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Back to School Special: Youth for Western Civilization Primer

Posted September 23, 2009 by Patrick Young, Esq.

This brief essay gives the basics of Youth for Western Civilization. Click on the links for in-depth treatments.
With students back in college now, I thought they might want more information about the new group on campus, Youth for Western Civilization.
Last year the Youth for Western Civilization, America’s self-described “right-wing youth movement”, burst on the conservative scene. Rejecting the “moderation” of the already whacky post-Palin Republican Party, the Youth adopted the controversial insignia of a battle axe used by Charles Martel to kill Muslims as its symbol. These Moor-killers embarked on a confrontational attack on the traditional values of American education.
Mentored by hard-right anti-immigrant activist Tom Tancredo, the Western Youth came out hard against immigrants and against any academic programs that study them. It also railed against attempts to include women, African Americans, and Latinos in American history or cultural studies.
Western Youth have lately become sympathetic to proposals by some politicians to secede from the United States and some of their supporters have expressed a longing for a Prussian-style of government as a replacement for American democracy.
While the group seems to be limited to a few hundred activists nationally, it has made inroads in the Northeast, and at several major universities. It did suffer a set-back when one of its founders was revealed to have been arrested for a hate-crime, but its also received wide publicity in the right-wing media when students at one campus resisted its organizing efforts in a potentially dangerous manner.
Students should speak out strongly against this new anti-immigrant group. But they should also remember that efforts that cross the line into intimidation only help the opponents of a vibrant and diverse campus.