“Traitor” or “Foreign Agent”

This narrative has been adopted by disinformation purveyors and adapted to the specific context of each country:

Narrative: In the case of Romania, the nationalist identitarian groups identified in this case portray Adina Marincea and the Elie Wiesel Institute, the institution she works for, as “anti-Romanian” entities that engage in “cultural terrorism”. For example, they claim that her writings propagate anti-Romanian sentiments by framing Romanian nationalists as a threat. They also depict Adina Marincea as a foreign agent working against Romanian interests, suggesting that she is financed by “foreign entities” like Soros to suppress conservative Christian voices in Romania.

Brief context: Alexander Roth is a young journalist, deputy editor of the online edition of Waiblinger Zeitung, a regional newspaper in the federal state of Baden-Württemberg. The region is a stronghold of Germany’s anti-vaxx-groups and conspiracy-ideologists of the so-called Reichsbürger scene. Roth has been reporting on their activities since the start of the pandemic and since then has been continually attacked on- and offline.

Narrative: Again and again he is accused of being close to the Green Party, which, like him, wants to “destroy the country, the energy, the people and the economy”.

Narrative: Tschinderle is portrayed as belonging to a “liberal, European journalism” that is alien to Hungarian society. According to the accusation, Tschinderle -and all liberal, European journalists- are threatening the freedom of opinion of “true” Hungarians. The attacks against the journalist are “justified” because they need to defend their “freedom of speech,” which is under threat from outside forces.

Narrative: The inviolability of national myths and identity foundations: Questioning the Homeland War and the Catholic Church and its dogmas is declared an anti-Croatian activity, and those actors who question them are accused of implementing Great Serbian politics and Chetnikism, promoting Yugoslavianism and communism, and in a broader sense, are enemies of the Croatian people and the state. In this way, the concept of the “other” is created, which also serves the additional homogenisation of Croatian society by uniting around widespread nationalist myths and strengthening social control over individuals. Even when we talk about the media whose owners and journalists are Croats, if they question nationalist dogmas, they will be declared Serbs and/or Chetniks and/or their collaborators or agents.