It will probably come as no surprise to my regular readers (if there still are any!) when I state that I have been wondering what to do and wondering what has been going on recently within the various departures of 'nationalism' being carried forth by different organisations and different websites.
Nor will it come as any great surprise when I also say I have become increasingly fed up and disillusioned at how things are going and how I am currently not really happy with
any manifestation of 'nationalism' being on offer. Hence my earlier quip about departures from Nationalism, because it is increasingly the case that it is no longer really reflecting what I got into it for (or where I would like it to head in the future).
In all truth, I have been having yet another self-reflection period as to what I really think about a lot of issues and (in the process) what I am going to do with myself, given that I am currently lost in a void from which I can only see a very small guiding shaft of sunlight at the end of the tunnel.
I have still attempted to keep up with my usual round of blog sites and news sites in recent weeks, but if the truth be told, I am becoming rather cold to some of them, or rather, in some cases, being left out in the cold. Within my despondency has also come an increasing lack of emotion or passion (even distaste at times) as I read them.
It is now only very rarely that I stumble across things which chime with me and which I feel are worthwhile to have read or feel I would like to point non-nationalists to - as examples of where I am coming from and what exemplifies our cause as I see it.
Whether it is they who are 'losing me' or me who is 'losing' them, I do not really know.
I now have nowhere to really go and hang my hat, and no method of going there other than my own way - which is seemingly in isolation to many other routes and what will probably comprise of a followship of one. Always a sad sign.
However, I can only be true to myself, what fits my sense of right and wrong, my sense of a desired narrative and what seems true to the understanding and comprehensions that I have thus far learnt (and spent considerable time throughout the last decade thinking about).
Perhaps the only other option is to not tread any further at all, take my brain out of gear and put up with this onslaught of perpetual misery for the rest of my days. Or at least, for as long as I can bear it. I would not like to dwell on the latter aspect of that option too much though.
One regular site in particular has unfortunately been turning me off lately, with what I see as being a somewhat brash and belligerent tone towards all those people who are not yet prepared to claim allegiance to their new vehicle which they see as being the new salvation of this country.
By all accounts, it may very well end up being such a thing, but at the moment is still something which I just cannot really "feel" within myself, get interested in or all that excited about. I am sorry, but that is just how it is. I cannot help it. I am cold to it.
Whether it is distrust, the vehicle itself, the way things are done, the concepts at play, the people behind it, I really do not know. I do not know what it is. Maybe all of the above, or none. As a result, I do feel a bit pushed out and unwelcome because I am not prepared to lend my unconditional support to the new king that has been crowned.
Various things have now been said and done too which have left the readership there in little doubt that from now on in, it was going to be 'their way or highway'. Unfortunately, I have had to choose the highway. I do not like being told what to think, what to believe, what to stand for, who to support or who to join. Nor do I suspect do others who have their own mind.
I may end up following them later myself, but that will need to be my own choice for the right reasons. 'Inaction' and the seeming "urgency" to be seen to be busy is not one of them. In my view, that is no reason to make a judgement.
It is perhaps more prudent to properly assess the future direction of nationalism and the country at large whilst we are in a lull, than dashing off to be 'busy' with projects and issues which may not lend themselves to taking us to where we need to be in the future. Inaction at this time is therefore not always necessarily a bad thing when it could potentially allow a right decision and pathway to be made.
However, of course, it is no use sitting there forever and just 'thinking' the problems away. If we are in a leaky boat and have to decide whether to 'bail out' the water that is swilling around the foot or try and stop the leak by taking moment to think critically about the situation, it is perhaps worthy having that decorum for a short while in order to try and save a lot of unnecessary work.
But at the end of the day, either the hole has to be plugged to stop the leak, or we need to get scooping that water out as best we can. The question is, whether the hole can be plugged at all and how long a period it is worth spending in order to find out. I have thus far been patient enough to wait.
It is just not in my nature to be hot-headed, impatient, rash, gung-ho or carried off on the crest of a wave. I cannot help it, I have always been that way, it is in my identity. Sometimes it has been a hindrance in my life when I have had to play catch up later, but at other times it has often served me well in the past. I do not know which way the current axe will fall this time, in future hindsight.
