'White nationalism (WN)' advocates a
racial definition (or redefinition) of national identity, as opposed to
multiculturalism. The contemporary movement in the
United States is a reaction to the eventual decline (based on US census projections) in white demographics, politics and culture.
[1] According to
Samuel Francis, a key WN writer, it is "a movement that rejects equality as an ideal and insists on an enduring core of human nature transmitted by heredity."
[2]
Supporters see themselves defending the legitimate civil rights of white people against society's racial double standards.
[3] Jared Taylor, another key writer in the movement, says their racial views were held by mainstream American leaders before the 1950s.
[2] Opponents accuse them of hatred, racial bigotry and destructive identity politics.
[1][6]
According to
Samuel P. Huntington, the modern movement is increasingly cultured, intellectual and academically-trained.
[7] Rather than espouse violence, they use statistics and social science data to argue for a self-conscious white identity.
[8] They say a natural hierarchy should triumph over the "false promise of egalitarianism"
[2] - and that the downfall of white dominance spells doom for representative government, the rule of law and freedom of speech.
[10]
Supporters say they stand for racial self-preservation and claim culture itself is a product of race.
[7] As a result, according to Huntington, they say the demographic shift in the US towards non-whites brings a new culture that is intellectually and morally inferior.
[7] With it comes affirmative action, immigrant ghettos and declining educational standards.
[8] By challenging established policy on immigration, civil rights and racial integration, they seek to build bridges with moderately conservative white citizens.
[14]
White separationism and
supremacism are two smaller subgroups within white nationalism.
[3] The former seek a separate white nation-state, while the latter add ideas from
social Darwinism and
national socialism to their ideology.
[16] Some white nationalists are in neither category, however.
[16] They avoid the term "supremacy," saying it has negative connotations.
[18]
Development
White nationalism has a long tradition in English-speaking countries. According to one view, it is a product of the modern centralised state's emergence in the West, like all nationalisms.
[19] The term originated as a self-description by some groups, primarily in the United States, to describe their belief in a
racially defined collective identity of
white or
Caucasian people. In the past so-called
xenophobic ethnic policies may be seen as congruent to white nationalism.
By the 1830s, the
Declaration of Independence was widely seen as a manifesto for white freedom and white supremacy in a white nation.
[20] Some abolitionists even opposed slavery on the grounds that it caused inequality among whites.
[20] In the 19th and early 20th century racial definitions of the American nation were common, resulting in race-specific immigration restrictions, such as the
Chinese Exclusion Act. The 1915 film
Birth of a Nation was an allegorical invocation of white nationalism, for example.
[22]
Also, the '
White Australia' ideal was semi-official policy in Australia for many decades. In South Africa, it was championed by the
New National Party[23] starting in 1948, as the struggle over apartheid heated up.
[24] In recent years, the Internet has quietly multiplied white nationalism's public influence.
[25]
White nationalism in the US combines elements of American racial nationalism and a race-based
identity politics. Starting in the 1960s, it grew as the conservative movement developed in mainstream society.
[26] Samuel Huntington argues that it developed as a reaction to a perceived decline in the essence of American identity as European, Anglo-Protestant and English-speaking.
[27] Some American white nationalists, for example, say immigration must be restricted to selected people of European ancestry.
[28]
Identity
White majority areas (two darkest tones), US Census 2000.
White nationalists say every nationality feels a natural affection for its own kind.
[22] Thus they believe in a common identity, common interests, and common political action for 'white people'. This identity is valid for the entire white population, but not an obligation for others. This worldview is often influenced by late 19th-century
romantic racial nationalism.
Most supporters see 'white nationalism' refers to political activities ''within'' an existing country. They have not necessarily rejected their existing national identity and allegiance, nor that they seek to destroy existing states. They see as themselves
patriotic preservers of European history and culture. In other words, their racial identity coincides with this patriotism: for them, everything that is good about their homeland is white.
The present form of American white nationalism, inclusive of Caucasian immigrant groups, is relatively recent. Conversely, "white nationalism" in Europe normally indicates a racial variant of an existing ethnic nationalism. For example, the British National Party opposes large-scale immigration of Russians and Poles, even though they are white. They see the true British nation as consisting of only white British people.
