Organizing on the Social Web: A Cold Blast From the Past
While for many the social web seems but a few years old, I have long argued that it has its roots in the pre-web internet. Not only have many of the key online organizing tools (email, chat, and discussion forums) been around since the internet was a text-only platform, but political and issue groups have been using them since those early days. By the late 1990’s, the web was well established and being used much as it is today on Facebook and Twitter, though with somewhat more primitive tools.
One of the more disturbing examples of early online social network organizing involves the Aryan Resistance, a white supremacist movement in the United States. In a 1998 essay by Milton Kliem, Jr. tactics that will seem all too familiar to today’s online organizers were spelled out to help the Aryan Resistance spread its message and recruit new followers.
I first came across this essay when I was teaching The Politics of Cyberspace in the late 1990’s at George Mason University. A good friend of mine and former grad school buddy, Paul Leighton was doing research on hate in society. He came across Kleim’s essay and shared it with me.
For many years, I have been meaning to share this essay with others. For sometime, I had lost my copy of it, but I recently found it again with a little Google Scholar research. So, before I lose it again, I want to share it with you here so you can see that how we organize on the social web is not that much different from how it was being done many years before MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter hit the scene.
So, without further ado, here is Kleim’s essay:
On Tactics and Strategy for USENET
An Essay by Milton John Kleim, Jr.
USENET offers enormous opportunity for the Aryan Resistance to disseminate our message to the unaware and the ignorant. It is the only relatively uncensored (so far) free-forum mass medium which we have available. The State cannot yet stop us from “advertising” our ideas and organizations on USENET, but I can assure you, this will not always be the case. NOW is the time to grasp the WEAPON which is the Net, and wield it skillfully and wisely while you may still do so freely.
* Crucial to our USENET campaign is that our message is disseminated beyond “our” groups: alt.politics.nationalism.white, alt.politics.white-power, alt.revolution.counter, alt.skinheads, and to a certain extent, alt.revisionism.
We MUST move out beyond our present domain, and take up positions on “mainstream” groups
* Each USENET “cyber guerilla” must obtain a listing of all Net News groups that are available on their system, and search through the list for groups suitable for our posts. Don’t overlook foreign-oriented and -language newsgroups.
Find groups that require “tailored” messages: rec. groups concerning food would be suitable for our “kosher tax” message; alt., soc., and talk. groups concerning politics and society would be suitable for our message about the Jewish-controlled media.
Find groups that are suitable for organizational and literature advertisements: talk.politics.guns should have regular posts explaining how to order suppressed books; rec.radio.shortwave should have regular posts of the _American Dissident Voices_ schedule; alt.music. groups should have regular posts about Resistance Records.
Continually advertise our World Wide Web and FTP resources on any and all suitable newsgroups. Systematically post the addresses for the Alliance Website (http://www.natvan.com) and Stormfront Website (http://stormfront.wat.com/stormf ront), and the Alliance FTP site (FTP.Netcom.com, /pub/NA/NA).
* Create posts that are succinct and self-sustaining. By “self-sustaining,” I mean the post should be ideologically clear, with adequate information to assist the curious to find the “proof” they seek. An example is in the “kosher tax” issue: DON’T post something complaining about paying more so Jews can keep kosher. Post something that directs the curious to their cupboard to “prove” our contentions, with reasons why they should be concerned about the issue.
* Remember: volume and regularity. Make sure at least one article that articulates well one or more of our ideas remains on “our” groups AT ALL TIMES, even if it is only a short reply to the Enemy.
When a newbie sympathetic to us visits “our” groups, and discovers no posts expressing views which should be characteristic of the group, he or she will become discouraged, possibly never to return, and disheartened that White resistance is apparently non-existent. PREVENT THIS!
Furthermore, when a newbie posts a message sympathetic to us, CONTACT THEM IMMEDIATELY! Welcome them to the group, and offer them information about our activities. If we fail to contact newbies, they could also become discouraged by this as well, assuming the White Net resistance doesn’t care about them and/or is incompetent. I built my personal mailing list of over 80 activists largely through this means. As the Net grows, more and more people sympathetic to our Cause will journey onto it, and we need to greet them.
* Except on “our” groups, avoid the Race Issue. Side-step it as much as possible. We don’t have the time to defend our stance on this issue against the comments of hundreds of fools, liars, and degenerates who, spouting the Jewish line, will slaughter our message with half-truths, slander, and the ever-used sophistry.
If a newbie or a lurker who seems sincere inquires about racial science, deal with them ONLY via e-mail. Offer them information as your knowledge permits, referring them to scientific works if you are not widely-read enough to sustain a decent discussion with them about it.
* Avoid engaging in non-productive debates with enemy activists. It is often difficult to distinguish between the Enemy’s dedicated lackeys, and the misguided who are merely parroting what the Jewsmedia has taught them. The former are to be ignored, though it is understandably difficult to endure their cheap insults. The latter should be dealt with in a polite, sincere way. Few are “converted” solely by reason, but one who is open to new ideas and the facts can be guided in the right direction by reasonable, respectful argumentation.
Sophistry, the art of using false logic to make ridiculous ideas appear to be thoroughly sound, is our opponents’ number one weapon. DENY THEM THEIR WEAPON! Deny them full use of their bag of dirty tricks by controlling the debate that ensues from our posts. Simple minded (not to imply unintelligent) lurkers will be discouraged if they are confused by sophistic gibberish — which is of course why the Enemy uses that tactic. In some cases, you may want to “regulate” how widely your posts are distributed; when appropriate, manually cancel your posts to prevent unnecessary debate.
