Qualifiers like “Norse tradition,” “Germanic” or “proto-Germanic” are sometimes attached to those terms. Such individuals and groups use a variety of terms to describe their spirituality such as Odinism or Wotanism, but sometimes they co-opt other non-racist denominations such as heathenism, Asatru or paganism. Neo-Völkisch adherents base their spirituality on the survival of those descended from white Europeans and the preservation of what they claim are dead or dying cultures. The aesthetic these groups masquerade behind and the malleability of their messaging, coupled with connections to and coordination with the AFA, will ensure their relative stability in 2022. Thus, with the continued acquisition of event spaces, the membership and relevance of the Asatru Folk Assembly grows.Īcross the Neo-Völkisch landscape, adherents’ reliance on imagery and myths of a romanticized Viking Era seeks to transcend nationalism and wield whiteness as it suits their ill-conceived ends. Per the group’s January 2022 newsletter, the group has settled on a location in Florida and are waiting on appraisal to be completed. In August 2021, Matt Flavel, national leader of the AFA, announced that the group had begun scouting locations for a fourth hof, or meeting hall.
Adherents have turned to platforms such as MeWe and Telegram and moved away from more mainstream spaces, such as Facebook. Dakota Prairie Asatru, made up largely of former members of the Asatru Folk Assembly, hosted several events in North Dakota and maintained social media accounts and a website to espouse rhetoric analogous to that of their former organization.Ģ021 was also a year of increased expansion across various social media platforms. While several new groups emerged in 2021, each has at least prior, if not current, associations with the Asatru Folk Assembly. The group hosted their largest event to date in Brownsville with 153 guests for Midsummer. Key momentsĪgain in 2021, the Asatru Folk Assembly hosted numerous events at each of their three hofs, located in Brownsville, California Linden, North Carolina and Murdock, Minnesota. Similar to other hate group members, neo-Völkisch adherents opportunistically harness conspiracy theories to avoid contributing to an equitable, multiracial democracy. Many adherents to the neo-Völkisch ideology also latched on to conspiracy theories about safety and inoculation measures against the COVID-19 pandemic being aimed at controlling and ultimately suppressing white people. As much of neo-Völkisch ideology centers on misplaced fears about the replacement of white people, many hate groups focused on homeschooling in 2021 as a means to disrupt the flow of accurate educational information about the history of racism and iterations of structural oppression in the United States. Similar to hate groups across the far right, in 2021 neo-Völkisch adherents homed in on contrived issues regarding critical race theory, anti-mask campaigns and anti-COVID-19 vaccine conspiracy theories. The Asatru Folk Assembly (AFA) – the largest neo-Völkisch group in the country – saw a slight increase in the number of active chapters in 2021, from 21 to 24. From 2020 to 2021, the number of active neo-Völkisch hate groups remained relatively stable, declining from 33 active groups in 2020 to 32 in 2021. “Coronavirus pandemic proves that ‘neoliberal’ model has failed.” Mexico News Daily, May 4, 2020.“How neoliberalism has caused income inequality.” Medium, June 21, 2017.
“Moral Rhetoric and the Criminalisation of Squatting: Vulnerable Demons?” Routledge, October 28, 2014, ISBN 9780415740616.
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