Archive for the ‘Alt-right’ Category

Am I Conservative Alt-Right? – Huffington Post

The New York Times took a piece I wrote strongly defending the right to free speech, the raw concept of unfettered speech from a content-neutral position, and called it Right Partisan Writing You Shouldnt Miss, intended as a compliment. What I wrote was directly in line with the absolutist view of free speech and the First Amendment I have always taken: Let them speak. Except for the very narrow and specific restrictions on speech defined over the years by the Supreme Court, let them speak. Let good ideas whoop bad ideas. Look for ways to allow more speech, not loopholes that might let an institution get away with silencing a speaker. It is as much of a philosophical argument as a legal one.

My ideas are not particularly new. They are the same positions taken by the American Civil Liberties Union, and for that matter, most of the modern Supreme Court. I really didnt invent anything here, though hopefully my version of the idea was neatly typed and well-presented. So how did I end up becoming a conservative for defending free speech?

Though free speech should be an American position, for the most part it has been traditionally associated with progressive politics. Free speech enabled the Civil Rights Movement, the womens movement, got extreme acts of protest such as flag burning recognized as protected speech, ended silly law enforcement resource-wasting campaigns against nude photos and naughty song lyrics, and grew alongside egalitarian tools like the Internet to bring all sorts of voices into the public marketplace of ideas.

Yet, in a few short months since Trumps election, everything seemed to change.

Some progressives morphed into anti-fascists who believe it is okay to punch someone they deem a nazi in the head to silence their speech. Universities which made their political bones via the Free Speech Movement are trying tricks like de-platforming speakers (You have a right to free speech, but we dont have an obligation to let you speak here.) Those same people were only last summer raising their voices against so-called Free Speech Zones that fenced protesters off miles from the Republican and Democratic Party Conventions so they could protest to their hearts delight without anyone hearing them.

Students at liberal colleges are proud of themselves for shouting down invited speakers who say offensive things, and have even convinced themselves such a Hecklers Vote is a form of free speech itself, instead of old-fashioned brownshirt mob rule. A key debate now is how much wiggle room private and semi-private schools have to get away with denying someones First Amendment rights. Some student groups are pleased when they think theyve figured out a way around the 1A and can block a speaker, forgetting such tricks were used to silence the Civil Rights Movement and womens groups. My article defending the right of all to speak was pushed into conservative categories because the example I built the piece around was Ann Coulter at Berkeley. I have never heard Coulter speak. Ive never read any of her books and, to be honest, could care less what she has to say. From some quick googling, it seems like my politics and Anns generally do not agree. And thats the whole point, of course: Support her right to speak while not necessarily supporting what she says.

That now, apparently, has become a right wing position to take.

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Am I Conservative Alt-Right? - Huffington Post

Richard Spencer Makes ‘Alt-Right’ Foray Into Sweden – Forward

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Richard Spencer

The alt-right is expanding to Sweden.

The white nationalist Richard Spencer is partnering with two Swedish groups to makes a new media company, BuzzFeed News reported. It will be like Breitbart but further to the right, one organizer said.

The new company has been dubbed the AltRight Corporation. Spencer will partner with Arktos Media, a Swedish publishing house that prints English-language editions of nationalist titles from a range of countries. The other Swedish partner is Red Ice, popular white nationalist outlet that produces videos and podcasts.

Spencer said he was devoting all of the resources that once went towards his nonprofit National Policy Institute to the project. NPI lost its tax exempt status for failing to file tax returns in March. Spencer told BuzzFeed that Sweden was the perfect fit for an alt-right project like this. In all of Europe, Spencer said, its almost like Sweden is the most alt-right.

Red Ice creator Henrik Palmgren, who serves as the AltRight Corporations media director, said media companies like his own are in an information war against the government in the international press. Its part of the strategic battle, if you will the war of ideas, Palmgren said.

Email Sam Kestenbaum at kestenbaum@forward.com and follow him on Twitter at @skestenbaum

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Richard Spencer Makes 'Alt-Right' Foray Into Sweden - Forward

Opinion: Trump’s Alt-Right Is Preparing For Violence To Defend Fascism – PoliticusUSA

By now it isnt breaking news that Trump or his acolytes in Republican-controlled states are opposed to the Constitution, on myriad levels and regarding many, many topics. One of the Constitutions provisions that has received a lot of Trump and Republican criticism as of late is the peoples right to assemble enshrined in the First Amendment. One ardently believes that if masses of people assembling were cheering and supporting Trumps authoritarian regime, none of the anti-protest bills in Republican states would exist.

