As someone who has for many years been sounding the alarm about the dangers of right-wing, white supremacist and racist elements in Paganism, particularly American versions of Norse Paganism, and who has continually called on Pagans to completely reject any and all expressions of racism and white supremacy, I am happy to devote this first blog post of the New Year to praising the major American Ásatrú (aka Heathen or Norse Pagan) organization, the Troth, for its increasingly brave stance in these matters. The Troth has always been the most open and tolerant, and to that extent, left-wing Norse Pagan organization in America, but in its intention to serve as an umbrella for as broad a range of American Heathens as possible, it has not always taken the racism issue head-on, not wanting to alienate more right-wing and ethnically-oriented Norse Pagans. However, as the anti-immigrant and white supremacist views of prominent right-wing American Norse Pagans like Stephen McNallen have become increasingly evident, the Troth has been more firmly and directly rejecting and denouncing racist sentiment and white supremacist identity construction, and declaring that racism has no place in the Troth. If one goes to the main Troth web page to see its mission statement, this is what they will find:
"...We welcome all people, whatever
their religious, cultural, or ancestral background, gender or sexual
orientation, who have developed or wish to develop a relationship with
our Gods and Goddesses, and would like to know more about Asatru or
other forms of Heathenry." (updated as of February 1, 2016).
Note, too, that the Troth also takes a firm stand of inclusiveness toward the LBGT population and gender diversity.
In many way, in many places, the Troth has taken steps to stamp out the lingering, smoldering embers of white supremacy and racism that are an unfortunate legacy of the past history of Norse Paganism, with respect to the continuing efforts by Nazis, neo-Nazis and other white supremacists and racists to appropriate Norse Pagan heritage and symbols for their own use. Events like the "Unite the Right" march Charlottesville in August of 2017 have demonstrated that there continue to be disturbing links between white supremacy and a certain segment of
the American Heathen population. Therefore, while I salute the Troth for more and more openly and firmly denouncing racism and white supremacy, the battle is not yet won and perhaps can never be, considering how deeply rooted racism and white supremacy are in American society and history. Indeed, when the right-wingers at Charlottesville declared that they simply wanted to preserve American heritage by protecting statues of Confederate soldiers, they had a point: racism, racial segregation and white supremacy are indeed American traditions of very long standing. Of course, so was slavery, and just because something had a long duration, that does not mean it deserved to exist for the time that it did or that it should continue now. Applying this to Norse Paganism, we might also say that just because it existed in the past, that does not mean that it should exist or be revived now, unless it has something positive to contribute to the world today. If all it has to contribute is a Viking justification for racism, than it does not deserve any respect or support, and we should seeks its demise and disappearance as quickly as possible. The many very spiritual, profound and creative non-racist Norse Pagans I know in Iceland, Norway, Sweden and the USA have reassured me again and again that Norse Paganism can be a worthwhile experiment in blending ancient and modern cultural and religious elements, and I am happy to be in their company, while I reserve the right to walk away from racists and white supremacists.
The thorny issue around which all these discussions revolve is the complex status of modern Norse Paganism, whether we call it Heatheny, Ásatrú, Forn Sið/Sed or by some other term, as a religion rooted in the past history of one particular place and people, that is, the ancient Norse and Germanic peoples of Northern Europe and Iceland, that has now been revived in a world of constantly mixing identities and cultural diversity. It is rather like the English language: it developed among Anglo-Saxons in England but has not become a language spoken worldwide. If tomorrow, the queen of England were to declare that only those residing in England or possessing Angl-Saxon genes wlll henceforth be permitted to speak English, the world would laugh. The gods, myths, texts and traditions of Norse Paganism are no longer exclusively Scandinavian (or Icelandic, or German, or Northern European, etc.) possessions.They have become the common property of mankind across the globe. There may always be those who will take the view that the whole point of Norse Paganism is to block out the diversity and complexity of modern life and take refuge in an imagined "pure" white, Northern European identity. For the rest of us, Norse Paganism is an interesting and inspiring religious and cultural tradition that was, yes, born in the North but now faces in all directions, much like Yggdrasil, the WORLD tree that is so central in Norse mythology.
Showing posts with label neo-Nazism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label neo-Nazism. Show all posts
Sunday, January 7, 2018
Wednesday, August 23, 2017
The Wolf is Loose and Howling: Racism on Parade in Charlottesville
In Norse mythology, one of the first calamities that presages the total destruction of the world in the cataclysm of Ragnarok is the breaking free of the monstrous dog Garm, who is, I suspect, most likely an alternate form of the destructive wolf Fenrir. Well, I would not want to suggest that we are now on the edge of the total ruin of the world, but I think what we just saw in Charlottesville, represents the breaking loose of our own beast of destruction, namely, the racism, neo-Nazism and White Supremacy that were proudly on parade in an American city on August 11 and 12, marching in military formation, bearing semiautomatic rifles, and chanting Nazi slogans like "Blood and Soil!" We have seen insult added to injury with the spectacle of the American president being either unable or unwilling to issue a clear, consistent condemnation of racism and neo-Nazism, even when the Charlottesville situation turned tragically violent. Heather Heyer, a young woman who came to express opposition to racism and Fascism, was slain by a young white male Nazi enthusiast who ran her down with a car, putting 19 other people in the hospital as well.
We have seen Donald Trump making disconcerting expressions of equivocation, first condemning "hatred and bigotry," as per the prepared statement that he was reading from on Saturday the 12th, rather robotically, but then veering off and adding, in a much more animated voice, "on many sides... on MANY sides." He made a second attempt at a condemnation on Monday, reading prepared remarks that were indeed fairly clear and straightforward in denouncing hatred and bigotry. However, in a press conference on Tuesday, he again either went off-track or let his mask drop to show his true feelings, saying that "there's blame on both sides." Trump appeared to be drawing a moral equivalency between the racists and neo-Nazis and those who had turned out to protest against them, the bulk of them peaceful, some of them willing to use force, the second group being members and supporters of the "Antifa," anti-Fascist movement.
The President was correct that there was violence on both sides, but he conveniently overlooks a number of important facts: (a) most of the counter-protesters were peaceful, unarmed and unthreatening; (b) many of the right-wing forces were dressed in military-style clothing and were bearing semi-automatic rifles and other military-style weapons, which were extremely threatening; (c) the Antifa were equipped with only the most simple of weapons, sticks and stones and cans of mace, some with bottles that they hurled; (d) a cursory examination of American history reveals that we went to war to oppose Nazism and Fascism in WW II, which means that the counter-protesters were on the side generally understood as standing for good, whereas those who came out supporting neo-Nazism and White Supremacy were on the side generally condemned as morally reprehensible by most people--but not Trump. He seemed to be suggesting that those who were marching to promote Fascism, neo-Nazism, White Supremacy and racism, and those who came out to oppose them, were equally to blame for unhappy times in Charlottesville. If the racists and neo-Nazis had been allowed to march in peace, everything would have been fine.
Would it really? No problem to have hate-chanting, weapon-wielding, torch-bearing Nazis marching in our streets,intimidating and terrorizing other Americans?