* Remember: our overall USENET strategy must be to repeat powerful themes OVER AND OVER AND OVER. We cannot compete with the Jewsmedia, of course, as our propaganda dissemination is but a very small fraction of the everywhere pervasive leftist propaganda. However, our ideas possess an energy that truth alone contains. Our ideas, when matched one to one with the chimera of the Jews, overwhelm theirs with ease, because OURS ARE IN SYNC WITH REALITY. One well-written message containing our ideas has much greater “bang for the buck.”
* Remember: our overall USENET strategy must be to repeat powerful themes OVER AND OVER AND OVER. We cannot compete with the Jewsmedia, of course, as our propaganda dissemination is but a very small fraction of the everywhere pervasive Zionist propaganda. However, our ideas possess an energy that truth alone contains. Our ideas, when matched one to one with the chimera of the Jews, overwhelm theirs with ease, because OURS ARE IN SYNC WITH REALITY. One well-written message containing our ideas has much greater “bang for the buck.”
* IMPORTANT: While we should all admire his perseverance, NEVER, EVER, do “the Gannon,” and spam groups with messages totally unrelated to the group’s focus [1]. You will fail in your efforts, as you will infuriate some and generate contempt in nearly all of the group’s readers, who may read other groups you would target. You could also lose your access, as a flood of hate-mail pours into your system administrator’s mailbox.
Tailor your messages for each group. Our ideology has myriad facets, and the well-informed activist can extract something to fit onto just about every group.
Don’t use unnecessary “overkill” — if a “grenade” will do the job, DON’T use a “nuclear weapon.” Of course, overkill can be a useful controversy generator and attention-getter, and occasionally there is a sound use for this tactic, but, if you post a message so inapproriately provocative and/or pompous, it will diminish your effectiveness.
* If you have the time and money to spend, monitor the Enemy’s groups, such as soc.culture.jewish, and other groups where his ideas have complete reign, such as soc.culture.german. Watch for material that would be of use to us, such as news of enemy mailing lists or FTP and WWW sites. Relay such information to your comrades, possibly via the ANA [2]. Much can be freely learned from the Enemy through this manner.
* WARNING: Be aware that EVERYTHING you post will be seen by the Enemy. All of your posts may be catalogued and archived for future use by the Enemy, either by self-appointed “Net police” like the notorious Ken Mcvay [3], or by lurkers from the so-called “Anti-Defamation League” and the “Simon Wisenthal Center.”
DO NOT EVER post a message that advocates or supports an illegal act or activity. Be assured that any message you post that even hints of direct action will be archived! If you explicitly advocate illegality, such an expression will surely be used against you, possibly immediately, by the Secret Police. The First Amendment still guarantees a wide variety of political expression, and explicit advocacy of unlawful behavior is NOT necessary. If your understandable anger builds to a point where you must say SOMETHING, express your feelings by quoting the fourth clause of the _Declaration of Independence_ and the ninth article of the _Bill of Rights_.
Avoid crossposting your articles. Post each article individually to each newsgroup, rather than collectively to several newsgroups at once. This makes it more difficult for the Enemy to accurately monitor our Net activity and inhibits his ability to counterpost against us on each and every group we post to.
In rare instances, pro-Zionist and/or self-righteous renegades have cancelled “controversial” posts, usually citing alleged “net abuse,” by forging cancellation messages. Since the Net has no “governing body,” nor an universal convention accepted by all outlining posting regulations, “net abuse” is a subjective and usually meaningless accusation. Cancelling another’s posts for _any_ reason is unethical, and possibly illegal. If one should encounter this problem, the most effective defense is to use different subject headings for each posting, to minimize the threat of blanket cancellation.
* If possible, use “front” accounts to post your messages. If your primary access allows you to TELNET to other sites, obtain one or more “FreeNet” accounts on various systems around North America. Most FreeNets allow users to access USENET, the Web, and other services for no charge. Using front accounts helps protect your personal security, as well as allows you to overcome censorship against you more efficiently; simply switch to another front account if one is terminated. Some of the more popular and useful FreeNets are the National Capital FreeNet in Ottawa (FreeNet.Carleton.CA), and the Greater Detroit FreeNet (Detroit.FreeNet.org).
* Coordinate your activities with your comrades. It would be especially helpful if a “combat information center,” to borrow a Navy concept, were to be established under a reliable, competent organizer. This person would not “issue orders,” but would take note of who’s doing what and where they’re doing it. The “CIC” could make recommendations for which activities and which “fronts” needed attention.
* Remember: SUSTAINED, electronic “guerilla warfare,” “hit and run” style, using short, “self-contained” posts is a major component of our struggle. Put your Net access to good use, today and EVERY day!
NOTES
1. Dan Gannon, a “Holocaust” revisionist, is a pioneer in using the Net for anti-Zionist propaganda. He was notorious for mass postings of revisionist material. “Spamming” is a cyberese colloquialism for indiscriminate posting to multiple newsgroups.
2. The Aryan News Agency, founded 1993 by the author to rapidly and reliably distribute news to Aryan Net activists via e-mail and USENET. Free subscription is available from the new editor, Rick Knight (bf221@FreeNet. Carleton.CA).
3. Ken Mcvay, founder and administrator of the “‘Holocaust’ and Fascism Archives” (”now known as the “Nizkor Project”), is a fanatical Zionist lackey who monitors Aryan Net activists and spews pro-Zionist propaganda.