Webs of hate in diasporic cyberspaces: The Gaza War in the Russian-language blogosphere

Abstract

This article looks at ways in which a military conflict can produce circuits of hatred in online social spaces. Ethnographically, the article is based on the analysis of selected discussions of Israeli warfare in Gaza in 2008 and 2009 as they took place in the Russian-language networked blogosphere. Bringing together Sara Ahmed's notion of affective economies, Avtar Brah's concept of 'diaspora space', Judith Butler's idea of 'frames of war' and Eyal Weizman's notion of 'elastic frontiers', the author addresses the disorienting similarity between anti-Jewish and anti-Arab hatred as it emerged in discussions of the conflict. The article examines online circulation of hatred as an integral part of cyber-diasporic connections and ruptures, on the one hand, and of digital circulation of affect, on the other. © The Author(s) 2010.