Remigration

From Wikipedia the free encyclopedia

Not to be confused with Return migration.
A banner advocating "remigration" during an anti-immigration protest in Calais, France, in 2015

Remigration, or re-immigration,[1] sometimes euphemized as "repatriation",[2][3] is a far-right political concept referring to the forced or promoted return of non-ethnically European immigrants, often including their European-born descendants, back to their place of racial origin, regardless of citizenship status.[4][5][6] This idea is especially popular within the Identitarian movement in Europe.[7][8] Most proponents of remigration suggest leaving some residents with non-European background aside from the forced return, based on a vaguely defined degree of assimilation into European culture.[9][10][11]

Advocates of remigration promote the concept in pursuit of ethno-cultural homogeneity.[11] According to Deutsche Welle, ethnopluralism, the Nouvelle Droite concept that different ethnicities require their own segregated living spaces, creates a need for remigration of people with "foreign roots".[12] Scholar José Ángel Maldonado has compared the idea to a "soft type of ethnic cleansing under the guise of deportation and segregation."[13]

Presented by far-right extremists as a remedy to mass immigration and the perceived Islamisation of Europe, remigration has increasingly become an integral policy position of the Identitarian movement.[14][15] Research from the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, conducted in April 2019, showed a distinct rise in conversations about remigration on Twitter between 2012 and 2019.[16]

Wider usage[edit]

Look up remigration in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

The term remigration stems from Classical Latin remigrāre, "to return home", and was first used in English in the writings of Andrew Willet, an early 17th century Church of England theologian.[17] It originally refers to the voluntary return of an immigrant to their place of origin and is still used as such in social science.[18][19][20][21]

Origins and development[edit]

Early evocations of the modern far-right concept of remigration can be found in French 1960s movements such as Europe-Action,[22] considered the "embryonic form" of the Nouvelle Droite.[23][24] Jean-Pierre Stirbois, then General Secretary of the National Front (FN), was the first to coin the expression "we will send them back" ('on les renverra') in an interview.[25] He was the architect of the first electoral breakthrough of the FN in 1983, earning nearly 17% of the votes in the city of Dreux with the promise of "inverting the migratory flows".[26] The idea is also expressed in the German slogan "Deutschland den Deutschen, Ausländer raus" ('Germany to Germans, foreigners out'),[27] and in the motto of L'Œuvre Française "La France aux Français" ('France to the French').[28]

Since the 2010s, the Identitarian movement has engaged in forms of agitprop, or "cultural struggle", in an attempt to push remigration towards the centre of the political debate.[4] The term is closely related to the concept of the Great Replacement, which states that the white Christian European population is being progressively replaced with non-European populations, specifically from North Africa and the Middle East, through mass migration, demographic growth, and a European drop in the birth rate.[29][30]

Proponents of remigration often use the historical example of the expulsion of Pieds-Noirs from Algeria in 1962 as a successful past instance of organized forced remigration,[31][32] even though the exodus is described by some historians as an ethnic cleansing stimulated by violence and threats from the National Liberation Front (FLN) and part of the native Muslim population, as evidenced by the slogan "the suitcase or the coffin" promoted by the FLN, the kidnappings of Pieds-Noirs, or the Oran massacre of 1962.[33][34]

Modern use[edit]

Since the 2010s, the idea of remigration has been used by thinkers and political leaders of the Identitarian movement, such as Guillaume Faye,[35] Renaud Camus,[36][37] Henry de Lesquen,[10] or Martin Sellner,[38] as a euphemism for the mass deportation of non-European immigrants and native residents with a migrant background, back to their country of origin, the criteria of exclusion being a vaguely defined degree of assimilation into European culture.[9]

In August 2017, protestors flew banners throughout Quebec City, calling for the remigration of non-whites from the Quebec capital.[36] That same month, it was reported how Identity Evropa, who later rebranded themselves as the American Identity Movement, supported the remigration of immigrants from the United States.[39]

In August 2018, Australian far-right extremist Blair Cottrell openly advocated for remigration,[40] calling for the deportation of "enemies of my country" and the execution of immigrants who refused to leave.[41][42]

Austria[edit]

In March 2019, just a week after the Christchurch mosque shootings and release of the shooter's manifesto (called The Great Replacement), Identitäre Bewegung Österreich, the Austria branch of Generation Identity (GI), held a rally in Vienna, protesting the supposed Great Replacement of Austrians and openly calling for remigration of residents with a migrant background.[9] By April 2019, a branch of the FPÖ party, who at the time were in coalition government as a junior partner with the ÖVP, announced a "national call for remigration".[14]

France[edit]

