Covid Conspiracy Theories

Example 43: Covid conspiracy theory:

To bring this account right up to date as of November 2020, we take a look at how conspiracy theories have been applied to the Covid-19 pandemic, including their inevitable antisemitic components. Throughout history, Jews have been blamed for crises and disasters, so it is no surprise at all that the conspiracy theories emerging from the coronavirus crisis also suggest Jews are plotting to these ends.

Some coronavirus conspiracists throw doubt on the reality of the COVID-19 virus, and assume that stories of the virus are a plot to mislead the public or disrupt the economy through panic. Others accept that the virus is real, but suggest it has been deliberately created and spread for malevolent purposes. As explained by the Community Security Trust: ‘There are several variations on this theme: that there is a "Zionist agenda" to depopulate the world by killing huge numbers of people; that coronavirus is part of a plot involving some combination of the United States, Israel and China; that Israel or the Jews developed coronavirus and blamed it on China to try to start World War Three; that prominent Jewish and non-Jewish businessmen such as George Soros (a regular hate figure for conspiracy theorists) have a financial interest in spreading the virus and then developing a vaccine; or some combination of these theories.’ https://cst.org.uk/data/file/d/9/Coronavirus%20and%20the%20plague%20of%20antisemitism.1586276450.pdf

Other theories reference age-old antisemitic tropes of Jews as dirty and associated with disease – in mediaeval times they were accused of spreading the plague – for example by dubbing the virus ‘Jew Flu’. Where some Jewish people die from COVID-19 in disproportionate numbers, some hardcore antisemites actually celebrate this fact, or talk online about purposely spreading the virus to Jews in the ‘Holocough’.

Almost all the current Covid-19 conspiracy theories are developments or mutations of pre-existing theories, which often blame Jews as part of - or the whole of - the world being controlled by secret elites. This applies to the anti-vaccine movement, to the anti-5G movement, to David Icke’s theories, and to QAnon, all of which are involved in the current movements to counter necessary coronavirus lockdowns. Coronavirus conspiracy theory appeals to the credulous and those distrustful of established authority and expert knowledge, who have been described by Stephen Buranyi as the ‘newly porous centre’. These people can then easily be led towards dangerous far-right ideology; this allows anti-democratic demagogues like ​Donald Trump (who has at times cast doubt about the existence of the virus, though at other times he has taken a less denialist approach) to increase their appeal. This in turn has led to increased attacks on minority groups, including Jews. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/sep/04/coronavirus-conspiracy-theorists-far-right-protests

Our first example is from Germany, where The Robert Koch Institute, the main German public health advisory body, has reported receiving threatening emails including “What a shame for those of you who are accessories of this phoney government that there are no more gas chambers”. In addition, Covid-19 ‘truthers’ are trivialising and downplaying the Holocaust by comparing measures taken to dampen the spread of the pandemic to the treatment of Jewish people under the Nazis. Anti-vaxxer demonstrators at so-called 'hygiene demonstrations' have often worn yellow stars similar to those Jews were forced to wear during the Third Reich, but bearing the word ungeimpft (unvaccinated) instead of Jude (Jew). It is appalling that people being asked only to wear a mask or have a vaccination are comparing this requirement with the fate of Jews in Nazi Germany. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jul/21/german-jewish-leaders-fear-rise-of-antisemitic-conspiracy-theories-linked-to-covid-19

https://static.dw.com/image/53643820_403.jpg

In the photo below, the demonstrator wearing garb imitating concentration camp prisoner uniform holds a sign saying ‘Maske macht frei’ which is a reference to the famous ‘Arbeit macht frei’ (‘Work makes you free’) slogan over the entrance to Auschwitz. ‘Maske an Gehim aus’ means ‘Mask on, brain off’.

The second example shows Kate Shemirani , a now-suspended nurse, speaking at a UK lockdown protest. Shemirani has claimed the crisis is a ‘scamdemic’ and that Wuhan, the first city to see a major Covid-19 outbreak, was a ‘test city for 5G’. She has also written ‘Murder. Genocide. The NHS is the new Auschwitz.’ She believes that governments will use vaccines to track the public: ‘They will be able to look at every aspect of what is going on in our brains. ‘Not only can they pick it up, they can download into us.’

https://metro.co.uk/2020/09/20/anti-mask-protest-leader-is-suspended-nurse-who-compared-lockdown-to-the-holocaust-13299606/