The COVID-19 pandemic and, more recently, the war in Ukraine are events that are being exploited and used to accelerate the spread of far-right ideologies in Asia. The quest for a racially or ethnically pure society is thus an important common element in the narratives of these groups. The common aspect is the desire to create a pure society based on a singular ethnic-religious identity whereby the minorities are considered outsiders, visitors or the “other.” Such rhetoric echoes those used in Western countries by violent far-right groups and, in particular, white-supremacist extremists, who push acceleration theory to promulgate often-racist disinformation narratives and justify attacks on minorities they believe will eventually overtake their societies. In Asia, for example, several countries seeing spikes of violence and intimidation against minorities, whether Christian minorities in Pakistan and India, Muslim minorities in India, or Chinese minorities in Malaysia.
Several multi-ethnic countries where religious pluralism is part of the fabric of society are witnessing the mainstreaming of far-right ideologies. State Department Country Reports on Terrorism note, “Violent white supremacists and like-minded individuals continued to promote violent extremist narratives, recruit new adherents, raise funds, and conduct terrorist activities - both online and offline - across Australia, Brazil, Canada, Europe, New Zealand, South Africa, and the United States.” Violent far-right movements are hardly confined to the “Global North,” as attested by the 2020 New Delhi attacks in which 53 Muslims were killed, the 2021 arrest of a young man in Singapore attempting to carry out attacks against Muslims, the ongoing intimidation of the Muslim minority in Sri Lanka, and the foiled attacks by Neo-Nazi groups in Brazil. Published in coordination with the 2023 Global Security Forum, of which Defense One is a media partner.
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