There has been a movement rumbling in the underbelly of global media and societies since the late 2010s: the far right. The core of this ideology is a “combination of nativism and authoritarianism.” Some on the far right have adopted the belief of the “great replacement theory,” a conspiracy that there is a plot to replace and undermine the political power and culture of white people in Western countries through immigration from largely non-white countries. Its proponents use this conspiracy as a rallying cry to fuel their racist and xenophobic beliefs.
In 2017, hundreds of white nationalists marched through the college town of Charlottesville, Virginia, decrying the planned removal of Confederate general Robert E. Lee’s statue from a park. Protesters chanted phrases like “You will not replace us” and “blood and soil,” the latter being a Nazi chant.
Eight years later, a similar political fervor has appeared in London, England. At the “Unite the Kingdom” march on Sept. 13, over 100,000 marchers flew the Union Jack and St. George’s flag, with some claiming to be marching against infringements of free speech. If only those claims were genuine. Many reports about the rally found protestors using aggressive language, chanting things like “Who the f— is Allah” and “Whose streets? Our streets!” With the context of the marches and the rhetoric around this movement, the “our” in use likely refers to white British people.
The sadness of this political propaganda is the truth that some far-right white nationalists bury amidst the lies. These movements use the truth of the very broken and stress-ridden immigration systems in America and across Europe to claim that Europe is being “invaded.” They use the tragedies of murders and rapes to generalize and dehumanize people of color. Many members of the far right are now flexing their muscles. Do not tolerate the racism. Listen, understand and educate yourself, but denounce vitriolic hatred when you hear it or see it. Laughing it off and ignoring it was what allowed it to grow so large; it cannot continue.