Why are far-right white nationalists on the rise in the US?
Jul 22, 2025•21 min
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Episode description
Warning: This episode contains themes of racism and homophobia which listeners may find upsetting.
No gays, no Jews, and definitely no non-whites. It’s messaging that reminds us of a segregated United States – a time that apparently ended in the 1960s. But a community in Arkansas, called Return to the Land, wants to establish a whites-only town, and think they have the legal standing to do so.
The group says it’s about freedom and community - but critics say it’s “pure white supremacist rhetoric”.
Tom Cheshire, our data and forensics' correspondent, went to visit this whites-only community in Arkansas, and joins host Niall Paterson to tell him about the people he met. Niall also speaks to Dr Heidi Beirich, an expert on the American and European far-right, about Return to the Land’s ideology, and why white nationalism is on the rise in the US.
Producer: Soila Apparicio
Editor: Philly Beaumont
No gays, no Jews, and definitely no non-whites. It’s messaging that reminds us of a segregated United States – a time that apparently ended in the 1960s. But a community in Arkansas, called Return to the Land, wants to establish a whites-only town, and think they have the legal standing to do so.
The group says it’s about freedom and community - but critics say it’s “pure white supremacist rhetoric”.
Tom Cheshire, our data and forensics' correspondent, went to visit this whites-only community in Arkansas, and joins host Niall Paterson to tell him about the people he met. Niall also speaks to Dr Heidi Beirich, an expert on the American and European far-right, about Return to the Land’s ideology, and why white nationalism is on the rise in the US.
Producer: Soila Apparicio
Editor: Philly Beaumont
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