Since those assembly prohibitions are not yet in the law, Trumps fascist supporters have taken it upon themselves to arm up and, in a frightening development, formed an alt-right fight club to engage in street violence. It is noteworthy that, as reported by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), the young white, pro-Trump men are forming a small army to literally engage in violence against what they call anti-fascists.

This is a telling development when alt-right (Nazi) groups are forming an army to defend fascism. Just two years ago the idea of an anti-fascist movement in democratic American would have been absurd. Now it is a reality and the pro-Trump goons are ready and anxious to engage street fights to support their fascist in the White House.

The announcement of the formation of the Fraternal Order of Alt Knights (FOAK) preceded, by a couple of days, a confrontation in Pikeville, Kentucky between white supremacists and anti-fascist (Antifa) demonstrators. Likely the FOAK army is still being formed up or they would have descended on poor Pikeville and incited a street war. Still, with armed Nazis and angry demonstrators wanting the white supremacists out of town, it was only superb law enforcement planning that prevented what could have been a bloody confrontation.

Approximately 70 representatives of the Traditionalist Workers Party, League of the South, and National Socialist Movement regarded as Americas most-prominent neo-Nazi organization held a rally for white people in or around Pikevilles historic courthouse. The white supremacists were eventually booed out of town by protestors opposing fascism. The Nazis screamed back and forth at anti-fascist demonstrators who were easily kept apart by stellar police planning and execution.

The incident in Kentucky represents an on-going war of words between Trumps alt-right (Nazi) supporters and demonstrators protesting the terrifying rise of fascism. But until the announcement of the FOAK street fighting fraternity, it appeared there would be little more than screaming matches. According to the FOAK founder and another militant arm of the alt-right fascists, screaming is going to give way to real violence.

The alt-right activist responsible for forming FOAK, Kyle Chapman, says his new militant, highly-masculine group will be the tactical defensive arm of the Proud Boys. The Proud Boys are a separate alt-right group that frequents pro-Trump rallies with the express intent of looking to rumble with counter-protesters. The Proud Boys will now have Chapmans fraternal assistance in rumbling with counter-protestors because Chapman boastfully claimed:

Im proud to announce that my newly created Fraternal Order of Alt-Knights will be partnering with Proud Boys; a partnership with the full-approval of Proud Boys founder Gavin McInnes. Chapman was also proud to announce that his fraternal order doesnt fear the fight. We are the fight.

McInnes most recently has been a frequent guest on FOX News and a contributor to the overtly racist site VDARE. To get an idea of whether or not McInnes is a racist, he used VDARE to denigrate Muslims and call Asian Americans slopes and riceballs.

SPLC noted that McInnes Proud Boys are considered neo-masculine reactionary. McInnes calls his group a pro-West fraternal organization, while others call it the military arm of the alt-right. Any high-school student remotely familiar with world history would describe the Proud Boys and their tactics as Nazi brownshirts (Sturmabteilung).

Now the Proud Boys are joined by this FOAK, which Chapman describes as a fraternal organization whose emphasis will be on street activism, preparation, defense and confrontation.

We will protect and defend our right wing brethren when the police and government fail to do so. This organization is for those that possess the Warrior Spirit. The weak or timid need not apply.

He also wrote that the time for real action is now because Trump is in the White House. Chapman wrote:

No more keyboard warrior sh*t. No more crying about the state of our country while you do nothing to change it. Its all about action. President Trump has our back for the next 8 years. The timing couldnt be better. Lets do this!

Chapman also boasts that his organization will be its own fraternal order, but still a staunch Proud Boys affiliate chapter with its own bylaws, constitution, rituals and vetting processes. It is yet unclear what the vetting and initiation process entails for the street fighters in FOAK, but if it follows its Proud Boys affiliate, the vetting process will be bizarre indeed.

However, it is the fourth-degree of the initiation and vetting process, brawling with antifascists at public rallies, that should provide a clue that Trump has a veritable street army preparing to put a violent halt to the peoples right to peaceably assemble. Trumps fascist street armies will have to do the heavy lifting until Trump convinces Republicans to devise a means of abolishing that archaic document and its Bill of Rights once and for all; something Trump and his fascist supporters cannot allow to slow their march toward a fascist dictatorship.

