Hateful Narratives
1. The Great Replacement
This ethno-nationalist narrative warns that “native Europeans” - e.g. white, Christian - are at risk of being destroyed and replaced through migration, low white birth-rates, and violence. According to this narrative, an elite of “globalists” - politicians, media, and tech giants - are accomplices, if not the authors, of a plan to destroy the white race and the whole Western civilisation. “Whiteness” is described as a form of diversity that is being erased, and “indigenous Europeans” are believed to becoming a minority in their own continent. This 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, Germany; Christchurch, New Zealand; and El Paso, Texas.
Examples
Germany – Author Fails To Find Evidence Of The “Replacement” Conspiracy Theory
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‘The Great Replacement’: The Violent Consequences of Mainstreamed Extremism
The Myth of Eurabia: How a Far-Right Conspiracy Theory Went Mainstream
1.1 Muslim birthrates are an attempt to exterminate “native Europeans”
This narrative claims that Muslims are deliberately having many children in order to become the demographic majority and wipe out “native Europeans”. It is true that many European countries are becoming more diverse in terms of people with different ethnic and religious backgrounds. And according to reliable data, such as the projections in a report by Pew Research Centre titled Europe’s Growing Muslim Population, the number of Muslims living in Europe may double to more than 10 percent of the population by 2050. However, some media outlets sensationalise and spin facts to portray this phenomenon as inherently detrimental for Europe. For example, articles claiming that Muslim names are the most prevalent new-born baby names in some European cities. This narrative is also closely connected with the sexist belief that sees white women as responsible for falling birth rates as they refrain from traditional gender roles. The right-wing terrorist who attacked two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, killing 51 Muslims started his manifesto entitled “The Great Replacement” with the words “It’s the birthrates. It’s the birthrates. It’s the birthrates.”
1.2 “Jews are causing wars to wipe out Europeans”
(see also 3. The all-powerful Jew) The Great Replacement theory often contains antisemitic narratives that blame ‘globalist Jewish elites’ for mass migration. This goes as far as to believe that instability in the Middle East is purposively created by a Zionist conspiracy to destabilise Europe through the arrival of Muslim refugees.
1.3 Decay of Europe
Proponents of the Great Replacement theory believe that migrant populations, especially Muslims, are destroying Western civilisation by imposing their culture and customs. Halal menus, Muslim calls for prayer, mosques, and women wearing burqinis are seen as worrying signs of the destruction of Europe. Areas with large migrant and Muslim populations are also portrayed as degraded, dangerous, and crime-ridden, and ore often referred to as ghettos. Migrant and Muslim communities are accused of being directly responsible for this destruction because of some innate and immutable attributes, rather than considering misrepresentation of crime statistics and economic disparity. This is then presented as an unavoidable destiny of societies with large migrant or Muslim populations.
1.4 “Islamic expressions are acts of provocation”
Muslim cultural and religious expressions in Europe are seen as acts of domination and provocation against Western society. Wearing the headscarf, asking for a halal menu, praying on the street (due to the lack of mosques), could all be seen as provocative actions.
1.5 “Muslims are invading and colonising Europe”
The Great Replacement conspiracy narrative often frames the arrival or the presence of Muslims in Europe as a military invasion and colonisation. The attention is often on young Muslim men, who are described in some media outlets as undercover ISIS fighters coming to Europe to destroy it, only because they are Muslim migrants. War terms such as “military-aged men”, “surrender” and “occupation”, depict Europeans as victims and Muslims as oppressors, in a victim-victimizer reversal.
1.6 “War on Christmas”
Some people believe that Christmas is under attack due to a kind of a politically correct effort to be secularise it or erase it in order not to offend people who are not Christian. Sensitivity to those of other faiths and the nonreligious is considered as an act of submission. Every year, in December, this controversy focuses on the greeting “Happy Holidays” instead of Christmas, on inclusive Christmas-related adverts, and company policies on the festivities. Even Starbucks has been heavily criticised for its cup designs that presented general winter themes and patterns over explicit Christmas greetings.
2. Clash of Civilisations
A series of anti-Muslim prejudices are often grouped together to produce the belief that Muslims are so different religiously and culturally from “native Europeans” that there is no possibility of coexistence. These false stereotypes include the claim that all Muslims’ actions are motivated by religion; that their interests, needs or values have nothing in common with non-Muslim people; that they are culturally and morally inferior, including a violent inclination towards women and hostility towards the West; and that they are potential terrorists or sympathise with Islamist terrorists. On some media, commentators with little or no theological knowledge cherry-pick verses from the Quran and present them, with no context, to claim that Islam is an inherently violent faith.
