Conspiracy & Populism: The Politics of Misinformation

194 Pages·2018·2.38 MB·English

by  Eirikur Bergmann

Conspiracy
THE POLITICS OF

& Populism MISINFORMATION
Eirikur Bergmann
Conspiracy & Populism
Eirikur Bergmann
Conspiracy
& Populism
The Politics of Misinformation
Eirikur Bergmann
Centre for European Studies
Bifröst University
Borgarbyggd, Iceland
ISBN 978-3-319-90358-3 ISBN 978-3-319-90359-0 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-90359-0
Library of Congress Control Number: 2018939717
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2018
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This book is dedicated to my partner in life,
Aino Freyja Järvelä.
Preface and Acknowledgements
It was a beautiful, clear summer day in 2011. The sun was shining
bright where I was standing out on the deck of a ferry, sailing with a
group of family and friends to the small island of Flatey, just off the
western coast of Iceland. Soon, I started noticing my fellow passengers
becoming preoccupied with their phones, their faces turning whiter. I
dug out my device and rapidly realised that something serious was hap-
pening in Norway, on the small island of Utøya, perhaps a not so dif-
ferent isle to the one I was heading to—and, actually, not very far from
where I once myself lived in Norway. The reception on my phone was
poor, and the reports weren’t all that clear. Still, it seemed evident that
someone was massacring young members of the Norwegian Labour
party.
Over the coming hours, we learned the full details of this horrible
terrorist attack. I opened the so-called manifesto of the attacker, Anders
Behring Breivik, and read of his fears of those he referred to as cultural
Marxists, evil multiculturalists that he accused of ruining his home
country in an ongoing devious plot of turning Norway into an Islamist
society. The document was filled with many more of the most com-
monly upheld conspiracy theories of the far-right in the West.
vii
viii Preface and Acknowledgements
Just a few years later, the murderer of British Labour Party MP, Jo
Cox, justified his crime with that same rhetoric.
During the Brexit campaign in the UK, Vote Leave argued that
because of the high birth rate in Turkey, one million Muslim Turks
would soon be arriving in the UK. When criticised by many special-
ists for unfounded claims, a leading Brexit campaigner replied saying: ‘I
think the people in this country have had enough of experts.’
Timothy McVeigh, who blew up the Oklahoma federal building in
1995, had been convinced that the US government was plotting a dicta-
torial communist New World Order. Many of his mates further insisted
that Nazi extermination camps never existed, that they were a hoax.
In the Netherlands, the leader of the Freedom Party, Geert Wilders,
insisted that the Dutch people were being replaced by foreign infiltrators.
In France, Marine Le Pen of the National Front maintained that Europe
was being invaded by hordes of ‘stinking’ dark-skinned migrants and
‘rat people’ flowing in a ‘river of sperm.’ In America, President Donald
Trump wrote this when justifying banning people from several Muslim
dominated countries from entering the US: ‘I think Islam hates us.’
Over in Russia, the Kremlin insisted that members of the protest
punk band, Pussy Riot, were agents in a Western led conspiracy of
emasculating the Russian state.
These were some of the events and statements—all discussed and
referenced in this book—that got me thinking about the impact of
far-right populist conspiracy theories (CTs). My previous research into
Nordic nationalism and the rise of right-wing populists in Europe also
pushed me onto the path of investigating CTs upheld in their politics,
which is the subject of this book.
This research has benefitted from interaction with many colleagues
in several academic fields. Two Europe wide academic networks have
been especially useful. Participating in the EU funded COST action,
Populist Political Communication in Europe, provided me with valua-
ble access to much of the most recent research on European populism.
And involvement in the EU funded COST action, Comparative Analysis
of Conspiracy Theories (COMPACT), exposed me to some of the most
pristine studies of CTs. I believe my engagement in these networks, and
Preface and Acknowledgements ix
several other inter-disciplinary collaborations, place me in a favourable
position to examine and compare the two tropes of study in this book.
I thank my colleagues in these projects for their fruitful cooperation.
I thank my publishers at Palgrave Macmillan, Ambra Finotello and
Imogen Gordon Clark, for their flawless cooperation, and for all their
valuable help.
This book is dedicated to my partner in life, Aino Freyja Järvelä.
I thank her and our four children, Sólrún Rós, Einar Sigurður,
Hrafnhildur and Ægir—who all keep wondering about the world and
continuously question its politics—for their patience and support, and
not least, for stimulating discussions throughout the writing process.
Madrid, Spain Eirikur Bergmann
Contents
1 Introduction 1
Rise of Populist Conspiracy Theories 3
In History and All Around 5
Stigma 6
Links to Extremism 7
Moving into the Mainstream 7
Multi-disciplinary 9
Definitions and Concepts 12
Aim and Frame 13
Structure of the Book 14
References 16
2 Kinds of Conspiracy Theories 19
New World Order 22
Antichrist 23
Early Illuminati 25
Interwar Illuminati 26
Contemporary Illuminati 27
Protocols of the Elders of Zion 28
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xii Contents
Anti-Catholic 30
Holy Grail 31
Anti-Islam 32
Bilderberg Group 33
Deep State 34
Assassinations—Dead and Alive 35
Deceptions, Disasters, Diseases and Medicine 35
False Flag Operations—And 9/11 37
Sinister Politics—The Birthers 39
Black—And White—Genocide 40
Rankings 41
References 42
3 The Anatomy of Conspiracy Theories 47
Conspiracies and Conspiracy Theories 49
Stigmatized Knowledge 50
Divisions and Categories 51
Practical or Pathological Paranoia 52
Design 55
Unverifiable Truths 56
Secrecy and Agency 57
Good and Evil 58
Making Sense 59
For Losers? 61
Predispositions 62
Conspiratorial Correlations 63
General and Widespread 64
Precariousness 66
References 67
4 Dissecting Populism 71
Populism 73
Nationalism 75
Fascism 79
Internationalization and Migration 79
Cultural Racism 80