Eurabia is a

political neologism Nearly all political terms were political neologisms at some point. ''Left'' and ''right'' gained their political meaning after the seating arrangement of the French revolutionary assembly, in 1789. ''Bolshevik'' started in 1903, when the Russian ...

, a

portmanteau A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of wordsEurope Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located enti ...

and

Arabia The Arabian Peninsula, (; ar, شِبْهُ الْجَزِيرَةِ الْعَرَبِيَّة, , "Arabian Peninsula" or , , "Island of the Arabs") or Arabia, is a peninsula of Western Asia, situated northeast of Africa on the Arabian Plate. ...

, used to describe a

far-right Far-right politics, also referred to as the extreme right or right-wing extremism, are political beliefs and actions further to the right of the left–right political spectrum than the standard political right, particularly in terms of bein ...

, anti-Muslim conspiracy theory, involving globalist entities allegedly led by French and Arab powers, to Islamise and Arabise Europe, thereby weakening its existing culture and undermining a previous alignment with the United States and Israel. The term was first used in the 1970s as the title of a newsletter and the concept itself developed by

Bat Ye'or ) , birth_date = , birth_place = Zamalek, Cairo, Egypt , death_date= , death_place= , occupation = Writer , nationality = British , signature= , alma_mater = University College LondonUniversity of Geneva , genre= , notableworks = '' The Declin ...

(pen name of Gisèle Littman) in the early 2000s and is described in her 2005 book titled ''Eurabia: The Euro‐Arab Axis''. Benjamin Lee of the Centre for Research and Evidence on Security Threats at the

University of Lancaster , mottoeng = Truth lies open to all , established = , endowment = £13.9 million , budget = £317.9 million , type = Public , city = Bailrigg, City of Lancaster , country = England , coor = , campus = Bailrigg , faculty = ...

describes her work as arguing that Europe "has surrendered to Islam and is in a state of submission (described as

dhimmitude Dhimmitude is a polemical neologism characterizing the status of non-Muslims under Muslim rule, popularized by the Egyptian-born British writer Bat Ye'or in the 1980s and 1990s. It is a portmanteau word constructed from the Arabic ''dhimmi'' 'no ...

) in which Europe is forced to deny its own culture, stand silently by in the face of Muslim atrocities, accept Muslim immigration, and pay tribute through various types of economic assistance." According to the theory, the blame rests with a range of groups including communists, fascists, the media, universities, mosques and Islamic cultural centres, European bureaucrats, and the Euro-Arab Dialogue. The term has gained some public interest and has been used and discussed across a wide range of the political spectrum, including right-wing activists, self-described "conservatives" and

counter-jihad Counter-jihad, also spelled counterjihad and known as the counter-jihad movement, is a self-titled political current loosely consisting of authors, bloggers, think tanks, street movements and campaign organisations all linked by apocalyptic bel ...

and other anti-Islamism activists. Bat Ye'or's "mother conspiracy theory" has been used for further subtheories. The narrative grew important in expressing anti-Islamist sentiments and was used by movements like

Stop Islamisation of Europe Stop Islamisation of Europe (SIOE) is a pan-European counter-jihad organisation with the stated goal of "preventing Islam from becoming a dominant political force in Europe". It is a political interest group which has been active in Denmark and ...

. It gained renewed interest after the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commerc ...

and the use of the term by 2011 Norway attacker,

Anders Behring Breivik Fjotolf Hansen (born 13 February 1979), better known by his birth name Anders Behring Breivik () and by his pseudonym Andrew Berwick, is a Norwegian far-right domestic terrorist, known for committing the 2011 Norway attacks on 22 July 2011. On ...

. Ye'or's thesis has come under criticism by scholars, which intensified after Breivik's crime. The conspiracy has been described as having resemblance to the anti-Semitic ''

Protocols of the Elders of Zion ''The Protocols of the Elders of Zion'' () or ''The Protocols of the Meetings of the Learned Elders of Zion'' is a fabricated antisemitic text purporting to describe a Jewish plan for global domination. The hoax was plagiarized from several ...

