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Aurelien Mondon

@aurelmondon.bsky.social

13K followers 600 following 2.9K posts

Researching the mainstreaming of reactionary/far-right politics Co-convenor of @reacpolrn.bsky.social Reactionary Democracy w. @aaronwinter.bsky.social and co-editor of The Ethics of Researching the Far Right Full profile: https://shorturl.at/CiYKm .. more

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Aurelien Mondon @aurelmondon.bsky.social · Nov 12

Hello new followers!

I research the mainstreaming of reactionary politics which informs much of my presence here

Below are some publications which might be of interest

A full list can be found here:

researchportal.bath.ac.uk/en/persons/a...

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Aurelien Mondon @aurelmondon.bsky.social · 20m

In France, it seems the cordon sanitaire around the far right may be about to break

@luke-shuttleworth.bsky.social, @k8ebrown.bsky.social and I argue in this article that its efficacy has been consistently damaged by the mainstreaming of far-right discourse

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

The pretence of the cordon sanitaire: non-collaboration as a distraction from discursive congruence

Much has been written about how mainstream parties respond to far-right challengers in liberal democracies. Whereas some mainstream parties have become more open to forming coalitions with far-righ...

www.tandfonline.com

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Aurelien Mondon @aurelmondon.bsky.social · 9h

If you want to understand where we are, don't look first at voters or public opinion, look at how their knowledge of the world is constructed and mediated

It shouldn't be surprising that those who have the power to shape public discourse have a key responsibility in our current plight

Our World in Data @ourworldindata.org · 2d

Does the news reflect what we die from?

The image presents a comparison of the leading causes of death in the United States for 2023 and the media coverage these causes receive from three news outlets: The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Fox News.

In the footer, it notes the data sources, indicating that the information is based on media mentions from Media Cloud (2025) and death data from the US CDC (2025) and the Global Terrorism Index, with a clarification that values are normalized to sum to 100%.

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Aurelien Mondon @aurelmondon.bsky.social · 9h

I found the synths being children was totally unnecessary. Not only didn't it bring anything to the plot or story but it broke the tension whenever it actually built up. Character development was also poor. Not even sure I'll finish it now you're telling me the end is even worse 😅

Aurelien Mondon @aurelmondon.bsky.social · 9h

One episode to go and Alien Earth has to be one of the worst in the series and there have been a lot of terrible sequels...

Even the xenomorph is badly designed...

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Reposted by Aurélien Mondon

Christopher Mathias @letsgomathias.bsky.social · 11h

Really enjoyed talking with @caitlinmoriah.bsky.social & @trentrichardnelson.bsky.social about antifa & the history of the antifa bogeyman.

Think it’s a good listen after that batshit White House presser abt antifa yesterday www.liberalcurrents.com/half-the-ans...

Half the Answer #39: What Is Antifa, and How Do You Catch a Fascist?

Christopher Mathias, author of "To Catch a Fascist," speaks to Caitlin and Trent about the events of 2020, clashes between violent fascist clubs and "community defense" groups. They discuss misconcept...

www.liberalcurrents.com

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Reposted by Graham Dutfield, Aurélien Mondon, Vaughan S. Roberts

Adam Bienkov @adambienkov.bsky.social · 12h

Nigel Farage accuses teachers of "poisoning our kids" on race issues.

Here's a reminder of what teachers and fellow pupils at Farage's own school remember of his own views on that subject.

www.adambienkov.co.uk/p/nigel-fara...

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Reposted by Will Jennings, Aurélien Mondon, David D. Buck

Our World in Data @ourworldindata.org · 13h

How over- and underrepresented are different causes of death in the media?

Another way to visualize this data is to measure how over- or underrepresented each cause is.

To do this, we calculate the ratio between a cause’s share of deaths and its share of news articles.

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Aurelien Mondon @aurelmondon.bsky.social · 14h

The damage done by those mainstream elite who entertained the idea that reactionaries really cared about free speech cannot be underestimated

Not that it matters as it's unlikely they will be held accountable, suffer any consequences or ever even reflect on their responsibility

Headline

Money talks: the deep ties between Twitter and Saudi Arabia
Elon Musk, then senior adviser to Donald Trump, in Saudi Arabia in May. Photograph: Win McNamee/Getty Images

Saudi Arabia’s investment in Twitter increased its influence in Silicon Valley while being used at home to shut down critics of the regime

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Reposted by Tom Griffin, Aurélien Mondon, James Connelly

Byline Times @bylinetimes.bsky.social · 21h

BREAKING: The National Union of Journalists describe the Conservative Party's banning of Byline Times journalists from covering their conference as a threat to media freedom which "undermines the Conservative Party leader’s repeated pledge to fight for free speech"

bylinetimes.com/2025/10/08/c...

