From symbols to memes: How far-right ideology can spread to Singapore from afar

The rise of far-right radicalisation is an increasingly troubling trend, with Singapore recently reporting its third case of this in the last four years.

- Gareth Tan

On Feb 10, the Internal Security Department (ISD) said it had detained an 18-year-old student radicalised on far-right extremist material who hoped to emulate terrorists in other countries by carrying out attacks on Muslims at a mosque in Singapore.

In 2020, a 16-year-old Singaporean boy was detained under the Internal Security Act after plotting terrorist attacks on two mosques here, and in 2024, a Secondary 4 student who identified as a white supremacist and was radicalised by far-right propaganda, received a restriction order for planning attacks overseas.

While much attention has been given to various online influences that fuel such extremism, there is an urgent need to recognise the symbols that the far-right employs to further its radical agenda. For example, the 18-year-old had tattooed on his elbow a black sun, or "Sonnenrad", a symbol used by the Nazis and adopted by European neo-Nazi groups.

One especially effective way right-wing groups have used symbols to galvanise support and build community is by making use of internet meme culture.

MORE TO MEMES THAN MEETS THE EYE

To most people, a meme might simply be a funny picture of cats with relatable captions, or an image from a movie or game they keep seeing repeated in different places online.

But memes hold a deeper meaning, as outlined by evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins in his 1976 book The Selfish Gene. According to Professor Dawkins, memes are a key way ideas propagate between people. They are basic units of culture - words, tunes, symbols - passed on across successive generations.

A successful meme can replicate itself and achieve longevity by integrating itself into the culture of a society like DNA is passed on from a parent to a child. Work done to develop Prof Dawkins' original concept resulted in the term "viral" to describe how memes spread online.