National anarchism and Nationalist Alternative

12Mar10

Definitions, from Andy:

National Anarchism

National Anarchism is an oxymoron, and as such tends to attracts morons: White supremacists.

Originating in the UK, ‘national anarchism’ was introduced into Australia by the Sydney-based fascist Welf Herfurth. Born in Germany, but emigrating to Australia in the late 1980s, Herfurth has been a member of a string of racist, right-wing organisations, from the German NPD through to the Australian Friends of the BNP and the One Nation Party. In the few years he has been attempting to cultivate the ideology on Australian soil, Herfurth has gathered around him a small clutch of like-minded souls, most of whom appear to be teenage boys or men in their early 20s, and almost all of whom were attracted to Herfurth (and national anarchism) by way of the US-based White supremacist (and virulently anti-Semitic) website Stormfront.

The national anarchists made their political debut on the Australian political stage in September 2007, when a small group of approximately 20–30 dressed in anarchist drag and formed a short-lived and stationary ‘black bloc’ at an APEC protest rally. (One of the ‘anarchists’ present was NSW APP spokesperson Darrin Hodges.) Although a handful of members have staged a few other rallies since then, in terms of its public presence, this has been the highpoint for national anarchism thus far.

In Melbourne, the national anarchist banner has been taken up by Geelong-based Scott Harrison. Harrison, like Herfurth, has been involved in a string of fascist groups and projects, of which, along with anti-fluoridation, national anarchism is but the most recent. In his capacity as a ‘national anarchist’, Harrison attempted, along with a tiny handful of other national anarchists, to join a May Day rally in 2008, and an anti-censorship rally that December. On both occasions, the fascists were told to go forth and multiply.

See also : ‘Co-opting the Counter Culture: Troy Southgate and the National Revolutionary Faction’ by Graham D. Macklin (May 30, 2009) | National Anarchist!.

Nationalist Alternative

Nationalist Alternative (NA) is a new group on the far right that was established in Melbourne in late 2008. In some ways, NA may be regarded as being national anarchism for grown-ups — if those grown-ups are 20-something fascist University students. Like the national anarchists, NA attempts to adapt progressive or radical chic to its own ends, in this case by mimicking the style of ‘Socialist Alternative’, a left-wing party which has been reasonably successful at recruiting University students. (Like the national anarchists, NA is also inspired by similar developments on the European far right, especially in Germany: a recent essay published by NA analyses the prospects for the German far right, advocating, inter alia, the abandonment of obvious signs of Nazism.)

NA announced its presence in 2008 by participating in a campaign to stop the construction of a mosque in Newport, partly by way of supporting an unsuccessful campaign to elect a candidate (Barbara Johnstone) from a local community group (Newport West Action Group) to local council. Since then, it has attempted to garner publicity by focusing upon education and housing issues, producing propaganda specifically targeting University students, blaming the presence of foreigners in Australia for educational and housing shortages, and placing these issues within a broader context of the political agenda of a global elite intent upon deracination and the destruction of the Australian nation.

NA made a minor splash on Saturday, March 6, 2010 when a handful of Aryans — ostensibly Angry @ the Federal Government’s imposition of a filtering system on local Internet access — attended a protest rally in Perth. From a balcony above the speakers’ platform, the fascists unleashed a banner reading ‘Save Water Cut Immigration’. A short while later, a few anti-racists at the rally informed NA that they were not welcome and should leave, which they duly did. “Stop the Filter organiser Trish Zanetti told iTnews that the rally continued as planned after the Nationalist Alternative group left” (Not all welcome at Perth anti-filter rally, Liz Tay, iTnews.com.au, March 8, 2010).

See also : Nationalist Alternative : “just a bunch of students from Melbourne” (July 8, 2009).

In relation to both the ‘national anarchists’ and NA, the main points worth reiterating are: a) they are fascist in political orientation; b) they attempt to recruit yoof and, in the case of NA, tertiary students in particular; c) they are relatively inexperienced, but receive political guidance from more seasoned right-wing activists; d) they attempt to appropriate anarchist or radical, left-wing motifs; e) generally lacking the capacity to stage their own public demonstrations (like the far right as a whole), they are eager to attach themselves to whichever political project will tolerate their being in its orbit.

New Right

The common denominator linking the national anarchists and NA is the New Right, an ideological trend most commonly associated with the French fascist intellectual Alain de Benoist. In the 1970s and 1980s, de Benoist and fellow thinkers attempted to modernise post-WWII fascist thought, and to chart a new course for fascist movements in the contemporary world. Other key influences on post-WWII fascist thinking include Pierre Krebs, Michael Walker, Armin Mohler and also Carl Schmitt (whose writings have also been championed by the critical bizarros @ Telos Press).

Filed under: Fascism and antisemitism, national anarchism and autonomous nationalism   |  1 Comment
Tags: National Alternative, national anarchism