On Saturday night, Richard Spencer organized a torchlight parade in Charlottesville which was entirely peaceful, saying
“It was a planned flash mob. It was a great success. We’ve been planning this for a long time. We wanted to prove that we came in peace in May, we came in peace in August, and we come again in peace... Our identity matters. We are not going to stand by and allow people to tear down these symbols of our history and our people – and we’re going to do this again.”
I’ve pointed out here that there’s nothing inherently evil about torchlight parades. Torchlight parades are an American tradition–during the dark days of World War II, when there were real Nazis and Fascists to fight, a torchlight parade greeted the re-election of…Franklin Delano Roosevelt [Remarks to the Torchlight Paraders on Election Night. Hyde Park, New York. November 7, 1944]. It was reenacted at Hyde Park last year.
None of these torches were used to set anything on fire–unlike what happened during Black Lives Matters riots in Ferguson and Baltimore. While it’s an American tradition, it’s not a recent American tradition— Richard Spencer may have been inspired by a youth movement in Estonia which has had great success with torchlight processions. (Pictured right.)
In 2016, Ruuben Kalep of Estonia (right) spoke at the American Renaissance conference, and the conference report said
Ruuben Kaalep, at age 22 the youngest speaker ever to address an AmRen conference, is the founder and leader of the youth wing of the Conservative Peoples Party of Estonia. Although the party was established only 2012, it is already the sixth most powerful group in the legislature, and is dedicated to the preservation and survival of the Estonian people.…
Mr. Kaalep spoke of his work organizing torch-light rallies to commemorate Estonian independence. The number of participants has grown from 200 to 1,000 to 2,000, as more and more Estonians come out to express their love for their country. Europeans, he concluded, must bury their old rivalries and defend their continent together. The flames of their torches are the hope of Europe, a Europe of homelands, in which the roots of each people will sink deep and nourish rich and everlasting identities.
He showed pictures of this at the conference—the YouTube below should open at that point in the speech:
UPDATE 2020: Now a Bitchute video. Go to 25.35 to see the pictures.
Peter Brimelow, who saw this at the conference, remembers saying to others that it couldn't be done in America, because of the danger of unrestrained Antifa. As it is, organizers have said that they can't publicize such parades in advance, because Antifa may bring gasoline to thrown on the torchbearers—a real danger: they're not the only ones thinking it.
