The interview was a highlight: it marked the first time that a politician on the public broadcaster was allowed to proclaim the rabid theory that had inspired many attackers without any opposition. On May 10, the Flemish politician Filip Dewinter attended Unheard of News on NPO 1. With images of shopping Muslim women, he said: ‘Our people are being replaced by another people and along with that population exchange there will of course also be a civilization exchange.’
The presenter’s question confirmed the theory: ‘Why are we doing this?’
‘Because of the multicultural, politically correct blindness, of course,’ said Dewinter. ‘They strive for a society of super-diversity, where they have created the illusion that we can organize equality by opening the gates of Europe.’
The timing was salient. Four days later, an 18-year-old young man marched through the American city of Buffalo with a semi-automatic rifle. His goal: to kill as many black people as possible. Ten were killed.
In a 180-page manifesto, which he had put online, Payton Gendron describes how he came into contact with the ‘Great Replacement Theory’ in Dutch on the forum 4chan. It’s time, he wrote, to “attack the replacements.”
The timing of the broadcast of Unheard of News also aroused concern among MPs. On Thursday, a majority asked parliamentary questions such as: ‘What risks are there for Dutch society if the public broadcaster broadcasts (uncontested) population theories?’
The NPO Ombudsman also received many complaints about Ongehoord Nederland and is working on an investigation into the broadcaster. The criticism and concerns fit with the growing discomfort about radical concepts such as depopulation creeping into the mainstream.
Anders Breivik
‘Ten years ago you could only find these kinds of theories in obscure corners of the internet’, says terrorism expert Jelle van Buuren. ‘It is now openly discussed in the House of Representatives, on the social media of politicians and on public broadcasting.’ The question is, how dangerous is it to normalize this theory?
Over the past few years it has become clear that the idea of repopulation can turn out to be disastrous. Payton Gendron was far from the first terrorist to be guided by it. Among others Anders Breivik in Norway, Brenton Tarrant in New Zealand, and the perpetrators of the attacks in Pittsburgh, El Paso, Charleston preceded him.
In the Netherlands, the repopulation theory is so popular among supporters of extreme right-wing ideas that the NCTV and the AIVD repeatedly warned about it in their threat reports. They do this not least because two other trends are observable: the supporters are increasing in number and they are increasingly discussing the need for armaments. In February, a right-wing extremist was arrested in Zeeland who was printing a semi-automatic weapon with his 3D printer.
According to Van Buuren, it is impossible to predict how great the chance is in the Netherlands of an attack from the extreme right. ‘You can say: it has become more conceivable in recent years than before. The discourse is virulent and normalized. That can always inspire a loner.’
Thierry Baudet
One of the first times that a variant of the repopulation theory was publicly discussed in the Netherlands was when Thierry Baudet stated during his election campaign in 2017 that there was a ‘homeopathic dilution’ of the Dutch population ‘with all the peoples of the world’.
Shortly before, Baudet had announced that the West is suffering from an ‘autoimmune disease’. ‘Part of our organism – an important part: our immune system – has turned against us. (…) Malicious, aggressive elements are being ushered into our social body in unprecedented numbers.’
His description already contained the element that is crucial in the idea of population depopulation: it is a conspiracy. It’s not just a demographic shift, no, those in power are doing it on purpose. The reason differs. Tucker Carlson, the Fox News host who, according to The New York Times Population discussed four hundred times in his program often says that there is an electoral consideration behind it. Democrats would bring in obedient migrants to tie them with benefits as voters.
‘The role of the repopulation theory within the far right cannot be overestimated,’ says Willem Wagenaar, far-right researcher at the Anne Frank House. ‘It is the dominant thought across the spectrum – from the neo-Nazis to Forum and PVV.’
This week the conservative congress CPAC took place in Hungary, partly under the banner of the repopulation theory. Tucker Carlson spoke and a delegation from the FvD was also present. Ahead of the congress, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said the West is committing suicide through immigration.
‘Mass experiment’
According to Jason Stanley, a propaganda expert and professor at Yale University, a worrying “mass experiment” is underway. ‘What happens if you normalize a Nazi conspiracy theory worldwide that portrays migrants as threats to our once great civilization and thereby justifies violence against those migrants? I don’t know. But I don’t think it’s wise.’
Terrorism researcher and professor Beatrice de Graaf believes that politicians and television makers who disseminate the repopulation theory without being contradicted contribute to a climate in which attacks can take place. “Legally, they are not to blame for those attacks,” says De Graaf. ‘But research shows that spreading ideas like this can lead to their social embedding in society. From a political-moral perspective you could therefore speak of guilt. This, of course, affects freedom of expression. But just because you have the freedom to say everything, doesn’t mean you have to do it.’
Ongehoord Nederland is still right behind the broadcast with Filip Dewinter. The broadcaster is the victim of a ‘false narrative’, chairman Arnold Karskens told NOS. “We did it in a really neat way.”