Examples
France – Philosopher Claims Muslim Migrants are a Cultural Threat to France
Germany – PI-News Article Claims Cultural Superiority of the West over Muslim Countries
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The Aging of Empire and Future of the Inter-Civilization Dialogue
2.1 Islam is incompatible with democracy
According to this narrative, authoritarianism, lack of freedom and violence are so intrinsic to Islam that it makes it incompatible with democracy. This narrative ignores the existence of Muslim majority democracies across the world, and the tens of millions of Muslims who participate in Western democratic societies.
Examples
UK – The Times Seeks to ‘Expose’ the RNLI by Employing an Anti-Muslim Narrative
Belgium – La Libre Publishes Opinion Piece on Secularism with Anti-Muslim Dog- Whistling
Read More
Muslims in Europe: The Construction of a “Problem”
'France Wants Assimilation Not Integration': The Problem with French Secularism
2.2 Islam is incompatible with secularism
According to this narrative, Islam is incompatible with secularism because it demands absolute obedience to religious precepts above everything else, unlike other religions. This narrative does not acknowledge that Islam encompasses a broad range of attitudes and practices, much in the same way as other faiths and belief systems.
2.3 Islam is incompatible with women’s rights and LGBTQ+ rights
According to this narrative, Islam is incompatible with women’s rights and LGBTQ+ rights because it relies on obedience to patriarchy and adhesion to traditional gender roles. The presence of Muslims in Western societies is presented as a dangerous threat to equal rights achievements. These are often broad-brush claims. When someone claims that "Muslims strongly oppose LGBTQ+ rights", they are grouping together a large group of people and assuming they all feel one way. Just as we cannot claim that Christians all feel the same on certain issues, we also can't do that with Muslims, or people that any other religion. Paradoxically, this narrative often comes from people who have traditional patriarchal and heteronormative behaviours, but it is used to attack Muslims.
2.4 Islamic culture is inferior to Western and Christian culture
This narrative defines Islamic culture as backward and mediocre compared to Western traditions. This is usually done by claiming that Muslim countries don't achieve scientific discoveries, there isn’t freedom of expression, or simply that Muslims are misogynistic and violent.
3. The All-Powerful Jew
A millennia-lasting myth accuses Jews of being rich, extremely powerful, and seeking profit by any means while pursuing their plans of world domination. Jews are portrayed as secret puppeteers who manipulate the global economy to accumulate wealth and power. This conspiracy narrative can take different forms and shapes accusing Jews to control significant world events, the financial system, and the media (news and film industries).
Examples
Greece and Hungary - Conspiracy theories on Paris attacks
France - National Rally Local Candidate Shares a Video Blaming Jews for the Coronavirus Pandemic
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Jewish "Control" of the Federal Reserve: A Classic Antisemitic Myth
3.1 The New World Order
According to this narrative, there is a secret Jewish power that is progressively taking over the world thanks to Jewish people’s international influence in the media and economy. It is believed that Jewish world leaders are plotting to dismantle individual liberties and construct a totalitarian regime. The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a forged pamphlet that claims to be the confidential minutes of a meeting of Jewish conspirators, is considered by antisemites as the proof that Jews are plotting to dominate the world. Published in Russia in 1903, only a few years later, the protocols were exposed as a fake, but to this day antisemites consider them as genuine. Hitler’s ideology and murderous propaganda during World War II often referred to the Protocols of the Elders of Zion.
3.2 “Jews control the world’s media”
This narrative claims that Jews hold control over the media – both Hollywood and the news industries – and that they use their influence to brainwash people, to hide the truth about their secret agendas, and to spread their propaganda. The fact that some individuals with a Jewish name or background may be high-profile in this sector is used to claim that it is entirely “controlled by Jews”.
3.3. “Jews control the world’s banks
Jews are falsely accused of controlling the world’s economy by dominating institutions such as the U.S. Federal Reserve System and the International Monetary Fund. According to this narrative, Jews use their influence (through the so called “Jewish lobbies”) in the banking sector to secretly pull the strings of western politics. The fact that some individuals with a Jewish name or background may be high-profile in the financial sector is used to claim that it is entirely “controlled by Jews”.
3.4 “George Soros is plotting to destroy the West”
The narrative of Jews making financial gains from their world control is sometimes only inferred through “dog-whistling”: without expressing openly antisemitic messages and without mentioning words such as Jews or Jewish, wealthy Jewish individuals work as a code, to suggest that Jews dominate the financial and media sectors. Because he is wealthy and Jewish, Soros has been the protagonist of countless conspiracy theories that all entail him supposedly trying to take control of the world and profiting from it. The portrayal of Jewish people as the masterminds, the string-pullers who want to undermine the established order, lurking behind the scenes of all events, is an age-old antisemitic trope. Similar references to the Rothchild family, Bill Gates, and Mark Zuckerberg, for example, are rooted in antisemitism.