The presence of the racists and Nazis in Charlottesville was bad enough, and the president's response a further assault on decency, but there is a specifically Pagan angle to this that I am very sorry to have to report. Some of the White Supremacists in Charlottesville were bearing Pagan symbols, associating themselves with Norse-Germanic Paganism. This is the very kind of thing that led me to create this blog in the first place, and here it is again, an ugly distortion of Paganism to serve far-right, fascist ends, twisted into the service of racism and White Supremacy. This is a call to battle for all of us who believe in a liberal, tolerant Paganism. We must stand up for diversity and tolerance and against those who wish to define Paganism in racial and militaristic terms, the combination of which produces such toxic brews as Nazism and White Supremacy. This is deadly serious business. Stand up, speak out, as peacefully and firmly as you can, avoiding conflict when you can, but engaging when you must.
May the Gods give us strength.
We have seen Donald Trump making disconcerting expressions of equivocation, first condemning "hatred and bigotry," as per the prepared statement that he was reading from on Saturday the 12th, rather robotically, but then veering off and adding, in a much more animated voice, "on many sides... on MANY sides." He made a second attempt at a condemnation on Monday, reading prepared remarks that were indeed fairly clear and straightforward in denouncing hatred and bigotry. However, in a press conference on Tuesday, he again either went off-track or let his mask drop to show his true feelings, saying that "there's blame on both sides." Trump appeared to be drawing a moral equivalency between the racists and neo-Nazis and those who had turned out to protest against them, the bulk of them peaceful, some of them willing to use force, the second group being members and supporters of the "Antifa," anti-Fascist movement.
The President was correct that there was violence on both sides, but he conveniently overlooks a number of important facts: (a) most of the counter-protesters were peaceful, unarmed and unthreatening; (b) many of the right-wing forces were dressed in military-style clothing and were bearing semi-automatic rifles and other military-style weapons, which were extremely threatening; (c) the Antifa were equipped with only the most simple of weapons, sticks and stones and cans of mace, some with bottles that they hurled; (d) a cursory examination of American history reveals that we went to war to oppose Nazism and Fascism in WW II, which means that the counter-protesters were on the side generally understood as standing for good, whereas those who came out supporting neo-Nazism and White Supremacy were on the side generally condemned as morally reprehensible by most people--but not Trump. He seemed to be suggesting that those who were marching to promote Fascism, neo-Nazism, White Supremacy and racism, and those who came out to oppose them, were equally to blame for unhappy times in Charlottesville. If the racists and neo-Nazis had been allowed to march in peace, everything would have been fine.
Would it really? No problem to have hate-chanting, weapon-wielding, torch-bearing Nazis marching in our streets,intimidating and terrorizing other Americans?
The presence of the racists and Nazis in Charlottesville was bad enough, and the president's response a further assault on decency, but there is a specifically Pagan angle to this that I am very sorry to have to report. Some of the White Supremacists in Charlottesville were bearing Pagan symbols, associating themselves with Norse-Germanic Paganism. This is the very kind of thing that led me to create this blog in the first place, and here it is again, an ugly distortion of Paganism to serve far-right, fascist ends, twisted into the service of racism and White Supremacy. This is a call to battle for all of us who believe in a liberal, tolerant Paganism. We must stand up for diversity and tolerance and against those who wish to define Paganism in racial and militaristic terms, the combination of which produces such toxic brews as Nazism and White Supremacy. This is deadly serious business. Stand up, speak out, as peacefully and firmly as you can, avoiding conflict when you can, but engaging when you must.
May the Gods give us strength.
Monday, October 12, 2015
"Children of Odin" in Finland: anti-Muslim hysteria growing.
Dear Readers,
A friend in Latvia just forwarded to me a most upsetting news story from a Finnish newspaper, about an anti-Muslim group in Finland calling itself "The Children of Odin." I equally regret their ignorant opposition to a people they seem to know nothing about but fear due to ill-informed but inflammatory stereotypes, and their usage of the name Odin, thus again tarring Norse Paganism with the old brush of Nazi-esque intolerance and thuggery. Notice that nothing bad has happened in this town as a result of the Muslim refugees' arrival, and yet a certain segment of the local people is already mobilizing anti-Muslim militias. I fear this is just the tip of the iceberg...
Here is the link, with the article copied below.
http://yle.fi/uutiset/fridays_papers_soldiers_of_odin_patrol_kemi_streets_paper_claims_100s_of_muslim_extremists_in_turku_finland_to_cut_unicef_funding_by_75/8367123
Friday's papers: "Soldiers of Odin" patrol Kemi streets, paper claims "100s of Muslim extremists in Turku," Finland to cut UNICEF funding by 75%
Friday’s newspapers wrote about a group that calls themselves the Soldiers of Odin who patrol the streets of Kemi to "increase people's feeling of security." One paper claims there are "several hundred" Muslim extremists in Turku. Government plans to cut funding to the UNICEF children's fund by 15 million euros.
Unicefin koulu Bekaan laaksossa Libanonissa
UNICEF worker and schoolgirl in undated picture taken in Lebanon. File photo. Image: Nabil Mounzer / EPA
Aamulehti posted a story Thursday about a group that started patrolling the streets of the northern town of Kemi.
The paper writes that starting a few days ago a group of dark-clothed men, who call themselves the Soldiers of Odin, were patrolling the streets of Kemi.
Aamulehti interviewed the patrol's organiser, Mika Ranta, who said the reason behind the patrols was to "increase people's feeling of security."
The paper asked Ranta why he started the group.
"We woke up to a situation where many different cultures met. It caused fear and concern in the community. We started to gather a bunch of people," the paper quoted Ranta saying.
"The biggest issue was when we learned from Facebook that new asylum seekers were peering through the gates of primary schools, looking at young girls," Ranta told Aamulehti.
There is an asylum seeker reception centre based in the northern town Kemi, a town just under 30 km from the border town of Tornio, where the majority of asylum seekers have been arriving to the country recently.
Ranta was quoted claiming that there are hundreds of Soldiers of Odin members across the country.
He said that while he describes himself as a National Socialist on his Facebook page, he claims his "opinions are his own" and that there are all kinds of people in the "family friendly" group.
Aamulehti also published a photo of some members of the group, which appears to consist mostly of men clad in dark nylon bomber jackets, many of which appear to be embroidered with an acronym of the group.
Most of the members did not consent to be photographed, and turned their backs for the snapshot. But the five members in the foreground who agreed to the photo were all listed as having Finnish names in the caption.
Finnish police told the paper that it does not recommend patrols or actions like these "under any circumstances."
TS claimed: "Hundreds of Muslim extremists in Turku"
A brief in Turku’s daily Turun Sanomat* made an unattributed and problematic claim that there are "several hundred" Muslim extremists living in the city.
The claims are unattributed to anyone but the articles' reporter, however there is no writer’s name attached to the piece. The photo attached to the article features Muslims praying at a Turku mosque, but was apparently photographed in 2009.
The first four paragraphs of the article claim that there are "several hundred Muslim extremists" in Turku and that "the number is growing all the time. They are deeply religious Muslims."
