Neo-völkisch movements

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 It has been suggested that Esoteric Nazism be merged into this article or section. (Discuss)

Neo-völkisch movements, as defined by the historian Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke, cover a wide variety of mutually influencing groups of a radically ethnocentric character which have emerged, especially in the English-speaking world, since World War Two. These loose networks revive or imitate the völkisch movement of 19th and early 20th century Germany in their defensive affirmation of white identity against modernity, immigration and multiculturalism.[1] Some identify as neo-fascist or neo-Nazi; others are politicised around some form of ethnic or racial nationalism, and may show anarchist tendencies.[2] Especially notable is the prevalence of devotional forms and esoteric themes, so that neo-völkisch currents often have the character of new religious movements.

Included under the neo-völkisch umbrella are such movements as Esoteric Hitlerism, Nazi Satanism (and National Socialist black metal), Evolians, the Nouvelle Droite, Nordic racial paganism, Christian Identity and the Creativity Movement.

Contents

[edit] Nazi Satanism and related groups

Among the terms used are Nazi Satanism, fascist Satanism, and Nazi paganism. Sometimes these groups self-identify as "Traditional Satanism" and consist of small groups in Britain, France and New Zealand, under names such as Black Order or Infernal Alliance, which draw their inspiration from the Esoteric Hitlerism of Miguel Serrano.[3] These organisations scorn what they term "liberal Satanism" — the mainstream US Satanism that advocates extreme individualism, as represented by the Church of Satan or the Temple of Set — as a shameless apology for capitalism. Uww, founder of black metal fanzine Deo Occidi, denounced Anton LaVey as a "moderate Jew", and embraced the "esoterrorism" of the Scandinavian Black Metal milieu. Small Satanist grouplets catering to the black metal Satanist fringe include the Black Order, the Order of Nine Angles (ONA), the Ordo Sinistra Vivendi (formerly the Order of the Left Hand Path) and the Order of the Jarls of Baelder.[4]

The chief initiator of Nazi Satanism in Britain has been alleged to be David Wulstan Myatt (b. 1950), active from the late 1960s.[5] The ONA was active in the 1980s to 1990s and was allegedly led by Myatt.[6] Myatt converted to Islam in 1998, and has since endorsed Islamist terrorism. However, Myatt has denied any involvement with the ONA and Satanism, and repeatedly challenged anyone to provide any evidence of such allegations.[7][8]

The Order of the Jarls of Baelder (OJB) is a British neopagan society founded in 1990 by Stephen Bernard Cox, renamed to Arktion Federation in 1998, and classified as fascist Satanism by Partridge.[9] The OJB advocates pan-European neo-tribalism, pursuing the "aeonic destiny of Europe" and the emergence of the elitist Superman. The OJB symbol consists of the valknut combined with the Gemini sign within a broken curved-armed swastika.[10] Cox is also the founder of The European Library; European Heritage School; Albion Pilgrimage and the Dartmoor Experience; European Heritage Foundation; Euro-Youth Pioneers; and Coxland Press, where he self-published several works on Runic mysticism (Baelder's Book of Runic Guidance, Rune Sex Gymnastics), Pagan festivals and other topics.

The Order of Nine Angles is a purported secretive Satanist organization which has been mentioned in books detailing Satanist and far right groups.[7][11][12][13] They were initially formed in the United Kingdom, and rose to public note during the 1980s and 1990s. The ONA is asserted to have "gone back to being totally underground, having completed their mission to spread their work."[14]

[edit] Nordic racial paganism

Further information: Germanic neopaganism and Neopaganism in Germany
Else Christensen, founder of the Odinist Fellowship
Else Christensen, founder of the Odinist Fellowship

As defined by Goodrick-Clarke, Nordic racial paganism is synonymous with the Odinist movement (including some who identify as Wotanist). He describes it as a "spiritual rediscovery of the Aryan ancestral gods...intended to embed the white races in a sacred worldview that supports their tribal feeling", and expressed in "imaginative forms of ritual magic and ceremonial forms of fraternal fellowship".[15]

On the basis of research by Mattias Gardell,[16] Goodrick-Clarke traces the original conception of the Odinist religion by Alexander Rud Mills in the 1920s, and its modern revival by Else Christensen and her Odinist Fellowship from 1969 onwards. Christensen's politics were left-wing, deriving from anarcho-syndicalism, but she believed that leftist ideas had a formative influence on both Italian Fascism and German National-Socialism, whose totalitarian perversions were a betrayal of these movements' socialist roots. Elements of a leftist and libertarian racial-socialism could therefore be reclaimed from the fascism in which they had become encrusted.[17] However, Christensen was also convinced that the diseases of Western culture demanded a spiritual remedy. Mills' almost-forgotten writings inspired her with a programme for re-connecting with the gods and goddesses of the old Norse and Germanic pantheons, which she identified with the archetypes in Carl Jung's concept of the racial collective unconscious. According to Christensen, therefore, Odinism is organically related to race in that "its principles are encoded in our genes".[18]

