High-profile alt-righters form new umbrella group with Identitarian focus
A group of racist “alt-right” activists have pulled together a new organization called Operation Homeland, with the stated goal of being professional organizers and activists for the white nationalist and neo-Nazi movement.
High-profile white supremacist Richard Spencer announced the group — part rebranding, part organizing effort — on Twitter over the weekend. On altright.com, Spencer described the group as an umbrella to “take activism to the next level.”
“Our purpose is to plan and carry out bold demonstrations, train and mentor young activists, and foster collaboration among Identitarians in America and around the world,” Spencer wrote on altright.com.
Spencer is joined by his event booker Cameron Padgett, Eli Mosley, who recently stepped down as head of Identity Evropa, Evan McLaren and other white nationalists in running the group.
“It's time to take what this movement has learned over the past year to the next level of professionalism and collaboration. Together to Victory!” Mosley, whose real name is Elliot Kline, tweeted on Saturday.
Questions sent by the Southern Poverty Law Center to a media contact email for Operation Homeland on Monday were not immediately answered.
Not included in the group was Jason Kessler, the alt-right organizer who pulled together the deadly “Unite the Right” rally in August in Charlottesville, Virginia. The exclusion isn’t a huge surprise, given that Spencer and others denounced Kessler shortly after the gathering.
If the group lives up to its promises, it is another move by Spencer and other members of the alt-right to take the movement more toward the white separatist Identitarian movement, which has tried to recruit on college campuses, partially under the flag of Identity Evropa.
Operation Homeland appears to be positioning itself as the public face of the Identitarian movement while Identity Evropa may be stepping back from larger public displays, like Unite the Right, which has resulted in multiple lawsuits and murder charges against one white supremacist.
“After Charlottesville, we really did a lot of thinking about what happened, what went wrong and do we want to do anything similar in the future,” new Identity Evropa CEO Patrick Casey told Red Ice TV.
In the interview, Casey spoke of holding “private, invite only events” aimed at Identitarian goals in the future.
“We can’t go into these liberal areas and essentially repeat what happened with Unite the Right,” Casey said. “If you piss people off enough, you’re going to end up in a poor legal situation.”
Operation Homeland held its first public rally since the rebranding was announced at Lafayette Square in Washington, D.C., on Sunday, with Matthew Heimbach and Tony Hovater of the Traditional Workers Party in attendance.
The rally focused on President Donald Trump’s promise to build a border wall with Mexico the case of an immigrant being acquitted of shooting and killing Katie Steimle in San Francisco as justification for the move.
“This was a message to white America … they threw her under the bus because she was white,” Heimbach said. “I’m calling on you Donald Trump. It’s great to tweet … But it’s time to build that wall.”
Hecklers and counter-protesters chanted, “no Nazis, no hate” back at the white nationalists.
The demonstration was relatively small, but Spencer promises more from the group in the future.
“Operation Homeland will meet the challenges of professional activism as the Alt-Right, and our ideals, enter the mainstream,” Spencer wrote. “Together To Victory.”
Photo credit: REUTERS/Mary F. Calvert
