Sociology Question

sociology writing question and need a sample draft to help me learn.

The prompt is: What factors seem to make white nationalist and/or right-wing populist movement participation more likely?
The essay needs to incorporate 3 readings and a film by citing them.
The three readings are: Bjork‐James – When White Nationalism Became Popular.pdf, Behind Blue Eyes_ Whiteness and Contemporary US Racial Politics_.pdf, Rural rage_ the roots of right-wing populism in the United States.pdf
The film is titled: “Documenting Hate: New American Nazis”
I attached the pdfs of the readings below.
The paper should be 3 pages in length which is equivalent which is approximately 820 words.

Requirements: 820 words
When White Nationalism Became PopularPopulism RisingSophie Bjork-James and Je MaskovskyMay 18, 2017What rising white nationalism says about race in the 21st century US.On November 12th, 2016 TheDailyStormer.com, a neo-Nazi website with a monthly viewership ofover two million lead with the headline, “The Swastika Reigns in Germany! Trump reigns in America!”After the election a popular thread on the white nationalist website Stormfront.org, with over300,000 members, carried a discussion thread about Trump’s victory lled with congratulatory postsand happy-face emojis clinking beer mugs. “The Don, is president!” one person wrote. Anotherwrote, “WE DID IT!!!! WE WON!!!! DONALD TRUMP IS OUR 45TH PRESIDENT!!!!” Another exclaimedsimply, “Whooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”The rise of a visible white nationalist movement and the precipitous rise in publicly reported hatecrimes unsettled racial politics on both the left and right, surprising more than a few academics.How do we account for this changed racial landscape? What does the rise of white nationalism nowsuggest about racial politics in the US today?We are faced with the dismal reality that the rst African American presidency ended not witha movement towards racial progress but towards an overt racist backlash.In the lead-up to the November 2016 presidential election much attention was made of thewidespread support of Donald Trump by the contemporary racist right. This culminated in RichardSpencer’s widely cited alt-right conference speech, where he shouted to a room full of supportersand reporters, “Hail Trump, hail our people, hail victory.” While the increasing presence of theorganized racist movement is disturbing and noteworthy, we contend that there is a larger racialstory highlighted in these dynamics. We note a merging of various elements of the right aroundwhite nationalism and a broader transformation of white identity in the US. As whites face their
impending minority status due to demographic changes, many now perceive white Americans as apersecuted group. The white nationalist movement bolsters these feelings through circulatingmemes about white genocide and crimes against whites by people of color. The broader populistconservative movement is increasingly giving voice to these feelings, embracing and amplifying apolitics of white racial resentment. These three factors are creating a potent mix that is transformingracial and political landscapes in the US.The election challenged our national narrative of racial progress, a narrative fostered throughoutthe Obama presidency that promised a steady movement away from the signicance of race in USpolitics and that bolstered claims that racism had nally been overcome, swept into the dustbin ofhistory. We are faced with the dismal reality that the rst African American presidency ended notwith a movement towards racial progress but towards an overt racist backlash. Trump’s electoralvictory helped to highlight the successful re-articulation of white nationalism to electoral politics butwe also argue that it shows the changing meanings of whiteness today and is part of a longer trendof fusing right-wing populism to overt or covert white nationalist projects.White nationalism—the linking of national identity to white ethnic identity—has a long, sordidhistory in the US. Yet its re-appearance today, in the post-civil rights era, is somewhat surprising. Inthis era, the dominant racial projects on both the right and left—colorblindness and multiculturalismrespectively—eschew white supremacist ideologies, at least explicitly. Neoconservatives have, forexample, made a political art form out of the selective appropriation of civil rights era politicaldiscourses about enfranchisement and equality to justify the rollback of civil rights legislation andpolicies, dismantle the social democratic tradition, attack Keynesian welfare statism, and advancecolor-blind policy and post-racial ideology. For their part, neoliberals have counteredneoconservatism’s post-racialism with multiculturalism. This framework recognizes and celebratesracial dierences, though the extent to which this recognition is linked substantively to a robustvision of equal proprietorship of public institutions or to redress and eradication of racialinequalities is hotly debated. If there was one similarity between these two positions, and one linethat was not crossed in the culture wars of the 1980s to the mid 2010s, it was that whiteness was othe table as a project of national unication—or so we thought.An explicitly white supremacist movement has, of course, long existed on the fringes of nationalpolitics. Since the 1990s however, eorts have been underway to rebrand white supremacy withinmore broadly acceptable language. Former KKK leaders adopted language associated with Blacknationalism and Black pride in an attempt to redene their movement as based in cultural pride, notprejudice. This framing exploited a central weakness in multiculturalism, for a celebration of racialdierence without an explicit disavowal of white privilege and supremacy fails to take account of the
question, why can’t we celebrate white pride? Leaders of the newly branded white nationalistmovement also took steps to soften their image. They instructed members to wear suits and tiesinstead of shaved heads and swastika tattoos, to focus on changing hearts and minds and policyover enacting violence, and to emphasize white culture over overt white supremacy.The movement also expanded exponentially online. A large white nationalist chatroomStormfront.org grew from 30,000 members in 2004 to over 100,000 in 2016, with 30,000 visitorseach day. The movement has also expanded into new digital arenas, with younger membersproliferating on sites such as 4chan and reddit, multiple podcasts and radio programs, and a varietyof news sites that collectively generate millions of hits per month.This rebranding of the white supremacist movement accelerated when the activist Richard Spencerintroduced the term “alt-right.” This name moves the emphasis further away from explicit whitesupremacy and instead describes white nationalist ideas as one wing of a broader conservativemovement that is not solely focused on race. This reframing exposed white nationalist ideas toentirely new audiences. Individuals holding neo-Nazi views were suddenly granted extensiveinterviews in the mainstream press, so long as they identied as alt-right.The rise of a media savvy movement accounts in large measure for white nationalism’s broadeningpolitical appeal in the 21st century. But it is also important to take into account the politics of whiteracial resentment that has long festered on the fringe of the Republican Party. In the 1960s, in thecontext of the civil rights movement, Republicans put concerted eort into appealing to whiteSoutherners’ racial resentments to gain their support. This politics was helped along in the 1970sand 80s by the political valorization of the white ethnic community across the political spectrum.Once vilied as ignorant, dangerous, and criminal in comparison to mainstream WASP culture, whiteethnicity became politically legitimate and even fashionable as a white identity political backlashagainst Black Power and other protest movements of the 1960s and 70s. In the 1980s and 90s theculture wars were eective in further articulating the politics of white ethnic pride to the politics ofwhite racial resentment. The New Right’s condemnation of “illiberal” causes such as armativeaction, multiculturalism, political correctness, and liberal immigration policy helped considerably inthis regard. So too did the attacks on government dependency and on “welfare queens,” for whommany whites came to hold disdain as the preferred recipients of government largess.The politics of white racial resentment then gained traction in the aftermath of the global economiccollapse of 2008, as the libertarian and populist (not neoconservative) right arose as acounterweight to the Obama administration’s liberal centrist attempts to revive the economy. Theanti-tax, anti-government Tea Party played a crucial role in giving this politics broad appeal at the
grassroots level. Funded into existence by the oil industry tycoons, the Koch brothers, and by otherlibertarian and conservative donors, it popularized opposition to debt-driven government spending.Yet the Tea Party turned out to be an unwieldy and unpredictable political formation. If it started outas a movement of libertarian, anti-tax, decit scolds, its rank and le turned out to be moreconcerned about race and immigration than it was about debt and scal constraint.Cultivated eectively on the right for over four decades, the politics of white racial resentment isnow widely felt. This is evidenced by survey data showing that whites now tend to understandracism as a zero-sum game, with whites on the losing side. Surveys show, for example, that manywhites broadly believe that anti-white bias is on the rise and that as people of color gain newforms of social, political, and cultural power, whites are in turn losing power. Many whites also tendto experience what Robin DiAngelo calls “white fragility,” a situation in which long-term insulationfrom experiencing racial stress has created a fragile racial identity, at least one intolerant of racialstress.This brings us to the political rise of Donald Trump. Trump was certainly not the only political gureto attempt to craft a populist political message in the 2016 Republican primary race. But he was themost eective at exploiting white racial resentments to expand his political base. Trump did not justrun on an anti-globalist and anti-immigrant platform; he took an explicitly white nationalist-friendlystance. In fact, his version of right-wing populism is noteworthy for its overt elaboration of whiteracial resentments that have long been exploited, sub rosa by the Republican Party. His foray intobirtherism against President Obama in the early years of the Obama presidency was at the timeconsidered a fringe position. But it gave him early credibility in some white Republican quarters, andit rmly linked his subsequent anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim positions to anti-black politics, whichshould be understood, we think, as foundational to his political project.Carol Anderson reminds us that throughout US history each step towards racial equality for AfricanAmericans has been met with white rage and backlash. Although attention must be paid to theorganized white nationalist movement and the alt-right, we also think that the growing popularity ofthis movement points to troubling new racial trends more broadly. And it is these broader trends inracial meaning and racial politics that we encourage scholars of race and politics to address.Sophie Bjork-James is an anthropologist at Vanderbilt University. She has over ten years’experience researching the white nationalist movement online. She has also completed research onthe role of race in shaping evangelical conservative politics in the US.
Je Maskovsky is associate professor of anthropology at the Graduate Center, and chair of urbanstudies at Queens College, CUNY. His research and writing focus on poverty, health, governance,politics and security in the urban US.Feature image adapted from Andy Melton/ Flickr CC BY-SA 2.0Cite as:  Bjork-James, Sophie, and Je Maskovsky. 2017. “When White Nationalism BecamePopular.” Anthropology News website, May 18, 2017. doi: 10.1111/AN.455Related CategoriesFeatured PostsIn FocusMayPopulism RisingTop NewsRelated Tagsalt-rightconservativismPopulismpopulism risingraceRacismTrumpwhite nationalismwhite supremacist movementwhite supremacy
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In a quiet office at a Washington think tank, a tract is composed on the biolog-ically determined intellectual inferiority of blacks. Out on a Brooklyn street, asblack demonstrators march through a segregated white enclave, the residentsyell racist epithets. At an urban college campus in California, Latinos andAsians, whites and blacks, sit side-by-side in the overcrowded classroom, and in their own separate groups in the cafeteria. As they drive home to theirsegregated neighbourhoods, they pump the same high-volume hip-hop soundsthrough their car speakers. A few miles up the interstate, neo-Nazis train at aprivate ranch. A few miles the other way, an organizing drive is going on forunite, the newly consolidated needle trades union; a majority of the workersin the bargaining unit are Asians and Latinos, but there are some whites.Among the organizers, one of the most effective is a young white woman whospeaks good Spanish.73Howard WinantBehind Blue Eyes:Whiteness and Contemporary US Racial Politics
This essay examines racial politics and culture in the United States asthey shape the status of whites. Clearly, there are many varieties of ‘white-ness.’ I begin from the premise that it is no longer possible to assume a‘normalized’ North American whiteness, whose invisibility and rela-tively monolithic character signify immunity from political or culturalchallenge. An alternative perspective is demanded, one which beginsfrom a recognition of white racial dualism. My discussion of this themeis an extension to whites of one of Du Bois’s ideas about racism: that the‘colour line’ fractures not only society but the self, that it imposes aschizophrenia on the bearers of racialized identities, which forces them tosee themselves simultaneously from within and without. Du Bois, ofcourse, intended this analysis to explain problems of black politics andculture at the turn of the twentieth century; it was a time when few pub-licly questioned the normalization of whiteness. Here I want to extrapo-late his idea to the white ‘politics of identity’ as the century ends.The temporal context matters: only in the aftermath of the partial andambiguous successes of the 1960s social movements could such an analysismake sense. Here I argue that, since the enactment of civil-rights reforms,contemporary racial discourse has been unable to function only as a logic ofracial superiority and justified exclusion. The racial conflicts of the post-civil-rights period have fissured white supremacy and fractured the oldracial ‘common sense’ of the us, although they have hardly destroyed it. Anunprecedented period of racial anxiety and opportunity has resulted, inwhich competing racial projects struggle to reinterpret the meaning of raceand to redefine racial identity. A crucial theme in these struggles has turnedout to be the identity of whites, and the meaning of whiteness.Whiteness Since the SixtiesThat white identity has been problematized in the years since 1960isreally not so surprising. The downfall of official racial segregationbrought about significant gains for racially-defined minorities, yet thepreservation of substantive racial inequality—in income, education,housing and other spheres—quickly demonstrated the limits of thecivil-rights ‘revolution’. A little-noticed civil-rights era reform, theImmigration Act of 1965, led to a growing population of ‘other others’,mainly Latinos and Asians. The rapid growth of these groups over thepast few decades has replaced the old black-white racial polarity with amultifaceted racial order in which whiteness is no longer the negation ofnon-whiteness, but merely another form of racial ‘difference’. Meanwhilewhite ethnicity has declined in significance, resulting in a ‘post-ethnic’Euro-American identity whose bearers are far more open to politicalalliances with waspelite—and generally Republican—groups than theirparents would have been. Other factors have worked to refigure whiteness. Shortly after the enact-ment of racial reform legislation in the 1960s, working-class incomesstagnated or declined in real terms as profits soared; this provoked grow-ing resentments that were often articulated racially, in line with long-established ustraditions of racially based class formation. Assaults onunions and plant closings were seen in terms of the transfer of jobs tolargely non-white workers in the south, the south-west and the under-74
