Liam Gillespie
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liamgillespie.bsky.social
Liam Gillespie
@liamgillespie.bsky.social
120 followers 81 following 24 posts
Lecturer in Criminology at the University of Melbourne. I research far-right political violence, ethnic nationalism, and white supremacy. Current projects on rightwing conspiracy theories and the Sovereign Citizen movement.
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liamgillespie.bsky.social
Liam Gillespie @liamgillespie.bsky.social · Dec 15
Happy to have this out! New article in @identitiesjournal.bsky.social which examines how work on far right ‘mainstreaming’ can sometimes paradoxically exceptionalise the far right even as it attempts to explain how it has become un-exceptional.

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
On the proximity of the far right and the misuses of the ‘mainstreaming’ metaphor
A recent body of work has examined the normalization of far-right ideas and political violence. This is often referred to as the ‘mainstreaming’ of the far right. This article explores some of the ...
www.tandfonline.com
Reposted by Liam Gillespie
aurelmondon.bsky.social
Core to reactionary politics is a cowardly project that aims to protect and restore privilege and hierarchies of oppression

Some thoughts on terminology and the term reactionary @reacpolrn.bsky.social

reacpol.net/on-reactiona...
Article: On reactionary politics (Aurelien Mondon) - Reactionary Politics Research Network
This article by Aurelien Mondon explores the meaning of reactionary politics and its use in our current context
reacpol.net
September 24, 2025 at 8:23 AM
liamgillespie.bsky.social
New article by me in @aunz.theconversation.com which discusses how explaining March For Australia *solely* in reference to 'extreme' actors provides an alibi to the racism + nationalism of 'mainstream' Australia:
theconversation.com/blaming-extr...
Blaming ‘extremists’ for March For Australia rallies lets ‘mainstream’ Australia off the hook
March For Australia did not occur in a vacuum. There’s a long history of racism and nationalism we’re at risk of obscuring.
theconversation.com
September 5, 2025 at 4:25 AM
liamgillespie.bsky.social
New article by me: The March for Australia’s racism can’t just be blamed on far-right ‘extremists’ - it’s been enabled by the mainstream | Liam Gillespie www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
The March for Australia’s racism can’t just be blamed on far-right 'extremists’ - it’s been enabled by the mainstream | Liam Gillespie
The weekend’s protests provided an alibi to nationalism, obscuring the central place racism has always occupied
www.theguardian.com
September 1, 2025 at 9:11 AM
liamgillespie.bsky.social
July 31, 2025 at 6:12 AM
liamgillespie.bsky.social
New blog post with @identitiesjournal.bsky.social on my recent article:
June 11, 2025 at 10:53 AM
liamgillespie.bsky.social
New article out with Sahar Ghumkhor and Sean McMorrow! Here, we offer a critique of dominant approaches to understanding the spread of racist conspiracy theories.

Open access: doi.org/10.1057/s412...
Race still matters: the (post) racial politics of conspiracy theories - Contemporary Political Theory
The proliferation of conspiracy theories is seemingly on the rise. Among them, are many that are explicitly racist. Examples of this include Great Replacement Theory, White Genocide, QAnon, and Eurabi...
doi.org
April 15, 2025 at 12:44 AM
Reposted by Liam Gillespie
aurelmondon.bsky.social
With reactionaries, as always, hypocrisy is always the point