Of course, those people who want to flap around and busy themselves believe in the urgency of bailing out the water, so they seek to denounce and attack those they see as being sat around doing nothing. In fact, I think it is fair to say that Britain First and its supporters need to make everyone believe that this urgency is the case in order for their avenue to prosper and survive. After all, it is only natural and serves their purpose.
On that score, there seems to be a resurgence of the "circling of the wagons" atmosphere going on, cheap shots and slurs against other upstanding nationalists who really do not deserve the kind of abuse which is normally limited to thieves, liabilities, traitors and such; all designed to cause resentment and disenfranchisement of those other avenues in order to make more mileage for Britain First.
Perhaps it is partly because things have not gone as expected and that people feel let down. It has become resented. Understandable, but not particularly good behaviour.
Generally, it just seems to be push, push push push push of late. Angry outbursts, hard talk, etc. Unfortunately, as I said earlier, I do not really like being pushed around and told what to support or not support. In fact it has made me dig my heels in, be even less receptive to Britain First and even more despondent as to where things are heading in general.
I do not have any deep qualms or quibble with the site in question, the team there - or for that matter, Britain First. It is not how I operate and not where I am coming from here. I just need to explain, if only to myself, where I am with things right now and why I am unfortunately having to give one of my favourite sites a miss at the moment.
It is only part of my general malaise, not a primary cause.
The wider issue with me is perhaps the way I am just not "seeing the vision" of the other parties and groups on offer. I am just not "feeling it" or comfortable with it. It is detached in some way from me, and I do not know how to build the bridge. It feels like the cause has splintered into three different camps, none of which I really call home.
I am currently not into Britain First, but neither am I really deeply into British Freedom, Cultural Nationalism, English Democrats, Real-politicking, UKIP, EDL, Geert Wilders PVV, BCG, Lawful Rebellion - or for that matter, National Front, BPP, EFP, and whoever else sits uncomfortably on the other side of the void.
I will not go into why this is the case with the former list, but it is not for the reasons many people might think. In fact, I am not going to be viciously hostile to any of the first group.
They are just doing things which I am not part of and going down routes which I do not feel at home with. If I cannot defend it to myself, then how can I defend it to wider circles of people? I have to believe in 'it' to actively get out there and do something.
On a wider level than that, I do not believe in, for example, the EDL/GoV fused British Freedom direction. I do not believe in realpolitking or English Democrats or believe that they or UKIP are in any way 'nationalists' who are playing a "clever game" of disguising their real outlooks or whatever.
When it comes to BCG and Lawful Rebellion, I have doubts and cynicism of what the movement will actually end up constructing in its wake - but again, I will leave that deep thought (perhaps over-thought) for another time. I have the exact same observation about Alex Jones, as it happens.
My 'general' support for the BCG and Lawful Rebellion does continue, but the thing is, I still only tend to see them as being a piece of the jigsaw puzzle and something which is able to provide a particular segment of "understanding" and "counter culture" in our country - which is necessary to plant in our nation an alternative future to the one we currently see stretched before us by the established order.
What they are doing is interesting and could develop into being very important, much more than the recognition it has today on the fringes of 'far out' TV channels and conspiratorial based websites. There are aspects of it I am not too comfortable with though - and which I find to be either odd, far fetched or too much to expect from the general public - but on the whole it has carved itself a niche.
However, I never saw it as synonymous with Nationalism or an alternative to it. It is not Nationalism, it is perhaps some kind of anti-establishmentarianist, quasi anarchic, libertarian movement which believes in the traditional civic state and statehood when it comes to organising the world stage. It is hard to pin down, but are they 'nationalists'? No, not really. Areas do overlap with Nationalism, often greatly, but it is not always the same fight as my own.
When we have to abandon aspects of our own fight and issues in order to complete a fight against what we are told is 'higher up the chain' (and get sidetracked off down various routes which are not our territory in the process) I cannot help but feel uneasy at where that may eventually lead people to. Perhaps only the deep thinkers will understand what I mean there.
Also, I had sought to use it in order to help our own fight on our own terms, but now it seems that the arrangement is at risk of being the other way around.
I do not believe that the EDL is the right thing for me, for reasons I have stated many times before. They are on a different page to where I am now coming from, so they do not speak for or represent my views on many issues. In fact, some argue that they are being played like a fiddle, and if they did not already exist they would have to be created to serve the purpose.