1Stanley B. Greenberg, Report on Democratic Defection, prepared for the Michigan HouseDemocratic Campaign Committee, The Analysis Group, Washington, dc 1985, p. 70. 2Charles Gallagher, ‘White Reconstruction in the University’, Socialist Review, vol. 94,nos. 1-2, 1995.3Michael Omi and Howard Winant, Racial Formation in the United States: From the 1960s tothe 1990s, New York 1994; Howard Winant, Racial Conditions: Politics, Theory,Comparisons, Minneapolis 1994.75developed world. Democratic Party support for civil rights and affirma-tive action led many white workers to vote Republican. As one respon-dent told Stanley Greenberg, the ‘average American white guy’ gets a‘raw deal’ from the government because, ‘blacks get advantages,Hispanics get advantages, Orientals get advantages. Everybody but thewhite male race gets advantages now.’1Attacks on the welfare state andrenewed paroxysms about the supposed parasitism of the poor followednaturally from this perspective. Politicians of the Right trumpeted thecharge that the taxes paid by ‘productive citizens’ who ‘play by the rules’and ‘go to work each day’ were going to subsidize unproductive, indolentand promiscuous ‘welfare queens’ and ‘career criminals’ who ‘don’t wantto work.’ The racial subtext of such statements hardly needs elaboration.Thus from the late 1960s onwards, white identity has been reinterpretedin a dualistic fashion: both egalitarian and privileged, individualisticand ‘normalized’, ‘colour-blind’ and besieged. Nowhere is this newframework of the white ‘politics of difference’ more clearly on displaythan in the reaction to affirmative action policies of all sorts—in hiring,university admissions, federal contracting, and so on. Assaults on thesepolicies, which have been developing since their introduction as tenta-tive and quite limited efforts at racial redistribution, are currently athysterical levels. These attacks are clearly designed to produce ideologi-cal shifts, rather than to shift resources in any meaningful way. They rep-resent whiteness as disadvantage, something which has few precedents inusracial history.2This imaginary white disadvantage—for which thereis almost no evidence at the empirical level—has achieved widespreadpopular credence, and provides the cultural and political ‘glue’ thatholds together a wide variety of reactionary racial politics. Thus in the post-civil rights era we are witnessing the fragmentation ofearlier concepts of white racial identity and of white supremacy moregenerally. In their place, a variety of concepts of the meaning of white-ness have emerged. How can we systematically analyze and evaluate thisrange of white racial projects? To analyze the struggle over the meaningof whiteness today, we can classify racial projects along a political contin-uum, according to the meaning each project attaches to ‘whiteness.’3Such a classification will necessarily be somewhat schematic. Never-theless, I think it would be beneficial to attempt to sort out alternativeconceptions of whiteness, along with the politics that flow from andinform these conceptions. This is what I attempt here, focusing on fivekey racial projects, which I term far Right, new Right, neo-conservative,liberal, and new abolitionist.The Far RightOn the far Right the cornerstone of white identity is belief in an ineluc-
table, unalterable racialized difference between whites and non-whites.Traditionally, this belief has been biologically grounded, and in manyrespects it remains so today. But a distinct modernizing tendency alsoexists on the far Right. It is thus necessary to distinguish between explic-itly fascist and ‘neo-fascist’ currents within the far right racial project.Explicitly fascist elements on the far Right can be identified by two fea-tures: their frank belief in the biological superiority of whites over non-whites (and Jews), and their insurrectionary attitude towards the state.Although their accounts of the nature and sources of racial differencevary, often relying on religious doctrine—as in the case of the so-called‘Christian Identity’ movement, which identifies blacks and Jews as ‘mudpeople’ whose origins are different from those of ‘Aryans’—a biologisticelement is always present. Explicitly fascist groups openly admire Nazirace-thinking, fantasize about racial genocide, and dream of establishingan all-white North American nation, or, failing that, of seceding fromthe usto establish such a nation, possibly in the Northwest.4While actsof racial and anti-Semitic terror continue and even increase, significantmodernizing currents have appeared on the far Right, so that the ‘neo-fascist’ dimension of its racial project has gained considerable ground.These tendencies occupy an intermediate position between outright fas-cism and the more mainstream new Right racial project which I addressin the next section. ‘Neo-fascists’ generally have an ultra-right provenance—a history ofassociation with the kkkor Nazi groups—but they now actively seek torenovate the far Right’s traditions of white racial nationalism5and openadvocacy of white supremacy. Largely as a result of the challenges posedby the 1960s, the far Right, no less than other uspolitical currents, hasbeen forced to reinterpret the content of ‘whiteness’ and the politics thatflows from it. Neo-fascism’s response has been political mobilization on racial grounds:if blacks have their organizations and movements, why shouldn’t whites?The various activities of David Duke exemplify the new trend: his elec-toral campaigns, his attempts at student organization—for example, hiseffort to create white student unions on college campuses—and hisemblematic National Association for the Advancement of White People.Neo-fascists believe that open avowal of white supremacy, or explicitdefence of white racial privilege, is currently counter-productive. Theydiffer from the explicitly fascist currents because they are willing toengage in mainstream politics, and because they are not, at least offi-cially, insurrectionary. While the far Right is not at present a real political threat, its advocacyand practice of racial terrorism should generate far more concern than it4James Ridgeway, Blood in the Face: The Ku Klux Klan, Aryan Nations, Skinheads, and theRise of a New White Culture, New York 1990; Sara Diamond, Roads to Dominion: Right-WingMovements and Political Power in the United States, New York 1995; Michael Novick, WhiteLies, White Power: The Fight Against White Supremacy and Reactionary Violence, Monroe, me1995.5Ronald Walters, ‘White Racial Nationalism in the United States’, Without Prejudice, vol.1, no. 1, 1987. 76
has. Assaults on minority and Jewish institutions and individuals, andthreats made against prominent anti-racist activists and organizationscontinue a long-standing ustradition of white violence and intimida-tion. The openly insurrectionary stance of a range of well-armed far rightgroups, their determination to recruit disaffected and anomic whiteyouth, their widespread circles of adherents in police agencies and themilitary, their growing international coordination, and their adoption ofsophisticated techniques of organization—so-called ‘leaderless cellstructures’, for example—are all disturbing matters. In the far Right’s view, the state has been captured by ‘race mixers’ andwill have to be retaken by white racial nationalists in order to end thebetrayal of ‘traditional values’ that a racially egalitarian and pluralisticnational politics and culture would portend. Whether this reactionaryobjective would happen peacefully, or whether it would require an armedinsurrection, remains a matter of dispute. Whether a rhetoric of absoluteracial difference or of white victimization and white rights is most effec-tive in the post-civil rights era is also in question. But on one objectiveboth currents of the far right project are united: the usmust remain awhite man’s country.The New RightThe contemporary new Right has its origins in resistance to the blackmovement of the 1950s and 1960s. With the Wallace presidential cam-paign of 1968, this resistance crystallized as a national, electorally ori-ented, reactionary social movement. Wallace’s right-wing populismrecognized the deep threat that substantive racial equality posed to fun-damental ideas about the kind of society and the kind of nation-state theuswas supposed to be.6In effect, Wallace and his minions understoodthe same thing about the usas black radicals and their allies: throughwhatever optic they employed—anti-communism, racism, southernchauvinism, states’ rights doctrines going back to Calhoun, agrarianpopulism, nativism, America First isolationism—they grasped the deeptruth that white supremacy was not an excrescence on the basically egali-tarian and democratic ‘American creed’, but a fundamental componentof ussociety. To destroy it meant reinventing the country, the socialorder and the government.Indeed, for the usto come to terms with its own history of conquestand enslavement would have involved a deep national reckoning. Itwould have severely threatened the foundations of the nation-state.The consequences of this agonizing self-appraisal would necessarilyhave included massive economic redistribution and the kind of atone-ment for white supremacy which was later to be associated with dem-ands for compensatory programs such as ‘affirmative action’—or, moreproperly, reparations. Thus the threat posed by the black movement—material, political, and psychic—to the key institutions of the PaxAmericana, not to mention the white majority of the uspopulationwas profound.6Thomas Byrne Edsall with Mary Edsall,Chain Reaction: The Impact of Race, Rights, andTaxes on American Politics, New York 1992.77
In opposition to this threat, building upon the foundation laid down byWallace, the new Right developed a political orientation that wasnationalist, populist, and authoritarian. This position, of course, hasnumerous precedents in earlier historical moments. It seeks by covertmeans to legitimate the ‘psychological wage’ that Du Bois argued was anessential benefit allocated to whites by their supremacy.7It continues theracist legacy of southern populism, which in the past bred the likes ofBen Tillman and Theodore Bilbo.8It revives the anti-immigration hys-teria which earlier nativist movements had directed most notably againstsouthern Europeans and Asians, and this time targets Latinos in thesouth-west most directly—although anti-Asian sentiment is also on therise. Finally, new right populism associates whiteness with a range ofcapitalist virtues: productivity, thrift, obedience to law, self-denial, andsexual repression. This, in turn, permits the crucial articulation of corpo-rate and white working-class interests—the cross-class racial alliance—which endows new right positions with such strategic advantage today.Like the far Right, the new Right seeks to present itself as the tribune ofdisenfranchised whites. But the new Right is distinguished—if notalways sharply—from the far Right by several factors. First, rather thanespouse racism and white supremacy, it prefers to present these themessubtextually: the familiar ‘code-word’ phenomenon. Second, it whole-heartedly embraces mainstream political activity, rather than abjuring itor regarding it suspiciously. Third, it can accept a measure of non-whitesocial and political participation, and even membership,9so long as thisis pursued on a ‘colour-blind’ basis and adheres to the rest of the authori-tarian formula. For the far Right in general, ‘colour-blindness’ is racemixing and therefore verboten.For the new Right, suitably authoritarianversions of ‘colour-blindness’ are fine.The new Right diverges from neo-conservatism—which is discussed inthe next section—in its willingness to practice racial politics subtext-ually, through coding, the manipulation of racial fears, and so on. It rec-ognizes the persistence of racial difference in ussociety but also wellunderstands that its mass base is white, and that its political successdepends on its ability to interpret white identity in positive politicalterms. The demagoguery employed by George Bush in the 1988WillieHorton campaign ads, or by Pete Wilson or Phil Gramm in their con-temporary attacks on immigrants and affirmative action, shows thisstrategy is far from exhausted. Neo-conservatism has not, and could not,deliver such tangible political benefits, and in fact lacks an equivalentmass political base. At present, the new right racial project is poised to achieve—or perhapshas already achieved—political hegemony. If this is consolidated, it will7W.E.B. Du Bois, Black Reconstruction in America: An Essay Toward a History of the PartWhich Black Folk Played in the Attempt to Reconstruct Democracy in America, 1860-1880,[1935]New York 1977.8C. Vann Woodward, Tom Watson: Agrarian Rebel, Savannah, ga 1973.9In recent years, new right groups such as the Christian Coalition have mounted variousinitiatives to organize racially defined minorities. The Republican primary campaign forthe 1996Presidential nomination included a new right candidate, Alan Keyes, who isAfro-American. Numerous other examples could be cited.78
follow the formula of ‘colour-blindness’ plus repression. In this approach,ussociety is conceived as non-racial and democratic above a certain socio-economic line, and acutely race-conscious and coercive below that line.The range of repressive policy options being seriously considered for theghettos and barrios includes forced sterilization, widespread stop-and-frisk policies, coerced menial labour, and further increases in overall levelsof repression, or—to use another term—occupation. Such draconian racial policies are justified on the basis of the ‘dysfunction-ality’ and ‘parasitism’ of the ghetto poor. But beyond the suffering theypropose to ratchet up to even higher levels, these initiatives contain signif-icant contradictions in their efforts to mobilize and reaffirm the whitenesswhich serves as their base. Repressive racial policies share with the entirecomplex of new right politics and its provenance the objective of consoli-dating whiteness, which is conceptualized as all that the ‘underclass’ issupposedly not: productive, law-abiding, sexually ‘under control’. But inthe post-civil-rights era, the tensions of racial dualism can be seen even inthese repressive tendencies. If ‘tough love’ is to be applied only to theghetto and barrio poor, on what grounds does it exempt the white poor? Isit, in the final analysis, a complex of racially oriented measures? But if it isfundamentally racist, to what extent can the substantial racially definedminority middle classes escape its implications? Even the new Right, itseems, cannot do without at least a fig-leaf of ostensible anti-racism in itscampaign to rearticulate and relegitimize white supremacy.The Neo-ConservativesNeo-conservative discourse seeks to preserve white advantages throughdenial of racial difference. For neo-conservatism, racial difference issomething to be overcome, a blight on the core usvalues—both politi-cally and culturally speaking—of universalism and individualism.Unfortunately, it is easier to declare these values to be operative in uspol-itics and culture—and to read them back into earlier stages of ushis-tory—than it is to demonstrate that they apply to race. Withoutquestion, the Enlightenment doctrine of natural rights was partly con-stitutive of the ussocio-political order. But it is equally true that counter-vailing principles existed—notably, doctrines of European superiority—which justified the conquest and enslavement of supposedly lesser peoples. Indeed, the Enlightenment principle itself was troubled by various idealisms which persisted within it: its assertion of the existenceof a detached and impartial Reason, for example. Supposed possession ofthis faculty provided a warrant for domination of the natural world, and a principle for classification of human subjects—and human bodies—according to attributions about their closeness to or distance from thisideal.10Europeans attributed to non-Europeans a lack of access to this fac-ulty—or a lesser, ‘lower’ grasp of it—thus justifying their arrogation ofpower and privilege.1110Iris Marion Young, Justice and the Politics of Difference, Princeton 1990; Max Horkheimerand Theodor W. Adorno, Dialectic of Enlightenment, trans. John Cumming, New York 1989.11Thomas Jefferson, Notes on Virginia[1787], in Merrill D. Peterson, Writings of ThomasJefferson, New York 1984.79
