We have not seen an extreme right-wing group of which a large number of members are highly educated in the Netherlands. Striking, according to the AIVD. What is Erkenbrand, what does it stand for and who are the people behind it?
Annieke Kranenberg19 November 2017, 17:00
With wide arm gestures Fausto, a young man in a suit in his mid-twenties, thanks the audience in a conference room in a Rotterdam hotel. About 80 to 90 percent of the attendees are Dutch, he continues in flexible English. But there are also Italians, Germans, Hungarians, Americans, British, Finns and Greeks. "There are 240 people," says Fausto, who, as usual, wears a pin of the Dutch flag on his lapel. 'That's almost double the number of the conference last year.'
Via the livestream of the conference, provided by the far-right association Suomen Sisu from Finland, a loud applause is heard. Beaming, Fausto walks away from the camera, the only face of the organization that is recognizably portrayed.
It is 14 October 2017 and the very young study society Erkenbrand celebrates the success of its second conference with the title 'Towards a new Golden Age'. American author Jared Taylor, who calls himself not a racist but a "race realist," has just answered the last question from a young man from Germany. "You woke me up about the theme of race," says the German. 'When will the moment come when, for the first time, a European politician can speak as freely as you can?'
"That's absolutely necessary," replies Taylor, a calm sixties with a professorial appearance, whose popular videos about racial differences have been blocked on YouTube for several months. But, Taylor continues to the German questioner, as long as people react angrily and dismayed to talk about race, it may be wiser to achieve the goal through a nationalist discourse. 'We always have to adapt our discourse to our audience.' Controlled: 'But in the end, in the end, the brotherhood of Europe will have to talk about the biology that underlies our civilization.' And then a little louder: "I'm sure some of the young people among you will be elected electorally and can name these things as explicitly as we've said them here today."
The discharge is almost tangible: here you can say what you think. Not anonymously and online, but physically, face to face. Or as an Erkenbrand visitor later puts it to the Volkskrant: 'You notice that people want to crawl together to be able to say what they want.'
A Pim Fortuyn-like energy crackles through the room, although the hard core of Erkenbrand had only just reached puberty when the politician was murdered in 2002 and it would take years before the term Alt-Right would blow over to the Netherlands with the rise of Donald Trump. As in the United States, the right-wing alternative scene in Europe consists of a broad, loose-knit bandage of ultraconservatives, fundamentalist Christians, libertarians, esoteric dissenters, conspiracy theorists, right-wing radicals, racists and anti-Semites. A number of beliefs are common: they stand up for the preservation of a 'white' Europe (one emphatically emphasizes culture, the other emphatically on race), they are against immigration, Islam, cultural Marxism, oikophobia and they are strongly anti-feminist.
Many expect that populations will sooner or later face each other, some are already preparing for a violent confrontation. This is also the case with Erkenbrand, although the addition of the study society may suggest otherwise.
AIVD calls Erkenbrand 'striking'
Erkenbrand - an old Dutch name meaning 'holy sword' or 'pure flame' - is the most important representative of the alt-right in the Netherlands. Last September, the hitherto unknown study society held its first conference and immediately attracted a hundred carefully selected visitors.
'I was surprised by that', says Willem Wagenaar of the Anne Frank House, which researches the extreme right in the Netherlands. Not only the number of visitors surprised him - classic far-right organizations often mess around with banners in the margins - but also the level of education. The core consists of about 25 mainly young people. 'Smart young men and a single woman who are attracted to an ideology that, by Dutch standards, is unadulterated racist and anti-Semitic.'
In April, the AIVD also called the creation of Erkenbrand, a 'xenophobic nationalist group', 'striking'. 'For the first time in decades, an extreme right-wing group is active in the Netherlands of which a large number of sympathizers are highly educated.'