''. Eurabia is also discussed in classical

anti-Europeanism Anti-Europeanism and Europhobia are political terms used in a variety of contexts, implying sentiment or policies in opposition to Europe. In the context of racial or ethno-nationalist politics, this may refer to the culture or peoples of Eur ...

, a strong influence in the culture of the United States and in the notion of

American exceptionalism American exceptionalism is the belief that the United States is inherently different from other nations.Euro-Arab Dialogue, based on an allegedly French-led European policy intended to increase European power against the United States by aligning its interests with those of the Arab countries. During the 1973 oil crisis, the European Economic Community (predecessor of the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been ...

), had entered into the Euro-Arab Dialogue (EAD) with the Arab League. Ye'or says it as a primary cause of alleged European hostility to Israel, referring to joint Euro-Arab foreign policies that she characterises as

anti-American Anti-Americanism (also called anti-American sentiment) is prejudice, fear, or hatred of the United States, its government, its foreign policy, or Americans in general. Political scientist Brendon O'Connor at the United States Studies Centr ...

and

anti-Zionist Anti-Zionism is opposition to Zionism. Although anti-Zionism is a heterogeneous phenomenon, all its proponents agree that the creation of the modern State of Israel, and the movement to create a sovereign Jewish state in the region of Palest ...

. Ye'or purported a close connection of a Eurabia conspiracy and used the term "

", denoting alleged "western subjection to Islam". The term itself is based on a newsletter published in the 1970s by the ''Comité européen de coordination des associations d'amitié avec le monde Arabe'', a Euro-Arab friendship committee.English translation
Bat Ye'or's ''Eurabia: The Euro-Arab Axis'' was the first print publication in the Eurabia genre, which has since grown to a number of titles, including

Melanie Phillips Melanie Phillips (born 4 June 1951) is a British journalist, author, and public commentator. She began her career writing for ''The Guardian'' and ''New Statesman''. During the 1990s, she came to identify with ideas more associated with the righ ...

's ''Londonistan'',

Oriana Fallaci Oriana Fallaci (; 29 June 1929 – 15 September 2006) was an Italian journalist and author. A partisan during World War II, she had a long and successful journalistic career. Fallaci became famous worldwide for her coverage of war and revolution ...

's '' The Force of Reason'', and Bruce Bawer's ''While Europe Slept''. The term is often used by the writers

, Mark Steyn and several web sites, many of them affiliated with the counterjihad movement. ''Defeating Eurabia'' by

Fjordman Peder Are Nøstvold Jensen (born 11 June 1975) is a prominent Norwegian counter-jihad blogger who writes under the pseudonym Fjordman and who has been characterized as far-right and Islamophobic. Jensen wrote anonymously as Fjordman starting in ...

(the pen name of Peder Are Nøstvold Jensen) earned him a high standing among

extremists. An important part of the narrative is the idea of a

demographic threat The concept of demographic threat (or demographic bomb) is a term used in political conversation or demography to refer to population increases from within a minority ethnic or religious group in a given country that is perceived as threatening to t ...

, the fear that, at some time in the future, Islam will take over Europe. or as

Bernard Lewis Bernard Lewis, (31 May 1916 – 19 May 2018) was a British American historian specialized in Oriental studies. He was also known as a public intellectual and political commentator. Lewis was the Cleveland E. Dodge Professor Emeritus of Nea ...

put it, "Europe will be Islamic by the end of the century."

Walter Laqueur Walter Ze'ev Laqueur (26 May 1921 – 30 September 2018) was a German-born American historian, journalist and political commentator. He was an influential scholar on the subjects of terrorism and political violence. Biography Walter Laqueur was ...

's ''The Last Days of Europe: Epitaph for An Old Continent'' is quoted often among the Eurabia literature.

