Faith Goldy's Book Club: "The Turner Diaries" and Julius Evola

ARC has been paying a little more attention to Faith Goldy these days given what will likely be her futile, though certainly self-serving, mayoral candidacy that Doug Ford in a fit of pique seems determined to continue to disrupt ("law and order for thee, unless I'm the one who violates the law in which case screw you law!"). Ms. Goldy's recent efforts to both deny her past association with overt neo-Nazis and her own xenophobic and ultra-ethnic nationalist statements while at the same time dog whistling to these same groups that she's still one of them reminded me of a tweet she made almost exactly a years ago.

But before I get to that, some context.

Back in April, PressProgress published a story detailing Goldy making a book recommendation to her supporters:

One of Goldy’s recommended books – “For My Legionaries,” by Corneliu Codreanu – is described by the Southern Poverty Law Centre as one of “the canonical works of global fascism,” a text published in 1937 by the anti-Semitic leader of a murderous Romanian fascist group that advocated “the elimination of Jews.” 

“This one is a little bit edgier,” Goldy concedes.

Indeed it is:

Goldy claimed in the video that she hadn't read the entire book at the time she made the recommendation, but I imagine she could have read the table of contents and perhaps at least up to pg. 62:

When eventually confronted with the fact the author of the book she described as being "very, very, very, very spot on given a lot of what the movement is talking about right now” was the founder of Romanian fascism, she "disavowed" it claiming she had no idea it promoted fascism and antisemitism:

Well then, that certainly clears things up.... or something.

Goldy went on to write that it isn't illegal to read or recommend books and then seems to double-down on her support of the "themes" found in "My Legionaries":

"Their people" presumably doesn't include Jews....

Now no one suggested that it wasn't legal for her to "read" or "recommend" and book and in and of itself reading and recommending such a book might be perfectly reasonable. I for one have read and own books such as Hitler's "Mein Kampf" (I own two copies including a pre-WWII English translation), David Duke's "My Awakening", and much of the work of William Pierce (more on this in a moment). Hell, I even once subjected myself to David Lane's noxious "KD Rebel". I read these and other books to help me understand the psychology of the groups and individuals I've kept an eye on for now over 20 years and I would recommend that others interested in anti-racist activism to do the same. However given Ms. Goldy's association with the ideology and members of the far-right, I'm not necessarily willing to give her the benefit of the doubt:

• Faith Goldy Fired From The Rebel
• Faith Goldy Caught Promoting Neo-Nazi YouTube Channel

Which finally (because I'm long winded as hell) brings me to the point. 

On September 8, 2018 and prior to her recommendation of "My Legionaries" Ms. Goldy made another book recommendation:

No doubt many readers will justifiably focus on Goldy "liking" the recommendation of "The Turner Diaries":

Dr. William Pierce was the founder and leader of the National Alliance. While it has fallen on hard times since Pierce's death, the National Alliance was one time the largest and best organized neo-Nazi organization in the United States. Pierce also wrote a at least two works of fiction that both expressed the ideas of the National Alliance as well as acting as inspiration for his followers. The most well known of these books is "The Turner Diaries":

• The book that lies at the heart of white nationalist violence

Since the publication of the novel, "The Turner Diaries" has inspired numerous acts of violence and more than 200 murders. Tim McVeigh's bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City could have been a chapter in the novel which he had with him when he was arrested. Members of The Order, a neo-Nazi terrorist group linked to the Aryan Nations and with ties to the National Alliance found inspiration in the novel for their campaign of armed robberies to fund a race-based revolution and culminated in the murder of Alan Berg.

Interestingly, it was a member of The Order, David Lane, who coined the 14 words while in prison:

• Faith Goldy Recites The ’14 Words’

An excerpt from the novel is as follows:

I should note that the instigators of the Day of the Rope are considered to be the good guys in the novel.

Considering how versed Ms. Goldy appears to have become in the ideology of the far-right, it's sort of difficult to believe that she didn't know what "The Turner Diaries" was about, but despite "liking" the recommendation she herself didn't recommend the novel.

She did however recommend another book which is also (dark) enlightening:

Goldy seems to be quite familiar with Julius Evola whose writings and philosophy she also advocated for during a Reddit AMA:

Interesting she brings up Christianity in relation to Evola:

• The Alt-Right's Intellectual Darling Hated Christianity

So who is Julius Evola?

Baron Giulio Cesare Andrea Evola (19 May 1898 – 11 June 1974), better known as Julius Evola, was an Italian philosopher, painter, and esotericist. He has been described as a "fascist intellectual," a "radical traditionalist," "antiegalitarian, antiliberal, antidemocratic, and antipopular," and as having been "the leading philosopher of Europe's neofascist movement." 

Evola is popular in fringe circles, largely because of his extreme metaphysical, magical, and supernatural beliefs (including belief in ghosts, telepathy, and alchemy), and his extreme traditionalism and misogyny. He himself termed his philosophy "magical idealism." Many of Evola's theories and writings were centered on his idiosyncratic mysticism, occultism, and esoteric religious studies, and this aspect of his work has influenced occultists and esotericists. Evola also justified rape (among other forms of male domination of women) because he saw it "as a natural expression of male desire". This misogynistic outlook stemmed from his extreme right views on gender roles, which demanded absolute submission from women. 

According to the scholar Franco Ferraresi, "Evola's thought can be considered one of the most radical and consistent anti-egalitarian, anti-liberal, anti-democratic, and anti-popular systems in the twentieth century. It is a singular (though not necessarily original) blend of several schools and traditions, including German idealism, Eastern doctrines, traditionalism, and the all-embracing Weltanschauung of the interwar conservative revolutionary movement with which Evola had a deep personal involvement".Historian Aaron Gillette described Evola as "one of the most influential fascist racists in Italian history". He admired SS head Heinrich Himmler, whom he once met. Evola spent World War II working for the Sicherheitsdienst. During his trial in 1951, Evola denied being a fascist and instead referred to himself as a "superfascist". Concerning this statement, historian Elisabetta Cassina Wolff wrote that "It is unclear whether this meant that Evola was placing himself above or beyond Fascism". 

Evola was the "chief ideologue" of Italy's radical right after World War II. He continues to influence contemporary traditionalist and neo-fascist movements.

Evola was also the 1930s version of Tinder in helping hook Mussolini up with Hitler:

So Goldy is right. It isn't illegal to read books or make book recommendations in this country.

However she shouldn't be surprised when people surmise her own ideology based on those recommendations.