Obvious Racists and Neo-Nazis | Irish History | Indigenous Solidarity

The Celtic Nations Now, and the Revival of Earth-Honouring, Gaelic Spiritual Ways

General Anti-Racist Resources


Obvious Racists and Neo-Nazis

  • In Sheep's Clothing - Around the US, radical right groups are staging “European” festivals in a bid to draw ethnic whites into their movement. For many years they have targeted those of Nordic descent, and now they are trying to recruit Scottish-Americans, Irish-Americans and others of Celtic heritage. Be aware, and find out more about any “Ethnic European,” “Celtic” or “Gaelic” festivals or groups before making ties or commitments to them.
  • Klan Knights Cash in on Celtic Racism - “The Ku Klux Klan, the white supremacist movement known for racial murders and cross-burning in the American deep South, has set up a network of activists in Britain. It is believed that the Klan aims to capitalise on the growth of Scottish and Welsh nationalism - areas it sees as truly white, Celtic and “untainted” with Jewish, black or Asian blood.”
  • Yesterday and Today: Nazis and the Righteous Right - “History is tapping us on the shoulder and pointing. The sixtieth anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz followed so closely by the popification of an ex-member of the Hitler Youth combine to force our attention back to the Nazi catastrophe. ... If we take a look at pre-WWII Germany, we notice it has some things in common with the United States now.”

Irish History

  • Irish Famine Unit II: Racism - It is ironic that the Irish and Irish Diaspora, who the White Supremacists would like to recruit to their racist cause, actually have more in common with the other ethnic groups the Neo-Nazis revile. Such as when “young Irish peasants were hunted down as men hunt down game, and were forcibly put aboard ship, and sold to plantations in Barbados” where they suffered in slavery alongside the Africans. As recently as the fifties, in England and America, the Irish were still referred to as “White Negroes” and subjected to hatred, violence and discrimination.
  • 154 Years Ago: The Choctaw Send Aid - "Moved by news of starvation in Ireland, a group of Choctaws gathered in Scullyville, Okla., to raise a relief fund. ... Perhaps their sympathy stemmed from their recognition of the similarities between the experiences of the Irish and Choctaw. Certainly contemporary Choctaw see it that way. They note that both groups were victims of conquest that led to loss of property, forced migration and exile, mass starvation, and cultural suppression (most notably language)."
  • NMAI Blog: A Gift from the Choctaw Nation - "In 1995, Irish President Mary Robinson, later UN Commissioner for Human Rights, visited the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma to thank the Choctaws for their generosity toward the Irish, a people with whom she noted their only link was 'a common humanity, a common sense of another people suffering as the Choctaw Nation had suffered when being removed from their tribal land.'"

Indigenous Solidarity

  • Resolution of the Fifth Annual Meeting of the Elders Circle - Inter-tribal council of Navajo, Hopi, Muskogee, Chippewa-Cree, Northern Cheyenne, Haudenosaunee and Lakota Elders speak out against the appropriators. "It has been brought to the attention of the Elders and their representatives in Council that various individuals are moving about this Great Turtle Island and across the great waters to foreign soil, purporting to be spiritual leaders. ...be warned that these individuals are moving about playing upon the spiritual needs and ignorance of our non-Indian brothers and sisters. The value of these instructions and ceremonies are questionable, maybe meaningless, and hurtful to the individual carrying false messages."
  • Declaration of War Against Exploiters of Lakota Spirituality - Unanimously passed by an international gathering of US and Canadian Lakota, Dakota and Nakota Nations, about 500 representatives from 40 different tribes and bands. If you're attending a fake sweat or smoking your idea of a chanupa, they are talking to you.
  • Letter from Chief Arvol Looking Horse on Protection of Ceremonies - "I now see since these reports, there is a much bigger problem then I ever knew in concern of the violations. Even more reports of deaths, charging, molestation and mixing of other beliefs, this must stop! These violations are affecting our children's health, many of our children ending their life with suicide. They do not feel that ceremonial energy that was meant for them. The People in these hoc'okas need to become stronger and connected with our children's needs to survive."
  • Cheyenne River Tribal Resolution on the Protection of Ceremonies - "the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, on behalf of the entire Lakota Oyate, hereby declares, re-asserts, and expresses its intentions to protect and preserve the Lakota Oyate's ownership of Lakota culture, language, and ceremonies, including our most Sacred Calf Pipe and its keeper, all other pipe carriers, sacred sites; ceremonies, songs and stories, the Lakota language; and all other tangible and intangible Lakota cultural property."
  • Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma (CNO) Fraudulent Indians Task Force - "Hundreds of false Indian groups are claiming to be sovereign tribes and are teaching their own fabricated culture and history as if it were Indian. ... Tribes must be the guardians of their history and culture and not let it be stolen and manipulated by imposters."
  • Cherokee Spiritual Leaders - Letter from Dr. Richard L. Allen, Research & Policy Analyst for the Cherokee Nation. "Traditional Cherokee healers and spiritual leaders provide their services to the Cherokee people. ... They do not advertise their services through any form of media and certainly not over the internet."
  • Tribe establishes Cherokee Identity Protection Committee - "Fraudulent Cherokee identity is a direct attack on our Tribal sovereignty and an affront to our culture and traditions. We must protect our elders and traditionalists by stopping these groups and individuals from appropriating our culture, language and traditions.”
  • Black Indian Confederacy of North America - Bringing to light the historical events that took place among American Indian nations and runaway slaves, and providing a support base for Native people on the reservations.
  • New Age Frauds and Plastic Shamans - New Age Frauds and Plastic Shamans (or NAFPS) is a group of Native American activists and their supporters, dedicated to fighting cultural misappropriation, and other abuses and misrepresentations of First Nations religions and cultures. Look up your favorite frauds in the forum and feel free to ask questions.
  • Plastic Shamans and Astroturf Sun Dances: New Age Commercialization of Native American Spirituality - by Lisa Aldred. "Real Native Americans are not a part of most Euro-Americans' lives. Yet non-Indians feel that their own lives are increasingly 'unreal' and 'inauthentic,' so they imagine a preindustrial, pre-European America where things were 'real' and 'authentic,' ...they simulate the original 'authentic Native American spirituality' and consume it. Meanwhile, their simulations allow them to ignore real indigenous peoples."
    ¶ "This cycle does not end their alienation. They are still so removed from any recognition of social relations (much less historical conflict) that they cannot understand why Native American peoples themselves would object to their appropriations. The individualism that has become characteristic of both capitalism and American political ideology cannot fathom political and social accountability. Yet the kind of community New Agers so desperately seek to relieve their feelings of isolation would, in my view, not be defined by superficial trappings, but by collective accountability."
    ¶ When Indigenous people ask that outsiders not mimick their ceremonies, many appropriators claim this infringes their freedom of religion, however, "It might be noted that the 'freedom of religion' clause in the First Amendment protects individuals from government infringement of their right to hold their religious beliefs. It does not guarantee them a right of access to a particular group's spiritual traditions. Given that Native American reservations are recognized as 'domestic dependent nations' by the U.S. government (and some have never conceded U.S. sovereignty at all), this 'right of access' is even more unfounded from a legal standpoint."

