HOPE not hate can now reveal that Generation Identity (GI), the most important European Identitarian network and the group behind the Defend Europe project, is launching stateside, currently recruiting activists and already has events planned.
Generation Identity North America
Though there are indications that GI have attempted to launch in North America previously – not least through the now active Canadian branch – this recent activity marks the real start of Generation Identity’s expansion across the Atlantic.
While there is still no word from the European leadership, the new American leader, Saygun Boris, has claimed that their branch has indeed been officially recognized.
According to their site, registered on 3 March 2018, Saygun Boris who is based in North Carolina, is the leader and their Events Director is Kenny Strawn, based in California. According to a post published on Strawn’s personal blog on 20 February 2018 the North American GI chapter, “only became officialized 10 days ago as of this writing” and though “there isn’t an official section of the Generation Identity website stating that it exists […] it does”.
Two days prior Strawn tweeted that he was “in contact now with Saygun Boris, the founder of the IDNA chapter that was made official last week”. The acronym “IDNA” stands for “Identitarian North America”, following the pattern of the Canadian branch of Generation Identity, which rebranded itself as “ID Canada” in January 2018.
According to their website, they are currently recruiting for an Assistant Leader, 5 Events Directors to organise and create GI events, 10 Social Media and Advertising staff and 50 people to join their photography crew. They are currently crowdfunding through GoFundMe though with no indication as to what the funds would be used for and with a goal of only $1,000, suggesting those involved are doing so on an entirely voluntary basis and are receiving no funds externally.
The launch of GI in the USA comes as no surprise as Martin Sellner, the de facto spokesperson for GI in Europe, has made numerous visits to the States over the last year and spoken of his hopes for an identitarian movement in America and where it could come from. Speaking with US alt-right vloggers James Allsup and Brittany Pettibone in January, he claimed “American identitarianism exists already […] in the voting group who voted for Trump”, who are “becoming aware that they are a minority”.
“Defend California” GI North America’s First Event
Strawn has begun his role as an Event Director for GI North America by planning a rally to be held on 31 March in Mission Viejo, California. The rally, which Strawn has called “Defend California: No Sanctuary for Sharia”, is confusingly also specifically against “the effects of multiculturalism on our shopping centers”. According to Strawn the Los Alisos shopping center where the rally will take place “[…] used to be occupied by American business owners” but now “there’s Persian and Arabic all over the place”. Moreover, he believes its “largely Muslim shop owners […] shouldn’t be trusted with running a shopping centre”.
Despite the evidence above suggesting that GI North America are not receiving funding from elsewhere, Strawn did tweet on 18 February that though Boris “can’t make it from across the country” he “does have the resources to help promote this”.
In preparation for the expansion of GI in America, find out everything you need to know about GI here.
As we expose more activists involved in the anti-migrant campaign in Hampshire as having extensive links to the organised far right, it’s getting harder and…
