White supremacy
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White supremacy is a racist ideology based on the assertion that white people are superior to other races. The term is sometimes used specifically to describe a political ideology that advocates social and political dominance for whites.
White supremacy, as with racial supremacism in general, is rooted in ethnocentrism and a desire for hegemony. It is associated with varying degrees of racism and xenophobia as well as a desire for racial separation. White supremacy has often resulted in anti-black racism and antisemitism, although it has also involved prejudice and discrimination against a wide variety of "non-white" groups, including Arabs and the various Asian peoples.
Different forms of white supremacy have different definitions of 'white', and not all white supremacist organizations agree on which group is the greatest enemy. White supremacists frequently consider Jews to be the gravest threat to their cause, and accuse them of manipulating other minority groups for their own gain.
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History
Politically, socially and economically, white supremacy was dominant in the United States before the American Civil War and for decades after Reconstruction. The same is true of Apartheid-era South Africa and of parts of Europe at various time periods; most notably under Nazi Germany's Third Reich. The extent and nature of white supremacy's continuing influence in western culture is a subject of ongoing debate. In some parts of the United States, many people who were considered non-white were disenfranchised, barred from government office, and prevented from holding most government jobs — well into the second half of the twentieth century. White leaders often viewed Native Americans (known as First Nations in Canada) and Australian Aborigines as obstacles to economic and political progress, rather than as settlers in their own right. Many European-settled countries bordering the Pacific Ocean limited immigration and naturalization from the Asian Pacific countries, usually on a cultural basis. Many U.S. states banned interracial marriage through so-called "anti-miscegenation laws" until 1967, when these laws were declared unconstitutional. South Africa maintained the white supremacist Apartheid system until the early 1990s.
Specific white supremacist ideologies
There is considerable disagreement between different types of white supremacists about which people should be classified as white, and about which people they are supposedly superior to.
Pan Europeanism
Pan Europeanism accepts all native and original Western European peoples, ranging from fair-skinned Swedes, Britons and Germans to darker complexioned Italians, Spaniards, Portuguese,and Greeks.
Pan Aryanism
Another variant, Pan Aryanism, accepts native Europeans from all of continental Europe and extends its acceptance to non-European Caucasoids, such as some Middle Easterners, North Africans, and Central/West Asians. Yet this is usually on an individual basis and not all people from these regions are accepted by Pan-Aryanists as white. The acceptance of Middle Easterners in Pan-Aryanist ideology, Syrians, Lebanese, Turks (who are often considered European), and Persians are accepted as white, but Saudis and Yemenites as a whole are not.
South Asian Caucasoids (Pakistanis, Northern Indians etc) as a whole may generally not be accepted in this ideology as well, however some Pan-Aryanists acknowledge and have disputing beliefs on lighter skinned people descended from Indo-Europeans in this region. An example is a textbook for those taking entrance examinations for the British Civil Service in the early 1900s categorically stated that Afghans and Berbers were in the highest classification, along with Northern Europeans, but above the Spanish and Italians [1].
Nordicism
Those who follow the ideology of Nordicism and Germanicism only consider Northern European people who are Nordic or Germanic (and often Celtic) to be white, shunning Southern and Eastern Europe[citation needed] (who often have darker complexion and different cultures) along with anyone whose ethnic heritage is not European. In Madison Grant's 1916 book, The Passing of the Great Race, Europeans who were not of Germanic origin and had Nordic characteristics such as blonde hair and light eyes were considered to be a Nordic admixture and suitable for Aryanization. [2]
Religious movements
The Christian Identity movement, which is regarded by other branches of Christianity as heretical, is closely tied to white supremacy. The Ku Klux Klan's reasons for supporting racial segregation are not primarily based on religious ideals, although some Klan groups are openly Christian Protestant because of their northern European/Germanic roots. Some white supremacists identify themselves as Odinists, although most Odinists reject white supremacy, and white supremacists make up only a small fraction of those who support Odinism (belief in the gods of Norse mythology). The white supremacist version of Odinism claims that the universe is composed of "worlds of light" (white people) and "worlds of dark" (non-white people).[citation needed] Some white supremacist groups, such as the South African Boeremag, conflate elements of Christianity and Odinism.
