Is there really a new wave of anti-Semitism sweeping the United States? At first glance the answer appears to be in the affirmative. There’s certainly substantial – though fragmentary – evidence to support this response. Here are some manifestations of hatred toward Jewish people that confirm the existence of such a wave. Exhibit ‘A’ is… Continue reading “The New Wave of Anti-Semitism in America”
The American radical right has almost always been fractured, riven by red-hot splits over ideology, raw power, and an unrelieved series of petty fights revolving around sex, drugs, money, and over-inflated egos. A neo-Nazi leader sneers at the “freaks and weaklings” who inhabit other hate groups. One Klansman shoots another over the theft of a… Continue reading “Recent Splits & Spills in the American Radical Right”
During the strife-ridden decade of the 1960s, the call for ‘law and order’ became a major demand of conservative journalists and politicians. In part, they were reacting to the surge in mass student-led protests against American participation in the Vietnam war. This new movement led to peace marches, anti-war rallies held throughout the country,… Continue reading “Topsy-Turvy: The other side of 1968 activism, 50 years on”
Radical right movements are typically defined by—and understood through—their ideological platforms and rhetoric. Sometimes overlooked, aesthetics are surprisingly central to modern radical right movements, whose leaders often extol the virtues of physical fitness and a polished public image. Radical right parties don’t merely envision a set of political positions and policies, in other words—but also… Continue reading “The Radical Right’s Cult of the Body”
©Getty Images In the months since white supremacist blogger Andrew Anglin urged his followers to dress in “hip” and “cool” ways at the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Va., far-right fashion has rapidly evolved. The clean-cut aesthetic of the white polo shirts and khakis that drew national attention last August has been supplanted by new brands marketing to and for… Continue reading “The Rise of Fascist Fashion: Clothing helps the Far Right sell their violent message”
©AP PHOTO/LYNNE SLADKY They arrived by the thousands in the mid-1750s, immigrants from Württemberg, the Palatinate, and Switzerland. Often, they were so poor that they had been obliged to sell their children. Wretchedly sick and destitute, they flooded into the city of Philadelphia in search of a new home. The local Anglo-Protestant establishment was anything… Continue reading “Banking on the “Deplorables”: Nativism and the Radical Right”
Twenty-five years after the conclusion of the Branch Davidian standoff near Waco, Texas — the compound burned on 19th April 1993 — propagandists and activists on the radical right are once again turning to Waco. Waco, they say, shows what the government will do to those Americans who have heterodox religious or political views, especially… Continue reading “Twenty-Five Years After Waco: Popular Imaginings of the Siege and Aftermath”