Impact

Post-1945

While immigrants were being deemed a threat, in the postwar 1940s period, the British extreme right in particular,

fascist Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultra-nationalist political ideology and movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and political and cultural liberalism, a belief in natural social hierarchy and the ...

politician

Oswald Mosley Sir Oswald Ernald Mosley, 6th Baronet (16 November 1896 – 3 December 1980) was a British politician during the 1920s and 1930s who rose to fame when, having become disillusioned with mainstream politics, he turned to fascism. He was a member ...

were rather outspoken (see the

Union Movement The Union Movement (UM) was a far-right political party founded in the United Kingdom by Oswald Mosley. Before the Second World War, Mosley's British Union of Fascists (BUF) had wanted to concentrate trade within the British Empire, but the Unio ...

and the Europe a Nation slogan) in favour of a stronger integration of Britain with Europe and, using their own interpretation of the Eurafrica concept, Africa.

Post-9/11 significance

Bat Ye'or first used the term "Eurabia" in 2002 and again in another 2005 book. Subsequently, the coining of the term has been attributed to her. The conservative historian

Niall Ferguson Niall Campbell Ferguson FRSE (; born 18 April 1964)Biography
Niall Ferguson

referred to the concept, which he took as the potential future Islamisation of Europe based on demographic facts and ideational lack of the continent.

2010s Europe

The idea of a Eurabian conspiracy has become a basic theme in the European extremist and populist right and expresses as well a significant strategy change. José Pedro Zúquete notes that Muslim minority populations and Muslim immigration gained new political significance. This has led to the adoption of political positions that were previously considered fringe or

third rail A third rail, also known as a live rail, electric rail or conductor rail, is a method of providing electric power to a railway locomotive or train, through a semi-continuous rigid conductor placed alongside or between the rails of a railway ...

on either side. The main anti-Islamic theme has also penetrated into mainstream European politics, for instance in the case of Dutch populist

Party for Freedom The Party for Freedom ( nl, Partij voor de Vrijheid, PVV) is a nationalist, right-wing populist political party in the Netherlands. Founded in 2006 as the successor to Geert Wilders' one-man faction in the House of Representatives, it won nine ...

leader

Geert Wilders Geert Wilders (; born 6 September 1963) is a Dutch politician who has led the Party for Freedom (''Partij voor de Vrijheid'' – PVV) since he founded it in 2006. He is also the party's leader in the House of Representatives (''Tweede Kamer'') ...

Issues

The Eurabia concept is an Islamophobic conspiracy theory. Eurabia shortcuts the complex interaction between the US, France, Israel, the Arabic and Muslim countries on an "us against them" basis. The Eurabia theories are dismissed as Islamophobic,

extremist Extremism is "the quality or state of being extreme" or "the advocacy of extreme measures or views". The term is primarily used in a political or religious sense to refer to an ideology that is considered (by the speaker or by some implied shar ...

and conspiracy theories in the academic community.See: * * * * * * At first academics showed little interest in the Eurabia theories due to their lack of factual basis. The theme was treated in studies of rightist extremism and Middle East Politics. This changed after the

2011 Norway attacks The 2011 Norway attacks, referred to in Norway as 22 July ( no, 22. juli) or as 22/7, were two domestic terrorist attacks by neo-Nazi Anders Behring Breivik against the government, the civilian population, and a Workers' Youth League (AUF) ...

, which resulted in the publication of several works specifically treating the Eurabia conspiracy theories. Janne Haaland Matláry went as far as to say that "it is poor use of time to analyse something so primitive".

Demography

The Pew Research Center said in 2011 that "the data that we have isn't pointing in the direction of 'Eurabia' at all", and predicts that the percentage of Muslims is estimated to rise to 8% in 2030. In 2007 academics who analysed the demographics dismissed the predictions that the EU would have Muslim majorities. It is completely reasonable to assume that the overall Muslim population in Europe will increase, and Muslim citizens have and will have a significant imprint on European life. The prospect of a homogeneous Muslim community per se, or a Muslim majority in Europe is however out of the question.

