Discourses of Hate

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the global North has seen a drastic increase in usage of platform apps’ services. Platforms such as Uber, Lyft, DoorDash, and Deliveroo have become staples that connect consumers directly to workers on standby, ready to be activated at a moment’s notice to rideshare or deliver food orders. These companies offer low barriers of entry and flexible work hours, which is the ideal situation for many migrants looking for work. The scope of this research aims to build an understanding of the intersection between the rise of the far-right and the anti-immigration rhetoric in Canada and the EU that influences the hate faced by racialized migrants working highly visible gig jobs in the platform economy. By examining academic articles, news reports, and social media communications of far-right groups a major theme is apparent. The online rhetoric of the far-right can be categorized through its usage of fear and hate against racialized migrants. Migrants have been depicted as sexual threats to women, economic threats to workers, and an overall threat to the white population through demographic replacement. This conspiracy theory, known as the ‘Great Replacement’, found its way into the discursive attempts of far-right groups and political parties (ex. Chega - Portugal; VOX - Spain) to promote anti-immigration and violence against migrants. The threat that this rhetoric poses to racialized migrant workers has yet to be fully explored, and despite passing mention in a few academic articles, the violence faced by workers in the platform economy is not common in the literature, even more so in regards to its intersection with race based hate. This gap brings further questions concerning alliances among workers, advocacy groups, and trade unions based along the lines of ethnic, racial, and gendered differences to combat the growth of support for the far-right. With reasonable speculation, this research contends that far-right rhetoric and violence will continue to be targeted at racialized migrants in visible spaces and jobs, such as those in the gig economy which requires further labour solidarity and activism to aid migrants in vulnerable situations.