The State Department Published A Substack Manifesto On 'Western Civilizational Heritage'
(TPM) "The piece in question was titled 'The Need For Civilizational Allies In Europe.' It was published on Tuesday and authored by Samuel Samson, a senior adviser in the department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor. Among other things, Samson argued there is 'an aggressive campaign against Western civilization itself' that includes 'digital censorship, mass migration, [and] restrictions on religious freedom.'"
"'On both sides of the Atlantic, we must preserve the goods of our common culture, ensuring that Western civilization remains a source of virtue, freedom, and human flourishing for generations to come,' Samson wrote."
"The Substack post made headlines because it came as Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced a new wave of visa restrictions on Chinese students and foreigners deemed to be 'complicit in censoring Americans.' Yet the post was important not just because it was another salvo in President Trump and the right’s fight against content moderation and alleged censorship. Samson’s rhetoric arguing against 'mass migration' and in favor of 'Western heritage' sharply echoes the ideology of many extremist and even white nationalist groups."
"A 'backgrounder' published by the Anti Defamation League in 2020 laid out how figures involved in 'alt right' politics tend to 'avoid explicit white supremacist references' and instead 'use terms like ‘culture’ as substitutes for more divisive terms such as ‘race,’ and promote ‘Western Civilization’ as a code word for white culture or identity.' That rhetoric was used for the promotion of the 2017 Charlottesville rally, which included multiple neo-Nazi groups. Affiliated organizations like the explicitly pro-Trump antisemitic group National Justice Party, which has a podcast named for the Holocaust, have used the term. The Proud Boys, a militant group whose leadership has included four people charged with seditious conspiracy related to the January 6 attack before being pardoned by President Trump, also describe themselves as focused on 'Western Chauvinism.'"
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/the-state-department-published-a-substack-manifesto-on-western-civilizational-heritage
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