Greek Politician, French and Hungarian Media Spread Anti-Muslim Rhetoric, Polish and Belgian Media Publish Antisemitism Whilst German and UK Media Spread Conspiracy Theories
In October’s Media Monitoring, we saw a Greek politician spread anti-Muslim rhetoric, a French, far-right website published anti-Muslim hate speech and conspiracy theories, a Polish, state-funded media outlet spread antisemitism, a Belgian media outlet spread antisemitic tropes, a Hungarian media outlet published an anti-Muslim article, Flemish media spread Islamophobic myths, German media published an Islamophobic conspiracy theory and a UK far-right outlet spread conspiracy theories.
Greece – Politician and author spreads anti-Muslim rhetoric about immigration
An opinion piece published in ot.gr by Andreas Andrianopoulos spread strong Islamophobic rhetoric and conspiracy narratives in relation to migrants arriving in Europe.
The opinion piece titled ‘Why Europe insists on indifference?’ talks about the ‘threat’ of Muslims who come to Europe and jeopardise European values, spreading the deadly myth of the ‘Great Replacement’ taking place within Europe through migration.
Andrianopoulos is a frequent author of opinion pieces which spread anti-Muslim rhetoric around the topic of migration including the conspiracy narrative of the Great Replacement. In this piece, Andrianopoulos questions the migrants who arrive to Europe by underlining that they are mostly men and of military age. He proceeds to claim that the reason for their movement is doubtable, suggesting one of the motives being to fulfil the Quran’s provision of spreading Islam. Simultaneously, he claims that it is in fact, the Christian population in Muslim countries who are in danger but have no means to migrate.
The ‘Great Replacement’ conspiracy narrative often comes hand in hand with a call for people to defend their country, values or white race, at any cost, including resorting to violence. This belief has motivated white supremacists to kill people in Hanau, Christchurch, and El Paso.
France – Far-right magazine exploits murder of schoolgirl to attack Muslim migrants
The far-right website Valeurs Actuelles posted an open letter from Jean Messiha, French polemist and far-right politician, which used the horrible killing of 12-year-old girl Lola by an Algerian woman as a means to spread anti-migrant and anti-Muslim rhetoric.
Within the letter, Messiha portrays immigration as a threat, whilst Lola ‘a victim of a sordid crime committed by a sordid immigration’. Alongside this, Messiha spreads the idea of the Great replacement, claiming ‘you are dead because of a brutal invasion coming from south Mediterranean and beyond, form Middle East and beyond [...]’. Jean Messiha, although never specifically mentioning, targets primarily Muslim immigrants by claiming the victimisation of individuals in society.
He goes on to claim that ‘not a day goes by without a white person, Jew or a homosexual is insulted, threatened or sometimes killed for what he is’ whilst simultaneously, ‘not a day goes without the laïcité […] is challenged in the name of Allah’.
Since the murder, there has been a noticeable rise in anti-Muslim racism and hateful rhetoric surrounding the ‘dangers’ of illegal immigration by far-right groups. Publications as these only contribute to the hateful, anti-Muslim rhetoric and conspiracy narratives surrounding immigration.
Poland - State-funded media outlet spreads antisemitic insults against Polish public figures
The state-funded far-right Polish media outlet and YouTube channel Media Narodowe (National Media) has broadcast concerning antisemitic narratives and insults when reporting on the recent death of Jerzy Urban - a commentator and politician who was Press Secretary of the Communist government (1981-89) under the Polish People’s Republic.
In an interview, Wojciech Sumlinski, author of popular books and films denying the facts of the 1941 Jedwabne pogrom, expressed antisemitic insults against Urban by calling him the ‘worst example of Judeo-Communism […] He was a Jew who hated Poland’. Although Urban was a controversial figure, this does not justify the spread of antisemitism. Sumlinski applied antisemitic labels to several other public figures and attacked ‘Jews from Wyborcza’ – a trend amongst the Polish extreme right groups that have been using antisemitic rhetoric against the editorial staff of liberal daily Gazeta Wyborcza. In another programme, Tadeusz Matuszyk, a former trade union activist, repeatedly expressed the myth of ‘Judeo-communism’, according to which Jews are carriers of hostile, subversive ideology and strive to rule the world.
Commenting on Urban’s funeral, Matuszyk said: ‘The entire Jewish community was shown there’, followed by accusations that ‘Jews-communists’ are ‘the worst evil’ and ‘destroyed and destroy Poland’. Media Narodowe is the outlet of the Independence March Association, the organizer of the annual Independence Day March in Warsaw on 11 November, the largest far-right event in Europe.
Despite featuring openly antisemitic, anti-Muslim and xenophobic conspiracy narratives, it is financially supported by the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage. Although its content often clearly violates YouTube’s Hate Speech Policy, the IT company allows Media Narodowe to broadcast toxic narratives to a wide audience which includes over 251,000 subscribers. The Never Again Association has been regularly denouncing the antisemitic and hateful sentiments promoted by this far-right, state-funded media outlet.
Belgium – News site exploits hate preacher deportation to spread fears against Muslims
In Wallonia, a recent court hearing into the deportation of a French-Moroccan imam, Hassan Iquioussen, for antisemitic and misogynist incitement, was used by the media outlet Marianne.net to spread anti-Muslim hatred.
