The extreme right’s early adaptation of digital communication technology has gained plenty of scholarly attention. However, most research has been focused on the political discourses and the networking in relation to online communication. In recent years an emerging body of work on the specific communicative forms used in facilitating and enabling both collective and connective action repertoires have contributed to greater understanding of how digital communication relates to social mobilisation. Swedish extreme right-wing groups have a long history of alternative media production, and today producing and distributing digital videos have become a key strategy in their political communication.
This paper explores the video activism deployed by extreme far-right groups in Sweden. It analyses the ideological and aesthetical aspects of visual politics, and the distribution strategies facilitated by YouTube. The study is based on an analysis of more than 200 clips produced a by four extreme right-wing organisations. It explores the intersection between political discourse and visual propaganda. The study shows that clips have, at least, three major functions. First, they confirm the existence of extreme right-wing groups to a potentially large audience. Second, the content of the clips contributes to a normalization of the socio-political dimensions of the extreme right. Third, YouTube constitutes a political arena in itself, and video production are adjusted and shaped to the specific media logic and structures of YouTube, making video activism a political practice.