Anti-Muslim rhetoric published in Greece, Belgium francophone and Hungary, antisemitism in France and Poland, Belgium and Germany whilst former UK politician spreads dangerous conspiracy narratives
In November’s Media Monitoring, we saw far-right National Rally put themselves forward to chair a working group fighting antisemitism in the National Assembly, a Greek author publish Islamophobic tropes, a far-right YouTube channel spread antisemitic narratives in Poland, far-right blog spreading anti-Muslim and anti-migrant narratives in francophone Belgium, an Islamophobic article published in Hungary, conspiratorial narratives spread by former UK politician alongside transhumanist conspiracy narrative spread by Austrian media outlet and three antisemitic articles published in Flemish conspiratorial media outlet.
France - Far-right National Rally put forward its name to chair working group fighting antisemitism
In November, a document circulating on social media showed that the far-right National Rally (RN) was appointed to chair the working group on antisemitism in the National Assembly, France’s parliament.
The president of the parliament denied this information, saying that the final decision had not been made yet. A few weeks later, the National Rally accepted to not chair this working group, which will be chaired instead by the presidential party, Renaissance, although the decision has not been officially published yet.
The fact that the RN put forward their name caused outrage among the civil society in France, including the GTTO partner organisation Licra. The National Front (later renamed National Rally) was founded in 1972 by Pierre Bousquet, former Waffen-SS member, and Jean-Marie Le Pen, convicted for antisemitism and Holocaust denial. Its members currently include the MP Frédéric Boccaletti, who once owned a bookshop selling Holocaust denial books. Cassandre Fristot, the teacher who became famous for popularising the antisemitic slogan “Qui?”, was also a member of the party in the past.
With their candidacy to chair the working group on antisemitism, the National Rally intended to whitewash its past and seek legitimacy as a mainstream party. Louis Alliot, RN mayor of the city of Perpignan, said: “It is always going to be necessary to move away from this history. The presidency of this group would obviously be a crucial element.”
Greece – Author spreads Islamophobic tropes and hateful narratives
Kathimerini.gr, a Greek newspaper, published an article by author Takis Theodoropoulos titled ‘Islamophobia and Erdogan’. The article discusses both Christianity and Judaism and makes direct comparison to Islam which according to the author, has a political plan that is implemented by official in high positions.
Theodoropoulos claims that Islam has ‘political action and political aspirations’ that present a problem for Western civilisation, in particular Europe. He argues that although Islam is a faith which requires respect, unlike Christianity and Judaism it is more than just a religion; according to him ‘Islam also has a direct political activity’.
Theodoropoulos concludes his piece by discussing those who accuse him of Islamophobia quoting those ‘who are naïve or cunning, who characterise as Islamophobes those who understand Islam’s aggressiveness’. The journalist then continues to argue that for the Greek community, the term Islamophobia is a ‘propaganda tool that the friendly neighbours with the most hated leader use against anyone'.
The focus on Islam having a political plan which poses a threat to Europe is extremely problematic and can further spread anti-Muslim rhetoric amongst readers.
Poland – Far-right YouTube channel spreads antisemitic narratives and promotes antisemitic book
Media Narodowe (National Media) is a far-right YouTube channel and online TV which is owned by the Independence March Association and is subsidized by the Ministry of Culture.
The channel has been flagged in the past for spreading hateful, antisemitic narratives including their recent broadcast discussing the issue of joint prayers by representatives of different faiths. During this discussion, Jan Bodakowski, a presenter of Media Narodowe, went on to claim that such a practice would be ‘pathological’, emphasising that ‘the prayer of Catholics with members of other religions is ‘blasphemous’’. He proceeded to then criticise an interview with the Director of the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in a Catholic weekly.
Bodakowski openly admitted his preference for pre-war Catholic newspapers as amongst other things, they ‘represented the correct approach to Polish-Jewish relations’; one where during the interwar period, the Catholic press regarded Jews as enemies of Poland and the Church.
In another broadcast, the channel hosted a conversation with Przemyslaw Holocher (former leader of the fascist group National-Radical Camp, ONR). The discussion included the reprinting by his publishing house Magna Polonia of the book ‘Jews and Cahals’ by Iakov Aleksandrovich Brafman. The first edition of the book appeared in the second half of the 19th century and Brafman is regarded as the creator of modern anti-Semitism in Russia. Holocher expressed support for the content of the book and the interview contained antisemitic conspiracy theories. The promotion of this antisemitic book and its contents on this platform is extremely problematic.
Furthermore, the broadcast took place on the day preceding the so-called Independence March, a far-right manifestation organised by the March of Independence Association (Stowarzyszenie Marsz Niepodleglosci) led by Robert Bakiewicz. The march was broadcasted on Media Narodowe.
Belgium – Far-right blog uses Morocco-Belgium match to spread anti-migrant and anti-Muslim narrative
The extreme-right party Nation used the riots triggered in Brussels by the Belgium-Morocco World Cup football match to spread hateful anti-migrant rhetoric.
