Heathenry isn’t inherently fascistic, but links between neo-paganism and white terror are evident. Odinists create faulty comparisons with Indigenous tribes to restrict their religious practices to only those of Northern European descent and, as researcher Shannon Weber writes, to “tap into the idea of Indigenous belonging while conveniently glossing over their status as settlers on stolen land.” This paradoxical belief instills a dual sense of victory and victimhood, with hypermasculine Nordics arriving first without receiving any credit. Followers of Ásatrú, the neo-pagan religious movement associated with Odinism, lay claim to white indigeneity based on the “Vinland,” a segment of North America explored by Vikings before Christopher Columbus. Since the 1960s, American white supremacists have promoted racial purity and overlooked white cultural dominance by co-opting a perceived indigenous identity through an amalgamation of pre-Christian polytheistic religions like heathenry and paganism. (Updated Version) /GnP6Paa6Xz- American Iron Front May 13, 2019 Thread: A Crash Course in Far-Right Symbols Meanwhile, Odinist symbols like Thor’s Hammer, the Life Rune, and the Valknot - all of which are tattooed on Arizona “QAnon Shaman” Jake Angeli - appear with prominent neo-Confederate, Nazi, and nationalist symbols. This might explain why the issue is frequently swept under the rug or dismissed as innocent misunderstanding. The military’s ties to the KKK date back to the Confederate army, while the Blue Lives Matter movement has renewed discussions around the police’s origins as slave patrols. The Proud Boys are known for using anti-Semitic acronyms like 6MWE (Six Million Wasn’t Enough), a reference to the Holocaust, and one insurrectionist’s Camp Auschwitz shirt led to bizarre Twitter speculations that he was a potential Holocaust survivor.Ĭops and troops are frequently investigated for associations with hate symbols, tattoos of Nazi regalia, and the use of “White Power” hand gestures.
Left-wing organizations have documented far-right dog whistles for years - perhaps most comprehensively by the Southern Poverty Law Center and Anti-Defamation League’s Hate on Display database. (photo by TapTheForwardAssist, via Wikimedia Commons) Multiple Gadsen flags can be seen in the crowd of the pro-Trump mob at the Capitol on January 6. While this rhetoric swayed swing voters in 2016, reports from Capitol Hill showed many insurrectionists were affluent business owners and off-duty police officers associated with these hate groups. Five years of neoliberal class reductionism created an illusion about Trump supporters: that they live in “flyover” states, work in increasingly obsolete industries, and struggle financially. Fascism has no clear-cut definition, but it does have concrete symptoms: simultaneous claims of victory and victimhood, diligent beliefs in nativism, and what Umberto Eco called the “cult of tradition.” This last component covers the far-right ideological spectrum, which is why Confederate and “Don’t Tread on Me” Gadsden flags appear alongside Ku Klux Klan (KKK) signs and posters of 4chan memes. Their slogans and symbols are out in the open, and we need to get better at detecting them.įrom Proud Boys and neo-Nazis to anti-government militias, a broad fascist coalition has consolidated around Trump’s claims of election fraud and deep-seated white fragility.
Feigning ignorance to what the US really represents, politicians and mainstream media outlets still fail to connect QAnon with white supremacy and convey the ubiquity of racist hate groups, whose ideology is prevalent even in the federal government. How did a mob of angry Trump supporters come so close to harming members of Congress on January 6, 2021? Capitol police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), two government agencies adept at suppressing dissent, have been conspicuously lenient compared to their interventions in leftist movements.