Transnational In-Group Solidarity Networks in the Case of #Hellobrother

Abstract

This paper examines the dynamics of one hashtag, #hellobrother, shared on Twitter following the Christchurch terror attack on 15th March 2019. It was analysed as part of a larger study #Contesting Islamophobia: Representation and Appropriation in Mediated Activism which explores the potentials and limitations of counternarratives against Islamophobia on Twitter. Using three ‘trigger events’ (Awan, 2014), Brexit, the Christchurch terror attack, and the Covid pandemic as its starting point, the study analysed six weeks of tweets at different points in time. The data on #hellobrother demonstrates an affective response which, through the affordances of Twitter, gave rise to strong networks of transnational solidarity. It illustrates both the limitations of its potentially transient solidarities but also the capacity of social media to offer visibility to counternarratives, which at specific moments, following specific events can become normative.