Justin Vaïsse Justin Vaïsse (born 26 June 1973) is a French historian and intellectual. Since March 2019, he is the Director General of the Paris Peace Forum organization, an independent NGO he founded in 2018 under the impetus of French President Emmanuel M ...

seeks to discredit what he calls, "four myths of the alarmist school", using Muslims in France as an example. Specifically he has written that the

Muslim population growth Muslim population growth is the population growth of Muslims worldwide. Between 2015 and 2060, Muslim population is projected to increase by 70%. This compares with the 32% growth of world population during the same period. The young median age ...

rate was lower than that predicted by Eurabia, partly because the

fertility rate The total fertility rate (TFR) of a population is the average number of children that would be born to a woman over her lifetime if: # she were to experience the exact current age-specific fertility rates (ASFRs) through her lifetime # she were t ...

of immigrants declines with integration. He further points out that Muslims are not a monolithic or cohesive group, and that many Muslims do seek to integrate politically and socially. Finally, he wrote that despite their numbers, Muslims have had little influence on French foreign policy. Furthermore, leading European Muslims are rather outspoken against religious fundamentalism and are far from acknowledging Arab countries as a role model at all.Europas muslimische Eliten: Wer sie sind und was sie wollen Jytte Klausen, Campus Verlag, 13.03.2000

(2009). ''Best of Times, Worst of Times''.

University Press of New England The University Press of New England (UPNE), located in Lebanon, New Hampshire and founded in 1970, was a university press consortium including Brandeis University, Dartmouth College (its host member), Tufts University, the University of New H ...

p. 211

Spread of conspiracies and further influences

Examples of proponents use:

Europe

Germany

In 2010, German politician

Thilo Sarrazin Thilo Sarrazin (born 12 February 1945) is a German politician and former member of the SPD, writer, senator of finance for the State of Berlin from January 2002 until April 2009, former member of the Executive Board of the Deutsche Bundesbank u ...

released ''Germany Abolishes Itself''. The book contends that with continued Islamic immigration, Germany will become a majority Muslim nation. Journalist

Simon Kuper Simon Kuper is a South African-British author. He writes about sports "from an anthropologic perspective." Kuper was born in Uganda of South African parents, and moved to Leiden in the Netherlands as a child, where his father, Adam Kuper, was ...

has argued that, with over 1 million copies sold, Sarrazin had done more to publicize the concept of Eurabia more than anybody else in Europe. In political campaigning for the

2019 European Parliament election The 2019 European Parliament election was held between 23 and 26 May 2019, the ninth parliamentary election since the first direct elections in 1979. A total of 751 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) represent more than 512 million peopl ...

, Germany's far-right party AfD used

Jean-Léon Gérôme Jean-Léon Gérôme (11 May 1824 – 10 January 1904) was a French painter and sculptor in the style now known as academicism. His paintings were so widely reproduced that he was "arguably the world's most famous living artist by 1880." The ra ...

's 1886 painting '' The Slave Market'' with the slogan "Europeans vote AfD!" and "So Europe doesn't become Eurabia!". '' Deutsche Welle'' reported that the reproduction of the painting suggestively depicted dark-skinned men with beards and foreign-dress "inspecting the teeth of a nude white woman".

Italy

In 2004, journalist

claimed that Muslim immigration and high fertility was part of the conspiracy theory. In 2005, Fallaci told ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

'' that "Europe is no longer Europe", adding "it is 'Eurabia,' a colony of Islam". In 2011, Francesco Speroni, a sitting

MEP MEP may refer to: Organisations and politics * Mahajana Eksath Peramuna, a political party in Sri Lanka * Mahajana Eksath Peramuna (1956), a former political alliance in Sri Lanka * Maison européenne de la photographie, a photography centre ...

for

Lega Nord Lega Nord (; acronym: LN), whose complete name is (), is a right-wing, federalist, populist and conservative political party in Italy. In the run-up of the 2018 general election, the party was rebranded as (), without changing its official ...

, stated that he shared the same view as

's idea "that we are going towards Eurabia". In the aftermath of the shooting, Speroni confirmed his agreement with Breivik on the conspiracy theory in an interview with Radio 24. In 2018, Giulio Meotti used the theory in relation to the

demographics of Europe Figures for the population of Europe vary according to the particular definition of Europe's boundaries. In 2018, Europe had a total population of over 751 million people. Russia is the most populous country in Europe, with a population of 1 ...

