Ambivalent Anti-Modernity: Fashwave and Far Right Temporality in the Internet Age

This essay provides an analysis of texts and images (memes) that have been widely distributed and discussed within the contemporary fascist/national socialist spectrum, and that articulate a pointed antagonism toward modernity. The meaning of the term ‘modernity’ is seldom clearly defined, but it can be generally understood, in this context, as referring to liberal or progressive stances on current hot-button topics concerning race, gender or sexuality as well as broader post-Enlightenment conceptions of democracy, equality or human rights. It is often contrasted with a mythologized past and an idealized future. Fascists thus style themselves as an elite-yet-beleaguered minority with the courage to contradict modern consensus values, despite all social or material costs. In particular, this essay takes a closer look at the online genre known as ‘fashwave’.