Jack Donovan
Jack Donovan is an American far-right writer and ex-Alt-Right activist.
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| “ | Strength is the ability to exert one's will over oneself, over nature and over other people. | „ |
| ~ Jack Donovan |
Biography edit
Early life edit
Donovan was born in 1974 and grew up in a blue-collar household in rural Pennsylvania. After, he moved to New York in the 1990s to study fine art. During this period, he attended and worked as a dancer at gay clubs, marched in gay pride parades, and associated with drag queens. He later dropped out of college and became a manual laborer. Then, he had also lived in California and Portland, Oregon. He worked as a club dancer, truck driver, and tattoo artist.
Life as a satanist edit
Donovan became an ordained priest of the Church of Satan in 2007, but he left it just after 2 years, in 2009. During that period, Donovan wrote about topics related to Satanism for Lust Magazine, a sexuality magazine created by members of the Church of Satan. He also edited and published Lust Magazine: The Archives 2003–2006, a collection of selected works from the magazine.
Career as a writer edit
Donovan published "Androphilia: A Manifesto: Rejecting the Gay Identity, Reclaiming Masculinity" under the pseudonym Jack Malebranche in 2006 (He removed the book from print in 2017, and has said he has "transcended both that identity and that sexuality"). He had worked for the anti-femminist magazine The Spearhead from 2009 to 2014. He also was an early writer for AlternativeRight.com, an online magazine founded by Richard B. Spencer that was published from 2010 to 2012. In 2009, Donovan and Nathan F. Miller co-authored the book Blood Brotherhood and Other Rites of Male Alliance that discusses formalizing homosexual male relationships based on blood-bonding rituals in various cultures. In 2012, Donovan published The Way of Men, which he advocates for a societal structure that he calls "the gang" or "The Brotherhood": small groups of men banding together for survival against the outside world. He published a collection of essays and speeches titled A Sky Without Eagles in 2014, and the books Becoming a Barbarian in 2016 and A More Complete Beast in 2018.
Other activities edit
He spoke in 2013 and 2015 at the National Policy Institute (NPI), Spencer's white supremacist think-tank. Donovan spoke at the American Renaissance conference in 2014. In 2014, the Alt-Right activist Jack Donovan joined the Wolves of Vinland after visiting their rural Virginia community, and his work helped the Wolves refine their philosophy. 4 years after, Jack Donovan left the group, saying his association with the group was during a "dark chapter" in his life. Donovan has spoken several times, including in 2019, at the 21 Convention, a manosphere conference organized by Anthony "Dream" Johnson.
Leaving the Alt-Right edit
Donovan leaved the Alt-Right in August 2017, following the Unite the Right rally, in which an antifascist protester was killed. By that moment after, he wouldn't allow anymore white nationalists to read or pubblish his books and decried the Unite the Right rally for bringing members of the alt-right together with neo-Nazis and members of the Ku Klux Klan. In fact, in 2020 he said that he wanted white nationalist to stop following him and stopped reading this book and that he's trying to leave that association behind.
Ideology edit
The concept of "Brotherhood" edit
Much of Donovan's ideology centers around "The Brotherhood", wich his ideal social and political structure which he says is based around the "tribal" relationships between male warriors. He describes The Brotherhood as a meritocratic group in which men must become warriors, and where only men have political say.
Opposition to femminism edit
He has called for restoring "traditional" gender roles, restricting women to birthing and raising children and preventing them from leadership in society or politics, because for Donovan women exist only to give birth to men and that a family is useful only to make possible his idea of The Brotherhood. Donovan has said he doesn't believe women are evil, but that they are self-serving and must be controlled so as their wishes do not clash with men's interests.
Views on gay rights edit
Even though Donovan himself is homosexual, he does not support gay rights, partially out of his lack of belief in civil rights in general. He has stated that straight people deserve more power and privilege due to the perceived inferiority of gay men's "reproductive sexuality" to that of heterosexuals. He has expressed hatred for portions of the LGBT community, including lesbian, transgender, and genderqueer people. He has opposed same-sex marriage, explaining that he believes the traditional nuclear family to be advantageous to society.
Trivia edit
- The Daily Stormer's Andrew Anglin led a boycott of the 2015 National Policy Institute conference after learning that Donovan was speaking, opposing the conference's choice to invite a homosexual speaker.
- Michael Hill of the League of the South refused to share a stage with Donovan at a NPI conference because of Donovan's sexuality.
- Donovan tentatively supported Hillary Clinton as a candidate who could "drive home the reality that white men are no longer in charge... and that [the United States] is no longer their country and never will be again".