VANGUARD (17): RE GENERATION

The 17th of the Vanguard Podcasts, featuring Richard Spencer, Andy Nowicki, and Colin Liddell. In this edition they are joined by French activist Roman Bernard to discuss France's promising new youth group "Génération Identitaire" and generational differences in nationalism and identity.

BEING AND BECOMING AT THE NPI CONFERENCE

Richard Spencer

BECOME WHO WE ARE: THE IDENTITY AND SPIRIT OF OUR PEOPLE
OCTOBER 31, 2015, 10 AM — 9 PM
THE NATIONAL PRESS CLUB, WASHINGTON, DC

by Basil Benton

I had the good fortune of being able to attend my first NPI conference, which took place on this last All Soul’s Eve, or Halloween—a fact cheaply exploited by liberal media hacks.

According to NPI’s President and CEO, the charming and mild-mannered Richard B. Spencer, the media reported attendance at upwards of 175, including a rather unprecedented number of Millennials (those under 30). It was refreshing to see so many young faces, who, despite the mass pressure from the politically correct, the education system, and social media, have apparently developed a healthy skepticism of what they have been told, something that favors dissident modes of thought. It is heartening to see this group developing a modicum of self-interest that looks towards a post-capitalist and post-liberal America. In short, they have been "red-pilled," which was one of the themes – or memes – of the conference. Happily, there were also many women in attendance.

KEEP CALM AND SURF THE STORM

by Michael Grant

The latest article over at Radix is a piece written by the passionate, brilliant Roman Bernard, a man whom I admire deeply. In it, he gives his impressions of the reaction – or rather, overreaction – of the western public and identitarian movement(s) in the wake of the terrorist attack upon the offices and employees of a left-wing French satirical magazine.

I can't say that I disagree entirely with his article. It is a mistake common (but not exclusive) to the western people to react in a manner that is perhaps disproportionate to attacks made upon them in a certain manner.

THE HOBBIT SYNDROME

Why we should keep looking to the Stars.

by Roman Bernard

Alternative Right recently published a response to my Radix review of Christopher Nolan's Interstellar. Written by Eugene Westerly, its very title, Space: the Final Capitulation suggested that the writer had not read my take on Elysium before writing his piece. Originally titled Elysium: an Allegory of White Flight, this review was first published in August 2013 at Alternative Right, and more recently at Radix after Richard Spencer and I had recorded our podcast on Interstellar.

My Elysium piece insisted on the dangers of using outer space as an escape to the problems facing us down here. I could have simply posted the link in the comments section, but while reading Eugene's article, I found that more explanations were in order, on the subject of White flight as well as others.

SPACE – THE FINAL CAPITULATION

Space: consolation for the loser.

by Eugene Westerly

I frequently see articles from race realists and others expressing faith in some kind of futuristic, pro-technology solution to the problems of the present. Such solutions are usually dependent on assumptions of uninterrupted technical innovation, driven by large and successful industries and markets, over a lengthy period of time. These are the unquestioned assumptions of these futuristic solutions, but extract fossil fuels from the equation and even the beginning of such a scenario is infeasible.

Roman Bernard's recent film review, Interstellar: Finding A New Telos is a fine piece of writing, but provides an excellent example of the sort of blind assumptions that undergird all techno-futurist thinking. Even scientists make these assumptions. They may in fact be among the worst offenders. So Bernard is in good company.

This article will focus on the likelihood that ours is not a technological future, that our destiny – at least in a time scale meaningful to humans – is not in the stars, but that we are essentially stranded on Earth, and it is this, our home and only "destination," for which we must fight without hope of redemption by a form of interstellar White flight.

“THE STREETS ARE OUR HEADQUARTERS”

What follows is the speech delivered on June 29th by Philippe Vardon, a leader of the Identitarian movement in France and Europe, during the fifth edition of “Identitär Idé,” a yearly conference organized by Arktos Publishing in Stockholm, Sweden. The central theme of this conference was “Identity Vs. Globalism.” This speech was translated from French into English by Roman Bernard with edits by Colin Liddell.

by Philippe Vardon

Gentlemen,

I am doubly happy to be with you today, and I would like to thank the organizers of this conference, chiefly Daniel Friberg of Arktos Publishing.

THE INTELLECTUAL VACUITY OF THE OLD RIGHT

by Alain de Benoist
Translated by Roman Bernard, edited by Colin Liddell

Translator's note: What follows is a selection I made from Alain de Benoist’s responses to an interview on the French Right that appeared in the quarterly review Éléments at the end of 2005 (#118). Benoist talks both about “the Right,” which refers to all the individuals and movements right of center, including the mainstream Right, and the “real Right,” which in an Anglo-Saxon context would be called the “Old Right.” The failure of the mainstream Right is well-known, and often commented on. But the failure of the “Old Right” is more difficult to deal with, as the men concerned (one thinks of Enoch Powell in Britain or Robert A. Taft in America) were most of the time well-meaning, courageous men, yet they failed. I removed most of the references to French history so as to make it understandable to a Pan-Western audience. Benoist's arguments are not without flaws — far from it. His call to go beyond Left and Right is contradicted by the fact that he goes far to the Left in this interview. But I believe this aspect is secondary. This text, thanks to a remarkable psychological analysis of the “right-wing mind,” is first and foremost a way for us to question our own way of thinking, thus making us more “fit and brisk” for the battle of ideas. It is the ideal complement to William Pierce’s “Why conservatives can’t win.”

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The Right has never been fond of intellectuals. Little wonder then that the phrase “left-wing intellectual” has for a long time been a tautology. For many right-wing people, intellectuals are just unbearable. They visualize them sitting on a chaise longue, of course, and view them as “sanctimonious types” who sodomize flies, split hairs and publish books invariably described as “indigestible” and “boring.”

IMMIGRATION, BORDER CONTROL AND ANARCHO-TYRANNY

by Roman Bernard

Borders are open, but not to the people they should

Tony Hilton sent me an inter­est­ing arti­cle yesterday, taken from the last issue of The Econ­o­mist. Enti­tled “Own goal,” this piece is about America’s immi­gra­tion rules, which are “the oppo­site of what it needs,” accord­ing to the London-based weekly.

I was expect­ing a long com­plaint about the plight of poor free-market-asserting, family-values-defending Mex­i­can Ran­dian entre­pre­neurs, in the same man­ner as Robert Heineman’s appalling speech dur­ing the last H.L. Mencken Club Con­fer­ence. The pic­ture illus­trat­ing the arti­cle shows a His­panic woman hold­ing a baby who wears a “Born in the USA” t-shirt and waves a stars-and-stripes flag. Under the pic­ture, the cap­tion reads: “Get­ting ready to pay for Medicare, Med­ic­aid and the rest,” which is as coun­ter­fac­tual as you can get. I had thus good rea­sons to be wary of this article.

ROMAN BERNARD: A WANDERING WESTERNER

by Alexander Forrest

Roman Bernard is a French journalist and activist fundraiser working on behalf of multiple right wing organizations. I met Bernard at the 2012 H.L. Mencken Conference and was immediately impressed by his intellect and dedication to the cause we both shared. His story is an interesting one and I asked him to do this interview so that we might learn from his unique experiences. In particular, Bernard exemplifies how we can “Do Something” more consequential than just sharing ideas in the blogosphere. Bernard currently resides in Canada, though he hopes to eventually relocate to the United States.