Windy City Media Group Frontpage News

THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985

home search facebook twitter join
Gay News Sponsor Windy City Times 2023-12-13
DOWNLOAD ISSUE
Donate

Sponsor
Sponsor
Sponsor

  WINDY CITY TIMES

Gay activist details undercover journey inside alt-right
by Carrie Maxwell, Windy City Times
2017-12-13

This article shared 1089 times since Wed Dec 13, 2017
facebook twitter pin it google +1 reddit email


Imagine spending a year undercover among the alt-right in the United Kingdom and United States. That's just what Patrik Hermansson ( a young gay Swedish activist who used the pseudonym Erik Hellberg ) did for HOPE not hate.

One of the places Hermansson found himself was at the white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia this past summer where Heather Heyer was killed.

"I think witnessing an attack on defenseless people can only be traumatic," said Hermansson. "What I saw after Heather and the others were attacked was probably the best humanity has to offer. Everyone came together to help with some using their banners to give shade to the ambulance personnel and while others took care of those who were psychologically traumatized. That gave me hope."

Hermansson, who grew up in Stockholm, recently got his Master's degree in political science and currently works for HOPE not hate as a researcher. His boss is senior researcher Dr. Joe Mulhall.

HOPE not hate was founded in the UK 14 years ago by its Chief Executive Nick Lowles to fight against fascists and extremists that were becoming an electoral threat there.

Prior to moving to the United Kingdom, Hermansson volunteered for Expo, the Swedish anti-racism group, as their newspaper photographer and researcher.

"I am quite left-wing, and the alt-right belief system is the opposite of that—including being anti-egalitarian, anti-feminist, anti-LGBT and anti-Democratic," said Hermansson. "When I was in Sweden, I did HIV and LGBTQ activism at first and then moved on to anti-racist and anti-fascist activism and that's how I got involved with Expo."

Hermansson noted that right-wing extremists of all stripes are fixated on Scandinavia and Sweden specifically for different reasons. He said they are obsessed with Scandinavia because of the pagan gods Thor and Odin and what they represent, which is white supremacy.

"Sweden internationally, especially on the far-right, has come to epitomize left-wing society including high taxes for social programs which they are against," said Hermansson. "The Pride March in Stockholm and other Swedish cities have gotten attacked by far-right groups who stand at the side of the road with anti-LGBTQ banners with some trying to provoke the marchers in recent years and people have come to expect that this will happen. In 2015/2016 Sweden had a lot of refugees from places like Syria so now the far-right sees the country as failing due to our socialist policies and open immigration policy."

Hermansson explained that he was asked to do this assignment because he was trusted and fit the profile in terms of his demographic makeup and credentials ( a university education ) that are desirable among far-right leaders. He noted that these groups are always looking to grow and renew themselves with new members. The goal, Hermansson said, was to show the public what they were doing at the local level, where they were campaigning and their future plans.

"People underestimate them and we need all the tools possible to mobilize our campaign team on the grassroots level to counteract their message," said Hermansson.

"We don't take sending people undercover lightly because of the risk it involves," said Mulhall. "Many groups on the far-right try to portray a false or more moderate image to the public. By going undercover we can reveal how extreme and dangerous they really are. Patrik was incredibly brave and did amazing work that will really damage the far-right."

Using a hidden camera, Hermansson documented everything and the footage, along with other information, was turned into a documentary HOPE not hate will be releasing soon.

Hermansson started out by telling these groups he wanted to be a part of their movement. Over time, Hermansson needed to gather more information so he told them he was writing a master's thesis about the suppression of right-wing speech. This allowed him to expand his network without anyone getting suspicious and gave him access to leaders such as reclusive Counter-Currents Publishing Editor-in-Chief Greg Johnson and AltRight Corporation Co-Founder Jason Reza Jorjani ( American white nationalist Richard Spencer is another co-founder ), among others.

"After all those months with them, I became desensitized," said Hermansson. "I learned to listen for hours without raising an eyebrow to ideas that I initially reacted to viscerally. Bit-by-bit it became normal to me and even if you are fundamentally against these ideas you learn to live with them. I was told that bringing acceptance of far-right ideas in the mainstream is an explicit strategy by some of the leaders of these groups. That is what is so frightening.

"I learned that these groups are getting more confident in their ideas and expressing them in public. They are less concerned with how they are perceived by people, especially in the U.S. The key takeaway for me is to challenge them and their hateful messages everywhere we can to show these types of ideas are unacceptable and will come with a social cost. It might not stop those who are already convinced but those that are on the edges might be deterred."