The following paragraph goes on to explain that these Muslims belong to the ultra-conservative Salafi movement of Islam, but gives no actual evidence backing up the statements.
"The group has a lot of supporters in Saudi Arabia, but now also in Turku," the paper wrote.
The article later quotes Åbo Akademi University's associate professor of religious studies Tuomas Martikainen explaining the history of arriving Muslims to the country. In his opinion their religious identities were strengthened as more Muslims arrived, and has led to conflicts within the Muslim community.
Martikainen does not, however, appear to defend or refute a claim that there is an increase in the number of Muslim extremists in the city.
*It has come to the attention of Yle News that the referenced Turun Sanomat article was published in August 2013, however the article remains in circulation on social media and a link to the article was featured on their current web pages.
Finland to cut UNICEF support by 75 percent
The Finnish government is proposing to cut funding toward the UN Children's Fund, UNICEF, by about 15 million euros, Finland's biggest daily Helsingin Sanomat reports.
Next year the government proposes allocating some five to six million euros to the international children's fund, which amounts to a 75 percent decrease compared to past years, the paper writes.
"Finland has been the world's eighth largest donor of assistance to the UNICEF children's fund," UNICEF's programming and advocacy director in Finland Inka Hetemäki said.
"The cuts to aid will have dramatic consequences for the world’s children," the paper quoted her saying.
Additionally, the paper writes, the Foreign Ministry is also proposing international aid cuts of around 300 million euros - apart from the UNICEF funding.
A friend in Latvia just forwarded to me a most upsetting news story from a Finnish newspaper, about an anti-Muslim group in Finland calling itself "The Children of Odin." I equally regret their ignorant opposition to a people they seem to know nothing about but fear due to ill-informed but inflammatory stereotypes, and their usage of the name Odin, thus again tarring Norse Paganism with the old brush of Nazi-esque intolerance and thuggery. Notice that nothing bad has happened in this town as a result of the Muslim refugees' arrival, and yet a certain segment of the local people is already mobilizing anti-Muslim militias. I fear this is just the tip of the iceberg...
Here is the link, with the article copied below.
http://yle.fi/uutiset/fridays_papers_soldiers_of_odin_patrol_kemi_streets_paper_claims_100s_of_muslim_extremists_in_turku_finland_to_cut_unicef_funding_by_75/8367123
Friday's papers: "Soldiers of Odin" patrol Kemi streets, paper claims "100s of Muslim extremists in Turku," Finland to cut UNICEF funding by 75%
Friday’s newspapers wrote about a group that calls themselves the Soldiers of Odin who patrol the streets of Kemi to "increase people's feeling of security." One paper claims there are "several hundred" Muslim extremists in Turku. Government plans to cut funding to the UNICEF children's fund by 15 million euros.
Unicefin koulu Bekaan laaksossa Libanonissa
UNICEF worker and schoolgirl in undated picture taken in Lebanon. File photo. Image: Nabil Mounzer / EPA
Aamulehti posted a story Thursday about a group that started patrolling the streets of the northern town of Kemi.
The paper writes that starting a few days ago a group of dark-clothed men, who call themselves the Soldiers of Odin, were patrolling the streets of Kemi.
Aamulehti interviewed the patrol's organiser, Mika Ranta, who said the reason behind the patrols was to "increase people's feeling of security."
The paper asked Ranta why he started the group.
"We woke up to a situation where many different cultures met. It caused fear and concern in the community. We started to gather a bunch of people," the paper quoted Ranta saying.
"The biggest issue was when we learned from Facebook that new asylum seekers were peering through the gates of primary schools, looking at young girls," Ranta told Aamulehti.
There is an asylum seeker reception centre based in the northern town Kemi, a town just under 30 km from the border town of Tornio, where the majority of asylum seekers have been arriving to the country recently.
Ranta was quoted claiming that there are hundreds of Soldiers of Odin members across the country.
He said that while he describes himself as a National Socialist on his Facebook page, he claims his "opinions are his own" and that there are all kinds of people in the "family friendly" group.
Aamulehti also published a photo of some members of the group, which appears to consist mostly of men clad in dark nylon bomber jackets, many of which appear to be embroidered with an acronym of the group.
Most of the members did not consent to be photographed, and turned their backs for the snapshot. But the five members in the foreground who agreed to the photo were all listed as having Finnish names in the caption.
Finnish police told the paper that it does not recommend patrols or actions like these "under any circumstances."
TS claimed: "Hundreds of Muslim extremists in Turku"
A brief in Turku’s daily Turun Sanomat* made an unattributed and problematic claim that there are "several hundred" Muslim extremists living in the city.
The claims are unattributed to anyone but the articles' reporter, however there is no writer’s name attached to the piece. The photo attached to the article features Muslims praying at a Turku mosque, but was apparently photographed in 2009.
The first four paragraphs of the article claim that there are "several hundred Muslim extremists" in Turku and that "the number is growing all the time. They are deeply religious Muslims."
The following paragraph goes on to explain that these Muslims belong to the ultra-conservative Salafi movement of Islam, but gives no actual evidence backing up the statements.
"The group has a lot of supporters in Saudi Arabia, but now also in Turku," the paper wrote.
The article later quotes Åbo Akademi University's associate professor of religious studies Tuomas Martikainen explaining the history of arriving Muslims to the country. In his opinion their religious identities were strengthened as more Muslims arrived, and has led to conflicts within the Muslim community.
Martikainen does not, however, appear to defend or refute a claim that there is an increase in the number of Muslim extremists in the city.
*It has come to the attention of Yle News that the referenced Turun Sanomat article was published in August 2013, however the article remains in circulation on social media and a link to the article was featured on their current web pages.
Finland to cut UNICEF support by 75 percent
The Finnish government is proposing to cut funding toward the UN Children's Fund, UNICEF, by about 15 million euros, Finland's biggest daily Helsingin Sanomat reports.
Next year the government proposes allocating some five to six million euros to the international children's fund, which amounts to a 75 percent decrease compared to past years, the paper writes.
"Finland has been the world's eighth largest donor of assistance to the UNICEF children's fund," UNICEF's programming and advocacy director in Finland Inka Hetemäki said.
"The cuts to aid will have dramatic consequences for the world’s children," the paper quoted her saying.
Additionally, the paper writes, the Foreign Ministry is also proposing international aid cuts of around 300 million euros - apart from the UNICEF funding.
Sunday, August 12, 2012
White Power, Pagan Weakness: Why Pagans Should Be Concerned
Another week in America, another mass killing by a gun-toting killer. The slaying of six Sikhs worshippers at Sikh temple in Wisconsin on Sunday, August 5th differs from some earlier tragedies of this sort in that the killer is not believed to have been mentally ill or insane. However misguided and morally repugnant his actions, the slayer of the Wisconsin Sikhs, Wade Michael Page, appears to have been entirely rational and purposeful in undertaking his cruel and vicious course of action. Therefore, this sickening event cannot be brushed off as the result of yet another madman having access to dangerous weapons and going on a psychotic rampage. The problem here is not a "sick brain," not mental illness, but a "sick ideology" that guided this man to his horrific destiny. In this, Page appears the transatlantic twin of Anders Behring Breivik, the Norwegian who took up arms almost exactly a year ago, 22 July 2011, to kill young political activists whom he blamed for what was, to Breivik, the unforgivable crime of allowing Norway to develop the ethnic and religious diversity that included accepting Muslim refugees from countries like Somalia.
