CYBERCULTURE AND THE ENDURANCE OF
WHITE POWER ACTIVISM
PETE SIMI*
University of Nebraska, Omaha
ROBERT FUTRELL
University of Nevada. Las Vegas
Joumal of Political and Military Sociology, 2006, Vol. 34, No. 1 (Summer): 115-142
Drawing from ethnographic and documentary data, this article examines the
character of the social spaces that white power movement (WPM) activists
create on the Internet and the linkages to their real world activism. Specifically,
we explain how white power activists use cyberspace as a free space to create
and sustain movement culture and coordinate collective action. The WPM's
cyberpresence intersects with and enhances their real world activities by
offering multiple opportunities for access and coordination. Virtual contact
with the WPM community offers members social support, companionship, and a
sense of belonging to a community of Aryan believers. We argue that real and
virtual spaces are not completely separate spheres but rather closely intertwined.
Consequently, virtual spaces provide an opportunity to parallel and
extend the type of interaction present in real world free spaces that are so
critical to nurturing and sustaining white power movement culture.
Cyberspace is being used to connect all sorts of people, yet the
character of those connections is unclear. Some observers argue that cyberspace
is a new place of assembly where real world social communities can be
established, sustained, or renewed as virtual communities. In The Virtual
Community (1993), Howard Rheingold argues the Intemet introduced a new
form of community that can help bring people together on-line around shared
values and interests, and create ties of support that extend their real world
collective interaction. Sherry Turkle (1995:267), a pioneer in studies of identity
and interaction on the Intemet, claims that the virtual realm offers "a dramatic
Please direct correspondence to Pete Simi, Department of Criminal
Justice, University of Nebraska, Omaha, Omaha, NE 68182-0149; email:
psimi@mail.unomaha.edu. We want to thank editors Dobratz and Waldner and
the anonymous JPMS reviewers for their helpful suggestions on earlier drafts of
this article. Research support for this project was provided by the National
Science Foundation (SES-0202129), the UNLV Graduate College, and the
Office of Sponsored Programs at the University of Nebraska, Omaha.
116 Joumal of Political and Military Sociology
new context" in which to think about human interaction and how connections
between people can be made. Communities that are linked through cyberspace
expand the ways that individuals can connect to groups by overcoming
constraints of time and place, allowing for high volume information flows, and
enhancing solidarity among users (Brunsting and Postmes 2002; Diani 2000;
Turkle 1999, 1995; Doheny-Farina 1996; Haraway 1991). Skeptics, however,
argue that cyberspace creates mere simulacra of community. At best, very weak
social ties are sustained in the absence of face-to-face interaction.
As cyberspace becomes a prominent tool used by movement organizers
and activists, movement scholars are weighing in on the same questions to
understand contemporary social movement cultures. Most of these commentators
are critical of the idea that robust collective sensibilities can be built
through the virtual realm. For instance, Gamson (1996:35) argues that cyberspace
is "not a particularly useful kind of space when it comes to building
commitment . . ." because it lacks direct physical contact and concrete action
settings that he feels are crucial for these qualities to emerge. Others agree,
claiming that the lack of face-to-face relations, spatial distance, and relative
anonymity in cyberspace creates only weakly connected social networks, not
strong communities (Stoecker 2002; Tarrow 1998; Burghart 1996; Nohria and
Eccles 1992).
Which side is correct? Both are a bit misleading because they tend to
treat virtual interaction and face-to-face interaction as separate social spheres
with little connection between them. As Wellman and Gulia (1998:182)
explain, "people do not neatly divide their worlds into two discrete sets: people
seen in person and people contacted online. Rather, many community ties
connect offline as weii as online. It is the relationship [between virtual and real
world contexts] that is the important thing . . ." (p. 182). According to Castells
(2001:119, 121), the Intemet does not replace but rather adds on-line interaction
to social relationships and if anything, it may allow for more social interaction
than would otherwise occur. Barry Wellman and his colleagues have pointed
out in several studies (Wellman and Haythomthwaite 2002; Wellman 1998,
1997) that there appears to be positive and cumulative effect between intensity
of use of the Intemet and density of social relationships. The Intemet, then,
does not substitute for other forms of interaction, rather it adds another layer
(see also Waskul 2003; Denzin 1999). Cyberspace is just one context that, in
conjunction with an array of face-to-face contexts, can be very influential in
movement members' efforts to construct and sustain movement culture and
collective action. It provides new technological supports for sociability that
spans physically and virtually-situated interaction (Wellman 2001; Castells
2001).
In this article we use ethnographic data on the U.S. white power
movement (WPM) to describe the character of the social spaces movement
members create on the Web and the linkages to their real world activism.
Cyberculture and the Endurance of White Power Activism 117
Specifically, we describe how white power activists use cyberspace to create and
sustain movement culture and coordinate collective action by discussing how the
movement's cyberpresence intersects with and enhances their real world
activities. The WPM is an especially useful case as, over the past decade,
activists and organizations have emphasized the development ofthe movement's
web presence precisely for the purpose of providing new channels of access to
other movement groups, members, and cultural items, and as a coordinating
mechanism for real world activities. By drawing from a unique data set that
includes both comprehensive content analysis of WPM websites, interviews
with activists, and participant observation in WPM groups, we begin to fill a gap
in the thin systematic ethnographic accounting of the character of virtual-real
world interface in the WPM. Our approach also moves a step beyond prior
studies on the WPM's cyberpresence which have tended to look at it only from
afar, content analyzing the rhetorical dimensions of web content (Duffy 2003;
Berbrier 2000) or links between websites (Burris, Smith, and Strahm 2000).
WPM, FREE SPACE, AND CYBERSPACE
The WPM is a segmented network of overlapping groups such as the
Ku Klux Klan (KKK), Christian Identity sects, neo-Nazis, and Aryan skinheads
(Burris et al. 2000; Dobratz and Shanks-Meile 2000). Although there are
differences among these wings of the WPM, they all agree on fundamental
doctrines (Burris et al. 2000). Foremost among these objectives is the
commitment to white power and defending the "white race" from "genocide."
They envision a world that is racially exclusive with "non-whites" being
vanquished, segregated, or at least subordinated to Aryan authority. Many
WPM members are strongly anti-Semitic, support Aryan militarist nationalism,
and claim to seek a white homeland to control and defend against non-Aryans.
They also oppose homosexuality, inter-racial sex, marriage, and procreation, and
idealize conservative traditional patriarchal family forms and community
relations dominated by Aryan kinship. It is this "general... agreement on basic
ideas [which] is the glue that holds the movement together" (Ezekiel 1995:xxix).
The WPM's extreme racialism and anti-Semitism means the movement
is highly marginalized and membership is risky. Public rallies and demonstrations
draw strong counter-protests and many activists reportedly face the anger
and indignation (and sometime retribution) of employers, neighbors, and
acquaintances if their Aryan ideals are revealed (Back 2002; Blee 2002; Dobratz
and Shanks-Meile 2000). The WPM's foremost goal is to overcome the barriers
to involvement by creating a robust movement culture that draws activists
together and supports their participation.
