[:en]Our column continues, allowing us, thanks to our member Alessandro Casiraghi, to delve into the profound changes affecting the United States of America. Here is the fifth installment.
Militia
I was curious to watch the presidential debate for one reason in particular: to see how far Trump was willing to go. And the answer wasn't long in coming.
“He would be willing, this evening – asks the moderator to Trump – to condemn white supremacists and militia groups, tell them to stand down and not add to the violence in numerous cities, as we've seen in Kenosha and Portland?”
Trump: "Sure, I'm willing to do it, but everything I see comes from the far left." He prevaricates. Both the moderator and Biden prod him: "But if you really want to say it, then say it!"“
And Trump, impatient, replies: “You want to call them… What do you want to call them? Give me a name, Give me a name! Who do you want me to condemn? WHO?”
“"THE Proud Boys”, suggests Biden.
And Trump: "Proud Boys?!? STAND BACK AND STAND BY!"“
I didn't immediately understand the true meaning of that verb. But I saw that all the major newspapers were reporting the news. I searched online and this came up: definition: “If someone or something is on standby, it means they are ready to be used if needed. Example: Five ambulances are on standby at the airport.”
When asked to condemn neo-Nazis, Trump publicly responded by asking them to stay quiet and be ready. (A few hours after the debate ended, the Proud Boys' social media profiles were flooded with photos of homosexual couples, proud boys in another more genuine way)
Trump is no stranger to these outbursts.
Between August 11th and 12th 2017 in Charlottesville, In the state of Virginia, “Unite the Right” took place, a demonstration aimed at uniting the various souls of the far right under one umbrella: the alt-right, neo-Confederates, white nationalists of the Ku Klux Klan, neo-Nazis, and various right-wing militias. The demonstration turned into a clash with the arrival of anti-fascist groups (Anti-Fascist). The clashes culminated when a 20-year-old member of Vanguard America, drove his car into the crowd, killing a 32-year-old woman and injuring dozens more. In the days following the Charlottesville demonstrations, Trump hesitated in condemning far-right movements, then condemned them, and then finally lashed out in a stormy interview in which he stated that there were good people on both sides.
But what is the white supremacyIt is a movement that believes that whites are superior to other races and therefore should dominate them. Kathleen Belew, professor of American history at the University of Chicago and author of the book “Bring the War Home: The White Power Movement in Paramilitary America“, prefers to use the broader term 'white movement.' Belew writes: ‘For those in this movement, the coming demographic shift—the moment when a city, county, or nation will no longer be majority white—is not soft at all, but rather represents an apocalyptic threat.’.
And again: “It is a transnational movement that wants to overthrow the United States, unite white people around the world and ensure a world made up only of white people.”
Belew traces the origins of this movement to the late 1970s and early 1980s, coinciding with the return home of some Vietnam War veterans: "One of their main tactics was called 'leaderless resistance.' A few people worked in a cell without direct communication with other cells and without direct orders from a leader. This strategy was implemented by the white movement to avoid infiltration and prosecution." According to his theory, several domestic terrorist attacks and mass shootings committed in recent decades are not incidents to be considered in isolation but are structurally linked by the goal of building a racially based nation.
The fragmentation of these groups and the diversification of their objectives serves to attract new followers and swell their ranks. And there are plenty of them.
For example the Boogaloo Bois, the most recent group born from a meme racist on the internet. They can be recognized by their Hawaiian shirt uniform, they are heterogeneous in the purpose they give to their activism, but they share the desire to bring the civil war back to America. They were also protagonists of the armed protest against anti-Covid measures during the meeting of the Michigan state legislature.
Or the Threepercenters, the paramilitary group that defends the second amendment, the constitutional right enshrined in 1791 to bear arms and which states “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” The group’s name derives from the belief that, during the American Revolution, only the 3% of armed American colonists was sufficient to defeat the Kingdom of Great Britain.
But even single individuals can be an example, such as the Mark and Patricia McCloskey. During the Black Lives Matter protests, they left their homes brandishing pistols and rifles to threaten demonstrators. In August, they were guests at the Republican convention with a video message which began: "America is a great nation where not only do you have the right to own a gun and use it to defend yourself, but also where thousands of Americans are willing to give you free advice on how to use it. What you saw happen to us could easily happen to any of you, trying to find a way to live in quiet neighborhoods."“
As if that were not enough, at the beginning of October 2020, less than a month before the presidential elections, thirteen people were arrested. They were ready to execute their plan to kidnap, arrest, hold hostage, and then execute Gretchen Whitmer, the Democratic governor of Michigan who had become the target of protests for her COVID-19 restrictions. According to the FBI, the group met several times over the summer to train in firearms and combat skills, as well as build construction explosives. Members had been monitoring the governor's movements in August and September and had planned to detonate a bomb under a highway bridge to distract authorities and the FBI from their operation.
I've always believed that the world was moving, albeit reluctantly, in the direction of progress and brotherhood. I thought America was the most successful experiment in this process. Now that I observe it up close, it seems more like a nation traumatized by old wounds, at risk of being haunted by the ghosts of the past. Now that the world has stopped, it seems to me that these ghosts are further fueling fear of what seems different, the fear of invasion, the fear of not making ends meet. There's a very dangerous specter haunting America, and it's certainly not that of communism.
For further information: Netflix – Alt-Right – The Age of Rage
Alessandro Casiraghi
Photo taken from: https://www.nbcnews.com/think/
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