For Carib News 12/5/16
The order of the post-World War 11 era that has given stability to Europe and the United States is being seriously eroded by the rise of white nationalist populism. In some respects, the election of Donald trump to the presidency of the United States is in part attributed to the rise of white nationalism.
The exalted position of Steve Bannon, designated as Trump’s Chief Strategist is a testimony of his role in the campaign and his influence on the worldview of the unconventional Donald Trump. Bannon used his control of Breitbart News as the platform of the Alt-Right Movement.
It is a stretch to call it a movement as there is no unifying or organizational dimension to the Alt-Right tendency but there is a conglomeration of ideas that provides a certain level of groundation to these variegated groups in the United States and in Europe.
Alt-Right groups argue that the white race is threatened by uncontrollable immigration into America and Europe. They are against free trade and globalization. As a result of Brexit, Britain now struggles to redefine its relationship to the European Union. The overriding concern was not trade with the European Union but the fact that Britain had no control over the free movement of labor pouring into Britain from Eastern Europe. Such an influx of white aliens was seen as threatening to British culture and the Anglo-Saxon heritage.
The slowdown in economic growth in the United States and in Europe has given impetus to the rise of populism and white nationalism. Wages in the United States have been stagnant for the last forty years and the standard of living for certain segments of the white working class has been falling. White workers in this educational category with just a high school diploma or less voted overwhelmingly for Donald Trump. People of color with the same educational limitations voted overwhelmingly against Trump and for Hillary Clinton.
One can logically deduce from this that white workers in Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Ohio, North Carolina and Florida were not solely motivated by white nationalism but also by pocket book issues.
What is disturbing about the Trump candidacy was the insidious fixation of “the other”. The sweeping generalizations and peddling of falsehoods were lapped up by the true believers who flocked to the rallies. Mexicans were portrayed as rapists. A wall was necessary to keep out immigrants. Muslims were defined as threatening to American national security.
There are some thin lines which the Alt-Right tip toe around. Groups spearheaded by Richard Spencer of the National Policy Institute are outright unadulterated white-supremacist. Jared Taylor of the American Renaissance Party also falls within that ambit of white supremacy. Bannon has not stated unequivocally that he favors white supremacy but his opposition to globalization and immigration is related to his sympathy for white political hegemony. Trump uses the rhetoric of “the other” but pays lip service to bringing the country together under the masquerade of America First.
A peculiar aspect of this white nationalist populism is the “lionization” Vladimir Putin. For decades, forces on the right depicted Russia as a force for despotism and totalitarianism. The Soviet Union was seen as a conspiratorial power aimed at undermining western capitalist democracy. With the collapse of the Soviet Union and the subsequent rise of Putin as an authoritarian figure asserting Russian nationalism on the global stage, Putin has become the poster child for the anti-globalization, white nationalist forces across the Atlantic. White nationalist forces see Putin as preserving western values, condemning homosexuality and same sex marriage.
Of further significance is the extent that the white nationalist forces have established international links. Not only has Brietbart News served as a platform for Alt-Right groups in America but groups in Europe and the United States have established a dialogue and working relationships to preserve the purity of the besieged white race.
The election of Von der Bellen to the Presidency of Austria and the defeat of the Norbert Hofer’s Nazi-oriented ideology is an indication that Austrians were able to repulse the populist reactionary wave. Next year there will be presidential elections in France and Marine Le Pen, the leader of the National Front Party is seen as a possible winner of that coveted political office. Marine Le Pen since taking over the National front from her father has astutely broadened her appeal by toning down the Front’s odious anti-semitism and has benefited from the terrorist bombings in Paris and the burgeoning anti-immigrant sentiment.
Angela Merkel, the Chancellor of Germany, will also be up for re-election for the Chancellorship in Germany next year. She will be challenged from the right by pro-Nazi Parties. Germany was where the Nazi propaganda and falsehoods had its origins after World War 1 and spread not just among the German people but Nazism metastasized and spread throughout Eastern Europe. This Nazi machinery culminated in the destructiveness of World War 11 and the Holocaust. Hitler’s intent was to exterminate the Jews who served as “the other” in Nazi Germany. Hitler was instrumental in spreading the myth of the superiority of the Aryan race.
These are glaring times for world society. The forthcoming couple of years will determine whether white nationalism will emerge as dominant political forces throughout Europe and the United States or fade as they are beaten back by the multi-cultural forces of decency. The black community in America and the Caribbean are destined to play a pivotal role in beating back these atavistic Neanderthal forces.