Hermansson said the groups he infiltrated are very hostile toward anyone who is not a white, straight, cisgender person and traditional binary gender roles are a core component of how they see the world. He explained that they also talked about white people being under attack which they call "white genocide." One of their messages, Hermansson noted, was to have as many white kids as possible to ensure white majority status in the Western world.

"They blame LGBTQ people because we supposedly cannot have children and due to this are contributing to the downfall of western civilization," said Hermansson. "There were times when I wanted to argue with them but of course I could not do that because I had a bigger project to accomplish."

Mulhall noted that they have a preoccupation with hierarchy and male-only spaces and that has created a complicated relationship with sexuality. The alt-light ( the moderate wing of the alternative right ), Mulhall explained, has embraced white gay people such as Milo Yiannopolous and Lucian Wintrich ( Twinks4Trump photo series creator ) among others to prove they are better than Muslims when it comes to LGBTQ rights.

"Deep-rooted angst at their own masculine ranking, exacerbated by the homoeroticism found in some male spaces, has led to a virulent homophobia in the alt-right, with gay men placed at the very bottom of the male hierarchy," said Mulhall.

Lowles said Hermansson going undercover gave them invaluable information about "the structure of the alt-right, its funding, its aims, how it recruited new people and the methods it employed to 'get under the radar' in terms of mainstreaming its opinions.

"Patrik being on the inside allowed us to capture the true face and beliefs of this movement. Simply put, a camera or a notepad would have changed the person in front of it. Many of their views are published online, however, certain topics are discussed only behind closed doors and can only truly be captured when you are on the 'inside'."

Mulhall noted that HOPE not hate is in the process of establishing a presence in the US, setting up a research operation to monitor these international links among far-right groups and will be launching on the ground political campaigns in the coming year.

HOPE not hate recently released a report, "The International Alternative Right: From Charlottesville to the White House" ( alternativeright.hopenothate.com/ ) that outlines what it learned over the past year, including the information Hermansson provided to the organization.

"Our message is that those who foment and stoke the flames of ethnic and sectarian hatred must be opposed and exposed, in the interests of peaceful co-existence," said Lowles.

Hermansson's plans for the future include continuing to work for HOPE not hate as a researcher "looking at the far-right but with a little bit of distance."

See hopenothate.com/ for more information .


This article shared 1089 times since Wed Dec 13, 2017
facebook twitter pin it google +1 reddit email

Out and Aging
Presented By

  ARTICLES YOU MIGHT LIKE

Gay News

NATIONAL Political candidates, flag controversy, HRC gala, New York Times, Disney 2024-03-29
- In California, of the historic 30 LGBTQ+ legislative candidates who ran in the March 5 primary, more than half are moving on to the fall ballot, The Bay Area Reporter noted. Based on the still unofficial ...


Gay News

Thailand parliament passes landmark marriage bill 2024-03-27
- On March 27, Thailand's parliament approved a marriage-equality bill by an overwhelmingly large margin—a landmark step that moves one of Asia's most liberal countries closer to legalizing same-sex unions, media ...


Gay News

Kara Swisher talks truth, power in tech at Chicago Humanities event 2024-03-25
- Lesbian author, award-winning journalist and podcast host Kara Swisher spoke about truth and power in the tech industry through the lens of her most recent book, Burn Book: A Tech Love Story, March 21 at First ...


Gay News

Wyoming is latest state to ban gender-affirming care for minors 2024-03-24
- On March 22, Wyoming became the latest state to prohibit gender-affirming care for minors, The Hill noted. In doing so, it joined 23 other states that passed laws restricting or banning the treatment. Legislators in both ...


Gay News

Chicago alder proposes renaming street after Obama 2024-03-22
- Openly gay Black Chicago Ald. Lamont Robinson has proposed renaming Columbus Drive after former U.S. President and city resident Barack Obama, media outlets noted. The street stretches through the Loop from East Grand Avenue to DuSable ...


Gay News

Congressional Equality Caucus on FY24 bills passing the house 2024-03-22
--From a press release - WASHINGTON, DC — Today, Chair of the Congressional Equality Caucus, Rep. Mark Pocan (WI-02), released the following statement after the House successfully passed the final funding bills for Fiscal Year ...