On 27th November, Morocco supporters set on fire some vehicles and clashed with the police, which resulted in a dozen people being detained and one arrested. Nation commented on these incidents saying that this is the proof that ‘multiculturalism doesn’t work’ and encouraged people to join their party, to start ‘reacting’ and to ‘get organised’. Videos of vandalism by football fans were published in their blog to incite fear among the public.
Nation weaponised these clashes to justify their continuous hateful rhetoric against people with a Muslim and migrant background. In reality, football violence perpetrated by fans at sport events, is a phenomenon that is common around the world, across different cultures and nations.
In Belgium, hooliganism peaked in the 80s, until the police and governments set up strict anti-hooligan measures, and it not something specific to any ethnic or religious group.
Hungary – News site publishes Islamophobic article about antisemitic attacks in Germany
On 20th November, the pro-Government Hungarian daily news website Magyar Nemzet, published an Islamophobic article titled: ‘Another antisemitic attack took place in Western Europe’.
The article reported that a synagogue located in Essen, Germany, was shot at four times and according to the authorities, no-one was injured. The writer claims that the attack may have either been politically or religiously motivated. The article fails to justify its serious statements with trustworthy sources.
Maygar Nemzet, uses an article published in the sensationalist press agency V4NA as evidence to support the report. V4NA stated that: ‘the life of Jews in Germany has changed significantly since 2015, when hundreds of thousands of migrants from the Islamic cultural area arrived in Germany’.
According to the Jewish activist Malca Goldstein-Wolf: “Muslim Jew-hatred is the greatest threat to Jewish life in Germany”. Moreover, the writer portrays the stereotypical angle that Muslims are violent and not afraid to physically attack Jews.
This article is problematic for its unethical journalistic standards, and for inciting hatred and violence against two diverse religious communities.
UK – Nigel Farage spreads Great Replacement theory regarding Christianity being a minority in the UK
On the 29th of November the conservative former politician Nigel Farage posted a video on Twitter which stated that according to the ONS figures, London, Manchester, and Birmingham are now all minority white cities.
Farage published the video in response to the latest ONS (Office for National Statistics) report that revealed Christianity in the UK is now a minority religion. During his speech, he spreads the Great Replacement conspiracy theory and the dangerous narrative that “white people are a minority”, circulating inaccurate statistics that white population is only 53% of the total of the British population.
In the video Farage also goes on to say that in future, the ONS will not ask the nationality or birthplace of those participating, as well as claiming that they will want to ‘hide the true figures from you’.
This propaganda is dangerous, as it follows the same angle used during the Brexit campaign which involved a heavy use of disinformation.
Germany – Austrian media outlet spreads transhumanist conspiracy narrative
The Austrian media outlet AUF1 is spreading antisemitic conspiracy tropes and reproducing dangerous dog-whistles classifying transhumanism as a “satanic plan of the globalists”.
In a video published on 12th November 2022, titled: ‘Deadly Agenda: The Plan is Uncovered’ the right-wing media activist Stefan Magnet allegedly uncovered the latest conspiracy narrative called transhumanism. The transhumanist conspiracy narrative propagates that an evil financial elite wants to replace humanity with machines. This narrative fits in the same dangerous category as the Great Reset and the Great Replacement narratives.
During the conversation, Magnet claims that "the Great Reset, the “homo transgender movement”, the climate movement, mass migration, media brainwashing, and the dependence on Microsoft and Google" only serve the goal of gaining control over all of humanity. Besides explicitly making antisemitic comments accusing Jews of being “Globalists," he states that: “In 2045 white humanity will be infertile”.
In his argument, he explains that humans will be produced in laboratories and accuses the climate movement of being the reason behind the decision of activists to be childless due to ecological reasons.
These tropes are not only dangerous for spreading misinformation and lies, but it also incites hate speech and violence against diverse minorities, and creates fear, and anxiety in the society.
Belgium – Flemish conspiratorial media outlet publishes articles accusing Ukrainian soldiers of being Nazis
Conspiratorial media outlet Frontnieuws, published in November three antisemitic articles accusing Ukrainian soldiers of worshiping neo-Nazism and using Hitler’s ideology as the motivation for committing war crimes against Russia.
In an article titled ‘In video 18+: More Evidence of Mass Execution of Russian Prisoners of War by Ukranian Nazis’, Frontnieuws uses the gruesome footage of dead bodies to vilify Ukrainian soldiers as war mercenaries that captured unarmed Russian soldiers and shot them in the head.
In an article published on the 28th of November, the writer frames the story with the propaganda angle that the occupation of Crimea was not instigated by Russian troops, but by the US and accuses it of financing the Nazi regime.
A third article titled: ‘More than 50 countries vote against anti-Nazism UN measure’, illustrates the story with an antisemitic image of Ukrainian soldiers holding Nazi flags and the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky saying in a cloud speech bubble “It’s ok I’m Jewish”.
The articles are fuelled with misinformation and lies and are using the Ukraine-Russia war as a manipulation tool to spread the sensationalistic narrative that the Ukrainian government glorifies Nazism.