In killing the Sikh worshippers, Page was acting on a violently racist ideology that has been circulating for decades in the USA, Europe and elsewhere and was also part of Breivik's frame of reference and world-view. Page was in fact an active propagandist for this movement as far back as the 1990s, playing guitar in a number of "hatecore" bands that used the appeal of heavy metal rock music to attract young people to the White Power cause.
This violent rampage by an active member of the racist White Power movement raises disturbing issues for modern-day Pagans practicing forms of spirituality derived from native Pagan traditions of pre-Christian Europe. There are problems of both appearance and substance that are equally important to address.
The core issue is a certain area of commonality or overlap between the White Power movement and ethnic-based Paganism that I do not believe we can ignore any longer. Both modern ethnic Paganism and the White Power movement are dedicated to preserving, honoring and extending European cultural heritage. They may have different additional goals and apply different perspectives to their pursuits, but on that basic platform, the two movements are in basic alignment. Both movements can also be traced back to nineteenth century folk romanticism, which found new significance in the folk songs, myths, dances, costumes and other traditions of European folk culture.
The Nazis' racist and imperialistic interpretation of German culture and identity also drew on this nineteenth century attention to European folk heritage. Because the Nazis did draw on Pagan symbolism and Norse-Germanic Pagan mythology in this way, modern-day Pagans, particularly those like the Asatru who also draw on Norse-Germanic myth and symbolism, are at constant risk of being perceived as Nazis or neo-Nazis. Disentangling modern Paganism from this set of pernicious associations is difficult enough to begin with. However, when you add into the mix that there really ARE modern-day neo-Nazis and White Power advocates who embrace the Nazis' racist interpretation of history and the need to preserve a "pure" European heritage and people from "pollution" by unwelcome Others such as Jews, Muslims, Africans and...for example...Sikhs... AND who like to make use of Pagan symbolism for their tattoos, for their music, and other aspects of their racist sub-culture, the task is even more difficult and convoluted. Nonetheless, the need to clearly distinguish non-Nazi, non-White Power-oriented, non-racist forms of Paganism from the White Power Movement, from neo-Nazis, and from any other permutation or concealment of racist hatred is of truly paramount importance.
This is a topic I have been passionate about for the last several years, and at great personal cost, I would add. Former friends of mine among the American Asatru community no longer wish to have anything to do with me because they think I have gone too far and been too extreme and alarmist in expressing my opposition to anything that remotely resembles neo-Nazism or White Power or provides any kind of aid, comfort or cover to such hateful and dangerous social movements. I called on Asatru groups as well as other Pagans to be more forthright in denouncing racism and Nazism and in clearly stating in their charters, web sites and other basic documents that they fully reject any such hateful ideologies, and do not welcome as members any people with any racism or sympathy for Nazism in their hearts or heads. Today, I renew that plea.
Beyond simply rejecting racism and Nazism, I would recommend that ethnic Pagans endeavor to prove that they are not merely non-Nazi, but truly un-Nazi and anti-Nazi, anti-racist and anti-White Power by making clear that they welcome people of all racial or ethnic backgrounds to participate in their religious activities and join their groups. The criterion for membership or affiliation should not be skin color or European ancestry, but sincere interest in Pagan forms of spirituality. Yes, these forms did develop in Europe, to form beautiful components of European cultural heritage, but their earliest roots are in very ancient Indo-European culture, which means that Pagan traditions possess Asian ancestry as well as European, and were never only European.
I know that many ethnic Pagans may well disagree with my proposal that modern ethnic Paganism, with an undoubted basis in particular cultural forms that developed among particular ethnic groups in the European past, now open its doors wide to people of all ethnic backgrounds. I just don't see any other way for Paganism to be a responsible and respectable member of the modern world community, at least not if it wants to be respected as a world religion of equal stature with Christianity, Islam, Buddhism and the rest.
I also see too clearly that an ethnic Paganism that maintains an exclusive stance, turning away people from other ethnic backgrounds, can easily be interpreted by racists, neo-Nazis, and White Power advocates to support their promotion of intolerance and hatred, which as the case of Wade Michael Page shows, inevitably leads to violence by those who become most deeply involved in racist causes.
I also think ethnic Pagans need to do soul-searching about their own motivations and values. Are you really interested in Pagan religion as a spiritual path, and if so, where does that path lead? Is your Paganism just a cover for your own desire to be in a white-only community, celebrating European-only culture, and dreaming of a world without diversity? Do you only denounce the murderous actions of Anders Behring Breivik and Wade Michael Page, while quietly agreeing with their ideology? Do you fully understand that their ideology of racism led them to their murderous actions, or do you think it's OK to be a racist, as long as you are a "nice," "polite" racist who does not go around shooting people?
I really do think Pagans should think carefully about these matters. There are likely to be more explosions of racist violence in years ahead, and it is very possible that some of those involved may have some association with ethnic Paganism, which, as it now stands, can easily be interpreted to support racist militarism if a person is so inclined to begin with. It will be much easier to deal with these situations, should they arise, if Pagans can present a clear, undivided, anti-Nazi, anti-racist, anti-White Power, antifa (anti-Fascist) front. Based on my past experience in trying to raise these issues, I don't think this will be possible, at least not in the United States, as American society is going in a very right-wing direction in general that may make it more and more difficult to address such issues in coming years. Let me end then by urging those Pagans who DO see the need to disassociate from racism and Nazism to make every effort to do so, and do it today!
May our slogan be not White Power, but EARTH POWER!
In killing the Sikh worshippers, Page was acting on a violently racist ideology that has been circulating for decades in the USA, Europe and elsewhere and was also part of Breivik's frame of reference and world-view. Page was in fact an active propagandist for this movement as far back as the 1990s, playing guitar in a number of "hatecore" bands that used the appeal of heavy metal rock music to attract young people to the White Power cause.
This violent rampage by an active member of the racist White Power movement raises disturbing issues for modern-day Pagans practicing forms of spirituality derived from native Pagan traditions of pre-Christian Europe. There are problems of both appearance and substance that are equally important to address.
The core issue is a certain area of commonality or overlap between the White Power movement and ethnic-based Paganism that I do not believe we can ignore any longer. Both modern ethnic Paganism and the White Power movement are dedicated to preserving, honoring and extending European cultural heritage. They may have different additional goals and apply different perspectives to their pursuits, but on that basic platform, the two movements are in basic alignment. Both movements can also be traced back to nineteenth century folk romanticism, which found new significance in the folk songs, myths, dances, costumes and other traditions of European folk culture.
