Fear Machine

FEAR MACHINE brings a series of events to the stage that reveals the connection between colonial history and the current rise of anti-immigrant sentiment in Europe. It illustrates how modern borders—both physical and symbolic—continue to build upon the political and economic gains of colonial practices.

To suppress public awareness and corresponding reactions, those who hold political and financial power combine crude and blunt nationalism with sophisticated communication technologies to manipulate fear and frustration. By offering “simple solutions,” they exploit processes of “exclusion” and polarization.

Mass media and social media serve as key elements in transforming social frustration into fear of “the others”: The fear of losing one’s job becomes fear of new coworkers with immigrant backgrounds; the fear of losing one’s home turns into fear of new neighbors; the fear of losing understanding and solidarity becomes fear of foreign cultures; and the fear of the future is reinterpreted as fear of diversity. They are making resistance increasingly difficult by taking up feminist and left-wing slogans and rephrasing them as conservative statements that legitimize sexism and patriarchal structures. As a result, activists are left speechless.