The rise of anti-vax politicians
In November, a Turkish lawyer named Haci Ali Ozhan appeared in a YouTube video. Dressed in a suit and tie and with a solemn bearing, he read out the mission of a new political party.
“I am the founder of the Party for Life Without Impositions,” he said. “We have one subject and one purpose.” That goal, he explained, is to oppose any restrictions related to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Ozhan’s policy program is based not only on the belief that vaccine mandates and lockdowns violate human rights and freedoms, but also on a host of conspiracy theories, including that vaccines implant chips in people’s bodies, making them “Wi-Fi controlled slaves.”
The Turkish anti-vax party is the latest in a series of political groups around the world whose rhetoric is grounded in fierce opposition to coronavirus vaccine mandates and restrictions.