Read Online The Dark Net by Jamie Bartlett - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Jamie Bartlett
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small town. There is very little to do there. Paul tells me he’d love to get into politics, in some way, and move to a bigger city, but with little employment experience, few qualifications and no money, he realises that there’s very little chance of either happening. He tells me that not long ago he walked past a group of EDL supporters. He didn’t speak to them. Online he was becoming a respected member of the nationalist scene, with friends and supporters from all over the world. Offline he was nobody.
The Battle for Cyberspace
In early 2012, Paul decided to strike out on his own. He found the clutch of traditional nationalist parties a bit staid and old-fashioned. Rather than settle for what was there – and persuaded by his powers of rhetoric – he started a new movement instead. He spent weeks learning how to make videos, and set up a personal blog, Twitter and Facebook accounts. Paul took quite some time making sure the imagery and visuals were just right. ‘I was trying to create a symbol that everyone could look to – a solid symbol.’ His experience onFacebook had persuaded him to adopt a secret, anonymous profile where he could be more honest without fear of reprisals.
Paul became increasingly embroiled in what is a running battle online between nationalists and anti-fascist opponents (‘antifa’). Far-right groups and antifa used to clash on the street – they still do – but now the battle is mostly waged online. Antifa groups monitor every move the EDL and others like Paul make online, constantly watching key accounts, attempting to infiltrate their groups, and taking screen grabs or ‘screenies’ of anything they consider controversial, offensive or illegal: which they immediately publicise and often send to the police.
The longest standing of these groups is Exposing Racism and Intolerance Online, usually abbreviated to Expose. It’s an online collective primarily based on Facebook and Twitter, with a dozen or so admins and perhaps a couple of hundred volunteers who help out occasionally. Their main activity consists of taking and saving screenshots of far-right communication and propaganda. Over the last four years Expose has amassed at least 10,000 of these screenshots, including some that first linked Anders Breivik to the EDL.
Antifa is full of a new type of citizen activist. Mikey Swales has been involved from the start. I contacted him via Facebook: ‘We’re just an ordinary bunch of folk,’ he says, ‘mothers, fathers, sons and daughters. We recognise racism, hatred and bigotry when we see it and help, with other antifa groups, to show folk out there exactly who and what make up the EDL and all their splinter groups.’ Antifas spend just as much time as Paul online. One lone vigilante uses the Twitter handle ‘@Norsefired’. Hemonitors EDL activity, and publishes around one hundred tweets a day, ‘challenging, exposing and ridiculing extremist groups’. Like Paul, he got involved by accident, when he caught some slack on Twitter for being part of an anti-cuts group and found out one of the attackers had an EDL link. And like Paul, he thinks he spends too long online: ‘My ear [is] getting bent from my other half,’ he tells me via email, ‘that my spare time should be more efficiently applied to more lucrative pursuits.’ @Norsefired thinks using a pseudonym allows him to confront his opponents more aggressively. Offline, he reckons, ‘it is unlikely I’d approach a group of EDL supporters. But my Norsefired persona can be quite no-nonsense, direct, cutting.’ One of his favourite tactics is to ‘occupy’ EDL Twitter users’ timelines – using several fake Twitter accounts to befriend as many of them as possible – then posting anti-EDL stories and news items simultaneously. One Expose member, Alex, explains to me that humour is a very important part of what they do. ‘Basically,’ he says, ‘I take the piss. I have a large archive of pictures and videos
The Battle for Cyberspace
In early 2012, Paul decided to strike out on his own. He found the clutch of traditional nationalist parties a bit staid and old-fashioned. Rather than settle for what was there – and persuaded by his powers of rhetoric – he started a new movement instead. He spent weeks learning how to make videos, and set up a personal blog, Twitter and Facebook accounts. Paul took quite some time making sure the imagery and visuals were just right. ‘I was trying to create a symbol that everyone could look to – a solid symbol.’ His experience onFacebook had persuaded him to adopt a secret, anonymous profile where he could be more honest without fear of reprisals.
Paul became increasingly embroiled in what is a running battle online between nationalists and anti-fascist opponents (‘antifa’). Far-right groups and antifa used to clash on the street – they still do – but now the battle is mostly waged online. Antifa groups monitor every move the EDL and others like Paul make online, constantly watching key accounts, attempting to infiltrate their groups, and taking screen grabs or ‘screenies’ of anything they consider controversial, offensive or illegal: which they immediately publicise and often send to the police.
The longest standing of these groups is Exposing Racism and Intolerance Online, usually abbreviated to Expose. It’s an online collective primarily based on Facebook and Twitter, with a dozen or so admins and perhaps a couple of hundred volunteers who help out occasionally. Their main activity consists of taking and saving screenshots of far-right communication and propaganda. Over the last four years Expose has amassed at least 10,000 of these screenshots, including some that first linked Anders Breivik to the EDL.
Antifa is full of a new type of citizen activist. Mikey Swales has been involved from the start. I contacted him via Facebook: ‘We’re just an ordinary bunch of folk,’ he says, ‘mothers, fathers, sons and daughters. We recognise racism, hatred and bigotry when we see it and help, with other antifa groups, to show folk out there exactly who and what make up the EDL and all their splinter groups.’ Antifas spend just as much time as Paul online. One lone vigilante uses the Twitter handle ‘@Norsefired’. Hemonitors EDL activity, and publishes around one hundred tweets a day, ‘challenging, exposing and ridiculing extremist groups’. Like Paul, he got involved by accident, when he caught some slack on Twitter for being part of an anti-cuts group and found out one of the attackers had an EDL link. And like Paul, he thinks he spends too long online: ‘My ear [is] getting bent from my other half,’ he tells me via email, ‘that my spare time should be more efficiently applied to more lucrative pursuits.’ @Norsefired thinks using a pseudonym allows him to confront his opponents more aggressively. Offline, he reckons, ‘it is unlikely I’d approach a group of EDL supporters. But my Norsefired persona can be quite no-nonsense, direct, cutting.’ One of his favourite tactics is to ‘occupy’ EDL Twitter users’ timelines – using several fake Twitter accounts to befriend as many of them as possible – then posting anti-EDL stories and news items simultaneously. One Expose member, Alex, explains to me that humour is a very important part of what they do. ‘Basically,’ he says, ‘I take the piss. I have a large archive of pictures and videos
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