The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has produced “From Alt Right to Alt Lite: Naming the Hate,” a new guide to 36 activists and leaders who personify the alt right and alt lite movements
at a time of increased public activity.
The resource from ADL’s Center on Extremism provides a snapshot of key players within the two movements, explaining their backgrounds and involvement. The ADL list, which includes relatively obscure activists as well as movement leaders like Richard Spencer and Gavin McInnes, will be updated as additional figures emerge.
“In the past year, members of the alt right and alt lite have been increasingly at odds with each other, even as they hold public rallies to promote their extreme views,” said Jonathan A. Greenblatt, ADL CEO. “We want people to understand who the key players are and what they truly represent.”
In the past year the alt right has gone from relative obscurity to one of the most visible extremist movements in the U.S., bringing messages of white supremacy and antisemitism into the public sphere. Meanwhile, a loosely connected movement of right-wing activists dubbed the alt lite, which rejects overt displays of white supremacy but embraces misogyny, anti-Muslim bigotry and xenophobia, has also emerged on the far-right scene. This has sowed some confusion about the two movements in terms of their respective goals and who’s involved in each.
“While the alt right has been around for years, the current iteration is still figuring out what it is – and isn’t,” said Oren Segal, Director of ADL’s Center on Extremism. “This is further complicated by the emergence of the alt lite,which operates in the orbit of the alt right, but has rejected public displays of white supremacy. Both movements’ hateful ideologies are still somewhat fluid, as are the lines that separate them.”
