Martin Sellner is an Austrian activist and author closely associated with the concept of "remigration"—a catch-all term for a vision of Europe with its ethnic and cultural identity rid of what far-right groups call "Afro-Arab replacement migration". He has been banned from several European countries.
Sellner says what distinguishes his movement is an understanding that social change—in academia, the arts and media—precedes the political sort. He peppers his arguments with references to memes, "metapolitics", and to Antonio Gramsci and Louis Althusser, two Marxist philosophers, arguing that right-wing populists who have secured power have "lacked the intellectual capacity to wield it and bring about change".
"Remigration" spread from French extremist circles to German and Austrian ones over a decade ago. In January 2024 Correctiv, an investigative outlet, revealed that Sellner had discussed remigration with AfD politicians at a meeting in Potsdam. The revelations sparked protests across Germany. A group of linguists anointed the term their "unword of the year".
Sellner says remigration targets three groups: illegal immigrants; legal immigrants who drain the state or commit crime; and citizens he regards as "unassimilated". He accepts that "you can't deport citizens, this would be madness", but advocates creating "cultural and economic pressure" for them to leave. He also wants much tougher naturalisation rules, an end to Germany's "guilt culture" and is open to stripping citizenship from some naturalised Germans. He admits enacting remigration in full would take several decades.
German courts have ruled that Sellner's remigration concept violates the constitution by distinguishing between Germans on the basis of ethnicity. In early February 2026 the AfD ordered its members to cease meeting him. He is setting up an "Institute for Remigration".
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