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December 14, 2017
After several weeks of discord, Identity Evropa has parted ways with Richard Spencer. This comes as a blow to the alt right leader, who counted on IE to loyally attend and promote his events.
Evan McLaren, the Executive Director of Spencer’s National Policy Institute and former Identity Evropa member, tweeted, “It is upsetting to observe a worthwhile activist group, into which much value was built and for which I was once a state coordinator, now being led so recklessly and confusingly. Disappointing.” In response to a comment that Identity Evropa’s leader “just wants to do American Identitarianism and keep tight control on their public brand,” McLaren responded, “A pleasant face is being put on what is actually a mess.” The “real reason” he said, is “sentiment against Spencer.”
On November 27, 2017, just three months after taking the helm of the organization, Elliot Kline, also known as Eli Mosley, resigned from his position as leader of Identity Evropa. Kline took the position on August 27 when the group’s founder, Nathan Damigo, abruptly resigned, citing a need to focus his personal life.
Kline’s resignation tweet was more portentous. He wrote, “I have officially resigned as CEO of Identity Evropa. I wish them well but we had irreconcilable differences on what the relationship with the rest of the #AltRight should look like. However, I’m not going anywhere. Stayed [sic] tuned, lots of exciting things planned.”
A few hours later Identity Evropa’s second in command, Chief of Staff Patrick Casey (previously known as Reinhard Wolff), announced that he had been named the new CEO and would “no longer be using the comically Germanic pseudonym [Reinhard Wolff] moving forward.”
Casey, whose membership with Identity Evropa dates back to the group’s first days in 2016, previously held the position of Spokesman and Director of Administration. His activism has included recruitment efforts at his alma mater, San Diego State University in California. He is employed by Red Ice TV, a Swedish alt right political news aggregator, where he writes articles and provides live commentary. He also tweets as “alt right fanfiction (@altright_fanfic).”
Casey is a very vocal proponent of the “identitarian” strain of white supremacist ideology, which focuses strongly on the theory of “white genocide.” In a December 2 interview with Red Ice TV, Casey said that identitarian is the most specific and relevant term for Identity Evropa. He also said that Identity Evropa would no longer be participating in large, publicly announced events to which anyone could show up, but instead would hold “by invitation only” events, mostly for Identity Evropa members and those who agree with their identitarian message.
His goals for Identity Evropa include more activism in the form of campus fliering, bigger banner drops, larger flash demonstrations, and privately organized events similar to the first alt right rally in Charlottesville. During that May event, white nationalists held a daytime protest of the city council’s decision to remove confederate monuments from local parks, then returned at nightfall for an impromptu torch march.
Operation Homeland
Meanwhile, also on December 2, Elliot Kline/Eli Mosley and Richard Spencer unveiled their new organization, Operation Homeland. Noting their support for free speech and restricted immigration, and their opposition to “wars fought in the interest of foreigners” and “desecration of southern and American national monuments,” they cited their own identitarian activism goals. Labeling former alt right groups as amateurish, they described Operation Homeland as a core “professional” group of alt right leaders and activists poised to lead the movement as a whole. Their given statement of purpose is “to plan and carry out bold demonstrations, train and mentor young activists and foster collaboration among identitarians in America and around the world.”
On December 3, both Identity Evropa and Operation Homeland separately participated in activism related to the acquittal of the defendant in the Kate Steinle’s murder case. Bay area Identity Evropa members placed candles, roses and an American flag on Pier 14 in San Francisco, the site of Steinle’s death. Richard Spencer and Operation Homeland held a Kate Steinle demonstration in Washington D.C., which was attended by approximately 20 alt right activists, including Mosley/Kline, Evan McLaren, William Clark, Mike “Enoch” Peinovich, Brian Brathovd, Mark Daniel Reardon, Gregory Conte (aka Gregory Ritter), as well as Matthew Heimbach and members of his Traditionalist Worker Party. During the brief demonstration the group shouted, “Build that wall,” but they were drowned out by a much larger group of counter-protesters, who chanted, “You killed Heather Heyer,” a reference to the woman killed on August 12 in Charlottesville, and “Whose streets? Our streets!”