Skip to content

The Secret Pipeline: How the Far-Right is Radicalising Gen Z | With Jamie Vernaelde

How anti-rights groups are targeting the next generation

The Secret Pipeline: How the Far-Right is Radicalising Gen Z | With Jamie Vernaelde

Are anti-rights movements infiltrating high schools? We uncover the deliberate, decades-old strategy the far-right is using to target young people, weaponise their insecurities, and build a pipeline of extremist power.

In this episode of In Solidarity, openDemocracy’s Senior Investigations Reporter Sian Norris sits down with Jamie Vernaelde, Senior Researcher at Ipas. They dive deep into a chilling new report detailing how far-right and anti-rights movements are actively grooming the next generation. From exploiting economic and physical insecurities to pumping massive financial investments into youth pipelines, Jamie exposes the conservative playbook for molding young minds.

More importantly, they discuss what the progressive movement is getting wrong about youth engagement and how we can fight back by giving young people the space and resources to lead.

Read the full report here: https://www.ipas.org/resource/future-proofing-the-professionalization-of-an-anti-rights-youth-generation/

https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/newsletters/

In Solidarity is openDemocracy’s podcast about people, power, and politics. Support the show by visiting https://www.openDemocracy.net/donate/

Credits:

Presented by Aman Sethi

Audio engineering by James Battershill

Theme song ‘Odyssey’ performed by Edward Abela

Chapters:

00:00 How the Far-Right Targets Gen Z

04:15 Why Young Women are Drifting to the Far-Right

06:23 The 'Tradwife' Trend: A Pipeline to Radicalisation?

08:13 Rebranding Extremism for Secular Youth

11:36 The Wellness-to-Alt-Right Pipeline Explained

13:07 Why Contraception is the Right’s Next Target

15:12 Exposing the Dark Money Behind Anti-Rights Groups

18:04 The Playbook to Weaponise the Courts

20:08 Inside the Global War on Human Rights

22:57 The 'Elite' Seduction: Recruiting on Campus

24:39 Weaponising Victimhood: The Conservative Media Strategy

28:13 The Left’s Blindspot: How Progressives Can Fight Back


openDemocracy Author

Jamie Vernaelde

Jamie Vernaelde is a senior associate in the Africa division at Human Rights Watch

All articles
openDemocracy Author

Sian Norris

Sian Norris is a senior investigative reporter at openDemocracy. Her work has also been published in The Observer, The Guardian, The Times, the i, New Statesman, The Lead, The Ferret, Inside Housing and Byline Times. Her latest book is ‘Bodies Under Siege: How the Far-Right Attack on Reproductive Rights Went Global ’ (Verso, 2023). She also founded the Bristol Women’s Literature Festival.

All articles

More in Interview

See all

More from Jamie Vernaelde

See all