Agrarian alarmism and transnational right-wing solidarity: the myth of “white genocide” and expropriation in South Africa

Résumé

This paper examines agrarian alarmism – a discursive and political strategy through which actors frame progressive agrarian reform and rural conflict as existential threats, whether to food security, national stability, or the survival of specific social groups. Agrarian alarmism mobilizes political sympathy, shapes public opinion, and justifies intervention by exaggerating or fabricating threats. Using South Africa as a case study, the paper analyzes how Afriforum – a right-wing Afrikaner nationalist organization founded in 2006 – has perfected this strategy by constructing white capitalist farmers as victims of racial persecution and impending dispossession. Afriforum’s global campaign, including alliances with right-wing networks in the United States and Europe, has amplified narratives of “white genocide” and positioned Afriforum as a defender of minority and property rights while obstructing redistributive reforms and protecting white privilege. The paper further explores how this discourse intersected with U.S. politics during the Trump administration, which offered exceptional migration privileges to white South African farmers while excluding Black and brown migrants, illustrating how whiteness functions as a transnational political resource. The resulting diplomatic tensions – including trade repercussions and Senate resolutions – reveal how agrarian alarmism transcends domestic politics, shaping international relations and reinforcing far-right agendas. The paper concludes by calling for critical scholarship and counter-solidarities to confront these political and racialized dynamics.

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