, writing that "Europe is over. Its future will be a mix of Eurabia and a geriatric ward." In May 2019, ahead of the European elections,

leader for

Sarzana Sarzana (, ; lij, Sarzann-a) is a town, ''comune'' (municipality) and former short-lived Catholic bishopric in the Province of La Spezia, Liguria, Italy. It is east of Spezia, on the railway to Pisa, at the point where the railway to Parma div ...

claimed that both the

European People's Party The European People's Party (EPP) is a European political party with Christian-democratic, conservative, and liberal conservatism, liberal-conservative member parties. A transnational organisation, it is composed of other political parties. Fo ...

and the

Party of European Socialists The Party of European Socialists (PES) is a Social democracy, social democratic and Progressivism, progressive European political party. The PES comprises national-level political parties from all member states of the European Union (EU) plus ...

were attempting to bring about Eurabia. The day before the vote, Italian Deputy Prime Minister

Matteo Salvini Matteo Salvini (; born 9 March 1973) is an Italian politician who has served as Deputy Prime Minister of Italy and Minister of Infrastructure and Transport since 2022. He has been Federal Secretary of Italy's Lega Nord (Northern League) party ...

endorsed the theory as a genuine threat. He insisted that a state of Eurabia had already occurred in Sweden, a claim which the

Swedish embassy This is a list of diplomatic missions of Sweden. Sweden has a moderately sized diplomatic network of 78 embassies and 7 consulates general, supplemented by honorary consulates, cultural centres and trade missions. In countries without Swedish repr ...

promptly denied with an official statement. Invoking the memory of Oriana Fallaci, he released an anti-migrant speech on Twitter, accompanied by the message "No to Eurabia".

Netherlands

In 2008, journalist Arthur van Amerongen described

Molenbeek ( French, ) or (Dutch, ), often simply called Molenbeek, is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the western part of the region, it is bordered by the City of Brussels, from which it is separated ...

as "Brussels: Eurabia". Despite alleging that writer Wim van Rooy had already coined the phrase, Amerongen faced severe peer and media criticism for endorsing the conspiracy theory. After the

November 2015 Paris attacks The November 2015 Paris attacks () were a series of coordinated Islamist terrorist attacks that took place on Friday, 13 November 2015 in Paris, France, and the city's northern suburb, Saint-Denis. Beginning at 9:15p.m., three suicide bomber ...

and discovery of a

Brussels ISIL terror cell The Brussels ISIL terror cell were a group accused of involvement in large-scale terrorist attacks in Paris in November 2015 (130 killed) and Brussels in early 2016 (32 killed), as well as other attacks against European targets. The terror ce ...

, photojournalist Teun Voeten agreed with Amerongen's description, calling the municipality an "ethnic and religious enclave".

leader

, who serves in the Dutch

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

, has openly stated that "if we do not stop Islamification now, Eurabia and Netherabia will just be a matter of time." A supporter of the conspiracy theory, Wilders believes Muslim immigration to Europe is being driven by an agreement between the European Union and Islamic countries. He has delivered speeches in the Dutch parliament about Eurabia.

Norway

In 2008,

Peder Are Nøstvold Jensen Peder Are Nøstvold Jensen (born 11 June 1975) is a prominent Norwegian counter-jihad blogger who writes under the pseudonym Fjordman and who has been characterized as far-right and Islamophobic. Jensen wrote anonymously as Fjordman starting in ...

, writing under his pseudonym

, published ''Defeating Eurabia''. The book contends that 1 in 3 babies born in France are from a Muslim-background, and that there are hundreds of "Muslim ghettos" following

Sharia law Sharia (; ar, شريعة, sharīʿa ) is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition. It is derived from the religious precepts of Islam and is based on the sacred scriptures of Islam, particularly the Quran and the ...

in the country, which Fjordman believes will either be overrun or face an impending civil war. ''2083: A European Declaration of Independence'', the manifesto of

, the perpetrator of the

, includes a lengthy discussion of and support for the "Eurabia" theory. It also contains several articles on the Eurabia theme by Bat Ye'or and Fjordman.See: *
Full text
*
Full text
* * * * * * * * * * As a result, the theory received widespread mainstream media attention following the attacks. In the verdict against Breivik, the court said that "many people share Breivik's conspiracy theory, including the Eurabia theory. The court finds that very few people, however, share Breivik's idea that the alleged "Islamization" should be fought with terror." Breivik has later stated that he previously had exploited "counterjihad" rhetoric in order to protect " ethno-nationalists", thereby instead launching a media drive against what he deemed "anti-nationalist counterjihad"-supporters.

