1,066 words
I feared the worst, but I am glad that I was wrong. Jason Kessler’s Unite the Right 2 rally outside the White House on Sunday, August 12, 2018 was a triumph. It was still a highly risky, even foolhardy venture, and I would not have done it. But luckily, it ended up being good for white identity politics.
But wait a second. Only about 25 to 30 people took part in the protest, yet there were thousands of screaming counter-protesters on hand. How is that a triumph?
Because such events are not, primarily, battles between the people who show up. Rather, they are battles for the public mind. And Unite the Right 2 offered some highly edifying contrasts, which we should publicize as best we can through alternative and social media.
The Unite the Right 2 marchers were peaceful and mostly presentable. The counter-protesters were a rabble of violent freaks who assaulted police and journalists.
The Unite the Right 2 message was eminently reasonable: a protest of the unjust treatment of Unite the Right 1 by the Charlottesville and Virgina state governments and the international lying media. The counter-protesters, however, were mostly Communists and other extreme Leftists, whose chant “No borders, no wall, no USA at all” is an open declaration of war on the very existence of America.
Their small numbers also worked in Unite the Right 2’s favor, in three ways.
First, at last year’s rally, the violence was entirely the fault of the Leftist mob, which the Charlottesville police allowed to attack the marchers. But the large number of marchers made it easy for the lying press to claim that the violence was started by Unite the Right. At Unite the Right 2, the police did their jobs, and the vast disparity of numbers made it clear that the purpose of the police was to protect Unite the Right from a raving Leftist mob.
Second, if a large crowd had showed up at UTR2, the coverage would have been entirely on them. Instead, a surprising amount of the coverage was focused on the counter-protesters, which is highly enlightening for normies.
Third, the fact that only a couple dozen people had to assemble to create this level of Leftist mobilization and press coverage means that Unite the Right 2 achieved maximum propaganda impact for surprisingly little money and risk. Moreover, the Left and the system as a whole spent enormous amounts of money to assemble a vast throng of violent and repulsive misfits and broadcast them to the American public. At Unite the Right 1, the Alt Right defeated itself at great expense. At Unite the Right 2, Kessler triggered the Left — both the mob and the media — into defeating itself at great expense. That’s a huge improvement in tactics.
Cynics are claiming that half of Kessler’s protesters were probably undercover law enforcement and Left-wing infiltrators. If so, that is great. First, it does not change the propaganda victory for us one iota. Second, it actually lowers the costs and risks even further. I would rather enemy agents risk getting beaten or killed by antifa than legitimate white advocates.
After the first Unite the Right, someone suggested that the best possible outcome would have been to have done the torchlight march on Friday, then simply cleared out of town and allowed the Leftist mob to riot in front of the assembled cameras the following day. Basically: trigger the Left into a violent televised tantrum. Unite the Right 2 came close to doing just that. The story of Unite the Right 1 focused on the “evil white supremacists.” The story of Unite the Right 2 focused mostly on Left-wing extremists. That is a victory for us.
Jason Kessler also handled himself impressively in interviews, red-pilling normies and triggering Leftists into edifying meltdowns.
A couple months ago, Jason and I had a conversation about Unite the Right 2. He explained that he wanted to separate himself from the Alt Right and try to build a Gandhian non-violent White Civil Rights Movement. I encouraged him in this idea but tried to dissuade him from the march altogether. But he’s a principled and stubborn guy.
I am sure Jason feels on some level that the Unite the Right 2 failed, because so many of the people who showed up last year decided to pass. Frankly, though, that’s what made it a success.
Unite the Right was a disaster. So repeating Unite the Right was obviously a bad idea. But when the Alt Right did not show, Unite the Right 2 was no longer a repeat of a bad protest. It became something entirely different. It actually became something good.
There may be strength in numbers, but the true strength of UTR2 was in its lack of numbers. We are a tiny minority anyway. Why not find a way to make that work in our favor? In fact, I would like to see more white advocates forming groups that are intentionally small — say no more than 20 people — but highly selective and disciplined, with balls of steel, to do events like this all around the country, especially in Left-wing strongholds, to goad the Left into further discrediting themselves. Americans are increasingly coming to the conclusion that we simply cannot allow the Left to get back into power, elections or no elections. Anything we can do to spread and harden this consensus is a good thing.
After the first Unite the Right, my friend Cooper Ward argued that the fact that the Alt Right stayed away from the Berkeley event the following weekend worked in our favor, because the only thing the press had to focus on was violent communists attacking boomers in MAGA hats. If Richard Spencer or Christopher Cantwell had showed up at Unite the Right 2, the coverage would have been about them, and the most valuable lessons would have been lost.
So the fact that the Alt Right boycotted Unite the Right 2 was a gift to Jason Kessler. He didn’t need the Alt Right. In fact, he needed a clean break from them. Now that he has it, I hope that Jason will take his tiny cadre of supporters and build the White Civil Rights Movement he envisions.
