Conspiracy theories are a popular tool used by the far right to channel the population’s justified anger about social grievances into nationalist and anti-progressive channels. Since the coronavirus pandemic, the far right in Austria and Germany has built up an empire of so-called ‘alternative’ media. Many magazines, shows, and Telegram channels have emerged within this network. All share a single goal: to mobilize people to the right through the mass dissemination of fake news and to support extreme parties such as the AfD and the FPÖ.
The AWEF 2024 brought together the various players in this movement: Journalists, doctors, authors, and politicians were among the speakers, all united by anti-science hostility and a deep-seated hatred of all progressive movements. Ken Jebsen, Michael Ballweg, Martin Rutter, and Sucharit Bhakdi, the most prominent names of the Querdenker movement, were present. They were joined by the editors-in-chief of well-known new right-wing media, such as Florian Machl (report24), Martin Müller-Mertens (Compact), Elsa Mittmannsgruber (formerly Wochenblick) and Frank Höfer (NuoVisoTV). FPÖ politician Johannes Hübner also took part in the meeting, as did Armin-Paul Hampel, from the AfD, and the spearhead of the Identitarian movement Martin Sellner.
The project sees itself as a counter-idea to the “Great Reset,” an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory according to which a secret elite of ‘globalists’ would attempt to destroy the world through wars and planned migration.
The initiative for this alliance came from the Austrian media maker Stefan Magnet. He is the editor-in-chief of AUF1, a far-right media outlet that has provided a platform for numerous high-ranking FPÖ politicians as well as Hungary’s Prime Minister Victor Orbán and Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó. Magnet used to be active in the Neo-Nazi organization Bund freier Jugend (BfJ) and is now a central interface between the Identitarians and the FPÖ.
Václav Klaus, the former President of the Czech Republic, gave the opening speech. Václav Klaus is close to the German AfD and Austrian FPÖ and advocates pro-Russian and climate change denialist positions. In his speech, he railed against Ukrainian refugees, multiculturalism, and feminism, always linking his positions with anti-communist viewpoints.
At the center of the event was a political simulation game under the motto ‘Images of a World of Tomorrow,’ in which ‘resistance’ to the parliamentary-democratic order and the seizure of power from the right was practiced tactically by the participants. The self-description reads: ‘Just as the system plans its attacks on humanity well in advance, the freedom movement is now planning its response.’ The actors were tasked with building a movement against an elite-driven ‘plandemic’. This narrative combines criticism of globalization with the anti-Semitic theory of the Jewish world conspiracy, which the National Socialists used to legitimize the mass extermination of over 6 million Jews.
The ‘simulation game’ format is a skillful tactic to strengthen right-wing alliances. The far-right has obviously learned from the coronavirus pandemic that it can profit from the social and economic crises that capitalism creates by instrumentalizing people’s existential fears and resentment against the existing order for its own purposes. They have probably also recognized that the potential for mobilization remains untapped due to a lack of organization and divisions in the right-wing camp. The congress was intended to prepare for future cooperation between the different wings by playing through the scenarios together in practice.
The organizer, Magnet, has already announced further projects for the new alliance in 2025. More than ever, all democratic forces are called upon to ensure that the right wing does not gain even more power through systematic disinformation.