The Celtic Nations Now, and the Revival of Earth-Honouring, Gaelic Spiritual Ways

  • The Celtic League - An inter-Celtic organisation that campaigns for the social, political and cultural rights of the Six Celtic Nations. Language preservation is a high priority.
  • Gaol Naofa - An international Gaelic Polytheist organization promoting the preservation and revival of the Gaelic traditions, beliefs and culture. Most of the CAORANN council belongs to Gaol Naofa.
  • Tairis - Gaelic Polytheist site of CAORANN Council member Annie Loughlin, with writings on Gaelic culture and traditions, especially matters particular to the land where she lives in Scotland.
  • The CR FAQ - An Introduction to Celtic Reconstructionist Paganism - Co-authored by a diverse collective of CR practitioners, including some of the founders of the tradition, it is the most thorough introduction to Celtic Reconstructionism. It was written by consensus and represents a milestone for our communities. As the CR community is so large now, with a number of distinct branches, we will probably never be able to agree on this much again.
    Important Note: We took people at their word when they signed off on these principles. But just as we have no control over the behaviour of those who self-identify as CRs or Gaelic Polytheists, we did not thoroughly check out everyone who participated in the FAQ project. Do not take anyone's name on the FAQ, or even their use of the CAORANN banner, as a guarantee the person lives by the principles they swore to in public. We have verged on not promoting the FAQ anymore due to the offenses of some of the participants, and our need to distance ourselves from those who are now participating in racist cultural misappropriation and the degradation of some of our most longstanding and respected traditions. We still stand by the text; we just don't endorse the work of everyone who signed off on it.
  • Are you, like, Wiccans? Shamans? Traditionalists? - All these various "Celtic" terms can be confusing. We have no control over what people call themselves, especially when they are strangers or people we've only met on the Internet. But this may help people sort through it all.
  • CR is Not Eclectic - "CR was actually begun as an alternative to eclectic Neopagan traditions," so we are baffled and offended that some people have tried to introduce eclectic approaches while still claiming to be CR. Some pretendians in plastic paddy clothing have tried to justify their cultural appropriation via "respectful" eclecticism; usually they are going through the motions of outsider fantasies of Native traditions, while calling them by grossly misunderstood Celtic terms. It is baffling to us that some would claim to be CR while their practices are so clearly a mishmash of multiple, misappropriated cultures. This is why we are critical of eclectic approaches to ceremony, as they are usually attempted by those with little respect or understanding of any of the traditions they steal from. If they understood the depth of the traditions they would know better than to try such a thing.
  • "Celtic Sweatlodge" - If someone is telling you their eclectic rituals which are clearly based on First Nations ceremonies are "universal," or "Celtic," they're just showing their ignorance.
  • Craobh Caorann - The CAORANN discussion group on LiveJournal.
  • Pàganachd agus Págánacht - LiveJournal Gaelic Polytheism community (Ioma-Dhiadhachd Ghàidhealach / Ildiachas Gaelach) - preserving what lives, reconstructing what was fragmented, remembering what had been forgotten.
  • Óenach - A Celtic Reconstructionist Assembly. A newer but more active LiveJournal Gaelic Polytheism forum.

General Anti-Racist Resources


More links and news can be found on
Annies's blog: Tairis - a Gaelic Polytheist blog, sister site to her website, with GP-related articles and personal posts about living her spirituality.
Kathryn's blog: Amhran nam Bandia - Occasional musings on spirituality and culture, Gaelic Polytheism (Ioma-Dhiadhachd Ghàidhealach / Ildiachas Gaelach), language and cultural preservation, protecting sacred sites, indigenous solidarity, etc.
Treasa's blog: Mo Thearmann - Gaelic Polytheism, book reviews, ramblings and musings.