The Nazis' racist and imperialistic interpretation of German culture and identity also drew on this nineteenth century attention to European folk heritage. Because the Nazis did draw on Pagan symbolism and Norse-Germanic Pagan mythology in this way, modern-day Pagans, particularly those like the Asatru who also draw on Norse-Germanic myth and symbolism, are at constant risk of being perceived as Nazis or neo-Nazis. Disentangling modern Paganism from this set of pernicious associations is difficult enough to begin with. However, when you add into the mix that there really ARE modern-day neo-Nazis and White Power advocates who embrace the Nazis' racist interpretation of history and the need to preserve a "pure" European heritage and people from "pollution" by unwelcome Others such as Jews, Muslims, Africans and...for example...Sikhs... AND who like to make use of Pagan symbolism for their tattoos, for their music, and other aspects of their racist sub-culture, the task is even more difficult and convoluted. Nonetheless, the need to clearly distinguish non-Nazi, non-White Power-oriented, non-racist forms of Paganism from the White Power Movement, from neo-Nazis, and from any other permutation or concealment of racist hatred is of truly paramount importance.
This is a topic I have been passionate about for the last several years, and at great personal cost, I would add. Former friends of mine among the American Asatru community no longer wish to have anything to do with me because they think I have gone too far and been too extreme and alarmist in expressing my opposition to anything that remotely resembles neo-Nazism or White Power or provides any kind of aid, comfort or cover to such hateful and dangerous social movements. I called on Asatru groups as well as other Pagans to be more forthright in denouncing racism and Nazism and in clearly stating in their charters, web sites and other basic documents that they fully reject any such hateful ideologies, and do not welcome as members any people with any racism or sympathy for Nazism in their hearts or heads. Today, I renew that plea.
Beyond simply rejecting racism and Nazism, I would recommend that ethnic Pagans endeavor to prove that they are not merely non-Nazi, but truly un-Nazi and anti-Nazi, anti-racist and anti-White Power by making clear that they welcome people of all racial or ethnic backgrounds to participate in their religious activities and join their groups. The criterion for membership or affiliation should not be skin color or European ancestry, but sincere interest in Pagan forms of spirituality. Yes, these forms did develop in Europe, to form beautiful components of European cultural heritage, but their earliest roots are in very ancient Indo-European culture, which means that Pagan traditions possess Asian ancestry as well as European, and were never only European.
I know that many ethnic Pagans may well disagree with my proposal that modern ethnic Paganism, with an undoubted basis in particular cultural forms that developed among particular ethnic groups in the European past, now open its doors wide to people of all ethnic backgrounds. I just don't see any other way for Paganism to be a responsible and respectable member of the modern world community, at least not if it wants to be respected as a world religion of equal stature with Christianity, Islam, Buddhism and the rest.
I also see too clearly that an ethnic Paganism that maintains an exclusive stance, turning away people from other ethnic backgrounds, can easily be interpreted by racists, neo-Nazis, and White Power advocates to support their promotion of intolerance and hatred, which as the case of Wade Michael Page shows, inevitably leads to violence by those who become most deeply involved in racist causes.
I also think ethnic Pagans need to do soul-searching about their own motivations and values. Are you really interested in Pagan religion as a spiritual path, and if so, where does that path lead? Is your Paganism just a cover for your own desire to be in a white-only community, celebrating European-only culture, and dreaming of a world without diversity? Do you only denounce the murderous actions of Anders Behring Breivik and Wade Michael Page, while quietly agreeing with their ideology? Do you fully understand that their ideology of racism led them to their murderous actions, or do you think it's OK to be a racist, as long as you are a "nice," "polite" racist who does not go around shooting people?
I really do think Pagans should think carefully about these matters. There are likely to be more explosions of racist violence in years ahead, and it is very possible that some of those involved may have some association with ethnic Paganism, which, as it now stands, can easily be interpreted to support racist militarism if a person is so inclined to begin with. It will be much easier to deal with these situations, should they arise, if Pagans can present a clear, undivided, anti-Nazi, anti-racist, anti-White Power, antifa (anti-Fascist) front. Based on my past experience in trying to raise these issues, I don't think this will be possible, at least not in the United States, as American society is going in a very right-wing direction in general that may make it more and more difficult to address such issues in coming years. Let me end then by urging those Pagans who DO see the need to disassociate from racism and Nazism to make every effort to do so, and do it today!
May our slogan be not White Power, but EARTH POWER!
Friday, November 25, 2011
Make All Mankind Your Tribe
My joy and pride in observing the rise of the Occupy-99% movement continues to bring a smile to my face. For this unexpected ray of hope in a time of such darkness and despair I do give heartfelt thanks! It has been sometime since I commented on anything distinctly Pagan, as I have been preoccupied with the cruel, brain-dead forces dominating our political life in recent months, but today I want to again speak of things Pagan and attempt to suggest some links to the Occupy movement.
Something I have observed and reflected on with growing concern for many years is a tendency in certain forms of modern-day Paganism to not merely value and seek to revive and revision religious traditions of the pre-Christian past, but to also idealize the social forms and norms of those past times. I am very comfortable with the religious motivation, but quite uncomfortable with the social agenda. Specifically, there is the idea, detectable in some forms of Asatru-Heathenry but also elsewhere, that the best thing for Pagans today is to return, to whatever degree possible, to the kind of tribal society of the medieval past or earlier. This society is romanticized as more heroic and more honorable than that of today, but is also valued, implicitly if not explicitly, for its more narrowly circumscribed ethnic horizons: "the good old days when we could be with people of our own kind." This often ties in with a sense of ethnic or ethno-national identity: "the religion (and society) of the Germans, the Swedes, the Russians, the _____ "(fill in the blank with ethnic or national group identity of your choice.)
What concerns me about this retro-tribalism is how well it lends itself to racial and ethnic exclusiveness, and ultimately, racial animosity. I know a good number of Astruar and other Pagans who do not see themselves as racist, who bear no particular grudge against people of other racial or ethnic backgrounds, who may be kind and warm with people of such backgrounds, but who fail, in my view, to grasp that despite their own good hearts and good intentions, their concern with ethnic identity and the tribal life of times past has a dangerous potential to function as a building block for the most hateful forms of racism, including such ugly developments as Nazism and neo-Nazism.
I have had repeated arguments with people from Asatru and other groups about this, and this posting will undoubtedly generate a few more, but I stand my ground. Anyone who reads late nineteenth century or early twentieth century texts like Vilhelm Gronbech's "Culture of the Teutons" which recount, and often romanticize, the myths and folklore of the Northmen/the Germans/the Scandinavians should be aware that certain lines of ethno-nationalistic thinking contained in such texts ultimately fed into Nazi beliefs about the master race and Nordic superiority. The extreme hatred for Jews, Roma, Slavs and others that fueled the Nazi death machine was predicated upon a sense that people of Germanic descent were fundamentally different from these others, fundamentally superior, and fundamentally in need of "lebensraum" or living space that would be cleansed of these unwanted others.
