NPI'S WINTER CONFERENCE SHUT DOWN

NOTE: This news item was quoted by Salon in their recent article on the Alt-Right.

Spencer at Rocklands.

Richard Spencer's National Policy Institute (NPI) had its Winter conference shut down in "mid-flight" by the venue owners after they became aware of Spencer's true identity.

NPI had booked the venue for last Sunday (19th Nov), through a third-party logistics company that told the venue, Rocklands Farm, a winery and popular marriage venue in Montgomery County, Maryland, that it was merely for a "corporate gathering."

The event started at 11 a.m. and was scheduled to continue until 8 p.m. but was shut down around 4 p.m. after the venue's management learned of Spencer's identity. 

It appears that there was then something of a standoff, as conference attendees at first refused to leave. They only agreed to do so when Rocklands Farm agreed to refund all the money NPI had paid through the third-party logistics company. 

After this, the attendees, numbering around 100, tried to go to a grill restaurant in Alexandria, but were refused entry, possibly for non ideological reasons, as 100 is quite a large number to seat in a restaurant, even at the best of times. 

The group then went back to several "Airbnb" venues and ordered "pizza," according to a somewhat unclear article posted on Spencer's main website AltRight.com.

In short, the event appears to have been an unfortunate fiasco, although it seems that a lot of people had a fun time meeting Richard Spencer and other leading members of the Alt-Right.

In the wake of Charlottesville, it has become increasingly difficult to organise public Alt-Right events like this, as private venues are terrified of antifa. In recent years, NPI had been relying on the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington, a Federal building, that has a public duty to protect free speech, but this year they refused NPI's request to use their facilities, forcing Spencer's organisation to rely on a private venue. 

Compared to last November's NPI conference, which attracted around 300 people and such luminaries as Professor Kevin McDonald, Millennial Woes, and Tia Tequila, this year's NPI conference was a much lower key event, with much less publicity. But, despite this, it attracted much more concerted opposition, with even the Federal government denying NPI its facilities. 

The event last year was also the conference that shot Spencer to international fame -- or notoriety if you prefer -- when his "Hail Trump!" exclamation at the end of his speech was accompanied by a few "Nazi salutes" in the audience. 

Earlier in the day, Mike Enoch, who also spoke at that conference, gave an "ironic" Nazi salute from the stage to the audience, while Tia Tequila (below) was also filmed with "sieg hieling" fans at the same event.

Every single East Asian I have ever known thinks Nazi salutes are lulzy.

This year's event was much more "optics conscious," but to no avail.

The sabotaging of the conference puts NPI in an awkward situation, making it difficult to operate above the flashmob or private gathering level. 

Personally I would recommend NPI simply go "full gypsy": Rent a piece of private land somewhere, pack a few generators and a circus tent, and do all their own catering. Now that would be a lot harder to shut down, wouldn't it?

Podcast recorded at the NPI Conference (not paywall - we happy!!!):