HOW DOES THE FAR RIGHT ON TELEGRAM INSTRUMENTALISE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTESTS?
HOW DOES THE FAR RIGHT ON TELEGRAM INSTRUMENTALISE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTESTS?

Author(s): Gorana Pebić
Subject(s): Politics / Political Sciences, Politics, Energy and Environmental Studies, Environmental and Energy policy, Security and defense
Published by: BCBP Beogradski centar za bezbednosnu politiku
Keywords: Far-right extremism; Telegram propaganda; Environmental protests; Rio Tinto; Disinformation; Anti-Western narratives; Radicalization
Summary/Abstract: The analysis explores how far-right Telegram channels instrumentalise opposition to the Rio Tinto project and lithium mining in Serbia to amplify their pre-existing nationalist and anti-Western narratives. Although environmental concerns serve as the entry point, for most of these actors, environmental protection is not an end, but rather a tool for delegitimising the opposition, the government, civil society, and the West, as well as for mobilising citizens through emotional, apocalyptic, and often inflammatory rhetoric. Such instrumentalisation has direct harmful consequences for environmental activists, as it contributes to their delegitimisation, increases pressure on them, and creates space for their portrayal as a security threat. At the same time, the analysis finds no evidence of organisational or ideological links between local environmental initiatives and far-right groups; instead, it points to an external instrumentalisation of legitimate civic discontent.

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