From left: Josie Fernandez-Marelli, Agnès Callamard, Misan Harriman and Deborah Frances-White discuss authoritarianism at SXSW London. Eamonn M. McCormack/Getty Images for SXSW London The rise of fascism was on the agenda at SXSW London on Monday afternoon.
At a session titled, “The Authoritarian Creep: How Far Right Rhetoric Impacts Culture,” Deborah Frances-White, a British writer and podcaster best known for the podcast The Guilty Feminist, spoke with a group of expert panelists on Donald Trump, Israel prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the rising tide of the far right.
She was joined by Josie Fernandez-Marelli, CEO and co-founder of refugee NGO Choose Love; Agnès Callamard, general secretary at Amnesty International; and Misan Harriman, a photographer and activist who earned an Oscar nomination in 2024 for his directorial debut, a live-action short called The After.
Related Stories
Music Charli XCX Reveals Next Album 'Music, Fashion, Film'
Lifestyle Rosamund Pike Calls Out Audience Member for Texting During West End Show: "When I See That, It's Hard"
“I do think we really have to take the seriousness of this moment to heart,” began Fernandez-Marelli. When asked on her opinion as to how things have gotten to this point — as the U.S. tips further into authoritarianism and the U.K. heads in a similar direction — she said: “Economic insecurity, collapse of trust in institutions, social media that rewards outrage over nuance, and I think democratic society is becoming complacent, you know? Growing up, I know I took for granted the rights that I have.” Added Callamard: “The first thing we need to realize is that the rise of authoritarianism is global. It is not something that is happening in a given region or in a given country; it is a global phenomenon, according to organizations that have monitored the health of so-called democracy for several decades.”
She went on to name those who she believes are proponents of this political and human rights crisis, saying that political figures are weaponizing disinformation; freedom of expression is under attack; solidarity and dissent are being criminalized; and particular communities are being used as scapegoats. “The world turned fear and division into tools of governance. That’s what authoritarianism is about, and yes, of course, Donald Trump accelerated that process. This genocide in Gaza that’s being broadcast around the world,” she said, prompting applause from the SXSW audience. “[It has] created a predatory world order which mocks racial justice, which mocks gender justice, which declares cyber justice a scam, which treats civil society as an enemy, which rejects international solidarity … They are the seeds that we need to work against.”
Harriman has recently been the subject of news headlines in the U.K. after an alleged smear campaign against him in his role as the chair of the Southbank Centre. The country’s press regulator, IPSO, is looking into complaints after four right-leaning publications, including The Times and The Telegraph, called for his sacking over accusations of antisemitism.
Frances-White asked him how he is doing. “Thank you for asking,” he replied. “The first thing I’ll say is I’m a child of empire. I was born in Nigeria, a country that was occupied — even though they like to use the word ‘protectorate’ or ‘colony’ — it was occupied, and to talk about authoritarianism in this room as a Black man, I have to say that we have to link it to ethno-supremacy. When I say ethno-supremacy, I think about my experiences over the last few weeks and people asking me how I’m doing.”
He invoked the harrowing deaths of George Stinney and Emmett Till before turning to the audience directly. “I say all of this because when you ask how I am, I think about that legacy and about how we need to use the privilege to be in this room, with all our different lived experiences. I see one Black man there, an Arab man there,” he said. “Our stories matter, our children matter, and those of you, whether it’s an unconscious bias or the privilege of what you were born into, need to look and see the humanity in all of our eyes, so we can swim towards the horizon.”
The conversation moved to the criminalization and ostracization of refugees and asylum seekers around the world, particularly in the U.K. with the rise of far-right activist Tommy Robinson, who orchestrates marches and riots fueled by racist rhetoric. “People are terrified, a lot of our partners are having to increase the amount of funding that they’re spending on mental health support,” said Fernandez-Marelli. “Attacks are happening, the consequences of which there’s too many to list.”
Callamard chimed in to say that the reach of unregulated social media also isn’t helping. “Platforms and big tech are being unregulated to spread deep divides,” she said. “We really need to fight against the algorithm that is being used … We are involved in a number of court cases, including in Kenya, around ethnic-based crimes that [were] led through social media.” She added: “We’re in the midst of the cultural war, and we need to win it.”
Harriman concurred: “The algorithm, we are told, feeds off rage and division,” he said, explaining that he often quotes 13th-century mystic Rumi before expressing himself online: “‘Raise your words, not your voice, for it is rain that grows flowers.’ Many of us are being forced to believe that we should stay in echo chambers of confirmation bias online.”
He even quoted season two of Andor, in which Mon Mothma (Genevieve O’Reilly) discusses the notion that truth is dying: “When truth leaves us, when we let it slip away, when it is ripped from our hands, we become vulnerable to the appetite of whatever monster screams the loudest.”
On what the trio would do if they had a magic wand, there was firm agreement between all of them — a matriarchy, which had the room of attendees erupting into raucous applause. “We have to fight back,” added Callamard. “Our history is full of people who have resisted times immemorial, people who’ve come together to push back and to fight back against colonialism [or people] who fought for civil rights in the United States. … If we organize, we get courageous.”
Harriman said he has one piece of advice for the crowd. “Whoever you’ve been told to be afraid of, lean into getting to know that community. If you’ve been told to be afraid of the Muslim community, lean in, see that they have more in common with you [than you thought]. If you’ve been told to fear or hate the Jewish community, lean in, listen to their stories, look into their eyes. If you’ve been told to be afraid of the Black man and woman […] listen to their stories and engage.”
SXSW London 2026 runs June 1-6.
THR Newsletters
Sign up for THR news straight to your inbox every day
Subscribe Sign Up