They can literally disappear people for a tattoo or expressing an opinion and call it justice but stealing millions from the public purse is an "bookkeeping error" and the sentence a "witch hunt"
Elon Musk reposting Trump and saying: Free Le Pen! Donald J. Trump @realDonald Trump The Witch Hunt against Marine Le Pen is another example of European Leftists using Lawfare to silence Free Speech, and censor their Political Opponent, this time going so far as to put that Opponent in prison. It is the same "playbook" that was used against me by a group of Lunatics and Losers, like Norm Eisen, Andrew Weissmann, and Lisa Monaco. They spent the last nine years thinking of nothing else, and they FAILED, because the People of the United States realized that they were only Corrupt Lawyers and Politicians. I don't know Marine Le Pen, but do appreciate how hard she worked for so many years. She suffered losses, but kept on going, and now, just before what would be a Big Victory, they get her on a minor charge that she probably knew nothing about - Sounds like a "bookkeeping" error to me. It is all so bad for France, and the Great French People, no matter what side they are on. FREE MARINE LE PEN!
April 4, 2025 at 6:16 AM
Reposted by Liam Gillespie
returnstosender.bsky.social
My @nehgov.bsky.social grant “In the Shadow of the Holocaust: Short Fiction by Jewish Writers from the Soviet Union” was canceled by “DOGE.” The project doesn’t support "the furtherance of the President's agenda.” Jews surviving genocide: out of step w/ the agenda of using Jews to destroy higher ed.
Et voilà: our NEH grant with Harriet Murav for “In the Shadow of the Holocaust: Short Fiction by Jewish Writers from the Soviet Union” has been terminated. This project does not, the letter notes, support “the furtherance of the President’s agenda.” I guess work on Jews surviving genocide is out of step with the agenda of this presidential administration whose only use for Jews is the weaponization of Jewish safety to destroy higher education.
April 3, 2025 at 9:49 PM
Reposted by Liam Gillespie
franamery.bsky.social
I did an interview with @reacpolrn.bsky.social about my article on 'gender critical' biopolitics:
reacpol.net/gendercritic...
Interview: ‘Gender critical’ feminism as biopolitical project (Fran Amery) - Reactionary Politics Research Network
This interview is based on Fran Amery's article '‘Gender critical’ feminism as biopolitical project' (2025)
reacpol.net
April 4, 2025 at 8:08 AM
liamgillespie.bsky.social
New article day! My latest piece on the nomophilia of Sovereign Citizens and their critics. Open access: doi.org/10.1177/0964...
‘Sovereign Citizen Gets Roasted’: On the Nomophilia of Sovereign Citizens and Their Settler-Colonial Critics - Liam Gillespie, 2025
Sovereign Citizens have gained mainstream attention by refusing to recognise law. This attention often entails ridicule, as illustrated by viral Sovereign Citiz...
doi.org
March 31, 2025 at 11:56 PM
Reposted by Liam Gillespie
reacpolrn.bsky.social
📢New Blog 📢

Our member, @odiloncaldeira.com, discusses the rapid development of neofascism in Brazil and the future of Bolsonarism.

reacpol.net/brazil-neofa...
Interview: Neo-Fascism and the Far Right in Brazil (Odilon Caldeira Neto) - Reactionary Politics Research Network
This interview is based on Odilon Caldeira Neto’s book ‘Neo-Fascism and the Far Right in Brazil' published Cambridge University Press (2025).
reacpol.net
March 31, 2025 at 10:38 AM
Reposted by Liam Gillespie
reacpolrn.bsky.social
📣New blog📣

Our member, @calderarocha.bsky.social, discusses her recent article on the appropriation of feminism by a far-right women's collective of 'identitarian feminists.' Check it out below!

reacpol.net/farright-fem...
Interview: Far-Right Women’s Appropriation of Feminism in France (Charlène Calderaro) - Reactionary Politics Research Network
This interview is based on Charlène Calderaro's article 'Far-Right Women’s Appropriation of Feminism in France' (2025)
reacpol.net
March 25, 2025 at 11:21 AM
Reposted by Liam Gillespie
binarythis.bsky.social
This is about Columbia bowing to authoritarianism but hello hasn’t this degradation also been a slow burn? The long kowtowing of universities to political and market demands. The “event” of capitulation happens because the groundwork is there

www.nytimes.com/2025/03/24/o...
Opinion | Universities Gave Us the iPhone, the Jet Engine and Gatorade. We’re Tossing That Away. (Gift Article)
The postwar compact on research that powered America’s economic and military dominance is under threat.
www.nytimes.com
March 24, 2025 at 11:49 AM
Reposted by Liam Gillespie
reacpolrn.bsky.social
ICYMI check out our timely interview with @emmyeklundh.bsky.social and Sebastián Ronderos about their paper on the role of affect and fantasy in political identification. A must-read for anyone working on reactionary politics!
March 24, 2025 at 4:57 PM
Reposted by Liam Gillespie
reacpolrn.bsky.social
📢Webinar announcement📢

Our ethics of researching the far right webinar with
@crexuio.bsky.social and CASEI returns on Thursday 20th March with a session on memory and far right studies. Check out the full details and our line up of great speakers below!