The doctrine of natural rights frames the liberal view of citizenship that,in turn, informs the neo-conservative vision of race. It is visible in the dis-sent of Justice Harlan from the Plessy decision in 1896. It is visible in ‘theAmerican creed’ which Myrdal claimed was a universalizing and individ-uating tendency that would ultimately sweep away irrational race preju-dice and bigotry.12It is visible in the founding documents of usneo-conservatism, such as Nathan Glazer’s essay on ‘The American EthnicPattern’.13And it is visible in the basic anti-statism and laissez-faire atti-tude of neo-conservatives, particularly in regard to racial matters.14Besides its fundamental suspicion of racial difference, the neo-conserva-tive project has cast doubt on the tractability of issues of racial equality,tending to argue that the state cannot ameliorate poverty through socialpolicy, but in fact only exacerbates it.15These positions indicate the sub-stantial distance the neo-conservative project has travelled from the lib-eral statism, and indeed the racial pluralism, with which its chiefspokespeople once identified, for example in Glazer and Moynihan’sBeyond the Melting Pot.16The appeal to universalism—in social policy and critical educational orliterary standards—is far more subtle than open or coded appeals towhite racial fears, since it has far greater capacity to represent race inapparently egalitarian and democratic terms. Indeed, the very hallmarkof the neo-conservative argument has been that, beyond the proscriptionof explicit racial discrimination, every invocation of racial significancemanifests ‘race-thinking’, and is thus suspect. Yet a refusal to engage in‘race-thinking’ amounts to a defence of the racial status quo, in whichsystematic racial inequality and discrimination are omnipresent. To the extent that it functions as an argument against policies aimed atincreasing substantive racial equality, it is not difficult to explain thewholesale conversion of ‘moderate’ whites, as well as many upwardlymobile minority professionals, politicians, and intellectuals, to neo-con-servative racial politics in the post-civil-rights era. Especially after 1980,neo-conservative racial ideology—with its commitment to formal racialequality and its professions of ‘colour-blindness’—proved particularlyuseful: it served to organize and rationalize both white working-class andminority middle-class resentments. In the former case, the objectionableelement was declining living standards, ostensibly brought on by ‘reversediscrimination’. In the latter case, the complaint was the ‘racial lumping’minority elites perceived in affirmative action policies: to challenge racialdiscrimination was to demean their achievements; it was to insult them12Gunnar Myrdal, An American Dilemma: The Negro Problem and Modern Democracy, NewYork 1962.13Nathan Glazer, Affirmative Discrimination: Ethnic Inequality and Public Policy, New York1975.14Charles Murray, Losing Ground: American Social Policy,1950-1980, New York 1984, p. 223; see also George Gilder, Wealth and Poverty, New York 1981; Thomas Sowell, TheEconomics and Politics of Race: An International Perspective, New York 1983.15Walter Williams, The State Against Blacks, New York 1982.16Nathan Glazer and Daniel P. Moynihan, Beyond the Melting Pot, Cambridge 1970;Stephen Steinberg, Turning Back: The Retreat From Racial Justice in American Thought andPolicy, Boston 1995.80
by suggesting that they needed special treatment to attain upward mobil-ity.17This complaint also extended to ‘other others’—notably AsianAmericans, but also some Latinos—whom neo-conservatives sought tolabel as ‘model minorities’, in other words, groups whose achievementsand ‘values’ distinguished them from the (implicitly black) underclass.18The neo-conservative approach to these groups thus sought to identifythem as aspiring whites—much as Italians, Greeks, and Jews had beencategorized a century earlier—and simultaneously to exempt them fromthe logic of affirmative action.The neo-conservative project now extends beyond strictly racial issues toa quasi-imperial defence of the political and cultural canons of Westernculture as a whole.19It not only argues for a ‘colour-blind’ racial politics,but rearticulates formerly anti-racist perspectives in a discourse denyingany validity to perceptions of racial difference. Thus the neo-conservativeperspective on race is not as inclusive as it superficially appears. Indeed,neo-conservatism suffers from bad faith. It may serve for some as a rational-izing formula, a lament about the complexities of a social world in whichthe traditional verities, and indeed the traditional speakers, writers, andpolitical actors, have come under challenge from a host of ‘others’, but, as soon as it advances beyond critique to proposals for action, its piousprofessions of universality and liberality are quickly replaced by advo-cacy of laissez-faire social policies, and hence of the status quo.The LiberalsLiberal discourse seeks to limit white advantages through denial of racialdifference. The overlap with neo-conservatism is, of course, hardly acci-dental. Yet there are significant differences in political orientation bet-ween the two projects. Liberalism recognizes the cross-cutting andcompetitive dynamics of race- and class-based forms of subordination inthe post-industrial, post-civil-rights era. It seeks systematically to nar-row the differences which divide working-class and middle-class peopleas a strategy for improving the ‘life-chances’ of minorities, who are dis-proportionately poor. It thus attempts to appeal to whites with argu-ments about the medium- and long-term consequences upon their livingstandards of downward mobility and greater impoverishment of non-whites. The liberal racial project can thus be described as social demo-cratic, focused on social structure—as opposed to cultural representationon the various right-wing racial projects—and somewhat class reduc-tionist in its approach to race.2017Stephen Carter, Reflections of an Affirmative Action Baby, New York 1991; Glenn C.Loury, One by One From the Inside Out: Essays and Reviews on Race and Responsibility in America,New York 1995.18Dana Y. Takagi, The Retreat From Race: Asian American Admissions and Racial Politics,New Brunswick, nj 1992.19Dinesh D’Souza, The End of Racism, New York 1995.20usliberalism can be equated only partially with European social democracy; certainlyits ties to the labour movement and to the Marxian tradition are far more tenuous. There isno significant Marxian racial project in the contemporary us, if only because no viableMarxian politics of any type has survived there. Still, some elements of that tradition dopersist in the liberal racial project (in its social-democratic aspirations), and in the newabolitionist project discussed below (in its dream of achieving class unity through theeradication of whiteness).81
The most effective, as well as controversial, spokesperson for the liberalracial project has undoubtedly been William Julius Wilson, probablythe pre-eminent black social scientist in the ustoday. In a series ofprominent scholarly works and political interventions, Wilson hasargued for the use of class-based criteria—and consequently, against theuse of racial logics—in formulating social policy aimed at achievinggreater substantive racial equality. He has contended that this reorienta-tion of social policy priorities is both better suited to the contemporarydynamics of capitalist development, and that it is politically strategic inways that explicit racially oriented policies are not.While Wilson does not dismiss the effects of historical racial discrimina-tion, he argues that since the civil-rights era capital has been ‘colour-blind’, and that consequently the large-scale demographic, economic, andpolitical changes which have negatively affected the ghettos and barrios donot have their origins in racial discrimination. Therefore, ‘group-specific’policies such as affirmative action in all its incarnations, cannot improvethe situation experienced by the African-American ‘underclass’. Wilsonthus calls for ‘universal programs’, rather than group-targeted ones, to haltthe deterioration of inner-city communities, arguing that such measureswill disproportionately help the minority poor: ‘The hidden agenda is toimprove the life chances of groups such as the ghetto underclass by empha-sizing programs to which the more advantaged groups of all races can posi-tively relate.’21This ‘hidden agenda’, of course, is designed to woo white,middle-class voters. Their needs—for more and better jobs, access to edu-cation and health care, and reductions in drug-trafficking and crime—canbe linked to those of the minority poor if the ‘wedge issue’ of race can beblunted. To this end, Wilson has urged political actors—notably PresidentClinton, whom he has served as an advisor—to create ‘biracial coalitions’by promoting programmes which unite, rather than divide, racial minori-ties, particularly blacks, and whites: ‘if the message emphasizes issues andprograms that concern the families of all racial and ethnic groups, whiteswill see their mutual interests and join in a coalition with minorities toelect a progressive candidate.’22A similar argument has been proposed byMichael Lind, who argues that ‘the American elites that subsidize and staffboth the Republican and the Democratic parties have steadfastly waged ageneration-long class war against the middle and working classes…’23using race, as well as other divisions, to achieve unprecedented levels ofpower and concentrated wealth. Affirmative action, and other race-basedinitiatives aimed at achieving greater substantive social equality, only con-tribute, according to Lind, to the effectiveness of the divide-and-conquerstrategy pursued by the ‘overclass’:the overclass shores up its defense against genuinely representativedemocracy (i.e., a popular coalition uniting middle-class and work-ing-class Americans of all races and regions) by adopting a strategyof divide and rule expressed in the language of multiculturalism…Unified along the lines of economic interest, the wealthy American21William Julius Wilson, The Truly Disadvantaged: The Inner City, The Underclass, andPublic Policy, Chicago 1987, p. 120.22William Julius Wilson, ‘The Right Message’, The New York Times, 17March 1992, p. a15.23Michael Lind, ‘To Have and Have Not: Notes on the Progress of the American ClassWar’, Harper’s, June 1995, p. 35.82
minority hold the fragmented majority at bay by pitting blacksagainst whites in zero-sum struggles for government patronage andby bribing potential black and Hispanic leaders, who might other-wise propose something other than rhetorical rebellion, with thegifts of affirmative action.24Both Wilson and Lind call for a nationalism of the Left, a populistalliance of the have-nots, regardless of race, against the haves. Lind’s ver-sion is perhaps more radical and certainly more explicitly nationalist: heproposes specific measures to tax corporate flight, restrict immigration,and establish a ‘common high-wage trading bloc.’ Like Wilson, heargues against affirmative action, which he would replace with a ‘transra-cial America…[where]a color-blind, gender-neutral regime of individ-ual rights would be combined with government activism promoting ahigh degree of substantive social and economic equality.’25Wilson’s pro-posals, though more circumspect, in all their essentials conform to thisperspective. He, too, identifies deindustrialization and the continuinginflux of new migrants to the depressed cities as key sources of ghettoand barrio poverty; he, too, calls for government activism in support of ahigh-wage economy and tight labour market as the recipe for achievingsubstantive, transracial social justice.A recent book by Todd Gitlin, The Twilight of Common Dreams: WhyAmerica is Wracked by Culture Wars, is the latest entry in the liberal lists.26Gitlin’s explanation for the ‘wracking’ is that separatism (particularlyracial separatism) and identity politics (particularly racial identity poli-tics) have devoured the universalism that was previously a hallmark ofthe Left. This ‘minoritarian thinking’, anti-pragmatic and in a certainsense anti-political, has lost sight of the genuine goal of political strug-gle, that of equality. In contrast to Wilson’s and Lind’s analyses, Gitlin’sbook is more centrally an ex-New Leftist’s cri de coeur than a seriousappraisal of racial politics. Gitlin’s exhortation to ‘build bridges’ is cer-tainly right, and places him squarely in the liberal camp, but he offerslittle detail about how this is to be done. His book has an odd and contra-dictory texture. Perhaps this is because he simultaneously recognizes thereality of racism and argues against ‘separatist’ group organization tocombat it. This position locates Gitlin in a long tradition of white radi-cals—socialists, communists, and New Leftists alike—who have arguedthat minorities should see their problems in terms of the ‘universal con-tradiction’ of class, rather than the ‘secondary’ problem of race.2724Ibid., p.44.25Michael Lind, The Next American Nation: The New Nationalism and the Fourth AmericanRevolution, New York 1995, p. 15.26Todd Gitlin, The Twilight of Common Dreams: Why America is Wracked by Culture Wars,New York 1995.27More problematic is Gitlin’s argument, in the concluding chapter, that the danger ofidentity politics is its alienation of white men. For them, ‘there is no particular benefit inrestraining their resentment…Their fear and loathing is, in part, a panic against the rela-tive gains of women and minorities…But economic jitters are only one force behind theconspicuous loathing of Democrats of all factions. Symbols are fuel. The rage of disposses-sion has been at work…’ (pp. 232-3.) Gitlin here urges racially defined minorities—andwomen, and gays—to restrain their demands, which he admits are justified in terms ofsustained social inequalities, so that white men may keep enough of their privileges tocontinue in coalition politics with their less fortunate class brothers and sisters.83
The liberal project in all its variants actively promotes a pragmatic visionof greater substantive equality, linking class and race, and arguing for thenecessity of transracial coalition politics. These themes seem worthy ofsupport, and receive more discussion below in this essay’s concludingsection. Yet, powerful as some of the arguments made by Wilson, Lindand Gitlin are, they do not succeed in demonstrating the demise ofracism or white privilege. They largely fail to recognize the ongoingracial dualism that prevails in the contemporary period, perceiving post-civil-rights era conflicts between whites and racially defined minoritiesmerely as strategic problems, and paying less attention to the deep-seated structuralracial conflicts endemic to ussociety. The weakness of the liberal project, then, is that it does not challengewhites either to renounce the realwage subsidies, the artificially lowunemployment rates, or the host of other material benefits they receivein virtue of their whiteness,28or to disavow the ‘psychological wage’—their privileged status in the eyes of authority—from police, welfareworkers, and teachers to retail clerks—which amounts to a tangible ben-efit acquired at the expense of non-whites.29Nevertheless, the liberalproject does undertake a crucial task: the construction of a transracialpolitical agenda, and the articulation of white and minority interests in aviable strategic perspective. This is something which has been missingfrom the uspolitical scene since the enactment of civil-rights legislationthirty years ago. The New AbolitionistsThe new abolitionist project stresses the ‘invention of whiteness’ as a pivotal development in the rise of uscapitalism. Advocates of this view,notably radical historians and critical legal theorists, have begun aprocess of historical reinterpretation which aims to set race—or moreproperly, the gestation and evolution of white supremacy—at the centreof uspolitics and culture. Thus far, they have focused attention on aseries of formative events and processes: the precedent of British colonialtreatment of the Irish; the early, multi-racial resistance to indenturedservitude and quasi-slavery, which culminated in the defeat of Bacon’sRebellion in late seventeenth-century Virginia; the self-identification of‘free’ workers as white in the antebellum North; and the construction ofa ‘white republic’ in the late nineteenth century.30These studies, in some cases quite prodigious intellectual efforts, havehad a significant impact on how we understand not only racial formation,but also class formation and the developing forms of popular culture in28George Lipsitz, ‘The Possessive Investment in Whiteness’, American Quarterly, V, vol.47, no. 3, 1995.29Du Bois, Black Reconstruction; David R. Roediger, The Wages of Whiteness: Race and theMaking of the American Working Class, Verso, London 1991; Cheryl Harris, ‘Whiteness asProperty’, Harvard Law Review, vol. 106, no. 1707 (1993).30Theodore W. Allen, The Invention of the White Race: Racial Oppression and Social Control,vol. i, Verso, New York 1994; Roediger, Wages; Noel Ignatiev, How the Irish Became White:Irish-Americans and African-Americans in Nineteenth Century Philadelphia, Verso, New York1995; Alexander Saxton,The Rise and Fall of the White Republic: Class Politics and MassCulture in Nineteenth Century America, Verso, New York 1990.84
