Main Narratives of the Polish Extreme Right in the First Year of the COVID-19 Pandemic – Narrative Analysis Cover Image

Główne narracje polskiej skrajnej prawicy w pierwszym roku pandemii COVID-19 – analiza narracyjna
Main Narratives of the Polish Extreme Right in the First Year of the COVID-19 Pandemic – Narrative Analysis

Author(s): Przemysław Witkowski
Subject(s): Media studies, Criminal Law, Human Rights and Humanitarian Law, Civil Society, Governance, Public Administration, Public Law, Communication studies, Welfare systems, Politics and law, Politics and communication, Politics and society, Studies in violence and power, Nationalism Studies, Inter-Ethnic Relations, Social Norms / Social Control, Penal Policy, Sociology of Politics, EU-Legislation, Politics and Identity, Peace and Conflict Studies
Published by: Wydawnictwo Naukowe Dolnośląskiej Szkoły Wyższej
Keywords: far-right;COVID-19;pandemic;discourse;narrative;

Summary/Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic is an opportunity for many marginal political groups to increase their popularity and enter the mainstream with their narrative. This is also the case with the Polish far-right. The research discussed in the following text concerned the message of the Polish extreme right during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic (2020), both what changed in this message and what remained unchanged. Using data from social media, online and offline publications, reports from events, and interviews with key informants, the author sought to understand how COVID-19 has changed the behaviour and narratives of far-right groups in Poland. The analysis was structured around two meta-narratives: one anti-liberal and the other geopolitical, each containing several sub-narratives. As a result of this analysis PiS and its closest allies from the world of politics and media turned out to be one of the leading promoters of various anti-liberal concepts and social and systemic solutions, especially those concerning reproductive and LGBT rights created in the far-right circles. PiS politicians often drew their slogans and ideas from the ideological resources of the far-right, directly copying their language and rhetoric and often even immediate solutions.

  • Issue Year: 15/2021
  • Issue No: 1
  • Page Range: 205-235
  • Page Count: 36
  • Language: Polish