In this article, we take a deeper look into how the creation of hierarchies of hate pits one community against another, while also exploring how the Diane Abbott row is intertwined with antisemitism in the Labour Party and misogynoir in the media.

An Iftar with members of the LGBTQ+ community was due to be held at the Roma concert hall in the city of Antwerp on 31 March 2023. However, following security concerns, the event was cancelled, resulting in a number of newspapers reporting on the decision with negative language and anti-Muslim sentiments.

Between the 20th of November to the 18th of December, all eyes were on Qatar as the first Middle Eastern country to host a FIFA World Cup. While the event brought together 32 nations in the world’s biggest football tournament, it also attracted an unacceptable level of racism. The level of racism, prejudice and anti-religious sentiments which emerged primarily in Western media only served to remind us of the prevailing level of discrimination in the West.

Iranian women demand freedom, over their lives and over their bodies. In Europe, these protests have often been framed as a rejection of Islam or the hijab. A mediatic and political framing that does not bode well for Muslim women on the European continent.

Creative freedom and free speech are important values in every democratic society, but every artist has a responsibility that comes with the prominence and impact that they gain, to send fair and accurate message to their audience. Bob Moran’s cartoons not only ignore the suffering of the millions of people affected by the war, they also objectify and disrespect victims of the Holocaust and the Nazi totalitarian regime during WW2.

The British daily newspaper, the Times, has recently published three highly concerning articles promoting racist and Islamophobic tropes. Moreover, the articles echo vile conspiracy theories, dehumanising and disrespecting the diverse communities of the UK.   

The state-funded Polish media outlet, Media Narodowe, has promoted a vile antisemitic book presenting it as a publication that “contains scientific facts about the Jewish psyche.” The book, titled “Meet the Jew” and written in 1912 by Teodor Jeske-Choinski, was recently republished by the small publishing house Magna Polonia. It pictures antisemitic caricatures on its cover and calls Jews “a parasitic tribe”.

With almost 250,000 subscribers on YouTube, Livre Noir is becoming one of the most prominent far-right media outlets in France. Livre Noir has been pushing Eric Zemmour ’s presidential campaign and spreading anti-Muslim hatred, while aiming to present itself as a reputable news source.

“Official statement: we’re National Socialists [Nazis], not terrorists!” This is how the news blog MZWNews reacted to a journalistic investigation that revealed their connection with the ‘Dresden Offline Network’, a Telegram group plotting the assassination of Saxony's Prime Minister, Michael Kretschmer.

The German extreme-right magazine COMPACT published a special edition in December, featuring a golden statue of the Archangel Michael standing over Satan, his sword lifted to deal a final blow, with an urban skyline in the background. Entitled “The Great Awakening - The spiritual fight against the Great Reset”.

A former National Front (now National Rally) politician has been arrested in France under suspicion of leading a far-right armed group and plotting to overthrow the French government. This planned action seemed to have been motivated by antisemitic conspiracy narratives. 

NATION  is a Belgian extreme-right movement and party which raises concerns for its overtly xenophobic, anti-religious and Islamophobic content. We flagged two worrying articles published in October.

A worrying YouTube channel continues to publish hateful content in Poland. Wrealu24 is a popular far-right TV-style channel, which hosts content on both its own site as well as on YouTube, where the channel has 523,000 subscribers. This month, Polish partner Never Again Association highlighted two particularly troubling cases on the channel. 

Eric Zemmour, the French far-right agitator, known for his anti-immigration and anti-Muslim views, continues to appear regularly on television. A possible presidential candidate, Zemmour’s anti-immigration and anti-Muslim remarks are increasingly reaching mainstream audiences.

The Taliban takeover of Afghanistan dominated the news cycle for several days, with people around the world witnessing the horror of many in Afghanistan. Whilst much of the coverage was based in facts and showed sympathy for Afghanis, some news platforms took the opportunity to spread xenophobia and anti-Muslim hate.

Antisemitic conspiracy narratives are flaring up in France, finding fertile ground in street demonstrations and online discussions against vaccination and the coronavirus health pass. In the past few weeks, some French anti-passers have expressed antisemitic sentiments and conspiracy ideologies under a new slogan “qui?”, a veiled accusation that the pandemic is being orchestrated by Jews.

Rising political tensions in in Hungary and Poland have led to several worrying incidents of hate speech targeting minority groups. Including the use of antisemitic tropes in a Hungarian article about members of the Soros family and a Polish MP endorsing an antisemitic and anti-LGBT interview.

The Polish parliament passed a draft bill on June 24th related to World War 2 property restitution claims. There has been a worrying rise in antisemitic incidents during media coverage of the new legislation.

The Far Right May Have Been Crushed in Local Elections, but is Racism Simply Becoming More Mainstream?

The escalation of violence in the Israel-Gaza conflict in May has fuelled incidents of hate crimes and hate speech against Jewish and Muslim people across Europe. In Germany, far-right media have blamed Muslim refugees and migrants for having “brought” antisemitism with them when they migrated. This is both a historical distortion and data fabrication.