Conservatives Accused of ‘Trumpian’ Tactics After Barring Second Byline Times Journalist From Conference

The National Union of Journalists described the bans as a threat to media freedom which "undermines the Conservative Party leader’s repeated pledge to fight for free speech"

bylinetimes.com

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Reposted by Aurélien Mondon

Sunder Katwala (sundersays) @sundersays.bsky.social · 23h

The channel lost £33 million to communicate its content to a large audience
www.business-live.co.uk/enterprise/g...

GB News suffers huge loss despite doubling revenue and growing audience

The TV channel, whose well-known presenters include Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, fell to a pre-tax loss of £33.4m in the year to 31 May, 2024

www.business-live.co.uk

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Reposted by Alessandro Nai, Aurélien Mondon

Andy Fleming @slackbastard.bsky.social · 1d

Solidarity with & ❤️ for Mark Bray.

#FCKNZS

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/08/n...

Rutgers Expert on Antifa Flees to Spain After Receiving Death Threats

www.nytimes.com

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Reposted by Alan Richardson, Aurélien Mondon

dr. caitlin m. green @caitlinmoriah.bsky.social · 1d

andy ngo is at the white house right now briefing the president on the antifa menace. that is a real sentence that is true. what the fuck

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Aurelien Mondon @aurelmondon.bsky.social · 1d

How "the mood shifts" on migration is a total mystery though

Imagine if voters didn't come up with their voting preferences magically in a vacuum and instead were influenced by sources of information that could be studied to explore their quality, biases and the interests they protect...

Headline: Germany ends fast-track citizenship as mood on migration shifts

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Reposted by Aurélien Mondon

Runnymede Trust @runnymedetrust.bsky.social · 1d

For example, in the UK, Black African households hold over 8x less wealth than White British households, while Bangladeshi households hold over 7x less (see 📊)

Racial disparities are also present in unemployment and poverty rates, with people of colour facing some of the worse outcomes.

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Reposted by Aurélien Mondon

Runnymede Trust @runnymedetrust.bsky.social · 1d

On top of this, our own research shows that the racial wealth gap is particularly stark, in part driven by the fact people of colour are much less likely to accumulate wealth via homeownership and inheritance 🏡

Why the UK racial wealth divide matters: a call for action

A perspectives paper from LSE, which looks at how structural and historic wealth imbalances still impact the wealth of people of colour in the UK today.

www.runnymedetrust.org

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Reposted by Aurélien Mondon

Runnymede Trust @runnymedetrust.bsky.social · 1d

Stark findings from @resfoundation.bsky.social today reveal wealth inequality in the UK has widened so much that, even if the average earner saved every single paycheck and didn’t spend a penny over 50 years, they *still* wouldn't be in the wealthiest 10% 💸

Lifetime of earnings not enough for UK workers to join wealthiest 10%, report says

Research finds it would take average worker saving all their earnings for 52 years to match wealth of richest 10th of society

www.theguardian.com

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Aurelien Mondon @aurelmondon.bsky.social · 1d

The quote is from this article

www.theguardian.com/business/202...

Bank of England warns of growing risk that AI bubble could burst

Possibility of ‘sharp market correction has increased’, says Bank’s financial policy committee

www.theguardian.com

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Aurelien Mondon @aurelmondon.bsky.social · 1d

"Faith in the AI boom has recently been rattled by research from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which showed that 95% of organisations are getting zero return from their investments in generative AI"

Maybe this is why we need journalism and analysis rather than "faith" in tech oligarchs

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Reposted by Aurélien Mondon

Netpol @netpol.org · 2d

Yesterday's narrative of 7 October as ‘another 9/11’ – "yet another day torn free from any history or context" with only two sides – seeks to demonise all Palestine solidarity as "pro-terrorist." It is critical to understanding Britain's current crackdown on protest rights netpol.org/2025/10/06/a...

Protesters against the banning of Palestine Action in Trafalgar Square, London, 4 October 2025.