There is a growing consensus that the Alt Right is dead, killed by adopting the self-marginalizing ideas and ethos of White Nationalism 1.0. The Alt Lite, moreover, is absolutely opposed to white identity politics. So there’s a need for fresh new approaches to white advocacy. I wish Jason every success.
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21 comments
I saw Sam Hyde speaking at the rally on one of the live streams.
Yes, Dearest Sam was present and he was so kind as to lend me his MAGA hat to wear. He stayed near the stage to direct the event and gave me the honor of walking into the open Green to observe and greet the assembled masses.
I am eternally indebted to Sam for giving me such a moment of pristine clarity and light and being. He briefly spoke on the stage but shortly, we all left due to the rain. As we departed, in Rosalyn, I shook his hand and told him how honored I was to march beside him. I switched back into the city to fulfill my duties, and Sam headed out into America to fulfill his. I have only met the man briefly and fleetingly over the years, but God I love that man!
Could not agree more.
I thought his speech was very well done. He knew who would be watching and conveyed the main points in gentle but firm language without ever saying anything that to any normal White would sound insane.
Regardless, even to those Whites who disagree with him, the ensuing events will probably seem like a truly hysterical and needlessly violent reaction to a calm and reasonable guy. “I mean, come on, I don’t like the guy either but…”
yeah, I loved it…white civil rights is a great theme for these rallies…talk about discrimination against whites in hiring, college admissions and criminal justice…have some articulate and reasonable sounding speakers…but such future rallies do need some connection to the alt-right in order to get media publicity…the media has already built up the alt-right brand, and though they have demonized that brand, it does allow them to publicize these rallies and get attention that way…
having the, ah, “token” nonwhites there at the rally was a nice touch by kessler.
“If Richard Spencer or Christopher Cantwell had showed up at Unite the Right 2, the coverage would have been about them, and the most valuable lessons would have been lost.”
True dat.
The best distillation of II’s effectiveness is in this Vox headline: Antifa clashes with police and journalists in Charlottesville and DC”, the byline of which reads: “Antifa says it fights fascists and neo-Nazis. But this weekend, members attacked cops and journalists.”
Late yesterday evening I reluctantly went to the net to learn how UTR 2.0 played out.
A little anxious that antifa or agent provocateurs might have created a violent incident, I scanned the usual MSM sites first since they’d be sure to pile onto anything advancing their narratives.
However, what I found instead were dozens of images and videos of leftists, antifa, and other creatures visibly behaving very badly and saying very unpolitic things that would make even Kamala Harris and Nancy Pelosi cringe.
As one normie-alienating image followed another, I couldn’t stop a grin from spreading across my face.
But where were the pictures and videos of Kessler’s crew whose permit I thought allowed up to 400 people?
Pretty much crickets…..
I understand now the dearth of pix from UTR 2.0 demonstrators is because only a tiny fraction of the allowed number showed up.
While some might see the anemic turnout as a failure, UTR 2.0 was in fact an exceptionally successful (though unintended) experiment in asymmetric cultural warfare.
Tiny numbers of activists not only galvanized thousands of Antifa into publicly showing their true colors, but got the full breadth and depth of the MSM itself to publicize it.
As the left seems infected with a mind-virus we can exploit at will, I say ‘rinse and repeat’.
‘Gandhian non-violent White Civil Rights Movement’
There’s a lot of sense in this approach. Gandhi is, arguably, the most successful nationalist in modern history.
If being assassinated isn’t a sure sign of success, then the death, displacement and devastation of millions of one’s own civilian countrymen must be. Ghandi’s high-minded approach in the face of partition gave the go-ahead to massive, asymmetrical slaughter. And that is entirely on his head. Lawyers!
The error here is mistaking principles for tactics. Non-violence is a perfectly valid tactic. So is violence. Get past the virtue-signalling and you find yourself in good company, historically speaking. It is hoped that Jason Kessler and all front-liners know this.
“In Judo, sometimes you win by relaxing.” Robert A. Heinlein
This saying could not be more true. The Alt-Right literally cracked a beer and watched their enemies eat each other.
This indicates very effective scalability, as similar “events” can be announced, staged and carried out (or not carried out) in US cities and campuses. A silent torchlight march of 10-20 people, followed by… well, perhaps nothing. Maybe a quiet beer in the airport departure terminal.
Not carrying anything out would be provocation, however, and thus discrediting, slef-limiting in the longer term.
But otherwise, it is a strategy which merits consideration, especially regarding follow-up: to let the shambolic left do the work for us, and spend itself in the process. All the better if it fights among itself and with the authorities. It is a perfect exploitation of left vulnerabilities.
Of course, a caveat is in order. The subtle, subdued approach has its own vulnerabilities, namely provocateurs, leftist plants setting fires or what have you. If personnel are known and recognizable to the police, and have a clearly stated program, how can they refuse permission to twenty people?