Some white nationalists support a territorially defined
white separatism, the belief that white and non-white people should reside in separate territories (and not just lead separate social lives). Like the
Volksstaat proposal, it would require migration of whites to a remote and thinly-populated location. However, some other forms of white separatism proposed by white nationalists take the form of far-reaching
racial segregation, within an existing
nation-state.
Definition of "white"
White nationalists define 'white' in a restricted way. In the United States, it implies
European ancestry, self-identification with European culture and European
ethnicity. Likewise, the neologism
European-American is a contrast with
Asian-American and
African-American.
There is no corresponding 'European' ethnicity in Europe itself. In fact, some opponents of the
European Union question its legitimacy, precisely because there is no corresponding ethnic or cultural group.
[30] Despite their self-definition as 'European', many American white nationalists would not regard ''all'' descendants of European immigrants as "white." For an acceptable definition, white nationalists draw primarily on 19th-century
racial taxonomy, which neither reached a consensus on racial categories nor is accepted by
geneticists.
(For example, geneticist
Neil Risch classifies racial groups in a way that few white nationalists would accept; Jews, Germans and Pakistanis are all
Caucasoid).
[31]
Different variants of racial-origin theories, such as
Nordicism and
Germanism, define different groups as 'white', both excluding some Southern and Eastern Europeans because of perceived racial taint
[3].
Pan Aryanism — itself originally a component of
Nazi race theories — defines most Europeans as Aryan-origin whites. Some white nationalists use the term 'Pan-Europeanism' for a definition including all European
ethnic groups.
Other white nationalists hope that
population genetics will provide clear criteria for 'white'. Some have adopted a definition based on the Y-chromosome
haplogroup R1b. This marker is prevalent in most Western European populations, possibly reflecting the re-expansion into Europe of a
smaller human population in Southern Europe, after the last
ice age.
Opposition
White nationalism is more controversial than other forms of ethnic or racial
identity politics. Opponents to white nationalism charge that it is in fact
white supremacism, and that white nationalists are not so much interested in their own 'white heritage', as in power over non-whites. White nationalism is sometimes described as a
reaction by whites who believe they are
disenfranchised by the rise of
liberal multicultural ideologies based around
tolerance and
inclusiveness, as well as the gains of other racial and ethnic groups against the majority white population in many Western nations.
White nationalists respond that they are simply organizing in ways similar to organisations such as the
NAACP and other groups that are generally not seen as controversial, and that to accuse white-nationalist groups of racism while approving of, or tolerating, other racially-oriented groups is hypocritical and racist towards white people. Some white nationalists respond to the accusation of white supremacism by saying that they are
white separatists, and that separation precludes domination of one group by another.
Critics point out that while posturing as
civil rights groups advocating the interests of their ethnic or racial group, white nationalist groups frequently draw on the
nativist traditions of the American
Ku Klux Klan and the British
National Front [4].
Since there is no official organisation, anyone can call themselves a 'white nationalist'. The term "white nationalist" has been used by
neo-Nazi,
white supremacy, and
Christian Identity groups, which have differing ideologies but share an identification with the 'white race'. Some of these groups have condoned violence in the past, and some have built up strong followings in US prisons.
White nationalist groups
American Renaissance,
Council of Conservative Citizens, the
National Alliance and
National Vanguard are four leading examples in the United States, but antiracist groups such as the
Southern Poverty Law Center prefer to call them racist or white supremacist.
In Europe, nationalist parties such as France's
Front National, Germany's
National Democratic Party and the Italian
Northern League promote nationalism and oppose immigration, but do not describe themselves as "white nationalist". In most European
nation-states, the nation is traditionally defined by ancestry and long-term association of a single ethnic group with the national homeland. If that ethnic groups is already 'white' - as for instance with the Germans in Germany - then additional definition as 'white' is superfluous. In countries with a longer history of mass immigration, as in
Britain, some definitions of the national identity now include immigrants. It is when this redefinition is disputed, that ethnic or racial limits on the composition of the nation become a political issue.