Since then, Erkenbrand seems to have only grown, as evidenced by the turnout at the last conference and their stature within the international alt-right world. The society produces an improbable amount of ideas and beliefs. They fill dozens of hours of podcasts (Radio Evropa) about 'race and realism' and about 'the beginning of the uprising' in the American town of Charlottesville where last August it came to a deadly clash between anti-fascists and right-wing extremists. On the site appear long epistles about Forum for Democracy - 'the only bright spot' in the last elections - and about 'the blood red colour of the antifacists'. Their productions are widely distributed by other alt-right media. In the meantime, Erkenbranders are steadily building a social network, organizing monthly drinks, forest walks and combat training.
This raises the question of what Erkenbrand stands for. Is social resistance to the far right - in the capacity of the alt-right - crumbling? What is the breeding ground? Is the society just a fashionable regurgitation or a radical trailblazer? And who are the people behind it, what do they want to achieve - and how?
It is not easy to identify Erkenbranders and to get in touch with them (some of them do). The society manages to operate quite secretly. If you want to visit a meeting, you have to go through a strict ballotage. First sign up and pay (27.50 euros for the last conference), then answer questions about race and gender by e-mail, and sometimes there is also a live conversation. Like-minded people are not just admitted; one was refused because Erkenbranders discovered on Facebook that he has a dark girlfriend. Conference attendees will only be told where the event is taking place at the last minute via a group app from Telegram.
Almost everyone is alert to unmasking. Most Erkenbranders hide behind pseudonyms on social media. On videos, they appear wearing sunglasses and masks.
The main internet spot for Erkenbrand has always been the rough discussion platform 4chan - just like for the alt-right scene in the US - but for several months they have been stuck in the much more shielded world of Discord, a chat program that is popular with left- and right-wing extremist groups. Here, too, there is a ballot, in which the alt-right ideas are tested (are you for or against 'transgenders'?). De Volkskrant managed to gain access by filling in the desired answers and was able to watch, but did not participate in the discussions.
In this unseen world, they devise strategies to spread their ideology and defy their enemies - 'social justice warriors'. The atmosphere here is grimmer than on 4chan, where people regularly remind each other that the AIVD might be watching or that anti-fascists are 'infiltrating' the forum. Discord speaks more openly about the use of violence and weapons.
Fausto, who studied history and economics, is one of the few who publicly claims to be an Honorary Burner. In many places he simply uses his first name, sometimes abbreviated to Faust, and he comes to the fore without hesitation in several videos. In videos, for example, he leads the popular Scottish alt-right vlogger Millennial Woes ('millennium misery') around the Schilderswijk in The Hague (to show the 'Islamization' of the Netherlands) and the Amsterdam red light district (to outline the moral decay).
Fausto - his last name is known to the editors - is not waiting to explain his ideas in more detail in the Volkskrant. 'How did you get my number?', he asks agitatedly when we contact us via WhatsApp. 'Any publication you make about me is still collaboration (sic) without my permission. Any damage experienced will be recovered by my lawyer on the Volkskrant.' If we approach him again this week, it turns out that he has taken a different number. He also does not respond to his e-mail, in which we ask him to be heard again. On the private chat channel Discord we have come across serious statements. Fausto boasts about gun ownership and threats of violence - more on that later.
Red pill
Fausto was not always preoccupied with Muslims and race. He grew up in a progressive nest, lived for years with his mother and brother in Portugal. On his return to the Netherlands, he got his 'red pill' moment when he accompanied boys of Moroccan origin in Rotterdam-Noord as a community centre worker. In alt-right circles, everyone has their own red pill story, named after the red pill from the movie The Matrix that makes you wake up and see 'the truth'. In Fausto's case, that was the truth about the problematic sides of the multicultural society.
The first time Fausto speaks publicly about his "awakening" happens some time before he fully converts to the alt-right. In October 2015 Fausto is a guest in the TV program Studio PowNed where the popularity of the PVV among the chic VVD electorate in Wassenaar is discussed. Guests are political scientist Meindert Fennema, journalist Annabel Nanninga and Fausto's later political hero Thierry Baudet. Fausto is presented as a highly educated young person who made the jump from D66 to the PVV. After congratulating Baudet on his EU-critical book Attack on the Nation-State, Fausto recounts how his community work in a black neighborhood tilted his opinion on integration.
