The Persecution of American Renaissance

The Ninth American Renaissance Conference, on “Defending the West,” was canceled today after terroristic threats from egalitarian, multiculturalist love-mongers caused a third hotel to back out of their contract. (Let us hope that AmRen wrote hefty cancellation penalties into their contracts. If so, this non-conference may prove their most profitable ever.)

People from across the United States and a number of foreign countries were set to converge on Dulles Airport on February 19-21 to listen to a stellar lineup of speakers, including Nick Griffin of the British National Party, filmmaker Craig Bodeker, writer David Yeagley, Professor Raymond Wolters, white community organizer Sam Dickson, American Renaissance editor Jared Taylor, and others. In addition to providing a feast for the intellect, every AmRen conference is also a valuable opportunity for fellowship and networking.

But the cancellation also provides lessons and opportunities.

Whenever some Third World dictator cancels elections, shreds a constitution, or persecutes his political opponents, we all know what is happening. Given the choice between preserving the legitimacy of the system or preserving personal advantage, he chooses personal advantage and discards the props of legitimacy as just that: meaningless props.

America’s ruling establishment now faces a similar choice.

The American Renaissance Conference was an entirely legal gathering. AmRen, its speakers, and its guests were exercising their Constitutionally guaranteed rights to freedom of speech and freedom of association.

The conference was canceled because the hotel management feared that the system could not protect its staff and guests from death threats. The hotel may be private organization, but freedom of speech means nothing if private organizations do not feel that they can safely host gatherings of controversial groups.

Thus the ruling establishment — the government, law-enforcement agencies, and the press — have to take a firm, public stand against terrorism and for freedom of speech and association. The hotels have to know that the full weight of the law will fall on those who seek to disrupt such gatherings.

Also, the hotels have to know that the establishment — as represented in the mainstream media — cares about freedom of speech and assembly as a matter of sacred principle.

The terrorists have to be publicly shamed. And so do the hotels for giving into them.

But shaming the hotels will not work unless they are reasonably sure that the moral stand is also the most practical one. And this means that the government must give plausible assurance that the terrorists will be punished.

I spoke to Jared Taylor today. He emphasized that the AmRen Conference was an entirely legal gathering, protected by the Constitution itself. He also went on to stress that anyone who thinks in terms of principles can see that “If AmRen can be shut down this way, then anyone can be shut down. The meatpackers meeting can be shut down by PETA.” This can be prevented only if the establishment takes a strong and decisive stand against terrorism and for freedom of speech and assembly.

Taylor fears, however, that the government and media will greet the cancellation of AmRen with silent gloating rather than howls of righteous indignation. After all, Jared Taylor and his readers are heretics, dissenters from our secular religion of racial egalitarianism and multiculturalism. By shutting down AmRen, the terrorists remove a challenge to the establishment’s power. The only problem is that by remaining silent, the current establishment preserves its power while undermining the system’s legitimacy.

We will be watching the response of politicians, law enforcement, and the media.

The terrorists, and potential terrorists, will be watching as well.

If AmRen is shut down with impunity, then left-wing terrorists will repeat their winning strategy.

But right-wing terrorists may also be encouraged.

Within the White Nationalist community, American Renaissance stands for gentlemanly debate and strict legality. The underlying assumption of this approach is that White Nationalists can work within the American system. America was a de facto White Nationalist society. America became a multiculturalist society within the system. And America can be reborn as an explicitly White Nationalist society within the system as well. The American system is not so broken that it cannot be fixed.

But there is another faction in the White Nationalist movement: those who feel that the American system cannot be reformed and must simply be replaced. And before it can be replaced, it must be destroyed. Some are banking on the system destroying itself. Others are hankering to lend a hand. Call this the revolutionary faction.

If American Renaissance can be shut down with impunity, the ranks and influence of the reformist faction will shrink as those of the revolutionary faction grow.

Furthermore, as with all revolutionary movements, left and right, White Nationalism’s revolutionary faction has a largely sociopathic fringe just itching for opportunities and excuses for violence. This fringe’s influence will grow as well.

I asked Jared Taylor if he thought that a soft response or non-response by the establishment to the shutdown of the AmRen Conference might encourage violence from White Nationalist fringe elements. Taylor said that he hoped not, but feared this it might happen: “That is a danger. If people think that the game is rigged, they might be tempted to just kick over the table. I hope that doesn’t happen.”

White Nationalists need to do more than just wait for the establishment’s response. We need to encourage it. There are three things we can all do:

1. Contact the media and demand coverage.

2. Contact political figures and law enforcement and demand justice.

3. Contact your friends and acquaintances and spread the word about this outrage.

Finally, I have a personal recommendation for Jared Taylor, and I am sure I speak for many others as well: fight.

Keep my registration fee. But I would feel better about it if you used it to actively fight. Don’t wait for the press to call you. Hire a press agent and get this publicized. Take out full-page advertisements in the New York Times and the Washington Post. Don’t wait for law enforcement to track down the perpetrators of this crime. Offer a reward for information that leads to the arrest of the terrorists. Hire a private investigator to conduct a perfectly legal search. And when you find the perpetrators, don’t wait for a criminal prosecution. Look into a civil suit too.

There is no better proof that multiculturalism is bringing on a new Dark Age of scientific obscurantism, moralistic fanaticism, and political repression than these low and frantic attempts to abort an American Renaissance.