League of the South

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The League of the South

The League of the South is a Southern nationalist organization whose ultimate goal is "a free and independent Southern republic."[1] The group defines the Southern United States as the states that made up the former Confederacy.[2] While political independence ranks highly among the group's goals, it is also a religious and social movement, advocating a return to a more traditional, conservative Christian-oriented Southern culture.

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[edit] History

Formed in 1994, the League of the South was originally known as the Southern League, a reference to both the Northern League, an Italian political party which advocates autonomy for Northern Italy, and the League of United Southerners, a group organized in 1858 to shape Southern public opinion. The name was changed in 1997 after it was discovered that the rights to the name were held by another, older Southern League, a minor league baseball organization based in Atlanta.[3] The League was founded in 1994 by Michael Hill and a group of about forty others. Most of them were academics and intellectuals, including Clyde Wilson, Thomas Fleming, and "Celtic history" specialist Grady McWhiney (all three professors).[4]

[edit] Views

As noted, the League promotes the "independence of the Southern people" from the "American empire"[5] and this on a variety of levels: culturally, economically, socially, and politically.

[edit] Culture

The League defines Southern culture "in opposition to the corrupt mainstream American culture."[5] It sees Southern culture as profoundly Christian, and pro-life.[6] Furthermore, the League believes that Southern culture places a greater emphasis on immediate relationships than on abstract ideas (the nation, the global community, etc.) and that Southern geography "defines character and worldview."[5]

[edit] Social

According to the League, Southern society differs greatly from what it sees as the Marxist and egalitarian society lacking "any grace or charm" that its "alien [American] occupier" seeks to "impress upon it."[5] Southern culture, for the League, is hierarchical, based on the Bible and decidedly anti-feminism.[7] While the League's Core Beliefs Statement does not mention gay rights, it notes that Southern culture "stigmatizes perversity".[5] It also values politeness — "Southern Hospitality".

[edit] Economics

The League of the South's economic views are best characterized as free market. It is opposed to fiat currency, personal income taxation, central banking, property taxes and most state regulation of business. The League supports sales taxes and user fees.[5] However, some League members, such as John Cobin, support the use of voluntary taxes like user fees and lotteries to finance government.[8]

[edit] Politics

Seeking support in the American Declaration of Independence, the League believes the "Southern people" have the right to secede from the United States, and that they "must throw off the yoke of imperial [federal, or central government] oppression".[5] The League promotes a Southern Confederation of sovereign, independent States that "work together... to conduct foreign affairs". It believes that the South's foreign policy should favor neutrality and trade with all states.[9] Furthermore, the League favors strictly limited immigration, opposes standing armies and any regulation whatsoever of firearms.[5] Though the ultimate goal of the League is to create an independent Southern nation, it sees this aim as the final step in an ongoing process:

Once we have planted the seeds of cultural, economic, and social renewal, then (and only then), should we begin to look to the South's political renewal. Political independence will come only when we have convinced the Southern people that they are indeed a nation in the historical, organic, and Biblical sense of the word, namely, that they are a distinct people with language, mores, and folkways that separate them from the rest of the world.[10]

The League's current official activities focus on recruiting and encouraging "cultural secession" and "withholding our support from all institutions and objects of popular culture that are antithetical to our beliefs and heritage."[11] In November 2006 its representatives attended the First North American Secessionist Convention which brought together secessionists from a broad political spectrum.[12] In October 2007 it co-hosted the Second North American Secessionist Convention in Chattanooga, Tennessee.[13]

[edit] Controversy

The League of the South promotes the Confederate flag and sees opposition to it as "cultural genocide". See Flags of the Confederate States of America
The League of the South promotes the Confederate flag and sees opposition to it as "cultural genocide".[14] See Flags of the Confederate States of America

The issue of race has become a source of controversy about, and dispute within, the League of the South. In the Summer of 2000 the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) labeled League of the South a "racist hate group" and issued a report filled with allegations of racist statements, especially by the League's President Michael Hill.[15] According to a news article, Hill "welcomed the designation as a 'badge of honor'" and stated SPLC has "a very leftist agenda, these sorts of things are designed to discredit you publicly."[16]

In response to these types of allegations, the League of the South Board of Directors in 2005 issued a "Statement on 'Racism'" stating in part: “We believe that Christianity and social order require that all people, regardless of race, must be equal before the law. We do not believe that the law should be used to persecute, oppress, or favour any race or class. We believe that the only harmony possible between the races, as between all natural differences among human beings, begins in submitting to Jesus Christ's commandment to 'love our neighbours as ourselves.' That is the world we envision and work for."