ushistory. What they reveal, above all, is how crucial the construction ofwhiteness was, and remains, for the development and maintenance ofcapitalist class rule in the us. Furthermore, these studies also show howthe meaning of whiteness, like that of race in general, has time and againproved flexible enough to adapt to shifts in the capitalist division oflabour, to reform initiatives which extended democratic rights, and tochanges in ideology and cultural representation.The core message of the new abolitionist project is the imperative of therepudiation of white identity and white privilege, the requirement that‘the lie of whiteness’ be exposed. This rejection of whiteness on the partof those who benefit from it, this ‘new abolitionism’, it is argued, is aprecondition for the establishment of substantive racial equality andsocial justice—or more properly, socialism—in the us. Whites mustbecome ‘race traitors’, as the new journal of the new abolitionist projectcalls itself. Its motto: ‘Treason to whiteness is loyalty to humanity’.How is this rejection of whiteness to be accomplished? Both intellectualand practical measures are envisioned. On the intellectual level, the newabolitionist project invites us to contemplate the emptiness, indeedvacuity, of the white category: ‘It is not merely that whiteness is oppres-sive and false; it is that whiteness is nothing but oppressive and false … Itis the empty and terrifying attempt to build an identity based on whatone isn’t and on whom one can hold back.’31In short, there is no whiteculture, no white politics, no whiteness, except in the sense of distancingand rejection of racially-defined ‘otherness.’ On the practical level, whites can become ‘race traitors’ by rejecting theirprivilege, by refusing to collude with white supremacy. When you hearthat racist joke, confront its teller. When you see the police harassing anon-white youth, try to intervene or at least bear witness. In short, recog-nize that white supremacy depends on the thousands of minute acts thatreproduce it from moment to moment; it must ‘deliver’ to whites a senseof their own security and superiority; it must make them feel that ‘I amdifferent from those “others”.’ Single gestures of this sort, Race Traitor’seditors say, ‘would [not]in all likelihood be of much consequence. But ifenough of those who looked white broke the rules of the club to make thecops doubt their ability to recognize a white person merely by looking athim or her, how would it affect the cops’ behaviour?’32Thus the goal isnot that all whites recognize the lie of their privilege, but that enoughwhites do so, and act out their rejection of that lie, disrupt the ‘whiteclub’s’ ability to enforce its supremacy.It is easy to sympathize with this analysis, at least up to a point. The post-war black movement, which in the uscontext, at least, served as the pointof origin for all the ‘new social movements’ and the much-reviled ‘politicsof identity’, taught the valuable lesson that politics went ‘all the waydown’. That is, meaningful efforts to achieve greater social justice could nottolerate a distinction between public and private, or collective and individ-31Roediger, Wages, p. 13; emphasis in the original.32‘Editorial: Abolish the White Race—By Any Means Necessary’, Race Traitor, no. 1,Winter1993, pp. 4-5.85
ual. Trying to change society meant trying to change one’s own life. Theformula ‘the personal is political’, commonly associated with feminism,had its early origins among the militants of the civil-rights movement.This is all well and good. But is whiteness so flimsy that it can be repudi-ated by a mere act of political will, or even by widespread and repeated actsaimed at rejecting white privilege? I think not; whiteness may not be alegitimate cultural identity in the sense of having a discrete, ‘positive’ con-tent, but it is certainly an over-determined political and cultural identity,having to do with socio-economic status, religious affiliation, ideologies ofindividualism, opportunity, and citizenship, nationalism, and so forth.Like any other complex of beliefs and practices, ‘whiteness’ is embedded ina highly articulated social structure and system of significations; ratherthan simply trying to repudiate it, we shall have to rearticulate it.That sounds like a daunting task, and of course it is, but it is not nearlyas impossible as erasing whiteness altogether. Furthermore, becausewhiteness is a relational concept, unintelligible without reference tonon-whiteness—note how this is true even of Roediger’s formulationabout ‘build[ing]an identity based on what one isn’t’—that rearticula-tion (or reinterpretation, or deconstruction) of whiteness can begin rela-tively easily, in the messy present, with the recognition that whitenessalreadycontains substantial non-white elements. Of course, that recogni-tion is only the beginning of a large and arduous process of politicallabour, to which I shall return.Notwithstanding these criticisms of the new abolitionist project, manyof its insights remain vital to the process of reformulating, or synthesiz-ing, a progressive approach to whiteness. Its attention is directed towardprecisely the place where the liberal racial project is weak: the point atwhich white identity constitutes a crucial support to white supremacy,and a central obstacle to the achievement of substantive social equalityand racial justice. The Future of WhitenessIn a situation of racial dualism, as Du Bois observed more than ninetyyears ago, race operates both to assign us and to deny us our identity. Itboth makes the social world intelligible, and simultaneously renders itopaque and mysterious. Not only does it allocate resources, power andprivilege; it also provides means for challenging that allocation. Thecontradictory character of race provides the context in which racial dual-ism—or the ‘colour-line’, as Du Bois designated it, has developed as ‘theproblem of the twentieth century.’ So what’s new? Only that, as a result of incalculable human effort, suffer-ing, and sacrifice, we now realize that these truths apply across the board.Whites and whiteness can no longer be exempted from the comprehen-sive racialization process that is the hallmark of ushistory and socialstructure. This is the present-day context for racial conflict and thus foruspolitics in general, since race continues to play its designated role ofcrystallizing all the fundamental issues in ussociety. As ever, NorthAmericans understand their anxieties in racial terms: wealth and poverty,86
crime and punishment, gender and sexuality, nationality and citizenship,culture and power, are all articulated in the usprimarily through race.So, once again, what’s new? It is the problematic of whitenessthat hasemerged as the principal source of anxiety and conflict in the postwar us.Although this situation was anticipated or prefigured at earlier momentsin the nation’s past—for example, in the eugenics movement33—it is farmore complicated now than ever before, largely due to the present unavail-ability of biologistic forms of racism as a convenient rationale for whitesupremacy.34Whiteness—visible whiteness, resurgent whiteness, white-ness as a colour, whiteness as difference—this is what’s new, and newly prob-lematic, in uspolitics. Most centrally, the problem of the meaning ofwhiteness appears as a direct consequence of the challenge posed in the1960s to white supremacy. The battles of that period have not beenresolved; they have not been won or lost; however battered and bruised,the demand for substantive racial equality and general social justice stilllives. And while it lives, the strength of white supremacy is in doubt.The racial projects of the Right are clear efforts to resist the challenge towhite supremacy posed by the movements of the 1960s and their contem-porary inheritors. Each of these projects has a particular relationship tothe white supremacist legacy, ranging from the far Right’s efforts to justify and solidify white entitlements, through the new Right’sattempts to utilize the white supremacist tradition for more immediateand expedient political ends, to the neo-conservative project’s quixoticquest to surgically separate the liberal democratic tradition from theracism that traditionally underwrote it. The biologistic racism of the farRight, the expedient and subtextual racism of the new Right, and thebad-faith anti-racism of the neo-conservatives have many differences, butat least one thing in common: they all seek to maintain the long-standingassociations between whiteness and uspolitical traditions, betweenwhiteness and usnationalism, between whiteness and universalism. Theyall seek in different ways to preserve white identity from the particularity,the difference, which the 1960s movement challenge assigned to it.The racial projects of the Left are the movement’s successors—as is neo-conservatism, albeit as a reaction against it. Both the liberal project andthe new abolitionist project seek to fulfil the movement’s thwarteddreams of a genuinely, substantively egalitarian society, one in whichsignificant redistribution of wealth and power has taken place, and race33Daniel J. Kevles, In the Name of Eugenics: Genetics and the Uses of Human Heredity, NewYork 1985; Elazar Barkan, The Retreat of Scientific Racism: Changing Concepts of Race inBritain and the US Between the World Wars, New York 1992; Stephen J. Gould, TheMismeasure of Man, New York 1981.34Professor Troy Duster has raised important questions about this argument that bio-logistic racism has been discredited, or at least relegated to a secondary status in con-temporary debates about race. In his Backdoor to Eugenics, New York 1990, he suggeststhat biologism is as susceptible to rearticulation as any other ideological dimension ofracism. Additional evidence for this argument is provided by the appearance of RichardJ.Herrnstein and Charles Murray’s The Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure inAmerican Life, New York 1994. I think that, while scientific grounds for racism are nomore dead than religious ones, the biologistic argument cannot regain the cachet it pos-sessed in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries; the political dimensions of racewill persevere as its predominant determinants. See Omi and Winant, Racial Formation.87
no longer serves as the most significant marker between winners andlosers. Although they diverge significantly—since the liberals seek toaccomplish their ends through a conscious diminution of the signifi-cance of race, and the new abolitionists hope to achieve similar endsthrough a conscious re-emphasizing of the importance of race—they alsohave one very important thing in common. They both seek to rupturethe barrier between whites and racially-defined minorities, the obstaclewhich prevents joint political action. They both seek to associate whitesand non-whites, to reinterpret the meaning of whiteness in such a waythat it no longer has the power to impede class alliances.Although the differences and indeed the hostility—between the liberaland new abolitionist projects, between the reform-oriented and radicalconceptions of whiteness—are quite severe, it is vital that adherents ofthese two progressive racial projects recognize that they each hold part ofthe key to challenging white supremacy in the us. Liberals rightfullyargue that a pragmatic approach to transracial politics is vital if themomentum of racial reaction is to be halted or reversed. New abolition-ists properly emphasize challenging the ongoing commitment to whitesupremacy on the part of many whites. Both of these positions need to draw on each other, not only in strategicterms, but in theoretical ones as well. The recognition that racial identi-ties—allracial identities, including whiteness—have become implacablydualistic, could be far more liberating on the Left than it has thus far been.For liberals, it could permit and indeed justify an acceptance of race-consciousness and even nationalism among racially-defined minorities as anecessary but partial response to disenfranchisement, disempowerment,and super-exploitation. There is no inherent reason why such a politicalposition could not coexist with a strategic awareness of the need for strong,class-conscious, transracial coalitions. We have seen many such examples inthe past: in the anti-slavery movement, the communist movement of the1930s,35and the 1988presidential bid of Jesse Jackson, to name but a few.This is not to say that all would be peace and harmony if such alliances couldcome more permanently into being. But there is no excuse for not attempt-ing to find the pragmatic ‘common ground’ necessary to create them.New abolitionists could also benefit from a recognition that on a prag-matic basis, whites can ally with racially defined minorities withoutrenouncing their whiteness. If they truly agree that race is a socially con-structed concept, as they claim, new abolitionists should also be able torecognize that racial identities are not either-or matters, not closed con-cepts that must be upheld in a reactionary fashion or disavowed in a com-prehensive act of renunciation. To use a postmodern language I dislike:racial identities are deeply ‘hybridized’; they are not ‘sutured’, but remainopen to rearticulation. ‘To be white in America is to be very black. If youdon’t know how black you are, you don’t know how American you are.’3635Robin D.G. Kelley, Race Rebels: Culture, Politics, and the Black Working Class, New York1994.36Robert Farris Thompson, ‘The Kongo Atlantic Tradition’, cited in Shelley FisherFishkin, ‘Interrogating “Whiteness”, Complicating “Blackness”, Remapping AmericanCulture’, in American Quarterly, V, vol. 47, no. 3, 1995, p. 429.88
Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found athttps://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=fjps20The Journal of Peasant StudiesISSN: 0306-6150 (Print) 1743-9361 (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/fjps20Rural rage: the roots of right-wing populism in theUnited StatesChip Berlet & Spencer SunshineTo cite this article: Chip Berlet & Spencer Sunshine (2019) Rural rage: the roots of right-wing populism in the United States, The Journal of Peasant Studies, 46:3, 480-513, DOI:10.1080/03066150.2019.1572603To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/03066150.2019.1572603Published online: 07 May 2019.Submit your article to this journal Article views: 6979View related articles View Crossmark dataCiting articles: 28 View citing articles
FORUMONAUTHORITARIANPOPULISMANDTHERURALWORLDRuralrage:therootsofright-wingpopulismintheUnitedStates*ChipBerletandSpencerSunshineABSTRACTIntheUnitedStates,right-wingpopulismisamajorfactorinnationalpolitics,asevidencedbytheelectionofDonaldTrumpasPresidentoftheUnitedStatesin2015.Right-wingpopulismisdefinedbyanappealto‘people’(usuallywhite,heterosexualChristians)torebel–againstbothliberal‘elites’fromaboveand‘subversives’and‘parasites’frombelow–byengaginginahardlinebrandofconservativepolitics.Thereareavarietyofright-wingpopulistpoliticalcurrentsintheU.S.Oneofthemostvisibleisthecontemporary‘Patriot’movement,whichisthesuccessortotheArmedCitizensMilitiamovementwhichswepttheacrossthenationinthe1990s.Today,thecorePatriotmovementgroupsareunitedbyaninterpretationoftheConstitutionthatderidesfederalpower(especiallyregardingenvironmentalregulations,publiclands,andprogressivetaxation)andadvocatesforaradicalbrandofright-wingdecentralization.ThisoppositiontofederalgovernmentpoliciesisframedinawaythatinflamespreexistingWhite,Christiannationalism(includinganti-immigrantxenophobiaandIslamophobia),aswellasChristianRightsupportforpatriarchyandoppositiontoLGBTQrights.KEYWORDSMilitias;patriotmovement;populism;islamophobia;whitenationalism;xenophobiaIntroductionRight-wingpopulistmovementsareflourishingaroundtheglobe.Theybasetheirpoliticalclaimsonconstructionsofnationalidentitywhichmust,bydesign,includeandexcludepeoplebasedonethnicity,religion,race,genderidentity,class,orpoliticalbeliefs(Betz1994;Taras2009,2012;MuddeandKaltwasser2014,2017;Abromeit2016;Scoonesetal.2018).TheelectionofDonaldTrumpasPresidentoftheUnitedStatesin2016involvedcomplexrelationshipslinkingright-wingpopulismtopre-existingorganizedWhitesupremacy,Christiannationalism,andwhitenationalism(BerletandLyons2000;Hardisty1999;Neiwert1999,2003,2009,2015).AndU.S.right-wingpopulismsharesmanycorefeatureswithsimilarmovementsinEuropeaswellaswithpopulistnationalistmovementsaroundtheworld(Wodak2015;Müller2016;Baier,Canepa,andHimmeltoss2017).Centraltothisisaritualized©2019InformaUKLimited,tradingasTaylor&FrancisGroupCONTACTChipBerletc.berlet@researchforprogress.org*EditorialNote:Thispaperispartofthe‘JPSForumonAuthoritarianPopulismandtheRuralWorld’,framedandintroducedbyIanScoonesandcolleaguesintheirjointpaper,‘EmancipatoryRuralPolitics:ConfrontingAuthoritarianPopulism’,publishedinJPSinJanuary2018.Thecontributionstothisforumwillbepublishedseparatelyandinclustersin2018and2019.ThisforumisoneoftheinitialoutcomesoftheactivitiesoftheEmancipatoryRuralPoliticsInitiative(ERPI,www.iss.nl/erpi).Supplementaldataforthisarticlecanbeaccessedathttps://doi.org/10.1080/03066150.2019.1572603.THEJOURNALOFPEASANTSTUDIES2019,VOL.46,NO.3,480–513https://doi.org/10.1080/03066150.2019.1572603
