My Europe is building walls : A Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis of The Sweden Democrats’ use of memes during the 2024 EU election campaign

The aim of this study was to explore The Sweden Democrats’ 2024 EU-election campaign ”Mitt Europa bygger murar. Mot invadringskaos. Mot gängkriminella. Mot Islamister.” and their use of memes as a political tool. To investigate this, three research questions were formulated to help guide the analysis. How do The Sweden Democrats’ illustrate their themes, and what narratives emerge in their memes. Furthermore, how do these relate to the party’s overall ideology and political agenda? How are visual and linguistic elements, such as oversimplified messages used to engage their audience? And what discourses are emphasized through their use of memes? The study identified several prominent themes, narratives and discourses the party was exploiting during their 2024 campaign. Discourses identified include, fear of the foreign (xenophobia), immigrants as a threat to Swedish society, the perception of individuals with a Muslim background as a security and cultural risk, as well as framing the need to safeguard Sweden and Europe as a whole from external threats such as immigration and cultural integration. Recurring narratives include, the need to protect European national identity, as well as the notion that left-wing politics were responsible for the deterioration of Swedish society. This idea was reinforced by visual and audiovisual elements implying we live in a society devoid of security and marked by growing external problems. Central themes identified encompass, the need for building a symbolic wall around Europe to protect against external threats, as well as the idea of crime and societal problems having an exteral origin. Understanding the underlying narratives behind the campaign and the use of memes with misleading content, taken out of context, is crucial in order to avoid the risk of reinforcing polarized views without comprehending the full context.