Frequently Asked Questions, Part 2
Posted By Greg Johnson On In North American New Right | Comments DisabledPart 1 here [2]; Translations: French [3], Spanish [4]
8. If you were to recommend just one book from the European New Right, what would it be?
If you are to read just one book from the European New Right, Guillaume Faye’s Why We Fight: Manifesto of the European Resistance [5] (London: Arktos, 2011) should be that book. Why We Fight is written with the utmost lucidity to reach the broadest possible audience. Faye explains the dangers to European civilization posed by Third World colonization, American-style global capitalism, and liberalism’s poisonous culture of guilt, grandiosity, and resentment.
The core of the book is a “Metapolitical Dictionary” consisting of short, pithy expositions of 177 crucial terms, including such useful coinages as archeofuturism, ethomasochism, and xenophilia. Once you read Faye’s metapolitical dictionary, you will be equipped to tackle other works from the European New Right. We have reprinted a sample selection from Faye’s metapolitical dictionary: “People [6].”
I don’t agree with Faye on all points, but Why We Fight is the most intellectually exciting and stimulating book I have read in years.
Why We Fight is available from Counter-Currents here [7] and from Amazon.com here [8].
For more on Why We Fight, read F. Roger Devlin’s review here [9].
9. If one were to read just one book from the North American New Right, what should it be?
The North American New Right is just getting started, so we have produced nothing to compare with the European New Right. But I highly recommend my book New Right vs. Old Right [10] and the first volume of our journal, North American New Right [11]. It is the best of our movement so far, and we hope that it is sufficiently exciting to draw in new writers and spark new debates.
10. What are the best introductory works on the European New Right?
I recommend two books in English on the European New Right:
- Tomislav Sunic, Against Democracy and Equality: The European New Right [12], 3rd edition, with a Preface by Alain de Benoist (London: Arktos Media, 2011), 264 pp.
- Michael O’Meara, New Culture, New Right: Anti-Liberalism in Postmodern Europe [13] (Bloomington, Ind.: 1stBooks, 2004), 230 pp.
The Sunic book can be viewed as the undergraduate textbook on the European New Right. The O’Meara book is the graduate textbook: more densely written, but also more substantive and challenging.
11. Who are the most important writers of the European New Right?
These are the European New Right authors I follow most closely and who have been most helpful to me intellectually:
- Alain de Benoist (books [14], articles & interviews [15], about [16])
- Guillaume Faye (books [17], articles & interviews [18], co-authored [19], about [20])
- Dominique Venner (articles & interviews [21], about [22])
- Robert Steuckers (articles & interviews [23], co-authored [19])
- Pierre Krebs (books [24], articles [25], about [26])
There are many other worthwhile writers associated with the European New Right, but I am listing only the people I read consistently.
12. Who are the most important theorists to which the New Right in both Europe and North America look for enlightenment and inspiration?
These thinkers are not part of the New Right, but they influence New Rightists a great deal. They are among the most discussed writers at Counter-Currents/North American New Right:
- Friedrich Nietzsche (books on Amazon.com [27], excerpts [28], about [29])
- Oswald Spengler (books at C-C [30], books on Amazon.com [31], articles & excerpts [32], about [33])
- Martin Heidegger (books on Amazon.com [34], about [35])
- Carl Schmitt (books on Amazon.com [34], articles & excerpts [36], about [37])
- Julius Evola (books on Amazon.com [38], books at C-C [39], articles [40], about [41])
- René Guénon (books on Amazon.com [42], about [43])
- Ernst Jünger (books on Amazon.com [44], articles [45], about [46])
- Francis Parker Yockey (books on Amazon.com [47], books at C-C [48], articles & excerpts [49], about [50])
Other Rightist authors who have greatly influenced my work — and thus, by extension, the North American New Right — are:
- Kevin MacDonald (books on Amazon.com [51], articles & interviews [52])
- Anthony M. Ludovici (books at C-C [53], articles & excerpts [54])
- Savitri Devi (books at C-C [55], articles & excerpts [56], about [57])
- Ezra Pound (articles & poems [58], about [59])
- C. H. Douglas (about [60])
I also draw a great deal of inspiration direct from the words and deeds of such classic Old Right figures as Hitler [61], Mussolini [62], Codreanu [63], and Mosley [64], as well as Rockwell [65], Oliver [66], and Pierce [67].
13. What is the NANR position on Traditionalism?
This is a particularly important question given that the very name [68] Counter-Currents is drawn from René Guénon by way of Savitri Devi. The North American New Right is unified by a common set of concerns (the demographic decline and destruction of whites), a common aim (the creation of a white ethnostate or ethnostates in North America), and a general metapolitical strategy (the critique of anti-white cultural hegemony and the pursuit of white cultural hegemony). But within that framework, we aim at maximal tactical pragmatism and intellectual eclecticism.
Many participants in our intellectual project are Traditionalists, or take inspiration from Traditionalism, myself among them. But many do not. Thus the North American New Right is influenced by Traditionalism, but we are not a doctrinaire Traditionalist sect.
14. What is the NANR position on Christianity, paganism, and religion in general?
As a movement, the NANR is not doctrinaire on religious matters. But neither do we shy away from religious controversy. Indeed, most New Rightists are intensely interested in religion, even the atheists. The vast majority of NANR writers are non-Christians: atheists, agnostics, neo-pagans, or followers of various Eastern religions.
There are Christians among us, although I am certain that their patience is, at times, sorely tried by those who lay a great deal of blame for our racial decline on Christianity. I think that most of us agree that at the very least Christianity needs a radical new Reformation to bring it in line with the long-term survival and flourishing of our race.