I have studied Old Norse. I have enjoyed and been inspired by the closest thing to sacred texts for Norse-Germanic Pagan traditions, the Eddas and the Sagas of Iceland. I have spent substantial time in Iceland, in fact, as well as other parts of Northern Europe, all of which are very dear to me. I have no problem with anyone wanting to rework the old religious traditions alluded to in those texts. I have made my own experiments in this area. Thus far I am on the same page as many other enthusiasts for recreating Germanic Paganism.
So what is my problem? It is my acute awareness that in today's multicultural, postcolonial, post-Holocaust, post-Hiroshima society, our heritage can never just be that of some chosen or assumed mono-ethnic identity from the distant past. As much as we may love having ancestors from this or that part of Europe or any other region of the world, our heritage did not stop developing in the year 1200 or whatever convenient cut-off point one may want to use to distinguish the imagined world of his/her Pagan ancestors from the world we live in today. Our heritage as modern people also includes slavery, colonialism, genocide, mass hatred, mass killing, mass ecological destruction, and a mixing of peoples, traditions, races, identities that would have been unimaginable 800 or 1000 years ago. To idealize that past society, to yearn to again be in an ethnically defined, ethnically exclusionary tribe, is at best a kind of escapism from modern social complexity, at worst an implicit, even if unacknowledged and unintentional endorsement of the same kind of ethnic and racial separatism that drove the Nazis.
My problem is I don't want to be a Nazi, nor a neo-Nazi, nor a supporter of nor a participant in anything remotely related or conducive to such hateful ideologies. As a child of the 20th century now living in the 21st, I see it as my heritage and responsibility to seek a positive way forward in the ethnically mixed, socially diverse, globalized world I live in. Retreating into an imagined past of ethnic purity that ignores the current day strikes me as silly at best, repulsive at worst.
Do I deserve then to call myself a Pagan or participate in Paganism? I have pretty much parted ways with American Asatru, because I encountered great hostility and experienced precious little satisfaction in attempting to discuss the above issues. I still struggle with how to take inspiration from religious traditions of the past without falling into the potential racism of retro-tribal agendas. I believe the only solution is through dialogue with a wide variety of religious traditions, in keeping with the ethnically and religiously pluralistic character of our world today. We may prefer the gods, the poems, the folklore of this or that tradition from this or that part of the world, but let us never forget that the world has opened and mixed many times since those traditions were first developed. Let us celebrate whatever god or gods or goddesses we find most meaningful, but also strive to see the meaning others find in theirs. Perhaps in time we can develop shared ritual forms that celebrate more than one tradition, that reach across the ghostly barriers of tribal, ethnic and national identity and animosity to embrace common humanity. I do believe that this is what the highest spirituality of any and all traditions, Pagan or not, calls us to.
I am inspired on this account by the Occupy Wall Street movement, with its coming together of many people from different backgrounds to seek the common good. Perhaps in time the day will come to occupy Paganism with a similar spirit.
Modern-day Paganism or Neo-Paganism means working with traditions remaining from the past. It should not mean being limited by them. A realization of common humanity is something from contemporary human experience, something nicely highlighted by the Occupy protests and encampments, that should be factored into that reworking. I say, make all humanity your tribe, and celebrate the day you did this!
Something I have observed and reflected on with growing concern for many years is a tendency in certain forms of modern-day Paganism to not merely value and seek to revive and revision religious traditions of the pre-Christian past, but to also idealize the social forms and norms of those past times. I am very comfortable with the religious motivation, but quite uncomfortable with the social agenda. Specifically, there is the idea, detectable in some forms of Asatru-Heathenry but also elsewhere, that the best thing for Pagans today is to return, to whatever degree possible, to the kind of tribal society of the medieval past or earlier. This society is romanticized as more heroic and more honorable than that of today, but is also valued, implicitly if not explicitly, for its more narrowly circumscribed ethnic horizons: "the good old days when we could be with people of our own kind." This often ties in with a sense of ethnic or ethno-national identity: "the religion (and society) of the Germans, the Swedes, the Russians, the _____ "(fill in the blank with ethnic or national group identity of your choice.)
What concerns me about this retro-tribalism is how well it lends itself to racial and ethnic exclusiveness, and ultimately, racial animosity. I know a good number of Astruar and other Pagans who do not see themselves as racist, who bear no particular grudge against people of other racial or ethnic backgrounds, who may be kind and warm with people of such backgrounds, but who fail, in my view, to grasp that despite their own good hearts and good intentions, their concern with ethnic identity and the tribal life of times past has a dangerous potential to function as a building block for the most hateful forms of racism, including such ugly developments as Nazism and neo-Nazism.
I have had repeated arguments with people from Asatru and other groups about this, and this posting will undoubtedly generate a few more, but I stand my ground. Anyone who reads late nineteenth century or early twentieth century texts like Vilhelm Gronbech's "Culture of the Teutons" which recount, and often romanticize, the myths and folklore of the Northmen/the Germans/the Scandinavians should be aware that certain lines of ethno-nationalistic thinking contained in such texts ultimately fed into Nazi beliefs about the master race and Nordic superiority. The extreme hatred for Jews, Roma, Slavs and others that fueled the Nazi death machine was predicated upon a sense that people of Germanic descent were fundamentally different from these others, fundamentally superior, and fundamentally in need of "lebensraum" or living space that would be cleansed of these unwanted others.
I have studied Old Norse. I have enjoyed and been inspired by the closest thing to sacred texts for Norse-Germanic Pagan traditions, the Eddas and the Sagas of Iceland. I have spent substantial time in Iceland, in fact, as well as other parts of Northern Europe, all of which are very dear to me. I have no problem with anyone wanting to rework the old religious traditions alluded to in those texts. I have made my own experiments in this area. Thus far I am on the same page as many other enthusiasts for recreating Germanic Paganism.
So what is my problem? It is my acute awareness that in today's multicultural, postcolonial, post-Holocaust, post-Hiroshima society, our heritage can never just be that of some chosen or assumed mono-ethnic identity from the distant past. As much as we may love having ancestors from this or that part of Europe or any other region of the world, our heritage did not stop developing in the year 1200 or whatever convenient cut-off point one may want to use to distinguish the imagined world of his/her Pagan ancestors from the world we live in today. Our heritage as modern people also includes slavery, colonialism, genocide, mass hatred, mass killing, mass ecological destruction, and a mixing of peoples, traditions, races, identities that would have been unimaginable 800 or 1000 years ago. To idealize that past society, to yearn to again be in an ethnically defined, ethnically exclusionary tribe, is at best a kind of escapism from modern social complexity, at worst an implicit, even if unacknowledged and unintentional endorsement of the same kind of ethnic and racial separatism that drove the Nazis.
My problem is I don't want to be a Nazi, nor a neo-Nazi, nor a supporter of nor a participant in anything remotely related or conducive to such hateful ideologies. As a child of the 20th century now living in the 21st, I see it as my heritage and responsibility to seek a positive way forward in the ethnically mixed, socially diverse, globalized world I live in. Retreating into an imagined past of ethnic purity that ignores the current day strikes me as silly at best, repulsive at worst.
