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

The whiteness of binaries that erase the Global South: On Communicative Inversions and the invitation to Vijay Prashad in Aotearoa

When I learned through my activist networks that the public intellectual Vijay Prashad was coming to Aotearoa, I was filled with joy. In my early years in the U.S., when learning the basics of the struggle against the fascist forces of Hindutva, I came in conversation with Vijay's work. Two of his critical interventions, the book, The Karma of Brown Folk , and the journal article " The protean forms of Yankee Hindutva " co-authored with Biju Matthew and published in Ethnic and Racial Studies shaped my early activism. These pieces of work are core readings in understanding the workings of Hindutva fascism and how it mobilizes cultural tropes to serve fascist agendas. Much later, I felt overjoyed learning about his West Bengal roots and his actual commitment to the politics of the Left, reflected in the organising of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), a political register that shaped much of my earliest lessons around Global South resistance, collectivization, and orga...

Libertarianism, the Free Speech Union, and the Life of Disinformation

The rise of the far-right globally is intertwined with the globally networked power of libertarian think tanks, funded at the base by the global extractive industries . In this blog post, through an analysis of the disinformation-based campaign I have personally experienced since October 2023 mobilised by the communicative ecosystem of the Free Speech Union (FSU), I will attend to the lifecycle of disinformation in libertarian networks, arguing that the disinformation ecosystem is invested in upholding both white supremacy and extractive capital. The FSU’s investment in disinformation I argue that the FSU is invested in producing and circulating disinformation. In response to my analysis of the hypocrisy of the Free Speech Union (FSU) that positions itself as a champion of free speech in Aotearoa while one of its co-founders, council members and spokespersons David Cumin (who is also one of the key actors representing Israel Institute of New Zealand) actively targets the freedom of a...

Zionist hate mongering, the race/terror trope, and the Free Speech Union: Part 1

March 15, 2019. It was a day of terror. Unleashed by a white supremacist far-right terrorist. Driven by hate for brown people. Driven by Islamophobic hate. Earlier in the day, I had come across a hate-based hit piece targeting me, alongside other academics, the University of Auckland academic Professor Nicholas Rowe , Professor Richard Jackson at Otago University, Professor Kevin P Clements at Otago University, Dr. Rose Martin from University of Auckland and Dr. Nigel Parsons at Massey University. Titled, "More extremists in New Zealand Universities," the article threw in the labels "terror sympathisers" and "extremist views." Written by one David Cumin and hosted on the website of the Israel Institute of New Zealand, the article sought to create outrage that academics critical of Israeli settler colonialism and apartheid are actually employed by universities in New Zealand. Figure 1: The web post written by David Cumin on the site of Israel Institute ...

Mohan Dutta: Culture-Centered Approach

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