demonizationofan‘other’seenasunravellingthethreadsthatweavetogethertheideal-izedunified‘traditional’nationalcultureandthecoreethnicstock.IntheUnitedStatesthisisreferredtoasNativism(Higham[1955]1972).MargaretCanovan(1981,294)arguesthatallformsofpopulism‘involvesomekindofexaltationofandappealto“thepeople,”andallareinonesenseoranotheranti-elitist.’Apopulistmovementuses‘populistthemestomobilizeamassconstituencyasasustainedpoliticalorsocialforce’(BerletandLyons2000,4).SincetheUnitedStateswasfounded,avarietyofpopulistmovementshaveappearedonthebothpoliticalleftandright.ThesehavesweptthroughruralAmerica,engagingfarmersandranchers–buthavealsoappearedinthecitiesbyappealingtotheindustrialandwage-basedworkingclass,aswellasfindingfollowersamongsmallentrepreneursandtheurban-suburbansalariedmiddleclasses(BerletandLyons2000;Kazin1995;McMath1993).CatherineMcNicolStocknotesthat,‘therootsofviolence,racism,andhatredcanbeandhavebeennour-ishedinthesamesoilandfromthesameexperiencesthatgenerate…movementsfordemocracyandequality’(Stock1996,148).ThecurrentpopulistrevoltintheUnitedStatesisinpartduetotheeconomicstratifica-tionofsociety.NinetypercentofAmericansbetween1980and2012receivednoriseinsalarywhiledividendsfromarisingGDProsedramaticallyforthetop10%(EconomicPolicyInstitute2014;PoliticalResearchAssociates2017).SincetheelectionofPresidentRonaldReaganin1980,the1%hasenricheditselfwhilepushingmostofusintoadown-wardspiralofexportedjobs,lowerwages,unsafeworkingconditions,andtaxbreaksforthewealthy.Governmentsocialservicessuchaspublichealthandfoodstampshavebeenslashed.Publicworksprojects,frombridgestosewers,havebeengutted.Shiftingtaxdollarstoprivatecharterschoolshasstrangledpubliceducation.Thisprocesshasbeenhappeningincommunitiesofcolorfordecades.Nowitisfront-pagenews,andresearchshowsitisdevastatingWhiteworkingclass–andevenmiddle-class–communities(Chen2015;Devega2015).Thegrowthofright-wingpopulistanti-governmentmovementsintheMidwestandRockyMountainstatesinthelate1970sandearly1990sshadowedtwocollapsesofthefarmeconomy,andtheresultinganxietyandfearinhard-pressedcommunitieswhichsawfarmfamiliesbeingsqueezedofflandownedbythemforgenerations(Davidson1996).InbothperiodsorganizedWhitesupremacistgroupsinteractedwithapocalypticsurviv-alistsandright-wingpopuliststospawnmanymilitantquasi-undergroundformations.Thesemovementsincludedsomepeoplewhocalledthemselves‘Patriots’orformedarmedinsurgentgroupssuchasArmedCitizensMilitias(Gallaher2003).Patriotmovementgroupsbasemuchoftheiranalysisontheearlierworkoftheright-wingandconspiratori-alistJohnBirchSociety,whichwrapspatrioticsymbolsandreferencesaroundright-winglibertariancomplaintsabout‘biggovernment’(Zaitchik2010).Themovementincorpor-atesvariousformsofeconomiclibertarianismwhichclaimthatfederalgovernmentregu-lationsandprogramswillpave‘TheRoadtoSerfdom’(Hayek[1944]1960).ForsomeoftheU.S.right-wingideologuesinthe1950s,thecollectivismoflaborunionsand‘biggovernment’inevitablyledtototalitariantyrannylikethatunderHitler’sNazigen-ocidalformoffascismandStalin’sbrutalrepressivecommunism.ThiswasimpliedinHayek’s1944bookTheRoadtoSerfdom,whichwasbasedinpartonthetheoriesofhisally,economistLudwigvonMises.ButneitherMisesnorHayekhadanycontroloverthespreadofright–wingconspiracytheoriesabouttheDemocratsandincreasedTHEJOURNALOFPEASANTSTUDIES481
governmentspendingthatflourishedinthe1950sand1960sintheUS(Hofstadter1965).NorcouldtheyenvisionthisconspiracismoverlappingwithChristianapocalypticismintheUnitedStatesandbuttressingthePatriotmovement(Berlet2017a,131–173).However,‘Reaganomics’wasostensiblybasedontheirtheories;and‘PresidentRonaldReaganhonoredtheworkofbothmen,asdidPresidentGeorgeH.W.Bush.Moreover…theTeaPartyandFoxNewsidolized’HayekandFoxNewspunditGlennBeck‘causedHayek’sTheRoadtoSerfdom([1944]1960)tobecomeanationalbestsellerin2010’(LindleyandFarmelant2012,132).Hayek’seconomictheorieswereusedtodefendoppo-sitiontocivilrightsandaffirmativeaction(Katznelson2017).Butthehistoricalrecordshowsthatthemilitiasarenotunusual.TheUnitedStateshasseenanumberofright-wing,armedinsurgentgroupsthroughoutitshistory(Lyons2017,2018).Mosthaveusedsomesortof‘populist’rhetoric.ThemostnotedandlethalofsuchgroupswastheKuKluxKlan(KKK),foundedaftertheU.S.CivilWar.TheKlanclaimsfivecoreperiodsofactivism:1865–1871,1920–1925,1950–1965,1980–1988,andthepresenttime.Patriotmovementgroupshaveoftenintersectedwithgroupsfurthertotheirright,inparticularmembersoftheracistandantisemiticChristianIdentitysect.Forexample,afarmcrisisinthelate1970sand1980scausedwidespreadbankruptciesinsmallfarms.MembersofPosseComitatus,whichhadbeenfoundedbyaChristianIdentityminister,successfullywooedapartoftheprotestmovementthatarose.AndactivistswhobelongedtothisreligioussectwereinfluentialinthePatriotmovementthroughoutthe1990s(Stern1996).Inthe1990s,themilitiamovementspreadovertheUnitedStates.ItbecamenotoriouswhentwomovementmembersbombedtheOklahomaCityfederalbuildingin1995,killing168,butthemovementitselfcontinuedthrough2001.Andbetween2014and2016,therewerefourPatriotmovementarmedoccupationsandstandoffsinruralareas:twoatmines,andtwoinvolvingranchlands.RuralimageryinvolvingtheWildWest,anemphasisonwrenchingpubliclandsoutoffederalhandsandgivingcontroltolocalauthorities,andappealstoworkersinruralindustries(especiallyminers,loggers,andranchers)areconsistentpropagandathemes(Ambler1980;Larmer2016;Thompson2016).WesternstateswithhighlevelsofpublicfederallandownershiphavetendedtohavevibrantPatriotmovementactivism.Residentsofpoorruralareasarerecep-tiveaudiencestothemovement’sclaimsthatthefederalgovernmentcannotcontrolpubliclands,enforceenvironmentallaws,regulateminingclaims,orgrantgrazingpermits.Contemporaryright-wingpopulistmovementsintheUnitedStatesareclusteredintotwomodelsofactivism:first,partisanpoliticalactivisminsupportofright-wingpoliticiansintheRepublicanPartyandsomesmallerright-wingpoliticalpartiesandgroups;second,insurgentpoliticalandsocialmovements(whicharesuspiciousofboththeRepublicanandDemocraticParties)thatbelievethecurrentgovernmentmightbecontrolledbysub-versiveandtreacherouselites(Lyons2018).Inthislattergroup,manysocialmovementactivistsmayeithervoteforthemostmilitantright-wingpoliticiansintheRepublicanParty,voteforthirdpartycandidates,orabstainfromvoting.Thereisa‘ruralconsciousness’intheUnitedStatesthatisexploitedtoforgea‘politicsofresentment’whichscapegoats‘lessdeservingsocialgroups’whoareportrayedaspara-sitic–ratherthanbeingthevictimsof‘broadsocial,economic,andpoliticalforces’(Cramer2016,9).Centraltothisprocessis‘producerism,’arhetoricaltoolbuiltaroundaconspiracytheoryofhistorythatintheUnitedStatesencouragesracist,xenophobic,antisemitic,482C.BERLETANDS.SUNSHINE
heteropatriarchal,andotherformsofbigotednarratives(Kazin1995,35–36,52–54,143–144;Herman1997;BerletandLyons2000,4–6).Itisoftenvisuallyportrayedasavicesqueezingthemiddleclass(Berlet2017b;AllenwithAbraham1971).ThisresentmentissharedindifferentformulationsacrosstheUnitedStates(Alexander2017).Forexample,RepublicanPresidentialCandidateMittRomney,runningagainstDemocratBarackObamain2008,spokeofthe‘Makers’versusthe‘Takers,’andclaimed47%oftheU.S.populationwascomposedofthe‘Takers’(GuptaandFawcett2018;DiBrancoandBerlet2016).Obama’s2008electionenragedsomeconservativeswhowereangeredbyablackliberalpresident.Conspiracytheoriesalsobecameprominentacrosstheright,includingthenotorious‘Birther’allegationswhichfalselyclaimedthatObamawasnotbornintheUnitedStates(Berlet2010;PublicPolicyPolling2009).AmoregeneralclimateofIslamophobiaandanti-immigrantxenophobiaalsowasgrowinginternationallyasthepoliticsofresentmenttookcenterstage(Taras2009,2012).ThePatriotmovementsprangbacktolifeverysuddenlyattheendof2008,withneworganizingformsandgroups.Observersofright-wingmovementshaveofferedseveralfactorsforthemovement’sdramaticrevival.Theyincludethe2008economiccollapse;thefederalbankbailoutsandeconomicstimuluspackagewhichfollowedwereparticularlyegregioustoamovementwhichopposedalmostallgovernmentregulationoftheeconomyandtraffickedinconspiracytheoriesabouttheroleoffinancecapital.TheriseoftheTeaPartyandSarahPalin’s2008candidacyforvicepresidentatthesametimeshowedthestrengthofangrypopulistresentmentintheRepublicanbase,whichrejectedtheparty’sneoconservativemanagerialapproachtotheeconomyandinternationalrelations(ScherandBerlet2014).TheRepublican’saggressiveforeignpolicies(includingtheAfghanistanandIraqwarsandoccupations),commitmenttotransnationalfreetradeagreements,andacceptanceofLGBTQrightsalsohelpedtoalienatetheright-wingpopulists.Allofthishap-penedasaseriesofright-wingpopulistmovementsgrewacrossEuropeandelsewherestartinginthemid-1990s(Betz1994;BetzandImmerfall1998;Taras2009).ActivistsandscholarshadbeenwarningaboutthistrendintheUnitedStatesforovertwodecades(Hard-isty1999;BerletandLyons2000;Durham2000;Chomsky2010).AmericanexceptionalpeculiaritiesWhitenationalismInJune2015,DylannRoof–ayoungwhiteman–cametoabiblestudygroupatahistoricallyblackchurchinCharleston,SouthCarolina.Beforemurderingninepeoplebyshootingthematpoint-blackrange,hetoldthem,‘Ihavetodoit.Yourapeourwomenandyou’retakingoverourcountry.Andyouhavetogo’.Roof’sattackwasattheEmanuelAfricanMethodistEpiscopalChurch.Bytheearly1800s,itwasatthecenterofblackresistancetoslaveryinCharleston,accordingtoGeraldHorne.HornebelievesthatRoofinheritedthefearofmurderousblacksrapingWhitewomenfromacommonhistoricnarrativeofWhitesupremacyinspiredinpartbyslaverebellionsinthe1800s(Horne2015).Blackpeople,Rooffeared,threatentheexistenceoftheWhiterace;therefore,hewantedthenationtobeaWhitenation.RoofwasactingouttheideologyofWhitesupremacyinsupportofWhitenationalism(Berlet2015a,Horne2015).Theterm‘WhiteSupremacy’isoftenusedbyscholarsandactiviststodescribeacon-stellationofracistideologiesandpractices.(ThereisnoconsensusontheuseofTHEJOURNALOFPEASANTSTUDIES483
differenttermsbyscholarsandactivistswhostudyright-wingpolitics;eventheauthorsofthisstudyusethetermsdifferently).Forthispaper,wewillusethefollowingtermstosep-aratetheconceptintocomponentparts:.WhiteNationalismclaimsthattheessenceoftheUnitedStatesasanationiscarriedexclusivelyinthesocial,cultural,economic,andpoliticalpracticesofearlyEuropeansettlers..WhiteSuperiorityisthespeciousideathatWhitepeopleareauniquelytalented‘race.’.WhiteSupremacistSystemreferstothesystems,structures,andinstitutionsofanationthatgiveWhitepeoplespecialprivilegesandpowers,whetherornottheywanttheseprivilegesorharboradislikeofpeoplefromotherraces..OrganizedWhiteSupremacistGroupsaresocialandpoliticalorganizationswiththegoalofensuringWhitepeopleexercisepoweroverpeopleofcolor.Thesemayworkthroughlegalmeansinsideofthedemocraticsystemasitexistsnowtomaintainorincreasethe‘Whitesupremacistsystem’;advocateforminganall-Whitestate;orseektoexterminateorexpelpeopleofcolor.Thesegroupsalmostalwaysrelyonantisemiticconspiracytheoriesforatheoreticalcore,andoftendisplayintensemisogyny.Biologistsrejectthepopularconceptof‘race.’Theperceptionofbiologicalracialdiffer-ences,however,playsacentralroleinhistoricandcurrentpowerrelationshipsinournation.TheoriginalBritishsettlers,whowerefollowedbynorthernEuropeans,assumedthatWhiteAnglo-SaxonProtestants(WASPS)wereasuperiorracialandreligiouscommu-nity.Thesedaysamuted–sometimescoded–versionofWhitenationalistclaimsarerou-tinelybroadcastoncableTVnewsandAMradiotalkshows.UntiltheCivilWartheUnitedStateswasgovernedbyaWhitesupremacistsystemandwasaformofWhitenationalism.Thiswastruelegally,butalsointhedominanceofthepolitical,cultural,social,andeconomicarenasofpubliclife.Thepost-warRecon-structionperiodwasabriefinterlude,andin1868the14thAmendmenttotheU.S.Constitutionwaspassed;itgrantedbirthrightcitizenship,whichmadethefreedslavesU.S.citizens.TheWhiteracistbacklashtoallowingblackAmericanslegalrightsspawnedtheKuKluxKlan,anarmedterroristgroupthatthroughoutitshistoryhaskilledblackpeopleaswellasthoseworkingforcivilandhumanrights,regardlessoftheirbackground.Thestruggleforequalityforallhascontinuedtothisday,frequentlylurchingbetweensuccessesandlosses.Itismademorecomplicatedastheracialcat-egoriesthemselvesarealsofluid;theychange,contract,andexpand.AsNoelIgnatiev(1995)showsinHowtheIrishBecameWhite,agroupthatatonepointinU.S.historywasconsiderednon-WhitecanlaterincludememberswhoexpresssupportforWhitesupremacy.Initsmostmoderateform,Whitenationalismassumesallcitizensneedto‘actWhite’bybeingwillingtoadoptthebehavior,ideologies,culture,socialarrange-ments,andpreferredeconomicpracticescommontomiddle-andupper-classWhitepeople.TherhetoricofWhitenationalismandorganizedWhitesupremacycanbeverysimilar.GroupssuchastheKuKluxKlanandneonazispressforveryaggressivemeasures–whichhaveincludedmurderingpeopleofcolor;civilrightsadvocates;LGBTQpeople;mixed-racecouples;andreligiousminoritieslikeJews,Muslims,andSikhs.TheneonazimovementintheUSisstillactivetoday(Langer1990).484C.BERLETANDS.SUNSHINE
OrganizedWhitesupremacistleaderDavidDukeexplainsWhitenationalismthisway:IthinkthebasiccultureofthiscountryisEuropeanandChristianandIthinkthatifwelosethat,weloseAmerica…Idon’tthinkweshouldsuppressotherraces,butIthinkifwelosethatWhite–what’sthewordforit–thatWhitedominanceinAmerica,withitweloseAmerica.(BerletandQuigley1995;Bridges1994)ComparethistoPatBuchanan,whoregularlyappearsasapunditonnationaltelevision.Buchananreferstoalooming‘culturewar,’andsays:ThequestionweAmericansneedtoaddress,beforeitisansweredforus,is:DoesthisFirstWorldnationwishtobecomeaThirdWorldcountry?Becausethatisourdestinyifwedonotbuildaseawallagainstthewavesofimmigrationrollingoverourshores…WhospeaksfortheEuro-Americans,whofoundedtheUSA?…IsitnottimetotakeAmericaback?(BerletandQuigley1995;Bridges1994)Whitenationalismisasystemofpowerthatshapesourdailyactivitiesandisextollednotonlybyorganizedsupremacistgroupsandarmedinsurgents,butalsomajormediafiguresandpoliticalleaders.Whenwetalkaboutinstitutionalracism,thisiswhatwemean:theinstitutions,systems,andstructuresofpowerthatgiveWhitepeopleunfairadvantages–evenwhentheypersonallyrejecttheideaofracism.AsthefirstblackU.S.president,ObamawasalightningrodforWhitenationalistrhetoric.OneofthosemurderedinCharlestonwasthechurch’spastor,ReverendClementaPinckney.HealsoservedasaSouthCarolinastatesenatorandwasanacquaintanceofObama.Pre-sidentObamatraveledtoCharlestonandledthecongregationinsinging‘AmazingGrace’afteran‘extraordinary’eulogy(FollmanandWest2015).Obamaalsosaid‘theappar-entmotivationsoftheshooterremindusthatracismremainsablightthatwehavetocombattogether.’Henotedthat‘wehavemadegreatprogress,butwehavetobevigilantbecauseitstilllingers.Andwhenit’spoisoningthemindsofyoungpeople,itbetraysouridealsandtearsourdemocracyapart’(LeeandRios2015).ItwouldbeeasytodismissracistWhitenationalismaslimitedtofringegroupsontheextremeedgesofcivilsociety,butthisissadlynottrue.OrganizedWhitesupremacistgroupsdonotcauseprejudiceintheUnitedStates–theyexploitit.Whatweclearlyseeasobjectionablebigotrysurfacinginracistsocialandpoliticalmovementsisactuallythemagnifiedformofoppressionsthatswimsilentlyinthefamiliaryetobscurededdiesof‘mainstream’society.Racism,sexism,andhostilitytowardLGBTQpeople(Burack2008),immigrantsandrefugees,Muslims,andJewsstillpersistsasformsofsupremacythatcreateoppression.Thus,theseformsofprejudicedefendandexpandinequitablepowerandprivilege–whetherornotthereisactivitybyorganizedWhitesupremacistgroups.Prejudiceisanideologywhilediscriminationisanact.ColetteGuillauminsuggestsitisimportanttorealizethatideologiesgenerateactivities.Ideologiesshapetheactionsofindividuals,groups,movements,andsocieties(Guillaumin1995;Noël1994).Thus,intheUnitedStates,theideologicalnotionofWhitesuperiorityandthelingeringideologiesembeddedinaninheritedWhitesupremacistsystemresultsinWhitenationalismbeingpracticedconsciouslyorunconsciouslyinourdailyroutines(Guillaumin1995;Noël1994).Anditsaturatesthecountry’spolitics–fromthemajorpoliticalpartiestoright-wingpopulistsandarmedinsurgentfactions.AconspiratorialstorylineoftenaddedbyWhitenationalistideologuespaintsapictureofbetrayalandsubversionofthe‘AmericanDream’byparasitespickingthepocketofTHEJOURNALOFPEASANTSTUDIES485
‘productive’citizens.The‘parasites’areoftenportrayedaspeopleofcolororimmigrants.Sometimesthisbigotednarrativeislinkedtotheclaimthattreacherousplottersinthegovernmentaresecretlyplanningtoimposeatotalitariantyranny.Thisgovernmentcon-spiracymessageisspreadbytheJohnBirchSociety,GlennBeck,AlexJones,thelateTimLaHaye,andothers.Andtheneo-NaziformofWhitesupremacygoesevenfurther:itrevolvesaroundacoreofantisemitismwhileadvocatingamessianicnationalrebirthastheoppositiontowhatisseesasasocietyindecay(Postone1980;Griffin1991).AntisemitismhasalonganduglyhistoryintheU.S.AutomagnateHenryFordcircu-latedtractsdrawnfromtheantisemitichoaxdocument,TheProtocolsoftheEldersofZion(Bronner2000;Cohn1967;Silverstein2000).Inthe1950sagroupinsidetheUSArmybegantoinvestigatethe‘JewishThreat’(Bendersky2000).IntheUnitedStates,inter-actionsbetweentheleft,theright,conspiracytheories,anticommunism,andantisemitismcanbecomplex(Berlet1988,1989,1992a,1992b,1992c,1993a).Apocalypticmillennialism:fearsofsubversionintheU.S.ChristianrightChristianRightvotersmobilizedtoelectRonaldReaganPresidentin1980(Hardisty1999).CentraltoU.S.ChristianRightmobilizationsofpoliticalandsocialmovementconstituen-cieswasoppositiontogayrightsandabortion(Berlet1993b;Guillaumin1995;Hardisty1999;Young-Bruehl1996).In2008,theChristianRightopposedtheelectionofDemocratBarackObama(Toslon2008a,2008b).ManyofthesedevoutChristianshaveabsorbedapocalypticnarrativesfromreligioussources.DuringthePresidentialadministrationofBarackObama(2009–2017),15%ofRepublicanvotersinNewJerseytoldpollstersinhisfirstyearinofficethattheythoughtitwaspossibleObamamightbeSatan’sagentonEarth,knownastheAntichrist.Anadditional14%weresureofit(PublicPolicyPolling2009).Whatcanpossiblyexplainthesestartlingstatistics?TheseandothersurveysovermanydecadesrevealthatdomesticandforeignpoliciesintheUnitedStatesareshapedinpartbyconservativeProtestantevangelicals(andafewCatholics)whoviewhistoryasanexistentialbattlebetweenGodlyChristiansandevilforcesinleaguewithSatan(Clarkson1997;Diamond1989,1995,1997,1998;DomkeandCoe2008;Kintz1997;Martin1996;Phillips2006).ThisismorelikelyamongthemostdoctrinairewingofU.S.evangelicalism,thefundamentalists(MartyandAppleby1994;Melling1999).Thisinfluenceonpoliticsisnotlikelytovanishanytimesoon(Black2016)andispartofalargerlongstandingmillenarianphenomenoninternationally(Worsley1968).ProtestantevangelicalsandfundamentalistshavehistoricallyconnectedapocalypticpropheciesintheBible’sbookofRevelationtocurrentpoliticalandsocialevents(Boyer1992;Fuller1995).RobertC.FullernotesthattryingtomatchreallifepoliticalfigureswiththeevilAntichrist(prophesiedasthesidekickofSataninRevelation)becamesome-thingofan‘Americanobsession’incertaincircles.ElainePagelsquips,‘Satanhas,afterall,madeakindofprofessionoutofbeingthe“other”’(1996,xviii).Christianswhouseapocalyptictimetablessometimesjustifyanattempttoseizecontrolofsecularsocietyand‘purify’it,andthushastentheendoftimewhenJesusreturnsintriumph(Quinby1994,1997,1999).TheideaofwelcomingtheEndTimesisknownastheimpulseto‘hastentheeschaton’(Baumgarten2002,230–233;Frankel1991,210–211;Henze2011,161;Sarris2011,260).InGreek,eschatonmeans‘last.’ThisEndTimes486C.BERLETANDS.SUNSHINE