But of course it cannot be denied that they are an active segment of youth (and such) who are prepared to get out there and take control of the streets. They have indeed swamped the ability of the UAF and the usual suspects to claim control of the streets. I commend them for it in those ways. They too are building a counter-culture, in their own way.
Again, I am not hostile to them - we do share some common ground, but at the same time, I am not really one of them and do not really identify my cause with them. It is not what I consider my home or identity. I doubt very much if I would ever go to an EDL march or announce to friends and family that they are representative of me (other than their shared ethnicity and opposition to Islamisation).
It does not matter where I seem to look, or what various fractions of break off's are going down as their routes and methods, I just do not seem to sit right with any of them. I don't know what it is, I really don't. The only thing that still feels remotely like home in its directions and output is the BNPideas website/group.
But aside from policy and the traditional nationalism it offers me, I do not really know where that is going either. Although I wouldn't say I was 'frustrated' with it being so slow to come to the boil, I still have reservations of what can realistically be expected of it in the future anyway.
For the time being though it has my support and allegiance much more than I can offer other websites and blogs at the moment.
When it comes to the general "scene", I am getting ever more disappointed at how we cannot move up a notch when it comes to our methodology, approaches, discourse etc.
Despite repeated calls for "change" by many people this year, the background noise remains (depressingly) just the same as it always has been. The support structure, the language, the style, the backstabbing, the back-biting, the discourse all remains the same but with the tail pinned to another donkey or two.
The same people are still spending more time trolling the "reds" than they are winning over the public, the same sites are still frequented and still exist only serve to cater as distractions for that end. The same sour and bitter/nasty ranting and raving occurs, as does the rumour mills and the insular outlook of our little pond.
When we say we need to radically overhaul the movement and pull it up by its bootstraps to be fit for purpose, I personally think it means that all those things have to be looked at too - otherwise we will remain just the same, just as fringe, just as insulated, repeating the same mistakes all over again.
I find language, approach and discourse highly important for this reason. It is perhaps a pet quirk of mine amongst many others. The kind of material that emanates from certain sites and certain comments at times is hardly productive to furthering the cause and increasing the readership and fellowship of Nationalism either. That is just my own view, of course.
If we wish to build ourselves a following and gain ourselves understanding and acceptability, it is not always so wise to be that blunt and extreme in our discourse, or for that matter, approach things in the way that we tend to do.
It does not mean that we have to water down what we stand for or believe, but that it may be prudent to express it in a different way. I do not mean "politically correct", not at all - but I do not mean jabbing sticks into peoples eyes either, whether it be descriptions of people or things, or going on about 'shadowy elites' etc.
When it comes to some of the comments on a whole host of prominent websites, well, some of that material warrants a critical minded article all of its own!
Whether it is "
arab scum" who apparently deserve be "
nuked from the face of the earth" by their neighbours or "
buried in pigs excrement" - or whether it is endless copy and paste links to Jews, things sailing close to holocaust revisionism and "
truther" sites- or whether it is barking mad women who are talking out the "
missing 6 billion people from Earth" (who apparently must secretly live underground the Earth's surface) or the discovery of "
Hidden Bibles" or whatever else, is hardly the kind of discourse and image which we need to be presenting to the public.
I am sorry to be so harsh, some of these people may very well be nice and supportive, but for goodness sake, some of the crack-pottery is off the chart at times and a far cry from what we ought to be surrounding ourselves with if we aim to have success.
At least (on the whole) BNPideas is getting it right and remembering our purpose. When it comes to presenting the cause, the policies, the rationale, the kind of debate which might change the public's mind and get them thinking on our side, I think it is of high calibre. In my opinion, for those purposes and the platform we seek, it is one of the best offerings on British Nationalism out there.
It seems solid, it seems built on good foundations, with many of the writers and contributing members being able to run rings around the ideologically weak when it comes to what has long defined nationalism and understanding just where the policies are formulated from and why, whether it be food, energy, morality matters or ethnicity.
The way I see it, they are trying to be cleaner cut, orderly, explanatory, exemplary in their conduct and trying to uphold in themselves what they seek to expect of all of us as a movement. I have to say I value that, and I value it perhaps more than I do other sites which sometime forget our purpose of recruitment at times.
