in public in various parts of Dublin and other cities in recent months. This quite obviously was lifted from Operation Raise The Colours, a campaign in England started in the summer by elements loyal to Robinson and his allies. The English flag was raised to symbolise opposition to immigrants. Now the Tricolour is being used for the same purpose, in an irony-free zone where a flag that once symbolised opposition to the UK is now being hoisted in imitation of the cross of St George.<\/p>\n

Then there was the presence of a tricolour in an anti-immigrant protest in Ballymena in the North this year largely organised by loyalist elements.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n Again, irony is completely missed when the agenda is so base.\u00a0\n <\/p>\n

The cross-jurisdiction meetings of these elements from north and south, the former rooted in elements close to violent loyalism, the latter including those who once subscribed to violent Republicanism, is an indication of how hatred can bring so many together. Ciaran O\u2019Connor, senior analyst at the ISD, says that these kinds of connections are well established.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Irish far-right movement, such as it exists, have for many years been drawing on the rhetoric <\/p>\n

and on- and offline tactics and general approaches taken by similar interests the US and the UK but also from some European groups. There is a significant overlap in the general approach by these groups.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not all one-way traffic in this spreading online of ideology and tactics. This summer in England there have been major conflicts over protests, sometimes violent, outside hotels housing asylum seekers. So it went in this jurisdiction a few years ago. The Irish efforts were originally borrowed from the English and now the tactic is being resurrected over there in a kind of feedback loop.<\/p>\n

\n The most obvious example of the transnational cross-pollination this year was the so-called presidential campaign of Conor McGregor.\u00a0\n <\/p>\n

The cage fighter\u2019s appearance in the White House on St Patrick\u2019s Day was a huge boost for those who identify with the anti-immigrant protests in this country.<\/p>\n

On April 26, a march through Dublin city centre attracted over 10,000, a gathering that was in excess of anything that was expected. McGregor filmed a greeting to the marchers but for some reason it was beneath him to actually accompany them.<\/p>\n

One of the more prominent figures that day was Malachy Steenson, who was elected to Dublin City Council last year. He was wearing a Make Ireland Great Again hat, although it is unclear which period in this country\u2019s history he considered great.<\/p>\n

Steenson told reporters at the protest that the biggest day of the year had been the national holiday when McGregor was at the White House.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter who the messenger is \u2014 it\u2019s the message,\u201d he said. \u201cThat message was brought very clearly to Irish-Americans\u2026 We are now calling out to our friends and family in America and throughout the world \u2014 look at what is happening here.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Sixteen million followers Tucker Carlson [the US podcaster who was too extreme for his old employer Fox News and who interviewed McGregor], 10m followers Conor McGregor, that is a huge reach that we couldn\u2019t get without these two people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Steenson\u2019s delight was well-grounded. Over the following months, McGregor\u2019s social media output promoting himself as a potential presidential candidate<\/a> went far and wide, across the world to his 10m followers. He was running, he repeatedly said, to \u201csave Ireland\u201d. Much of what he posted was completely without any factual basis but presented Ireland as a place that was being overrun by immigrants, reinforcing for those of similar views abroad that the world as they know it is under attack.<\/p>\n

McGregor\u2019s influence on far right<\/p>\n

Ciaran O\u2019Connor believes that McGregor\u2019s influence on the far-right movement in this country has been significant.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnyone who has such a massive presence online has the ability to operate like a megaphone, to amplify the narrative and videos and general sentiment. A lot of Irish far-right influencers would look upon him as elevating their cause to an international audience.\u201d<\/p>\n

A report published recently by the European Digital Media Observatory Ireland in Dublin City University found that 58% of McGregor posts in his so-called campaign misrepresented this country, its Constitution, or its history. His content was viewed more than 100m times worldwide.<\/p>\n

The report stated that his claims have normalised \u201cfact free and extremist ideas\u201d and that he was pushing \u201cnarratives seeded by fringe media, amplified by celebrities with little political understanding and broadcast at scale through the platform of the world\u2019s richest man\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"PeoplePeople taking part in a Tommy Robinson-led Unite the Kingdom march and rally in central London.\tPicture: Lucy North\/PA<\/p>\n

The platform is X and its owner Elon Musk personally weighed in to amplify McGregor and all he was spewing frequently over the months. Musk also said he would financially back the cage fighter who was found liable for sexual assault in a civil court, in his campaign. That offer could not legally be accepted due to political funding laws here, but it did highlight the impact that money combined with the capacity to spread baseless claims can have on the democratic process.<\/p>\n

Charlie Kirk wasn\u2019t able to effect a connection with the UK when he was alive. The manner of his violent death made that possible. He is just the latest in the kind of connections right across the world between these far-right elements who want to spread and amplify their message on mediums where lies and distortion can be passed off as genuine facts.<\/p>\n

Any issues, cases, or specific challenges in one jurisdiction can thus be projected far off in a manner so distorted it\u2019s never going to be corrected. That in turn heightens anger, fuels resentment, and presents as further proof that hate is the only way.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, in this respect, the whole is far greater than the sum of the parts from each individual country.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Last Saturday, at the protest march in London led by far-right activist Tommy Robinson, many in the crowd…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":31802,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[13477,1714,61,1629,60,43],"class_list":["post-31801","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-charlie-kirk","tag-conor-mcgregor","tag-ie","tag-immigration","tag-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31801","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31801"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31801\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31802"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31801"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31801"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31801"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}