ARENAS – Analysis of and Responses to Extremist Narratives is a Horizon Europe project that Momentum is collaborating on with 11 other Partners across Europe. Denise Callan leads Work Package 7 (Communication and Dissemination) for the project on behalf of Momentum, and she recently travelled to Barcelona to support the ARENAS consortium to host a major conference, Going Extreme: History, Narratives and the Threat to Democracy in Europe.
The conference examined the historical roots of the main extremist narratives that are currently circulating in Europe. It looked at how they have transformed over the last century and how they have been adapted to different historical and national contexts. Finally, it considered how these extremist narratives circulate and are disseminated in the present time in the political space and the media.
The event opened with an inaugural debate on democracy, youth and extremism in which the Minister of Youth and Children of the Government of Spain, Sira Rego, the former Minister of Universities of the Government of Spain, Joan Subirats, and the journalist of El País Milagros Pérez Oliva participated.
Following the official inauguration of the conference the next day, the conference continued for two days of the conference. The three main topics addressed by ARENAS: nation, gender and science were each explored. Each conference session opened with an invited keynote speaker addressing one of the key themes Alejandro Quiroga (Universidad Complutense de Madrid) addressed the issue of “Nationalism and populism in Europe. Then and now”. Sara R. Farris (Goldsmith University) spoke about “The normalisation of femonationalism in Europe”. Finally, Camil Ungureanu (Universitat Pompeu Fabra) gave a presentation titled “Only Science Can Save Us? Between Denialism and Critical Scientific Humanism in the Anthropocene”.
Each keynote speaker was followed by a round table discussion. Participants in the round tables were members of the ARENAS consortium who responded to the keynote speakers and also shared some of the research they have carried out to date on the project. The conference concluded with a fourth round table on Medium and Circulation, looking at the methods used to spread extremist narratives.
To learn more about ARENAS visit the project website. You can also get more detailed information about this conference by reading the conference report.
