François Picard is pleased to welcome Professor Peter Shirlow, Director of the Institute of Irish Studies at the University of Liverpool. Northern Ireland is once again confronting scenes of unrest, violence, and anti-migrant attacks. Shirlow frames the violence within a wider European and global context. He argues that today's far-right mobilisations are no longer isolated local phenomena but are increasingly interconnected through digital networks, transnational misinformation campaigns, and social media platforms that facilitate the rapid circulation of extremist narratives.
In his striking assessment, "racists and groups allied to the far right are now unified across Europe."
He also highlights the relationship between political rhetoric and street-level violence. Shirlow warns that language portraying migrants as possessing an "alien culture" can legitimise exclusion and hostility, particularly when similar narratives are echoed by those responsible for attacks. He draws attention to the human cost of recurring unrest, noting that vulnerable families have been displaced from their homes while public resources are repeatedly consumed by episodes of violence.
Shirlow blames powerful social media actors and oligarchs for amplifying misinformation. He argues that online platforms have become key vectors through which anti-migrant sentiment is cultivated and transformed into real-world mobilisation. "Those young men who come out in the street in Belfast," he observes, "are being guided by people outside of their own country who are telling them that they care about them, but they don't."
Shirlow warns that contemporary far-right violence cannot be understood solely through local grievances. Rather, it must be viewed as part of a broader struggle over democratic cohesion, information integrity, and the future of pluralistic societies across Europe.
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