What is the “replacement theory” that motivated the suspect in the shooting in Buffalo

A fascist and a white supremacist.

This is how the man suspected of killing 10 people at a Buffalo supermarket describes himself, according to a 180-page document apparently written by him.

LOOK: Author of the racist shooting in Buffalo was dressed in military and broadcast the attack live on Twitch

The authorities of buffalo they assure that payton gendron18, deliberately sought out a town with a high black population to commit the crime that also left three people injured.

Of the 13 people shot, 11 were black.

According to the police, Gendron would have driven more than 320 kilometers to reach the city located in upstate New York.

For his part, Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown said the suspect arrived with the intention of taking “as many black lives as possible.”

The attack is being investigated as a racial hate crime.

Gendron is believed to have posted a 180-page manifesto online calling on white people to wake up and kill African Americans and Jewsaccording to a senior US federal official.

“Great replacement”

On page 165, under the heading “Kill High-Profile Enemies,” he named London Mayor Sadiq Khan, the son of Pakistani immigrants, as one of the three men whom he wanted to kill.

“This Pakistani Muslim invader now sits as the representative of the people of London. Londinium, the very heart of the British Isles,” he said.

Payton Gendron left a long trail online. (ERIE COUNTY).

On Saturday night, local authorities pored over the document that outlines each step of a plan to kill as many black people as possible.

He talks about the Bushmaster semi-automatic assault rifle he would use and gives details of the parking area he would drive to and the network he would live stream the act of violence over.

Racist and anti-immigrant comments abound in the 180-page document arguing that white Americans were at risk of being replaced by people of color, a common ideology on the far right known as the “great replacement” theory.

It is a theory that has inspired other extremists in the past.

In 2019, Brenton Tarrant, an Australian extremist who broadcast his attack on one of Christchurch’s mosques in New Zealand on social media, posted a 74-page manifesto on Facebook under that name: “The Great Replacement“.

With that text, full of questions asked to himself and his own answers, and published in an account already closed by Facebook, the man tried to justify his crime that left more than 50 dead.

Brenton Tarrant live-streamed the entire attack and recorded himself in 2019 after killing more than 50 people in New Zealand.

white genocide

The “Great Replacement” is the name of a global movement that has been growing rapidly on the internet and that firmly believes that Europeans are suffering from what he calls a “white genocide”.

“It is a reaction from white people who feel that the world is changing in a direction that does not benefit them,” he says. Bertha Barbet, of the independent analysis group Politikon.

“As the world progresses, they lose status and become aware that there are people above them and people below them,” adds the expert.

The supremacists are clear that in the world there is a racial hierarchy in which, they consider, they should be at the top.

Authorities believe the suspect surveyed the scene before carrying out the attack. (REUTERS).

“The central tenet of this conspiracy theory is that the ‘European peoples’ are becoming extinct and are being ‘replaced’ by immigrants with a different, inferior and dangerous culture“, explains Dominic Casciani, correspondent for Internal Affairs of the BBC.

Origin in France

The idea of ​​the great replacement first arose in France.

It was introduced in 2010 by the French far-right writer Renaud Camus after the publication of his book “Great Replacement”, and since then it has been taken up by identity spheres and politicians such as the former far-right French presidential candidate Eric Zemmour.

Camus has refused to admit that his comments incite hatred or violence, but the social network Twitter suspended his account last year.

The writer has been tried on several occasions in his country for inciting racial hatred after publishing comments classified as offensive on Twitter.

But many argue that notions of this theory date back to 1900, when the father of French nationalism Maurice Barrès spoke of a new population taking power and “would ruin our country“.

“The name of France could well survive; however, the special character of our country would be destroyed, and the people installed in our name and in our territory move towards destinations contradictory to the destinies and needs of our land and our dead”, wrote in an article published by the newspaper The Journal.

The birth and fertility rates of women also play an important role in this theory.

Tarrant, the attacker of one of the mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, complained in his manifesto about the low numbers in Western countries compared to those of other cultures and points to this as another reason for what he called “invasion “.

“Mass immigration and high rates of immigrants themselves are causing this increase in its population“, wrote.

“This will result in a complete racial and cultural replacement of the Europeans.”

The attack has shocked the local community. (GETTY IMAGES).

government fault

Advocates of the “Great Replacement” theory also often accuse governments of being to blame.

“Part of the theory says that states and corporations are encouraging ‘white genocide’ by raising immigration rates simply to keep the global capitalism“Recalls the BBC’s Casciani.

Occasionally, theory submerges in beliefs antisemitists and neo-Nazis by blaming the Jews for the world economic system.

“These groups, which tend to be white males, generally poorly educated, have felt neglected by politics and believe that more attention is being paid to other people’s problems than their own,” explains Barbet.

“Conspiracy is a central part of a growing number of Internet forums, particularly in hidden and private groups on Facebook and other social networks,” says Casciani.

“It is in these groups that believers in this type of theory, far from the facts and from reliable sources of information, share false news and reinforce their own fears,” adds the expert.

*With reporting by Cristina Jiménez and Norberto Paredes.

Source: Elcomercio