Posted on July 5, 2013

Identitarians Meet in Stockholm

Saul Lilleby, Arktos, July 5, 2013

Stockholm, the capital of Scandinavia, showed itself from its best side this sunny Saturday, when there once again was time for another instalment of Identitär Idé (Identitarian Idea), the annual seminar arranged by the popular dissident Swedish think tank Motpol.nu, this being the fifth instalment in the series. Identitarian Idea is a yearly seminar in Sweden that circles around views critical of the globalization and perdition of ethnic identity we see today, from various perspectives, and this was exactly what was the theme of this instalment, namely “Identity vs. Globalization”.

The seminar took place in the decisively finest quarters of town, and the locale was excellent and filled with art. The ticket limit was set at 100, and these were rather quickly sold out as the seminar approached the due date. A fine mix of attendants gathered in lines outside the locale and were ushered into their residence for the day met by two handsome and expensively suited young men in the welcoming committee: old and young, male and female and members of quite a few nationalities were present. About 70 % were the faces of people one had seen before in previous seminars, and about 30 % were new faces, so it was a healthy mix of newcomers and veterans. The same percentage goes for the percentage of Swedes attending, with about 10 % Norwegians and the remaining 20 % spread on various nationalities, including Persian, Berber, Arabic, French, Swiss, Finnish, Danish, British, Jewish and non-Jewish North-Americans, German, Austrian and Ukrainian. One can safely say an element of ethnopluralism was present, in other words! The quality of those attending was also very high, with many a well-read and well-built man in a suit with a matching classical haircut attending, and nearly not a subcultural element was present that the eye could see, apart from two Norwegians that apparently thought they were attending a rock concert back in 1991 judging from their choice of attire. The attendants found their places after having greeted each other, seeing as many an old friend was present and you could really feel the joy of friendship in the air before the seminar began properly.

Professor Gottfried, “Cultural marxism” and the Frankfurt school

Professor Paul Gottfried, the ageing grey eminence of the paleo-conservative movement in the USA (which he somewhat darkly humorously claimed consists of himself and Patrick Buchanan by now) held a very interesting speech on the situation for conservatism in the USA today. Very critical of those he terms the “phony Right”, which are mainly inspired by the neo-conservatives, he talked on how the originators of cultural Marxism in a sense had become trapped by their own ideas. They had spun their net of ideas in a way that in the end they couldn’t disentangle themselves from the way those ideas got a life of their own and ended up in the kinds of extreme silliness we see today in art, the humanities, politics, media and so on. Having known quite a few of the characters behind the Frankfurt school in his own day, he had some very interesting personal reminisces to share about their disillusionment with their own heritage at the end of their lives. Also, he seemed extremely critical of the state of academia today, nearly warning everyone present not to “waste their lives” in the presence of those he termed nearly “clinically insane”, in other words at university. We are not sure we agree with that, but we see his point, none the less. Gottfried, of Jewish background himself, did point out that although there was certainly an element of ethnic origin for some of their hostility towards the host societies, they probably did really believe in their so-called liberating ideas in regards to sex, feminism, economics, nationality, race and so forth, at least in the beginning. Gottfried pointed out a very important issue, being that the “cultural Marxists” would never have found a place in for example the Soviet Union, but would probably have been imprisoned or shot. It is easy to be a cultural Marxists in a non-Marxist country, in other words, which is somewhat of a paradox. Also, he pointed out that even the so-called Right today in the US (and by proxy Europe) consists of liberals which represent the exact opposite of the historical Right, which was mainly based on tradition and hierarchy as that best suited for everyone. He didn’t even hesitate to call the neo-conservatives plainly evil, as they are destroying the lives of people all over the world for ideals which are hardly noble. It struck us that his point of view is rather similar to the one put forth by Dr. Michael O’Meara in his excellent ‘New Culture, New Right’ (Arktos, 2013), which is interesting considering their somewhat similar background as former Leftists both (at least inspired by what we could call classical Leftism before its current perverted form).