Two years later, when Fausto says he has worked his way up to become 'erkenbrand's second man', he speaks in an alt-right podcast in sharper terms about his 'red pill'. "It was hopeless. Moroccans are the most terrible people here.'
The shift from D66 to the PVV and then to the 'racially realistic' articles of faith of Erkenbrand takes place in stages. In several podcasts Fausto describes his political quest in 2015 that leads him to the 'politically incorrect' discussion group /pol/ on 4chan. There he tries to encourage people to take action against the refugee crisis that is reaching a peak at that moment. Fausto himself visits some of Pegida's street demonstrations. But street activism doesn't suit him. 'Plebs', he calls the Pegida members in an Erkenbrand podcast.
Fausto desires more intellectual depth. He finds them, among other things, with the Scotsman Millennial Woes - real name Colin Robertson - a shrewd art student in his mid-thirties who has been keeping a vlog about white ethnonationalism since 2013. In recent years, Woes has developed into an important player in the alt-right scene, a leader for young people who have their origins in multiculturalism and mainstream politics, but want to stay away from the uncultivated types of classical right-wing extremism. In one of Woes' vlogs from July 2016, links are made to erkenbrand's site. Fausto seeks direct contact.
White supremacy
Erkenbrand is then just under construction. Spiritual fathers are two students: Bart (a pseudonym) and Michael (real name). In a number of alt-right media, Bart and Michael say that they met on Twitter through a mutual friend. They share the same unease about multiculturalism, the refugee crisis and politics. There needs to be change, they think, but that can only happen by doing "more" than just online activism. Erkenbrand must become a platform that spreads knowledge about white supremacy and forges a highly educated cadre with real political capital.
They actively scour the net in search of kindred spirits. In June 2016, 'Bart' calls himself 'the chairman of Erkenbrand' when he contacts the head of 'meadhall', a right-wing extremist group that is active online on 8chan - also known as the most fiery place online. But they also meet physically. 'Perhaps it is an idea to join forces', he suggests. The response has been positive. Several visitors make plans to visit the Erkenbrand meetings.
Behind 'Bart' is actually Milan. Milan, who studied European Studies at the University of Applied Sciences in The Hague, was 'rescued' at a young age, he says in an interview he gave with Michael at the alt-right station Red Ice in September 2016. His class consisted of 'more than 50 percent foreigners'. He remembers very well how 'they' reacted when Theo van Gogh was 'slaughtered in the middle of the street'. "He asked for it, they said. Unbelievable. That they could be so different. Like a fifth column.'
Before Milan founded Erkenbrand, he published on the site curiales.nl, where pieces carry titles such as 'Why women are destroying Western civilization (and other uncomfortable truths)'. He also writes under a pseudonym for the site American Renaissance of 'race realist' Jared Taylor. It is striking that in 2016, as a college student, he appears among professors such as Paul Cliteur and Erik Jurgens in the yearbook Colonialism and Racism by Civis Mundi (journal for political philosophy and culture). The compiler can no longer remember how Milan became involved in the collection.
Even after the founding of Erkenbrand, Milan continues to write. Earlier this year, from February to June, he did an internship at Elsevier Weekblad. In that period, on February 11, an extensive piece about Erkenbrand appeared in the weekly, in which it is stated that the two founders were also spoken to. "Milan was not one of them," says the Elsevier journalist. She says that she only found out later that their intern was a Badge of Honor. The editor-in-chief had a conversation with him, but he was not out of place. 'There was nothing strange about his pieces.'
When we email Milan and approach him via Facebook, he doesn't respond. Erkenbrand's alleged 'number one' does not want to be found, according to his efforts to erase online traces. For example, on the last day of his internship, he removed his photo from the site and deleted parts of his biography, says the Elsevier journalist.
Just like Milan, Michael is also recognized by several visitors as one of the founders of Erkenbrand, but Michael also does not respond to requests from the Volkskrant to talk. In the aforementioned Red Ice interview, Michael says that he experienced his 'red pill' in the murder of Pim Fortuyn. Despite his sexual orientation, which does not correspond to the alt-right focus on traditional gender roles, a striking number of Erkenbranders speak with praise about Fortuyn's pioneering role. Michael says in the interview that he mainly believes in raising awareness. Everyone needs a red pill.