References
1. The New White Nationalism in America, by Scott McConnell, First Things (August/September 2002).
2. White Nationalists Seek Respectability in Meeting of 'Uptown Bad Guys' Newhouse News Service April 4, 2000
3. http://www.vanderbilt.edu/news/releases/2003/4/11/interviews_offer_unprecedented_look_into_the_world_and_words_of_the_new_white_nationalism Interviews offer unprecedented look into the world and words of the new white nationalism 4-11-2003, News from Vanderbilt University
4. White Nationalists Seek Respectability in Meeting of 'Uptown Bad Guys' Newhouse News Service April 4, 2000
5. The New White Nationalism in America, by Scott McConnell, First Things (August/September 2002).
6. http://www.zmag.org/Sustainers/content/2002-12/16wise.cfm Znet: December 16, 2002, Making Nice With Racists: David Horowitz and The Soft Pedaling Of White Supremacy, by Tim Wise
7. The Hispanic challenge. Foreign Policy March 1, 2004
8. Despite new leaders, and with them new tactics and new ideas, the goal of white separatists remains to convince Americans that racial separation is the only way to survive National Public Radio (NPR) August 14, 2003 Thursday
9. White Nationalists Seek Respectability in Meeting of 'Uptown Bad Guys' Newhouse News Service April 4, 2000
10. Jared Taylor, A Racist In The Guise Of 'Expert', Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Pennsylvania), January 23, 2005
11. The Hispanic challenge. Foreign Policy March 1, 2004
12. The Hispanic challenge. Foreign Policy March 1, 2004
13. Despite new leaders, and with them new tactics and new ideas, the goal of white separatists remains to convince Americans that racial separation is the only way to survive National Public Radio (NPR) August 14, 2003 Thursday
14. Can We Improve Race Relations by Giving Racists Some of What They Want? The Chronicle of Higher Education July 19, 2002
15. http://www.vanderbilt.edu/news/releases/2003/4/11/interviews_offer_unprecedented_look_into_the_world_and_words_of_the_new_white_nationalism Interviews offer unprecedented look into the world and words of the new white nationalism 4-11-2003, News from Vanderbilt University
16. ibid.
17. ibid.
18. The New Nativism; The alarming overlap between white nationalists and mainstream anti-immigrant forces The American Prospect November, 2005
19. Can Nationalism studies and ethnic, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies July 1, 2004
20. The cultural roots of interventionism in the U.S. Social Justice March 22, 2003
21. The cultural roots of interventionism in the U.S. Social Justice March 22, 2003
22. In its darkness, 'Kong' shows the human heart Newsday (New York) December 15, 2005
23. Apartheid-era party is ending its existence, The International Herald Tribune August 9, 2004
24. Kani explores a post-apartheid world on stage ABC Transcripts (Australia) May 11, 2005
25. Patriotism in Black and White The American Prospect January 13, 2003
26. Black politics are in a black hole, Newsday (New York), January 14, 2005
27. Bush and Kerry show opposing faces of two different Americas Business Day (South Africa) October 21, 2004
28. Dating the White Way Newsweek August 9, 2004
29. In its darkness, 'Kong' shows the human heart Newsday (New York) December 15, 2005
30. See: [1]
31. New York Times: ''Race Is Seen as Real Guide to Track Roots of Disease'', 2002. [2]
Bibliography
★
The Philosophy of Nationalism, Josey, Charles Conant, , , Cliveden Press, 1983 [1923], ISBN 1-87846-510-4
★
Why Race Matters: Race Differences and What They Mean, Levin, Michael E., , , Praeger Publishers, 1997, ISBN 0-27595-789-6
★
A Race Against Time: Racial Heresies for the 21st Century, McDaniel, George (ed.), , , New Century Foundation, 2003, ISBN 0-96563-832-4
★
The Dispossessed Majority, Robertson, Wilmot, , , Howard Allen, 1981, ISBN 0-91457-615-1
★
The Ethnostate, Robertson, Wilmot, , , Howard Allen, 1993, ISBN 0-91457-622-4
★
Contemporary Voices of White Nationalism in America, Swain, Carol M., , , Cambridge University Press, 2003, ISBN 0-52101-693-2
List of prominent white nationalists
★
Don Black
★
David Duke
★
Paul Fromm
★
Robert Jay Mathews
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William Luther Pierce
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Jared Taylor
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Norman Lowell
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Revilo P. Oliver
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