Do I deserve then to call myself a Pagan or participate in Paganism? I have pretty much parted ways with American Asatru, because I encountered great hostility and experienced precious little satisfaction in attempting to discuss the above issues. I still struggle with how to take inspiration from religious traditions of the past without falling into the potential racism of retro-tribal agendas. I believe the only solution is through dialogue with a wide variety of religious traditions, in keeping with the ethnically and religiously pluralistic character of our world today. We may prefer the gods, the poems, the folklore of this or that tradition from this or that part of the world, but let us never forget that the world has opened and mixed many times since those traditions were first developed. Let us celebrate whatever god or gods or goddesses we find most meaningful, but also strive to see the meaning others find in theirs. Perhaps in time we can develop shared ritual forms that celebrate more than one tradition, that reach across the ghostly barriers of tribal, ethnic and national identity and animosity to embrace common humanity. I do believe that this is what the highest spirituality of any and all traditions, Pagan or not, calls us to.
I am inspired on this account by the Occupy Wall Street movement, with its coming together of many people from different backgrounds to seek the common good. Perhaps in time the day will come to occupy Paganism with a similar spirit.
Modern-day Paganism or Neo-Paganism means working with traditions remaining from the past. It should not mean being limited by them. A realization of common humanity is something from contemporary human experience, something nicely highlighted by the Occupy protests and encampments, that should be factored into that reworking. I say, make all humanity your tribe, and celebrate the day you did this!
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Rejecting Racism and Tribalism
In an interview Tuesday night, 15th September 2009, on NBC news, former President Jimmy Carter gave a courageous political analysis in which he asserted that racism lay at the root of some of the most vociferous opposition to President Obama that has been erupting in recent months in strange,furious and feverish forms, like the notion of some that he is not really an American, has a phony birth certificate, is actually an African, or is actually a Muslim, etc. etc. I have long believed President Carter to be one of the most sincere, intelligent and far-sighted leaders America has ever had, as evidenced by his ability to guide peace negotiations between Israel and Egypt to a successful conclusion back in 1978, and his declaration of the need for America to radically rethink its approach to energy consumption in light of the energy crises of the 1970s. He put in place all manner of programs to promote alternative energy, wind power, solar power, and so forth, charting a course that could have led us to energy independence if such forward-looking programs had not been discontinued by Ronald Reagan and never fully revived by any subsequent president.
To come back to the present time, I think Carter has once again spoken out with characteristic intelligence and insight about a very troubling social problem that continues to plague America: the legacy of racism that never seems to completely disappear, only to go underground and mutate into new forms. Back when many white liberals like myself were jumping for joy that a black American could finally be accepted as a serious candidate for the presidency, many of my African-American friends and colleagues were concerned about what might happen if Obama were to actually succeed in becoming president. Their concerns ranged from fear that he would be assassinated to less clearly defined worries that there would be some kind of backlash against Barack Obama coming from angry white Americans experiencing "fear of a black planet." In the exhilaration of Obama's successful campaign and the afterglow that followed his election, I tended to dismiss their anxieties. Now I understand better what their antennae were picking up on.
As a Pagan, I want no part of this. My anger at these recent eruptions of racism puts steel in my spine to call for any and all Pagans who have an ounce of conscience and any capacity for empathy and self-reflection to take very seriously the dangerous potential for forms of Paganism derived from native European religious traditions to take on racist overtones and become vehicles for racism, even if--ESPECIALLY BECAUSE--this may happen unintentionally and unconsciously.
I am confident that the vast majority of Pagans I have known either in Norse or Baltic Pagan groups or other forms as well are not racists and bear no ill will toward people with non-European ethnic backgrounds. However, the problem of unintentional and unconscious racism arises when Pagan religious groups formally or informally define their religious communities in ways that exclude or discourage people from other ethnic backgrounds from joining in as full and equal members, even if the exclusion is unintentional or unconscious. I would argue that such exclusion includes NOT INVITING people of other backgrounds. In an often racially polarized world, some effort to reach out is necessary if you actually want to form relations across racial barriers and boundaries.
To my thinking, Asatru/Heathenry/Norse Paganism has a special responsibility in this area because the Norse Pagan tradition was--it cannot be denied--used by the Nazis in the past to support their cruel and vicious racial policies. It is true that this was a horrible twisting of Scandinavian and Germanic folklore and mythology, and I am working on a project to specifically denounce this kind of falsification and manipulation, but the fact is, the legacy was established, and now needs to be fully deconstructed and rejected at every opportunity. Assuming the Norse gods have any need at all for anything from humans, I think they would appreciate having their reputation defended more than almost any kind of offering that might be presented to them. This remains an urgent matter today because modern-day far right and neo-Nazi groups continue to make allusions to Norse gods and traditions, and to not fight back against that kind of appropriation could be perceived by the wider public as a tacit or indirect endorsement. I know some Heathens or Asatruar get sick of hearing about this issue, but I think this is truly a sacred duty, which we shirk at our peril.
Furthermore, I would argue that the idea among many Pagans, particularly though not only Heathens, that their project of reconstructing ancient, pre-Christian religious traditions should include some attempt at recreating the tribal society of ancient times, is a misguided and dangerous idea that plays right into the hands of hard right racism and neo-Nazism, like it or not. This passion for tribalism seems to be particularly strong in the USA, and I have been less aware of it in my discussions with Northern European Pagans, but I imagine it exists in other places as well. The argument is, the old religion was followed by people living in tribal communities, so we should do the same. Well, I would say, hold on a minute. The old religion was practiced by people who practiced human sacrifice, by people who had slaves, by people who followed a medieval lifestyle without electricity, without plumbing, without computers, electronic entertainment, or pizza, without any number of things that we take for granted, including the English language, and I do not see that it is necessary for us to completely recreate all of that lifestyle in order to participate in spiritual traditions laid out in ancient myths and other sources.
We no longer live in a closed, tribal world, and I believe that most people, including most Pagans, would agree that we are far the better off for it. Our range of social and cultural opportunities is infinitely rich and stimulating, and why would we want to purposely reject that and seek a more insular and limited way of life? What is the great attraction of tribalism? I fear that in some cases, it is....racism. Perhaps unconscious racism based simply on a discomfort with "different" people, but racism nonetheless. The desire to shut out diversity, to be only with "one's own kind," to conceive of and believe in gods that supposedly only care about people of "our" ethnic background.
As I understand old European myths, they are not racially oriented. They speak of cosmic realities, not tribal boundaries. In the Norse tradition, Yggdrasil is the "world tree," not the Norwegian or German tree. It shelters ALL beings, not just certain fair-skinned people with blond hair, blue eyes and a limitless hunger for herring. Odin is called the "All-father;" what is the "all" about? These are just two examples of how there are strands in Norse tradition, as in other European traditions, that suggest a movement toward very broad thinking and universalism even in ancient times.
However, I will acknowledge that it is certainly possible to interpret the old gods and religious traditions in a narrow, tribal way, with respect to the undeniable fact that these old traditions were often only followed within certain regions, among certain groups of people who shared a common language, who had often lived in the same villages for many generations. My feeling, though, is that an originally tribal, medieval religion transplanted to modern times need not remain tribal and medieval, but can and should be adapted to the conditions of modern society, which are globalized and multiethnic.