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Reposted by Cas Mudde, Jan W. Mueller, Norbert Schwarz , and 28 more Cas Mudde, Jan W. Mueller, Norbert Schwarz, Brendan Nyhan, Tom Clark, Scott L. Greer, Robert W. Wallace, Rosemary A. Joyce, Marina Jirotka, David Rothschild, Eric Goldman, Christian E. Weller, Daniel W. Drezner, Melanie C. Green, David R. Miller, Lesley Bartlett, Paolo Beria, Stacy D. VanDeveer, Michael D. McDonald, Jason Lyall, Aurélien Mondon, Ann Bartow, Colm O’Cinneíde, Blair Fix, Tim Fish, Claire Sécail, Daxton R. Stewart, Olivier Mannoni, Nancy M. Wingfield, Christopher Blair, James M. Thomas

Kurt @flglchicago.bsky.social · 2d

Here’s video of the incident

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Aurelien Mondon @aurelmondon.bsky.social · 2d

Indeed...

Aurelien Mondon @aurelmondon.bsky.social · 2d

Seriously?! Wow. Then again, not surprised...

Reposted by Prokla Redaktion

Aurelien Mondon @aurelmondon.bsky.social · 2d

Also, buy his excellent book which will again be on the compulsory reading for my unit on the resurgence of reactionary politics (and what to do about it)

www.calton-books.co.uk/books/antifa...

ANTIFA - The AntiFascist Handbook

FOR A UNITED WORKING CLASS

www.calton-books.co.uk

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Aurelien Mondon @aurelmondon.bsky.social · 2d

Solidarity with Mark Bray

For anyone who still doubted, reactionaries never believed in free speech, they always believed in forcing their ideas into the mainstream and mainstream institutions were too ready to welcome them

And these are the consequences

Mark Bray @mark-bray.bsky.social · 5d

I’ve received multiple death threats + doxing (including my home address) directly following harassment from Turning Point USA, Jack Posobiec, Andy NGO, + Fox News which called me an antifa ‘financier.’

I have been forced to move my classes online.

If journalists want to talk, DM me or reply here.

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Reposted by Aurélien Mondon

Preorder Read This When Things Fall Apart @mskellymhayes.bsky.social · 2d

Y'all who keep lecturing protesters to "not give them an excuse" need to pause for a minute. Imagine yourself telling a DV victim, "Be sure not to mouth off or make any mistakes so he won't hit you. Don't give him an excuse! It's what he wants!" That's what you fools sound like.

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Reposted by Aurélien Mondon

George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 2d

Utterly beholden to lobbyists, staggeringly ignorant and dismissive of the natural world: Rachel Reeves might not look or sound like Donald Trump, but she is behaving very much like him. This government is even more of an ecological hazard than the Tories were.
www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Rachel Reeves clears planning blockage amid ‘good relationship’ with developer

Exclusive: Chancellor says 20,000 homes were being held up due to ‘some snails that are a protected species or something’

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by Aurélien Mondon

Our World in Data @ourworldindata.org · 2d

Does the news reflect what we die from?

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Reposted by Aurélien Mondon, Gwénola Ricordeau

Christopher Mathias @letsgomathias.bsky.social · 2d

Solidarity with @mark-bray.bsky.social, a fantastic, thoughtful, and generous scholar whose work about antifa is so important in this moment.

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Rutgers professor moving to Europe after threats over antifa accusations

Mark Bray says threats intensified after a Turning Point USA petition accused him of promoting political violence

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by American Library Association, Aurélien Mondon

Julia Carrie Wong @joolia.bsky.social · 2d

"It feels as if everything has vanished. Not only the tens of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza erased without graves, without records, as if they had never existed – so many other things have been hollowed out: basic conceptions of morality, decency, compassion, humanity, hope, future."

Disappearing people, disappearing morals – how two years has changed Gaza and Israel | Orly Noy

There can be no healing until the world stares into and acknowledges the void torn open by this conflict, says Israeli journalist Orly Noy

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by Jocalyn Clark, Aurélien Mondon

David Wearing @davidwearing.bsky.social · 2d

Incredibly dangerous for a senior politician to suggest that there's some zero-sum game to be played between mourning the losses of Oct7 and protesting an ongoing genocide. And incredibly cynical given that the protests are directed at his own complicity

www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Keir Starmer calls student protests on 7 October anniversary ‘un-British’

Prime minister urges students not to protest on the second anniversary of Hamas’s 7 October attacks on Israel

www.theguardian.com

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