Julia Ebner

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Julia Ebner
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Julia Ebner (born 24 July 1991) is an Austrian researcher, and author, based in London. [1] She has written the books The Rage: the Vicious Circle of Islamist and Far-Right Extremism, Going Dark: the Secret Social Lives of Extremists and Going Mainstream: how extremists are taking over.

Contents

Career

Ebner holds a DPhil from the University of Oxford, where she is currently a postdoctoral research fellow at the Calleva Centre for Evolution and Human Science at Magdalen College. [2] She has a BA in philosophy and a BSc in international business. She holds an MSc in international history from the London School of Economics and an MSc in international relations from Peking University. [3]

Ebner is based in London and Oxford. [1] Between 2015 and 2017 she worked as a senior researcher at the counter-extremism organisation Quilliam. [3] In 2017 she joined the counter-extremism organisation Institute for Strategic Dialogue as a research fellow, [3] [4] where she specialises in far-right extremism, reciprocal radicalisation and European terrorism prevention initiatives. She has written for The Guardian [5] and The Independent. [6]

Going Dark: the Secret Social Lives of Extremists documents Ebner's experiences over two years spent undercover, infiltrating far-right networks such as Generation Identity [1] [7] and Reconquista Germanica, [7] both on-line and in person. [8]

Her latest book Going Mainstream: how extremists are taking over was published in 2023. It is based on investigative reporting and interviews and asks why extremist ideas and concepts increasingly enter mainstream politics and societal discourse. [9]

Publications

Publications by Ebner

Publications with contributions by Ebner

Related Research Articles

Extremism is "the quality or state of being extreme" or "the advocacy of extreme measures or views". The term is primarily used in a political or religious sense to refer to an ideology that is considered to be far outside the mainstream attitudes of society. It can also be used in an economic context. The term may be used pejoratively by opposing groups, but is also used in academic and journalistic circles in a purely descriptive and non-condemning sense.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry Jackson Society</span> Transatlantic think tank

The Henry Jackson Society (HJS) is a trans-Atlantic foreign policy and national security think tank, based in the United Kingdom. While describing itself as non-partisan, its outlook has been described variously as "right of centre" neoliberal and as neoconservative. The Society identifies itself with a "forward strategy" to spread democracy and liberal values globally. It is currently focused primarily on supporting global democracy in the face of threats from China and Russia. The Society is also known for its reports related to Islamic and far-right extremism. The Society is named after the US Senator and leading Democrat, Henry M. Jackson. American political journalist, Michael Allen, described the society as "a non-partisan group that convenes transatlantic center-left, center-right and independent figures committed to Jackson's legacy of 'democratic geopolitics.'"

Jihad Watch is an American far-right anti-Muslim conspiracy blog operated by Robert Spencer. A project of the David Horowitz Freedom Center, Jihad Watch is the most popular blog within the counter-jihad movement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Right-wing terrorism</span> Terrorism motivated by right-wing and far-right ideologies

Right-wing terrorism, hard right terrorism, extreme right terrorism or far-right terrorism is terrorism that is motivated by a variety of different right-wing and far-right ideologies. It can be motivated by Ultranationalism, neo-Nazism, anti-communism, neo-fascism, ecofascism, ethnonationalism, religious nationalism, anti-immigration, anti-semitism, anti-government sentiment, patriot movements, sovereign citizen beliefs, and occasionally, it can be motivated by opposition to abortion, tax resistance, and homophobia. Modern right-wing terrorism largely emerged in Western Europe in the 1970s, and after the Revolutions of 1989 and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, it emerged in Eastern Europe and Russia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Islamic extremism</span> Extreme or radical form of Islam

Islamic extremism, Islamist extremism or radical Islam refers a set of extremist beliefs, behaviors and ideology within Islam. These terms remain contentious, encompassing a spectrum of definitions, ranging from academic interpretations to the notion that all ideologies other than Islam have failed and are inferior. Furthermore, these terms may extend to encompass other sects of Islam that do not share such extremist views.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Douglas Murray (author)</span> British author and right wing political commentator