Like all highly marginalized groups, the WPM requires "free spaces"
(Evans and Boyte 1992) where they meet, articulate, and support their views.
"Because," as Gamson (1996:37) notes, "whenever there is a significant power
difference, the less powerful group needs some safe space where they are free—
118 Joumal of Political and Military Sociology
for awhile—to be themselves without pressure or self-consciousness about what
members of the more powerflil group may think or how they will react." Free
spaces, along with "safe spaces" (Gamson 1996), "havens" (Hirsch 1990),
"protected spaces" (Tetreault 1993), and "sequestered social sites" (Scott 1990),
describe small-scale settings that provide activists the autonomy from dominant
groups where they can nurture oppositional cultures and organize collective
action (Poiletta 1999; Evans and Boyte 1992; Couto 1993). Scholars have
identified free spaces in a range of sites, including real world physical settings
such as feminist bookstores (Taylor and Whittier 1995), block clubs and bars
(Fantasia and Hirsch 1995), the Black church in the Southem civil rights
movement (Morris 1984) and virtual settings of cyberspace (Gamson 1996).
These sites are "repositories of cultural materials" (McAdam in Poiletta, 1999:
4) where activists "preserve movement networks and traditions" (Poiletta 1999:
4; Couto 1993) and cultivate support for their activities and beliefs. Free spaces
are both an outcome of enduring collective action and, simultaneously, help
sustain that action.
While the free space concept is useful for highlighting the contexts
where members create and sustain oppositional cultures and collective action,
more work is needed to understand exactly how free spaces facilitate these
outcomes (Poiletta 1999). As Francesca Poiletta (1999) observes, the analytic
force ofthe free space concept has been diminished by inconsistencies in its use
and a deeper failure to grasp the more complex dynamics of mobilization. She
points out that part of the ambiguity results from the confiation of several
stmctures that play different roles in mobilization (Poiletta 1999). Her strategy
to correct this is to distinguish different types of free space structures and the
particular tasks of mobilization they serve. Poiletta (1999) identifies three such
structures—indigenous, transmovement, and prefigurative free spaces—and
compares them in terms of the associational ties that each tends to support. This
useful typology refines the analytic specificity in important ways, yet other
questions still remain. We need to not only understand how particular types of
free space are organized and used to sustain movement culture and collective
action, but also how different forms of free space are related to one another and
the character of those relationships.
We are interested in the relationship between a movement's real world
and virtual spaces. Most previous research identifies free spaces primarily in
reference to physically-located space where face-to-face interaction occurs. But
the rise of cyberspace means that virtual contexts and virtual experienees are
more and more common. Movements are utilizing the virtual realm as free
space where activists can meet, express, and experience movement culture. This
raises questions about the relationship between virtual and real world spaces.
Are these separate and distinct parts of movement culture, or are they connected
in ways that provides support for collective action across real-world and virtual
forms?
Cyberculture and the Endurance of White Power Aetivism 119
We began this task in our previous work which examines how the
WPM creates a broad array of free spaces that are utilized to articulate, support,
and sustain white power culture (Futrell and Simi 2004). In this paper, we
concentrate solely on the role of cyberspace as a free space in the WPM and
how cyberspace is used in relation to real world movement contexts. Generally,
it appears that cyberspace offers a safe, powerful, and efficient context for
people to articulate challenges to dominant cultural codes which oppose overt
and extreme forms of racism and anti-Semitism. As Gamson (1996) explains,
websites can be insulated from the normalizing processes of mainstream culture,
thereby allowing for open expressions of indignation and critical analysis of
circumstances movement members feel they face.
While cyberspace is a potentially powerful communication medium,
webpresence alone cannot establish or sustain a movement culture and collective
action. A movement's cyberpresence must be linked to real world contexts if it
is to have the cultural vitality needed to sustain collective action. As Gamson
(1996:35) notes.
You can't link arms and sing "We Shall Overcome" in
cyberspace. . . . "Cultures of solidarity" are constructed . . .
while interacting with each other over time in concrete action
settings. ... Face to face interaction and physical contact play
a role in building and maintaining solidarity and commitment
that are not provided in cyberspace.
This is an important point, but it is also limited because it rests on the
assumption that cyberspace and face-to-face interaction are distinctly separate
spheres. The problem with separating cyberspace and real world contexts is that
we miss the multiple linkages that exist between them and how each contributes
together to sustaining movement culture and collective action. Below, we focus
on how WPM activists now use the Internet as an essential component of their
real world activities. By explaining how cyberspace is integrated into daily life
and explicit non-virtual movement contexts, we can better understand how the
Internet is used to increase opportunities to link otherwise disparate activist
networks, create opportunities for multiple layers of movement commitment and
participation, enable complex logistical planning, report on real world
movement occasions, and provide access to an array of WPM cultural items.
METHOD AND DATA
We draw primarily from ethnographic data collected on various WPM
activists and groups between 1996 and 2005.' Our multi-method approach
' There are methodological difficulties stemming from WPM members'
preference for secrecy and, at times, participation in illegal activities. Entry into
the movement's groups is difficult, networks are diverse and loosely structured.
120 Journal of Political and Military Sociology
(Denzin 1978) included interviews, participant observation, and content analysis
of WPM websites and other literature. We draw from 107 in-depth face-to-face
and telephone interviews with 63 WPM activists. These interviews spanned one
to three hours each. Snowball and purposive sampling strategies produced
contacts with a wide range of activists, networks, and groups within the WPM
across twenty-four states. Specific organizations represented include White
Aryan Resistance, Aryan Nations, Hammerskins, National Alliance, Ku Klux
Klan, Southwest Aryan Separatists (SWAS) and various smaller skinhead
groups (e.g., Aryan Front, Orange County Skins).^ Interviews included
questions about members' perceptions of cyberspace, particularly its
effectiveness as a communication, recruitment, and identity-building tool, and
descriptions of their experiences with producing, using, and maintaining Aryan
websites. Of the 63 interview subjects, 41 "agreed" or "strongly agreed" that
the Internet is an effective tool for aiding movement activism. Respondents also
indicated that the Internet increases communication among WPM activists who
are spatially disconnected, provides moral support among WPM activists, and is
a vital asset in the logistical planning of events such as music shows and rallies.
In-depth interviews with key informants helped clarify the meaning of
Internet use and activism in cyberspace. Interviewees included six website
owner/administrators, movement members who regularly used web forums and
other Internet-based communications, and members who rarely or never used
the Internet. Observational field work concentrated on Christian Identity
activists in the Southwest, Aryan Nations activists in Idaho, WPM participants
in Southern California, several white power music promoters and band
members, and numerous local skinhead groups. Simi visited the former Aryan
Nations headquarters on four different occasions for three to five days to
and levels of activism vary widely among participants. Moreover, we are not
members of these groups and WPM activists are often antagonistic toward
outsiders. One author made contact with Aryan Nations and Southwest Aryan
Separatists via several letters and phone calls requesting, as a sociologist,
opportunities to observe various movement events. Eventually these requests
were granted by both groups with the only condition being that he was white.
