Here’s some information about two interesting talks, one taking place this evening, one tomorrow.
THE U.S. RADICAL RIGHT IN THE AGE OF TRUMP
TUESDAY 15TH 7-9 PM: LARC, London Activist Resource Centre, 62 Fieldgate Street, Whitechapel, E1 1ES.
In the United States, the campaign of Republican Party presidential candidate Donald Trump has been a huge catalyst for the radical right. Patriot movement paramilitaries publicly brandish weapons to force the privatization of public lands and intimidate Muslims and refugees. Rightists are attacking Black Lives Matter protests with firearms, and violence has skyrocketed at counter-protests against fascists. White Nationalism is having its biggest growth in decades, and now includes new faces: intellectuals, hipsters, prison gangs, and Third Positionists. Spencer Sunshine will talk about the landscape of the U.S. radical right, what is driving it, and how the presidential election might affect it.
Left/Right Crossover Movements
WEDNESDAY 16TH 1-2.30 Dreyfus Room (Room 202) at 28 Russell Square, London WC1B 4HS. Hosted by Birkbeck Psychosocial and Pears Institute
In the last decade, many new forms of left/right crossover movements have developed in the English-speaking world. This includes the spread of new forms of Third Positionism, Julius Evola’s influence, popular mobilizations against finance capital, conspiracy theories, doctrines of racial separatism on the Left and Right, the spread of anti-semitism, and the popularity of Sovereign Citizen pseudo-legal theories. In music, there has been a spread of Rock Against Communism, fascist neofolk, and black metal (NSBM) bands. Spencer Sunshine will talk about these new forms of “unorthodox” fascism and their similarities and differences with European movements, based on his forthcoming book for Routledge’s Fascism and the Far Right series. The talk is unfortunately particularly timely in light of the huge boost to the “alt-right” given by the successful Trump presidential campaign.
Spencer Sunshine is an anti-fascist researcher and activist based in the US. He has a PhD in Sociology and is an associate fellow at Political Research Associates, a Boston-based progressive think tank that monitors right-wing organizing. Sunshine has appeared on Al Jazeera, as well as on KPFA and KALW (Bay Area), KBOO (Portland, Oregon), and WRIF (Detroit) radio. His writing has also been translated into German, Russian, Polish, Serbian, and Turkish.