Douglas Murray is a British author and political commentator. He founded the Centre for Social Cohesion in 2007, which became part of the Henry Jackson Society, where he was associate director from 2011 to 2018. He is currently an associate editor of the conservative British political and cultural magazine The Spectator.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maajid Nawaz</span> British activist and radio presenter (born 1977)

Maajid Usman Nawaz is a British activist and former radio presenter. He was the founding chairman of the think tank Quilliam. Until January 2022, he was the host of an LBC radio show on Saturdays and Sundays. Born in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, to a British Pakistani family, Nawaz is a former member of the Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir. His membership led to his December 2001 arrest in Egypt, where he remained imprisoned until 2006. While there, he read books about human rights and made contact with Amnesty International who adopted him as a prisoner of conscience. He left Hizb-ut-Tahrir in 2007, renounced his Islamist past, and called for a secular Islam. Later, Nawaz co-founded Quilliam with former Islamists, including Ed Husain.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Institute for Strategic Dialogue</span> Think tank

The Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD) is a political advocacy organization founded in 2006 by Sasha Havlicek and George Weidenfeld and headquartered in London, United Kingdom.

Quilliam was a British think tank co-founded in 2008 by Maajid Nawaz that focused on counter-extremism, specifically against Islamism, which it argued represents a desire to impose a given interpretation of Islam on society. Founded as The Quilliam Foundation and based in London, it claimed to lobby government and public institutions for more nuanced policies regarding Islam and on the need for greater democracy in the Muslim world whilst empowering "moderate Muslim" voices. The organisation opposed any Islamist ideology and championed freedom of expression. The critique of Islamist ideology by its founders―Nawaz, Rashad Zaman Ali and Ed Husain―was based, in part, on their personal experiences. Quilliam went into liquidation in 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Terrorism in Europe</span> Overview of terrorism in Europe

There is a long history of terrorism in Europe. This has often been linked to nationalist and separatist movements, while other acts have been related to politics, religious extremism, or organized crime. Terrorism in the European sections of the intercontinental countries of Turkey and Russia are not included in this list.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amadeu Antonio Foundation</span>

The Amadeu Antonio Foundation, established in 1998, is a German foundation engaging against far-right-wing parties, racism and antisemitism. It was founded by Karl Konrad Graf von der Groeben, with author Anetta Kahane appointed as its chairwoman and Wolfgang Thierse, the former president of the Bundestag, named as its patron.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">True Blue Crew</span> Australian far-right extremist group

The True Blue Crew (TBC) is an Australian far-right extremist group. Members and supporters have been linked to right-wing terrorism and vigilantism, and members have been arrested with weapons and on terrorism-related charges. Experts who have studied the group say it appears to be "committed to violence".

The Reconquista Germanica (RG) is an extreme-right channel running on the Discord application, which was set up to disrupt the German election of 2017. The group has over 5000 users. The goal of the group is to ‘ensure the strongest possible showing for the Alternative for Germany (AfD) in the Bundestag’. It is managed according to hierarchical structures using military language and alt-right vocabulary. According to Julia Ebner, who studied the group, there are links between RG and the AfD.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Remigration</span> Forced or promoted return of non-European immigrants

Remigration, or re-immigration, sometimes euphemized as "repatriation", is a far-right political concept referring to the forced or promoted return of non-ethnically European immigrants, often including their descendants, back to their place of racial origin regardless of citizenship status. This idea is especially popular within the Identitarian movement in Europe. Most proponents of remigration suggest leaving some residents with non-European background aside from the forced return, based on a vaguely defined degree of assimilation into European culture.

<i>Der Flügel</i> Far-right faction of the Alternative for Germany

Der Flügel is a far-right faction within Germany's Alternative for Germany, a right-wing populist opposition party. The group was led by Björn Höcke and Andreas Kalbitz. Approximately 20 percent of AfD members are organized also in the "Flügel". Following the request by the AfD executive board to dissolve Der Flügel by the end of April 2020, the group's online presence went offline. The Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) has no reliable knowledge of an actual dissolution. Within the party, Der Flügel now calls itself the "social-patriotic faction".