Paul Gottfried

Paul Gottfried

Tobias Riddarstråle and the facts in the case of Julian Assange

Arktos-affiliated lawyer and native Stockholm-er Tobias Ridderstråle was up next, and he drew from his long experience as a lawyer when he painted up the facts in the case of Julian Assange. Well-known that he is, Assange needs no further introduction. A long and very interesting story short, Ridderstråle pointed out that none of the accusations thrown against Assange arising from his visit in Sweden makes any sense legally, and it would seem there is another motive present for extracting him to Sweden. The credibility of the women that have accused Assange of various sexual crimes was left rather low after Ridderstråle’s funny overview of the case, and one is left wondering what really is the motive behind the actions taken against Assange, if the court case makes no sense. Riddarstråle left that up to the participants to decide for themselves, but safe to say it gives one a ominous feeling in the gut to know that people will actually permit themselves to do what is glaringly wrong, even when it hurts other persons that are innocent. That being said, of course, Assange doesn’t come of as the most sympathetic person in the world, but still, being sympathetic or not is not a criteria for whether one is supposed to rot in prison or not, for if it were, we think it safe to say that quite a few of the names professor Gottfried mentioned would be in jeopardy for a visit to jail themselves.

Tobias Ridderstrale

Tobias Ridderstrale

The Identitarians: Markus Willinger and Philippe Vardon

Next up were the two main identitarians present (a line of political and cultural thought that puts ethnic identity foremost, mainly inspired by the ideas of Frenchman Alain de Benoist and his circle spawned from the late 1960’s and still going strong), namely Austrian Markus Willinger and Philippe Vardon, a Frenchman (or Provençal, as he presumably would name himself). Willinger held a short speech of thunderous quality based on his recent book ‘Generation Identity’ (Arktos, 2013), and was met with a roaring applause. Very impressive considering his 21 years of age, and he time after time in his charming English with a thick German accent admonished the participants to remember that they are the last generation of Europeans that will be able to change the fate of Europe, otherwise she will simply wither away and die, forever. Identitarians fight for the right to identity for everyone, worldwide, whether in Tibet, the Congo or in Europe itself, and they demand the same right to life as everyone else. One would assume that this was a natural given, but as we know, the same rules apparently don’t apply to Europeans (for now, but that’s what seminars like this is changing). After his speech, his book sold like hot bread, so one could safely say his speech was a welcome addition at the seminar.

Markus Willinger

Markus Willinger

Afterwards, the veteran identitarian Frenchman Philippe Vardon spoke on his experiences as a leader of the identitarians in southern France, and the victories and tribulations of his identitarian cadres there. Sadly, by now the locale was extremely hot, so one noticed some of the attendants had a bit of trouble paying attention to his speech, which was presented in a very thick French accent, but it certainly gave those present much food for thought on the practical possibilities of the identitarian line of thought. One could almost say the heat was driving people “democrazy”, to use an expression from Vardon’s speech. Still, he certainly drove his points through to the still attentive participants, and his speech was introduced with some short films they had made whilst performing activism. The identitarian milieu is really a force to be reckoned with in his native France, producing music, movies, books, folklore, ethnic culture and thereby creating an ethnic identity anew, which is much needed in their Jacobin France, which is doing its best to destroy anything that doesn’t fit into the mindbogglingly inane “French” identity which has so little to do with the heritage of the Franks that it isn’t even amusing. Summarized, one could say that their project is a continuation of the battle against the ideas of 1789, yet set in 2013 with one foot in the past and one foot in the future. Inspiring, to say the least! One could probably term it ‘Archeofuturism’, if one were of that bent, inspired by the marvelous book by another of the main French identitarians, namely Guillaume Faye (Arktos, 2010).

