The term originated among surfers in Hawaii. Haule was a foreign surfer and an invader of my beach. What matters in democratic politics are values and plans: the destination of the journey. Conversely, in identity politics, what is important is the individual’s distant origins – his or her “blood,” “lineage,” or “race” – not the place he or she goes to.
Ancestor, that’s the word. J.D. Vance suggests that “true Americans” are those whose ancestors were in America during the Civil War. Xenophobia is a common feature of right-wing and left-wing identitarianism.
Viktor Orban maintains his xenophobia based on the myth of the “Great Replacement”, an alleged “globalist” conspiracy to flood Europe with immigrants. The identitarian left promotes the idea of a single Palestinian state through describing Israel as a European colonial transplant aimed at exterminating the “natives.”
It’s xenophobia, but it’s not just that. Right-wing identitarianism is distinguished from left-wing identitarianism by its second founding element: Christianity. In the United States, the Trump movement’s holy book is the New Testament, not the Constitution. The Supreme Court’s conservative justices are guided by the doctrine of primordialism, the literal meaning of the text of the Constitution at the time it was written. How will they fare in a high-stakes trial over systemic law-breaking by the White House?
Christianity in this case is not a general belief expressed through baptism, but the concept that social life must be governed by the “law of God.” Michel Bolsonaro is a vocal advocate of this reactionary goal in Brazilian politics. They say Haure is a “deviant” on issues such as sexual orientation, abortion issues, or the position of women and families.
Trends in Christian fundamentalism are reminiscent of classic anti-Semitism. The Heritage Foundation is calling on President Trump to award the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Pat Buchanan, the notorious isolationist and anti-Semitic Republican who blames Churchill, not Hitler, for World War II. MAGA evangelist Tucker Carlson spoke at Charlie Kirk’s funeral and compared him to Christ, “sacrificed by a bunch of guys eating hummus,” a little-understood expression for Jews.
The “stateless”, “globalist” or “imperialist” Jew is a symbolic haure. On the right, the root of anti-Semitism is the accusation that Jews killed Christ. On the left is a conspiratorial story linking Jews to global finance. The two sides are at odds over the thesis that Jews exercise hegemony in the United States through control of the “deep state.”
Identity politics tends towards entropy. On the left: the conflict between feminists and trans activists over the definition of the female gender, or the challenge by “colorists” or “real blacks” to Brazil’s official racism, which gives quotas to “half-whites.” On the right: the radicalization of xenophobia against “local homeland” production. Mayor of Florianopolis deports poor immigrants at bus stop. Santa Catarina’s governor supports the creation of borders and rehearses the creation of a symbolic “state passport,” while Bolsonaro’s state legislators protest ahead of Jaure Carlos Bolsonaro’s candidacy.
Halls be careful. Hunting season is at its peak.
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