Secret and visibility of the Skinhead Movement in the Social Media Era: A Case Study from a Canadian Music Band

• In Event: The Strategic Operations of Terrorists

Abstract

Research on domestic violent extremism in western societies has remained focused on Islamic terrorism. Yet, the 2011 attacks perpetrated by Andreas Breivik in Norway and the rise of the Golden Dawn movement in Greece call for an extension of the criminologists’ interest in extremist political activism. We will focus on a group affiliated to the Skinhead movement in the Quebec province and its network. Through a ‘social media intelligence’ approach based on an analysis of social media platforms this group is making use of we will analyze the structure, the links, the discourse and the content of the shared information within its network, as well as the how information is exchanged between its nodes. We will first situate the group’s identity within wider categories such as skinheads or extreme-right groups and draw its singularity. Second, based on conceptual tools such as ‘trust networks’ and ‘new visibility’ we will show how the group holds an ambiguous relation to the publicization of its activity and ideology, and how it dissimulates its activities in the physical sphere to avoid social control.

Authors

• Samuel Tanner, University of Montreal

• Aurélie Campana, Université Laval

• Clémentine Simon, Université de Montréal