Andreas Önnerfors: ‘Conspiracy theories are the staple diet of populism in Europe’

Peggy Corlin for Voxeurop: The title of your e book is Europe : continent of conspiracies. Are conspiracy theories extra widespread in Europe than elsewhere?

Andreas Önnerfors: No, it’s completely different. There was an overfocus on how conspiracy theories have formed American politics since 1776 [the American Declaration of Independence, editor’s note], and of the paranoid model of American politics in the course of the McCarthyism years, the Iran-Contra affair, since 9/11 and since 2016 with the rise of the QAnon phenomenon. We needed to research whether or not one may declare there’s a parallel to that in Europe. One may say that it’s completely different as a result of specific state of affairs of Europe. 

Conspiracy theories and disinformation

1. Proper within the coronary heart of Europe, a secret and influential disinformation community does Delhi’s soiled work
2. A really Italian salsa of populism and conspiracy theories
3. QAnon involves Europe
4. A wade by way of the swamp of Europe’s conspiracy tradition
5. How George Soros was remodeled from herald of democracy into Hungary’s “enemy of the folks”

What’s specific about Europe?

The large distinction with America is that conspiracy theories in Europe at all times embrace visions of exterior risk. The People have imaginary teams inside American society that might wreck that society, be they communists or, as an illustration, some catholic teams within the Twenties. In Europe, the conspiratorial narrative at all times consists of the thought of a risk coming from exterior. There’s a double dynamic: one dynamic which is about inner enemies – gays, lesbians, Freemasons and so forth – and the opposite one which comes from exterior – the Muslim Different, the Jewish Different, the Russian Different – and all desirous to dissolve the unity of Europe.

Are the EU establishments or the EU itself focused by conspiracy theories?

The primary two chapters of our e book are in regards to the rising islamophobia in Europe, the place populist events are gaining increasingly more attraction and the place the alleged Muslim invasion – the so-called “nice alternative” of French creator Renaud Camus – is thematised. Then the so-called ”Kalergi plan” is steadily associated as a ”masterplan” for the restructuring of Europe, because the foundational formulation of the EU and its establishments, as proof of the last word assault towards the nation states and their independence. As a result of within the case of inner enemies, the EU establishments are additionally a part of the plot. They impose a supranational construction that goals at destroying the nation state, the heterosexual household, “conventional values” and so forth. It will probably take completely different shapes: for some folks, the EU establishments foster secular totalitarianism, whereas for others they’re seen as a Vatican try of a Catholic takeover. Within the Nordic areas, the conspiracy theories about EU establishments are primarily based round a worry {that a} Catholic wave is destroying Nordic freedom and independence. It has additionally fuelled Brexit in Britain, the place a overseas tradition of regulation, establishments and policymaking is perceived as a risk. 

Conspiracy theories may also result in mass murders, just like the assaults dedicated by Anders Breivik in Norway in 2011. How is that?

Anders Breivik carried out this assault 10 years in the past. One chapter of our e book is particularly in regards to the Eurabia idea. In accordance with that idea, inner and exterior enemies are collaborating : the Liberals and the Feminists work hand in hand with radical muslims within the Center East to herald folks and invade Europe, and to destroy the independence of nationwide states and Europe’s Christian values. In that idea all type of muslim immigration is portrayed as an act of hostility, like within the phrases of Renaud Camus. My chapter of the e book reveals how these concepts have turn into terrorist manifestos, like in Breivik’s case, but in addition within the 2019 assault of the Halle synagogue, in Germany [2 people got killed], and the one carried out in 2020 in Hanau, in Germany once more, the place 10 folks have been killed in shisha bars. A brand new number of Eurabia theories has just lately been developed, in response to which Europeans are being changed by nasty outsiders and Jews are behind this, and this alternative is managed by any person else.

Are some EU member states extra focused than others?

Sure, our e book reveals that Germany is a selected goal. For a lot of completely different causes. It began in the course of the Greek debt disaster when Germany stepped in and type of tried to dictate how the Greek financial system ought to recuperate. Within the Greek media, the EU was all of a sudden portayed as a continuation of the Nazi regime, a Fourth Reich run by the Germans. That concept has been picked up by Russian disinformation. Within the Brexit debate, Germany has been additionally focused as wanting to manage and dominate European politics, once more as a continuation of the Nazi regime. 

Who promotes these theories?

There are teams which profit from them: Populist political actors each from the best and the left. As a result of one key ingredient of the populist message is the thought of an elite versus the folks. A robust chief speaks on behalf of the folks and channels an antagonism between the folks and the elite. As we have now seen over the past decade, it’s right-wing populist actions specifically that draw from conspiracy theories. As a result of you may single out the specialists, the rule of regulation, supranational decision-making or the “political class” as your key enemy, and that draws lots of people. So, conspiracy theories make sense in numerous home political settings, be it Podemos in Spain, Syriza in Greece, the AfD in Germany, the Rassemblement Nationwide in France or the Brexit marketing campaign within the UK. The opposite level is that conspiracy theories are utilized by overseas actors as a part of disinformation operations. Russia is the origin of plenty of these narratives, and China to a lesser extent. However the principle actors are these media shops and social media which can be loyal to the Russian authorities. As a result of conspiracy theories are very highly effective: you may implant them as a proof of ongoing political occasions and thereby undermine your political opponents. It’s an affordable manner of doing so as a result of it’s on the extent of narrative. This narrative stage is changing into increasingly more essential. And from exterior the EU there’s additionally QAnon, which has began to invade the European debate, significantly throughout the Covid-sceptic motion.

