National Alliance (United States)
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The National Alliance is a white nationalist and a white separatist organization. It was founded by William Luther Pierce, and is based in Hillsboro, West Virginia. Although it is based in the United States, the National Alliance claims to have members in various countries throughout the world. Membership is not based upon citizenship in any particular country, but on perceived white, gentile European ancestry. The National Alliance is often included in lists of neo-Nazi groups, in part due to its glorification of Adolf Hitler. For example, an article appearing in a 1989 issue of its magazine National Vanguard celebrated the 100th anniversary of Hitler's birth, declaring him "the greatest man of our era".
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[edit] History
Pierce founded the group in 1974 about the same time as he created the Cosmotheist Community Church[1]. He was a former physics professor and the author of The Turner Diaries, a novel about a white revolution in America, which he wrote under the pen name Andrew MacDonald. The National Alliance was reorganized from an earlier group: the National Youth Alliance (NYA). The NYA was formed out of the remains of Governor George Wallace's 1968 presidential campaign organization Youth for Wallace. The NYA broke into factions as a result of infighting, and Pierce gained control of the largest remnant in 1970 and continued the organization under that name until its reorganization in 1974. Pierce previously had been an associate of the assassinated leader of the American Nazi Party, George Lincoln Rockwell, and had been editor of the party's magazine, National Socialist World.
Pierce died of cancer on July 23, 2002,[1] and was succeeded as National Chairman by Erich Gliebe.[2] A few months later, the National Alliance had a small power-struggle with Billy Roper, the Deputy Membership Coordinator being fired in September 2002. Billy Roper went on to found the group White Revolution. In August 2003 another internal disruption occurred with two members of BoD, firefighter Fred Streed and former economics professor Robert DeMarais resigning.
In April 2005, Kevin Alfred Strom, former Alliance member and then editor of National Vanguard Magazine, issued a declaration calling for Erich Gliebe to step down;[3]the Executive Committee of the National Alliance and most unit coordinators supported this action. Gliebe refused the demand, claiming that the National Alliance operates under the "Leadership Principle" and that he would not yield to any coup. Strom then formed a new group called National Vanguard. Shortly thereafter, Gliebe resigned as National Chairman of the Alliance stating that he needed more time to spend with his family. Gliebe appointed Shaun Walker as his successor and in June 2006, Walker was arrested for Civil Rights violations (in 2007 Walker was sentenced to 87 months).[4] After the arrest, Gliebe again assumed the leadership of the organization.[5]
The splintering of the group did not last long. In January 2007 Strom was indicted on child pornography and of seeking to coerce a 10-year-old sexually.[6] Two of the three charges were dismissed in October, 2007 and the third was pending trial in January, 2008. Since then, Strom has pleaded to one count of possession of child pornography and all of the other charges have been dropped. His sentencing is scheduled for April 2008. In March 2007 the National Vanguard dissolved and in its place European Americans United formed.[7] This latter contention is disputed as European Americans United has published a statement on their website stating: "The Anti-Defamation League has slandered and defamed EAU by describing us as a continuation of some other group. This is a vicious lie which we categorically and vehemently deny."[8]
[edit] Politics
"White survival" is the core political position of the National Alliance. The group hopes to secure a "white living space" within North America, where the physical and cultural presence of all non-whites has been removed. The National Alliance points to the rapidly changing demographic situation in America, such as the declining white birthrate relative to the non-white and a huge influx of non-White immigrants from the Third World are examples of justifications for its white separatist position.
Every Valentine's Day, the National Alliance seeks to improve its image by distributing a "Love Your Race" flyer. The organization describes it as a call for all races to embrace their various heritages. Watchdog organizations such as the Anti-Defamation League have claimed that its Valentine's Day campaign is merely a propaganda tactic designed to obfuscate its racist messages.[9]
[edit] Anti-Semitism
- See also: 9/11 conspiracy theories
The group states that Jews exert a negative influence at nearly every level of American society. The National Alliance also claims that Jews maintain large influence and ownership of the mainstream entertainment media in America.[10] After the September 11, 2001 attacks, the National Alliance claimed that these attacks were caused by the US's unconditional and biased support of and for policies favorable towards Israel. The National Alliance also claims evidence that Israel's Mossad had launched the 2001 anthrax attacks in order to set up the 2003 invasion of Iraq, a longtime enemy of Israel;[11] many anti-Zionist 9/11 consipracy theories are popular among other groups as well.
[edit] Business
Before the death of Pierce, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation called the Alliance the best-financed and best-organized white nationalist organization of its kind in the United States. Membership in 2002 was estimated at 2,500 with an income of $1 million annually.[12] According to the SPLC, paid membership has declined to fewer than 800 and the paid staff was down to only 10 people as of 2006.[13] The infighting since the death of the founder Pierce apparently has greatly weakened the organization.
In 2002, the organization had a paid staff of 17 and ran a white power record label called Resistance Records and ran "Resistance Radio", a (now defunct) web radio station that streamed pro-white rock music across the Internet 24 hours a day. It also has a radio show, American Dissident Voices, heard on shortwave and streaming audio on the Internet. This show started in 1992 and has been on every week since. At one point in the mid-1990s there were 22 radio stations, AM and FM, which carried the program, but most of these radio stations dropped these programs mostly due to political and economic pressure. With the growth of the Internet the show peaked at it highest listenership in 2002 with 250,000 regular listeners in America. The original host was Strom until early 1997 when Pierce took it over full-time. Upon the death of Pierce in July 2002 it again was hosted until April 16, 2005 by Strom. Walker then became the voice for American Dissident Voices until his arrest in June 2006 and ever since then Gliebe became the weekly DJ for this 30-minute program.
[edit] References
- ^ "William Pierce, America's leading neo-Nazi, dies", Southern Poverty Law Center, 2002. Retrieved on 2007-08-17.
- ^ "Death of a Führer", Southern Poverty Law Center, Fall 2002. Retrieved on 2007-08-17.
- ^ http://www.nationalvanguard.org/printer.php?id=4913]
- ^ "White-separatists get prison time for hate crimes", The Salt Lake Tribune, August 14, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-08-17.
- ^ "Neo-Nazi National Alliance leader indicted in civil rights conspiracy", Southern Poverty Law Center, June 9, 2006. Retrieved on 2007-08-17.
- ^ "White Supremacist Busted on Child-Porn Charge", ABC News, Jan. 4, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-08-17.
- ^ "Extremism in America: National Alliance", Anti-Defamation League, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-07-18.
- ^ "What we are NOT", European Americans United, 2008. Retrieved on 2008-02-18.
- ^ "White Supremacists Target NASCAR's Daytona 500 For Major Recruitment Drive", Anti-Defamation League, February 18, 2005. Retrieved on 2007-08-18.
- ^ http://www.nationalvanguard.org/story.php?id=4231
- ^ National Vanguard Issue Number 122
- ^ "William Pierce: A Political History", Southern Poverty Law Center, Winter 1999. Retrieved on 2007-08-17.
- ^ "Neo-Nazi National Alliance Experiences Troubled Times", Southern Poverty Law Center, December 2003. Retrieved on 2007-08-17.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
[edit] Official
[edit] Critical
- Explosion of Hate (report on the National Alliance by the Anti-Defamation League)
- A more recent ADL report on the National Alliance
- Against the Wall (report on the National Alliance by the Southern Poverty Law Center)
Commentary
- As He Lay Dying (James Ridgeway, The Village Voice, September 4-10 September 2002)
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