impulsetocontrolsecularsocietyispresentincontemporaryAmerica(Barron1992).Thisallmayseemobscuretomanyreaders,buttheroleofapocalypticframesandtimetablesisimportantinsidelargeportionsofthethree‘Abrahamic’religions:Judaism,Christianity,andIslam(BerletandAziz2003).MostChristiansdonotbuyintothisprecisescenario–butmillions–perhapstensofmillions–takeseriouslythepossibilitythattheEndTimesarenear,andthatthebattlesthatrageintheMiddleEastmightbepartofthewarbetweengoodandevilprophesiedinthebookofRevelation.ItiseasytooverlooktherootsofalongstandingfearofasocialistorcommunisttakeoverintheUnitedStates(Heale1990,1998;Navasky1980).FormanyChristianevangelicalsandfundamentalists,communismandanarchismwereliterallytoolsofthedevil.AccordingtoFrankDonner,‘BolshevismcametobeidentifiedoverwideareasofthecountrybyGod–fearingAmericansastheAntichristcometodoeschatologicalbattlewiththechildrenoflight,’asprophesiedinRevelation.AlthoughbasedinChristianity,thisapocalypticanticom-munistworldviewdevelopeda‘slightlysecularizedversion,’explainsDonner,anditwas‘widelysharedinruralandsmall–townAmerica,’whereleadersofevangelicalandfunda-mentalistgroupsregularly‘postulatedadoomsdayconflictbetweendecentuprightfolkandradicalism–alien,satanic,immoralityincarnate’(Donner1980,47–48).ApocalypticBiblicalprophecywarningofconspiraciesinhighplacesduringthe‘EndTimes’playedamajorroleinright–wingProtestantmovementsbetweenWorldWarIandWorldWarII.ItalsohelpedframetherhetoricusedbytheleadingspokesmenforwhatRibuffocallsthe‘ProtestantFarRight:’WilliamDudleyPelley,GeraldB.Winrod,andGeraldL.K.Smith(Ribuffo1983).ItisthedrivetobringheaventoEarththatsparkstheactivistformofapocalypticismandspawnsawidevarietyofutopianreligious,political,andsocialmovements(Berlet2008;LandesandKatz2011;Scafi2006).ThisisbecausedualisticapocalypticnarrativeslongagoslippedawayfromChristianreligioustheologyandbegantoinfluencesecularbeliefsystemsandideologiesintheUnitedStatesinwhatsomescholarsrefertoasacultureofconspiracytheories(Goldberg2001;Barkun2003).Conspiracytheoriesareanarrativeformofdemonizationandscapegoatingandarecentraltobothright-wingpopulismandfascism(BerletandLyons2000).Theygoadpeopleintoactionbynamingtheevilthreatandattachingittoaneedtoactbecause‘timeisrunningout.’Thisistheclassicapocalyptictimetable.RobertC.Fuller(1995)seesaconnectionbetweenmillennialistexpectationandthesocietaluseofdemonizationandscapegoating,especiallyintermsofthepublicidentificationofSatan’sevilEndTimesagent–theAntichrist.ManyeffortstonametheAntichristappeartoberootedinthepsychologicalneedtoprojectone’s‘unacceptable’tendenciesontoademonicenemy.ItistheAntichrist,notoneself,whomustbeheldresponsibleforwaywarddesires.AndwithsomanyaspectsofmodernAmericanlifepotentiallyluringindividualsintononbiblicalthoughtsordesire,itisnowonderthatmanypeoplebelievethattheAntichristhascamouflagedhimselftobetterworkhisconspiraciesagainstthefaithful.(Fuller1995,168)Fullernotesthat‘Overthelasttwohundredyears,theAntichristhasbeenrepeatedlyidentifiedwithsuch“threats”asmodernism,RomanCatholicism,Jews,socialism,andtheSovietUnion’(Fuller1995,5).Mooney(1982)lookedatanearlyexampleofthisprocessinMillennialismandAntichristinNewEngland,1630–1760.THEJOURNALOFPEASANTSTUDIES487
PerhapsduetoanunusuallylargepercentageofProtestantChristianevangelicalsandfundamentalistsintheUnitedStates,thereisacornucopiaofapocalyptictitleswithafocusonpreparingforaconfrontationwithevil.ExamplesofProtestantapocalypticliteratureinpost-WWIIAmericaincludeApproachingHoofbeats:TheFourHorsemenoftheApocalypsebythewell-knownRev.BillyGraham(1983)andApocalypse:TheComingJudgmentoftheNations(JRGrant,1994).AbookcreditedbyseveralauthorsassparkingarenewedinterestinmillennialismamongChristianFundamentalistsisTheLateGreatPlanetEarthbyHalLindseyandCCCarlson(1970);whichwasfollowedbyTheTerminalGeneration(LindseyandCarlson1976).LindseyalsopennedSatanIsAliveandWellonPlanetEarth(1972);The1980sCountdowntoArmageddon(1981);andthenovelBloodMoon(1996).ThemagazineMidnightCall(OngoingSerial)isatypicalexampleofProtestantapocalypticexpectation.AprolificscribeintheapocalypticgenreisChristianfamilycounselorTimLaHaye(1975,1980,1982).Astheyear2000approached,LaHayewroteRevelationUnveiled(1999).Whenitwasclearthattheendoftimehadnothappened,LaHayeandDavidA.NoebelpublishedMindSiege:TheBattleforTruthintheNewMillennium(2000).LaHayegainedinternationalfamewhenbeginningin1995,heandwriterJerryB.Jenkinsproducedaseriesofmorethanadozenbooksinthe‘LeftBehind’seriesofnovelsthathavesoldmorethan70millioncopies(LaHayeandJenkins1995).ScholarlycritiquesofLaHaye’stheologyincludeGorenberg(2000)andFrykholm(2004).ThepoliticizedreligiousviewofpoliticsintheUnitedStatesbyconservativeChristianevangelicalsandfundamentalistswithmillennialexpectationneedtobetakenseriouslybyscholars,journalists,andactivists.Theconceptofthissortofpoliticswithreligious-likefervoremergesinthelate1920s.AkeytheoristofthesemilitantpoliticalprocesseswasEricVoegelin,whoseessayswerecollectedandpublishedin1952.LandconflictsintheruralWestTheWesternfrontierTounderstandruralconflictsintheWesternstates,itisimportanttoconsiderthatmanyoftheparticipants–regardlessoftheiractualprofessions–castthemselvesintheroleoffarmersandrancherswhoseethefederalgovernmentasadistantandannoyingforce(Ambler1980).Indoingso,they‘recycleoldWesternfantasies’ofresistanceandrebellion(Larmer2016).SagebrushrebellionTherootsofoppositiontofederalpubliclandholdingsandregulationsgobacktheearly1900s,whenthefederalgovernmentfirststartedreservingpubliclandsandwaterrights(Larmer2016;Thompson2016;Swearingen,Schimel,andWiles2018).The‘SagebrushRebellion’startedin1976,whenthefederalgovernmentfinallystateditwouldretaintheremainingpubliclandsitheldfromtheoriginalwesternexpansionofthecountry.Legislatorsinthewesternstates,wheremostoftheselandswere,madeunsuccessfulattemptstogaincontrolofthelands.Thesepoliticsappearedagainduringwiththe‘countysupremacy’movementduringtheClintonAdministration,whichsoughttocurtainpubliclandgrazing,mining,andlogging.HisuseofthecontroversialAntiquitiesAct,whichalsoplacedmorerestrictionsonpubliclands,alsospurredopposition.488C.BERLETANDS.SUNSHINE
Finally,theelectionofObamabroughtonthelatestiterationofthemovement,withrenewedcallsforpubliclandtransferstostatesorcounties,andrisinganti-federalsenti-ment,suchasthatexhibitedbytheMalheuroccupation(discussedbelow).Extractiveresourceindustriesand‘wiseuse’Startinginthelate1970s,acoalitionofvariousright-wingpolitical,social,religious,andcorporateleaderssetouttocreatea‘NewRight’intheUnitedStatestorollbackwhattheyconsidered‘BigGovernment’intrusionsintothesociety(Himmelstein1990;Diamond1995).In1988,RonArnold,awriterforaloggingindustrypublication,presidedoverthe‘1988MultipleUseStrategyConference’whichorganizedananti-environmental-istsocialmovement(Ramos1995,1997).Thisbecameknownasthe‘WiseUse’movement(ArnoldandGottlieb1993;Burke1993;Helvarg1997;WiseUseResourceCollection2018).AccordingtoTarsoLuísRamos(1997),Ontheheelsoftheconference,Arnold’sgrouppublishedamanifesto,TheWiseUseAgenda,whichincludesanindexofovertwohundredorganizationsthatattendedorsupportedtheconferenceand‘mandated’thepublicationoftheagenda.Theindexincludesvariousresourcecorporationsandassociations,includingBoise-Cascade,DuPont,Exxon,GeorgiaPacific,Louisiana-Pacific,NevadaCattlemen’sAssociation,WashingtonContractLoggersAssociation,andWesternForestIndustriesAssociation.Theindexalsolistsactivistgroups,suchastheNationalCenterforConstitutionalStudies,whichseekstoinstitutebiblicallawintheUnitedStates,andtheAmericanFreedomCoalition,aUnificationChurchfrontgroupinwhichArnoldwasdeeplyinvolved.Arnoldexplainsthathefirststudiedscholarlysocialmovementtheoriesbasedonleftwingmovements,andconvertedthemtocreateamovementontheright.Arnoldsayshetriedtotampdowncallsforarmedconfrontations,whichhesayshealsoopposesincurrentruralmovementsontheRight(authorBerletinterviewwithArnold,2018).1However,Ramosarguesthat‘bullying,threats,andconspiracytheories’havealwaysbeen‘aliveandwellintheWiseUsemovement,’andthatunderthebannerofWiseUsetherehavebeenactsofviolence(authorBerlet,interviewwithRamos2018).PatriotmovementoppositionalorganizingThereexistsintheUnitedStatesanoverlappingseriesofright-wingoppositionalmove-ments,whichconsistofnationalorganizations,mediaoutlets,anddiffuseactivistswhosometimesformstructuredgroupsandsophisticatedmediaoutlets(Kintz1997;KintzandLesage1998).SaraDiamond(1989,1995,1998)referstothebroadsectoras‘Ameri-canist’movementswiththeChristianRightsectorengagedin‘spiritualwarfare’againstlib-erals(1989,1995,1998).Theseself-describedpatrioticmovementsintheUnitedStatesareoverwhelminglyshapedbytwentiethcenturyanti-communismandColdWarpolitics(BerletandLyons2000,287–304).Theysharesimilaritieswithearlierxenophobicmove-mentssuchasNativisminthelate1800sandthe‘100PercentAmericanism’ofthe1920s(BerletandLyons2000,85–103;Berlet1988,1989).ThePopulistmovementinthelatenineteenthcenturywasprimarilyprogressive,butsomeactivistsembracedcon-spiracytheoriesaboutJews,Freemasons,orCatholics.CasMudde(2017)pointsout1Seealso:ArnoldandGottlieb(1993).THEJOURNALOFPEASANTSTUDIES489
varioushistoricalpopularU.S.Nativistmovements,groups,andcampaigns:the‘KnowNothing’movement,an1850santi-Catholicmovement;the1920sand1950sKuKluxKlan;theJohnBirchSociety,whichformedin1958;andGeorgeWallace’s1968and1972presidentialruns.JamesAho(1990,2016)usestheterm‘ChristianPatriots’tospecifi-callyanalyzethemovementthatcombinesAmericanistpatrioticbeliefswiththeclaimthatAmericaisaChristianNation,andweavesinconspiracytheoriesthatconsidertheU.S.gov-ernmenttobeillegitimate.Foralmostallparticipants,thisinvolvesclaimsofaconspiracywhichiseitheropenlyantisemitic,orderivedfromantisemiticnarratives.2BasicpatriotmovementbeliefsOneofthemostwell-knownAmericanistmovementstodayisthePatriotmovement.ItusesthetrappingsoftheU.S.politicaltradition–includingpatrioticsymbolsandappealstofoundingdocumentsandstructures–toforwardaconspiracytheory-drivenversionofright-wingpopulism.Despiteoutwardappearances,theoreticallyithaslittlerelationshiptotheliberaltraditionthattheUnitedStateswasfoundedon.Themovementseekstoimplementaradicalformofdecentralizationtoadvanceright-wingeconomic,social,andculturalaims.Thisincludesdismantlingalmostallaspectsoffederalgovern-mentregulationoftheeconomy,suchastheminimumwage,aswellascivilrightsguar-anteesforhistoricallyoppressedgroups(BurghartandCrawford1996;Katznelson2017;KimmelandFerber2000).DespitelipservicetotheConstitution,itiscommonforthemovementtodenythatMuslimsdeserveFirstAmendmentprotectionsfortheirreligion(Sunshine2016).Somecommentatorsincorrectlyrefertomovementmembersas‘anarchists’(Conroy2017).ButthePatriotmovementappealstotheauthorityofcountysheriffs,countycom-missions,andtheU.S.Constitutionforlegitimacy–institutionswhichareincompatiblewithallvarietiesofanarchism.Andwhilemovementmembersseektoabolishmostofthefederalgovernment’sstructure,theywanttokeepcertainparts.Althoughthedetailsvaryamongparticipants,typicallythisincludesactivitiesrelatedtothemilitary,foreignaffairs,immigrationcontrol,andlawsguaranteeingprivatepropertyandunregu-latedmarkets.Localgovernmentswillbeabletorejectfederallaws,essentiallyrenderingthemoptional.Themovementusesseveraldifferenttacticalapproaches.Themostwell-knownistheformationofmilitiasandotherparamilitaryforms.TheThreePercenters,forexample,werefoundedin2008bya1990smilitiamovementveteranwhowantedtocreateanewkindofparamilitarythatcouldavoidinfiltrationbylawenforcement(SipseyStreetIrregulars2009).Theseparamilitarieshaveengagedinanumberofhigh-profileconfrontationswithfederalauthorities.Themovementfrequentlyusesideasbasedon‘nullification,’originallyformulatedbypro-slaveryadvocatesinthe1830s,whichholdsthatlower-levelgovernmentscanrejecttherulesofhigher-levelones(Levitas2002).Thedoctrineof‘countysheriffsupre-macy,’whichadvocatesthatcountysheriffscandecidewhichlawsareconstitutional(andhenceenforced),isanexampleofthis.Sois‘coordination,’whichisatermthatappearsinsomefederallanduseacts,butisinterpretedbythePatriotmovementto2ForanearlieranalysisseeHofstadter(1965).490C.BERLETANDS.SUNSHINE
claimthatcountiesandotherlocalgovernmentscanvetofederallawuserules(Sunshine2016,29–32).Anotherexamplepromotedbythemovementis‘jurynullification,’wheretrialjurorsaretoldtheycandecideguiltorinnocencebasedontheirownbeliefs,andnotthelaw.Inadditiontoparamilitaries,themovementhassetupstructuresthatapegovernmen-talfunctions.TheseincludeCommitteesofSafety,whichareactivistorganizationsthatclaimtohavethepowersofacountygovernment.Therearealsoanumberofself-pro-claimedjudges,juries,andsheriffs(Sunshine2016).AnothercommonbeliefinthePatriotmovement,basedonanidiosyncraticreadingofArticle1,Section8,Clause17oftheU.S.Constitution,isthatthefederalgovernmentisonlyallowedtoownwhatisknowninmovementjargonas‘ports,forts,andtensquaremiles’ofWashington,DC.Movementmemberswhofollowthislineofreasoningdonotacknowledgethefederalgovernment’spowertoregulategrazing,miningrights,orloggingrightsonfederallands–sincetheydonotacknowledgethegovernment’srighttoassertjurisdictionandcontroltheselands(Sunshine2016).ThesefictionallegalpositionswereinvokedtosupportthearmedPatriotconfrontationsinbothNevadaandOregon(detailedbelow).SovereignCitizens,asubsetofthePatriotmovement,adheretoaseriesofarcanelegalargumentswhichholdthatthecurrentU.S.governmentisillegitimate.Theybelievetheycanoptoutofpayingtaxesandotherobligationsbydeclaringthemselvestobeadifferent–‘sovereign’–citizen.TheirideasoriginateinPosseComitatusmovement,whichspunlegalfantasiesthatcombinedanidiosyncraticreadingoftheU.S.Constitution,Englishcommonlaw,andWhitesupremacistinterpretationsoftheChristianBible(Levitas2002;Zeskind2009).Incourts,SovereignCitizenshaveclaimedtheyareimmunefromevery-thingfromtrafficlawsandzoningregulations,tochildsupportordersandkidnapping,andeventheftandmurder.Unsurprisingly,noneoftheircentralcontentionshavebeenacceptedbymainstreamlegalscholarsorthejudicialsystem.3ThemasculinistwarriormotifiscentraltoPatriotmovementsintheUnitedStates(Berlet2004b;Gibson1994,1997;KimmelandFerber2000;Lembke1998,2003).Originallythesemovementswereexclusivelyformen,althoughtheKuKluxKlandidhaveawomen’sauxiliarythatsewedrobes.Asmallnumberofwomenparticipatedinthe1990smilitias,iftheyhadareputationforhandlinggunsexpertlyandsafely–whichmenoftenwerenotrequiredtoprove.Andwhileoverthedecadesmostleadershavebeenmen,themilitiamovementwasorganizednationallyusingonlineresourcesdevelopedbyLindaThomp-son(BerletandLyons2000,292).RuraleconomiccrisesThe1970sand1980sInthelate1970saseriousanddevastatingfarmcrisisbankruptedthousandsofsmallfarms,andtransnationalagribusinessswoopedintobuythemout.ThecrisiswascausedbyFederalReserveinterestrateincreases,risingpetroleumandinputprices,3ThetermPosseComitatuscomesfromLatin,andrefersto‘thebodilyforceofthecounty,’asinabodyofmenassignedpoweroveracounty.Theterm‘county’isderivedfromtheterritoryunderthecontrolofaMedievalCount;andtheleaderoftheforceofmenwouldbeaSheriff.Theterm‘Sheriff’sPosseComitatus’wasusedbythefoundersofthemovement.ThecommontranslationofPosseComitatusas‘PoweroftheCounty’lacksthisexplanatoryinformation(SouthernPovertyLawCentern.d.;Berlet2018).THEJOURNALOFPEASANTSTUDIES491
andthecessationofgrainsalestotheSovietUnionfollowingtheU.S.invasionofAfghani-stan(Davidson1996;Greider2000)Additionally,thewaveofmergersandacquisitionswhichstartedwithReagan-eraderegulationenabledaconcentrationofeconomicpowerinlargeurbanareas–tothedetrimentofnon-agriculturalindustriesinbothruralareasandsmallcities(Cramer2016;Alexander2017).Thisledtothefarmersprotestmovement;itsmaingroup,theAmericanAgricultureMovement,organizeda‘tractorcade’protestoffarmersinWashington,DCin1977and1979.However,theWhitesupremacistgroupPosseComitatus,aswellasfollowersoftheright-wingcultleaderLyndonH.LaRouche,Jr.,becameinvolvedinthemovementandspreadaconspiratorialistmessagethatscapegoatedJewishbankersasthecauseoffarmcrises.Theywereabletoattractanumberofdisgruntledfarmers,althoughthemajorityrejectedthemostbigotedallegationsandviolenttacticsbeingpromoted(Levitas2002,168–182).Nonetheless,antisemiticandracistcontentionsbecamearegulartopicofdiscussioninthefarmbeltforseveralyears.AndsowhilefewfarmersjoinedorganizedWhitesupremacistgroups,therewassometimesanappreciationofthefactthattheseWhitesupremacistgroupswerepayingattentiontothehardshipscreatedbythecollapsingfamilyfarmeconomy(Berlet1986;Corcoran1995).DespitethePatriotmovement’shostilitytofederalprograms,ruralareasreceiveadis-proportionatelylargeshareoffederalandstate-levelexpenditures–meaningtheurbanzones,wherewealthhasbecomemoreconsolidatedinpastdecades,areeffectivelysub-sidizingthem.Ontheotherhand,thecollapseoffamilyfarmsandthegrowthofgiantagri-businesshasmeantthatthesefederaldollarsseldomreachthebankaccountsoflocalfarmfamilies.Theglobalagribusinesssectorishuge(McMichael1998).Themulti-nationalgiantagribusinessCargillissingledoutbyBrewsterKneen(1995,2002)asamajorexem-plarofthistrendthatacceleratedfarmcrisesovermanydecades.‘Cargillisbuildingthekindofindustrialagriculturalsystemsitcanbestprofitby,’explainsKneen,‘notnecessarilytheonethatservesthefarmersorthepublicbest[nor]thesystemthatensureseveryoneeverywhereisadequatelynourished’(2002,viii).Suicideratesinthefarmbeltrosealongwithreportsofabuseandmentalillnessduringthedownwardspirals.Asright-wingpopulistgroupsspreadconspiracytheoriesinthefarmbelt,forthemostpartcorporatemediaandpolicymakersignoredtheplightoftheresidentsastheysawtheirwayoflifedevastated(Davidson1996;Dyer1997;Neiwert1999).Asonesongsungtoraisefundsfortheannual‘FarmAid’concertputit,theseruralfarmfamilieswerebeing‘weededout’(M.Roche,Roche,andRoche1985).FarmAid,whichoriginatedduringthecrisis,isanongoingefforttoraisefundstosavethefamilyfarmandprovidesawebsitethatexplainstheissues.Inpart,FarmAidseekstochallengethoseelementsoftheprotestmovementthatblamedthefarmcrisesonelaborateconspiratorialisttheoriesinvolvinginternationalJewishbankersandtheirminionswhotheyfalselyclaimcontroltheU.S.bankingsystemthroughmanipulatingtheFederalReserve.Thesetheorieshavecirculatedsincethe1930s;theywerepopularizedbytheWhitesupremacistEustaceMullinsinthe1950sandspreadbyPosseComitatusinthe1970sand1980s(BerletandLyons2000,194–195).1990s:armedcitizensmilitiasTheArmedCitizensMilitiasareapartofthebroaderPatriotmovement;inthe1990stheyspunoffthemovementasanarmedwing.Themilitiaswerelocallybasedarmed492C.BERLETANDS.SUNSHINE