United Kingdom

* * The premises common to these theories are that a rapid demographic transition in Europe has been induced by "European politicians and civil servants", and will lead to a Muslim majority which will have an unchanging, hostile attitude toward their host nations. Other premises, such as acquiring the compliance of or control over bureaucracies,

intelligentsia The intelligentsia is a status class composed of the university-educated people of a society who engage in the complex mental labours by which they critique, shape, and lead in the politics, policies, and culture of their society; as such, the i ...

s and European political leaders are frequent.

North America

Canada

Author Mark Steyn, described as a "champion of 'Eurabia' myth" by Canadian newspaper '' The Globe and Mail'', has predicted an emerging Eurabia region, captured by the religion of Islam and hostile to U.S. interests. Steyn's promotion of the conspiracy theory centres on European demographics, where he believes a culturally asserted Muslim mass will become the majority population and demand the assimilation of white Europeans.

United States

In the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

, the theories have found strong proponents in the Islamophobia movement, among them the president of

Stop Islamization of America Stop Islamization of America (SIOA), also known as the American Freedom Defense Initiative, is an anti-Muslim, pro-Israel American counter-jihad organization known primarily for its controversial, Islamophobic advertising campaigns. The group ...

Robert B. Spencer Robert Bruce Spencer (born 1962) is an American anti-Muslim author and blogger, and one of the key figures of the counter-jihad movement. His published books include two ''New York Times'' bestsellers. In 2003 he founded and has since di ...

and political commentator

Daniel Pipes Daniel Pipes (born September 9, 1949) is an American historian, writer, and commentator. He is the president of the Middle East Forum, and publisher of its ''Middle East Quarterly'' journal. His writing focuses on American foreign policy and th ...

. In May 2006,

Fox News The Fox News Channel, abbreviated FNC, commonly known as Fox News, and stylized in all caps, is an American multinational conservative cable news television channel based in New York City. It is owned by Fox News Media, which itself is ...

host John Gibson called for white Americans to have more babies, referencing a decline in the "native population" of Europe as an apparent demographic warning for the U.S. regarding Hispanic birthrates. In what

Media Matters Media Matters for America (MMfA) is a politically left-leaning 501(c)(3), nonprofit organization and media watchdog group. MMfA was founded in 2004 by journalist and political activist David Brock as a counterweight to the conservative Media ...

reported as fearmongering, he claimed that Eurabia was occurring in Europe. In his 2011–2012 run for the Republican presidential nomination, senator

Rick Santorum Richard John Santorum ( ; born May 10, 1958) is an American politician, attorney, and political commentator. A member of the Republican Party, he served as a United States Senator from Pennsylvania from 1995 to 2007 and was the Senate's third ...

warned that Europe was "creating an opportunity for the creation of Eurabia", and that the continent was "losing, because they are not having children." Classicist Bruce Thornton is also a strong advocate for the theory. A 2007 film outline by

Steve Bannon Stephen Kevin Bannon (born November 27, 1953) is an American media executive, political strategist, and former investment banker. He served as the White House's chief strategist in the administration of U.S. president Donald Trump during the ...

, who would later become the chief strategist for President

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of ...

and a member of the

U.S. National Security Council The United States National Security Council (NSC) is the principal forum used by the President of the United States for consideration of national security, military, and Foreign relations of the United States, foreign policy matters. Based in t ...

, proposed that Muslims were trying to turn the United States into the "Islamic States of America".

Criticism

The Economist ''The Economist'' is a British weekly newspaper printed in demitab format and published digitally. It focuses on current affairs, international business, politics, technology, and culture. Based in London, the newspaper is owned by The Econ ...

'' rejected the concept of Eurabia as "

scaremongering Fearmongering, or scaremongering, is a form of manipulation that causes fear by using exaggerated rumors of impending danger. Theory According to evolutionary psychology, humans have a strong impulse to pay attention to danger because awareness ...

in the ''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nikke ...

