Contribution short abstract:

The paper looks at the (post-)digital mise-en-scène of the rallies of the Bürgerbewegung Pax Europa. Applying multi-sited ethnography, I look at the performative making of the very scenario the rallies warned about: the supposedly threatening “grand replacement” of Europeans by (Muslim) migrants.

Contribution long abstract:

In the course of 2022, the so-called Bürgerberwegung (citizen’s movement) Pax Europa organized nationwide rallies in Germany, that reached a large audience through livestreaming on YouTube and Twitch. At peak times, the streams reached 100,000 views, often within a few hours. The rallies were crafted to warn about the supposedly threatening “great replacement” or the “islamization of Europe.” At the same time, the mise-en-scène of the rallies, and especially the way the were mediatized for an online spectatorship choreographed that very scenario they “warned” about, by provoking violent counter-protests and choreographing “migrant mobs.”

Through participant observation and conversations with rally visitors and participants offline, as well as participant observation in the livechat of the streams and in associated Telegram chat groups, I analyze how (post-)digital communities of “resistance” emerge. In order to document the density of the rallies as (post)-digital events, I used the possibilities offered by digital ethnography: pausing and replaying of live streams, a close reading of live-chat commentaries, thick comparison of online and offline events that are actually taking place simultaneously through a form of live-digital ethnography (Maly 2024). This condensation of the rally as a (post-) digital event points to the central importance of provocation, shared memetic speech and curated virality. I will read the ethnographic material against the backdrop of far right strategies such as metapolitics and accelerationism.