1st Amendment, alt-right, anti-fascists, FOAK, Fraternal Order of Alt Knights, Gavin McInnes, Kyle Chapman, nazis, peaceable assembly, Pikeville Kentucky, proud boys, trump, trump fascism

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Opinion: Trump's Alt-Right Is Preparing For Violence To Defend Fascism - PoliticusUSA

Colbert responds to alt-right and LGBT backlash – Sky News

Stephen Colbert has responded to an online backlash from alt-right supporters and LGBT activists on his Late Show.

The US TV show presenter said he "would do it again", after being called "homophobic" and asked to apologise after making an on-air joke about Donald Trump and President Putin engaging in a sexual act.

"So while I would do it again, I would change a few words that were cruder than they needed to be," he said on Wednesday's show, days after the hashtag #FireColbert went viral on Twitter.

"I had a few choice insults for the president. I don't regret that. He, I believe, can take care of himself. I have jokes; he has the launch codes. So, it's a fair fight," he said.

The "insults" were seen as a step too far by Trump supporters and gay activists alike.

"The fact that Colbert can make homophobic statements shows his privilege & systematic oppression of minority groups," said gay activist and Republican Scott Presler.

"Colbert needs to apologise to the American people! Or someone needs to punch his lights out," wrote another user.

At the top of Wednesday's broadcast, Colbert mocked the trending topic, asking: "Still? Am I still the host?"

"I'm still the host!," he added.

"Homophobia for the right cause, with the right targets, is good homophobia, apparently," said journalist Glenn Greenwald.

A website called "Fire Colbert" was created, but many users boycotted the social media movement.

Star Trek veteran and gay rights activist George Takei said: "Now the little right wing mushrooms want to fire Colbert because he made fun of the Troll King. Waaaa! It'll go as well as boycott Hamilton."

"I'm not going to repeat the phrase," Colbert said on Wednesday's show.

"But I just want to say, for the record, life is short, and anyone who expresses their love in their own way, is to me an American hero. I think we can all agree on that," he added.

"I hope even the president and I can agree on that. Nothing else. But, that."

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Colbert responds to alt-right and LGBT backlash - Sky News

The alt-right hates women as much as it hates people of colour – The Guardian

Arthur Jones, chairman of the America First Committee, takes photos at a rally in Pikeville, Kentucky. Photograph: Pat Jarrett

One hundred days on from Donald Trump entering the White House with its help, what will the alt-right do next? The small, loosely organised movement, which has helped to revitalise far-right politics in the United States, has made skilful use of internet activism and has a receptive ear in Trumps chief strategist Steve Bannon, who as former head of Breitbart News once proclaimed his network the platform of the alt-right. More than shaping White House policy, however, the alt-rights greatest impact may come from its efforts to shift the political culture.

Although best known for its white nationalist brand of racist ideology, theres growing recognition that patriarchal politics is also central to the movement. Several observers have pointed out that the alt-right advocates not just white supremacy, but more specifically white male supremacy, that the movement feeds on toxic resentment of women, and that sexism serves as a gateway drug pulling a lot of young men into it. The few alt-right women who have been profiled embrace their own subordination.

Missing from these accounts is a recognition that the alt-right is reshaping patriarchal politics. Its version of male supremacy is not just more explicit or aggressive its strikingly different from the version thats been dominant among US rightists for decades.

Consider abortion. Some alt-rightists, unsurprisingly, argue that abortion is simply immoral and should be banned. Yet many others in the movement disagree and for reasons that have nothing to do with respecting womens autonomy or privacy. These alt-rightists support legal abortion because, they claim, its disproportionately used by black and Latina women and, secondarily, because they see it as a way to weed out defective white babies. In other words, they support abortion as a form of eugenics. Both sides of this internal alt-right debate agree that women have no business controlling their own bodies. As Greg Johnson of the alt-right website Counter-Currents put it, in a White Nationalist society some abortions should be forbidden, others should be mandatory, but under no circumstances should they simply be a matter of a womans choice.

As far as I can tell, the only outsiders who have responded to this discussion are Christian rightists. For decades theyve used the black genocide canard in an effort to smear abortion rights proponents as racist; now they have some actual racists to go after. But alt-rightists arent the least bit intimidated.

