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THE VIOLENT PROTESTS that left a woman dead in Charlottesville, Virginia last week shocked many Americans with TV footage of an estimated 1,000 neo-Nazis and white supremacists, guarded by “militiamen” brandishing semi-automatic rifles and wearing body armor.
Encouraged by President Donald Trump and buoyed by social media, a new generation of extremist startups has taken root, mostly created by angry young white men anxious to exploit fears of Latino immigration and radical Islam, the shrinking white share of the US population and the cultural shifts of globalisation.
Analysts say theses groups may have members in the tens of thousands and tacit supporters in the hundreds of thousands.
They have supplanted the old hotbeds of racist, anti-government and fascist activism, including the notorious Ku Klux Klan, which has dwindled to a few thousand members.
Until now, even with the alliance of powerful Trump advisor Steve Bannon, the so-called “alt-right” movement and its violent fringes has been deeply fragmented, unable to coalesce around common ideologies, goals and tactics.
However, this could change.
“They are acting in concert right now,” said Spencer Sunshine of Political Research Associates, which specialises in research on right-wing groups.
“The rising tide of Trump-ist racism is raising their boats.”
Sunshine pointed to the Charlottesville “Unite the Right” protests.
Against multiculturalism
The alt-right rues the loss of an idealised American identity, espousing white nationalism and “traditional” euro-centric culture as the foundation of US culture.
It rejects “multiculturalism” that gives more prominence to non-white groups and elevates the equal rights of women, gays and minorities.
Its politics connect to traditional conservatives and libertarians, and are likened to the “identitarian” movement in Europe.
Bannon’s Breitbart News, launched in 2007, became the media hub of the sprawling movement, his support eventually rendering Trump a default figurehead.
As “alt-right,” the movement has touted itself as just a louder, consciously provocative but legitimate force in conservative politics.
But the Southern Policy Law Center, an anti-extremist research group, insists the alt-right “is pretty much the same thing as the old white supremacist right —- even if it does favor suits and ties over Klan robes or faux Nazi uniforms.”
SPLC counts scores of such groups under the alt-right umbrella, many of which were present in Charlottesville.
Saturday’s rally was led by Richard Spencer, whose Washington-based National Policy Institute think-tank is “dedicated to the heritage, identity and future of people of European descent in the United States.”
Groups he invited were openly neo-Nazi and white supremacist, such as Vanguard America, whose members chanted “blood and soil,” echoing the “blut und boden” cries of Hitler’s followers in the 1930s.
They also included Identity Evropa, an “identitarian” group that promotes white superiority and separatism, and the Traditionalist Workers Party, which marries a Nazi-like logo with a Christian whites-only ideology. Both are stridently anti-Semitic.
Defending white southern heritage
The Charlottesville rally ostensibly focused on the planned removal of a statue of Robert E. Lee, the general who led the south in the 1860s Civil War.
That attracted another alt-right type, southerners committed to preserving an idealised, heroic — and white — tradition of the South.
They reject the notion that the war was about slavery, and are fighting the elimination of symbols of that racist legacy, like the Confederate flag of the Lee monuments.
To Jason Kessler, a Charlottesville organiser of the rally, the statue’s removal represents “white genocide.”
Also taking part was the League of the South, which encourages white families to “secede” from “post-Christian culture in America,” and Confederate Riders of America, a biker group that says southern culture is “under attack.”
Skinheads and militiamen
Alt-right rallies increasingly attract groups determined to pick fights, including the Proud Boys and the DIY Division, also called the Rise Above Movement. Both allegedly have roots in the violent neo-Nazi skinheads of the 1980s and white nationalist prison gangs.
But also taking part in Charlottesville were so-called patriot-militia groups.
There are some 165 of these across the country, according to the SPLC, well-armed but focused more on grudges with the government, regulations and taxes and less concerned about issues of race. Some actively seek members from minorities, and disdain neo-Nazi ideas as anti-American.
The most prominent of these groups is the Oath Keepers, formed by former members of the military to “defend the Constitution” with a strongly libertarian ideology.
Yet the presence of militia at alt-right rallies is worrisome. Some clearly have white-power leanings.
In 2014 and 2015, they appeared heavily armed at anti-police rallies in Ferguson, Missouri, appearing to many as a self-appointed force ready to repress African American protesters.
In Charlottesville, they came well-armed, in camouflage fatigues, wielding AR-15 assault rifles, also seemingly to protect the other hardline rightists.
