by Karl North

The National Policy Institute’s 2016 Become Who You Are winter conference was perhaps the most eventful of its kind. There was great optimism and excitement among the attendees. The media showed in force to cover the conference with news outlets from all over the world present. There was also a renewed leftist assault against our message resulting from Donald Trump’s win on November 8. It cannot be denied that we, the Alternative Right, are a presence in national political conversation. We have, without a doubt, “made it.” 

The weekend started with intensity. After having two venues cancel on us for our dinner Friday night, we had the third location stormed by no fewer than fifty Anti-Fa goons. They terrorized the staff and patrons trying to get to our room on the second floor. NPI president Richard Spencer, Identity Evropa founder Nathan Damigo, and others confronted the violent, anti-white mob. Richard was sprayed with some sort of foul smelling liquid forcing him to shed his suit jacket and shirt. Richard, ever unflappable and clad only in his suit vest from the waist up, continued the event unfazed. The Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia was little to no help during the incident. Rather than do their jobs and quell the protesters, they asked the restaurant to kick us out, a request which the restaurant refused. A true case of anarchy-tyranny in action. 

 

On Saturday, conference attendees were met by more protesters. Emily Youcis and an unnamed cameraman for Red Ice TV tried to speak with some of them. They were met with nothing but shouting and anti-white epithets from the anti-dialogical crowd. The Anti-Fa came fully prepared to use violence and eventually grabbed the cameraman’s phone from his hand. When the cameraman reached to try to get it back he was assaulted by several protesters, thrown to the ground, and, ultimately, ended up in the hospital where he received stitches. Of course there has been very limited media coverage of this assault. Emily was also sprayed with something similar to what was used on Spencer the night before. Both Emily and her cameraman displayed commendable courage in facing such a large and aggressive crowd.

The conference itself was a great success. Like American Renaissance in May, this was the largest NPI conference to date with nearly 300 attendees. Speakers included VDare’s Peter Brimelow, Millennial Woes, and Kevin MacDonald, among others. Red Ice TV was present and worked tirelessly and heroically to live stream the day’s events with great success. One of the highlights of the day was the press conference where the floor was opened to the enormous media presence. This was truly a testament to how far the Alt Right has come in such a short time as there was no shortage of media interest with reporters from Buzzfeed, Mother Jones, CBS, Radio France, the Guardian, and several others fielding questions to the panel. The many speakers offered thought provoking analysis of where we are and where we must go to save our people and our culture. 

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In all, there were twenty-six members of Identity Evropa present who made the journey from all over the United States to show their support for the National Policy Institute and the greater European Identitarian movement in the United States. Their presence generated a great deal of interest in the organization with many attendees who expressed great interest in applying. The members of the Identity Evropa contingent were among some of the most fit, best dressed attendees at the conference. This is no small feat considering that the Alt Right in general attracts many physically fit and clean cut individuals. Nathan spoke to several reporters on behalf of Identity Evropa promoting our organization and views to potential new members. Identity Evropa was represented well by those present, and it is was a great pleasure meeting so many fellow members. We have truly exceptional people in this organization and it will go far because of that. 

The conference was something of a victory lap in wake of Donald Trump’s win. However, there was no resting on our laurels or complacency. There were eyes looking forward to the future. There was a will to capitalize as fully as possible on Trump’s win. At the conference, you got a real sense of where this movement is going. That we are the intellectual vanguard of the American right cannot be doubted. Now is the time to press harder than we have before to make ourselves and our ideas more prominent on the national stage. Our movement is no longer a head without a body. We have the momentum to propel ourselves into the future, and Identity Evropa will be on the front lines of this fight helping to lead our people to a better and brighter future.