Gay News

WORLD Uganda items, HIV report, Mandela, Liechtenstein, foreign minister weds 2024-03-21
- It turned out that U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Senior LGBTQI+ Coordinator Jay Gilliam traveled to Uganda on Feb. 19-27, per The Washington Blade. He visited the capital of Kampala and the nearby city of ...


Gay News

NATIONAL Va. marriage bill, AARP, online counseling, Idaho items, late activist 2024-03-21
- Republican Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed bills protecting same-sex marriages at a state level, surprising some, WRIC reported. The bills—passed out of both chambers along mostly party lines—will require clerks ...


Gay News

LGBTQ+ candidates Marcelino Garcia, Precious Brady Davis win primary elections to keep MWRD seats 2024-03-21
- Marcelino Garcia and Precious Brady-Davis, the two openly LGBTQ+ incumbents in the race to keep their seats on the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District (MWRD), won their primary elections and will move on to the general this ...


Gay News

Small LGBTQ+ candidate pool nevertheless scores some important victories March 19 2024-03-20
- Relatively few openly LGBTQ+ candidates were running in the March 19 Illinois Primary Election. But there were some significant contests in play at the local, state and federal levels. Openly gay Ald. Ray Lopez (15th Ward) ...


Gay News

Gay Irish prime minister to step down 2024-03-20
- In a surprise move, openly gay Irish Prime Minister (or Taoiseach) Leo Varadkar has announced his resignation, citing "personal and political, but mainly political reasons," according to CNN. Varadkar said he felt he was no longer ...


Gay News

Chicago's LGBTQ+ Advisory Council sets a new course 2024-03-18
- Chicago's LGBTQ+ Advisory Council held its first meeting of the calendar year on Feb. 28 at City Hall in the Loop under the leadership of the recently appointed chair Jin-Soo Huh. The LGBTQ+ Advisory Council is ...


Gay News

NATIONAL Missouri measure, HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, judge, Texas schools 2024-03-15
- In Missouri, a newly proposed law could charge teachers and counselors with a felony and require them to register as sex offenders if they're found guilty of supporting transgender students who are socially transitioning, CNN noted. ...


Gay News

PASSAGES: Former Chicago Commission on Human Relations chair Clarence Wood 2024-03-13
- LGBTQ ally and former Chicago Commission on Human Relations (CCHR) Chair and Commissioner Clarence N. Wood died March 5. He was 83. Wood was born April 14, 1940, in Alabama. While primarily raised in Alabama, Wood ...


Gay News

Longtime LGBTQ+-rights activist David Mixner dies at 77 2024-03-12
- On March 11, longtime LGBTQ+ and HIV/AIDS activist David Mixner—known for working on Bill Clinton's presidential campaign but then splitting from him over "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (DADT)—died at age 77, The Advocate reported. ...


 


Copyright © 2024 Windy City Media Group. All rights reserved.
Reprint by permission only. PDFs for back issues are downloadable from
our online archives.

Return postage must accompany all manuscripts, drawings, and
photographs submitted if they are to be returned, and no
responsibility may be assumed for unsolicited materials.

All rights to letters, art and photos sent to Nightspots
(Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago
Gay and Lesbian News and Feature Publication) will be treated
as unconditionally assigned for publication purposes and as such,
subject to editing and comment. The opinions expressed by the
columnists, cartoonists, letter writers, and commentators are
their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of Nightspots
(Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago Gay,
Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender News and Feature Publication).

The appearance of a name, image or photo of a person or group in
Nightspots (Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times
(a Chicago Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender News and Feature
Publication) does not indicate the sexual orientation of such
individuals or groups. While we encourage readers to support the
advertisers who make this newspaper possible, Nightspots (Chicago
GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago Gay, Lesbian
News and Feature Publication) cannot accept responsibility for
any advertising claims or promotions.

 
 

TRENDINGBREAKINGPHOTOS







Sponsor


 



Donate


About WCMG      Contact Us      Online Front  Page      Windy City  Times      Nightspots
Identity      BLACKlines      En La Vida      Archives      Advanced Search     
Windy City Queercast      Queercast Archives     
Press  Releases      Join WCMG  Email List      Email Blast      Blogs     
Upcoming Events      Todays Events      Ongoing Events      Bar Guide      Community Groups      In Memoriam     
Privacy Policy     

Windy City Media Group publishes Windy City Times,
The Bi-Weekly Voice of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Trans Community.
5315 N. Clark St. #192, Chicago, IL 60640-2113 • PH (773) 871-7610 • FAX (773) 871-7609.