Revisiting Henri Lefebvre in postdemocratic times: Digital abstract spaces and other far right assemblages

This article revisits Henri Lefebvre's sociospatial theories to illuminate contemporary sociopolitical dynamics shaped by neo-illiberalism, financialization, digital platforms, and the far right. It argues that Lefebvre's notion of abstract space helps explain the shift from industrial to financial dominance and, recently, to digital networks whose algorithmic mediation organizes fragmentation, homogenization, and new forms of social control. These digital abstract spaces extend capitalism's capacity to reproduce itself by transforming communication into a site of manipulation, value extraction, and political mobilization. Parallels are drawn between Lefebvre's analysis of fascism in the 1930s—particularly its exploitation of new media such as radio for nationalist mystification and “fake news”—and the far right's use of social media, with attention to the Brazilian case under Jair Bolsonaro. In both moments, technological infrastructures amplify authoritarian politics by reshaping the public sphere. The article concludes by highlighting Lefebvre's concept of differential space as a framework for resistance: a means to reclaim political agency and to cultivate democratic alternatives within and beyond digital environments. Revisiting Lefebvre thus clarifies how spatial logics underpin current authoritarian trends and suggests pathways for transformative praxis.