The World Church of the Creator, now called the Creativity Movement, believed that a person's race is his religion. Aside from this central belief, its ideology is similar to many Christian Identity groups, in the conviction that there is a Jewish conspiracy in control of the United States government, international banking, and the media. They claim that a Racial Holy War (RAHOWA), is destined to happen, which would eliminate Jews and "mud races" from the planet. In the early 1990s, there was a dramatic increase in membership, due to the growing belief in the apocalypse. A different (non-racist) group called Church of the Creator legally trademarked the name and won a lawsuit in 1996, leading to the white supremacist group to change its name to the Creativity Movement.[3]
Contemporary white supremacist groups
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White supremacist groups can be found in most countries and regions with a significant white population, including North America, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and parts of Latin America. In all of these locations, their views represent a relatively small minority of the population, and active membership of the groups is quite small. However, a backlash to the influx of non-white immigrants into various European nations has spurred a rise in membership in such extremist organizations, as well as an escalation in militant white supremacist demonstrations and hate crimes. The militant approach taken by white supremacist groups has caused them to be watched closely by law enforcement officials. Some European countries have laws forbidding hate speech, as well as other laws that ban or restrict white supremacist organizations but not all.
See also
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Footnotes
- ^ Geography of the World. Civil Service Book Depot, 1904.
- ^ Grant, Madison. The Passing of the Great Race. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1916.
- ^ http://www.churchofthecreator.org/TM/TMindex.html]
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| United States | American Front · American Nazi Party · Aryan Brotherhood · Aryan Nations · Confederate Hammer Skins · Creativity Movement · Forsyth County Defense League · Hammerskins · Imperial Klans of America · Ku Klux Klan · National Alliance · National Association for the Advancement of White People · National Socialist Movement (US) · The Order · Posse Comitatus · White Aryan Resistance · White Citizens' Council · White Patriot Party |
| Canada | Aryan Guard · Canadian Ethnic Cleansing Team · Canadian Heritage Alliance · Heritage Front · Nationalist Party of Canada · Northern Alliance · Tri-City Skins · Volksfront · Western Canada For Us · |
| United Kingdom | British National Front · Blood and Honour · Combat 18 · National Socialist Movement (UK) |
| South Africa | Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging |
| Australia | Patriotic Youth League |
| Russia | Russian National Unity |
| New Zealand | New Zealand National Front |
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| History of racism | Apartheid • The Holocaust • Racism in the United States • Anti-racism • Civil rights movement | |
| Racist ideologies | White supremacy • Black supremacy • Social Darwinism • Nazism • Aryanism | |
| Acts of racism | Institutional racism • State racism • Racial profiling • Racism by country • Hate speech • Racial segregation • Stereotype • Scientific racism • Slavery • Crime of apartheid | |
| Racial violence | Ethnic cleansing • Hate crime • Race war • Genocide • Lynching | |
| Racism against groups | American Indians • Arabs • Armenians • Blacks • Chinese • Iranians • Irish • Italians • Japanese • Jews • Mexicans • Poles • Roma people • South Asians • Whites | |
| Racist groups | Ku Klux Klan • Neo-Nazis • Grey Wolves • South African National Party • Nation of Islam | |
| Anti-racist groups and movements | NAACP • Anti-Defamation League • Anti-Fascist Action • Civil Rights Movement • Southern Poverty Law Center • Searchlight | |
Categories: Articles with unsourced statements since January 2007 | All articles with unsourced statements | Discrimination | Articles with unsourced statements since December 2007 | Articles needing additional references from May 2007 | White supremacy | Ethnic supremacy | Neo-Nazi movements and concepts | Political theories | Racism