New European Order

The New European Order (NEO) was a neo-fascist Europe-wide alliance set up in 1951 to promote Pan-European nationalism. It was a more radical splinter group of the European Social Movement.

The NEO had its origins in the 1951 Malmö conference when a group of rebels led by René Binet refused to join the European Social Movement as they felt that it did not go far enough in terms of racialism and anti-communism. As a result Binet joined with Gaston-Armand Amaudruz in a second meeting that same year in Zurich to set up a second group pledged to wage war on communists and non-white people.[1]

Once established, the NEO worked to set in place more permanent institutions, setting up a European Liaison Centre of the National Forces (Europäische Verbindungsstelle or EVS) in 1953, along with a permanent secretariat in Lausanne led by Amaudruz and his assistant Michael Schenk-Dengg, head of the Deutscher Blok. The EVS became very active in the following years, organising meetings for international representatives, attended by members of the Falange, Italian Social Movement (MSI), Socialist Reich Party and others.[2]

The NEO endured difficulties in 1955 over the issue of South Tyrol, with German speaking delegates attacking the MSI over their support for Italian control of the region. As a result, during the course of the year the Deutscher Block, the Volkspartei der Schweiz, Wiking-Jugend and representatives from Austria all left the NEO.[3] By 1957, the movement had largely become moribund in Europe.[4]

During a 1997 hearing before the Commission on terrorism headed by senator Giovanni Pellegrino, Stefano Delle Chiaie went on speaking about a "black fascist International" and his hopes of creating the conditions of an "international revolution." In this context he talked about the World Anti-Communist League and admitted having taken part in the New European Order.[5]

The NEO would continue, coming to life from time to time, with Amaudruz continuing as a figurehead of the movement, publishing a monthly magazine Courrier du Continent.[6] Whilst its European dimension became less important it remained as a network for international contacts, becoming influential for a time in the far right of South Africa.[7] However, outside of Amaudruz, the NEO is effectively defunct today.

References

  1. ↑ Kurt P. Tauber, German Nationalists and European Union, p. 573
  2. ↑ Tauber, pp. 573-4
  3. ↑ Tauber, pp. 574-5
  4. ↑ Tauber, p. 581
  5. ↑ Hearing of Stefano Delle Chiaie on 22 July 1997 before the Italian Parliamentary Commission on Terrorism headed by senator Giovanni Pellegrino
  6. ↑ "Report on Xenophobia on Switzerland". Axt.org.uk. Retrieved 2013-06-22.
  7. ↑ G Harris, The Dark Side of Europe – The Extreme Right Today, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1994, p. 122

Bibliography