This summer, we were reminded that white nationalists and their organizations are far too close to home. The recent years have seen a change in rhetoric and strategy among white nationalistactivists. Many now present themselves as part of the mainstream and some have made a concreted effort to enter into and take over local institutions. While this region remembers the work it took to shutdown the Aryan Nations, these new strategies require a new understanding and approach.

Join the Spokane Alliance for a workshop this Thursday with Dr. Joan Braune and Kate Bitz to learn about the history of white nationalist organizing in our region, the current state of whitenationalist activity, and effective methods for combating their new tactics and strategies.

Dr. Joan Braune is a Lecturer in Philosophy at Gonzaga University and a member of the Gonzaga University Institute for Hate Studies Council of Experts. Her first book, Erich Fromm's Revolutionary Hope (2014), included an historical study of the influence of catastrophic/apocalyptic impulses on fascist ideology in Weimar Germany, and she is currently writing a second book, looking at the contemporary threat of fascism and the alt-right, Out of the Void: Critical Theory, Community, and Resistance of Fascism. She is also a long-time activist and has served on the boards of a number of social justice organizations; over the past two years, she has given many public education talks in Spokane and elsewhere on the threat of fascism, the resurgence of hate groups, and the influence of Steve Bannon's ideology.

Kate Bitz is a fellow with the Western States Center. The Western States Center is committed to building power within social movements and organizing groups to combat the forces of whitesupremacy.