With the provocative headline ‘Nadia Geerts: You don’t want Hassan Iquioussen anymore? He is welcome in Belgium!’, this article sarcastically complains about the fact that Belgium is a country which welcomes all, especially individuals who, according to the author, are ‘radical’.
Geerts, a columnist who often authors anti-Muslim opinion pieces argues that ‘it would be tempting to mock Belgium’s complacency towards radical Islam’, and that Belgium has seen worse than Iquioussen’s hate speech to Geerts warns, that, if France continues to favour the path of expulsion rather than that of indictment, then Belgium will become like a heaven for terrorists.
While the imam should be condemned for his antisemitic and misogynistic hate speech, this case should not be used to incite fear against Muslims in Belgium.
Hungary – Public service media outlet spreads anti-Muslim fears about the call to prayer
On 15 October 2022, Hirado, the Hungarian public service media, published an article reporting on the recent Cologne council's decision to allow for the first time the call to prayer to be sounded in public from Germany’s biggest mosque.
Hirado framed the news story in negative terms, suggesting that this is yet another step towards the “Islamisation” of Europe. The reporting dismisses the importance of the call to prayer as a sign of religious freedom, and describes it, instead, as a sign of “political Islam” – a term that lacks a definition but that it is used to imply that Islam, and consequently Muslims, are a danger to society.
The article also links the call to prayer with the sexual assaults and robberies on hundreds of women during the 2015 New Year's Eve celebrations in Cologne, as many suspects had originally come to Germany from North African countries. The connection between these two occurrences is misleading and is used to incite fears against Muslims.
This story is in line with the anti-Muslim and anti-migrant agenda of the government, presenting Hungary as president Viktor Orban wants it to be seen: the last bastion against the “Islamisation” of Europe.
Belgium – Flemish media outlet spreads the Islamophobic myth of the headscarf as a symbol of oppression
Doorbraak, a Flemish news and opinion website, published an anti-Muslim article titled: ‘For progressive feminists, Islam is more important than women's rights’. The article compares the headscarf ban in Belgium with the emancipation of the feminist-activist movement in Iran, which emerged after the death of Mahsa Amini by the Iranian police.
The publication draws from the thoughts of three recent commentaries in the Flemish press, Lieven De Cauter, Bart Eeckhout and Tom Lanoye. Although the writers mentioned the Iranian women's resistance against the current Islamic regime, they also used the argument of women's freedom of expression to spread the Islamophobic myth that Islam is more important than women's rights and that wearing the headscarf is a symbol of oppression.
Fuelled with sensationalist words such as "inhumane headscarf", "blood", "sweat", "and tears", the writers present the story vilifying Islam. The article excludes the possibility of wearing the headscarf as free choice. This biased framing shows one side of the story and fails to address that forcing women to remove headscarves is just as violent as forcing them to wear them. It ignores women's rights too.
Germany – Far-right outlet uses muezzin's call in Cologne to spread the Islamisation conspiracy narrative
The blog Journalistenwatch, often described as far right and populist, published an anti-Muslim article on the 13th of October titled: ‘It was clear the central Council of Muslims defends muezzin calls in Cologne’.
The article reports in a derogative and Islamophobic angle the recent permission given by the city authorities to Cologne’s Central Mosque to send out one call to prayer every Friday, between 12pm and 3pm for a duration of 5 minutes. By saying that ‘muezzin call is much more than a call to prayer’ and that ‘where it resounds, it is Islamic territory’, the author uses this new agreement with the Central Mosque to incite fear against Muslims.
The writer's language is offensive and dangerous, as it accuses Henriette Reker, the Mayor of Cologne, of being an "Islamophile", stating that she is leading ‘a once cheerful state’ to be ‘entirely dominated by Islamic rule.’
As a consequence of a climate of hateful rhetoric, the politician almost lost her life in 2015 when she was stabbed in the neck by a far-right anti-migrant activist who targeted her because of her pro-refugee stance.
UK– Far-right media outlet spreads conspiracy theories about the organisation Stop Funding Hate
The Indian far-right pro-Hindutva news outlet OpIndia published on the 17th of October 2022 the article titled: ‘Antisemitic outfit ‘Stop Funding Hate’ rattled by OpIndia’s take on Guardian’s coverage of Leicester violence. Here is what you need to know about it.’
OpIndia has been flagged by Stop Funding Hate for the recurring publication of concerning anti-Muslim and antisemitic conspiracy narratives. Among them, the false myths that Muslims identify with terrorism, and that wealthy Jews, such as George Soros, are ‘Manipulators of the Global Order’.
OpIndia also attacked the Guardian’s community affairs correspondent, Aina J khan, accusing her of being an “Islamist” and promoting misleading information in a piece she wrote about the Leicester violence between the Hindu and Muslim communities. Stop Funding Hate alerted advertisers such as Nike and Vikings UK to exclude OpIndia from online advertising, informing them about the dangers of fake news against minorities. The British organisation posted on Twitter: ‘If you’re concerned about the toxic narratives being promoted on OpIndia, there’s a way to take action. Go to this webpage and take a screenshot showing the advertiser. Tweet the screenshot to the brand.’
As a response, OpIndia has accused Stop Funding Hate of being “antisemitic” and a “far-left Corbynista”.