Neo-Nazis
Erkenbranders should have little of skinheads, according to various discussions online. They think they are stupid, they give white nationalism a bad name. 'We expect a certain intellectual level from our participants', the Erkenbranders write on their site. 'However, a study at university or college is not required.'
That does not alter the fact that classic neo-Nazis also appear in their ranks and that some Erkenbranders develop into pure anti-Semites. Fausto now describes himself unequivocally as a Nazi, who spreads Nazi pictures and symbols. "You can call me a Nazi, that's me," Fausto wrote at the end of October under the Twitter @BorislavBolgar. In a podcast of November 18 last year, Fausto responds to the "Jewish question" with the words: "I will not shed a tear if the train to the East is restarted."
Other Erkenbranders have a longer track record in Nazi and fascist ideas, such as the Brabant twenty-something Quincy (known online as Othala). In the past he was part of Zwart Front, a fascist splinter group that draws its inspiration from the eponymous fascist Black Front of the thirties.
A fixation on "true masculinity" is at the heart of Quincy's worldview. The most important pillar in this is the glorification of physical culture. Together with the boys of his martial arts club Stormram - also webshop - he wants to stop 'the feminization of the western man'. Battering ram is also the strong arm of Erkenbrand. At conferences, Quincy's security team ensures that no photos of the audience are taken and that uninvited guests are shown the door.
Quincy, who does not want to respond to the newspaper's findings, is also trying to stimulate this physical culture at Erkenbrand. In it he finds an ally in 'chairman' Milan, who has been proficient in martial arts for years. In a video that Quincy posted on Facebook, you can see how he gives kickboxing lessons to a bunch of Erkenbranders.
Recognition burners also shine their light on the Swedish nationalist and alt-right celebrity The Golden One. This muscle bundle, which keeps vlogs in which he rails against feminism with his chest bare chest, keeps his followers from practicing martial arts and getting used to weapons. Last October he was erkenbrand's guest of honour at a 'pagan autumn festival' in the middle of a nature reserve. There was a ritual in which special beer was drunk around an oak tree, according to a report at the site. They walked and trained with The Golden One, practicing 'jabs, hooks, low-kicks'.
Violence
Violence is a constant theme within the Erkenbrand environment. For example, an Erkenbrander claims in a podcast (How do you start an ethnostate?) that the Netherlands is being 'ethnically destroyed' by foreigners. 'That's what's going on at the moment. We are in a war. It's just either we survive, or we just don't.'
Erkenbrand visitor Harold, a meek forty-something who serves coffee in a living room full of guitars and Buddha figurines in a village somewhere in the north of the Netherlands, also fears that things like 'the import of a non-own culture' can lead to a violence climax. "At some point there will be violence. Look, we're kind of sweet, like, we all get it together. But at some point someone will say, hey wait a minute, now it's enough.'
'I am against violence, but many people within the alt-right are like this: if I get a blow, I give two blows back', says Daan, a forty-something from the Randstad who also attended an Erkenbrand conference and is convinced that the 'deep state' (the real rulers) is pushing the world in the wrong direction. 'My gut feeling says: there are confrontations coming. White young boys are preparing for self-defense."
Harold hopes that a possible confrontation of violence - a race war, so to speak - will never happen. But for that to happen, the 'war against the white man' will first have to stop.
"It's not that the white race presents itself as a white race," Harold says. "It's more that external parties name the white race and say: you are responsible for slavery, you are responsible for the backwardness of the black population, so you have to pay collectively for that. That is racism. That you lump all white people together because some of their ancestors were involved in slavery. That is racism in its purest form.'
'Why can't white people be proud?', Daan also wonders. 'Art for example, I've been to a lot of museums, but you never see Muslims there. In their home you never see beautiful art on the wall, maybe that is not allowed by their faith. My point is: the white race gets things done.'