But, yes, like everything else, they too have flaws and criticism is due against them on some fronts. Things within the party (or dual party or whatever it is at the moment), all the dancing around the internal politics of the British National Party, also some articles are naive at times (for example, one about conspiracies). On the whole, it is much more my kettle of fish though.
Many of us are disappointed about what has happened, many of us are disillusioned and have been treading water since the collapse of Barking and Dagenham etc in the elections and watching in disbelief at the whole sorry saga that has been happening ever since. This treading water is/was even the case with Britain First to some degree, whilst it sets itself up and establishes its concepts.
When it comes to some sort of contest for 'which organisation sets up first', I can only suggest that it is not necessarily the first horse out of the traps that ends up winning the race. Time will tell I suppose, but whatever happens, I hope that we can all work together than spending time working apart and working against each other. We need to co-ordinate each others efforts, not spend all our time and effort undermining and limiting one another.
The BNPideas vehicle does look to be stuck in a low gear, but let us be honest with ourselves, we have never really had a seriously credible Nationalist party or movement in Britain in over 50 years. A few months, or even a year, is not a long time to wait for one to be formulated from the wealth of experience and knowledge we have, especially if it meant not splitting up the existing following.
Many of us longed and hoped for Andrew to stand as the bridgehead of the party or a new party - and thus be there as the more polished and better presentable mascot for British Nationalism.
Many of us wanted less scuffles and pub brawl politics (and all that old garbage that tended to go on with the BNP), and we wanted more of an Andrew Brons, Andrew Moffat, Vlaams Belang/Front Nationale, LePen, meets UKIP style party which was fitting of modern political discourse and something edgy and radical like Marine LePen currently pulls off for France.
Pigs in Skips, people pretending to be soldiers in our street campaign activities, telling the media that you want to sink asylum seekers boats etc, local councillors joking about "drowning pakis" in the floods, replica gun toting morons, pornographers, fraudsters and things like having former members of staff threatening to kill your party leader (!) are hardly the kind of calibre we are looking for.
It has been a dead weight for decades. We were aching to move on from all this nonsense.
It was the logical choice to "up our game" and move into a new era, in my opinion. Out with the silly antics, out with the boneheads, wierdo's and relics of confrontational street politics - and in with the suited, articulate, well thought out political positioning as can currently be seen by Marine Le Pen.
However, of course, we first had to come that push and the collapse that could sweep this old scene aside.
We knew that within a space of months; court cases were looming, there were investigations into finance, more cases looming for ex-staff who were sacked without due procedure being followed, the debt was mounting up, bailiffs were at Nick Griffin's house, Adam Walker was ordered to pay thousands to the courts, Simon Darby was also in trouble.
We had the 9 vote loss on the leadership election, splitting the party down the middle - and we were due the Panorama programme - something which we had all thought was going to be the thing which would fully shake British National Party leadership (or the entire party) to the ground and usher in a new era, either with new people at the top or a new thing altogether without them involved.
The situation, therefore seemed untenable, as though the culmination of all those things were going to force the hand of fate for the party. Andrew Brons and his cautious avoidance of the risk of fracturing the BNP following (like what happened with the National Front) looked as though it was going to pay off. It still might, who knows. I am prepared to wait a little longer, but even I have my limits.
Let us not forget that both Britain First and BNPideas were embryonic and developing separately at the same time as each other during this time period. The former was initially a totally different ball game, something which was not really in 'competition' with existing parties or movements.
The idea of there being a "Britain First" campaign group did not bother me in the slightest whilst this BNPideas plan was being devised. This is because I thought they could be an independent
addition to politics that could benefit all nationalist parties if they recruited their services or coordinated their issues locally.
This is perhaps what 'working together' would/could really have entailed.
That has now changed, and so has the speed at which we expected the existing British National Party to topple. Quite unbelievably, to me anyway, none of this list of catastrophes has really happened to the severity we had suspected they would - so far.
The Panorama programme was particularly weak and pathetic, giving rise to the suspicion that they would prefer the British National Party to remain in the little league, with Nick Griffin and Clive Jefferson etc to remain in place and remain divisive and hamstringing the movement.
It seemed to me that their new tactic was going to be to demoralise the supporter base and try and fracture it on mistrust, distaste and monetary grounds. Seems to be working a treat so far.
