In recent months, several members of the ARENAS consortium have collaborated to product the ARENAS Glossary of Right-Wing Extremism. This collaboration is being led by Steven Forti of the Autonomous University of Barcelona, and we spoke with him to learn more about the work on the Glossary.
- What motivated the decision to create the glossary?
Extremist narratives are increasingly present in European public debate and have an ever-greater impact, putting democratic coexistence at risk. So, the project arose almost naturally within the ARENAS project, especially within WP3, with the aim of bringing the results of our research to as many people as possible in the EU. Scientific research often struggles to break out of the academic world. I thought a good way to break this dynamic was to develop a glossary of key terms related to current far-right extremism that could be published in various journals across Europe.
- How is the glossary being prepared?
The glossary is a collaborative project. Several ARENAS researchers from various universities and European countries collaborate on the articles, including Sergi Soler, Katalin Miklóssy, Gwenaëlle Bauvois, Ana Yara Postigo Fuentes, Jure Gasparic, Claudia Jareño, and Arsenio Cuenca. I am responsible for the overall coordination, and I am the primary editor of the glossary.
- How has the Glossary been received to date?
In January, the glossary began publishing in the Italian magazine MicroMega. A new article will be published every two weeks. Among other things, it was also decided to convert the articles into podcasts. In February, a first article from the glossary was published in the important Finnish magazine Voima. In December, three initial articles from the glossary were published in the magazine Le Grand Continent, which publishes in French and Spanish. The remaining articles will be published in a summer special, during July and August. So, we’re just getting started, but the feedback we’ve received in these countries has been very positive, both from the magazines’ editorial staff and from many readers.
- What do you hope to achieve by producing the glossary?
With the glossary we hope to allows anyone interested in different European countries to quickly and easily understand the narratives behind the words that millions of people hear every day.
- What are the plans for further developing the Glossary?
First, we want to complete the publication of the glossary in these four countries: Italy, France, Spain, and Finland. Second, we are surveying several magazines in other countries, such as Germany and Poland, to gauge their interest. It would be very important to be able to publish the glossary in German and Polish as well. Finally, we want to publish the glossary in English as a book in 2027.