3.5 Blood libel
It is a centuries-old false allegation that accuses Jews of murdering Christians, especially children, to use their blood for ritual purposes. Since the Middle Ages, these charges have often led to violence, pogroms against the Jewish communities, as well as expulsions and decimations. Today, the QAnon conspiracy theory includes elements of blood libel. Mentions of children being abducted for their blood, and references to the drug adrenochrome which is allegedly extracted from these children, are reminiscent of the old antisemitic conspiracy narrative.
3.6 Dual-loyalty accusations
According to this conspiracy narrative, Jewish people cannot be trusted because their true allegiance is to their fellow Jews, or Israel, rather than to people who are not Jewish and the country where they live. This narrative also presents Jews as hating, and wanting to profit from, non-Jews. In Nazi Germany, charges of disloyalty were used to justify the persecutions and mass killings of Jews.
4. “Islam is violent and endorses terrorism”
This anti-Muslim narrative depicts all Muslims as violent, terrorist extremists. It falsely claims that all Muslims hate the West, and that therefore they are potential terrorists or support terrorism. In doing so,1.8 billion Muslims are defined by the acts of a few who use radical interpretations of Islam. This hateful narrative consists of several subtypes concerning the Quran, women, and migration policies.
Examples
France – Journalist dismisses Arabic as just the language of terrorism
UK – Anne Marie Waters’ Fallacies about Islam and the Establishment
Read More
Reporting Terror: Media Can Tell the Story Without Targeting Muslims
You Shouldn’t Blame Islam for Terrorism. Religion Isn’t a Crucial Factor in Attacks
4.1 “Terrorists enter Europe by disguising themselves as refugees”
This anti-Muslim narrative claims that healthy young men are coming to Europe not to seek protection but rather to invade and carry out terrorist attacks. People who hold this belief refuses to acknowledge data showing that the main terrorist threat to western countries comes from home-grown extremists, and that the overwhelming majority of asylum seekers coming to Europe are people fleeing civil wars, persecution, and human rights abuses. Considering that most victims of terrorist attacks worldwide are Muslims, saying that Muslims are terrorism-sympathisers is a hurtful assertion.
4.2 “The Quran advocates terrorism”
People who use this narrative claim that Islam is a religion of violence because the Quran contains teachings on killing non-Muslims. In reality, the Quran’s allegedly “violent” verses are only interpreted as such by a few people, Islamic extremists and Islamophobes.
4.3 “All Terrorists are Muslim”
This hateful narrative concedes that not all Muslims are terrorists, but asserts that all terrorists are Muslim. It is important to remember that all over the world terrorist attacks have been committed by perpetrators who adhere to different beliefs, including white supremacy, anti-government, and Islamist extremism. In the last decade, Europe specifically has seen a revival of militant right-wing extremist groups, with an increase registered in almost every country. The massive media coverage of Islamist terrorism contributes to further the myth that all terrorists are Muslim.
4.4 “There are Muslims-only no-go zones in Europe”
This anti-Muslim narrative alleges that there are neighbourhoods, in Europe, where the Muslim or migrant population is so dense that non-Muslims and police are not allowed to enter. These zones are described as extremely dangerous for the “innate attributes” of the residents, and where Sharia law rules. In truth, they are poor and underprivileged neighbourhoods that are neglected by the government, but where the law is still enforced.
5. “Protect our women”
This anti-Muslim narrative calls for the protection of the rights of both Muslims and non-Muslim women from the oppression imposed by Islam and Muslim men. In truth, people who hold this belief present themselves as saviours standing up for women while actually deciding on their behalf in terms of personal autonomy, reproductive rights, and freedom of religion and thought.
Examples
Hungary – Public Broadcaster Publishes Anti-muslim Disinformation
Greece - Columnist's Rant on the “New Customs” of “Multicultural Europe”
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5.1 “Muslims are raping our women”
This belief claims that rape is deeply rooted in Muslim culture and that Muslims men are influenced by Islam to rape white women. It also argues that society is turning a blind eye not to be accused of racism, and that white women should take their share of responsibility in causing rape because that’s the result of living in a multicultural society. Following some high-profile cases that saw the conviction of groups of offenders guilty of rape and inciting prostitution, the so called “grooming gangs” became a dangerous media narrative framed as an exclusively ‘Asian’ or ‘Muslim problem’.
