“A Foetus Barbie in the Mailbox,” Co-Production between Justice for Prosperity and De Groene Amsterdammer 

On 30th May 2024, Justice for Prosperity, together with De Groene Amsterdammer, published an article titled “ A Foetus Barbie in the Mailbox,” published  as “Een foetus-barbie in de brievenbus”  (in Dutch) which explores the influence of a network of ultra-conservative groups in Europe that are targeting LGBTQ+ and women’s rights to destabilise the European Union (EU), specifically in the run-up to the June 2024 European Parliamentary elections.  This ultra-conservative network has employed strategies seen in Hungary under Viktor Orbán, who serves as a model for the radical right.

The article begins by describing a protest by Civitas Christiana, an ultra-conservative Catholic society, at Rutgers’ sexual expertise centre in Utrecht. This protest is part of a broader pattern of actions by ultraconservative religious organisations across Europe, influenced by international groups, particularly from Hungary, Spain, and the United States. These groups aim to defend the undefined concept of ‘family values’ and undermine the EU’s cohesion.

Research by Justice for Prosperity (JfP) and De Groene Amsterdammer showed how conservative lobby organisations instrumentalize LGBTQ+ and women’s rights issues to incite fear and weaken the EU from within. The article highlights several examples, such as the politicisation of sex education in the Netherlands and efforts to curtail LGBTQ+ rights and abortion access in Hungary, Italy, and Slovakia. Viktor Orbán’s influence is particularly noted, with Hungary’s upcoming presidency of the Council of the European Union seen as a critical moment for this conservative agenda. Orbán’s government has established a strong presence in Brussels, aiming to promote a ‘new Europe’ aligned with conservative and nationalist values.

The article details the involvement of various think tanks and organisations, such as Ordo Iuris, Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), and Mathias Corvinus Collegium (MCC), in promoting anti-LGBTQ+ and anti-abortion agendas. These groups use strategic lawsuits, misinformation, and transnational networks to advance their goals. The impact of these efforts are felt across Europe, with increasing pressure on LGBTQ+ rights and women’s rights, posing significant challenges to the EU’s liberal democratic values, across the 27 member state block. This concerted movement is not unique to the European Union. The Heritage Foundation, an influential conservative American think tank, with significant leverage upon the Republican party manifesto and with hundreds of millions of US dollars in revenue, has promoted the idea of focusing on bilateral relations with individual European countries rather than supporting the EU. This agenda is supported by various European conservative and radical right-wing groups through coordinated efforts like Agenda Europe and Project 2025, the latter of which is intended to be implemented upon the election of a Republican president in November 2024, despite Republican GOP nominee Donald Trump publicly distancing himself from Project 2025.

‘LGBTIQ+ rights are under pressure and we should no longer think that it only takes place in Hungary or Italy, we see it everywhere’

Justice for Prosperity (JfP) played a crucial role in the research and production of this article. 

Within the report, JfP primarily focused upon uncovering and illustrating the rhetoric and key actors involved within the debate surrounding the influence of the agenda from ultra-conservative groups infiltrating public debate. Within the WhoDis framework, JfP used both digital public sources and physical field research in order to achieve this goal. Within the following research on investigating the influence of ultra-conservative groups within the European Parliament, JfP found that these different groups have actively used different modi-operandi in order to attempt to subversively influence the European Parliament. Through the use of WhoDis, as well as with OSINT research and in person investigatory observations, JfP was able to expose different lobbying tactics used by the different groups, who use strategic lawsuits, the purposeful production and spread of misinformation, and the manipulation of cultural narratives to undermine established democratic principles and the protection of human rights

“We ask that you have the courage, before you vote, to look this little twelve-week-old creature in the face,” the email said.

In relation to the title of the research, “ A Foetus Barbie in the Mailbox”, ultra-conservative, transnational organisations, such as Civitas Christiana and Hazte Oír have produced and disseminated threatening and provocative leaflets and lifelike dolls of baby foetuses to various members of European Parliament, in order to intimidate members of the European Parliament to amend their electoral and legislative power to the benefit of spreading and normalising the divisive rhetoric these extreme organisations intend to achieve within their vision, uprooting the core foundations of democracy. 

Furthermore, the research emphasised how interconnected and transnational partnerships between the different conservative organisations have shaped and influenced European politics, connecting the dots between different organisations and their coordinated efforts to influence European politics.

For further reading, the article can be accessed in its entirety via the following link (in Dutch): https://www.groene.nl/artikel/een-foetus-barbie-in-de-brievenbus

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