The interviews and observations there were done with fiill disclosure of the
author's position as sociological observer. The initial contacts with Aryan
Nations led to further communication with other white power activists across
several of the movement's networks. These contacts snowballed into the sample
described above.
^ In the case of widely known white power groups, the names of the
organizations and their representatives are left unchanged. In other cases,
pseudonyms are used. Participants in the web-based forum groups create their
own pseudonyms which we randomly selected and attached to the posts that we
analyzed. Any references to actual names were omitted.
Cyberculture and the Endurance of White Power Activism 121
observe three Aryan Nations World Congresses. Contacts with Southern
California white power groups included two live website/radio broadcast
productions, various social gatherings, music concerts and festivals, and twentytwo
home visits with activists ranging from one day to three weeks.
We also examined forty-eight websites and four Internet forum groups
dedicated to the WPM. Websites were categorized by their primary topical
focus: music, politics, and religion. The forums are a bulletin board service,
where participants can interact with one another by clicking on "threads" (i.e.,
topics) within each forum (e.g., "general forum," "homeschooling" etc.).
Threads are textual conversations that are organized chronologically on the
forum's webpages (Denzin 1999:114). When a participant posts in the forum,
she/he is identified by usemame. These posts are cultural artifacts that are
amenable to empirical content analysis (Denzin 1999; Waskul 2003). We
collected data from these posts using what Bainbridge (2000:57) refers to as
"observation ethnography." This technique involved a relatively passive
research role in which we content analyzed forum threads without interacting
directly with participants. We analyzed the first message of every thread posted
on the main forum of four different WPM bulletin boards (n=451) using
ethnographic content analysis methods (Ahuvia 2001; Altheide 1996; 2002). We
used the individual post as the unit of analysis and coded each message. Several
themes emerged fi-om the data: 1) requests for assistance with movement-related
projects; 2) exposing traitors; 3) outreach from/to new members; 4) movement
news and announcements; and 5) commentary on world affairs.^ Combining
observational, interview, and website data with principles of inductive analysis
we derived the themes we discuss below."*
While we present our themes in a systematic and organized way, we do
not intend to depict a homogenous, invariant picture of WPM culture and
experience. Our arguments focus on dominant themes drawn from our data.
And while our snowball and purposive sampling techniques are clearly not
representative of the entire WPM, the sample does include activists from a wide
array of WPM organizations across the different branches of the WPM and from
every region in the U.S. Our multi-method strategy produced a dense array of
^ 33% of the posts included requests for assistance (n=148), outreach to
new members included 23% (n=104), movement announcements 21% (n=97),
general news 18% (n=79), and exposing traitors was 5% (n=23).
Fieldnotes contained observations of behavior related to Internet
usage (emailing practices, producing web-based radio shows) and unsolicited
commentary regarding the effectiveness of the Internet for building and
sustaining collective identity. The latter was especially useflil as it provided a
comparison to interview data where research subjects were directly questioned
about the effectiveness of the Internet.
122 Journal of Political and Military Sociology
data allowing for a robust ethnographic accounting of the movement's real
world and cyberspace activities.
REAL WORLD AND VIRTUAL FREE SPACE IN THE WPM
We begin this discussion by describing the WPM's real world free
spaces then move to describe free space in the virtual realm and analyze the
character of the connections between the two. We argue that real and virtual
spaces are not completely separate spheres but rather closely intertwined.
Consequently, virtual spaces provide an opportunity to parallel and extend the
type of interaction present in real world free spaces that are so critical to
nurturing and sustaining white power movement culture.
REAL WORLD FREE SPACE
Our previous work (Futrell and Simi 2004) identifies two main types of
real world free space created by the WPM. Since these types are described at
length in an earlier article, we provide a summary overview here to acquaint
readers with those findings. One type of real world free space is located in
rather benign, everyday settings, particularly the home, where political
socialization occurs in relative safety from social controls. WPM families with
children use the home as a space for political indoctrination into Aryan
worldviews (Blee 2002; Aho 1990). This should not be surprising as the
intergenerationai transmission of movement ideas is essential to sustaining
marginalized movements and the level of control and anonymity that is possible
in the home helps to ensure that such socialization can occur relatively
unchallenged (Johnston 1994, 1991). Similarly, Richard Couto (1993:61) notes
that repression almost guarantees that movement culture will be sustained
mainly "in carefully guarded free spaces, such as the family." WPM members
themselves place a great deal of emphasis on the home and family as a free
space.
We all know the movement begins with the family so if you
can't save your family then what's the point? The family is
what we fight for—it is the struggle - keeping your families
pure and raising your kids among your kin so you don't have
to worry about the 'nons' (nonwhites) coming in . . . (SWAS
activist, 1/22/97)
Activists imbue the home with "racial politics" in several ways.
Parents name children and even pets with symbols of Aryan ideology. They
also create family rituals which promote racial politics. For instance, beforemeal
prayers in Christian Identity families typically promote racial separation
and visions of a white homeland and express expectations of an impending race
war. Birthday celebrations and other rites of passage (e.g., graduations, bunting
Cyberculture and the Endurance of White Power Activism 123
trips etc.) are used to initiate children into white power culture. Birthdays are
particularly symbolic as cakes are decorated with swastikas, KKK images and
phrases such as "14 words" or "white power" and gifts are often linked within
an Aryan ideology (e.g., G.I. Joe becomes "G.I. Nazis who will help save the
white race") (SWAS activist, 3/6/98). Typically, WPM cultural items are also
prominently displayed in the home. These may include pictures of Adolf Hider
and collages of children surrounded by WPM symbols, along with posters,
cards, newsletters, racist comic and coloring books. Clothing, such as t-shirts
emblazoned with Hitler, Nazi soldiers, hooded Klansmen, and motifs of white
power music bands, are staples of activists' wardrobes. Homeschooling is the
most systematic approach to political socialization engineered in WPM families.
It allows WPM families both direct control over the dissemination of white
power ideology and practices while simultaneously subverting multicultural
values, centering the family experience on core white power ideals and
practices. As a Southern California Aryan mother and homeschooler explains,
European culture is fading, our tradition is being stripped
away so we have to do something to fight the assault . . . I
think with the public schools just promoting filth and
hypocrisy I can't imagine sending my kids there so I teach
them here and I know the more we do this we will be ensuring
our children have the tools to preserve our culture. ... (Aryan
Mother, 6/20/04)
Indeed, all the members we have spoken to enthusiastically see the rearing of
ideologically-aligned children as an essential contribution to sustaining the
movement. Each of these home-based practices is used to make the home an
ideological shelter where radical racist meanings are normalized and freely
expressed (also see Blee 2004, 2002).
