Networking with Freedom Fighters in Europe – what I did on my January Vacation!

The American Freedom Alliance is, of course, focused on Freedom here in the US.  But over the years we’ve recognized that the threats to freedom that we face here are, in fact, the same as are encountered elsewhere.  Leftism is global; wokeism is global. And not to put too fine a point on it, but, globalism is global.  

The fact is, every totalitarian system MUST be global, because as long as there is an alternative to which one can escape, people do escape to it.  Totalitarians know that every glimmer of freedom must be extinguished, because the smallest glimmer casts out the otherwise complete darkness. It’s why each voice of freedom must be silenced, each option for individual rights must be destroyed, each spark of truth must be censored. No option can exist, either in the micro situation, or the global macro.  Totalitarianism MUST be TOTAL.

When we held our October 2019 conference on the Global Freedom Movements, it was out of this recognition, and that the threats were the same, and that we’ve all been fighting against the same foes, defending, in many ways, the same thing: Western Civilization.  In fact, as I’ve pointed out, my working title for that conference was “same ‘stuff,’ different continent.” And we, on these different continents, can work more effectively if we ally with one another.

And that is, in large part, why I went to Europe a few weeks ago.  I wanted to connect with other freedom fighters there, start to network, start conversations of empowerment, sharing experiences and best practices, expanding the reach of each of us.  

To be clear: America is the last best hope. It is THE most exceptional nation for reasons we are all familiar with. We are THE bastion of freedom, THE best upholders of all this freedom-related. It is OUR Constitution that is the ideal among true freedom-lovers anywhere. 

Is our nation flawed? Well, of course it is. It is composed of men (a term I used gender-non-specifically, as intended) and men are flawed, man is flawed. But our principles, our PRINCIPLES, the IDEALS which are the foundation of this nation, are the EXACT RIGHT IDEALS. Do we fall short of meeting them? Of course.  But that does not in any way mean that those PRINCIPLES, those IDEALS, are flawed or wrong; nor does it make us hypocrites. One of the key characteristics, I’ve always thought, that separates conservatives from, well, from others, is that we DO have ideals, we DO have principles, we DO have standards, and we recognize that to fall short is to be human, it is NOT to mean that we are hypocrites (necessarily). Ideals, standards, principles, are crucial for us to have, to aspire to, even KNOWING we will fall short.  The Left, by contrast, sees falling short as reason to reject these things; we see falling short as mere evidence of man’s flawed nature and of the importance of striving even for what may be impossible. It is in the striving that we grow; it is in the Left’s refusal to strive and rejection of the essential human NEED to strive that is one of the core elements of the cruelty and human poverty of their “belief” system.  

Is America perfect? No. But our ideals are the right ones, our principles are the right ones, our foundational premises are the right ones.  

That said, we have much to learn from others, and in many of the areas of the Left’s Long March, or of globalists, Europe has already many steps ahead of us; they also suffer from many of the leftist projects that are initiated here. So networking among us, to be stronger against those who seek to destroy us, seems a good, smart thing.

Plus, as noted, the opposition is fighting globally – any coordination we can do is, again, a good thing.

When I had decided to go to Europe, a trip motivated, truth be told, by an invitation by my great friend Elisabeth Sabaditch-Wolff  to the Officers’ Ball in Vienna, I reached out to various groups and individuals I knew in Germany and Austria to see what could be put together in terms of meeting anyone involved in the freedom fight.  From there, this absolutely blossomed into the most amazing trip.  Great thanks to Collin McMahon, whom I had met when looking for a speaker from the German Alternative for Germany (AfD) party for our (COVID-postponed) conference on Anti-Semitism, and Artur Abramovych who is connected to AfD and who lined up an astounding list of engagements for me while in Berlin; also tremendous thanks to Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff whose invitation was the impetus for the trip, then who connected me to a number of alternative media hosts in Linz and Vienna.  It was thanks to these three that this trip was as busy, engaging and fruitful as it was.

Report:

My trip, then, centered around Berlin and Vienna, both of which cities are host to ferocious freedom fighters, those who recognize what we, this AFA community and others, also recognize: the threats, the incursions, the losses of freedom, the path reminiscent of past paths.  The commonality was constantly noted, and when we, here, speak of “like-minded,” I promise, the people I met were equally like-minded.  They also are fighting, as noted above, the same threats as we are.  Namely: 

Unfettered immigration, in particular by those who do NOT share our values, our mores. In Europe, generally speaking that means muslim immigrants who, obviously, do not share Judeo-Christian beliefs, precepts, foundations, and whose entire upbringing has most often been one of hatred towards Europe and Western Civilization.  In cities that are hundreds of years old, markets that are also hundreds of years old, finding areas where signage is only in arabic and which are “no-go zones” for police and indeed natives of the area, it’s jarring.  And of course, this destabilizes the culture as a whole, it is destabilizing education, it is taking strong root where Judeo-Christian teachings had already retreated, and is one of the major parts of the destruction, indeed the suicide of Europe.  In Europe, this immigration is legal, sanctioned by legislatures and heads of state; in the US, our immigration catastrophe is due to what is de jure illegal flow across the border, but when sanctioned by our legislature and head of state, the notion of legal and illegal is, shall we say, blurred.