paramilitarieswhichvowedtoresistaloomingNewWorldOrderandothernefariousandnon-existentconspiraciesallegedtobegoalsofthefederalgovernment(BerletandLyons2000,287–304;Berlet2004a,2004c).Themilitiastookmanyoftheirbasicpoliticalpos-itionsandorganizingformsfromthePosseComitatus(Levitas2002;Berlet2004a),andmostconductedarmedtrainingexercisesatruralencampments.Therapidexpansionofthemilitiasoccurredaround1993,afterasecondwaveofthedevastationofmanyruraleconomies(Gibson1994;BerletandLyons1995;VanDykeandSoule2002;Berlet2004c).ThespecificinstanceswhichspurredthemovementwereangeroverRubyRidgeandWaco(seebelow)–aswellasthe1993BradyBill,whichestablishedtighterguncontrols(Hamm1997;Freilich,Pienik,andHoward2001;Levitas2002;Zeskind2009).Themovementbecameinfamousin1995whentwomembers,TerryNicholsandTimothyMcVeigh–thelatterofwhomwastiedtoitsneonaziwing–bombedtheAlfredP.MurrahFederalBuildinginOklahomaCity,killing168people(Hamm1997;BerletandLyons2000).Contrarytomanyreports,themilitiamovementcontinuedtogrowforatleastayearafterthebombing,reachingitspeakin1996(SouthernPovertyLawCenter2001).ThemilitiamovementwasignitedbygovernmenterrorsandabusesofpowerduringconfrontationsthatresultedinneedlessdeathsattheWeaverfamilycabininRubyRidge,Idaho,andtheBranchDavidiancompoundinWaco,Texas.RandyWeaverandhiswifeVickiandtheirchildren,wholivedinaremotelocationinthemountains,wereadherentsofChristianIdentity(BerletandLyons2000,290–291).ThediscoverybytheWeaversofasecretgovernmentsurveillanceteamquicklyescalatedintoadeadly1992shoot-outinwhichafederalmarshal,andWeaver’swifeandson,werekilled.RandyWeaverandafriendwerewounded(Hamm1997).TheBranchDavidiancompoundinWaco,TexaswasaChristianfundamentalistchurchandsurvivalistretreat.In1993,theirleaderDavidKoreshwasdecodingRevelationasanEndTimesscriptandpreparingfortheTribulations(Samplesetal.1994;Reavis1995;TaborandGallagher1995).InthisapocalyptictimetablemanyChristianevangelicals(andtheirmoredoctrinaireandliteralcousinsthefundamentalists)argueovertheexacttimetableheraldingtheimminentreturnofJesusofNazareth,seenbyChristiansasthesonofGod.InsomereadingsoftheBible’sBookofRevelation,Jesusreturns,thereisaconfrontation(calledtheTribulations),andwhenthisisover,onlytrueChristiansaresaved,whileanangryGodvanquishesandeliminatesallnon-believers.ItislikelythatKoreshandhisfollowersbelievedthatthegovernmentforcesmightbeagentsofSatanintheEndTimes(ibid).TheU.S.governmentfailedtocomprehendthattheDavidianworldviewwaspartofarisingtideofmillennialistexpectationsgeneratedbytheapproachofthecalendaryear2000.Aseriesofmiscalculationsbygovernmentana-lystsinApril1993costthelivesofeightyBranchDavidians(includingtwenty-onechildren)andfourfederalagents(Hamm1997).AfterRubyRidgeandWaco,theArmedCitizensMilitiaMovementquicklyspreadthroughallfiftystates.Therewereover200militiaunitsbythemid-1990s,withbetween20,000and60,000activeparticipantsatitspeak.ThebroadPatriotmovementinfluencedasmanyasfivemillionAmericans,whoshareditsbeliefthatthegovernmentwasmanipulatedbysubversivesecretelitesthatplannedtouselawenforcementormili-taryforcetorepresspoliticalrights(BerletandLyons1995,2000,287–304).MartinDurham(2000,146)observedthatthemilitia-stylePatriotmovementwas‘dividedinstrategyandTHEJOURNALOFPEASANTSTUDIES493
exhibitsbothauthoritarianandlibertarianimpulses’andthat‘aspectsofeachhavethepotentialtobringitsadherentsintoconflict,sometimesbloodily,withafederalgovern-mentthattheyseeasathreattotheirrightsandaservantoftheirenemies.’Duringthisperiod,therewerewidespreadfearsthattheU.S.federalgovernmentwasabouttoimposeadraconiantyrannicaldictatorshipusingjack-bootedthugsdeliveredinblackhelicopterssentbytheUnitedNations(BerletandLyons2000,287–304;Berlet2004a,2004c,2005,2009a,2009b).JohnKeithAkinslikenedmilitiaconspiracytheorytoanideologicaloctopus.Inthisanalogy,thebodyoftheoctopusrepresentstheNewWorldOrdertheory;eachtentaclerepresentsaspecificconcern,suchasfirearmownership,abortion,orprayerinschools.Eachtentacleofthisoctopusreachesintoapre-existingsocialmovement,yeteachconnectswiththeothersatthebody,theNewWorldOrder.(Akins1998,144–145)IntheUnitedStates,thesetheorieshavebeenopenlydiscussedonnetworktelevision,andbyelectedrepresentativesonthestateandfederallevel(Berlet2009b).Usingconspiratori-alistandproduceristrhetoric,themilitiasidentifiednumerousscapegoats.Eachunit,andinsomecaseseachmember,couldpickandchoosetargets.Theseincluded:federaloffi-cialsandlawenforcementofficers,abortionprovidersandpro-choicesupporters,andenvironmentalistsandconservationactivists.Inafewcases,militiasalsotargetedJewishinstitutions,LGBTQorganizers,peopleofcolor,immigrants,andothervilifiedtargets(Stern1996;SouthernPovertyLawCenter2001;SouthernPovertyLawCentern.d.).Atitspeakin1996,thenumberofmilitiaunitsreached858,accordingtotheSouthernPovertyLawCenter.Thenumbersdroppedeachyearafterthat,andby2000therewereonly194units(SouthernPovertyLawCenter2001).AftertheNovember2000presidentialelectionofRepublicanGeorgeW.BushandtheSeptember11,2001terroristattack,theirvoicesfadedtoamurmur.The2008bankingcollapseFormostAmericanstheword‘collapse’holdsmoreresonance,buttheFederalReservelikestocallwhathappenedtotheeconomyin2008a‘recession.’Inonearticle,theFederalReserveBankinKansasCity,Kansas,intheheartofthefarmbelt,reportedthat‘RecessionCatchesRuralAmerica.’Afterclaimingthatinruraleconomiesin2008‘thefinancialcrisiswaslessseverethanonWallStreet,’theauthorsadmittedthatthe‘foundationsofruraleconomicstrengthin2008–highcommodityprices,robustexportactivity,andrisingethanoldemand–werecrumbling’(HendersonandAkers2015,65).AccordingtoLorinKusmin,‘ruralemploymentinmid-2015wasstill3.2%belowitspre-recessionpeakin2007’(2015).Insomeruralareastherewasa‘backlogofvacantandabandonedproperties’continuingthroughatleast2014(ChuckWehrwein,quotedinHousingAssistanceCouncil2014a).Adetailedlookshowsthatbetween2000and2012,ruralhomeownershipdeclinedasfollows:WhiteNotHispanic–0.5%;Hispanic–1.0%;NativeAmerican–2.9%;andAfricanAmerican–5.2%(HousingAssistanceCouncil2014b).ThePatriotmovement’s2008revivalwascloselyassociatedwiththeriseoftheTeaPartymovement,whichemergedataboutthesametime(Altemeyer2010;CoxandJones2010;ScherandBerlet2014).TeaPartierssupportedright-wingRepublicancandi-datesagainstthealleged‘socialism’oftheDemocraticParty,butseveralstudiesalso494C.BERLETANDS.SUNSHINE
showedantipathytowardimmigrantsandpeopleofcolor(Berlet2010,2012;BurghartandZeskind2010;Parker2010).OvertimeChristianRightparticipationintheTeaPartyincreased.AnnBurlein(2002)hasexplainedhowtheChristianRightandWhitesupremacycanconverge.TheTeaPartyideaoriginatedwithsupportersofuberlibertarianRonPaul,butthefranchisewasscoopedupbyconservativebillionaireswhofundedtrainingsandralliesaroundthecountry.OvertimeChristianRightactivistsplayedaleadingroleinlocalTeaPartygroups,helpingshiftthefocustoatoxicblendofNativist,anti-immigrant,andanti-Muslimrhetoriccoupledwithhomophobiaandanti-abortionpropaganda(Berlet2012;ScherandBerlet2014).By2015theTeaPartygrassrootswasheavilypopulatedbyorganizedWhitesupremacists(BurghartandZeskind2010).FolkswhosupporttheTeaPartyandotherright-wingpopulistmovementsarerespondingtorhetoricthathonorsthemasthebedrockofAmericansociety(Hochschild2016).Theseareprimarilymiddle-andworking-classWhitepeoplewithadeepsenseofpatriotismwhoboughtintotheAmericandreamofupwardmobility.Nowtheyfeelbetrayed.TrumpandhisRepublicanalliesappealtotheiremotionsbynamingscapegoatstoblamefortheirsenseofbeingdisplacedby‘outsiders’andabandonedbytheirgovern-ment(ScherandBerlet2014).Contrarytosomereports,theTeaPartyactivists,despitegarbledlanguageandunsup-portedaccusations,hadreasonstobeangry.AsauthorBerletputit:TheyseetheirjobsvanishinfrontoftheireyesasWallStreetgetstrillions.Theyseetheirwagesstagnate.Theyworrythattheirchildrenwillbeevenlesswelloffthantheyare.TheysensethatWashingtondoesn’treallycareaboutthem.Ontopofthat,manyaredistraughtaboutseeingtheirsonsanddaughterscominghomeinwheelchairsorbodybags.(Berlet2010)Emotionsmatterinbuildingallsocialmovements,andhavespecificmeaningsin‘Right-WingAmerica’(Kintz1997).Thelinkageofemotionandpoliticsareattheheartofamulti-yearstudyofruralright-wingconservativesbyArlieRussellHochschild(2016),whomovedtoLouisianaforseveralyearsandconductedconversationswithTeaPartymembersintheSouth,wherethemovementwasstrongest.ManyshespokewithhadlongdoubtedthatObamawasAmerican;evenafterthepublicationofhislong-formbirthcertificate,somestillsuspectedhewasaMuslimwhoharboredillwilltowardAmerica.Hochschildobservedthatthissetofbeliefswaswidelysharedamongpeoplewhootherwiseseemedreasonable,friendly,andaccepting.How,shewondered,couldweexplainthis?Hochschild’spremiseisthatallpoliticalbeliefisbuiltonasetofemotionsthatshapeadeepinternalizednarrativestorythatwritesascriptforpeople’spoliticalbeliefsandvotingactions.Previousscholarshiphaspursuedsimilarlinesofinquiryintoright-wingsocialmovements,especiallyintheU.S.South(A.Wilson1996,2013;Hardisty1999;Durham2000;A.WilsonandC.Burack2012).TheroleofIslamophobiaTheIslamophobicideasthatHochschilddocumentedwerenotlimitedtotheTeaParty.AfterBarackObama’s2008election,theinternetwasfloodedwithconspiracytheoriesabouthisallegedsubversionandtreachery.Theyclaimedthathewas,alternately:asecretMuslim;notacitizenoftheUnitedStates–andsohiselectionaspresidentshouldbeoverturned;apuppetofacellofJewsandCommunistsinObama’sChicagoTHEJOURNALOFPEASANTSTUDIES495
neighborhood;and/orwasthetoolofaNewWorldOrderplottoestablishaNorthAmer-icanUnion(Berlet2009a).TheseclaimsrecycledlongstandingattacksonprogressivepoliticiansandpublicfiguresintheUnitedStatesasbeingsecretJewsorcommunists,orboth;forexample,theyweredirectedinthe1930sand1940satPresidentFranklinD.Roosevelt(Dilling1934,1936,circa1941).However,itwasDonaldTrumpwhomovedIslamophobiaintothecenterofU.S.politicaldiscourse(Berlet2015b).AcommonIslamophobicclaimisthatIslamisnotareligionwithvaryinginterpretations,butinsteadisaviolent,subversive,andunifiedpoliticalideology(Berlet2011,2012,2013;EspositoandKalin2011;LeanandEsposito2012;Taras2009,2012).U.S.Muslimsareoftendescribedinright-wingmediaassecretsleepercells,whohaveinfiltratedthecountryinordertolayplansforatakeover.EvenattemptsbyMuslimstoassertdemocraticrightsareportrayedasattemptsatsubversiveinfiltrationoflegalsystemsinEuropeandtheUnitedStates.IslamophobesintheUnitedStatescastMuslimsasbeinginalliancewitha‘politicallycorrect’Left,andtogethertheyconspiretodestroythenationfromwithin(Cincotta2010,2011).Thisconspiracytheoryisoftenpack-agedwiththeclaimthatthereisanattemptintheUnitedStatestoestablishShariaLaw.Inmanyways,contemporaryIslamophobiaintheUnitedStatesusesmanyofthesamenarrativesofsubversionthatcanfoundinpriorantisemiticoranticommunistrhetorictrackedbyscholars.TheseideasarewidespreadinthePatriotmovementaswell.Whenright-wingpopulistsusethenarrativeclaimingMuslimsareterrorists,theyareengaginginapsychologicalprojection.PollsshowthatmanyAmericansassumethatMuslimscarryoutthemajorityofterroristactsintheUnitedStates.Butstudiesshowthatbetween2008and2016,‘WhiteNationalistPerpetrators’carriedout115violentinci-dents,while‘MuslimPerpetrators’wereinvolvedinsixty-threeincidents(Neiwert2017;Neiwertetal.2017;Valverde2017).In2018,amajorstudyshowedthat‘almosttwo-thirdsoftheterrorattacksintheUnitedStates’duringayearofstudy‘werecarriedoutbyright-wing’perpetrators(Morlin2018).Patriotmovement:2008topresentInthe1990s,theMilitiamovement’sreputationwasdamagedbyitstiestoorganizedWhiteSupremacistgroups.TheresurgentPatriotmovementpubliclydistanceditselffromtheseassociations,whichmayhavebeentheresultofaself-consciousshiftinatti-tudeand/orareframingforpublicrelations.ItalsopreferstotrafficinthemoresociallyacceptableIslamophobicconspiracismratherthanrecycledantisemitism.SowhileitremainsanoverwhelminglyWhite,Christian,right-wingproject,today’sPatriotmovementcandodgeaccusationsofWhitesupremacyandantisemitismmoreeasilytheninthepast.CurrentprominentPatriotmovementfigureswhohavelinkstoorganizedracismareusuallymembersoftheoldermovement,suchasRichardMack(founderoftheConsti-tutionalSheriffsandPeaceOfficersAssociation)andLarryPratt(founderoftheGunOwnersofAmerica).WhilemanyofthePatriotmovement’sgoalswereconsciouslyformu-latedasracistpositionsbythePosseComitatus–especiallythenotionthatcountysheriffscouldignorelawstheydeemedtobeunconstitutional–thesetacticsaregivenadifferentreasoningbytoday’sactivists.Nonethelesstheyretainthesamepotentialeffects.ThePatriotmovementalsousesaninside/outsidepoliticalstrategy.Atsametimethatishasformedarmedunitsandparallelgovernmentalstructures,andhasencouraged496C.BERLETANDS.SUNSHINE
governmentemployeestofollowitsreadingoftheU.S.Constitution,italsohasmadeinroadsintotheRepublicanParty.EspeciallyinthewesternU.S.stateslikeOregon,Washington,Nevada,Utah,andIdaho,somecityandcountyofficials,includingcountysheriffs,aremovementadherents.Therearealsoopenlysympatheticelectedstateofficials.In2017inMultnomahCounty,Oregon(whichincludesPortland),theRepublicanPartypassedaresolutionapprovingtheuseofOathKeepersandThreePercentersassecurity(Shepherd2017;J.Wilson2017).InOregonin2016,aftertheMalheuroccupation(detailedbelow),severalPatriotmovementcandidatesranforoffice,althoughwithlimitedsuccess.ButmanyactivistswereelectedasPrecinctCommitteePeople,thelowestlevelpositionintheparty.AtleastfivePatriotmovementactivistsandsympathizerswereelectedtoeitherstatepartypositionsorasdelegatestothenationalconventionattheOregonRepublicanParty’sJune2016convention.Andin2017,oneofthese,paramilitaryleaderJosephRice,ranforheadofthestateparty–althoughhecameinadistantsecond(Sunshine2016,55–56;2017b).OrganizationalclustersThePatriotmovementisverydecentralized,andisdividedupintodifferentorganizationsandidentities.Forexample,ArmedCitizensMilitias,similartotheonesinthe1990s,stillexist,primarilyinruralareas.Inadditiontothemilitias,corePatriotfactionsincludethefollowing:.TheOathKeepersareamembership-basedorganizationthatrecruitsformerandcurrentmembersofthemilitary,lawenforcement,andfirstresponders(althoughotherscanjoinasassociatemembers).Theysweartheywillnothelpimplementtenunconstitutionalgovernmentorders–whicharemostlystapleright-wingconspiracytheoriesaboutcomingconcentrationcampsandforeigninvasions..TheThreePercentersstartedasadecentralizedparamilitarytoprovideanalternativetothemorestructuredmilitias.IndividualscandeclarethemselvesasThreePercenters,butlocalandnationalgroupsexistaswell.Thegroupsdrawstheirnamefromthedis-putedclaimthatonly3%ofcolonistsfoughtintheAmericanRevolution,implyingthatasmallminoritycansuccessfullywageanarmedrevolutionarystruggle.Morerecently,someThreePercentergroupshavebecomemoretraditionallyorganizedlocalpoliticalgroups,albeitonesthatareheavilyarmed..TheConstitutionalSheriffsandPeaceOfficersAssociation(CSPOA)seekstorecruitcountysheriffsandotherlawenforcementtothePatriotmovement.Theirfounder,RichardMack,believesthatcountysheriffscandecidewhichlawsareconstitutional,andthereforeshouldbeenforced.Allofthesegroupshavememberswhoadvocatedefyingfederallawstheythinkareunconstitutional,andmostarearmedwithguns.Theyfrequentlycarrylethalweaponsopenlyatpublicrallies,suchasknives,pistols,andlongguns(includingsemi-automaticrifles).PatriotgroupsregularlyfindalliesamongTeaPartygroups,theJohnBirchSociety,GunOwnersofAmerica,theTenthAmendmentCenter,andtheAmericanLandsCouncil–thelatterofwhichisfundedbythefossilfuelbillionairesCharlesandDavidKochtopromotethetransferofpubliclandsoutoffederalhandstoencourageTHEJOURNALOFPEASANTSTUDIES497
