On March 5, the prominent white nationalist Richard Spencer was scheduled to speak at Michigan State University.
The event quickly turned into a bust when only about three dozen people made it inside the building — while hundreds of Spencer supporters and anti-fascist protestors confronted each other outside, throwing rocks and punches. Local police arrested 25 people.
The next day, Spencer’s lawyer Kyle Bristow resigned and quit the white nationalist “alt- right” movement altogether, complaining about the relentless vilification of his work in the media.
The Southern Poverty Law Center previously described Bristow as the “go-to attorney for a growing cast of racists.” He’d set up the Foundation for the Marketplace of Ideas, which he once described as “the sword and shield” of the alt- right. Now the website and Facebook page no longer exist, and there’s been no mention of any new leadership.
Less than a week later, on March 11, Spencer announced in a YouTube video that he was canceling a planned college tour amid increasing violence and low attendance. “Antifa is winning” and rallies “aren’t fun anymore,” Spencer conceded. “We felt that great feeling of winning for a long time. We are now into something that feels more like a hard struggle, and victories are not easy to come by.”
Indeed, as alt-right members seek more of a public profile, coordinated anti-fascist actions and online pushback have intensified, making it harder for them to recruit, host events, and find jobs. They’ve been forced into online echo chambers. (more...)
 |
| Luv-hate relationship? |
No comments:
Post a Comment