The White Nationalists Behind the Movement to Create 'Whites Only' Communities
In the United States and the United Kingdom, White Nationalists are seeking to create 'Whites only' communities, because 'all formerly European nations are disappearing.'
White Nationalists in the United States and the United Kingdom are behind a movement to create “Whites only” communities, that they portrayed as an idealistic return to agrarian society. These groups have been raising hundreds of thousands of dollars to purchase land in rural areas, and residents are required to have membership in private organizations in order to circumvent civil rights laws.
The creation of White separatist enclaves is nothing new, as White Nationalists with various ideological and theological views have established similar communities over the last several decades.
Elohim City, a private community in Adair County, Oklahoma, was founded by adherents of the Christian Identity movement in the 1970s. Over the years, the community has numerous connections to far right violent extremists and White Supremacists, from members of the Aryan Republican Army to Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh.
In recent years, the leaders of Elohim City have denied connections to far right violent extremists, and claimed that they are not White Nationalists. However, the “questions raised by its proximity to violent right-wing extremism will likely continue to haunt the town for the span of its existence.”
Christopher Pohlhaus, a former U.S. Marine and tattoo artists, purchased land near Springfield, Maine, and intended to use the land to “build a white supremacist community that would provide a place for the Blood Tribe to network, strategize and train.”
However, Pohlhaus sold the property after local community members campaigned against the neo-Nazi compound, and Pohlhaus claimed that the location became “basically too dangerous to fulfill its purpose.”
“I desire a White community for my family because all formerly European nations are disappearing.”
In the Ozarks region of northern Arkansas, there’s a new settlement which “sprawls over 160 acres” which was founded by Return to the Land (RTTL), a neo-fascist White Nationalist movement which seeks to build communities exclusively for “individuals and families with traditional views and European ancestry.”
However, on social media, RTTL has repeatedly stated explicitly that the group is “building legal, Whites only communities for our people.” The group’s newsletter explains that it is a “private club that is exclusive in its membership criteria,” and that potential members must complete an application form — followed by a video interview.
The group argues that because it is a private members only club, this provides the group the legal ability to “circumvent civil rights legislation, such as the Fair Housing Act, which prohibits discrimination in housing based on race, colour, religion, sex, national origin, familial status, and disability.”
The Arkansas attorney general’s office reportedly conducted an preliminary review, and “hasn’t found evidence that they've broken the law.” Jeff LeMaster, spokesman for Attorney General Tim Griffin, said that while the review is ongoing, "So far, we've not found anything that we've identified as illegal at this point.”
There are currently two communities founded by RTTL in Arkansas, and another community in the Ozarks region is “currently in the initial planning process.” The group also claims that a community in the Deep South and two communities in Appalachia are also “currently in the initial planning process.”
RTTL claims to have “invested tens of thousands of dollars in legal research and believes that it has created a viable framework for many more communities to come.” The group has raised more than $170,000 on GiveSendGo, the Christian crowdfunding website, including more $88,000 to help the group purchase land, more than $62,000 for the group’s “legal fund,” and more than $13,000 to build the Ozarks Community Center.
Eric Orwoll, the co-founder of RTTL who is known online as Aarvoll, has regularly used racist, xenophobic, and antisemitic rhetoric on social media, including advocating for the “great replacement” conspiracy theory: “I desire a White community for my family because all formerly European nations are disappearing.”
Orwoll has significant connections to prominent White Nationalists, and has appeared in videos published by Thomas Rousseau, the founder of the neo-fascist White Nationalist group Patriot Front, and Nick Fuentes, the antisemitic White Supremacist propagandist behind the Groyper movement.
Orwoll recently appeared on an episode the Almost Serious Podcast, which is hosted by Elijah Schaffer, the far-right White Nationalist propagandist who has a history of using racist, antisemitic, misogynistic, and anti-LGBTQ rhetoric. During the interview, Orwoll claimed that he’s not a White Nationalist, argued that colonialization actually benefited indigenous people, and asserted that there are “God ordained” racial differences.
Orwoll often refences his experiences growing up in a multiracial and multicultural community, and claimed that he was bullied for being White: “People would speak disparagingly about European identity and our history and our accomplishments. They would try to undermine our accomplishments… I internalized that pretty deeply.”
During an interview with Sky News, Orwoll said that RTTL community is building "fortress for the white race," and that he would “like to have more communities so that people in all parts of the US have this as an option if they want. I would also like us to network and branch out internationally."
In the United Kingdom, there is already a similar movement.
“This is a long term plan that will hopefully catch on and turn into the establishment of indigenous heartlands; places for our people.”
The Woodlander Initiative (TWI) seeks to “purchase land throughout the British Isles” and this land is intended to be “used for the benefit of TWI participating members.” Membership is open to people that endorse the group’s principles, which include recognizing the “British people as a distinct group comprising of the English, Welsh, Scots and Irish.”
Last year, TWI was reported to have “raised more than £135,500 and purchased two plots — each of several acres — close to the village of Llanafan Fawr,” near the town of Builth Wells, Wales. TWI was recently reported to have “raised more than £160,000 from far-Right donors,” and has apparently “bought a section of woodland near Rye in an attempt to establish a white-only enclave in the East Sussex town.”
The land that has been purchased by TWI has connections to the Patriotic Alternative (PA), the far right neo-fascist White Nationalist political party.
Mark Collett, the leader of Patriotic Alternative, recently praised the TWI in his neo-fascist White Nationalist publication, Heritage and Destiny. Collett wrote that TWI is a “fantastic initiative that allows nationalists to pool their money in order to purchase land and property, so now we have places to meet, camp and socialise,” and that “this is a long term plan that will hopefully catch on and turn into the establishment of indigenous heartlands; places for our people.”
Simon Birkett, the founder of TWI, was a speaker at Patriotic Alternative’s conference, and said that White Nationalists need to create an “alternative” community of businesses, schools, and other institutions: “We need our own areas, we need our own land, we need our own buildings, we need our own conference centres. We need our own communities for our own culture. And it is down to us to start building it.”
Blacks had Rosewood in Florida and Greenwood in Oklahoma and they decided to destroy them.... make it make sense...
Good we call it the containment policy