• DOI:10.1177/0306396811425984
• Corpus ID: 146443283

The Muslim conspiracy theory and the Oslo massacre

@article{Fekete2012TheMC,
  title={The Muslim conspiracy theory and the Oslo massacre},
  author={Liz Fekete},
  journal={Race \& Class},
  year={2012},
  volume={53},
  pages={30 - 47}
}

• Liz Fekete
• Published 1 January 2012
• Political Science
• Race & Class

Anders Behring Breivik, perpetrator of the Norwegian massacre, was motivated by a belief in a Muslim conspiracy to take over Europe. Extreme and aberrant his actions were, but, explains the author, elements of this conspiracy theory are held and circulated in Europe today across a broad political spectrum, with internet-focused counter-jihadist activists at one end and neoconservative and cultural conservative columnists, commentators and politicians at the other. The political fallout from the circulation of these ideas ranges from test cases over free speech in the courts to agitation on the ground from defence leagues, anti-minaret campaigners and stop Islamisation groups. Although the conspiracy draws on older forms of racism, it also incorporates new frameworks: the clash of civilisations, Islamofascism, the new anti-Semitism and Eurabia. This Muslim conspiracy bears many of the hallmarks of the ‘Jewish conspiracy theory’, yet, ironically, its adherents, some of whom were formerly linked to anti-Semitic traditions, have now, because of their fear of Islam and Arab countries, become staunch defenders of Israel and Zionism.