The following article has been published in The Times of Israel Blogs by Julie Nathan.

The myth that there is a con­spir­acy to commit genocide against people of European ethnicity is not only dangerous but deadly. It has now claimed the lives of 50 Muslims in New Zealand.

The myth is known by various names: White Genocide, White Replace­ment, Ethnic Genocide, Ethnic Replace­ment and Demo­graph­ic Replace­ment. But they all refers to the same thing ― the paranoid fantasy that European peoples in Europe, North America and Aus­tralasia are delib­er­ately being “replaced” through the “import­a­tion” espe­cially of Africans, Asians and Arabs into European ethnic majority countries, for the express purpose of des­troy­ing European culture, and sub­jug­at­ing and decim­at­ing those of European ethnicity.

While there was a wave of immig­rants from Africa, Asia and the Middle East into Western countries in the wake of the carnage in Syria, there has been no con­spir­acy or plot of any kind to replace or anni­hil­ate indi­gen­ous Europeans or ethnic Europeans elsewhere.

I’ve been raising the dangers of this myth per­sist­ently for almost eight months, first in August last year and then again in October after the murderous rampage in a synagogue in Pitt­s­burgh. Last month, I issued another warning. Has it had to take the murder of  fifty more innocent people, this time Muslims at prayer in Christ­ch­urch, for “White Genocide” finally to be recog­nised as an ideology that leads to murder and terrorism?

Those who subscribe to the “White Genocide” myth often see the solution in terms of what they term “White Revolu­tion” and “Race War.” They advocate instig­at­ing violence and a civil war between the majority ethnic Europeans and the various minor­it­ies of non-European ethnicity. The term “Race War” is often used in the acronym GTKRWN (“Gas The Kikes, Race War Now”), as a signal and code that “the Jews” (derog­at­ively referred to as “kikes”) are the prime enemy, and hence are the ones to be targeted and anni­hil­ated in order to win the “Race War.”

Why the Jews? Because many on the far-right not only imagine a con­spir­acy to replace ethnic Europeans with Muslims and non-Europeans, but also imagine that “the Jews are behind it.” This has already led to the murder of many Jews, most notori­ously in a Pitt­s­burgh synagogue, as well as to calls for the anni­hil­a­tion of all Jews as the only means to save “the European race” in some kind of exist­en­tial war.

Many racist mass murderers who have engaged in what is referred to as “lead­er­less res­ist­ance” (which is code for acts of terrorism) have hoped that their acts would spark this “Race War” ― these include Dylann Roof, Robert Bowers, James Jackson and now Brenton Tarrant, to name just some. Thus far, despite the pro­pa­ganda and terrorism, for­tu­nately no such war has come to pass.

The idea that one act of mass murder ― of African-Americans, Jews, Muslims or others ― would spark a “Race War” relies on other people with a similar or the same ideology and belief in a “Race War” to follow suit and commit acts of violence or murder. If this occurs and there is an inef­fect­ive response by law enforce­ment agencies, it is not incon­ceiv­able that there could be retali­ation by other fanatics sup­posedly acting in defence of targeted minor­it­ies. The situation could then snow-ball and escalate into chronic civil strife.

Already, since Tarrant’s terrorist act, Australia has seen some ramping up of rhetoric, threats and violence. Even though Tarrant executed his attack in New Zealand, he is an Aus­trali­an, born and raised. A man in Adelaide who voiced support for the massacre by Tarrant, and who possessed weapons, has since been arrested. Another man drove his car into the gates of a mosque in Brisbane and yelled anti-Muslim abuse at the people there. A call by some Muslims in Australia for retali­at­ory attacks does not bode well either.

The concern, and crucial problem, is the increas­ing sense of des­per­a­tion among those who subscribe to the “White Genocide” myth. In their fevered ima­gin­a­tions many of them feel that their backs are against the wall and that, with no way out, they have no altern­at­ive but to fight. When enough of them feel that way, there will be violence, murder and mayhem in our streets. Cities once rel­at­ively free of civil strife could end up looking like cities damaged by urban warfare and terrorism.

Brenton Tarrant, in his 2019 manifesto ― titled “The Great Replace­ment” ― on page 50, demands: “The invaders must be removed from European soil, regard­less from where they came or when they came. Roma, African, Indian, Turkish, Semitic or other. If they are not of our people, but live in our lands, they must be removed … How they are removed is irrel­ev­ant, peace­fully, force­fully, happily, violently or dip­lo­mat­ic­ally. They must be removed.” Through­out the manifesto, Tarrant con­sist­ently calls for violence and killing, including the murder of children, until the European “ethno-nation­al­ists” have won the “Race War.”

This is not just a Muslim problem, nor a Jewish problem, nor an African or Indian problem. It is a problem for all people within societies where intol­er­ance of the other and racism and bigotry take hold. It becomes a problem when it is not recog­nised or acknow­ledged, and where it is allowed to fester and spread without it being addressed and countered. It is a problem we need to face together, as one people, as fellow-citizens and fellow human beings. The altern­at­ive ― of being caught up in a bloody and deadly “Race War” ― is unthink­able.