Yet, according to Sunshine, they took no part in the violence, and moved away when fighting broke out.
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Builders with a conscience?… the council will make the rules to suit themselves…how many floodplain objections were ignored during the boom when brown envelopes were packeted!
@Winston Smith:
‘Builders with a conscience’
Their objection was based on the low number of units. Sounds like greed to me.
Exactly Daniel didn’t you detect the irony and spot the question mark???
@Winston Smith:
Sure, I’m fully in agreement with you Winston.
No story on the United States, Britain and Saudi Arabia dropping bombs on a funeral in Yemen yesterday that killed and injured 700 people or are war crimes only reported on when it is committed by our supposed enemies??
@Derek Durkin, UK are not involved in any of the activities in Yemen.
Where do you think the Saudis source a lot of their weapons?
The planed development includes a lot of green spaces which obviously not going down well with the backers
I visited a few new build developments in Dublin yesterday. Green spaces are a thing of the past, cobble lock parking, concrete footpaths, Tarmac roadways. Houses are tall terraced three stories, they are built right up to the footpath.
An earlier phase of one of the developments is fully occupied.
Cars fill every nook and cranny. Each corner and kerb has a car perched on top.
Many of the homes appear to be buy to let.
Planning departments are granting permission for 1.5 parking spaces in 4 bedroom houses.
Two houses in one of those appeared on Daft the other day as buy to let.
If I want to enjoy battles over parking, bins, bicycle parking, I can enjoy it in my current apartment.
Buy shares in NCPS as they are getting more contracts from management companies while we build higher density homes.
@Mossy Phelan: It goes to show that not all planning departments sing off the same hymn-sheet where developers are concerned. Leaving a mess in one county before moving off to another is fair game it seems.
The plan looks dense enough to me. My village was ruined by high density badly planned estates which weren’t even finished. The government could have had a sustainable industry, steady stream of housing and construction jobs if planning was managed nationally instead of control resting at the councils. It’s a disgrace how the country’s been blighted by greedy, bad planning and now they speak of a housing shortage…only in Ireland…
Ireland’s scenery has been destroyed by ugly bungalows and McMansions built all over the place.
So should we all live in urbanised apartment blocks Eamon??? If people are looking to build on their own land in an area they are from I firmly believe they should be allowed do so once they meet planning regulations
Ireland’s scenery has been destroued by all these humans who annoyingly insist on having somewhere to live.
@Neal not Neil:
Turn the spell check back on
Gary, fine if you want to build a house in the middle of a remote field but then don’t come along later and moan about poor transportation, no broadband, and how you want the postman to talk to you when you’re old.
@Barry Davidson:
Nobody in the country moans about poor transportation, they accept there is none and make their own arrangements. They are fully entitled to moan about increases in Motor Tax & Fuel Prices, just as anybody living in an Urban area is entitled to do so about Bus Fares and Train Ticket prices.
Irish buliders at their best…
The model in holland and germany works but is unpalatable in ireland. You must live in a city town or village umless you are actively farming the land. Their approach has to do with cost efficiency, infrastructure costs, and provision of services-hosptials, doctor clinics, council services, schools/town busses/broadband/electricity/gas/water/sewage/rubbish collection & re-cycling. The local council in your town provides you with ur driving license and paspport as well as providing a host of other services. The modest local council tax ensures provision of cycling lanes, footpaths, roads. Each town has an area sectioned off for a park for walking and extensive sport facilities. If you look at the layout of Alphen aan den Rijn in holland its a text book example of how to layout a town. I know this all sounds unpalatable in ireland but it works. I very much enjoy the countryside and head out every weekend but ive chosen to live in a town for convenience and im too busy during the week to enjoy the great outdoors. I know this model doesn’t suit everyone and we have an agricultural background in this country as opposed to industrial nations like the example discused. Just thought I’d share my own experiences.
@John Bennett: The existence of McMansions in “the country” is utterly irrelevant to this story.
@gregory: Gergory, the trend toward living in urban areas is well established in Ireland.
The real problem is that most of the built environment in Ireland is just tat, only recently has their been a focus on quality construction and good quality windows and doors.
How can you blame those who choose to build one off housing, when the alternative was to pay more for rubbish quality.
Dr Frankingombeen..the celtic tiger….it’s alive, it’s alive I tell you..we have brought it back to life….
Very congested area as it is…
have your say