The “Great Replacement” Conspiracy Narrative Promoted in Belgium and France. Islamophobia Published on Greek, Hungarian and Polish news and Antisemitism in British and German Media
In December’s media monitoring, we saw a Belgium extreme-right movement, a Belgium MP and a French presidential candidate spreading the “Great Replacement” conspiracy narrative. Islamophobic articles were published on Greek and Hungarian newsites, as well as an anti-Muslim broadcast on a recently banned Polish TV channel. The BBC published an antisemitic article and a German extreme-right magazine Compact promoted antisemitic conspiracy narratives.
Belgium – Extreme-right movement Chez Nous continues spreading the Great Replacement conspiracy narrative
On 3 December 2021, the extreme-right movement Chez Nous published on their website an anti-Muslim article titled “For a democratic Europe of sovereign nations and peoples.”
Chez Nous was launched in October 2021 and since then has been spreading the Great Replacement conspiracy narrative, stigmatising migrants and Muslims on their website and YouTube channel.
The article portrays Europe as a continent under siege by migration, using militaristic metaphors and criminalising migrants. It uses alarmistic tones to refer to the Mediterranean migration route and the current Poland-Belarus border crisis which are labelled a ‘migratory delirium’.
The article also proposes white supremacist ideologies, such as the superiority of white European culture and history, to promote a “European Fortress” and politics of otherness against minorities.
Poland – The wRrealu24 channel returns to YouTube, “defending” Christmas from an alleged Muslim threat
wRealu24 is a well-known Polish far-right online TV channel, spreading anti-Muslim and anti- migrant views on YouTube. On the 23rd of December, host Krzysztof Lech Luksza commented on the ongoing refugee crisis on the Polish-Belorussian border rejecting the Polish Christian tradition to add an extra plate to the table at Christmas if an unexpected guest needs hospitality and shelter. To the question “A refugee at our table. How would Poles react?” he replied “Of course I wouldn’t accept him. Christmas Eve is a Christian matter.” Luksza employed victimizing and manipulative tones, claiming that he is exhausted from being accused of intolerance and xenophobia when his duty is to rescue Poland from ‘others’.
The host used the Christmas celebration as a sensationalist tool to influence the audience that there isn’t space at the table for other religions in Poland, mentioning that he doesn’t feel any remorse for only protecting the Poland national identity against the Muslim ‘threat’. The wRrealu24 YouTube channel was recently suspended due to its troubling coverage and hate speech against religious minorities and diverse communities. However, despite the numerous reports on its harmful content, the channel was reactivated a month after and continues to spread misinformation, aiming to go further and launch a Polish online video sharing platform alternative to YouTube.
France – Eric Zemmour uses the Great Replacement conspiracy narrative to spreads anti-religious and misogynist views on France Inter radio station
The far-right commentator Eric Zemmour, who has recently announced his candidacy for the French presidential elections, was a guest on the France Inter radio station on 16 December 2021.
During the interview, the essayist argued that in France "there is a process of replacement of the population by another population". This claim is part of the Great Replacement conspiracy narrative that inspired terrorist attacks worldwide, such as the mosque shooting in Christchurch, New Zealand in 2019. Zemmour suggested to the listeners that "we have to look at what we see on the streets, take the subway, the trains, the family allowances offices the schools.” These statements are dangerous as they send a clear and wrong message that the white European population is at risk of being 'colonised' by the Muslim communities.
The Great Replacement myth often contains antisemitic narratives that blame ‘globalist Jewish elites’ for mass migration. Zemmour presents himself as the "hero" that will save France from immigration, escalating discriminatory and misogynist views towards Muslim women by promising that, if elected, he would ban the hijab from the streets. This, however, is unconstitutional as it is in violation of France’s secular legislation protecting freedom of religion. The politician represents an imminent threat to the country’s diverse communities, but the mainstream media consistently enable Zemmour's anti-migrant and anti-Muslim ideologies views to be heard and normalised.
Belgium - Dries Van Langenhove falsely claims the 1974 Algerian president advocated the Great Replacement narrative
Dries Van Langenhove, independent right-wing MP who sits in parliament for the Flemish nationalist Vlaams Belang party, posted on Facebook that, in 1974, the Algerian president Houari Boumédiène said that “the Muslim womb will conquer Europe”. This claim advocates the Great Replacement narrative which alleges that white Christian Europeans are at risk of being destroyed and replaced through migration, low white birth-rates, and violence.
This quote has been circulated online by far-right and conspiratorial websites and it is often attributed to a speech by Houari Boumédiène at the U.N. in 1974. However, the source of the quote is never reported and the transcript of the speech in the official UN General Assembly records show that the then Algerian president did not state those words. Alike with other far-right militants, Dries Van Langenhove strategically uses a Muslim African president as bait to convince his followers that even a president of colour supports the idea that Muslims are colonising Europe.