Philippe Vardon

Philippe Vardon

Manuel Ochsenreiter and the situation in Syria

Manuel Ochsenreiter, a native Bavarian based in Berlin and working as a journalist in the German newspaper Zuerst (over 60 000 subscribers) was next up. Ochsenreiter spoke in his excellent English on his experiences as an on-site journalist in conflict-filled Syria and the manipulation of the news-flow he has experienced there. Even if his speech was no eulogy of the current presidential family, he made it very clear that the forces they are opposing that gets termed the “rebels” in foreign media, is a Wahabist motley crew of foreign Islamists backed by weapons handed them from Syrian-hostile forces in Western countries, among others. One would assume that it would be in the interest of Western states to keep the moderate Syrian presidential family in place in order to avoid a religious bloodbath, but it would seem not. Making extensive use of photos he had taken himself, Ochsenreiter painted a grim picture of a nation that feels at war with the entire world by now, which Ochsenreiter humorously pointed out he could relate to as a German. He also made the strong claim that few of the foreign journalists that claim they are in Syria and reporting on-site are really there, but often “report” via rumours and propaganda from neighbouring countries such as Lebanon. Of course, one held no illusions about the ethical principles of present day journalism, it still is scary that so many will allow themselves to be so easily manipulated by what is obviously foreign interests and geopolitical plots. Ochsenreiter came off as a very sympathetic gentleman, and being a friend of the people in the region himself, he risks his life daily in order to bring the views of the Syrian population to Europe unfiltered. An impressive and inspiring man, to say the least!

Manuel Ochsenreiter

Manuel Ochsenreiter

John Morgan, Lars Holger Holm and the evening entertainment

Editor-in-chief John Morgan, the US-born (yet India-based) editor of Arktos, held a short overview of the situation for Arktos, the foremost publisher of literature critical of modernity in the world. Their accomplishments in regards to publishing are immense, having published around 60 books since they opened their gates. Since nearly all their books are of immense public interest (or at least, should be) it was very interesting to hear of his experiences with the company and their future plans. One can safely say they have many an exciting project planned, so you should buy some books from them today in order for them to be able to continue publishing many years into the future (several tips are present in this report). For many an attendee present, it was especially exciting to hear of their plans to publish several more books by Baron Julius Evola, the “foremost Right-wing thinker in the world”, as the deceased Jonathan Bowden termed him.

John Morgan

John Morgan

The Swede Lars Holger Holm, famous “Renaissance-mensch” (as Riddarstråle termed him) author, violinist and so much else, read excerpts from his recent (co-written) novel at Arktos: ‘Gotisk’ (Arktos, 2013). The enthralled public listened to his tales of a distant Gothic past and his voice was perfectly fitted for such a task. Safe to say, one can assume many an attendee purchased his book afterwards, for such was his skill at reading that it left the listener hungry for more. His call for a united Scandinavia was also met with beating hearts by the Scandinavians present.

The final post on the schedule was Norwegian neo-folk band Solstorm doing a live performance. By now, sadly, several of the attendees had left the locale, as the evening drew to a close after a long and intensive day, but for those that remained this became the emotional highpoint of the day, as the darkly handsome artist played his magical tunes. Be sure to check out their first CD which is imminent, he told his public, if you enjoy artists such as Rome or Death in June, to mention a few.

Some observations

It is clear the organizers had learned from previous seminars, for any minor flaws in the previous instalments were gone by now, and there were plenty of food, drink and especially much-needed breaks between the various speeches. The day flowed quickly like sand in an hourglass, and one sat there wishing for it to never end, with all the marvellous people present. Every attendant we spoke to said it was the best instalment so far, and they would bring friends next time. Considering the high quality of those attending, this can only bode well for the future. One was left deeply grateful to the staff for their excellent service and work ethic in making the seminar flow seamlessly, and to many a friend new and old, from near and far, which attended the most important annual seminar in Europe, we think one can safely say. A thing that struck us was that one could everywhere in the locale listen to well-educated young people leading conversations of such high level we can’t imagine heard anywhere else in this degraded society today. A special thanks goes out to Daniel Friberg, Tobias Ridderstråle and John Morgan for hosting the seminar, and one can only wish for the days to quickly pass until next year, when we certainly will be back, hungry for ever more inspiration in this dark age. One could see the eyes of the participants glowing as they left the locale and ventured forth into the warm Stockholm night, many of them to spend the night in the presence of friends until the morning sun came, and if that is anything to judge by, the seminar was a great success. Nothing negative came to our eyes the entire day, (apart from the heat which took its toll on many a participant, though that is more a “fault” of the weather-Gods than the organizers) and we saw many a book sold by the various venues present, foremost being Arktos and the beautiful paintings by Swedish painter Markus Andersson. Be sure to buy your ticket early next year when it becomes available next summer, for Identitarian Idea is only going one way: upwards.