Review of Ibram X. Kendi’s Thought Series – Anatomy of a Conspiracy Theory | books

Additional information? Weltschmerz? I’ve been searching and I don’t think even the Germans have a word for how dominant the news cycle is right now. The area is well and truly flooded. Just as you start trying to process a traumatic event, something new hits the headlines.

The Ideas Series, a new book by Professor Ibram X. Kendi, does not offer a one-world summary of our modern problems. But, in 500 meticulously researched pages, it establishes a basic framework for analyzing current events.

The central thesis is that the ideological origins of what Kennedy calls “our authoritarian age” lie in what is called the “Great Replacement Theory.” This is defined as “a political theory that powerful elites enable people of color to steal the lives, livelihoods, cultures, electoral power, and freedoms of white people, who now need authoritarian protection.”

Isn’t this just white nationalism by another name? Not exactly. “Since Trump’s election in 2016, politicians and major theorists have increasingly organized international meetings, networks, conventions and associations,” Kennedy says. “For a long time, these extremists focused locally… before moving to the transnational battle to defend the white race… Which is why calling the great replacement theorists white nationalists does not fully capture their new identity and ideology.”

Most importantly, the Great Replacement Theory is not a single concept, but rather a series of interlocking ideas. The idea that racism against people of color is ending is connected to the idea that racism against white people is on the rise, it is connected to the idea that rebellions against democracy protect the nation and so on. These ideas can be easily challenged when viewed in isolation; It is their interconnectedness that gives The Great Replacement Theory its emotional resonance. If the concept of the chain sounds familiar, by the way, it’s because it’s borrowed from a quote by the 18th-century French lawyer Joseph Michel Antoine Servan, cited by Michel Foucault in Discipline and Punish: “The stupid tyrant may chain his slaves with iron chains; but the true politician chains them more firmly with the chain of their own thoughts.”

One interesting aspect of modern politics is the number of prominent people from marginalized or minority identities who lead right-wing parties. Islah’s official spokesman for internal affairs, which recently developed a mass deportation plan, is Diaa Youssef. His parents were Sri Lankan Muslims who immigrated to the United Kingdom in the 1980s. Kemi Badenoch, the staunchly anti-immigration leader of the UK Conservative Party, grew up in Nigeria and the United States. Alice Weidel, co-chair of the far-right populist Alternative for Germany party, is raising two adopted children with a woman who was born in Sri Lanka. There are lots of examples.

Some commentators have viewed these politicians as aberrations. You’ll get headlines like this, for example, from NBC News: “Alice Weidel Doesn’t Fit Picture of Far-Right Politician.” Oh, but they do, says Kennedy. “The more sexism, homophobia, and racism in their parties alienate voters, the more great alternative parties will turn to women, gays, and people of color to lead their parties — to deny convergence.”

You see, the Great Replacement Theory presents itself as reasonable and respectable. He does his best to get rid of accusations of extremism. Indeed, the AfD, now Germany’s second-largest party in national opinion polls, has just successfully petitioned against the intelligence agency’s designation of it as a “far-right” group. Uplifting marginalized identities or minorities is one of the strategies by which they launder their intolerance. The “Great Replacement of History” is another example, where far-right leaders seek to erase or attack the historical record and replace it with their own version of events. They tell us they are the victims. Meanwhile, people fighting racism are portrayed as divisive oppressors. It should be noted that Kennedy is not just an observer of all this. Having achieved international fame with his 2019 best-seller How to Be an Anti-Racist, the historian has been made a bogeyman by the right.

The Ideas Series is an ambitious book that covers many intellectual and geographical fields. It begins in the south of France with Renaud Camus, the gay French novelist who coined the phrase “The Great Replacement” in 2011. It ends in the United States in March 2025, with Trump telling the media that he is considering running for an unconstitutional third term. In the intervening pages, Kennedy addresses what he describes as “the politics of nearly a hundred countries.” Given its broad remit, aspects of the book are bound to seem shallow. For example, British readers may find the sections on Brexit and Nigel Farage overly simplistic. While Kennedy discusses the troll farms and social networks that have helped the train of thought circle the globe, there could have been a deeper question about the role of technology in all of this.

Ultimately, however, Kendi has produced a worthwhile and accessible book that not only helps us interpret current events but also offers a measure of hope. “Humanity stands at the crossroads of the authoritarian age,” Kennedy wrote in the conclusion, and there is still reason to believe that “we will create the conditions for humanity to be connected, not confined.” I think there’s a German word that means clinging defiantly to the idea that things could be better: Zoocoptismus.