In October 2017, Generation Identity announced policy plans to its members, for France to force former colonies to take back migrants by using its status as a nuclear power and making development subsidies and aid conditional on the repatriation of immigrants.[43]

In March 2018, an Al Jazeera investigative team released footage and audio revealing Marine Le Pen's close confidant and former accountant, Nicolas Crochet, saying that the National Rally party would introduce a remigration programme to force immigrants back to their country of origin, in the event that they came to power in France.[44]

In February 2019, speaking with L'Opinion, Debout la France candidate Emmanuelle Gave (daughter of French entrepreneur Charles Gave [fr]), advocated for remigration as a policy for voters in the European Parliament elections in May.[45] In what Libération described as a "dangerous penetration of the ideas of the ultra-radical extreme right in the French political space", Gave announced that she was in favor of the party putting remigration "on the table".[14]

According to an IFOP poll conducted in March 2022 prior to the French presidential elections, 63% of French people claim "not to be shocked" by the use of the word "remigration" and 66% support the idea of remigrating illegal immigrants, foreign criminals and "Fiche S" foreigners.[46][47][48]

According to an OpinionWay poll from March 2022, 55% of French people also support the establishment of a Ministry of Remigration, an idea proposed by Eric Zemmour during the French presidential elections campaign.[49]

Germany[edit]

In March 2018, Identitarian protesters were arrested for trespassing on the roof of Frankfurt Central Station, and hanging a banner that reads "Endstation Multikulti. Notbremse ziehen. Remigration" (Terminal station Multikulti. Pull emergency brake. Remigration), while chanting phrases like "home, freedom, tradition" from a megaphone.[50]

In March 2019, the German Identitarian movement began a "remigration campaign" which included governmental petitions, a "flashmob" outside a mosque and a demonstration in front of the Federal Ministry of the Interior, Building and Community in Berlin, where the protesters demanded the repatriation of Islamic refugees back to the Middle East.[14] It was reported that the group were distributing posters aimed at Syrian refugees that read "The war is over. Syria needs you" and referenced a "remigration policy".[51]

In May 2019, Katrin Ebner-Steiner, leader of AfD in Bavaria, indicated that the deportation of non-whites from Germany was a preferable policy to racial integration, after she called for "Remigration instead of integration" at a conference for the Southern wing of the party.[11][52]

Ahead of the 2019 European Parliament election, Germany's opposition party, the far-right Alternative for Germany, made remigration part of their policy platform, openly calling for "remigration, instead of mass immigration",[14] and stating that "Germany and Europe must put in place remigration programs on the largest possible scale".[16] AfD MP Markus Frohnmaier has repeatedly worn a slogan reading "Remigration Ministry" into the Bundestag.[53]

In January 2024, Correctiv reported that members of the AfD had secretly met with figures from the German and Austrian far-right in a meeting in Potsdam in November 2023, in which they allegedly discussed a "remigration" plan for deporting immigrants, which could include naturalised German citizens. The figures present included Identitarian activist Martin Sellner.[54][55][56]

United Kingdom[edit]

Generation Identity UK and Ireland activists have engaged in the promotion of remigration. In April 2018, Hope Not Hate detailed how, while the group was relatively unknown by the mainstream media; its "core beliefs" of ethnopluralism, and remigration of non-whites from Europe, was more extreme than any policies of the English Defence League.[57] In May 2018, The Times was reporting how the extremist organization was promoting the singling out of black British people for priority remigration from the UK.[58][59]

Other[edit]

According to Nick Lowles, one of the authors of a report by Hope not Hate, in a related concept, members of the counter-jihad movement "believe there will be a confrontation between Islam and the West and there can be no accommodation so the only solution can be to expel followers of Islam from Britain and Europe".[60] The influential Norwegian counter-jihad blogger Fjordman himself stated in his writings in June 2011 that "Islam, and all those who practice it, must be totally and physically removed from the entire Western world".[61]

Criticism[edit]

Michael Weiss and Julia Ebner, of the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, have identified the "identitarian concept of 'remigration'" as having accelerated since 2014, and associated it with increasing calls from the far-right for mass deportation of non-white Europeans, in what they described as "ethnic cleansing".[62]

