January 6, 2021. Hundreds of rioters storm the Capitol, the Congress building. Some feature flags flocked with the letter “Q”, the symbol of QAnon, a conspiracy movement that exploded under Donald Trump. His followers are convinced that the latter was put in power to defeat a mysterious “Deep State” made up of satanist democrats and pedophiles who torture children and use their blood in rites.
They also believe that the election was stolen from their champion. ” The storm is approaching! “, cries a man, using an allegory very present in the term of QAnon to designate the almost biblical moment when the evil elites will be eliminated.
One year later, how important is this movement? Its very nature makes any definitive answer difficult. ” QAnon is not a structured group. It does not have a central command. Its supporters organize online, without meeting », Insists Sophia Moskalenko, co-author of Pastels and Pedophiles, a book on the nebula.
Tote movement
Born in 2017 on virtual forums used by the far right, this catch-all movement is a concentrate of conspiracy theories and various conspiracies, shared via anonymous or encrypted applications and messaging. A poll conducted last May by the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI), which specializes in research on religion in public life, indicated that 14% of the American population believed in its central thesis: the presence of sadistic pedophiles in the corridors of power. Alarmed, Robert Jones, the founder of PRRI, noted that this proportion was comparable to the size of the white evangelical community in the country.
→ ANALYSIS. In the United States, these “ordinary people” involved in the attack on the Capitol
Several factors fueled its rise: the social isolation caused by the pandemic, the increased time spent online during the 2020 lockdowns, but also the attraction that the movement exerts among a large number of mothers, worried regarding a suspected large-scale child trafficking.
“A lot of followers suffer from depression, anxiety, and other mental issues that make them vulnerable to these theories. These diseases are stigmatized in the United States and their treatment is not covered by medical insurance, it does not help ”, continues Sophia Moskalenko.
The silence of the enigmatic “Q”
The expert notes that the movement has “Fractured” since the January 6 attack, because many of his prophecies have not come true. Starting with the return of Donald Trump to power, announced for March 4, 2021. In addition, the enigmatic “Q”, the anonymous account at the origin of the movement, suspected of belonging to a senior American official or a military man , has not posted any more messages since the inauguration of Joe Biden.
Despite this, his creature continues to cause harm, fueling opposition to vaccination or causing tragic news items. In August, a Californian QAnon fan killed his two children to prevent them from living in a “World of monsters”.
In November, dozens of “QAnonists” gathered at the John F. Kennedy assassination site in Dallas to witness the supposed return of his son who died in a plane crash in 1999. According to them, JFK Jr. was to become the vice president of a Donald Trump reinstalled in the White House.
Boos once morest Donald Trump
In the wake of MPs Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert, notorious supporters of QAnon elected to the House of Representatives in 2020, at least 48 candidates for the midterm elections next November have defended at least one of the theories promoted by the movement. They are almost all from the Republican Party.
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“When you are a candidate on the right, it has become difficult to campaign without subscribing to QAnon’s ideas, especially on vaccines”, assures Mike Rothschild, author of a book on the development of this community. He takes as proof the boos that targeted Donald Trump during a meeting in December. His fault: to say that he had received his booster dose once morest the Covid-19. “The movement has become normalized, selon Mike Rothschild. He no longer needs leaders to be promoted. He’s only going to grow.»
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The far right nebula in the United States
L’Alt-right American: Heir to the Ku Klux Klan which had lost its influence, this new extreme right has been reorganizing itself since the election of Barack Obama in 2008.
The Proud Boys : Founded in 2016, this exclusively male group presents itself above all as a bulwark once morest feminism and immigration. Its members do not hesitate to call for violence.
Oath Keepers, Boogaloo, Nativistes: these militias clearly display their segregationist, anti-Semitic and anti-immigration message. Composed in particular of army veterans and former police officers, very organized, they played a key role during the attack on the Capitol.
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