For more on this issue, see:
- Greg Johnson, “The Christian Question in White Nationalism [69]“
- Greg Johnson, “He Told Us So: Patrick Buchanan’s Suicide of a Superpower [70]“
- William Pierce, “On Christianity [69]“
- Alain de Benoist, “Interview on Christianity,” Part 1 [71], Part 2 [72]
- Gregory Hood, “The De-Germanization of Late American Christianity [73]“
15. What is “West-Coast White Nationalism”?
West-Coast White Nationalism is my term for the blending of white racial consciousness with liberal or Left-wing positions on such issues as capitalism, environmentalism, zoning, abortion, drug legalization, homosexuality, and religious pluralism. West-Coast White Nationalism is not, of course, confined to the West Coast, but such attitudes are more prevalent here. Furthermore, not every White Nationalist on the West Coast fits this description.
A more accurate term for West-Coast White Nationalism might be the Racially-Conscious Left, although it is a non-egalitarian outlook, and if the Left-Right split is on the essential issue of equality versus inequality, then the Racially Conscious Left really isn’t Left-wing at all. But it may be as far to the Left as one can reasonably go.
The North American New Right is not identical with West-Coast White Nationalism, although there are overlaps. (For instance, I consider myself to be more or less part of the Racially-Conscious Left.) The NANR does, however, seek to encourage the development of West-Coast White Nationalism as part of our overall strategy of pursuing intellectual hegemony by articulating pro-white viewpoints that address all different white constituencies and that can colonize the entire political spectrum.
For more on this topic, see:
- Greg Johnson, “West-Coast White Nationalism [74]“
- Greg Johnson, “Robert Stark on West-Coast White Nationalism [75]“
- Robert Stark Interviews Greg Johnson [76]
16. What is the relationship of the NANR to conservatism?
Most White Nationalists in North America develop out of the conservative movement or milieu. For instance, I was a libertarian, then a conservative, then a White Nationalist, and now I am a member of the Racially-Conscious Left. (Of course, both American conservatism and libertarianism are ultimately species of liberalism.)
The reason that White Nationalists develop out of conservatism is that conservatism itself is not an adequate framework for the preservation of the white race. It is not intellectually adequate, because it is beholden to race-blind universalism and egalitarianism. It is not institutionally adequate, because even if the conservative movement would fight for our race, it loses every important battle.
Unfortunately, most White Nationalists are not fully weaned from conservatism. Thus the NANR is highly critical of conservatism, because we wish to speed along the evolution of White Nationalism into a genuine alternative to the present system.
For more on conservatism, see:
- Nietzsche on Conservatism [77]
- William Pierce, “Why Conservatives Can’t Win [78]“
- William Pierce, “Conservatism or Radicalism [79]?”
- Greg Johnson, “Why Conservatives STILL Can’t Win [80]“
- Greg Johnson, “The Politics of Resentment [81]“
- Greg Johnson, “5 to 9 Conservatism [82]“
- Greg Johnson, “White Nationalists and the Political ‘Mainstream’ [83]“
- Greg Johnson, “Explicit White Nationalism [84]“
- Greg Johnson, “Implicit Whiteness and the Republicans [85]“
- Greg Johnson, Review of Tea Party: The Documentary Film [86]
- Michael O’Meara, “The Next Conservatism [87]?”
- Michael O’Meara, “Three Pillars [88]“
- Michael O’Meara, “Against White Reformists [89]“
- Alex Stark, “We are Not Conservatives [90]“
- Matt Parrott, “‘The Talk’: Conservative Columnist Edition [91]“
17. What is the relationship of the NANR to capitalism?
I have become increasingly convinced that the NANR must chart a path away from all forms of capitalist orthodoxy toward “Third Way” economics (neither capitalism nor communism). This is the least developed area of our project, but it is one of the most important because it will allow the NANR to craft racially-conscious policies that appeal to a wide number of Center-Left constituencies that are currently exploited by the Jewish-minority coalition.
For more on these issues, see:
- Greg Johnson, “Money for Nothing [92]” (podcast version [93], French translation [94])
- Greg Johnson, “Thoughts on Debt Repudiation [95]” (podcast version [96], French translation [97])
- Greg Johnson, “The End of Globalization [98]” (French translation [99], Portuguese translation [100])
- Greg Johnson, “Brooks Adams on the Romans [101]“
- Greg Johnson, “Occupy Wall Street: Big Money and No Ideas [102]“
- Greg Johnson, “The Spiritual Materialism of Alan Watts [103]“
- Greg Johnson, “A Tariff in Time . . . Saves Billions [104]“
- Robert Stark Interviews Greg Johnson on Third Way Economics and Occupy Wall Street [105]
- Brooks Adams, “The Romans [106]“
- Brooks Adams, “Against the Gold Standard [107]“
- Ezra Pound, “What is Money For? [108]“
- Ezra Pound, “An Introduction to the Economic Nature of the United States [109]“
- Carolina Hartley, “Ezra Pound on Money [110]“
- Kerry Bolton, “Breaking the Bondage of Interest [111]“
- Kerry Bolton, “Apartheid: Lest We Forget (or Never Know) [112]“
- Matt Parrott, “The Color of Capitalism [113]“
- Robert Locke, “Japan: Refutation of Neo-Liberalism [114]“
- Hilaire Belloc, “On Usury [115]“
- F. Roger Devlin, “The Family Way [116]“
- F. Roger Devlin, “Bonald’s Economic Thought [117]“
- Lance Hill, “Huey P. Long: Bayou Fascism [118]?”