The Ásatrú movement, founded by Stephen McNallen, differed from Christensen's Odinist Fellowship in placing a greater emphasis on ritual and a lesser focus on racial ideology. In 1987, McNallen's Asatru Free Assembly collapsed from prolonged internal tensions arising from his repudiation of Nazi sympathisers within the organisation. A group of these, including Wyatt Kaldenberg, then joined the Odinist Fellowship (as its Los Angeles chapter) and formed an association with Tom Metzger, which led to a further rebuff since "Else Christensen thought Metzger too racist, and members of the Arizona Kindred also wanted the Fellowship to be pro-white but not hostile to colored races and Jews".[19] A series of defections from both of the main US-based organisations created secessionist groups with more radical agendas, among them Kaldenberg's Pagan Revival network and Jost Turner's National Socialist Kindred.[19]

Kaplan and Weinberg note that "The religious component of the Euro-American radical right subculture includes both pagan and Christian or pseudo-Christian elements", locating Satanist or Odinist Nazi Skinhead sects in the United States (Ben Klassen), Britain (David Myatt), Germany, Scandinavia and South Africa.[20]

In the United States, some white supremacist groups — including several with neo-fascist or neo-Nazi leanings — have built their ideologies around pagan religious imagery, including Odinism. One such group is the White Order of Thule.[21] Wotanism is another religion that has appeared in the US white supremacist movement, and also utilizes imagery derived from paganism. Odalism is a European ideology advocated by the defunct Heathen Front.

The question of the relationship between Germanic neopaganism and the neo-Nazi movement is controversial among German neopagans, with opinions ranging across a wide spectrum. Active conflation of neo-fascist or far right ideology with paganism is present in the Artgemeinschaft and Deutsche Heidnische Front. In Flanders, Werkgroep Traditie combines Germanic neopaganism with the ideology of the Nouvelle Droite.

In the United States, Michael J. Murray of Ásatrú Alliance (in the late 1960s an American Nazi Party member)[22] and musician/journalist Michael Moynihan (who turned to "metagenetic"[23] Asatru in the mid-1990s),[24] though Moynihan states that he has no political affiliations.[25] Kevin Coogan claims that a form of "eccentric and avant-garde form of cultural fascism" or "countercultural fascism" can be traced to the industrial music genre of the late 1970s, particularly to the seminal British Industrial band Throbbing Gristle, with whom Boyd Rice performed at a London concert in 1978.[26] Schobert alleges a neo-Nazi "cultural offensive" targeting the Dark Wave subculture.[27]

Mattias Gardell claims that while older US racist groups are Christian and patriotic (Christian Identity), there is a younger generation of white supremacists who have rejected both Christianity and patriotism in favour of Odinism because they view both Christianity and the United States government as responsible for what they see as the evils of a liberal society.[28] Kaplan claims that there is a growing interest in one form of Odinism among members of the radical racist right-wing movements.[29] Berger judges that there has been an aggregation of both racist and non-racist groups under the heading of "Odinism", which has confused the discussion about neo-Nazi Neopagans, and which has led most non-racist Germanic neopagans to favour terms like "Ásatrú" or "Heathenry" over "Odinism".[30] Thus, the 1999 Project Megiddo report issued by the FBI used "Odinism" as referring to white supremacist groups exclusively, sparking protests by the International Asatru-Odinic Alliance, Stephen McNallen expressing concern about a "pattern of anti-European-American actions".[31]

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Goodrick-Clarke 2002: 6.
  2. ^ One example is the neo-tribalist paganism promoted by Else Christensen's Odinist Fellowship (Goodrick-Clarke 2002: 261).
  3. ^ Goodrick-Clarke 2002: 106.
  4. ^ Introvigne 2002: 148.
  5. ^ Goodrick-Clarke 2002: 216.
  6. ^ Goodrick-Clarke 2002: 218.
  7. ^ a b Ryan 1994: 53.
  8. ^ The National-Socialist (March 1998, Thormynd Press, York, England).
  9. ^ Partridge 2005: 230.
  10. ^ Goodrick-Clarke 2002: 224.
  11. ^ Lewis 2001.
  12. ^ Goodrick-Clarke 2002: 215-216.
  13. ^ Ankarloo and Clark 1999: 113.
  14. ^ Lucifer's Realm - Satanism - Order Of The Nine Angels - Main Page
  15. ^ Goodrick-Clarke 2002: 257.
  16. ^ Subsequently published in Gardell's Gods of the Blood.
  17. ^ Goodrick-Clarke 2002: 261.
  18. ^ Christensen 1984.
  19. ^ a b Goodrick-Clarke 2002: 262.
  20. ^ Kaplan and Weinberg 1998: 88.
  21. ^ Berlet and Vysotsky 2006.
  22. ^ Kaplan 1997; The New Barbarians (Southern Poverty Law Centre intelligence report, Winter 1998). Since the Alliance's foundation in 1988, Murray has emphasized that it "does not advocate any type of political or racial extremist views or affiliations" towards sympathizing Neo-Nazis.
  23. ^ 2003 interview with the German esotericist magazine Der Golem.[1]
  24. ^ "Wulfing One" 1995 (interview with Michael Moynihan in EsoTerra magazine).
  25. ^ Zach Dundas. "Lord of Chaos: ACTIVISTS ACCUSE PORTLAND WRITER AND MUSICIAN MICHAEL MOYNIHAN OF SPREADING EXTREMIST PROPAGANDA, BUT THEY'RE NOT TELLING THE WHOLE STORY". (Willamette Week culture feature, available online: [2])
  26. ^ Coogan 1999.
  27. ^ Schobert 1997a (with Moynihan's reply) & 1998.
  28. ^ Gardell 2001.
  29. ^ Kaplan 1997.
  30. ^ Berger 2005: 45.
  31. ^ CESNUR (Center for Studies on New Religions) news release, 10 November 1999.

