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White supremacy, Hinduism, and extremist violence

(Singing and dancing at the Hare Krishna tent, from Stuff)

Amidst the collection of vaccine deniers, Q-Anon-inspired conspiracy theorists, Alt-Right supporters, and misogynist white nationalists and white supremacists at the Parliament protests in Wellington in February 2022, a Hare Krishna tent, devotees, singing and dancing to rhythms of the tambourine, offered a curious spectacle. From offering yoga and meditation to serving vegetarian curries and samosas, the Hare Krishnas formed an important part of the protest architecture. 

For observers, the spectacle disrupted the widely held perception in the West of Hare Krishnas as peace-loving people. 

How did Hare Krishnas fall into the disinformation campaign propelled by white supremacists? What do Hare Krishnas, an apparent peace-loving community, have in common with an ideology driven by the Alt-Right the universe of white supremacy?

The symbiotic relationship between Hare Krishnas and the Alt-Right however has a deep-seated history.

The central node in the organizing of the Alt-Right is the publisher Arktos Media, producing fascist and proto-fascist texts that form the pedagogic architecture of white supremacy. Operating across print and digital platforms, Arktos Media offers an alternative vision of modernity, both creating and speaking to a market of traditionalists, white nationalists, and conservatives that seek to re-establish the glory of a traditional white European society. For a part of its trajectory in growing into the central pedagogic node of the Alt-Right universe, Arktos Media operated out of a Hare Krishna base in India. Arktos published the book, "Hare Krishnas in the modern world" in 2013.

An important figure in the Arktos pedagogic universe is the proto-fascist Julius Evola (1898-1974), whose book, "Metaphysics of War" is one of the most popular Arktos titles. The traditionalist-nationalist writings of Evola, a collaborator with the Nazi fascist movement, bring together a mixture of European paganism, mysticism, and occultism to craft a white supremacist utopia. 




Evola drew from Hinduism to espouse that we are currently living in "Kali Yuga" (a dark age) that is ruled by the lower castes, envisioning a return to a Golden Age ruled by the upper castes. 





White supremacy, the belief that white people are genetically superior to other races, converges ideologically with Hindutva, the belief that upper-caste Hindus are inherently superior to lower castes and to others outside the race. The racist hierarchy crystallized by Hindutva 

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