The Far-Right Politics of ‘Truth’: an exploratory analysis of the ‘truths’ produced by AfD Kompakt and Patriotic Alternative

Even though much has been said about the populist feature of the contemporary radical right and some scholars have focused on the discourses disseminated by independent media outlets committed to a nativist and authoritarian agenda, the hallmark of contemporary radical right, little has been done in terms of the far-right politics of truth. Contrary to conventional approaches that tend to oppose populist practices to news and scientific knowledge as if the latter were exempt from affective investment, this chapter illuminates how the far right has managed to channel hate towards official institutions and immigrants through discourses that are socially accepted as ‘truth’. We argue that by producing discriminatory discourses under the guise of truth, far-right media outlets and institutions have managed to legitimise discrimination. Through a Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis (MCDA) of news pieces produced by the German AfD Kompakt and the British institution Patriotic Alternative, we explore some of the ‘truths’ produced by these far-right actors, exposing similarities in terms of legitimation strategies and discourses. Albeit different in nature and located in different countries, we observed a convergence in terms of ‘truths’, especially when it comes to the supposed ‘replacement’ of white/western individuals and the alleged refusal of governments in power to serve the interests of the ‘native’ people.