For 40 years, the Christian right has been the benchmark of anti-feminist, patriarchal politics in the United States. The Christian right was the first large-scale movement in US history to put the reassertion of male dominance at the centre of its programme. Since the 1970s, it has spearheaded a whole series of patriarchal initiatives, from the campaign to defeat the Equal Rights Amendment to the self-described biblical patriarchy movement, which tells women they have a sacred obligation to treat their husbands as lord.

Patriarchal ideology is important to the alt-right as well. Alongside the gas chamber jokes and racial slurs, a lot of its online activism has involved targeting women with rape and death threats, images of sexual violence, and misogynistic invective. Even harassment campaigns against male opponents often focus on their wives or daughters. Many alt-rightists revel in openly vilifying women in ways Christian rightists have generally avoided.

The two movements agree on several key points: that gender roles are based on innate differences between males and females and need to be aggressively enforced for the good of society as a whole; that its natural and right for men to hold power over women; and that womens main functions in society are to provide men with support, care and sexual satisfaction, and to bear and raise children.

But after that, the two movements diverge significantly. For example, Christian rightists base their gender ideology on their interpretation of the Bible and obedience to Gods law. Some alt-rightists take a similar approach, but more commonly base their arguments on evolutionary psychology or on whats needed to defend and promote the white race.

Christian right gender ideology centres on an idealised and very narrow model of a traditional family, where men are in charge and women are in a firmly subordinate but crucial role. Many Christian right organisations, such as Concerned Women for America, have recruited women as active participants with a contradictory blend of messages. On the one hand, the movement has told women that if they agreed to be obedient housewives and mothers, their husbands would reward them with protection, economic support and love. Christian rightists denounce feminism as unnatural, man-hating and a dangerous rejection of the safety that the traditional family supposedly offers women.

At the same time, many Christian rightists have often implicitly used concepts borrowed from feminism, for example arguing that abortion exploits women or that federal support for childcare supposedly limits womens choices. Some Christian right groups have encouraged women to become more self-confident and assertive, speak publicly and take on leadership roles as long as they do it in the service of the movements patriarchal agenda.

Christian rightists vary widely on how much latitude to allow women and how comprehensively men should be in control. In the New Apostolic Reformation movement, a vast and influential network based among Pentecostals and Charismatics, several women hold high international leadership roles. This would be inconceivable in the biblical patriarchy movement, which emphasises that a womans number one religious duty is submission to her husband. Yet even the biblical patriarchy movement relies largely on female authors and speakers to persuade women that they should accept and, if possible, embrace their subordinate role.

By contrast, alt-rightists routinely argue that women should be stripped of the right to vote (a position shared by the Christian rights hardline wing, but not its majority) and political freedom more broadly. And with some exceptions, most of the alt-right has made no significant efforts to recruit women. Some alt-rightists have declared that women are unimportant to the movement, while others have actively discouraged or barred women from participating. When the alt-right first coalesced in 2010, some adherents warned that misogyny and sexual harassment in movement circles were driving off half the movements potential base, but those voices are now long gone, replaced by claims that few women join the alt-right because theyre unsuited by nature to aggressive political activism.

The alt-rights lack of women highlights another ideological contrast with the Christian right. While the alt-right pays lip service to the traditional family ideal, it is strongly influenced by male supremacist currents for which the family is peripheral or irrelevant. These include the predatory sexuality of the so-called manosphere, the anti-feminist subculture where pick-up artists teach men how to manipulate women into having sex with them, and the male tribalism promoted by longtime alt-right author Jack Donovan, who dreams of a social and political order based on close-knit gangs of male warriors. Reversing the conventional idea that men take up arms to protect and provide for their families, Donovan writes that families exist to make male gang life possible. Donovans open homosexuality further underscores the clash with Christian right values, although he repudiates gay culture as effeminate.

The theme of intense male comradeship nourished by violence, and at odds with bourgeois family life, has deep roots in the history of fascism. So does the theme of motherhood as a duty that women owe, not to their husbands or to God, but to their nation or race. Its possible to bridge the gaps between these themes and family-centred traditionalism, but they should remind us that male supremacist ideology may take forms we dont expect. Such as an alt-rightist supporting legal abortion.

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The alt-right hates women as much as it hates people of colour - The Guardian