Junge Freiheit's American Cousin

For years, the neo-fascist weekly Junge Freiheit has attempted to put a respectable veneer on right-wing extremism in Germany.  The editors cleverly combine "interviews" with mainstream politicians and thought leaders with op/ed pieces extolling völkisch nationalism and historical revisionism. Believe it or not, Junge Freiheit has its fans in the United States. One of the most vocal is Paul Gottfried, a professor of political science at Elizabethtown College.  Gottfried has been a frequent contributor to Junge Freiheit over the years, and has vigorously defended the Berlin weekly in numerous articles.  Last week Professor Gottfried defended "his good friend" Jost Bauch, a Junge Freiheit contributor and activist in the right-wing hate group Bürgerbewegung Pro Köln.  Gottfried dismisses any criticism of Bauch's extremists views as evidence of a "police state mentality" in Germany. 

Now Professor Gottfried and his friends have launched a new Webzine, Alternative Right, which puts an American spin on the editorial thrust of Junge Freiheit.  Alternative Right openly celebrates the racial superiority of "white America".  Every other piece on the Web site explores the "science" of genetic supremacy of whites (and Asians) over black and Hispanics.  America, in the view of these "academics", is quickly going down the tubes, thanks to the "diversity" of its population.  The magazine makes its racist point of view explicit in its opening manifesto:

Besides our disagreements with mainstream conservatives on the issue of foreign policy and the relative importance of fighting terrorism, there is the topic of race and, more broadly, IQ and heredity.  We've known for a while through neuroscience and cross-adoption studies--if common sense wasn't enough--that individuals differ in their inherent capabilities. The races do, too, with whites and Asians on the top and blacks at the bottom. The Alternative Right takes it for granted that equality of opportunity means inequality of results for various classes, races, and the two sexes. Without ignoring the importance of culture, we see Western civilization as a unique product of the European gene pool.

No doubt we will soon see some interesting collaborative efforts between the scholarly racists at Alternative Right and their counterparts at Junge Freiheit. 

Comments

[MS]

I can't say anything about Alternative Right, but your characterization of Junge Freiheit is unfair. Describing them as neo-fascist and claiming that they "extol a voelkisch nationalism" is highly inflammatory and not accurate. I have been reading them for years and while they are definetely conservative and patriotic, they have nothing to do with fascism or the voelkisch movement. You clearly want to link them in your readers minds with the National Socialist regime, which the paper never fails to critisize. Conservative and patriotic does not equal fascist. In fact fascism has more in common with socialism and share he same roots. Hitler and Mussolini constantly railled against capitalism, and reactionaries, which they equated with classical free market liberalism and conservativism. How about critisizing specific articles instead of using empty formulae? The TAZ is a left-wing publication, but to call them Stalinist would be an injustice,don't you think?

[Attie Schutte]

David Vickrey: does anyone except your mother maby, actually take you as a serious scholar and commentator?