Francis Combes [fr] has described remigration as a form of demagoguery that would lead to ethnic cleansing. Arguing that France has had a mixed genetic heritage since Gallic times, he has questioned the practicality of expelling French people of immigrant origin and the number of generations that would require investigation in pursuit of "purity".[63]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Death toll in mosque attacks rises to 50". National Post. March 15, 2019. Camus held firm to his notion that immigrants are replacing natives in France and elsewhere. He says it is a "changing of the people" that should be combated with what he calls "re-immigration" and not with violence.
  2. ^ Buck, Christopher (2009). Religious Myths and Visions of America: How Minority Faiths Redefined America's World Role. ABC-CLIO. pp. 114–115. ISBN 978-0-313-35959-0.
  3. ^ "Parti de L'In-nocence". In-nocence. Retrieved 2019-08-05. Il n'est d'autre chance de retour à la paix civile et à la dignité que la libération du sol national et le retour chez eux des colonisateurs: remigration, Grand Rapatriement.
  4. ^ a b "La "remigration", nouvelle frontière de l'extrême droite ?" [The "remigration", new frontier of the far right?]. Libération (in French). February 28, 2017. Archived from the original on May 24, 2019. Retrieved July 1, 2019. Reduce or stop immigration? Inadequate, judges a part of the extreme right, which also pleads for the return to the country of most immigrants, even their descendants.
  5. ^ Feffer, John (2020). Right Across the World: The Global Networking of the Far-Right and the Left Response. Pluto Press. pp. 48–49. ISBN 9781786808554 – via library.oapen.org.
  6. ^ McAdams, A. James; Castrillon, Alejandro (26 September 2021). Contemporary Far-Right Thinkers and the Future of Liberal Democracy. Routledge. pp. 12, 74. ISBN 978-1-000-43190-2 – via Google Books.
  7. ^ Richards, Imogen (2019). "A Philosophical and Historical Analysis of "Generation Identity": Fascism, Online Media, and the European New Right". Terrorism and Political Violence. 12 (1): 28–47. doi:10.1080/09546553.2019.1662403. ISSN 0954-6553. S2CID 210643607. Demonstrating GI's exclusionary politics, its members advocate for what they term a policy of forced "remigration," in which migrants (from primarily Middle Eastern, North African, and Muslim-majority nations), would be forced to return to their countries of origin
  8. ^ Nissen, Anita (2020), Norocel, Ov Cristian; Hellström, Anders; Jørgensen, Martin Bak (eds.), "The Trans-European Mobilization of "Generation Identity"", Nostalgia and Hope: Intersections between Politics of Culture, Welfare, and Migration in Europe, IMISCOE Research Series, Springer International Publishing, pp. 85–100, doi:10.1007/978-3-030-41694-2_6, ISBN 978-3-030-41694-2, The call for so-called "remigration" of third-country immigrants is a term GI France has adopted from BI, referring to the (forced) returning of third-country immigrants to their home countries.
  9. ^ a b c Ebner, Julia (2019-04-04). "Who are Europe's far-right identitarians?". Politico. Retrieved 2019-06-22.
  10. ^ a b ""Réémigration", négationnisme, "race congoïde"... Les mauvaises ondes d'Henry de Lesquen, le patron de Radio Courtoisie". France Info (in French). 2016-12-07. Retrieved 2019-06-22.
  11. ^ a b c "Debatte Begriffe der neuen Rechten - Neue Wörter, alter Hass" [Debate terms of the new right - New words, old hate]. Die Tageszeitung (in German). July 1, 2019. [...] jedoch auch offizielle AfD-Accounts, welche fordern, dass syrische Flüchtlinge abgeschoben werden sollen, oder befinden, dass für „Türken", die sich „nicht integrieren wollen", eine Remigration das beste wäre. [...] liegt eine der größten Gefahren für offene und demokratische Gesellschaften in der Naivität gegenüber den politischen Bemühungen, extremistische Rhetorik zu normalisieren
  12. ^ "How dangerous is the Identitarian Movement?". Deutsche Welle. 13 July 2019.
  13. ^ Maldonado, José Ángel (2020). "Manifestx: toward a rhetoric loaded with future". Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies. 17 (1): 104–110. doi:10.1080/14791420.2020.1723799. ISSN 1479-1420. S2CID 216420424.