The home is also the site for other movement activities such as racist
Bible study groups and Aryan-themed parties where WPM members congregate
to express and experience Aryan culture. Small independent churches and Bible
study meetings that join between five and twenty members are held in activists'
homes so that members ean openly practice what they believe is the "true"
Biblical insight inspired by Aryan ideals. In these situations, participants claim
a great deal of autonomy to elaborate white power ideals and enjoy the affective
support of like-minded activists. Larger congregations that draw up to 50
members sometimes meet in formal church settings. During the service
members will often pledge their allegiance to the movement in elaborate rituals
said to render them spiritually and racially "pure."
WPM house parties are designed as free spaces where activists explore
and enact various dimensions of white power ideology. They typically draw
between 15 to 50 WPM sympathizers who nurture common ideological ground
with one another through talk that dramatizes their plight and ritual
124 Joumal of Political and Military Sociology
performances intended to represent Aryan ideals. In short, these parties ensure a
space where members can freely discuss Aryan ideas and enact Aryan
relationships. They are intentionally and explicitly organized as free spaces.
When you live in a world like we do, you have to fmd places
where you don't have to hold back on being racist; where
other people feel and act the same way you do. The parties
are defmitely part of it. ... You get a chance to come together
in a small setting where it's easier to know people and build
friendships. (SoCal skinhead, 9/7/02)
A primary function of these spaces is to create an environment that
frees up discussion around movement narratives that are taboo in other contexts
(Poiletta 1999:6; Couto 1993). WPM parties are replete with narratives
extolling the virtues of Aryanism. Movement "fortifying myths" (Voss 1996:
252), which celebrate the efficacy and persistence of the WPM, are customary.
Likewise, members tell stories of racial dispossession that details how their
racial consciousness emerged or offer elaborate morality tales that typically
emphasize non-whites' culpability for societal problems and small victories for
Aryanism (see also Blee 2002). The storytelling cues others to offer similar
tales as mutual reinforcement of white power norms. Talk also defmes racial
boundaries and the parameters of white power lifestyles. Stridently racist jokes
provide a language for activists to communicate ideological themes (Billig
2001). Activists we spoke to also fmd these parties to be safe places where they
not only express white power ideals but explore, question, and clarify specific
features of white power identity. Additionally, the multigenerational character
of many WPM parties means that younger activists can interact with veterans
who share stories of their white power activities and visions.
Another type of free space created by the WPM is organized on a much
broader scale than the home or local contexts and draws otherwise unconnected
members and groups into more extensive webs of white power culture. Aryan
"conferences" and "congresses" draw members from a variety of WPM groups
for fellowshipping and support. Intentional Aryan communities are being
established to provide long-term havens for stigmatized Aryans to live together
and sustain "pure" Aryan culture. Music concerts and festivals are the largest,
most elaborate, and well-known across the WPM (Anti-Defamation League
2002). In each of these spaces, members whose activism may otherwise be
limited to the private orbits of home and networks of friends find entree into
wider movement networks where they can learn the full extent to which their
claims and ideals are shared by others (Scott 1990). These events are among the
few places where movement activists can experience, in relative freedom from
stigma and political repression, a large, extended community of white power
adherents that exemplify the qualities of the "racially-cleansed" society they
imagine.
Cyberculture and the Endurance of White Power Activism 125
Events such as the Aryan Nations Congress^, Christian Identity
Conference, and White Christian Heritage Festival stress the "normality" of
extreme racism and provide attendees the opportunity to express these
sentiments. Seminars are usually offered on movement ideology, recruitment
strategies, and, sometimes, guerilla warfare. Racist rituals are often performed
such as singing racialized hymns, wearing white power regalia, sacred cross
lightings, and commitment ceremonies. One Aryan Nations member explains
the crosscutting networks and the inspirational character of ritual participation.
I'm so glad to see folks from all over the U.S, and even
comrades from Europe . . . it's during these [Congresses] that
we really get to share in fellowship and white solidarity . . .
it's a great sight when you have your racial brothers show up
for an event like this . . . and when it's time to light the
swastika well that's what really inspires me. . . . (AN activist,
7/23/98)
A small number of intentional Aryan communities developed over the
last few decades are organized as model Aryan societies. They contain as few
as a dozen members to around 100 activists and are located across the country.
In recent years the most prominent have been the 346 acre National Alliance
grounds near Hillsboro, West Virginia, and Elohim City, a 1,000 acre white
separatist community in eastem Oklahoma. These communities typically
exclude non-whites, house Aryan worship centers, archives of white power
literature and paraphemalia. They are also hubs for white power networking as
activists outside the communities often pilgrimage to them to experience an
active Aryan settlement or as a way station for those traveling or eluding
authorities (Hamm 2002).
Since the late-1990s, white power music concerts have become the
largest and most prominent free space gatherings among WPM members.
Hammerfest, which is sponsored by the skinhead group Hammerskin Nation,
and Nordic Fest, which is organized by Imperial Klans of America occur
annually and reportedly draw between 300 and 600 activists (Anti-Defamation
League 2002). They typically feature between 8 and 12 bands, speeches from
WPM leaders, white power merchandise vendors, and an array of WPM ritual.
Organizers limit attendance to WPM sympathizers to insulate attendees from
' Legal actions against by local civil rights activists and the Southem
Poverty Law Center stripped Aryan Nations of its compound in 2000, forcing a
hiatus on the annual events. However, in late-June 2003, approximately 75
activists from Aryan Nations, KKK, National Socialist Movement, and White
Revolustion reorganized the World Congress in a state park near the former
Aryan Nations compound (Huus 2003). More recently, an Aryan Nations
faction located in Lincoln, Alabama is now hosting a World Congress.
126 Joumal of Political and Military Sociology
authorities and counterprotesters. The festivals are often organized on remote,
private lands, the exact location of which is announced via movement websites
only days before the event. Such privacy ensures that these events provide
opportunities for fellowshipping with large numbers of activist peers in a free
space devoted solely to white power ideals. WPM members openly express and
preserve Aryan ideals in the free spaces of concerts and festivals.
When you're at a show you get to do things you normally
can't do and it just feels great to let go and be what you are
[audience members are simultaneously sieg heiling during the
performance]. You know, be a racist with everyone else
who's here. We're all here because . . . we want to be
somewhere where . . . you don't have to be ashamed. . . . It's
hard to find places where you can do that. (Aryan musician/
activist, 7/15/02)
Music events are especially important as one of the few settings where WPM
activists participate in collective relationships anchored in Aryan ideals. Such
free spaces help to sustain this marginalized movement culture.