exploitationbyextractiveindustries(Taylor2017).AcrossseveralsectorsandfactionsisaconspiratorialsharedbeliefaboutU.S.ConstitutionalLawreferredtoasSovereignCitizenideas,whichisdiscussedabove.GunsandarmedlanduseconflictsInternally,themostimportantissueforthePatriotmovementisanaggressivedefenseofunrestrictedgunrights,eventhoughtheUnitedStateshassomeoftheloosestgunown-ershiplawsamongtheindustrializedcountries.TheThreePercenters,forexample,refusetoacceptanynewrestrictionsonprivatefirearmownership(Vanderboegh2009).OneoftheearlyprojectsoftheCSPOAwasthepublicationofalistof485sheriffswhoitclaimed,‘havevowedtoupholdanddefendtheConstitutionagainstObama’sunconstitutionalgunmeasures’(ConstitutionalSheriffsandPeaceOfficersAssociation2014).ThefirstoftheOathKeepers‘TenOrdersWeWillNotObey’is:‘WewillNOTobeyorderstodisarmtheAmericanpeople’(OathKeepers,n.d.a).Despitethecentralityofthisissuetothemove-ment,however,itsmostpopularissuehasbeenarmedinterventionsintopubliclandsconflicts.Thefirsthigh-profilearmedlanduseconflictfromtherevivedmovementwasin2014andinvolvedNevadacattlerancherClivenBundy,whowasaccuratelydescribedinthemediaasan‘anti-governmentactivist’wholivedneartheaptlynamedtownofBunkerville,Nevada(Egan2014).Bundyhadrefusedtopaygrazingfeesonpubliclands,andwhenfederalagentscametoseizehiscattle,hundredsofPatriotmovementparamilitariescametohisranchandengagedinanarmedstandoff(Sunshine2016).TheconfrontationpittedheavilyarmedfederalagentsatthegatesofcorralswhereseveralhundredBundycattlehadbeenroundedup,againstmenwithassaultriflesonaninterstateoverpassandhundredsofprotestersinadryriverbedbelow(Egan2014).BundyfollowsaversionofconspiratorialpoliticalMormonismthatisintertwinedwithPatriotmovementbeliefs,popularizedbywriterslikeW.CleonSkousen,himselfclosetotheJohnBirchSociety(Sun-shine2016).Farfrombeingmarginalized,theseviewsareairedontelevisionandradiointheUnitedStatesbypopularmediafiguressuchasGlennBeck(Lind2010;Zatchik2010;HistoryNewsNetwork2010).Thesecondmajorarmedconflictstartedon2January2016,whenasmallgroupofarmedmen–ledbyClivenBundy’ssonsAmmonandRyanBundy,aswellasArizonarancherLaVoyFinicum–seizedtheMalheurNationalWildlifeRefugeheadquartersinOregon(Sunshine2016).Theoccupationlasted41daysandresultedinFinicum’sdeath.Theinitialissueinvolvedtwolocalrancherswhohadreceivedunusuallystiffsentencesunderaterrorismactforarsonsthatburnedfederallandtoaidgrazing(Anti-DefamationLeague2016).Soon,however,theoccupiersstartedtodemandthatthefederalgovern-mentrelinquishtherefugelandsentirely.Self-proclaimedjudgesandcourtswereestab-lishedattherefuge,andthearmedoccupiersunsuccessfullytriedtoconvincelocalrancherstorenouncetheirfederalgrazingpermits(Sunshine2016).SomeearlymediareportsfromtheOregonconfrontationhadtroublesortingoutthebeliefsofthePatriots.ThesetwoarmedactionsbytheBundyfamilyendedupwithnodirectconsequencesforthem.ThefamilymemberswereacquittedbythejuryintheOregontrial.ChargesweredismissedintheBunkervilletrial,whenajudgefoundthattherewereflagrantgovernmentabusesoftheconstitutionalprocesses(Levin2018).498C.BERLETANDS.SUNSHINE
Thishobbledthecampaignsofenvironmentalgroupswhohadpressedstateagenciesandthefederalgovernmenttoprosecutelandgrabsandintimidation.AccordingtoKieránSuckling,executivedirectoroftheCenterforBiologicalDiversity,‘it’sjustahorrificoutcome…anabsolutedisaster.Thisisgoingtoempowerboththemilitiaandthepoli-ticianswhowanttostealAmerica’spubliclands’(Carney2018;Levin2018).Nativism:anti-immigrantandanti-refugeeactivismToday’sPatriotmovementdoesnotorganizebymakingovertappealstoWhiteracialpurity,whichistheideologicalhallmarkoftheorganizedracistmovement.Whileindivid-ualPatriotmovementmembershaveassociationswithorganizedracistgroups,theyarefairlysmallinnumberandnotusuallyinleadershippositions.ThePatriotmovement’srelationshiptotheorganizedWhitesupremacistmovementisacomplicateddance.TheJohnBirchSocietypresenteditselfasseparatefromorganizedracism,butderivedmanyofitsideasfromantisemiticconspiracytheorists,andmanyracistleaders(includingTomMetzger,WillisCarto,andWilliamPierce)gottheirstartinthegroup.WilliamPotterGale,thefounderofPosseComitatus,wasaChristianIdentityminister.Andthisracistlegacydirectlycontinuedfordecades.Theauthorsestimatethatinthe1990s,perhapsaquarterofmilitiamovementgroupswereinvolvedinexplicitlyWhitesupremacistpoli-tics–althoughsometimesthesepositionswerechallengedbyothermovementmembers.TodaymostPatriotmovementgroupsadopta‘colorblind’approachandsaytheyarenotracist.TheOathKeepersbylawsspecificallybarmembersfrombelongingtoanopenlyracistgroup(OathKeepers,n.d.b).ButstartinginFebruary2017,theOathKeepers,ThreePercenters,andotherPatriotmovementgroupsappearedatseveralralliesacrosstheU.S.with‘Alt-Right’andotherrelatedpoliticalactors.ThesehaveincludedfascistsandWhiteNationalistssuchasIdentityEvropa(Europa)andtheLeagueoftheSouth(Lyons2017;Lyons2018).OtherralliesattendedbyPatriotmovementgroupsincludethoseopposedtotheremovalofConfederatememorialsintheSouth,andthenationwideIslamophobic‘MarchAgainstSharia’inJune2017.TheOathKeeperleadershipdenouncedtheorganizedracistsinvolvedintheseevents,butcontinuedtoactinconcertwiththemthroughJuly2017(Sunshine2017a).Militiagroups–althoughnotablynottheOathKeepers–alsoattendedtheviolent‘UnitetheRight’rallyinCharlottesville,Virginiaon12August2017,wheretheyclaimedtobeaneutralparty.Howevertheiruniformedfollowers,armedwithsemi-automaticrifles,guardedtheperimeterofthefascist-ledrallyandfacedcounter-protestors.AndwhilethePatriotmovementtriestoseparateitselffromorganizedWhitesupre-macy,itnonethelessradiatesanimplicitWhitenationalism.Butsinceitdoesnotverbalizeit,andevengoestosomelengthstodenyit,whatisthisunspokenunderlyingstructure?ThemovementdirectlyengagesinissueswhosesuccessfuloutcomewouldbothsupportmaintainingWhiteracialdemographicsatcurrentlevelsandstymytheredistributionofsocialandeconomicpoweracrossraciallines.ThegroupsthePatriotmovementaddressesitsappealstoalsoreflectitsimplicitWhitenationalism.Forexample,itsappealstofarmersandranchersarelimitedtofarmoperators–whoare96%White.Butthemigrantlaborworkforce,whichobviouslyincludesahighnumberofundocumentedworkers,iscomple-telyignored(Sunshine2016,33–34).THEJOURNALOFPEASANTSTUDIES499
SomeofthisisthelogicalconclusionofutilizingapproachesandtacticsestablishedbyWhitesupremaciststothwartlawsthatensuredcivilrights.Anti-immigrantorganizingandIslamophobiaarecentralissuesforthePatriotmovement,helpingsolidifyitslinkstothemainstreamRepublicanPartyasithasshiftedrightontheseissuesunderTrump.ThisistrueeventhoughChristianevangelicalsreportedmanyreasonsforvotingforTrumpin2016(Renaud2017;Silk2017).Inonenotoriousaction,theOathKeeperssentmemberstoMurrieta,California,in2014,tohelpblockbusescarryingimmigrants–includingchildren–beingtakentoadetentioncenter.ThePatriotmovementiscloselylinkedwithvigilanteborderpatrolsaswell.Thepatrolstendtobeindependentgroupswithoutformalaffiliationstolargerorganizations,butindividualsareoftenactivistsinthebroaderPatriotmovement.AnumberofthemareThreePercenters,andseveralborderpatrolactiviststravelledtoOregontotakepartintheMalheuroccupation(Bauer2016;Sunshine2016,42).TheOathKeepersalsoembracethisapproach.Onearticleontheirnationalwebsitesaysthat‘many’‘ThirdWorldimmigrantsandrefugees’have‘laterproventoharborterroristintentions,’andthereforeallowingthementry‘isaformofassistednationalsuicide.’Migrationisfueledby‘varioussubversiveagenciesandfoundationsstrivingto“consumethehost”with“seedlings”’[i.e.theUnitedStatesandimmigrants,respectively].Inturn,organizationssupportingimmigrantrightsareoftensaidtobecontrolledbyliberalfinancierGeorgeSoros(Codrea2015).Inotherright-wingmedia,SorosoftenistabbedastheleaderofaninternationalJewishconspiracy(Cherry2016).IslamophobiaisrampantinthePatriotmovement,largelyreplacingtheepistemologi-calroleopenandcodedantisemitismplayedinthe1990smilitiamovement(Sunshine2016,28).In2014,OathKeepersleaderStewartRhodeswrotethatMexicandrugcartelsaretakingovertownsontheU.S.border,whileISISmembers‘freely’crossintothecountry(Diffey2014;seealsoHaas2016).Arizona’sJohnRitzheimerwasawell-knownIsla-mophobicorganizerwhocametoOregonaspartoftheMalheuroccupation.InOctober2015,hehadorganizeda‘GlobalRallyforHumanity’whichtargetedMuslims(Neiwert2015).AnotherparticipantattheMalheuroccupation,BlaineCooper,madeavideoofhimselfwrappingpagesoftheKoraninbaconandsettingthemonfire(Boddyxpolitic2014).The3%ofIdahogroupdeployedarmedmemberstoBurns,OregonduringtheMalheuroccupationtogainpublicityforthemselvesandbuildsupportforthePatriotmovement.In2015,theyhadheldanumberofpublicralliesinBoiseandTwinFalls,IdahoopposingthepotentialsettlementofSyrianrefugees.ThisactivismthatopposedtheresettlementofrefugeesfleeingthecivilwarinSyriawasacombinationoftwoNativiststrainscomingtogether:anti-immigrationandIslamo-phobia(Sunshine2016,73–74;Sunshineetal.2016).Incontrasttotheotherwiselibertar-ianeconomics–butpanderingtotheirbase–somePatriotmovementactivistshaveclaimedthatrefugeesshouldnotbeallowedinthecountrybecausetheyarguedthatfederalfundsthatsupportedthemshouldgotoveteransinstead.Theirsloganwas‘VetsBeforeRefugees’(Sunshine2016,28).PatriotmovementactivistsalsoliketocomparethemselvestoCivilRightsmovementactivists.AthistrialforleadingtheMalheuroccupation,AmmonBundycomparedhisarmedactionstoMartinLutherKing,Jr.’sprotestactivities(Brown2016).StewartRhodesmadesimilarclaims,saying‘AmmonBundy’soccupationofanemptybuilding500C.BERLETANDS.SUNSHINE
isessentiallythesameascivil-disobediencesit-insthatthepoliticallefthasengagedinfordecades,fromanti-warandCivilRightsprotestersinthe60sand70s’(Rhodes2016).RichardMackclaimedthatduringtheCivilRightsmovement,constitutionalsheriffscouldhaveprotectedRosaParksandthat,‘Today,thatconstitutionalsheriffdoesthesameforRosaParksthegunowner,orRosaParkstherancher,orRosaParkstheland-owner,orRosaParksthehomeschooler,orRosaParksthetaxprotester’(Thompson2016).ThisignoresthehistoricfactthatlocalsouthernsheriffswerepillarsoftheresistanceagainsttheCivilRightsmovement,andwerenotoriouslylinkedtotheKuKluxKlan(Wade1987;McVeigh2009).Mack’sargumentgetsevenmorebizarrewhenonetakesintoconsiderationthattheideaofempoweringthecountysherifftodecidewhatlawswereconstitutionalwasoriginallyformulatedtoencouragethemtonullifyfederalCivilRightslaws.ConclusionsAsenseofuneaseoverthefutureoftheUnitedStateswasprevalentduringthe2016pre-sidentialelection.BothdemocraticsocialistBernieSandersandright-wingpopulistDonaldTrumpgainedlargefollowingsincomparisontotheneoliberalcandidatesinboththeDemocraticandRepublicanparties.But,especiallywithhisvictory,Trump’simmigrantbashing,rabidIslamophobia,bellicoseultra-nationalism,authoritarianism,andembraceofconspiracytheoriesunderminedthemainstreamoftheRepublicanParty–anditsbasehasshifteddramaticallytotheright(Altemeyer2016;DiBrancoandBerlet2016).SincebeforetheelectionofPresidentObamain2008,right-wingmediafedunverifiedclaimstomajornationalmediaoutletssuchasFoxNewsandscoresofright-wingAMradiotalkshows.This‘fakenews’floodedtheInternetandespeciallysocialmedia(Benkleretal.2017;Berlet2017b).By2019,PresidentDonaldTrumpwasspreadingcon-spiracytheoriesaboutDemocratsandtheLeftonanalmostdailybasis(Murphy2016;Hel-linger2019).Eventhe‘mainstream’mediatooknoticeofthemessagingsophisticationoftheloosenetworkcalledtheAlternativeRight.DubbedtheAlt-Right,itwasdescribedasa:…weirdmixofold-schoolneo-Nazis,conspiracytheorists,anti-globalists,andyoungright-winginternettrolls–allunitedinthebeliefthatwhitemaleidentityisunderattackbymulti-cultural,‘politicallycorrect’forces.(TheWeek2017)AkeyfigurebehindAlt-RightisSteveBannon,whowasapitbullattherabidlyright-wingBreitbartNewswebsite.BannonbecameatopadvisortoRepublicanPresidentialcandi-dateDonaldTrump(J.Wilson2017).ItwaslaterrevealedthataBannon-affiliatedstealthpropaganda-generatingmediacompanyhadbeenhiredbytheTrumpcampaigntosurreptitiouslysuppressvoterturnoutforDemocraticPresidentialnomineeHillaryClintonaspartofastrategybankrolledbyasnakepitofshadowyright-wingfundersandRussianintelligenceagencies.ThishasmainstreamedtheviewsheldbythePatriotmovementandcreatedafertileorganizingclimatebothforitandotherright-wingpopulists.Therearemultipleaudiencesbeingtargetedandcomplexfactorsshapingthemessagingcontent(Giroux2017).Therhetoricofright-wingpopulismisacorecomponentoffascism–oldandnew(Berlet2005;Griffin1991;Snyder2017a,2017b,2018).ThisrequiresanewpublicconversationTHEJOURNALOFPEASANTSTUDIES501
(initiatedbySnyder)concerningtherelationshipslinkingantisemitism(andotherformsofdemonization)toright-wingpopulismandneo-fascism.Demonizationofan‘other’canleadto‘scriptedviolence’(Berlet2014).Theresultingviolenceiscalled‘StochasticTerror-ism’becausethespecificidentitiesoftheactualperpetratorsandtargetsareunpredictable(HammandSpaaij2017).Patriotmovementgroupswereactiveonthestreetsin2017,2018,and2019,joiningthefrequentlyviolentpro-TrumpstreetrallieswhicharealsoattendedbyorganizedWhitesupremacists.AndalthoughthePatriotmovement’stacticsarestillfringe,theyarealsoinchingtowardthemainstreamunderTrump’spresidency.Whilenotexclusivelyaruralphenomenon,thecurrentright-wingpopulistbacklashagainstdiversityandhumanrightshasestablishedastrongfootholdintheUnitedStatesinruralareaswitheconomiesbasedonfarming,ranching,thetimberindustry,andmining.InApril2017theFarmAidwebsitepublishedanarticlewarningofanother‘LoomingCrisisonAmericanFarms’(Harvie2017).Thearticlewarned:Farmersareenduringamultiyearslumpincropandlive-stockpricesthatispushingmanytothefinancialbrink.Since2013,America’sfarmersandranchershaveweathereda45%dropinnetfarmincome,thelargestthree-yeardropsincethestartoftheGreatDepression.Thestrainintoday’sfarmeconomyisnoaccident;it’stheresultofpoliciesdesignedtoenrichcorporationsattheexpenseoffarmersandranchers.IftheAmericanfamilyfarmeristosurvive,farmpolicyneedsamassiveshiftindirection–onethatdeliversfairpricestofarmersthatallowthemtomakealiving.WiththecascadingcrisesoftheTrumpAdmin-istration,onceagaintheplightoffamilyfarmersandruralAmericanshasbeenplowedunderthemediagaze.ToooftenmediareportsofnewresearchintotheTrumpphenomenon,theriseoftheRightintheUnitedStates,ortherelationshipsbetweenright-wingpopulismandneofas-cism,promotemono-causalexplanations.Thisismediapublicityglitterandisoftenpeggedtoanewbookornewsreport.Thisisdistractingusfromadeeperandmorehistoricallygroundedandcomplicatedanalysisthatcanbetracedbackdecadesifnottotheoriginalfoundingsettlers.Nosingleindividual,book,organization,ormovementcreatedthemassiveclusterofright-wingforcesintheUnitedStates(Hardisty1999).ExplanationsaboutTrump’selectionandthepost-warriseoftherightshouldconsiderrace,gender,andclass(DibrancoandBerlet2016).Whiteracismandanti-immigrantxenophobiawereclearlythesalientfactorsformanyWhiteTrumpvoters.ResearchafterTrump’selectionshowedthatbothWhiteracialantagonismsandfearsortheactualexperienceofeconomicdownwardmobilitywerebothstatisticallysignificant.ChristopherParkerandothersestablishedthestatisticaldataregardingWhiteracialantagonisminaseriesofstudiesstartingwiththeTeaParty(Parker2010;ParkerandBarreto2010;Parker2013).AfterTrump’selection,ShannonMonnatandDavidBrown(2017)foundthatwhileplaceofresidency‘matteredinthe2016U.S.presidentialelection’itwasclearthat‘rural,suburban,orurbanresidencepersewasnotnecessarilythecausalfactor’toconsider,butrather‘thedisproportionatedistributionofadverseeconomic,health,andsocialconditionsinsomeruraltownsandsmallcitiesisanimportantkeytounderstandingthe2016electionresults.’Inadditiontoracismandeconomicanxiety,antipathytowardabortionrightsandtheLGBTQmovementswerealsosignificantfactors(HumanRights502C.BERLETANDS.SUNSHINE
Campaign2016;Gayle2018).Theenvironmenthassufferedaswell.KieránSuckling,execu-tivedirectoroftheCenterforBiologicalDiversity,saidafterTrumpwaselected:DonaldTrumpisadisasterforpubliclands,wildlifeandclimate.ButAmericaisanationoflaws,notmen,andvirtuallyallhisenvironment-destroyingpoliciesruncontrarytoournation’sbedrockenvironmentallaws.InthefaceofTrump’sdisturbingauthoritarianism,theCenterforBiologicalDiversitytodayredoublesitscommitmenttoupholdingtheruleoflawandtherightofallAmericanstocleanair,cleanwater,healthyforests,riversanddeserts,andthrivingwildlife.(CenterforBiologicalDiversity2016)Sociologistshaveshownthatright-wingmovementstendtoflourishwhenpowerandprestigeareseenasbeingthreatenedinpolitical,economic,and/orsocialarenas(McVeigh2009;McVeigh,Cunningham,andFarrell2014).CasMudde,aleadingscholarofglobalright-wingpopulism,warnsustopayattentionnotjusttoright-wingmovementsinthestreets,butalsotheattacksonhumanrights,civilsociety,anddemocracyfrominsidethefederalgovernments.Mudde(2017)saysweshouldfocusonallaspectsofthepopulistradicalrightchallenge,includingfrominsidethepoliticalestablishment,notjustonthepopulismoftheoutsiders.Becauseunderthecoveroffightingoffthe‘populists,’thepoliticalestablishmentisslowlybutsteadilyhollowingouttheliberaldemocraticsystem.DisclosurestatementPortionsofthisstudywereoriginallypublishedbyandfinanciallysupportedbyPoliticalResearchAssociatesandtheRuralOrganizingProject,aswellasvariousjournalisticpublicationsascited.Sectionsofthisstudyarebasedinpartonpreviouspublishedworksbytheauthorsandarenotedasappropriateinthetext.TheauthorsareinfluencedbythepriorworkofMargaretCanovan,JeanV.Hardisty,MatthewN.Lyons,andCasMudde,amongothers.FundingThisworkwassupportedbyPoliticalResearchAssociates.NotesoncontributorsChipBerletisaninvestigativejournalistandphotographerrecruitedbyprogressivesociologiststohelpresearchright-wingmovements.Activeintheantiwarandcivilrightsmovements,in1977heandhispartnerKarenMoyermovedtoChicagoandspent10yearsinvolvedinlaborandanti-racismprojects,includingchallengingviolencebyneo-NazisandKlansmen.Berletisco-authorwithMatthewN.LyonsofRight-WingPopulisminAmerica:TooCloseforComfort(Guilford,2000).HewassenioranalystatPoliticalResearchAssociatesfor30years,andhaswrittenforpeerreviewsocialsciencejournals,popularmagazines,andnewspapers.Hiswebsiteisathttps://www.research-forprogress.us/topic/.SpencerSunshinehasaPhDinsociologyandstudiesorganizedracist,fascist,andantisemiticmove-mentsandorganizations.Heistheauthoroftheguide40WaystoFightNazis:FortyCommunity-BasedActionsYouCanTaketoResistWhiteNationalistOrganizingpublishedbyShowingUpforRacialJustice(SURJ).SunshineandJessicaCampbell(withDanielHoSang;StevenBeda;andChipBerlet)wroteUpinArms:AGuidetoOregon’sPatriotMovementpublishedbytheRuralOrganizingProjectandPoliticalResearchAssociates,online.SunshineisalsotheexecutivedirectorofActionAgainstFascismandXenophobia(AAFX).Hiswebsiteisathttps://spencersunshine.com/.THEJOURNALOFPEASANTSTUDIES503
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