This is very, very encouraging.
The gold standard for low-key demos was set in 1977 when Martin Webster of the National Front walked alone through Hyde town (UK) . He was surrounded by 2,500 (!) police officers and he marched down the main street (through a baying crowd) while carrying a Union Flag and a sign reading “Defend British Free Speech from Red Terrorism”.
A brilliant propaganda stunt, even his enemies admitted they’d been flummoxed.
Greg, I echo your sentiment on this. it was a win for kessler and the right, because both cville and DC gubmint pissed away millions of dollars for a non-existent event, while the left came out in droves showing what true a**holes they are. same thing for Boston last September. The best thing the right could have done was to hype it all up, and then not be there. the few who did show were peaceful. so by default, they won.
and you are right we can do a lot with very little. A simple peace of paper marked “its ok to be white” makes the news go apeshit. give me a dozen right-wingers in union sq park NYC and I will make news
Kessler needs to keep at this. The possibility of him creating a lone man in front of the tank moment is real if he does. Having POC allies with him is something that should not be scoffed at for a second. Against all odds expectations Kessler wrapped himself in an American flag and chalked up a win.
Good tactical analysis for UTR II.
Let’s see more articles like this.
Kessler also had perfect normie-friendly optics. He presented himself as a classical liberal to the press and had his cadre carrying American flags. He brought along a black and Latino Trump supporter (MAGA NYC) and paraded them in front of the cameras. The latino would later go on to be one of the speakers, calling out all the hypocrisy and attacks by the left and the media.
And yet there were 1000s of deranged anarchist animals not only screaming about the third reich and the Ku Klux Klan, they were also spewing overt and vulgar anti-police hate. The average American who looks into this event will be utterly sick to their stomach and move to the right, if they’re not already there.
The left is in an incredibly self-destructive mode now. Probably because they’ve lost a lot of smart Jewish/white activists that they used to have in the 60s who got absorbed into the upper class. But also because they’ve lost their legitimacy in the historical moment. So all they have left are dregs of disorganized, incredibly stupid disaffected losers.
I mean they hold every right-winger under a microscope calling them virgins, losers, basement dwellers, etc. These leftists have 0 standards for themselves. They can be heroin addicts with 80 IQs and a rap sheet and yet that’s fine because they’re left. Okay, this is why anarchism is it’s own worst enemy. They’re going to tear everything apart, including the Democratic Party. They have no capacity for any kind of power or influence. People will look at them and just vomit.
As a child in the almost completely white suburban neighbourhood I lived in during the ’80s our grade school had a side entrance that was the shortest way for myself and many other children to walk home. The footpath leading from the exit from the school to the road had houses on both sides. In the back garden of one of the properties was a huge vicious doberman behind a very high wood paling fence. This dog used to go out of its mind as children would run sticks along the wood paling fence provoking it into a rabid, howling, barking mad rage. There was a very real thrill being only a foot away from this gruesome animal that literally would have torn a child to pieces sans fence.
Was that a pic of Keith Richards? I didn’t know he was a Leftist, would have assumed Libartarian.
I was on the counter-protestor side. Some people apparently brought their families. Someone had a dog. Not much or any police presence there, really.
All the police were there for, it seemed, was to protect Jason and company. And to close down streets.The police stood on the UTR2 side of the barricades, facing towards the counterprotestors.
So the Left didn’t seem to anticipate violence directed at them, despite the possibility of 400 UTR2 ralliers.
I wanted to get near the UTR2 rally, even if I wasn’t participating. I went downtown for that. In the end, I was stuck.with the counterprotestors, whose only intent was to disrupt. The only remotely unifying leftist message was some vague anti-this or anti-that.
Completely Agree. Relevant Tangent: 75% of the new White Right esp the more vocal have migrated from the left–Kessler included. These kids never seemed to have passed through a phase of cuckservatism though perhaps a significant percentage paused at Libertarianism/AnCap. (There is a separate contingent of slightly older White Righters that went through a serious libertarian phase).
Anyway it would be great to assemble a few dozen of these converts–these young attractive kids– for a promo video. “I used to be…” and explain and demonstrate that they have not only retained their intelligence and highly sensitive regard for justice but have merely included white people in the expanding circle of diversity or blah blah against the .1% global corporate capitalist elite leviathan destroying communities and exploiting vulnerable blah blah…
UT2 was a kind of “Ubermensch moment” for Kessler. For an entire year after his incompetence lead to a disaster for our cause, and many of our people, Kessler studied his mistakes to the best of his ability. He sought out other alt-right figures to attempt amends, and after being widely, if politely rebuffed, by his allies and constantly threatened by his enemies, Kessler went to DC with his pole-less American flag, gave a lame speech, and did more to challenge the narrative that his past mistakes had contributed to than anyone else could have.
UTR2 imposed minimal risks on the Right at large, but Kessler took a great deal of risk on himself.
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