“We Act as One Lest We Perish Alone”: A Case Study in Mediated White Nationalist Activism

Abstract

This article provides a case study of mediated white nationalist activism, focusing on how white nationalists circulate affects to reinforce and grow the movement. The article examines a group called EuropeanUnity565 (EU565) which maintained several social media accounts, most prominently a YouTube channel, to distribute white nationalist video content which they subtitled in English and other European languages. Intended to foster racial harmony across ethno-linguistic lines in order to resist perceived racial imperilment—a sentiment captured in their motto, “We act as one lest we perish alone”—EU565’s activism fits into a larger tradition of urging the importance of racial community and belonging. The article thus also situates EU565 within a broader tradition of white nationalist activism called metapolitics. The potential for this networked activism, of which EU565 is only a part, to reach larger publics makes research in this area important, a task to which this case study contributes.