How anti-gender and gendered imagery translate the Great Replacement conspiracy theory in online far-right platforms

Abstract

This article is based on a case study of online media practices of the Czech far-right group Angry Mothers, the biggest far-right Facebook group in the Czech political context in 2018. We show how the group used visual storytelling to translate the narratives of the Great Replacement conspiracy theory, which has become one of the most dominant narratives in European and US far-right discourses over recent years. The conspiracy theory was introduced in the book Le Grande Replacement by Renaud Camus in 2011 and claims that powerful Jewish elites use their financial resources to promote ‘Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual + (LGBTQIA+) and gender ideologies’ and multiculturalism to destroy the white race, which will eventually die out. Based on theories of translation and visual storytelling, we demonstrate how the main tropes of its anti-Semitic narrative were diffused through the use of images stigmatising LGBTQIA+ people and other minorities in online communications of the Czech far-right group Angry Mothers.