anarchistcommunism:

While the EDL was racist, it was essentially a group of far-right reactionaries barking at Islamophobic dog-whistles. Patriotic Alternative (PA) is more explicitly concerned with ethnicity and has a more coherently racist politics. On a recent livestream, Collett congratulated a PA supporter who had just had a child for “welcoming more white babies in the world”. PA’s website includes a curriculum for parents who want to home-school their children with a more ethnocentric education.

In his 2022 northern conference speech, Collett said, “There is a phrase that many people in our movement love and it states that we must not just secure an existence for our people but we must also ensure a future for our children” – paraphrasing the 14 words which originated in the US neo-Nazi terrorist group The Order.

“PA is obviously Islamophobic, they’re antisemitic, they’re misogynist, they are ethno-nationalist – racist to the extreme. We refer to them as fascist and neo-Nazi and these are accurate descriptors of their politics,” says Sam.

PA appears to be a little more savvy, too. While the EDL was publicity hungry, it is largely thanks to the work of Red Flare and other anti-fascist researchers that we know much about PA at all.

While the group has done a number of attention-grabbing stunts, it operates somewhat secretively – often blurring the faces of activists on publicity photos – and focuses on community-building activities such as walks and gaming sessions.

These activities are aimed at bringing in new converts and “radicalising them, rather than throwing people straight into more or more explicitly political activity,” says Kit.