Identitarian movement

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Not to be confused with Identity politics.
Lambda symbol used by some Identitarian groups

The Identitarian movement is a white nationalist[1][2] movement that advocates the preservation of national identity and a return to 'traditional western values'. It started in France in 2002 as a conservative youth movement deriving from the French Nouvelle Droite (New Right) Génération Identitaire. Initially the youth wing of the anti-immigrant, conservative Bloc Identitaire, it has taken on its own identity and is largely classified as a separate entity altogether with the intent of spreading across Europe.

The group is described as being part of the counter-jihad movement.[3]

Geography[edit]

In Europe[edit]

The main Identitarian youth movement is Génération identitaire in France, a youth wing of the Bloc identitaire party.

In Scandinavia, identitarianism was introduced by the now inactive organisation Nordiska Förbundet (the Nordic Alliance),[citation needed] which initiated the online encyclopedia Metapedia.[4] It then mobilised a number of "independent activist groups" similar to their French counterparts, among them Reaktion Östergötland and Identitet Väst, who performed a number of political actions, marked by a certain degree of civil disobedience. A 24-page first manifesto, aimed at defining the identitarian movement in Northern Europe, was published as Identitet och Metapolitik.[5]

The origin of the Italian chapter "Generazione Identitaria" dates back to 2012.[6]

Markus Willinger (born 1992), who grew up in Schärding, Austria, and is now a student of history and political science at the University of Stuttgart, wrote and published in 2013 a manifesto entitled "Generation Identity: A Declaration of War Against the '68ers", and translated into English from German by Aetius. The book is considered the founding manifesto of the Identitäre Bewegung Österreichs.

German Identitarian at the Pegida march on 5 January 2015

The movement also appeared in Germany converging with preexisting circles centering on the magazine Blaue Narzisse and its founder Felix Menzel, a martial artist and former German Karate Team Champion, who according to Gudrun Hentges, who then worked for the official Federal Agency for Civic Education belongs to the "elite of the movement".[7] It has been a "registered association" since 2014.[8] Drawing upon thinkers of the Nouvelle Droite and the Conservative Revolutionary movement such as Oswald Spengler, Carl Schmitt or the contemporary Russian Aleksandr Dugin, it played a role for the rise of the PEGIDA marches in 2014/15. According to Christoph Gurk one of the goals of the Identitarians is to make racism modern and fashionable[9] and they have close connections to Hungarian and Polish Neo-Nazis, according to Anna Thalhammer.[10] There has also been Identitarian collaboration with the white nationalist activist Tomislav Sunić.[11] The investigation by political scientist Gudrun Hentges came to the conclusion, that the Identitarian Movement is ideologically situated between the Front National, the Nouvelle Droite and Neonazism[12].

The Identitarian movement has a close linkage to members of the German New Right,[13] e.g to its prominent member Götz Kubitschek and his journal Sezession, for which the Identitarian speaker Martin Sellner writes articles.

As their symbol the Identitarian movement uses a yellow lambda sign, a symbol that was painted on the shields of the Spartan army and is supposed to commemorate the Battle of Thermopylae.[14]

In August 2016, members of the Identitarian Movement of Germany scaled the iconic Brandenburg Gate in Berlin and hung a banner in protest at immigration and perceived Islamisation.[15]

In June 2017 first the PayPal donations account of the Identitarian Project "Defend Europe" was locked, and then the Identitarian account of the bank "Steiermärkische Sparkasse" was closed, so that the movement is looking for new ways to be able to receive donations.[16] They later completed their fundraising and got enough money to charter a ship in the Mediterranean, with the intention to ferry any rescued migrants back to Africa, observe any incursions by other NGO ships into Libyan waters and report them to the Libyan coastguard.[17]

In North America[edit]

The term is used in a broader sense by political theorists like Adolph L. Reed Jr. and Walter Benn Michaels to refer to any philosophy based primarily on social identity, what is more generally termed identity politics.[citation needed] The head of the white nationalist National Policy Institute Richard B. Spencer is a self-described identitarian and promotes white nationalist views.[18]

On 20 May 2017 two American marines were arrested after hanging a banner with an Identitarian logo from a building in Graham, North Carolina (Alamance County) during a Confederate Memorial Day event. The US Marine Corps said that it condemned the behaviour and would investigate the incident.[19][20]