It was clear that their previous establishment attempts to wipe the party out with "ethnic membership" or to try and quell the rising support sentiment in the public (as now witnessed in many newspaper comments) was not going to work, so chaos and mistrust over finances is the other tried and tested method of keeping people in the mainstream - and thus keeping them at arms length from what we really have to say and offer as an alternative.
If it had meant handing the party over to some wet 'nationalist' (or wet behind the ears one) or some crank type I would have been disappointed. However, throughout the reform stage and such, we coerced Andrew Brons to take the mantle from Richard Edmonds. Andrew did not really want the role, quite understandably.
The thing was, Andrew Brons was a key member who was liked by all sides, or at least recognised as a professional and good ambassador for the cause. He was known to the wider public, if only for his few TV appearances on Big Questions, Sky News, BBC and of course the MEP position he had won in Yorkshire.
Many more of us into Nationalism know much more about who he is and what he is like, what he stands for and how he likes to go about things. I had always been impressed, and I am not impressed very easily.
That is why I found it rather disgraceful to see this man be mocked, ridiculed, smeared and insinuated against last weekend on a particular site. Very poor behaviour, I thought.
But that leads us back to being in the same old bind and same old quagmire of nationalism.
Which leads me to ask myself - what exactly is the alternative to how we are generally going about things? And how should we be selling it?
I increasingly feel that we are going about it the wrong way. We are trapped into the compartment we have put ourselves into (and have been allocated by our opponents) and thus seem unable to think any differently or come out with things at any new angle or direction. I have been giving some thought to this lately.
It sounds simple, but we need to remember what our assets are. I think we need to remember our roots as an ideology and a movement and where we truly sit on the spectrum of political discourse. We are really missing out on a lot of good opportunities.
This means, in my view, turning the tables on what lines we often take with stories and various issues and taking them around that 180 degrees, directly on our opponents turf. Ultimately, hoisting them by their own petard, using their own techniques, and claiming the moral/righteous high ground. (Possibly at the same time as other issues happen on the streets and elsewhere lend credence to our positions and our grounding).
Although I am a British Nationalist, I have to admit in the last 6 months and at the immediate moment, my influences are coming more from the Occidental Observer, Amren, Altright, NPI, Front National etc than Gates of Vienna, Brussels Journal, campaign groups, EDL, BCG or whoever else.
A recent Altright article I liked, for example, was this one: http://www.alternativeright.com/main/blogs/untimely-observations/the-new-right-and-what-it-can-offer-the-rest-of-the-world/ because it was something different and possibly worthy of further thought and action as to how we build up a future direction as a 'whole'.
Influential people in my world at the moment are Alex Kurtagic, Richard Spencer, Jared Taylor and paleoconservatives like on Vdare and like Pat Buchannan.
Alex Kurtagic, I have to say, has been highly influential to me of late. I think that he has quite a fresh and dynamic approach to things and as such he does comes at it from another angle (not necessarily the exact same one I envisage though).
Only this weekend, did I listen to his interview with Richard Spencer on AltRight Radio - and again, I am glad I did. http://www.alternativeright.com/altright-radio/ . (The RamzPaul one there is rather amusing too).
I think we need these radical (as in, different) thinkers (within nationalism) to shake things up from time to time - or to tell us some home truths about where we are going wrong or how we might do better. At least they are positive and putting suggestions forward and not just slagging everything off and saying that everything, all the time, has no point.
I need to give much more thought as to what I am trying to envisage for the cause and how it will shape my future directions. I hope that whatever happens (with all these scenarios and branches of thought) we can work something out as a whole.
As usual for me, I do not know how long I will be sticking around though.
During my current void, I have felt the need to continue getting my personal "house" in order, my nationalist related affairs tidied up, my back catalogue of collections issued somewhere for other people to use, perhaps a few documentaries made/finished.
That's why I have been quiet here lately. I have started one of my projects, and bloody hell, it is a right chore having to wade through and compile it! I could do with 100 volunteers all doing 1000 pieces each - lol.
However, I feel that I need to do this 'finalising' for the sake of personal clarity/tidiness and, admittedly, for the sake of potentially "packing-it-in" and moving on with the rest of my life.
This time next month I may feel very differently about a lot of things though. Who knows?!......