If the last few years have taught us anything, it is that history does not move in a straight line. For those of us who care about the fate of the West, there have been startling twists and turns—triumphs, defeats, and near misses.

There have been enough triumphs to show that there is a real chance of success, but there have been enough defeats and close calls to show that the fight for the West will be long and hard fought. These are some of the themes that we will take up at the next American Renaissance conference, which will be held near Nashville, Tennessee, from April 27 to 29.

Here is one of the twists that shows the nature of our struggle and how persistence will win in the end. In 2000—18 years ago—what lefties love to call an “extremist party” shared power in a European government for the first time since the end of the Second World War. The Austrian Freedom Party, under the leadership of Jörg Haider, got the second-largest vote count—27 percent—and joined a coalition with the center-right Austrian People’s Party.

There was Europe-wide hysteria. The other 14 members of the European Union froze all bilateral ties with Austria. Nicole Fontaine, president of the European parliament, raged about “the insulting, xenophobic and racist statements of Jörg Haider.” Belgian Foreign Minister Louis Michelsaid it would be “immoral” to take a vacation in Austria, and schools across Europe canceled ski trips. Michel even hinted that Austria could be expelled from the EU: “Europe can very well do without Austria,” he said. “We don't need it.” Israel and the United States withdrew their ambassadors. When Freedom Party members were sworn in to cabinet positions, demonstrators nearly paralyzed Vienna.

Shortly afterwards, there were leadership battles and Jörg Haider stepped down as chairman; the party lost votes, and dropped out of the government. But just last year—campaigning on the same sensible platform of preserving Austria—the Freedom Party returned to coalition rule, taking seven of 15 cabinet positions, including the foreign, interior, and defense ministries.

This time, the reaction was completely different. No European ties were cut. No ambassadors went home. No pompous Eurocrats thundered about “racism.” No one talked of expelling Austria from the EU or of boycotting the ski slopes. At the strictly the political level, you could argue that Austria is back where it was 18 years ago, but psychologically there has been tremendous progress. The new, Eastern European members of the EU have held their ground against immigration, and from Sweden to Switzerland, sensible politicians are winning seats. The defenders of the globalist Europe are losing confidence. They have accepted the Freedom Party’s return to power in baffled silence.

Elsewhere, there has been Brexit, the Trump election, widespread “deplatforming” after the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville—all dramatic developments no one would have predicted just a few years ago.

We are unquestionably making progress, and that is why orthodoxy is fighting back. All orthodoxies lash out as they die, and open-borders egalitarianism is no exception. But what this combination of progress and setbacks proves is that the struggle for our people is a marathon, not a sprint. It is in this spirit that we will be holding our 16th American Renaissance conference.

Ours is a world-wide movement, and we will have speakers from Europe, the United States, and South Africa. Video star Marcus Follin (“The Golden One”) will explain why “the defense of the West begins with you.” British barrister Adrian Davies will speak on why we must always be mindful of optics and ethics as we advance our cause, and Nick Fuentes will plot a course for his generation—Generation Z—to undo the terrible damage done by my generation: the Boomers.

Simon Roche will describe how Afrikaners are preparing to take their destiny into their own hands, and Serge Trifkovic will analyze the migratory jihad that threatens Europe. I will talk about the only real long-term solution to the race problem in America, and Sam Dickson will close the conference in his inimitable style. Hundreds of activities and patriots will spend an unforgettable weekend of networking and camaraderie.

When people promote events they are sponsoring, they often claim, “Tickets are going fast; get yours while you can.” For us, this is no empty boasts. Last year we had to turn away at least 100 people because we reached the fire-code capacity of our conference hall.

We like VDARE.com, and we like VDARE.com readers. Nothing would please us more than to make our remaining tickets available to the patriots who read the website that—after AmRen of course—does the best job on the internet of analyzing the crisis we face and pointing the way to a brighter future.

I look forward to seeing you in April!

Jared Taylor [Email him] is editor of American Renaissance  and the author of Paved With Good Intentions: The Failure of Race Relations in Contemporary America. (For Peter Brimelow’s review, click here.) His most recent book is If We Do Nothing: Essays And Reviews From 25 Years Of White Advocacy. You can follow him on Parler and Gab.