Dr. Michael Hill has posted the following statement on the League of the South website:
“Some members (and former members) of The League have eloped with the Alt-Right, caught up in all the excitement of Trump’s Presidential victory. This is nothing I didn’t expect, especially from some of our younger members.”
Where to begin here?
At least in my case, the most obvious starting point is that my ties to the Alt-Right go back to 2009/2010 and my involvement in White Nationalism goes back to 2001. I didn’t join the League of the South until 2012. I also joined the Council of Conservative Citizens in 2010 and married into a White Nationalist family.
As long as I have been a member of the League of the South, I have been involved with the Council of Conservative Citizens. There was never a point when I saw any conflict between the two. I’ve been involved in both groups for the last three years now. Over the past three years, I attended League of the South conferences and Council of Conservative Citizens conferences. We also went to the 2013 Amren conference.
Just off the top of my head, I have known Richard Spencer, Gregory Hood (my old roommate), Paul Kersey, Matt Parrott, Don Black, Kyle Rodgers, Nathaniel Strickland, the Baums (my in-laws), Jared Taylor, Sam Dickson, James Edwards, Greg Johnson and many others in the real world since 2009/2010. Occidental Dissent was started in 2006 as a White Nationalist blog. In 2010, it was even a collective Alt-Right blog when four of us lived together as roommates in Charlottesville, Virginia. My old roommate William Rome from New York attended the 2014 League of the South Conference.
So this is nothing new on my part. I’ve known these people for many years now and before I was involved with the League. I’m happy about their great breakthrough.
“But I warn them to be cautious for at least three reasons: 1) the Alt-Right is a new, largely internet-based movement. Because of its amorphous and mercurial nature, it may or may not have any staying power. Unlike Southern nationalism or the various Euro-nationalist movements, which have an historic tradition and/or an “on-the-street” presence in real life, the Alt-Right does not.”
It has been around as the “Alt-Right” since 2008/2009. The scene was around online years before that. It is nothing new. There are Alt-Right conferences and regional meetups. I should know because it was the first real world event I ever attended. That kind of thing has been going on ever since. As for the street activism, that was our idea and it was fun but there is a ceiling on it by the power of the dominant taboos.
“Moreover, Trump has pretty much disavowed any connections with the Alt-Right, making moot any claims (true or not) that the latter got him elected.”
If the Alt-Right got maybe a billion dollars worth of free publicity out of it, does it really matter? You could put up 20,000 billboards across the South and it still wouldn’t be worth that advertising.
“2) Trump likely will disappoint the true nationalist right by his cabinet choices and his policies as President.”
It is still a win-win situation.
If he keeps his promises, then he does a lot of good for us, so great. If he sells out his followers, he loses his legitimacy and opens himself up to criticism on nationalist and populist grounds. It just becomes easier to radicalize his followers. Even The New York Times sees this.
“And 3) the Alt-Right has no basis in our historic Christian faith. White Europe and its offspring (the US, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, et al) will not be resurrected as Christendom–its only hope of true freedom and prosperity–by adopting secularism as its worldview.”
Religion has always been a point of disagreement in the Alt-Right. I just got finished talking to a reporter about that very issue. The story should be out soon. We talked about Southern Nationalism in detail.
“New, shiny toys can beguile and distract. Don’t be fooled. Our problems are deep-seated and will not be solved overnight by memes and the politicians they purportedly help elect. Our problems likely will be solved the old-fashioned way, and the Alt-Right is not equipped to handle that scenario.”
This is the major point of disagreement.
I don’t think militias, survivalism or violent apocalyptic rhetoric – the 1980s and 1990s is the way forward. When I joined the League of the South, it was none of those things. Because of Lügenpresse guilt by association, I had to deal with the aftermath of the Dylann Roof shooting in Charleston. I’ve never wanted to be associated with violent vanguardists like that. I don’t want to attract or encourage unstable people who do stupid things.
Why would I want to do that? If you spend all your time patrolling a rural area, building a bunker, prepping for the collapse of civilization, saber rattling, all you are doing in succeeding in marginalizing yourself. You are showing your lack of interest in persuading people to join your cause. Even if it is true the system can’t be reformed, I think it is still true that participating in politics is vastly more effective at getting our message out. That’s my takeway from Pat Buchanan, Ron Paul and Donald Trump.
One last thing: if you want to go down that road, then fine. I don’t really care. I’m going to do something else. There are people all over the internet doing their own thing and we should accept that.