The Traditionalist Youth Network is modeled after the European Identitarian movement according to the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) and the Anti-Defamation League (ADL).[21][22]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "White nationalists charter ship to catch Muslims in the Mediterranean". miamiherald. Retrieved 2017-08-05. 
  2. ^ "FACT CHECK: Are Charitable NGOs Trafficking People Across the Mediterranean to Europe?". Snopes.com. 2017-08-03. Retrieved 2017-08-05. 
  3. ^ "Why we fight: Understanding the counter-jihad movement". Religion Compass. Wiley. 10 (10): 257–265. 21 October 2016. 
  4. ^ ”Den nya nationalhögern”, Christoph Andersson. 10/03/2006, Dagens Nyheter.
  5. ^ Identitet och Metapolitik (in Swedish). Göteborg: Nordiska Förlaget. 2008. ISBN 978-91-85043-17-0. 
  6. ^ L’estrema destra europea vuole bloccare le navi delle Ong con un crowdfunding (in Italian), Di Leonardo Bianchi, 18 May 2017, Vice News.
  7. ^ Hentges, Gudrun; Kökgiran, Gürcan; Nottbohm, Kristina (2014). "Die Identitäre Bewegung Deutschland (IBD) – Bewegung oder virtuelles Phänomen?" (PDF). Forschungsjournal Soziale Bewegungen (in German). Lucius & Lucius. 27 (supplement to issue 4). Retrieved 8 July 2017. 
  8. ^ Reg-No.: VR 3135, District Court Paderborn, cf: Impressum on the website.
  9. ^ Christoph Gurk: „Diese Gruppen machen den Rassismus hip“ (Interview with Alexander Häusler). Bayern plus of the Bayerischer Rundfunk, 17 May 2013.
  10. ^ Das Netzwerk der Identitären mit der FPÖ, Anna Thalhammer, Die Presse, 10 June 2016.
  11. ^ Tomislav Sunić zu Gast bei "Identitären", DÖW, February 2016.
  12. ^ Gudrun Hentges, Gürcan Kökgiran, Kristina Nottbohm: Die Identitäre Bewegung Deutschland (IBD) – Bewegung oder virtuelles Phänomen? In: Forschungsjournal Soziale Bewegungen 3/2014, p. 19.
  13. ^ Bruns, Julian; Glösel, Kathrin; Strobl, Natascha (2014). Die Identitären: Handbuch zur Jugendbewegung der Neuen Rechten in Europa (in German). Münster, Germany: Unrast. ISBN 978-3-89771-549-3. 
  14. ^ Nicht links, nicht rechts – nur national, Volker Weiß, Die Zeit, 21 March 2013.
  15. ^ German rightists scale Brandenburg Gate to protest immigration, Reuters, 27 August 2016.
  16. ^ Bonvalot, Michael (22 June 2017) Weitere Bank kündigt Spendenkonto der Identitären (in German), Die Zeit.
  17. ^ "Far-right group are sending a boat full of activists to Mediterranean to send refugees 'back to Africa'". The Independent. 2017-07-13. Retrieved 2017-07-15. 
  18. ^ Gelin, Martin (14 November 2013). "White flight". Slate. Retrieved 11 May 2015. 
  19. ^ Janicello, Natalie (27 May 2017). "Corps condemns Marines’ behavior". The Times-News. 
  20. ^ Weill, Kelly (30 January 2017). "Two Marines Arrested at a Confederate Rally Are Back on Duty". The Daily Beast. Retrieved 3 July 2017. 
  21. ^ Keegan Hankes, Meet the New Wave of Extremists Gearing Up for the 2016 Elections, Southern Poverty Law Center (October 19, 2015).
  22. ^ Traditionalist Youth Network, Anti-Defamation League (February 7, 2014).

Further reading[edit]

Teitelbaum, Benjamin R. (2017). Lions of the North: Sounds of the New Nordic Radical Nationalism. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-021259-9. 
Virchow, Fabian (2015). "The 'Identitarian Movement': What Kind of Identity? Is it Really a Movement?". In Simpson, Patricia Anne; Druxes, Helga. Digital Media Strategies of the Far Right in Europe and the United States. Lanham, Maryland: Lexington Books. pp. 177–190. ISBN 978-0-7391-9881-0. 

External links[edit]

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