During the 2006 First North American Secessionist Convention when the issue of the League of the South and racism was raised, Don Kennedy, identified as ”a leader of the League of the South,” stated: "How can you believe in liberty and discriminate against your neighbor? Equality before the law is something we want, and we're on the record for that."[17] News stories about the Second North American Secessionist Convention also mentioned the SPLC's allegations, as well as skeptical responses from convention attendees. Convention organizer Kirkpatrick Sale responded: "They call everybody racists. There are, no doubt, racists in the League of the South, and there are, no doubt, racists everywhere."[18]

[edit] Members

The League's Board of Directors is composed of Michael Hill, Jack Kershaw, Ray McBerry, Franklin Sanders, Rev. Eugene Cas, Mark Thomey, Mike Tuggle.[19] Among the founding members were Thomas Fleming, Grady McWhiney and Clyde Wilson.[20] Other prominent individuals who have been LoS members include Constitution Party presidential candidate Michael Peroutka (who was endorsed by the League),[21] Michael Andrew Grissom,[22] and Thomas Woods.[23] Some prominent members, such as Woods and McWhiney, appear to have subsequently limited or ended their involvement with the organization.

[edit] Bibliography

  1. What Is the League of the South?, "Introductory Essays and Remarks: What Is the League of the South?" by Michael Hill.
  2. The League of the South FAQ
  3. Internal League Dissention "White Nationalism" from the Southern Poverty Law Center's "Intelligence Report", summer 2002, issue #106.
  4. Official website (To reach the Core Beliefs Statement, follow the links for "Daily Archives" to "February 2005" and "Announcements: Core Beliefs Statement.")
  5. Grand Strategy "The League's Grand Strategy."
  6. A League of Their Own "A League of Their Own" from the Southern Poverty Law Center's Intelligence Report, summer 2000, issue #99, 1.
  7. League of the South Statement on Racism by the League of the South Board of Directors, June 21, 2005.
  8. Board of Directors "Meet the Board of Directors of the League of the South."

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

[edit] Scholarly and special interest

[edit] References

  1. ^ League of the South website
  2. ^ "The US Civil War as a Theological War: Confederate Christian Nationalism and the League of the South"
  3. ^ League of the South homepage
  4. ^ "The Neo-Confederates" Southern Poverty Law Center
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h League Core Beliefs Statement
  6. ^ "Southerners have respect for human life, in all its stages, as a gift from God." This language is often used by groups opposed to legal abortion and euthanasia.
  7. ^ ibid – "Husbands are the heads of their families", "Perpetuates the chivalric ideal of manhood"
  8. ^ See Cobin, Christian Theology of Public Policy: Highlighting the American Experience (Alertness Books, 2006).
  9. ^ ibid – "commerce and friendship with all, entangling alliances with none"
  10. ^ The Grand Strtegy
  11. ^ League of the South FAQ
  12. ^ Gary Shapiro, “Modern-Day Secessionists Will Hold a Conference on Leaving the Union,” The New York Sun, September 27, 2006, 6; Paul Nussbaum, “Coming together to ponder pulling apart, Latter-day secessionists of all stripes convene in Vermont, Philadelphia Inquirer, November 6, 2006.
  13. ^ Bill Poovey, Secessionists Meeting in Tennessee, Associated Press, reprinted in The Guardian, October 3, 2007; Leonard Doyle, Anger over Iraq and Bush prompts calls for secession from the US, Independent, UK, October 4, 2007; WDEF News 12 Video report on Secessionist Convention, October 3, 2007.
  14. ^ League webpage on Confederate flags
  15. ^ SPLC article on League of South; also see SPLC article on Michael Hill.
  16. ^ John DeSantis, Civil War revisionism all cited by watchdog group, from The Sun Herald, September 7, 2000, reproduced at RickRoss.Com.
  17. ^ Paul Nussbaum Philadelphia Inquirer' article November 6, 2006.
  18. ^ Bill Poovey, Associated Press, October 3, 2007; Leonard Doyle, Independent, UK, October 4, 2007.
  19. ^ The League's website
  20. ^ "The Neo-Confederates" Southern Poverty Law Center
  21. ^ "League of the South Endorses Michael A. Peroutka for President of these united States" accessed October 25, 2007
  22. ^ "The Neo-Confederates" Southern Poverty Law Center
  23. ^ "Behind the Jeffersonian Veneer" Reason Magazine, June 2005