The Violent Impact of Anti-Semitic Conspiracy Theories: Examining the Jewish World Domination Narratives and History
| by By Michael S. Broschowitz
Anti-Semitism functions as a set of conspiracy theories built upon various negative stereotypes, perceptions, and claims about Jews (Nirenberg 2013). A common grievance narrative among the Far Right from North America to Eastern Europe is the expression of fear about the replacement of white Christians of European descent with racial, ethnic, and religious others. In Europe, this is most typified by rhetoric around the influx of Middle Eastern, Arab, Muslim refugees, whereas in America it includes the aforementioned refugees, along with Central and South Americans. In both circumstances, these immigration patterns are explained as a singular international plot against white Christians by Jews. This is best exemplified by the far-right Charlottesville protestors in 2017 chanting, “You will not replace us! Jews will not replace us!” as well as the steady stream of conspiratorial invective from countries such as Hungary and Poland that predominantly targets Hungarian-Jewish philanthropist and Holocaust survivor George Soros as the figurehead of a global Jewish conspiracy to undermine the Western world in the name of Marxism (Hanebrink 2018). This idea, frequently referred to by the anti-Semitic epithet ‘Judeo-Bolshevism,’ has a long history in Western, predominantly Christian countries, a history written in blood. Understanding its origins is critical to understanding how it operates and updates itself, as well as how it manifests itself through violence (Hanebrink 2018).