[edit] References

  • Bengt Ankarloo and Stuart Clark (1999). The Twentieth Century. U. Penn. Press.
  • Jeffery M. Bale (2002). "'National revolutionary' groupuscules and the resurgence of 'left-wing' fascism: the case of France's Nouvelle Résistance". Patterns of Prejudice July, 36(3): 24-49.
  • Chip Berlet and Stanislav Vysotsky (2006). "Overview of U.S. white supremacist groups". Journal of Political and Military Sociology Summer, 34(1): 11-48.
  • Devin Burghart, ed. (1999). Soundtracks to the White Revolution: White Supremacist Assaults on Youth Music Subcultures. Chicago, IL: Center for New Community [in cooperation with Northwest Coalition for Human Dignity].
  • Devin Burghart and Justin Massa (2001). “Damned, Defiant and Dangerous: Continuing White Supremacist Violence in the U.S.” Searchlight July, online archive.
  • Else Christensen (1984). "Odinism — Religion of Relevance". The Odinist 82.
  • Kevin Coogan (1999). "How Black is Black Metal?" HITLIST February/March, 1(1). Berkeley CA, USA & Oraclesyndicate.org.
  • Betty A. Dobratz (2001). "The Role of Religion in the Collective Identity of the White Racialist Movement". Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion (2001): 287-301.
  • Mattias Gardell (2003). Gods of the Blood: The Pagan Revival and White Separatism. Duke University Press. ISBN-10: 0822330717. ISBN-13: 978-0822330714.
  • Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke (2002). Black Sun: Aryan Cults, Esoteric Nazism and the Politics of Identity. New York University Press. ISBN 0-8147-3124-4. (Paperback, 2003. ISBN 0-8147-3155-4.)
  • Roger Griffin (1985). "Revolts against the Modern World: The Blend of Literary and Historical Fantasy in the Italian New Right". Literature & History 11(1): 101-23.
  • ——— (2003). "From slime mould to rhizome: an introduction to the groupuscular right". Patterns of Prejudice March, 37(1): 27-50.
  • M. Introvigne (2002). "The Gothic Milieu". In: Jeffrey Kaplan, ed., The Cultic Milieu: Oppositional Subcultures in an Age of Globalization. ISBN 978-0759102040.
  • Jeffrey Kaplan (1997). Radical Religion in America: Millenarian Movements from the Far Right to the Children of Noah. Syracuse University Press. ISBN 978-0815603962.
  • Jeffrey Kaplan and Leonard Weinberg (1998). The Emergence of a Euro-American Radical Right. ISBN 0813525640.
  • James R. Lewis (2001). Satanism Today: An Encyclopedia of Religion, Folklore, and Popular Culture. Abc-Clio Inc.
  • Wulfing One (1995). "The Storm Before the Calm: An Interview with Blood Axis". EsoTerra 5.
  • Christopher H. Partridge (2005). The Re-enchantment of the West: Alternative Spiritualities, Sacralization, Popular Culture and Occulture. Continuum International Publishing Group. ISBN 0567041336.
  • Nick Ryan (1994). Into a World of Hate. Routledge.
  • Alfred Schobert (1997a). "Heidentum, Musik und Terror". Junge Welt 18.4.1997, S.13. (Online, with Michael Moynihan's reply: 2000, Duisburger Institut für Sprach- und Sozialforschung.)
  • ——— (1997b). "Geheimnis und Gemeinschaft. Die Dark-Wave-Szene als Operationsgebiet 'neurechter' Kulturstrategie". In: Cleve, Gabriele et al., eds., Wissenschaft Macht Politik. Intervention in aktuelle gesellschaftliche Diskurse 384-395. Münster.
  • ——— (1998). "Graswurzelrevolution von rechts?" In: Wider de Gewöhnung - der rechte Zeitgeist und seine Abwehr 49-52. Nürnberg.
  • Jan De Zutter (2000). Heidenen voor het blok - Radicaal rechts en het moderne Heidendom ("Heathens for the [Vlaams] Blok - the Radical Right and modern Heathenism"). Antwerpen/Baarn: Uitgeverij Houtekiet. ISBN 90-5240-582-4.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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Neopaganism
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