Race is not a 'social construction', Daan and Harold know since they were 'rescued' in the field of race. Race, Daan and Harold believe, is a biological reality. Scientific research that follows this line states that there are obvious differences between races. That is not a value judgment, according to Daan and Harold, it is only a scientific fact.
"Of all races, Negroes are the quickest to step on their toes," says Harold, who admits to still feeling uncomfortable with conversations about race. 'They are the first to resort to violence, are the most aggressive, have the shortest fuses. The Asian race, by the way, is more intelligent than the white race. On average, they also commit less violence than whites and blacks.'
In his bookcase, Harold has recently purchased works by 'race realists', such as Jared Taylor, whom Harold met in person during the second Erkenbrand conference. 'A very warm guy who doesn't hurt a fly. And then he is dismissed as a racist.'
For some, discussion about race within Erkenbrand and the alt-right can be a breaking point. As for the highly educated Daisy, who carefully chooses her words. Many themes that were discussed at an Erkenbrand meeting she attended, she found relevant in themselves. Such as talking about the demographic problem facing the Netherlands, 'you don't hear the mainstream media about that'. Because of the explosive population growth in Africa, the arrival of refugees, high birth rates among Muslims and low among original Dutch peoples, Daisy fears that the original Dutch and western freedoms will lose ground on other peoples. 'What will our country look like in 50 years? Are we heading for conflict? We already have so many collisions. I just find that terrifying.' We should be able to talk about that, daisy thinks. "But when you start talking about it, you immediately get a sermon about the persecution of the Jews, as if you were Hitler."
In racial theory, however, lies with her the limit - incidentally, she did not feel equally comfortable with anti-feminism in the alt-right scene. 'You can choose opinions, but not the body you were born into.'
She no longer attends erkenbrand meetings. Daisy now focuses on a 'more moderate' party and attended meetings of Forum for Democracy. 'The party is looking for cooperation, listens carefully to the people.' She has read Thierry Baudet's book Oikophobia and shares his analysis of the fear of one's own. 'There is so much self-criticism. If it's so ugly here, why does everyone want to come here? I understand that it is beautiful here, but that is why we can also protect it.'
Fans of Baudet
The hardcore alt-righters also focus on Thierry Baudet's FvD. Geert Wilders seems to be a passed station. The PVV politician is still appreciated for his pioneering role in the fight against 'Islamization', but he no longer appeals to the imagination. This is partly due to his sleazy rhetoric and his closed party culture. This is partly due to his 'false analysis' - he focuses on religion and not race - and the strong anti-Semitic dimension in the alt-right scene. For despite its contemporary appearance, the alt-right largely builds on old, dark brown ideas about a "global Zionist conspiracy." Wilders, who maintains strong ties with Israel, enjoys little confidence for this reason.
"There is great suspicion towards the PVV; if you see where he gets his money from, Israel, he is not transparent about that', says Daan, who also voted for FvD. "What the alt-right gets so tired of: as soon as you start talking about Israel and Zionism, you are accused of anti-Semitism. I don't hate Jews, but I do hate certain Jews."
Baudet's style of politics, combined with his intellectual pretensions, are much more popular with Erkenbrand. His posts often fit right into the gamut of the alt-right, such as last week when the politician tweeted about the murders of white farmers in South Africa.
Several Erkenbranders attend meetings of FvD, many make efforts to promote the FvD case on Twitter, Facebook, discord's chat channels, on the politically incorrect forum /pol/ of 4chan, or at the even more notorious 8chan. They call Baudet 'our leader', 'our boy' and 'cherry'. In a podcast about FvD - three months before the elections - an Erkenbrander says: 'We have to deploy a memes army. If Trump succeeds in becoming president of America from a position within a year and a half, then we should succeed in helping FvD to two seats. (...) Two seats of the FvD make a much more significant difference than 35 or 37 seats of the PVV.'
Especially in spreading such memes - fabricated images that score on social media - they excel. Like the famous photo of Baudet lying on a piano in which his face has been replaced by that of Pepe The Frog, the mascot of the alt-right. This meme was shared by Baudet on Twitter on January 6 this year with approval. "Our boy just retweets this. Cancer boss', responds an Erkenbrander enthusiastically to 4chan.
