News

The Rise of the Far-right and Social Cohesion

23 Mar 2026

On 23 March a timely symposium was held in UCC to explore the rise of the Far-right in Ireland and Europe, and the implications for social cohesion.

This event was hosted by the ISS21 Populism and the Rise of the Far-rght Research Cluster, with support from the Collective Social Futures Major Grants Award Programme. 

Opening remarks were provided by Professor Theresa Reidy (UCC).

Presenters & Papers

• Dr Tine Munk (Nottingham Trent University) “From Memes to Mobilisation: The Digital Mainstreaming of Far-right Politics”.  With a response by Dr Amin Sharifi Isaloo (UCC). Chaired by Dr Kara Hosford (UCC). 
• Lassane Ouedraogo (Africa Centre Ireland) “The Rise of the Far-right in Ireland and Europe: Implications for Social Cohesion”. With a response by Dr Yasmine Ahmed (UCC). Chaired by Dr Dyuti Chakravarty (UCC). 

Panel

Dr Evelien Geerts (UCC) “Memetic Politics & the Alt-right”.  Dr Yasmine Ahmed (UCC) “The Far-right in Ireland and Arson Attacks”.  Dr Amin Sharifi Isaloo (UCC) “AI and the Far-right”. Session chaired by Dr Gertrude Cotter (UCC). 

The symposium concluded with a discussion and Q&A, chaired by Dr Mike Murphy (UCC). 

_{(Image: Lassane Ouedraogo speaking at the symposium)}

Speaker Bios

Dr Tine Munk is a Senior Lecturer in Criminology and Criminal Justice at Nottingham Trent University, UK. She specialises in cybercrime, information and memetic warfare, and digital extremism. Her research explores how far-right movements operate across online and offline spaces, focusing on power relations, key actors, the strategic use of digital platforms, networked radicalisation, information disorder, and platform governance. She is the author of the monograph, Far-Right Extremism Online (2024), which examines how far-right actors mobilise through digital networks and exploit regulatory gaps. She has also co-edited Victimisation in the Digital Age (2025) and New Forms of Civic Resistance and Activism (2026). Her co-authored article, “When Lies Go Viral: Social Media and the 2024 UK Riots”, analyses how online information disorder can escalate into offline unrest. She has also co-authored the forthcoming chapter, “The Online-Offline Continuum Approach: Networked Far-Right Extremism", in the International Handbook on Counter-Radicalisation (De Gruyter), which examines how memes and digital communication strategies have normalised far-right extremist narratives within European populist political movements. 

Lassane Ouedraogo is a community leader, human rights advocate, and migrant rights campaigner. He is the Chairperson of the Africa Solidarity Centre Ireland (ASCI), where he works to advance the rights, inclusion, and empowerment of migrants, asylum seekers, refugees, Africans, and people of African descent. He also serves as the University of Sanctuary (UoS) Support Officer at Trinity College Dublin, supporting initiatives that expand access to higher education for displaced, refugees and people seeking international protection, and strengthening the University of Sanctuary movement in Ireland. Originally from Burkina Faso (the “Land of the Upright People”), Ouedraogo studied Political Science in his home country. After moving to Ireland, he pursued International Aid and Development at Ballsbridge College of Further Education and later earned a BA (Hons) in International Relations from Dublin City University (DCU). Lassane was a founding member and former National Coordinator of the Campaign to End the Direct Provision System in Ireland and is regarded as one of the early pioneers of the asylum rights movement. Since arriving in Ireland, he has worked with numerous NGOs and advocacy networks, including the Irish Refugee Council, Sport Against Racism Ireland (SARI), and various human rights and anti-racism networks. 

Dr Evelien Geerts (Ph.D., University of California, Santa Cruz) is an interdisciplinary philosopher and works as a Lecturer in Gender, Women’s Studies and Philosophy at University College Cork’s Philosophy Department, where they are also the Women's Studies MA & PhD Program Director and CASILAC Political Technologies cluster co-convener. Evelien is also affiliated with the Eco- and Bioart Lab and the Posthumanities Hub (Linköping University, Sweden) and the Posthumanism Research Institute (Brock University, Canada). Their work, which has been published in journals such as Philosophy Today, Somatechnics, and Women's Studies International Forum, and which includes a recent double Somatechnics special issue on “The Somatechnics of Violence: Affective, (Im)material and Digital Transformations”, focuses on the somatechnics of violence; far-right politics, memes, and Microspectropolitics; critical posthumanist, new materialist, and Deleuzoguattarian approaches; and theorizing and teaching in & with (post-)Anthropocenic crisis times.  

Dr Yasmine Ahmed is a Lecturer at University College Cork. She is co-chair of the ISS21 Populism and the Rise of the Far-Right cluster under ISS21 – the institute for the Social Science in the 21st century. Yasmine also directs the MA in Trauma Studies, a joint program in collaboration between Sociology and Criminology at UCC, ACE - Adults Continuing Education in UCC-and WAVE Trauma Center, a cross-community victim group supporting victims of the troubles in Northern Ireland. Her primary research focus is on the far-right, its recent developments globally and in Ireland and how it is talked about and perceived in and out of the Terrorism Studies literature. She is sole editor of “The far-right in Ireland: rise, activities an international links” (Bristol University press, 2025) 

Dr Amin Sharifi Isaloo is a Lecturer in the Department of Sociology & Criminology at University College Cork. His fields of interests include race, ethnicity, migration, nationalism, development, politics, religion, arts and culture focusing on sociological and anthropological interpretations of symbols, images and ritual performances. He is the author of the book ‘Power, Legitimacy and the Public Sphere: The Iranian Ta’ziyeh Theatre Ritual’ (2017). He is also co-authored the book ‘Walking as Critical Pedagogy’ (2025) His recent peer-reviewed publications are ‘Migration, liminality and place: Migration walk as critical pedagogy’ (2025), ‘Dryness of Lake Urmia in Iran and Its Impact on Farmers Displacement’ (2025), ‘Racism and the far right’ (2023), ‘Liminality in the Direct Provisional system - Living under extreme rules and conditions’ (2020),‘Liminality and Modern Racism’ (2021). He co-chairs the ISS21 Populism and the Rise of the Far-right research cluster at UCC. 

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Event organisers: Dr Yasmine Ahmed, Dr Amin Sharifi Isaloo and Dr Evelien Geerts.