These sensationalist lies and white supremacist claims are intentionally made to create political and cultural hostility and further division and hate towards minority groups.
UK – BBC publishes article falsely accusing Jewish victims of making anti-Muslim slurrs during an antisemitic attack
On 2 December 2021, the BBC news site published an article “Oxford Street: Images issued after men filmed spitting at Jews on the bus” with a video filmed in Oxford Street showing Jewish teenagers who were celebrating Hannukah being verbally attacked on a bus.
In the footage, a group of men were shouting, spitting, hitting the bus, and repeatedly raising an arm in a gesture that appears to be a Nazi salute. The reporter stated that “A slur about Muslims can also be heard from inside the bus” but this was incorrect since the journalist does not speak Hebrew. This mistake was denounced by social media users, and the Board of Deputies of British Jews stated that the phrase was “tikrah lemishu, ze dachuf”, meaning “call someone, it’s urgent.”
The BBC incorrectly accused those experiencing antisemitism of being guilty of bigotry themselves, failing to double-check their claim on the racial slurs. This publication represents a severe legal problem. It can also impact the police investigation in finding the men abusing the children on the bus and influencing prosecutors' decisions if the case goes to court. After this antisemitic incident, the Jewish BBC broadcaster Rabbi YY Rubinstein resigned after 30 years of working with the corporation. The culture secretary Nadine Dorries has also questioned the BBC’s complaints process.
Greece - Left-wing media outlet associates Islam with backwardness and theocracy
On 27 December 2021 the Greek media outlet Documento published an article titled “Mitsotakis and Kerameus made us… Islamic!” criticising the Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and the Minister of Education Niki Kerameus for attending the Holy Synod meeting, the supreme governing body of the Greek Orthodox Church.
To condemn the government for favouring and backing the Greek Orthodox Church, the author associated this behaviour to Islam. This comparison is Islamophobic because Islam in general, and the Taliban and Afghanistan in particular, are used to refer to a backward political system, assuming that the influence of religion on the state is intrinsic to Islam. This article condemns the Greek population for voting in leaders leading Greece into a religious regression.
The writer uses disrespectful and ironic language, accusing Kerameus and Mitsotakis of forgetting that Europe has gone through a long history of renaissance and enlightenment. The article's headline summarises the writer’s Islamophobic views about the Islamic religion and Muslim community, suggesting that Islam is something negative, obsolete, and backward.
Germany - Extreme-right magazine COMPACT features Christian leaders spreading antisemitic conspiracy ideologies
A Christmas special edition of the German extreme-right magazine COMPACT, “The Great Awakening - The spiritual fight against the Great Reset,” featured contributions from Catholic, Protestant, Russian Orthodox and anthroposophical figures on their struggle against vaccines and an alleged, totalitarian world regime.
Among them, a three-part interview with the Catholic archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò frames the current circumstances in biblical terms, as Satan’s quest against God’s providential plan. For Viganò, those who support the vaccination programme and take the pandemic seriously are part of the Great Reset, and therefore Satan.
The interview is full of antisemitic tropes and dog-whistles. The claim that “the globalists are pulling the strings in the background”, the references to the “Freemansonry”, the “scurrilous plans of Soros, Schwab and the rest” are all coded language that refers to Jewish people. Despite being reprimanded by higher religious authorities, figures such as Viganò, are part of a small but vocal group of Christian leaders that are points of reference for far-right nationalists in Europe, fanning the flames of anti-vaccine conspiracy ideologies with strong antisemitic and anti-Muslim components.
Hungary – Pro-government site Origo exploits anti-Christian attack to vilify Muslims and Islam
The Journalistenwatch, a right-wing populist blog, published an article on the 16th of November titled: “Merkel’s deputy Braun wants Germany to Islamize: Muezzin calls everywhere!”
The report condemns Helge Braun, the head of Chancellery and member of the Christian Democratic Party (CDU), for supporting the council of Cologne’s decision to permit mosques to broadcast muezzin calls for prayer for five minutes every Friday.
The city of Cologne has one of the most prominent Muslim communities in Germany, with an estimate of 35 mosques. The city’s Mayor Henriette Reker said: “if in addition to the sounds of the church bells, we also hear the call of the muezzin, it shows that in Cologne diversity is valued and lived.”
The Journalistenwatch journalist criticises this decision using a pejorative and misogynist tone and explicit Islamophobic and derogatory terms, for example saying that the message of the call to prayer is "problematic". The language used emphasises how horrified the writer is with the idea of the ‘Islamification of Germany’.
The article is disrespectful, sensationalist, and dangerously framed to cause division and hate towards Muslims. The publication is written from a white supremacist angle which posits Christianity as the only norm, insults policymakers as ’submissive’ and critiques the implementation of inclusive policies as a threat to German society.