Examples
Belgium - The Paradox of Telling Muslim Women What to Wear in Order to be Free
Belgium – La Libre Perpetuates Stereotypes of Veiled Muslim Women as Victims
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My Hijab has Nothing to Do with Oppression. It's a Feminist Statement
France’s Burkini Ban Exposes the Hypocrisy of its Secularist State
5.2 “The veil is oppression”
A common Islamophobic perception is that Muslim women are oppressed and submissive, especially when they wear a headscarf or full face-veil. This garment is considered by some as a symbol of patriarchal oppression and backward society. This narrative argues that all women who wear it have been forced to do so their husband, brother, or father. In some cases, Muslim women are accused to be victim and, at the same time, complicit in their own oppression by choosing, or not refusing, to wear it. The voice of Muslim women who wear the veil is often missing in these debates.
5.3 “Islam is inherently misogynistic”
(see also 2.3) This myth claims that Muslims are misogynistic and oppress women because it is Islamic culture and religion. It is believed that, in terms of societal behaviour, Muslims strictly follow the teaching of the Quran, which forces women to cover themselves up and to be submissive. In doing so, this narrative implies that 1.8 billion Muslims around the world are a single, static, monolithic bloc, and that there is one and only interpretation of the Quran verses.
6. Holohoax
Holohoax is a term that refers to an antisemitic conspiracy narrative that denies, minimises or trivialises the systematic state-sponsored killing of Jews during WWII. The term ‘hoax’ suggests that genocide of European Jews is a lie fabricated to manipulate people. In its most extreme version, the Holocaust is seen as a complete forgery. In other versions, the innumerable evidence is questioned to different degrees, or the genocide of six million Jews is referred with inappropriate comical tones and words.
Examples
France – Yellow Vest Activist Doubts the Existence of Gas Chambers
France – Antisemitic Account of Councillor under Investigation
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6.1 “It’s not 6 million”
This conspiracy theory accepts the occurrence of the Holocaust but doubts its death toll. By questioning the existing evidence, or the feasibility of disposing 6 million bodies, it suggests that the numbers are exaggerated in order to evoke sympathy and guilt in non-Jewish people. This narrative often claims that the education system brainwashes pupils on the Holocaust for the purpose of giving Jews a special status.
6.2 Jews make money out of the Holocaust
Connected with the antisemitic idea that Jews are innately good with money, this conspiracy theory claims that Jews have fabricated or exaggerated the Holocaust in order to make money out of cultural products, such as Hollywood films or books, and reparations.
7. All Jews are Zionists
The word ‘Zionist’ is often used as a swearword, a coded attack on Jews even when the term is not used with its actual meaning. A Zionist is a person who supports a political movement that strives for the creation of a country for Jewish people, and that now supports the state of Israel. Although the majority of Jews believe that the state of Israel should continue to exist, not all Jews identify as Zionists. On the contrary, they have a wide range of opinions about the Israeli-Palestinian debate. Anti-Zionism is not always antisemitic, but is sometimes used to disguise antisemitism. It is antisemitic when it reflects myths about Jewish conspiracies such as “Zionist-led media outlets”, “all-powerful Zionist conspiracy”, or reference to wealthy individuals with a Jewish background as “Zionists”.
Examples
Belgium – Performance Group Disguises Antisemitism with Anti-Zionism
UK – Antisemitism Exposed in British Universities
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7.1 All Jews are responsible for what the state of Israel does
According to this narrative, Jews are to blame for Israel’s policies. The Jewish background of a person - no matter where they live, what they do and what they think - is enough to accuse them of being accountable of, or of supporting of, Israel’s human rights violation. This is Jew-hatred. Most Jews do not live in Israel and even among those who do, or those who identify with Zionism, there is a wide range of opinions including criticism of Israeli government policies.
7.2 “I am not antisemitic, I am just criticising Israel”
People who hold this belief think that as long as the word “Jews” is not used, then any criticism of Israel is acceptable. However, sometimes criticism of Israel is used to attack all Jews for some “innate characteristics” or is combined together with traditional antisemitic tropes or symbols.
8. Dehumanisation
Dehumanisation is a narrative that denies human qualities to a person or a specific group. It is used when minority groups are compared to, or described as, objects, animals, devils, and diseases. In recent history, dehumanisation has offered a moral justification to the perpetration of violence. Always instruments of inferiorisations, comparisons to cockroaches and vermin are generally used to communicate an idea of “invasion”, while comparisons to monkeys are used to communicate a level of stupidity or non-value in others. The former has often been used to refer to refugees, while the latter has a deep-rooted history of racism against Black people and still manifests today when in stadiums bananas are hurled at Black football players.
Examples
Greece – Vice-president of Police Union Federation cAlls Refugees “Irritating Dust”
Hungary – TV Anchor Calls Migrant Teenagers “Black Animals” and Calls for “Immediate Cleansing”
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