rapper Lange Frans
Conspiracy thinkers like Lange Frans, Willem Engel and Alex Jones are part of an international movement with roots in the Cold War. A world of government-fearing oil barons, right-wing Christians and the American John Birch Society.
A woman with a tea light sweetly sings "You're the Voice". A man in the street shouts out, "Heil Hitler!’. They have more in common than it seems. Both protest against the corona measures.
QAnon is by far the most popular conspiracy theory in the Netherlands. Wherein lies the attraction?
Thierry Baudet seemed like Geert Wilder's beginning 2019 as the main interpreter of the radical right-wing sound in Dutch politics. A year and a half and a pandemic later, the roles are completely reversed. How is that possible? "Baudet wants to be adored. It's almost tragic. "
Forum for Democracy is falling in the polls, the position of leader Thierry Baudet is under pressure. For their book My opinions are facts Harm Ede Botje and Mischa Cohen spoke with friend and foe about the controversial party leader. Hans Wiegel: "Baudet is not a politician."
Between the privacy activists, Hooligans and conspiracy theorists also turn up people associated with radical right-wing organizations at Virus Truth demonstrations. What make the coronasceptic ideas interesting for the ultra-right, vice versa?
A far-right conspiracy theory is gaining an increasing and more dangerous following in the US. President Donald Trump and the Republican party play into the hands of the QAnon movement and politicians in the Netherlands also flirt with it. Of course anti-Semitism lies close to the surface.
Internal criticism, declining polls: Forum for Democracy is under pressure. For the first time even openly the position of leader Thierry Baudet questioned.
From the attack on the Twin Towers to a secret pedophile network that is in control of the world: the internet is full of unproven, even debunked theories and stories. Conspiracy theorists try to make money off this. A successful career seems only for a few.
No, he had nothing to do with delusions. Member of Parliament Wybren van Haga, also owner of real estate company Sjopperdepop BV, raised his hands to his head, a dramatic gesture in which viewers had to see empathy. "On the one hand, you have people who have delusions. They are just there. "
With the outbreak of corona an information chemistry also broke out. Conspiracy thinkers of the old school merge online with hip influencers with a reach of millions, according to research together with the Utrecht Data School. It only takes one superspreader to keep an avalanche of conspiracies going on.
Coronaprotest – Maybe Danny Vonk said "something bad" to CDA MP Pieter Omtzigt after the demonstration against corona policy. But then that was not meant personally. No politician is right, zegt hij. They are pawns of the elite, of the pharmaceutical industry.
In the past few months, the virus madmen have been on the rise. Their demonstrations come in rapid succession and their claims are getting more absurd by the day. Despite this, the far-right disinformation campaigns seem to be having an effect.
Conspiracy theory – Rapper Lange Frans had conspiracy thinker Janet Ossebaard in an interview uncontested all kinds of accusations against a large part of the Dutch elite. Up to murder fantasies.
What is Forum for Democracy really have to, after all internal factions and splinter groups of the past year? At the general meeting Saturday was much to discover in the colorful parade of right-wing conservative paradise birds which passes through the members.