'' described Ye'or's book as "little-read but influential", and akin to "

in reverse", adding that "though ludicrous, Eurabia became the spiritual mother of a genre".

David Aaronovitch David Morris Aaronovitch (born 8 July 1954) is an English journalist, television presenter and author. He is a regular columnist for ''The Times'' and the author of ''Paddling to Jerusalem: An Aquatic Tour of Our Small Country'' (2000), ''Voodoo ...

acknowledges that the threat of "jihadist terror" may be real, but that there is no threat of Eurabia. Aaronovitch concludes that those who study conspiracy theories will recognize Eurabia to be a theory that adds the "Sad Dupes thesis to the Enemy Within idea". Conservative US military analyst Ralph Peters has criticized the Eurabia narrative on the grounds that it is unlikely to happen as posited, citing the historical precedent of genocides frequently occurring in Europe, such as in the Balkans during the 1990s, and

the Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...

during World War II. Peters stated that if Muslims "taking over" Europe were imminent, Europeans would either forcibly deport their Muslims at best or engage in a

genocide Genocide is the intentional destruction of a people—usually defined as an ethnic, national, racial, or religious group—in whole or in part. Raphael Lemkin coined the term in 1944, combining the Greek word (, "race, people") with the L ...

of them at worst, possibly leading to a U.S. intervention on behalf of persecuted Muslims. In his 2007 book ''Wars of Blood and Faith'', Peters states that far from being about to take over Europe through demographic change, "Europe's Muslims are living on borrowed time" and that in the event of a major terrorist attack in Europe, thanks to the "ineradicable viciousness" of Europeans and what he perceives as a historical tendency to over-react to real or perceived threats, European Muslims "will be lucky if they're only deported". According to Marján and Sapir, the very idea of "Eurabia" is "based on an extremist conspiracy theory, according to which Europe and the Arab states would join forces to make life impossible for

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

and Islamize the old continent." Writing in ''

Race & Class ''Race & Class'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal on contemporary racism and imperialism. It is published quarterly by Sage Publications on behalf of the Institute of Race Relations and is interdisciplinary, publishing material across the human ...

'' in 2006, author and freelance journalist Matt Carr argued that Eurabia had moved from "an outlandish conspiracy theory" to a "dangerous Islamophobic fantasy". Carr states, Arun Kundnani, writing for the International Centre for Counter-terrorism, notes that "Eurabia" fulfills the

movement's "structural need" for a conspiracy theory, and compares "Eurabia" to ''

The Protocols of the Elders of Zion ''The Protocols of the Elders of Zion'' () or ''The Protocols of the Meetings of the Learned Elders of Zion'' is a fabricated antisemitic text purporting to describe a Jewish plan for global domination. The hoax was plagiarized from several ...

'', while Carr compares it to the

Zionist Occupation Government conspiracy theory The Zionist occupation government, Zionist occupational government or Zionist-occupied government (ZOG), sometimes also referred to as the Jewish occupational government (JOG), is an antisemitic conspiracy theory claiming Jews secretly cont ...

. Doug Saunders argues that pro-

Al-Qaeda Al-Qaeda (; , ) is an Islamic extremism, Islamic extremist organization composed of Salafist jihadists. Its members are mostly composed of Arab, Arabs, but also include other peoples. Al-Qaeda has mounted attacks on civilian and military ta ...

writers, and those who promote the Eurabia theory as truth, have a common extremism and world view, where "there is one creature called 'the Muslim' and another called 'the Westerner. He proposes that there is no such distinction and that Muslims can become secular in the Western world.

Notes

External links

{{Conspiracy theories 2000s neologisms Arabization Islamization Euroscepticism Islam-related controversies Political neologisms Demographics of Europe Anti-Arabism in Europe Neologisms Political catchphrases Scares Conspiracy theories in Europe Conspiracy theories involving Muslims Far-right politics in Europe Far-right politics in the United States Islamophobia in Europe White genocide conspiracy theory Stereotypes of Arab people