VIRTUAL FREE SPACE
Cyberspace is also a free space where WPM members connect to
movement networks and other dimensions of white power culture. But, it is
unique in comparison to the real world spaces described above. The Intemet
offers only highly-mediated virtual interaction which affects the character of the
connection between participants. Gamson (1996:35) and others note that
because it lacks direct physical contact, the deeply-felt social relationships that
anchor strong collective identities among social movement members may be
hard to create in the virtual world of cyberspace. Without face to face relations,
commitment and solidarity are weak. On the other hand, cyberspace also helps
activists overcome obstacles to connecting and interacting with other movement
participants and groups. The Intemet offers a myriad of WPM websites where
virtual networking is relatively unconstrained by limits of time and space. The
Intemet allows rapid and flexible forms of communication that may produce
new forms of collective action not otherwise possible (Gamson 1996:36; see
also Earl and Schussman 2003). But as we have already pointed out, to think of
cyberspace as unrelated to the real world spaces that movements create is
problematic. Recalling Wellman and Gulia (1998), "people do not neatly divide
their worlds into two discrete sets: people seen in person and people contacted
online. Rather, many community ties connect offline as well as online. It is the
relationship between virtual and real world contexts that is the important thing
. . . " (p. 182). Cyberspace does not stand alone or apart from real world
activities, but rather is increasingly incorporated into how people access,
organize, talk about, and support them.
Cyberculture and the Endurance of White Power Activism 127
Below, we describe the WPM's cyberpresence and then discuss the
main qualities of the relationship between the WPM's real world and virtual free
spaces. First, cyberspace is a means of accessing various dimensions of
movement culture and coordinating real world movement activities enacted by
WPM members. Second, WPM websites sustain movement narratives that are
rooted in and parallel the real world contexts where those narratives are created
and preserved. These uses help activists extend their real world interactions
over time and space. The Internet is a means to freely express radical beliefs
and to do so with greater frequency and with a multitude of otherwise
unconnected WPM members. To be clear, we offer these qualities as analytic
distinctions only; in actual practice they overlap significantly.
ACCESS AND COORDINATION
The WPM's cyberpresence is easily found. Internet keyword searches
such as "Aryan" or "white power" lead to an array of movement websites where
virulent racist and anti-Semitic views are touted. These websites enhance access
to the movement in several ways. They supply online links to an array of
members and groups, provide information about movement ideals and activities,
are repositories for the movement's cultural items, and facilitate awareness
about and entree into real world spaces that might otherwise be unknown to
many members.
WPM websites provide infonnation about the movement in the form of
music, literature, and Aryan symbolism (Schroer 2001) while real-time
communication in chatrooms offers members the opportunity to create and
sustain various virtual white power communities. According to Burris et al.
(2000:215), these linkages show ". . . ties of affinity, paths of communication,
tokens of mutual aid . . . and/or potential avenues of coordination." Infonnation
about the movement travels quickly and unimpeded across these cybemetworks
and links are especially common between Klan and neo-Nazi skinhead websites
both nationally and internationally (Burris et al. 2000). Websites hosted by
major WPM organizations such as the National Alliance, Aryan Nations, and
White Revolution provide basic information and literature about movement
ideology, report on activities across movement branches, and distribute racist
merchandise, even racist video games (e.g.. Ghetto Blaster, Racial Holy War).
Some sites intersect very closely with the home to enhance the racial
socialization that occurs there. For instance, the Women for Aryan Unity
(WAU) website offers parenting advice and a space for parents to discuss
strategies for indoctrinating their children into the movement (see also Rogers
and Litt 2004). There are cyber-newsletters and discussion groups organized
around home schooling. Other virtual spaces are designed explicitly for children
(and even, ostensibly, by children as in the case of Stormfront.org creator Don
Black's 12-year old son who fronts Stormfrontkids.org). These pages provide
racist crossword puzzles, coloring pages, and children's white power literature
128 Journal of Political and Military Sociology
(Blee 2004, 2002). During home visits and music events we often observed
parents utilize web-based home schooling material such as coloring books,
children's literature, and workbooks. All of these materials are easily accessible
in cyberspace enabling WPM families to integrate them into their daily
practices.
The array of websites and the activity that occurs on them offers
adherents a sense that there is a community of like-mined people "out there" to
connect and empathize with, and who freely support their adherence to white
power ideals. Many members report their experiences with the WPM's
webpresence as directly representing a much larger community of movement
adherents than they would otherwise be aware of or able to contact. An Aryan
Front member captures this common sentiment about the WPM's virtual
community.
It keeps me connected, I don't have much free time to attend
as many rallies or festivals as I'd like but emailing and the
chatrooms and just the websites make me feel a lot less alone.
... I think the Internet just makes it easier to be a racialist
when you know what's out there and how many other people
all over the world are fighting for pretty much the same thing
you are.... (Aryan Front activist, 6/27/04)
Similarly, a Southeastern Aryan Activist explains WPM websites as "... forums
that help connect people to something larger that's out there" (Southeastern
Aryan activist 12/15/02). That "something larger" is a sense of a collective
movement community, accessibility to which has grown with the use of the Web
as a virtual resource for tapping into movement groups and meeting members.
Hoffman (1996:72) explains, the Internet presents opportunities for networking
that simply did not exist before by offering a private form of communication and
"bring[ing] distant isolated groups and individuals together." This community
"out there" increasingly extends to international networks.
The Intemet is the great equalizer when it comes to giving
groups who are considered deviant a voice and letting them
build connections with like-minded groups from across the
globe. And, in a lot of cases it really works. Racists from all
over the world are able to talk in email, chatrooms, literature is
distributed all over. (Aryan Nations activist, 4/23/97)
Likewise, a Northern Hammerskin observes.
Since we've been able to access the Intemet and email
Hammers in other countries it's changed everything. We
really see ourselves as part of an intemational movement. We
communicate with each other on a regular basis, we
coordinate events, we share our views on issues...The Intemet
Cyberculture and the Endurance of White Power Activism 129
has helped us in the direction of seeing other skinheads as
intemational brothers fighting for the same cause. I've been
around a long time and it is really a lot different than before
we had the Intemet. We knew about [skinheads in other parts
of the world], but it was more word of mouth and now we're
actually working together. (Northem Hammerskin, 7/13/02)
In addition to providing access to and awareness of the WPM
community "out there," the Web gives easy access to WPM cultural items and
the Aryan aesthetic enacted daily by many members. Many websites host photo
galleries filled with pictures of Aryan families including infants adomed with
movement regalia (e.g., a baby Klan robe and hood or children posing for family
portraits saluting Nazi-style wearing symbols of the movement) and displays of
activists' tattoos composed of Aryan symbols such as the German iron cross.
Confederate flag, portraits of Hitler, and slogans such as, "Supreme White
Power." Also, Intemet catalogs offer a variety of movement paraphemalia used
to display membership such as clothing, music CDs, books, magazines, flags,
patches, stickers, dolls, games, and other toys. A SoCal skinhead explains.
It's really cool how you can get all this shit off the net now.
Ten years ago there really wasn't that much stuff you could
get . . . but now you've got all the music, the clothes . . . I
mean you can get pretty much anything you can think of I
bought my daughter a toy figure of Hitler from a movement
website. I mean you're not going to find that at Wal-Mart.