I know that some of my old Pagan friends and acquaintances may disagree with my desire for a multiethnic Paganism, and I accept their right to have that point of view, and to be as medieval and tribal as they please, but I hope they will listen to the more basic point that unless they are able to intelligently, convincingly and consistently reject racism and explain why their ethnically exclusive Paganism is not a form of racism, the more will they earn a reputation as either actual or at least unconscious racists. Again, I am NOT saying that these people are racists. I am saying that appearances are important, and that when we are called to account, we all need to be able to explain ourselves, and to act in ways that match our proclamations. Simply saying "We are not racists!" means little if it is not matched by actions that counter racism, or if it is obviously contradicted by actions that suggest racism.
I am however determined to develop a different Pagan path, and I am grateful that on this blog, I am meeting up with people who share a similar perspective. I pledge myself to the effort to move Beyond Tribalism and Toward Universalism. Can this be done with an originally European-based Paganism? Yes, I think so, and future entries will explore this, hopefully with the active input of blog readers.
To come back to the present time, I think Carter has once again spoken out with characteristic intelligence and insight about a very troubling social problem that continues to plague America: the legacy of racism that never seems to completely disappear, only to go underground and mutate into new forms. Back when many white liberals like myself were jumping for joy that a black American could finally be accepted as a serious candidate for the presidency, many of my African-American friends and colleagues were concerned about what might happen if Obama were to actually succeed in becoming president. Their concerns ranged from fear that he would be assassinated to less clearly defined worries that there would be some kind of backlash against Barack Obama coming from angry white Americans experiencing "fear of a black planet." In the exhilaration of Obama's successful campaign and the afterglow that followed his election, I tended to dismiss their anxieties. Now I understand better what their antennae were picking up on.
As a Pagan, I want no part of this. My anger at these recent eruptions of racism puts steel in my spine to call for any and all Pagans who have an ounce of conscience and any capacity for empathy and self-reflection to take very seriously the dangerous potential for forms of Paganism derived from native European religious traditions to take on racist overtones and become vehicles for racism, even if--ESPECIALLY BECAUSE--this may happen unintentionally and unconsciously.
I am confident that the vast majority of Pagans I have known either in Norse or Baltic Pagan groups or other forms as well are not racists and bear no ill will toward people with non-European ethnic backgrounds. However, the problem of unintentional and unconscious racism arises when Pagan religious groups formally or informally define their religious communities in ways that exclude or discourage people from other ethnic backgrounds from joining in as full and equal members, even if the exclusion is unintentional or unconscious. I would argue that such exclusion includes NOT INVITING people of other backgrounds. In an often racially polarized world, some effort to reach out is necessary if you actually want to form relations across racial barriers and boundaries.
To my thinking, Asatru/Heathenry/Norse Paganism has a special responsibility in this area because the Norse Pagan tradition was--it cannot be denied--used by the Nazis in the past to support their cruel and vicious racial policies. It is true that this was a horrible twisting of Scandinavian and Germanic folklore and mythology, and I am working on a project to specifically denounce this kind of falsification and manipulation, but the fact is, the legacy was established, and now needs to be fully deconstructed and rejected at every opportunity. Assuming the Norse gods have any need at all for anything from humans, I think they would appreciate having their reputation defended more than almost any kind of offering that might be presented to them. This remains an urgent matter today because modern-day far right and neo-Nazi groups continue to make allusions to Norse gods and traditions, and to not fight back against that kind of appropriation could be perceived by the wider public as a tacit or indirect endorsement. I know some Heathens or Asatruar get sick of hearing about this issue, but I think this is truly a sacred duty, which we shirk at our peril.
Furthermore, I would argue that the idea among many Pagans, particularly though not only Heathens, that their project of reconstructing ancient, pre-Christian religious traditions should include some attempt at recreating the tribal society of ancient times, is a misguided and dangerous idea that plays right into the hands of hard right racism and neo-Nazism, like it or not. This passion for tribalism seems to be particularly strong in the USA, and I have been less aware of it in my discussions with Northern European Pagans, but I imagine it exists in other places as well. The argument is, the old religion was followed by people living in tribal communities, so we should do the same. Well, I would say, hold on a minute. The old religion was practiced by people who practiced human sacrifice, by people who had slaves, by people who followed a medieval lifestyle without electricity, without plumbing, without computers, electronic entertainment, or pizza, without any number of things that we take for granted, including the English language, and I do not see that it is necessary for us to completely recreate all of that lifestyle in order to participate in spiritual traditions laid out in ancient myths and other sources.
We no longer live in a closed, tribal world, and I believe that most people, including most Pagans, would agree that we are far the better off for it. Our range of social and cultural opportunities is infinitely rich and stimulating, and why would we want to purposely reject that and seek a more insular and limited way of life? What is the great attraction of tribalism? I fear that in some cases, it is....racism. Perhaps unconscious racism based simply on a discomfort with "different" people, but racism nonetheless. The desire to shut out diversity, to be only with "one's own kind," to conceive of and believe in gods that supposedly only care about people of "our" ethnic background.
As I understand old European myths, they are not racially oriented. They speak of cosmic realities, not tribal boundaries. In the Norse tradition, Yggdrasil is the "world tree," not the Norwegian or German tree. It shelters ALL beings, not just certain fair-skinned people with blond hair, blue eyes and a limitless hunger for herring. Odin is called the "All-father;" what is the "all" about? These are just two examples of how there are strands in Norse tradition, as in other European traditions, that suggest a movement toward very broad thinking and universalism even in ancient times.
However, I will acknowledge that it is certainly possible to interpret the old gods and religious traditions in a narrow, tribal way, with respect to the undeniable fact that these old traditions were often only followed within certain regions, among certain groups of people who shared a common language, who had often lived in the same villages for many generations. My feeling, though, is that an originally tribal, medieval religion transplanted to modern times need not remain tribal and medieval, but can and should be adapted to the conditions of modern society, which are globalized and multiethnic.
I know that some of my old Pagan friends and acquaintances may disagree with my desire for a multiethnic Paganism, and I accept their right to have that point of view, and to be as medieval and tribal as they please, but I hope they will listen to the more basic point that unless they are able to intelligently, convincingly and consistently reject racism and explain why their ethnically exclusive Paganism is not a form of racism, the more will they earn a reputation as either actual or at least unconscious racists. Again, I am NOT saying that these people are racists. I am saying that appearances are important, and that when we are called to account, we all need to be able to explain ourselves, and to act in ways that match our proclamations. Simply saying "We are not racists!" means little if it is not matched by actions that counter racism, or if it is obviously contradicted by actions that suggest racism.
I am however determined to develop a different Pagan path, and I am grateful that on this blog, I am meeting up with people who share a similar perspective. I pledge myself to the effort to move Beyond Tribalism and Toward Universalism. Can this be done with an originally European-based Paganism? Yes, I think so, and future entries will explore this, hopefully with the active input of blog readers.
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