reacpol.net/webinar-6/
Webinar 6: The haunting past: memory and far right studies (20/03/2025) - Reactionary Politics Research Network
This webinar series, co-organized by RPRN, CASEI and C-REX, aims to initiate and facilitate a much needed discussion about the methodological, ethical, political, personal, practical and professional ...
reacpol.net
March 13, 2025 at 4:52 PM
Reposted by Liam Gillespie
aaronwinter.bsky.social
I see experts warning & writing about the mainstreaming of the far right. It's already happened & should not have taken a nazi salute & overt fascism to see it. If you think counterextremism or liberal centrism are solutions, you have not really been paying attention. Better late than never though.
Online Hate: From the Far-Right to the ‘Alt-Right’ and from the Margins to the Mainstream by Aaron Winter (2019) Reactionary Democracy: How Racism and the Populist Far Right Became Mainstream (2020) by Aurelien Mondon and Aaron Winter
March 10, 2025 at 7:12 AM
Reposted by Liam Gillespie
insurgentthought.bsky.social
For those who doubt that the US would ever deport US citizens.
The Mexican Repatriation was the repatriation, deportation, and expulsion of Mexicans and Mexican Americans from the United States during the Great Depression between 1929 and 1939. Estimates of how many were repatriated, deported, or expelled range from 300,000 to 2 million (of which 40-60% were citizens of the United States, overwhelmingly children) [4):fn 2015]
March 10, 2025 at 10:26 PM
liamgillespie.bsky.social
Excited to see this out! I spoke with @reacpolrn.bsky.social about my recent article on the mainstreaming of the far right:
March 10, 2025 at 9:38 PM
Reposted by Liam Gillespie
sandeepbak.bsky.social
I do appreciate the call to sign our solidarity into actions pushing to save ‘science in the US’. The call issued by the academic community in France is ‘endearing’ given that the scholasticide in Palestine ongoing for over a year & more hasn’t sufficed to strike a chord in our hearts.
March 8, 2025 at 8:08 AM
Reposted by Liam Gillespie
ali-alkhatib.com
i hope academics understand very clearly that columbia didn't lose their funding because of protesters against genocide. if they honestly think that, then they're going to get gutted by fascists who played them like the fucking fools they apparently are.
March 7, 2025 at 11:13 PM
Reposted by Liam Gillespie
reacpolrn.bsky.social
📣New Blog📣

Our member @aaronwinter.bsky.social discusses Elon Musk's Nazi salutes and how reactionaries have sought to redefine fascism for their own ends. Check it out below!

reacpol.net/musk-fascism/
Blog: Elon Musk, Nazi salutes and the reactionary redefinition of fascism (Aaron Winter) - Reactionary Politics Research Network
Blog post by Aaron Winter on Elon Musk, Nazi salutes and the reactionary redefinition of fascism
reacpol.net
March 7, 2025 at 11:29 AM
Reposted by Liam Gillespie
aaronwinter.bsky.social
The liberals now starting to realise it was never really a bulwark, American democracy was founded on and reinforces racism, and the far right is part of that system ... Better late than never. It'll be forgotten by next election (midterms).
March 7, 2025 at 9:05 PM
Reposted by Liam Gillespie
insurgentthought.bsky.social
Columbia University thought there wouldn’t be any material consequences as long as it appeased those in power.
DOJ, HHS, ED, and GSA Announce Initial Cancellation of Grants and Contracts to Columbia University Worth $400 Million
March 7, 2025 at 6:18 PM
Reposted by Liam Gillespie
antigonesdream.bsky.social
Important argument on how the frame of "mainstreaming" risks creating an illusion that all the things the far right stands for in terms of social inequality and violence are ontologically distinct or even alien to liberal democracies... They are not.
March 4, 2025 at 1:42 PM
Reposted by Liam Gillespie
identitiesjournal.bsky.social
'On the proximity of the far right and the misuses of the ‘mainstreaming’ metaphor' by @liamgillespie.bsky.social

New from #Identities, with #OpenAccess:
doi.org/10.1080/1070...

@nasarmeer.bsky.social @aaronwinter.bsky.social @tandfresearch.bsky.social
March 4, 2025 at 11:00 AM