A tradwife, in recent Western culture, typically denotes a woman who believes in and practices traditional sex roles and marriages. Many tradwives believe that they do not sacrifice women's rights by choosing to take a homemaking role within their marriage. Some may choose to leave careers to focus instead on meeting their family's needs in the home.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Misogynist terrorism</span> Terrorism motivated by the desire to punish women

Misogynist terrorism is terrorism that is motivated by the desire to punish women. It is an extreme form of misogyny, the policing of women's compliance to patriarchal gender expectations. Misogynist terrorism uses mass indiscriminate violence in an attempt to avenge nonconformity with those expectations or to reinforce the perceived superiority of men.

Alt-tech are social media platforms and Internet service providers that have become popular among the alt-right, far-right, and others who espouse extremism or fringe theories, often because they employ less stringent content moderation than mainstream platforms. The term "alt-tech" is a portmanteau of "alt-right" and "Big Tech". In the 2010s, some prominent conservatives and their supporters began to use alt-tech platforms because they had been banned from other social media platforms. Alt-tech platforms describe themselves as protectors of free speech and individual liberty, which researchers and journalists have alleged may be a cover for antisemitism and terrorism.

Far-right terrorism in Australia has been seen as an increasing threat since the late 2010s, with a number of far-right extremist individuals and groups, including neo-Nazis and other hate groups, becoming known to authorities, in particular the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) and the Australian Federal Police (AFP). In early 2021 the first far-right extremist group was added to the list of proscribed terrorist groups, this group being the Sonnenkrieg Division.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alt-right pipeline</span> Online radicalization process

The alt-right pipeline is a proposed conceptual model regarding internet radicalization toward the alt-right movement. It describes a phenomenon in which consuming provocative right-wing political content, such as antifeminist or anti-SJW ideas, gradually increases exposure to the alt-right or similar far-right politics. It posits that this interaction takes place due to the interconnected nature of political commentators and online communities, allowing members of one audience or community to discover more extreme groups. This process is most commonly associated with and has been documented on the video platform YouTube, and is largely faceted by the method in which algorithms on various social media platforms function through the process recommending content that is similar to what users engage with, but can quickly lead users down rabbit-holes.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Sturges, Fiona (14 February 2020). "Julia Ebner: 'There's an adrenaline rush in undercover work, getting inside a far-right movement'". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 2020-02-15 via www.theguardian.com.
  2. "Julia Ebner". University of Oxford. Retrieved 2024-01-25.
  3. 1 2 3 "Julia Ebner". Institute for Strategic Dialogue. Retrieved 2020-02-19.
  4. "'I used online identities to flush out neo-fascists and violent activists'". i . Retrieved 2020-02-19.
  5. "Julia Ebner". The Guardian. Retrieved 2020-02-19.
  6. "Julia Ebner". The Independent. Retrieved 2020-02-19.
  7. 1 2 "Why People Join Extremist Networks and What Keeps Them There". Time. Retrieved 2020-02-19.
  8. "Internetforscherin Julia Ebner fordert intensivere Überwachung rechter Seiten im Netz". Der Spiegel. Retrieved 2020-02-19.
  9. "I infiltrate incel groups posing as a man". The Times. Retrieved 2024-01-25.
  10. Eimermacher, Martin (14 October 2019). "Julia Ebner: Nazi-Jagd im Netz". Die Zeit. Hamburg. ISSN   0044-2070 . Retrieved 2020-02-19 via Die Zeit.
  11. Freeman, Colin (16 February 2020). "Going Dark by Julia Ebner review: the woman who went undercover with extremists". The Telegraph. ISSN   0307-1235 . Retrieved 2020-02-19 via www.telegraph.co.uk.
  12. Urwin, Rosamund. "Going Dark: The Secret Social Lives of Extremists by Julia Ebner review — inside the web of hate". ISSN   0140-0460 . Retrieved 2020-02-19 via www.thetimes.co.uk.