Are there some areas in Europe the place conspiracy theories are extra widespread?

It depends upon what you need to analyse. Concerning international locations which can be susceptible to Russian disinformation  you may see, as an illustration, that in early July’s common election in Moldova the anti-EU camp was peddling conspiracy theories towards the European Union and Western liberal values. The identical goes for Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán and the dispute in regards to the anti-LGBT+ legal guidelines. That type of narrative, that connects the LGBT+ with conspiratorial European values, could be very sturdy in South-Jap Europe. There’s a belt, from Poland all the way down to the Black Sea, the place there’s another interpretation of what European values are. In that area Russian disinformation campaigns are strongly current. Concerning anti-vaxxer and Covid denialism, these are very sturdy from Berlin to London, the place tons of of hundreds of individuals have taken to the streets to protest. There’s additionally a equally energetic motion in Denmark. So it’s tough to say conspiracy theories are stronger right here or there. We have now to take a look at every type of narrative individually.

Are there some particular occasions which have prompted conspiracy theories throughout latest years? 

Sure. Conspiracy theories at all times observe disaster in Europe. You probably have a disaster folks need solutions: why does it occur? Conspiracy theories are nice as a result of they not solely clarify the info, in addition they clarify the ethics behind them. You at all times get a solution about whose accountability it’s, who has achieved one thing dangerous. That is the sample we have now seen over the past ten years. After we had a worldwide monetary disaster, it was simple to accuse the worldwide capital and globalists of manipulating the financial system. Then the refugee disaster grew to become an ideal terrain of creativeness, with some folks believing that this might not occur by probability, that any person was steering it. And now we have now Covid, which is an ideal object for numerous explanatory narratives.

Conspiracy theories at the moment are bringing collectively a variety of individuals in anti-Covid protests…

Sure, it’s stunning how the anti-corona protests have managed to unite folks from completely different camps. Particularly, a greenish alternative-left camp and a standard nationalist authoritarian camp. Within the case of Germany as an illustration, the 2 teams are all of a sudden on the stage collectively, hugging one another. The conspiratorial mindset has one way or the other turn into not solely a union of the extremes but in addition considerably mainstream. Proper-wing skinheads march with local weather activists towards the federal government, which is perceived as the large risk. That is one thing new.

Are conspiracy theories harmful?

Sure, for positive. There’s a distinction of what beliefs of politics we have now. If we expect that politics needs to be pushed by passions then we will higher settle for expressions of rage and worry, since ardour is a part of political mobilisation inside a democracy. Alternatively, if we see democracy as primarily based on motive, then we have now the rule of regulation and specialists getting ready the premise for sound decision-making. It is a key opposition in democracy. What do we wish? A politics of ardour or a politics of motive ? Conspiracy theories are harmful as a result of they place 100% of their weight on the politics of ardour. There may be nothing rational about conspiracy theories. They attempt to mimic rational arguments, however these might be debunked. They’d by no means face up to a trial in court docket, or the scientific technique. The politics of motive will get derailed. When, as an illustration, in the course of the Brexit marketing campaign, Britain’s Excessive Courtroom judges have been known as “enemies of the folks”, the politics of ardour was getting actually harmful. We have now seen in the course of the Covid protests in Berlin, and naturally with the sixth of January in Washington DC (the assault on Capitol Hill by supporters of Donald Trump, ndlr), the which means of the concept violence is a software to assault and produce down our flesh pressers. The Covid protests are very harmful.

A e book

In Europe: continent of conspiracies, edited by Andreas Önnerfors and André Krouwel (Routledge, 2021), the authors This edited quantity investigates for the primary time the affect of conspiracy theories upon the understanding of Europe as a geopolitical entity in addition to an imagined political and cultural house. Specializing in latest developments, the person chapters discover a variety of conspiratorial positions associated to Europe.

Within the present local weather of worry and risk, new and outdated imaginaries of conspiracies resembling Islamophobia and anti-Semitism have been mobilised. A dystopian and even apocalyptic picture of Europe in terminal decline is evoked in Jap European and significantly by Russian pro-Kremlin media, whereas the EU emerges as a display upon which a number of narratives of conspiracy are projected trans-nationally, starting from the Greek debt disaster to migration, Brexit and the COVID-19 pandemic. The methodological views utilized on this quantity vary from qualitative discourse and media evaluation to quantitative social-psychological approaches, and there are a variety of nationwide and transnational case research.

In collaboration with the Heinrich Böll Basis – Paris