THE TIME TO STAND UP IS NOW
A few months ago, we witnessed repeated rioting in cities and towns across England and the North of Ireland, by mobs supposedly protesting the appalling knife attack on children at a dance workshop in Southport. Given that these riots involved direct assaults on so-called "asylum hotels" with the intention to harm the occupants, including at least one attempt to set fire to a hotel, along with attacks on a mosque, shops, a Citizens Advice Bureau office and a children’s library, and on individuals from ethnic minorities, we don't think it's too much of a stretch to describe these shameful actions as the acts of lynch mobs. The ripples from those violent incidents are still being felt – not least by those directly targeted by hatred, but also more widely through our society.
It's absolutely crystal clear that the riots were without exception organised and led by known activists of the far-Right. By, to be absolutely blunt about it, fascists who – whatever their current camouflage – have their political roots in admiration for the brutal regimes of Mussolini and Hitler, and in those openly neo-Nazi organisations like the National Front, the British Movement and the British National Party who have sought in the past to continue that fascist legacy.
Now, at the beginning of 2025, a Trump administration that has sympathies and political links with contemporary fascist movements in the USA and internationally has taken state power in the world's most powerful and influential nation. They have enough confidence that a prominent member of the administration, Elon Musk, felt enabled to signal a "deniable" fascist salute at Trump's presidential inauguration, broadcast around the world and essentially declaring without words, "We are back".
Indeed, fascism can no longer be considered "a detail of history" that World War Two consigned, through huge and bitter sacrifice, to the sewer in which it belongs.
One aspect of these events that has disturbed us has been that we've come across expressions of sympathy and even outright support for this re-emergence of fascism and racism within some supposedly neo-Pagan circles.
We will be absolutely clear about our attitude. Those who may claim to be Pagans, but who align themselves with fascists and with ideologies that are racist, misogynist, homophobic and transphobic – and overwhelmingly demanding that Britain must be a "Christian" country – are not, as far as we are concerned, acceptable presences within the Pagan community (such as it is).
In our experience, the intolerant are too often tolerated within neo-Pagan settings. “Ah well, they are Pagans after all”, is a phrase we've heard more than once as someone has tried to justify the presence even of an open neo-Nazi at a Pagan gathering. While it's unavoidably and uncomfortably a fact that fascists have sometimes managed to insert themselves into Pagan groups and gatherings (for instance some misrepresenting themselves as “heathen”, that are no more than fronts for bigotry; and the alleged involvement of a prominent British neo-Nazi, Andrew Fountaine, in early Wicca), we need to recognise that neo-Paganism is as much an ideological battleground as any other broad movement. Rather than blindly accepting anyone and everyone who decides to self-define as Pagan, we need to resist the bigoted.
The other side of this is that Pagans should be seeking to take a stance of active solidarity with the oppressed and the marginalised. Solidarity is not an academic exercise. It was only a relatively few years ago that Pagans were being targeted by evangelical Christians and their allies making false allegations of widespread “ritual abuse”. The forces behind that particular conspiracy theory may have been quietened for a while but they have not gone away entirely; and with the resurgence of far-Right ideologies searching for scapegoats and “enemies within” to blame for economic malaise and the declining power of social conservatism (especially as those ideologies in Europe and the Americas so often claim to be protecting a "Christian" heritage from satanic forces), Pagans as Pagans may well be a target of the Right sooner or later unless the tide can be turned, and we are not strong enough in numbers or influence to turn it alone. We Pagans need to be making practical connections.
Thus we recognise the value of seeking alliances with those from oppressed and marginalised groups and communities. Pagans can and should be active as Pagans within and alongside the LGBTQI+ community, feminist women, sex workers, ethnic minorities, refugee support, community groups, and so on. In the present context, with the far-Right on the rise globally, this means engagement in largely defensive actions. Such unity is no longer optional, in our view.
As an additional note to the above, we find ourselves in broad agreement with this article:
The Witch and their Community as magical-political activism
Our coven is very much "Traditional", firmly rooted in our local landscapes and community. However, we regard ourselves as part of the majority within neo-Paganism who embrace a broadly progressive agenda. Our practice includes methods we have learned from our sisters and brothers in the modern Reclaiming Tradition, as well as from others, alongside our older folk magic and rituals that can be dated back through generations of our own people. We are proud of our capacity to learn and evolve, and to be inclusive, as much as we are proud of our heritage.
Our appeal here to other Pagans is this: Stand with us against those bigots who seek to twist and corrupt, or to denigrate and destroy, modern Paganism to further their own reactionary political ends. Join with us in speaking out against bigotry wherever it is found, within neo-Pagan circles or within wider society. March side by side with us, if we must march, in defence of our neighbourhoods and communities. Help to make our world a better and more tolerant place, not a worse one mired in hate.
Philip Kane (on behalf of the Coven of Epona)
Kent, England
24th January 2025