Radical environmentalism, and in this case, Europe is way “ahead” of us in terms of the power of “green” parties, green agendas, green crippling of energy overall.  They have a much heavier lift to reverse the policies in place; we still have a chance to not be such hostages to the likes of Greta and AOC.

Indoctrination of children related to sexuality,  which is indeed happening there, but in this case, we are much farther along in the LGBTQ+ ubiquity including in our schools.  The US is certainly leading the charge in this arena.

Loss of sovereignty, which European countries experience to a far greater extent than we do as having ceded theirs to the European Union, but they also feel the pressures via governance systems from the UN, the WEF, the WHO and other globalist supranational organizations.  The idea of ceding national sovereignty to supranational organizations is not a new one in Europe and the reasons for their subservience to these non-representative organizations are varied, but bottom line: they have surrendered sovereignty to a far greater extent than we have, and the populations are far more compliant with globalist organizations and pressures than we are… at this point.

Anti-Semitism is on the rise there as here; the increased Islamic presence of course plays a role, but the roots of this run very, very deep.  In addition, the overall anti-Israel policies are reflecting a dangerous trend, not too dissimilar to what we have here now under Biden.  One common comment, however, by those with whom I spoke was their gratitude for and praise of the Abraham Accords negotiated by President Trump which, to them and to us, was world-changing diplomacy.

China is of concern to various right-wing factions, although not to others. This was one of the few areas where I found a divide even among “conservative” parties and groups.  

The Russia-Ukraine War is on a lot of European minds – Ukraine is extremely close, and the perpetual wars that have always swept across the continent give a perspective to the conflict that feels a lot more real and threatening than it does here.  What to do about it, however, isn’t particularly clear although, to most with whom I spoke, the bottom line is that one doesn’t let Russia, or indeed any aggressor, trample into another nation and then assume that it will end there.  Hitler into Czechoslovakia was the first incursion that then led to World War II, and the world was silent, excusing it for various reasons, and that lesson is acutely felt.  Whatever the US may have done vis-a-vis Ukraine’s leadership, generally speaking, consensus was:  you don’t let Putin invade Ukraine, period.  Again, though, what stopping him looks like isn’t clear.  Money? Arms? Soldiers?  At least money, and certainly it was generally felt that it’s time for negotiations and get Putin out of Ukraine.

There’s a “good America” and a “bad America,” and right now, we’re sure not the “good America,” and while there are many who prefer a weak America, the people I met with recognize the necessity of us as, I guess we could say, a backstop against all these bad, anti-freedom forces.  To them, I represented the “Good America,” America that does its best to live up to those precepts mentioned above, America that supports freedom, that is the beacon globally.  A weak America leaves the globe a much more dangerous place, and right now, they feel that America is weak.

American politics is a big puzzlement to them, and too much seems to be hanging in the balance, out of control. That we don’t seem to have legitimate elections is beyond their comprehension, and ours, and weakens us in their eyes.  The Trump phenomenon is something that they’re trying to sort out, as well.  His behavior during COVID shocked them, that is, that America didn’t lead with a stance of freedom when they’d expected it especially of him.  As they noted, this was Trump’s America that led the globe in shutting down, not Biden’s or Obama’s, which they would have understood.  

A few other observations:

The cities of Berlin and Vienna were pretty close to immaculate, and that includes public transportation, bathrooms etc.  There were no homeless encampments, I saw no needles in parks, public transportation was not big moving toilets as here in LA, and I most certainly felt safe, even late at night downtown.

There continued to be “mask mandates” on public transportation in Berlin and Vienna, but I am delighted to report that hardly anybody complied.

On the streets, when shopping, at the theatre, just generally out and about, far fewer people were masked than here in LA.

Great and beautiful art – statues, paintings, etc – remain unmolested, undestroyed.  Are there targeted attacks in museums?  Yes, but generally speaking these are not to destroy the art, not to destroy what is beautiful.  And yes, some of their opera has gone “woke,” as directors choose to “update” too many of the timeless classics. (Read   Heather Mac Donald’s reports regarding the destruction of Opera here.)  Even with these exceptions, there is still an appreciation for beauty, for cultural heritage in a greater way than we have here, by far.  I in fact went to the Volksoper in Vienna for an afternoon dress rehearsal of Orpheus in the Underworld and every seat was taken.  

Of course, the original impetus for the trip was the Officers’ Ball in the Hofburg, the Imperial Palace, in Vienna, and it was the experience of a lifetime.  Apparently, there were approximately 5000 people there, of whom every single one wa

s dressed as spectacularly, glamorously, elegantly as one would hope. We mourn the glamour of the 50s, seeing how the Academy Awards, for example, has devolved into depravity, slovenliness etc. Well, zero depravity there, no slovenliness.  The women were each just spectacular, with full-length ball gowns mandatory and simply

 

gorgeous.  The men were almost all in military dress uniform (it was, of course, the officers’ ball) and that, plus the dresses, created an atmosphere of tradition, of honor, of beauty.  It felt like one of the last bastions of any of those values, and it was such a celebration and a “shot in the arm,” a phrase I still use.  YES there was waltzing, of course, and even though not all of the music was classical in that sense, all of it was joyous and, again, none was depraved.  In other words, it couldn’t have been farther from the recent Grammys if they’d tried.