  14. ^ a b c d e "La "remigration", un concept qui essaime au-delà des identitaires" [Remigration, a concept that goes beyond identity]. Libération (in French). April 12, 2019. A key concept of French identity thought, remigration is a new euphemism for an old phenomenon, namely the forced displacement of entire populations. This notion is an integral part of the ideological project of the identity movement and figures prominently in its literature
  15. ^ Leeb, Claudia (n.d.). "The Right Extremist Identitarian Movement in Europe: A Critical Theory Analysis". The Right Extremist Identitarian Movement in Europe: A Critical Theory Analysis (2): 71–88. doi:10.1400/281871.
  16. ^ a b "Taboos fall away as far-right EU candidates breach red line". Associated Press. May 16, 2019. "remigration," the chilling notion of returning immigrants to their native lands in what amounts to a soft-style ethnic cleansing.
  17. ^ "remigration | Definition of remigration in English by Lexico Dictionaries". Lexico Dictionaries | English. Archived from the original on June 22, 2019. Retrieved 2019-06-22.
  18. ^ "Definition of remigation". Merriam Webster.
  19. ^ Romer, Eugene (1923). "The Population of Poland according to the Census of 1921". Geographical Review. 13 (3): 398–412. doi:10.2307/208278. ISSN 0016-7428. JSTOR 208278. This circumstance, together with the remigration of German colonists and the influx of Poles from other sections of the country...
  20. ^ Herzog, Henry W.; Schlottmann, Alan M. (1983). "Migrant Information, Job Search and the Remigration Decision". Southern Economic Journal. 50 (1): 43–56. doi:10.2307/1058039. ISSN 0038-4038. JSTOR 1058039. PMID 12312534.
  21. ^ Beenstock, Michael (1996). "Failure to Absorb: Remigration by Immigrants into Israel". International Migration Review. 30 (4): 950–978. doi:10.1177/019791839603000404. ISSN 0197-9183. PMID 12347792. S2CID 24157343.
  22. ^ François, Stéphane (2013-05-23). "Dominique Venner et le renouvellement du racisme". Fragments sur les Temps Présents (in French). Retrieved 2019-08-16. De ce fait, la revue Europe Action était l'une des premières à critiquer l'immigration (l'« invasion ») algérienne [...] et à inciter au rapatriement massif des étrangers, par hantise du métissage.
  23. ^ McCulloch, Tom (2006-08-01). "The Nouvelle Droite in the 1980s and 1990s: Ideology and Entryism, the Relationship with the Front National". French Politics. 4 (2): 160. doi:10.1057/palgrave.fp.8200099. ISSN 1476-3427. S2CID 144813395.
  24. ^ Taguieff, Pierre-André (1993). "Origines et métamorphoses de la Nouvelle Droite". Vingtième Siècle. Revue d'histoire (40): 4–6. doi:10.2307/3770354. ISSN 0294-1759. JSTOR 3770354.
  25. ^ "Musée de l'immigration: "L'extrême-droite a franchi un palier"". FIGARO. 2015-03-17. Retrieved 2019-08-16.
  26. ^ Lebourg, Nicolas; Beauregard, Joseph (2011-07-15). "Les numéros deux du FN (2/4): Jean-Pierre Stirbois, l'apparatchik". Monde Online (in French). ISSN 1950-6244. Retrieved 2019-08-17.
  27. ^ Aftenberger, I. (2017). Die ‘Identitäre’ Beseitigung der andere. In J. Goetz, J. M. Sedlacek, & A. Winkler (Eds.), Untergangster des Abendlandes (pp. 203–227). Hamburg: Marta Press.
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  30. ^ Bowles, Nellie (2019-03-18). "'Replacement Theory,' a Racist, Sexist Doctrine, Spreads in Far-Right Circles". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-06-22.
  31. ^ Simard, Marc (2017). ""Remigration": un concept infondé et insensé". Le Soleil (in French). Retrieved 2020-04-12. Ce concept serait notamment historiquement justifié, selon ses propagandistes, par le retour en Europe, au tournant des années 60, de plus ou moins un million de pieds-noirs...
  32. ^ Camus, Jean-Yves (2017). "D'où vient l'expression "remigration"?". Le Soleil. Retrieved 2019-08-17. [...] nombre de militants de la remigration avec qui j'ai parlé évoquent comme justification le fait que la remigration forcée a déjà existé, lorsqu'un million de «pieds-noirs» d'Algérie ont été obligés de fuir en métropole en 1962.
  33. ^ Jordi, Jean-Jacques (2011). Un silence d'État: les disparus civils européens de la guerre d'Algérie. Paris: SOTECA. ISBN 978-2-916385-56-3. OCLC 760990079.
  34. ^ Lugan, Bernard (2016). Histoire de l'Afrique du Nord: (Égypte, Libye, Tunisie, Algérie, Maroc): des origines à nos jours (in French). Éditions du Rocher. ISBN 978-2-268-08167-0.
  35. ^ "Au Bloc Identitaire, l'apologie de la "remigration"". Le Figaro. 2014-11-16. Retrieved 2019-08-06.
