“Not wanting to see it is hypocrisy, it's denying what is obvious”: Far‐right discriminatory discourses mobilised as common sense

Abstract

The far-right recently entered the Portuguese parliament with the election of André Ventura, leader of the political party Chega. Since 2019, Chega has grown exponentially and has become the third political force. This study aimed to explore how Ventura represents different members of Portuguese society. We examine what meanings are reproduced to configure social representations about different category groups, adopting Critical Discourse Analysis tools to explore how they were mobilised as legitimate. We analysed 253 posts shared by Ventura on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram from the 22nd of December 2020 to the 22nd of January 2021, a month before the 2021 presidential elections. Our analysis suggests that Ventura represents a reality in which only he can save the “good Portuguese” from the threats of three main enemies: Roma people, Black people, and so-called “antifascist” activists. We discuss how those representations relate to what has been found in other contexts and their implications for the promotion of discrimination and marginalisation of these groups in Portugal. We also point out the potential benefits of integrating Critical Discourse Analysis methodological tools for the development of the Theory of Social Representations. Please refer to the Supplementary Material section to find this article's Community and Social Impact Statement.