"Great Replacement" ('Omvolking'): A Critical Analysis of Vlaams Belang’s Conspiratorial and Anti-Immigration Rhetoric

In our work, we adopt a CDA perspective to analyze conspiracy-laden discourses related to migration, as promoted by Vlaams Belang, a far-right political party in Belgium. We focus particularly on how this party, which employs a conspiracist rhetoric, uses the theory of the “Great Replacement” or “Repopulation” (Omvolking) to oppose not only immigration to the European Union, but also internal Belgian mobility, especially between French-speaking and Dutch-speaking populations.

Through the party members’ discourse and their political communications (books, social media posts, conferences), Vlaams Belang strongly criticizes its political opponents, labeling them as “traitors” or “supporters of censorship.” The party also resorts to alarmist rhetoric about the cultural and economic decline of Flanders.

We demonstrate how these elements reinforce xenophobic narratives and the prejudices shared by their target audience. We also explain how and why conspiracy theories serve the far-right nationalist agenda, by offering pseudo-rational justifications for prejudices, the tightening of Belgian migration policies, the assertion of ingroup superiority, and the discrediting of migrant populations.