These products . . . they show how far we've come and how
much possibility there is. . . . (Southem Califomia skinhead,
6/14/04)
Cultural items such as these are interwoven with the spaces and routines of daily
life, and their use may reduce the psychological distance between everyday
experience and the virulent racism that marks movement membership (Futrell
and Simi 2004).
WPM music is a popular vehicle to connect to movement culture.
Music-based websites provide easy access to movement music in the form of
racist songs (and lyrics) as MP3 downloads, CDs, streaming radio and video, as
well as movement music paraphemalia. These websites are managed by groups
that range from small two or three person Intemet outlets that stock and
distribute Aryan music to larger, independent labels that sign bands, produce
recordings, sell merchandise, and organize live concerts, festivals, and minitours.
Resistance Records and Free Your Mind Productions (fonnerly
Panzerfaust) have the most prominent and elaborate Intemet presence.
Hundreds of titles from white power bands can be ordered through each
organization's website along with access to 24-hour streaming radio, chatrooms
for activists, and racist books, videos, jewelry, and clothing. The websites
130 Joumal of Political and Military Sociology
display political lifestyle models of Aryan activism which viewers are
encouraged to assimilate and reproduce. Resistance Records markets their own
fanzine. Resistance, and clothing brand, "Aryan Wear," which combines Viking,
skinhead, punk, and military influences. Such cultural displays of racism can
help members reproduce the look and sensibilities that are presented.
Cyberspace also makes it possible to access a variety of real world free
spaces that might otherwise be unknown to many members. Indeed, virtual
white power websites and the activist networks they support are almost always
tied to real world activities. Major WPM organizations, such as the National
Alliance, Aryan Nations, and White Revolution promote a variety of national
and regional gatherings using the Web. These include their own meetings as
well as meetings of affiliated groups. Since most of these websites are linked to
many others they offer quick and easy connections to a range of WPM groups
sponsoring real world gatherings. Web surfers can find events categorized by
locale and choose to attend those most convenient to them. Music events are
also organized through the web. For instance, attendees of Aryan Fest 2004
were instmcted via a password protected website to gather at a meeting place
several miles from the event at times set by festival organizers where they were
first scmtinized and then led to the site.
Cyberspace even enables some participants not physically attending to
feel part of the action in these real world spaces. The Web helps them to
vicariously participate by attending to reports about concerts in music forum
groups by those who attended or by listening to streaming live broadcasts or
recordings of the perfonnances. For instance, Panzerfaust.com gave virtual
entree to the 2004 AryanFest through live video streams and sound clips of the
event. In this way access is spread beyond the concrete setting of the show to
the virtual realm and back into real world contexts of the home or parties.
Web based forum groups are also a vehicle for entrance into real world
movement spaces. Participants in forum groups often seek face-to-face
connections with other members asking about the location of other WPM
activists and meetings outside of cyberspace. The Intemet allows organizers of
established groups to quickly respond to those searching for these offline
connections. In a typical exchange, a nascent WPM member asked.
Do any of you guys ever meet up in the real world? I live in
Farmington. If any of you guys would like to get together,
please feel free to contact me. (whitewarrior, downloaded
from whiterevolution.com, 1/24/05)
Shortly thereafter, a membership coordinator for a state-wide WPM group
responded.
White Revolution members actually get together quite often.
Sometimes for cookouts . . . but mostly for our meetings. . . .
White Revolution members will be having a meeting later on
Cyberculture and the Endurance of White Power Activism 131
in the month. . . . If you feel comfortable enough to send me
your email.... I can put you on our email list so you can stay
up to date on what we are doing. . . . (downloaded from
whiterevolution.com, 1/24/05)
Also common are queries about potential off-line connections from those
moving to a new area.
i am a skingirl planning on moving to south city in the middle
of april and i dont know many people there, it would be good
to meet some like minded folk, email me if you get some time.
Hail Victory!! (skingirl 14, downloaded from panzerfaust.com,
5/22/04)
As is typical, responses to this posting were quick and inviting, congratulating
the skingirl on her new move and offering a number of ways to establish real
world connections once she arrived. Activists make similar use of e-mail lists to
organize small, regular local gatherings such as Bible study meetings, campouts,
and parties.
White power culture is expressed and consumed through a wide array
of infonnation, activities, experiences, and cultural items that are available on
the Intemet. WPM activists use the Web as a tool to overcome obstacles by
bridging movement members and groups on a consistent basis. Time and distance
mean little in cyberspace and so communication and planning is less
constrained. Movement websites thereby increase opportunities to access the
movement and participate both virtually and in real world action settings. Both
forms of participation are crucial to tying members to the movement as ties
established in virtual spaces are most effective for identity building when they
are supported by social linkages in physical settings (Diani 2000; Vimoche and
Marx 1997).
MOVEMENT NARRATIVES
Free spaces are where movement narratives that are otherwise
suppressed can be openly expressed and supported. Movement narratives are
comprised of the stories activists tell about the injustices they face and the ways
to fight them. According to Couto (1993:57), they "provide group members
historical precedents of individual and collective resistance, altemative
explanations of the groups' condition, and an exposition of the virtues of a group
that others consider virtueless." The freedom to express hardcore racist beliefs
is a key element of on-line interaction among WPMers and parallels the type of
talk we observed in real world movement occasions. Web-based spaces add to
the array of contexts where the WPM's virulent racism can be expressed and
supported. Virtual conversations abound with talk of violence against "racial
enemies" and an Aryan fliture "cleansed" of homosexuals, nonwhites.
132 Joumal of Political and Military Sociology
communists, and other "villains." These conversations identify the social,
physical, and moral boundaries that mark the WPM community against its foes.
Movement "fortifying myths" (Voss 1996:252), which celebrate the
efficacy and persistence of the WPM are customary both in real world and online
interaction. These stories focus on beliefs about the movement's inevitable
destiny and righteousness in the struggle for Aryan dominance and are validated
and reciprocated in conversations. Also prominent are morality tales that focus
on themes such as personal trauma that led members to their "racial
awakening"—stories of becoming that mark tragic events as a trigger (Blee
2002:25-53). Questions such as, "When did you realize you hated niggers or
what made you hate niggers?," are popular and draw some of the most emotionladen
discussion among forum participants. For instance:
when i was in 1 st grade i was dragged into the boys room by 4
niggers was beat to a pulp then pissed on by all 4 of them. . . .
I leamed to stand up for myself realize no I have good reason
[to hate]. (TruckingSkinhead, downloaded on 11/29/04 from
panzerfaust.com)
I always knew they were different . . . so I have never really
been nonracist, I was a closet racist for quite a while . . . then
some nigger threatened to slit my brothers throat, I saw the
light and then last year I found this website and leamed about
the Zionists. . . . (whitenewzealander, downloaded from
panzerfaust.com 11/27/04)
Examples of model Aryan actions are also posted and become focal points of
on-line conversations. For instance, a Free Your Mind Productions forum
member posted a news article with photo images and a video clip on the flrst
ever Gay Rights march in Belgrade, Yugoslav during which racist skinheads and
Serbian nationalists violently attacked marchers causing several serious injuries.