Some Erkenbranders also boast that they have a short line to 'our boy' Baudet. Erkenbrand member Sam van der Hyden (a pseudonym) shares on 4chan two photos of books signed by Baudet. Baudet is addressing a signature to '/polder/', the forum on 4chan where many Erkenbranders are present. According to this Sam van der Hyden, Baudet would have told him that he has never been on /pol/ himself, but is familiar with it. Another, anonymous Erkenbrand member tells on 4chan that he could conclude from a conversation with Baudet that FvD has alt-right sympathies and is familiar with Erkenbrand.
Fausto is also happy to emphasize the ties with Baudet on 4chan. In an attempt to impress other 4chan'ers, he says that Baudet has sometimes sent a private message to Erkenbrand on Twitter with a compliment for a certain podcast.
At the same time, they are aware that the connection with the far-right FvD can cause damage. When Constant Kusters, leader of the neo-Nazi party Nederlandse Volks-Unie (NVU), claims in the media last August that he is cooperating with the FvD, it leads to a lot of name-calling in the closed Discord chat. 'God strong Kusters, that mongol', writes Fausto, who fears that association of the NVU with FvD could be detrimental to the latter. Other Erkenbranders swear along and express the suspicion that Kusters is a mole of the AIVD, which was 'planted' to harm white nationalism.
This raises the question of whether love is mutual. On 27 May, Baudet said in the Volkskrant about the Erkenbrand students: 'Sometimes they fly out of the corner, but they are young people who are busy discovering the world.' Baudet now thinks differently, says his spokesman. "At the time, he thought it was a conservative study club, but if this club espouses racist and anti-Semitic ideas, he wants absolutely nothing to do with it." According to the spokesperson, nothing can be sought behind the assignments in the books. These are 'usually off the cuff, because enthusiastic attendees ask for it'. In Baudet's memory, the assignment with '/polder/' was 'a reference to a chat box of which the applicant told that FvD supporters were active'. He does not want to respond to the alleged private message to Erkenbrand about which Fausto wrote and the retweeting of his photo with the alt-right mascot Pepe.
Weapons
The Erkenbranders hope that FvD will promote their ideas in the Netherlands, but they are also trying to build up a broad international network. The conference in October was attended by a delegation from the London Forum (the most important alt-right movement in Britain) and from the Greek neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn (one of them, 'the Spartan', also spoke at a living room meeting of Erkenbranders in October). The study society itself recalled the conference on its website as "undeniably the largest alt-right conference in continental Europe to date." In recent months, Fausto has gathered European kindred spirits in the Discord chat under the name 'European Right'.
However, there is also open speculation about the use of means other than democratic ones to achieve the goal. 'If not ballots, then bullets', Fausto recently tweeted under his pseudonym. Shortly thereafter, he revealed that he owns a weapon himself. If someone in the Discord chat notices that he is sure Fausto has a 'gun', Fausto responds on September 15 with: 'Shhhh, But yes, number of guys in EB have licenses' (a number of guys from Erkenbrand have a gun license). After the attacks in Barcelona, a participant writes: 'Why not attacks in the Netherlands. Would be very healthy in our country.'
Personally, Fausto goes even further. "Just cycling home," he wrote on August 17 on Discord. '2 mocros on a scooter on my neck. Gay yelling at me. Teringlijers. Shouted back and knife drawn and they were gone pretty quickly. But seriously. I'm so tired of mocros.' When someone else compliments him on his reaction, Fausto continues: 'I think I would have stabbed them if they had stepped off. This is why you carry a weapon."
That same day, the left-wing activist Anne Fleur Dekker, a popular target in alt-right circles, is also scolded. 'Chaining to a radiator and getting pregnant', Fausto writes.
How the 'number two' of Erkenbrand means these statements exactly is not clear. If we present him with copies of all these statements about gun ownership, knife-pulling and threats and ask him for rebuttal, he does not respond substantively. However, he starts deleting messages like crazy. Within an hour, he cleaned up Discord's chat channel.
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