  36. ^ a b "D'où vient l'expression "remigration"?" [Where does the term "remigration" come from?]. Le Soleil (in French). 2017-08-19. Retrieved 2019-06-22. The word " remigration " means the return, forced or otherwise, of non-European foreigners, or even non-European citizens of origin, to the country where they have their roots.
  37. ^ McAuley, James (17 July 2019). "How Gay Icon Renaud Camus Became the Ideologue of White Supremacy". The Nation. ISSN 0027-8378. Archived from the original on November 1, 2020. Retrieved 2019-06-22.
  38. ^ "DÖW - Erkennen - Rechtsextremismus - Rechtsextreme Organisationen - Identitäre Bewegung Österreich (IBÖ)". DÖW. Retrieved 2019-06-22.
  39. ^ "A guide to the far-right groups that protested in Charlottesville". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. 14 August 2017.
  40. ^ "Attentat de Christchurch: l'enquête élargie à Brittany Pettibone, égérie identitaire" [Attack in Christchurch: the investigation extended to Brittany Pettibone, identity spokesperson] (in French). France-Soir. June 28, 2019.
  41. ^ "'He drove a wedge through our community': Bendigo MPs slam Blair Cottrell as Jacinta Allan turns off Sky on Metro Trains". Daily Liberal. 9 December 2018.
  42. ^ "Sky News just put the Adam Giles Show in 'recess' over Blair Cottrell interview". Business Insider. 6 August 2018. Archived from the original on 1 July 2019. Retrieved 1 July 2019.
  43. ^ "Generation Hate: French far right's violence and racism exposed". Al Jazeera. 9 December 2018.
  44. ^ "France's National Rally links to violent far-right group revealed". Al Jazeera. 16 December 2018.
  45. ^ "Européennes Une candidate Debout la France prône la "remigration"" [European Candidate Debout la France advocates "remigration"]. Libération (in French). February 12, 2019.
  46. ^ "Présidentielle 2022 : critiqué par Le Pen sur la «remigration», Zemmour l'accuse d'être «du côté de la gauche»". Le Figaro (in French). 2022-03-25. Retrieved 2023-01-17.
  47. ^ "Validation request".
  48. ^ Les Français et le concept de «remigration» Ifop-Fiducial pour Sud Radio March 2022 (in French) Retrieved 29 March 2023
  49. ^ Atlantico (2022-03-30). "55% des Français sont favorables à un ministère de la Remigration !". Atlantico (in French). Retrieved 2023-01-17.
  50. ^ "Identitäre Bewegung: Propaganda auf dem Bahnhofsdach" [Identitarian movement: propaganda on the station roof]. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (in German). June 26, 2019.
  51. ^ "Illegale Plakate: Identitäre fordern Syrer zur Heimkehr auf" [Illegal posters: Identitarians urge Syrians to return home]. Berliner Morgenpost (in German). April 26, 2019.
  52. ^ ""Flügel"-Treffen: AfD kämpft mit sich selbst" ["Wings" meeting: AfD fights with itself] (in German). Bayerischer Rundfunk. May 7, 2019.
  53. ^ "Rechtsextreme versuchen gerade verzweifelt, das Christchurch-Massaker umzudeuten" [Right-wing extremists are trying desperately to reinterpret the Christchurch massacre] (in German). Vice. March 19, 2019.
  54. ^ "Secret plan against Germany". Correctiv. 2024-01-15. Archived from the original on 21 January 2024. Retrieved 2024-01-21.
  55. ^ "Germany: AfD disputes 'remigration' investigative report". Deutsche Welle. January 10, 2024. Archived from the original on 21 January 2024. Retrieved 2024-01-21.
  56. ^ "German far-right party assailed over report of extremist meeting". Associated Press. 2024-01-18. Archived from the original on 18 January 2024. Retrieved 2024-01-21.
  57. ^ "In the last 10 months, a new far-right threat has emerged in the UK and Ireland". Hope Not Hate. 13 April 2018.
  58. ^ Gilligan, Andrew (19 May 2018). "The 'hipster fascists' who anti-racism campaigners say are breathing new life into the far right". The Times.
  59. ^ Malik, Nesrine (2018-05-23). "Fashion doesn't normalise fascism – but newspaper coverage does". New Statesman.
  60. ^ "Far-right networks exploiting terror attacks and migrant crisis to spread Islamophobia, warns report". International Business Times. 12 June 2015.
  61. ^ Meland, Astrid; Melgård, Marie (6 August 2011). "Fjordman foreslo nazi-løsning". Dagbladet (in Norwegian). Retrieved 8 August 2011.
  62. ^ "The strange tale of an unlikely racist slogan that went viral -- to lethal effect". The Washington Post. 14 May 2019.
  63. ^ "Remigration: à jeter" [Remigration: for disposal]. L'Humanité (in French). June 6, 2019.

Further reading[edit]

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