League of the South

A League supporter waves the Confederacy's Third National Flag after the conclusion of a League demonstration in Montgomery, Alabama, fall of 2004.

The League of the South is a Southern Neo-confederate nationalist organization whose ultimate goal is "a free and independent Southern republic." [1] While political independence ranks highly among the group's goals, it is also a social and religious movement, advocating a return to a more traditional, Christian-oriented Southern culture. Because of its paleo-conservative and agrarian stance, it has attracted some controversy.

History

The League of the South was originally known as the Southern League, a reference to both the Northern League, an Italian political party which advocates autonomy for Northern Italy, and the League of United Southerners, a group organized in 1858 to shape Southern public opinion. The name was changed in 1997 after it was discovered that the rights were previously held by another, older Southern League, a minor league baseball organization based out of Atlanta. [2]

The League was founded in 1994 by Dr Michael Hill and a group of about forty others. Most of them were academics and intellectuals, including Ph.D.'s like university professors Clyde Wilson and Thomas Fleming (author) and "Celtic history" specialist Grady McWhiney, whose book Cracker Culture has been called "a neo-confederate Bible." The League's membership in 1998 was estimated at 4,000; by the year 2000, that number had more than doubled to approximately 9,000 members. [3] Since then, however, its membership has been in decline, and high-profile figures like Fleming and McWhiney have left the League. [4]

Goals and beliefs

According to its Statement of Purpose, its goal is to "advance the cultural, social, economic, and political well-being and independence of the Southern people by all honourable means." In 2005, it released a Core Beliefs Statement, which discusses this idea in more detail. [5] #Cultural independence The League believes that Southern culture is "distinct from, and in opposition to" the "mainstream" American culture. It reveres ##Christian faith##the precedence of family, state, and local ties over "abstract" ties to nations or global communties##Southern art and literature ##ties to the land##respect for human life#Social independence The League believes in a society that ##acknowledges that all men are "spiritually" but not "mechanically" equal##is "structured upon the Biblical notion of hierarchy" in which "Christ is the head of His Church; husbands are the heads of their families; parents are placed over their children; employers rank above their employees; the teacher is superior to his students, etc."##reveres traditional Christian marriage and family##practices good manners and "Southern hospitality"##"perpetuates the chivalric ideal of manhood - respect for, and protection of, our women, and the development of the virtues of honesty, courage, honor, and humility"##upholds "freedom of association"##believes in the rule of law and the "wise, benevolent, and righteous" application of justice#Economic independence The League believes that the economic and financial system of the "American Empire" is corrupt. Its ideal system would ##back all currency with bullion##abolish the income tax and property taxes in favor of "indirect taxes" like sales taxes and tolls##have no central banking system##set legal limits on fractional-reserve banking and usury##establish "equitable" foreign trade pacts##limit regulation of business and commerce#Political independence The League advocates the eventual secession of the Southern states to form a republic, which would be a confederation of independent states, emphasizing state's rights and##practicing a policy of "armed and vigilant neutrality", without alliances to foreign nations ##enforcing secure borders and limited immigration##returning to a system of state militias rather than a national army##practicing a policy of non-interference with citizen's right to own firearms

Achieving goals

The ultimate goal of the League is to create an independent Southern nation. However, it states that political independence is the final step in an ongoing process:

Once we have planted the seeds of cultural, social, and economic renewal, then (and only then), should we begin to look to the South's political renewal. Political independence will come only when we have convinced the Southern people that they are indeed a nation in the organic, historical, and Biblical sense of the word, namely, that they are a distinct people with a language, mores, and folkways that separate them from the rest of the world.[6]

The League's current official activities focus on recruiting and encouraging a concept called "cultural secession" or "abjuring the realm", defined as "withholding our support from all institutions and objects of popular culture that are antithetical to our beliefs and heritage." [7]

Controversy

The League of the South also promotes the use of the Confederate flag. See Main page: Flags of the Confederate States of America''

Because of its paleo-conservative views, the League has attracted some controversy from the Left.

The League's official statement on racism [8] says this:

We believe that the only harmony possible between the races, as between all natural differences among human beings, begins in submitting to Jesus Christ's commandment to "love our neighbours as ourselves." That is the world we envision and work for.

We believe that the politics of race -- baiting whites against blacks and blacks against white has been profitable for politicians but catastrophic for the South and Southerners.

We believe that black Southerners want and need what we want and need: a safe country for their families, liberty, and the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

We believe that the last thing the South's enemies want is to see black and white Southerners sitting down together to determine their common destiny and work for authentic harmony, a just social and economic order, and an independent South. We can't foretell precisely what that order will look like, but certainly it will not make room for diversity police and political correctness. Rather, we hope it will bring the greatest freedom for the greatest number of all races, and good will among them all.

Members

Board of Directors
*Dr Michael Hill
*Jack Kershaw, Esq.
*Ray McBerry
*Franklin Sanders
*Rev. Eugene Cas
*Mark Thomey
*Mike Tuggle[9]
Other members
*H.K. Edgerton
*Charley Reese
*Robert Stacey McCain

Footnotes

#What Is the League of the South? "Introductory Essays and Remarks: What Is the League of the South?" by Michael Hill#The League of the South FAQ#A League of Their Own "A League of Their Own" from the Southern Poverty Law Center's Intelligence Report, summer 2000, issue #99 p. 1#Internal League Dissention "White Nationalism" from the Southern Poverty Law Center's "Intelligence Report", summer 2002, issue #106#Official website (To reach the Core Beliefs Statement, follow the links for "Daily Archives" to "February 2005" and "Announcements: Core Beliefs Statement".)#Grand Strategy "The League's Grand Strategy."#A League of Their Own "A League of Their Own" from the Southern Poverty Law Center's Intelligence Report, summer 2000, issue #99 p. 1#League of the South Statement on Racism by the League of the South Board of Directors, June 21, 2005#Board of Directors "Meet the Board of Directors of the League of the South."

External links

Official Websites
*Dixienet
*League of the SouthSouthern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), Intelligence Project
*Home
*African American members of the League of the South"Confederates in Black" from the SPLC's Intelligence Report, summer 2000, issue #99Scholarly and Special Interest
*Confederate Reconstructionist Movements
*Southern Nationalism: Myth or Reality?
*Christianity and Confederate Nationalism "The US Civil War as a Theological War: Confederate Christian Nationalism and the League of the South", by Edward H. Sebesta and Euan Hague. Published in the Canadian Review of American Studies, 2002.

League of the South: Encyclopedia BETA

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