The Guardian's Editor-at-Large Gary Younge delves into the economic and identity crisis consuming the American Rust Belt to fully fathom the conditions that enabled the rise of Trump and the Alt-Right.
Examining the surge of rage among white Americans and the means through which working class anger was exploited to strengthen the Alt-Right cause, Younge attempts to uncover the rationale behind a modern political phenomenon. Including a particularly unsettling interview with alt-right mastermind, Richard Spencer, in which the National Policy Institute's president openly embraces slavery, while racially berating Younge, Angry, White and American is essential viewing for those interested in racial issues and the inner-workings of exploitative populism.
Writing in the Guardian yesterday (8th November), Younge has shared his motivation for deciding to give Spencer a platform, saying,
"The documentary seeks to unearth the roots of white anxiety in America and how that is affecting the nation’s politics. Given US president Donald Trump’s record of race-baiting it seemed like racism should be in the mix. There were some things we did take off the schedule – like an interview with the Ku Klux Klan – because we felt they did not represent anything significant. But Spencer seemed to have a different currency. He coined the term “alt-right” – a synonym for the extreme right. Steve Bannon, Trump’s chief strategist at the time of the interview, used to run Breitbart News (and since his resignation from the post does again), which he boasted was a platform for the alt-right."
Angry, White and American is on Channel 4 tonight at 10pm.
Watch Younge's encounter with Spencer below:
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