Users unanimously and enthusiastically hailed the violence, as a small sampling
of the discussion demonstrates.
8flickin8! thats the idea smashing queers and zog enforcers.
(Viking88, downloaded from fymp.com, 2/13/04)
Damn those pics are great. If anyone deserves a good beating
its that lot. Takes me back to the good ole days of my youth.
Three cheers for the brothers taking care of business. . . . Fag
bashing by moonlight oh god don't it feel so right.
(Battlefront, downloaded from fymp.com, 2/13/04)
Talk in cyberforums is frequently in the form of advice, both sought
and given, on topics ranging from ways to spread the movement's messages, to
more personal concems such as parenting strategies, financial investments, or
relationship problems. The latter is particularly prominent in forum groups, as
Cyberculture and the Endurance of White Power Activism 133
members often report finding their Aryanism leads to stigma and ostracism.
Typically, these queries gamer responses from other members with similar
experiences who offer sympathy, support, and solutions. Many of the responses
appear to come from veteran members looking to help a nascent recruit. The
fratemal quality of these types of exchanges highlights the moral support and
camaraderie found both in real world free spaces and on-line. This supportive
context is also found by those just tapping into the movement. The following
response to a query by a potential member about becoming more involved in the
movement is typical of the welcome and solidarity to be found among Aryans
on-line.
Mike, you are so welcome here. We have a lot of good people
here, all happy to meet you, and converse with you.... There
are people of all ages . . . and we are all of one mind . .. enjoy
your participation on this forum . .. Lucy, (downloaded from
whiterevolution.com, 7/29/04)
Likewise a new National Alliance member was greeted with similar support.
Way to go, Northland! Keep on spreading the word...Someone
is bound to wake up and take notice when they see that they
aren't alone in this mess. Congrats on joining the
Alliance...Well done, friend, and welcome! Snowcat (downloaded
from Stormfront.org, 4/20/04)
Those who are questioning their commitment to the movement also seek support
on-line. These too are typically met with empathy and appeals to stay
committed in the face of pressures to change their racist politics. As a typical
response shows, the movement is glorified and mainstream culture is
characterized as faulty.
You are right, NEVER change! It only shows what a debased
society and how we have fallen. . . . The road we all have
chosen is hard. . . . You sound like a great Woman, Salutes to
you! Never change. You are right! (Rockabilly88, downloaded
from resistance.com, 11/3/04)
The form of talk among activists is often scrutinized for depth of
feeling and commitment to movement ideals. Much like the interaction we have
observed in the WPM's real world free spaces, participants in on-line bulletin
boards attend closely to how they present themselves. They rely upon a shared
mode of expression about racial authenticity to determine others' veracity and
allegiance to movement ideals. Articulation of a clear "racial loyalty" seems
required. Commenting on real world interactions, Blee (2002) describes this as
signals that convey a willingness to unite with other racially conscious Aryans
and oppose those who seek to destroy the white race. Since skin color cannot be
directly observed in cyberspace, signals of racial loyalty become even more
134 Joumal of Political and Military Sociology
crucial and several symbolic codes are apparent. Postings on topics that might
otherwise seem far removed from racialist themes, such as advice on computer
troubleshooting or cooking recipes, are replete with references of racial loyalty
and movement participation. Messages often begin or close with phrases like
"88" (8 stands for the eighth letter of the alphabet, 88 symbolizes "Heil Hitler")
or "Sieg Heil" to mark their connection to Aryanism. Names used in these
forums are almost invariably pseudonyms that bear the mark of movement
membership such as Aryan Warrior, White Resistance, or Mudslayer. Also,
cybertalk is imbued with expressions of fraternity and kinship, with terms like
"brother" and "sister" used to evoke a sense of solidarity that is at the core of
WPM culture (see also Zickmund 2000).
EXTENDED INTERACTION AND SUPPORT
Cyberspace intersects with each type of real world free space that
WPM activists create and extends the possibilities for interaction outside of
face-to-face contexts. Vimoche and Marx (1997:88) refer to "virtual
extensions" of interaction by members that move in and out of "shared physical
interaction space." This extension of interaction is a byproduct of the new forms
of access, organization, and ongoing talk among members that cyberspace
makes possible. Connection with other members, which would otherwise be
limited to relatively short and infrequent encounters in the movement's real
world free spaces, continue in a variety of forms on the Web.
Most clearly there is an extension of interaction by time, distance, and
the breadth of networks activists can be involved in. Connections between
members do not end when a concert is over, a congress closes, or a party ends.
Cyberspace is used as a bridge between members otherwise disconnected from
one another outside of the movement's periodic real world meetings. In real
world spaces members exchange email addresses, discuss fomm groups they
participate in and websites they frequent in order to extend their relationships
online. The breadth of the networks activists can be involved in is expanded as
cyberspace allows links among a vast array of participants. In fact, the largest
and most prominent real world movement activities, such as music events, are
those with the most extensive web presence. Interaction around the WPM's
music scene (Futrell, Simi, and Gottschalk 2006; Back 2002) draws individual
members into the widest array of movement networks and extends their
participation into many dimensions of movement culture—e.g., other groups,
branches of doctrine, and even globally as cyberspace helps to bridge members
intemationally. The face-to-face interaction that occurs around these music
events most clearly extends back into cyberspace. Enthusiastic descriptions of
movement events especially music shows are common and can affirm the
affective bonds of community attendees claim to experience in these gatherings.
The Intemet fomm group on Panzerfaust.com was replete with such descriptive
exchanges following the 2004 Aryan Fest.
Cyberculture and the Endurance of White Power Activism 135
My bro N I went to our first Aryanfest this last weekend in
phoenix. It was just mind blowing on the amount of brothers
and sisters out there all living, breathing, and working for the
cause. And here I thought we were alone LOL. . . . Living in
todays society its nice to know that at any time I can log onto
Panzerfaust and be connected to my brothers and sister's, and
speak our minds on the cause at hand. For me its all of us
getting together and fighting for the same common goal "THE
PRESERVATION OF THE WHITE RACE." Once again
thanks to Azvolksfront, and Panzerfaust Records for the
weekend with my new family. Proudwhiteman (downloaded
from panzerfaust.com 3/24/04)
I had a great time at Aryanfest! Everyone made WAU feel so
welcome there and it was great to finally meet some folks face
to face!!...It was nice to meet all of you guys and gals and
keep up the great work cause you guys are doing great
things!!II can't wait to go to another VF sponsered event that
is for sure! (PantheonEC, downloaded from panzerfaust.com,
2/3/04)
You all make it worth the work and frustration that goes with
being a racist on a daily basis, thank you all very
much. 14/83/88. (skrewdriver, downloaded from panzerfaust.
com, 2/4/04).
Embracing the Aryan aesthetic and conveying it to others on-line can help evoke
feelings of solidarity that nurture a sense of identification with the collective
"we" of the movement "community out there."
