Anti-Jihad in the Blogosphere

Something that has caught my attention recently: anti-jihadis abroad and at home, who used to be on civil terms, have recently ceased friendly relations and proceeded to "throw mud" as Hillary might put it. Now, I'm all for mud when there's an adobe house that needs building. And that is about the architectural equivalent of current anti-jihad movements around the world.

In short, European anti-jihadism had been relegated to political obscurity by the multiculturalist ostriches who have most of the continent under their yoke. Only the ostriches didn't realize how repulsive that yoke might be to small but noticeable minorities of reactionary conservatives in their midst. And so, from obscurity the reactionaries rise, bringing with them bits from the tribalist miasma of Euro-conservatism. Ironically the real nature of this miasma is obscured by the ostriches themselves, on account of the ostriches' supposed anti-racism laws that end up legally barring the reactionaries from uttering their real views both informally and through various political parties (like the Vlaams Blok/Belang in Belgium).

Another ambiguator is that nationalistic parties like Vlaams Belang (Flemish nationalist in this case) have morphed their traditional anti-Semitic paranoia into a much more plausible anti-Muslim message. The VB is now unique across the political landscape of western Europe in its support for Israel, as the last outpost of Western civilization among the Shari'a slave states of the Middle East. From the current VB platform, in fact, it is difficult to discern much off kilter. I guess the seemingly incongruous call for granting amnesty to relic Nazi collaborators might raise an eyebrow. But what's an eccentric sympathy or two between ideological allies, right? Well, if you listen to this interview with VB front man Filip DeWinter, eyebrows may give way to garlic cloves and mirrors. Yeah, seems that old remark of Fil's that "We [the VB] choose a white Europe." -- and another about how he wouldn't look too kindly on his daughter bringing home a Negro boyfriend -- both of those were really misinterpreted. You see "white Europe" is just a metaphor.

Charles Johnson of the American anti-jihad blog Little Green Footballs had no truck with this kind of nationalism and said so, precipitating the break with Paul Belien of the Euro anti-jihad blog Brussels Journal and the mysterious but eloquent Fjordman of BJ and Gates of Vienna (and formerly of LGF as well). Kudos to Charles for doggedly pursuing these things despite credible smoke screens raised by his now-adversaries. They are clever too -- they make a point of attributing suspicions of racism to the tried-and-true leftist disinformation gambit.

Charles has also rightly emphasized the critical difference between the two sides here: nationalism vs. individualism, concluding that what we must fight to preserve is not ethnic or national or religious identity, but individual liberty. More on this later, in particular on how this very idea is not widely understood on the American right either, laying the groundwork for future schisms closer to home.

What then do we make of a party like Vlaams Belang, whose explicit agenda against the Islamization of Europe is laudable, but whose leaders seem to be trying to cover up their roots in the tribalist far-right? There may come a time -- and perhaps that time is already upon Europe -- when the alternatives are unacceptable. And there is no need, even while voting for and supporting a party like VB, to aid the cover up. One can vote for them and also agitate against any lingering racist elements. Parties can change, and party leaders will sooner or later be replaced. If they themselves have tacitly conceded the moral case, the road may be clearing.