Also of note at the ball:  of the approximately 5000 people, we saw only two with masks.  I’d venture to say that that number would have been far, far higher here.  And, of the 5000 people there, there was not one man in a ballgown.  Imagine that.

Who I met

BERLIN
In Berlin, thanks to Artur Abramovych, a man of in-depth knowledge regarding the political scene, both global and within the AfD party, and stellar networking skills, I met a number of AfD politicians and advisors as well as several “alternative media” figures.

The AfD party itself is the most “conservative,” “nationalist,” “right wing” party on the German political scene, holding, as of 2021, 83 of the 736 seats in the federal government with a greater stronghold in the former East Germany.   The party just celebrated their 10th year as a party, and despite some major divides, are continuing to grow.  They were one of the most outspoken parties against all things vax (see this page), certainly more than the Republican Party here in the US.  Marc Jongen, one of their elected officials, had spoken at our 2019 conference – watch his remarkable speech here.  

In addition to several of their advisors, I also met the former Deputy Chair of the party Beatrix von Storch, who continues to hold a leadership position and is a member of parliament.  In every way, over every topic of conversation, we were in utter agreement and I hope to work with her in various freedom-forward collaborations. Courageous, determined, savvy – just a remarkable political figure.

I also met one of Germany’s foremost conservative podcasters, Silke Schroeder – her Gettr Channel is probably the best way to find her content, or you can search for her on YouTube.

AchGut, short for Die Achse Des Guten (the axis of GOOD, in contrast to.. the other Axis), is a major alternative media source, and one of their journalists, Ulrike Stockmann, also met with me to discuss collaboration and networking.   The video of her with Silke Schroeder is terrific and highlights how the issues there, including of being in the hated minority, are comparable to those here.  

And in that regard, the violence and other repercussions against members of the AfD party are horrifying. I heard a number of stories of cars set afire, rental applications rejected, job applications rejected, due to association with this political party, in large part due to the Left’s (politicians and media) misrepresentation of who they are and what they stand for.  Sound familiar?

My last morning in Berlin I met with the executive team of the Junge Freiheit weekly newspaper,  Established in 1986, according to Wiki “it has been described as conservative, right-wing, nationalistic and as the “ideological supply ship of right-wing populism” in Germany.”  I sat in a room with about 6 of their team and described the work of AFA and my particular opinions to various political goings on in the US.  They were astoundingly well informed, and asked superb and very detailed questions.  We are planning much in the way of collaboration, and we’ll be cross-posting some of their articles as they offered to publish mine. 

LINZ, Austria

From Berlin I went by train to Linz, Austria, and had two interviews with Austrian TV media. The first was with Stefan Magnet whose Auf1 channel is one of the top alternative media sites in Austria.  His knowledge, passion, eloquence and clarity were exceptional, and again, to find such a “like-minded” freedom-loving person in Linz, Austria, was a real joy.  He is aligned with us to such an extent that today’s broadcast is titled 300 Years to World Domination: The Path of the Globalists in Russia, USA, Europe and can be watched here. He’d also written a book, on Transhumanism, Transhumanismus: Krieg Gegen Die Menschheit (Transhumanism: war against humanity).  This guy is 100% “one of us.”

After the Stefan Magnet interview, I met with another major TV host, Florian Machl of Report24, for another exceptional conversation.  And again, the extent to which they were so completely aware of the political scene globally was heartening.

I also met Parliamentarian Susanne Fuerst, member of the Freedom Party of Austria, the FPO, the most right-wing Austrian party.  Again, her concerns, too, were aligned with ours, and she, too, was extremely well informed about global politics, American politics, and the nuances of the shifting sands in Austria. 

VIENNA, Austria

From Linz, we went to Vienna, where I spoke at the Akademiker Bund, and where I was also interviewed by another weekly publication, Zur Zeit. This interview, unlike the others, was conducted in English, so what is offered here is a translation. My German is good but not (yet) this good.  This was a four-page spread, indicating their supreme interest in what all is going on over here.

The day after the Ball I was invited to a conference on Religious and the Nation, a conference held jointly by the Renovatio Institute and the European Conservative publication; as the ball had only ended at 4AM, I missed the bulk of the conference but was able to gauge the exceptionally high caliber of discourse and conversation at this small but distinguished event.  Thephotos conference was opened and moderated by Renovatio Institute president Dr. Christian Machek, and speakers included Dr. David Engels, European Conservative editor Alvino-Mario Fantini, and my friend and Berlin host Artur Abramovych, among many others.  

And that, finally, concluded this portion of my trip. From Vienna, I went to Switzerland for an extraordinary encounter, but that will wait for another post. 

I apologize for the length of this one, but it’s been a joy to write, and I have every expectation that much benefit will come of this trip.