The degree to which many members are dependent upon these web
fomms for connection to the broader WPM community is especially apparent
when the sites go down for technical upgrades or reorganization. For instance,
upon the retum of the Free Your Mind Productions fomm board from a
temporary hiatus, members expressed deep disappointment about the downtime
and clear excitement about the board's retum. A participant responding to
others' fmstrations over the downtime said.
Damn right!!! I kept clicking on it like someone with a
broken remote. Lol Glad to see everyone back here. Kinda
gives ya a warm feelin' knowing there's other people out there
that think like you. (Spring Demon, 1/21/05, downloaded
from freeyourmindproductions.com)
Another responded in kind.
Me to. I really enjoy posting in this fomm with others who
share my faith and knowledge of the tme nature of race and
136 Joumal of Political and Military Sociology
nation. Without it I get lonely. There is so much trash hurled
at us through the media that is meant to isolate us. . . . I for
one am glad to find a place like this. (AryanPrincess, 1/21/05,
downloaded from fymp.com)
This sense of knowing that "there's other people out there that think
like you" is the critical point about what cyberspace offers to the WPM. For
marginalized groups, the sense that there is a "community out there" to gear into
and find support to bolster their beliefs against various pressures can be deeply
meaningful (Blee 2002). Many of these fomms offer both information and
moral support on a variety of issues in ways that are also commonly reflected
among many other web-based groups unrelated to the WPM such as menopause
groups, recovering alcoholics, and dmg addicts (Wellman and Gulia 1998:172).
This support appears to be especially important in the online relationships
between new and veteran activists. The virtual "community out there" is a
reference point for newer members and veteran activists serve as role models of
how to maintain involvement and faith in the movement over time. Creating
and sustaining such commitments among members, particularly recmits, is a
primary role of the WPM's cyberpresence.
CONCLUSION
The Intemet has added a layer of interaction opportunities to Aryan
activists' movement experiences. These virtual extensions of real world
interactions are based on multiple forms of communication among members and
result in adjunct virtual free spaces that complement the real world spaces where
WPM culture is sustained. As Burris et al. (2000:232) point out, the Intemet
seems to hold a "special attraction for those in search of 'virtual' community to
compensate for the lack of critical mass in their own [locale]" and to extend the
otherwise sporadic involvement of members in the movement's real world free
spaces. Virtual free space allows activists to develop multi-dimensional
connections to the movement, many of which intersect with activities in the
home and in larger movement occasions.
The links between virtual and real world activities have been relatively
unexamined due to a tendency to think of cyberspace interaction and traditional
place-based interaction as separate and distinct social worlds (Wellman and
Gulia 1998). What is clear is that cyberspace has changed the capacity to
generate and sustain different types and larger numbers of social connections
among many WPM members and groups. The WPM's cyberpresence offers
numerous ways for members to supplement their real world involvements with
day-to-day virtual involvement in the movement. Aryan webpages offer a vast
array of information, activities, and cultural items of the movement that
members use to maintain connections to WPM culture when real world spaces
are not available. Fomm groups offer ways to connect directly with other
Cyberculture and the Endurance of White Power Activism 137
movement members, seek advice, and encourage each other to hold fast to their
Aryan ideals. These experiences often intersect closely with a wide range of
face-to-face movement occasions, from small informal gatherings of family and
friends to large-scale, formally-organized events that draw movement members
from across a variety of locales and networks. Thus, while the WPM's
webpresence symbolizes a movement community "out there," real world
settings offer the opportunities for participants to get together in meaningful
face-to-face interaction. Together, these forms of interaction can help amplify
and sustain participation. Links between real and virtual spaces are multidirectional
and often deeply intertwined, feeding off each other in ways that
allow activists opportunities for greater access, more efficient coordination,
expression of movement narratives, and the extension of social interaction and
support.
The opportunities to easily access a larger Aryan movement
"community out there" that welcomes others into the fold inspires many
members and nurtures commitments to Aryan ideals held by adherents located
in disparate places. For radical, marginalized, high-risk movements such as the
WPM, maintaining a cultural community of activists may be the outer limit of
what is possible under present socio-cultural circumstances (Buechler
2000:208). Free space is difficult to create and sustain for the most
marginalized movements such as the WPM as one of the ways authorities
suppress them is by controlling the space where activists can connect.* WPM
members use cyberspace as a highly accessible repository for movement culture
and a means to connect and extend interaction to encourage solidarity with an
enduring community of white power believers. The Web is a stage on which to
display a variety of cultural models that participants are encouraged to
intemalize as their own. The goal is to draw people into and sustain their
connections with what is claimed as an authentic, radical, viable, and selfsustaining
cultural altemative to a multi-ethnic, anti-Aryan society.
The expanded interactional opportunities that cyberspace provides
increases the potential for participants to boost their involvement in both virtual
and real world movement activities to the point of making Aryanism a focal
point of their daily life, as many of our respondents do. This does not mean that
all participants are infiuenced by the WPM's cyberculture in the same way at all
^ The WPM certainly faces limits on their real world free spaces.
Music shows and conferences are always under threat of public exposure by
authorities, eounterprotests, and the media. Watchdog groups such as the
Southem Poverty Law Center (SPLC) have waged legal battles to eliminate
some of the movement's free spaces. For example, in 2000, a civil suit by SPLC
bankmpted Aryan Nations leader Richard Butler and forced the closure of the
Aryan Nations compound in Hayden Lake, Idaho where congresses were held
for many years.
138 Joumal of Political and Military Sociology
times. Some members may never connect to others through the Web, while
others may limit their involvement solely to WPM cyberculture by surfing
WPM websites and lurking in cyberchats. But our observations indicate that
virtual participation is just as likely to be an extension of real world free space
activities. WPM activists craft virtual spaces that parallel the real world free
spaces where the unconstrained expression of radical racism is encouraged and
supported. The extended interaction available online provides an important
bridge between members whose participation might otherwise be limited
primarily to contact with local movement networks. It also means that
participants can experience powerflil, emotion-laden narratives, social support,
and even mentoring from other members. Yet, the WPM's virtual spaces are
much more accessible than many of the real world spaces which means that
opportunities abound for net surfers to connect with Aryanism and be exposed to
the WPM's radical racist and anti-Semitic presence.
Self change and collective identification with a group generally occurs
gradually from interaction and exposure to their altemative style and narratives
(Kiecolt 2000:117). As Lee and Leets (2002) observe, the more opportunities
for exposure to racist narratives and experiences and the longer that exposure,
the more deeply participants may identify with the WPM and the more likely
they are to seek more real and virtual interactions with other adherents. Indeed,
real world contacts often seek to extend relationships online and, as Wellman
and Gulia (1998) find people who connect through the Web often go to great
effort to make contact with this community offline. We need more research that
explores this dual dynamic and the implications for the persistence of
marginalized groups such as the WPM.
REFERENCES
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