Melons, Pubs and Tiny Shorts: How Europe’s Right Conquered Social Media
While an authoritative-sounding voiceover narrates, a trim, silver-haired man sporting minuscule running shorts jogs around an athletics track. Cut to him stalking around a gym in a gi, black belt visible around his waist, before slamming his opponent to the floor. ‘Romania has had champions, Romania will have champions,’ he exclaims as, brow furrowed, he urges the horse he is riding on through a field of wheat.
Welcome to the TikTok account of Calin Georgescu – Romania’s far-right, pro-Russia candidate who took a surprise lead in the first round of the country’s presidential election.
Georgescu is the latest nationalist European politician to have harnessed social media to gain a devoted fan base; something which has translated into success at the ballot box. Georgescu isn’t the first politician to use this strategy. Nigel Farage, Jordan Bardella and Giorgia Meloni have won the hearts, minds and allegiance of voters across the continent. Of course, there are variations within the nationalist politics of Europe’s new wave of disruptors, but there are a few core messages that crop up repeatedly, which makes for bizarre, deceptively divisive and utterly captivating content.
It’s no surprise to anyone that negative messaging cuts through social media more than platitudes and calls for unity. Today’s right-wing populists don’t just see one party as their political enemy; for them, it is a combination of illegal immigrants, mainstream media and the nebulous Left that’s to blame for the demise of a country. They often deploy the narrative that traditional values are ‘under threat’ and that centre or left wing politicians want to harm the public. France’s Jordan Bardella telling his TikTok followers ‘For all these people, immigration isn’t a problem – it’s a plan’ is a case in point. Bardella and his nationalist counterparts stick to the familiar beats of anti-immigration rhetoric, and barely bother to conceal their prejudice and intolerance under the guise of patriotism.
Another thread running through nationalist TikTok is a hatred of the mainstream media – and given that social media isn’t subject to the same broadcasting regulations as TV or radio, it’s the perfect platform to rally against mainstream media. In one post, Nigel Farage looks into the camera and solemnly contends that ‘British media will never tell you the truth’, meanwhile Santiago Abascal, leader of Spanish right-wing political party Vox, asserts that ‘the real Spain that isn’t reflected in the media’. Overly emotional piano music accompanies clips of Abascal being warmly greeted by people on the street, asked for selfies and told ‘we need you,’ by men shaking his hand. Georgescu, Bardella and Farage’s TikTok pages feature similar videos of them jesting with the general public, from shop owners to grandparents out and about with their grandkids. This is, of course, very common in the world of political campaigning. But in the context of nationalism, it’s about legitimising politicians who spout the most divisive politics Europe has heard for decades and appealing to those who are likely to vote for personalities rather than policies.
Public image, approachability and how you convey your beliefs are all important. But the most appealing thing about Europe’s new generation of nationalists isn’t their politics – it’s that they’re in on every joke you could make about them - an image built through social media posts. After someone threw a milkshake at him during the UK General Election, Farage has a twinkle in his eye as he looks into the camera lens and guffaws ‘my milkshake brings all the people to the rally’, on her account, Giorgia Meloni has replied to accusations that her Brothers of Italy party is exerting ever more control over the country’s national broadcaster through renaming her ‘Giorgia’s Notes’ series ‘Telemeloni’. She also has some fun with melons, while Bardella eats Haribos and reacts on camera to negative headlines written about him.
Today’s centre and left politicians, notwithstanding Ed Davey’s antics, don’t excite people in the same way, and it’s difficult to conceive of a way in which they could. Most of the time, they’re too busy rising to culture wars bait and preaching to look like they’re having any fun, and if they started producing Farage-esque content it would look forced. Because here’s the thing – it’s not an act for Farage, Meloni, Bardella and Georgescu. The kind of content they post feeds perfectly into their images as maverick political outsiders who aren’t afraid to do things differently. Other political figures must find a way to convey their politics in an engaging, yet authentic way. They need to reclaim patriotism and not be afraid to say they love their country, and, if they haven’t already, take note that TikTok is quickly becoming a kingmaker in European politics.
Image: Flickr/UN Photo (Jean-Marc Ferre)
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