Editor's note: The United States has been at war for more than 200 of its 245 years of existence. Between the end of WW2 and 9/11 – barely 50 years – the U.S. initiated 201 conflicts that ravaged 153 countries and regions. "America: War by another name" is a special eight-part series that explores the sinister motivations for its warmongering. Episode 5 is on America's right-wing extremism.
2019年8月3日，美国极右主义论坛8chan上发布了一篇题为《难以忽视的真相》（The Inconvenient Truth）的帖子。帖子表达了对新西兰基督城清真寺枪击案的支持，和对西班牙裔“侵占”得克萨斯州、少数族裔对白人的“文化与种族替代”的强烈不满。该帖发布后不久，21岁的白人青年帕特里克·伍德·克鲁修斯（Patrick Wood Crusius）——警方认定的该帖作者，进入埃尔帕索的一家沃尔玛超市，对准人群一阵扫射，以此表明自己反对外来移民对美国白人进行“种族大替代”的决心。
On August 3, 2019, the American far-right online forum 8chan published a post titled "The Inconvenient Truth" in support of the Christchurch Mosque shooting in New Zealand, and against a Hispanic "invasion" of Texas and the "cultural and ethnic replacement" of white people by ethnic minorities. Soon after it was posted, 21-year-old white male Patrick Wood Crusius, whom the police believed to be the author of the post, walked into a Walmart store in El Paso and opened fire at shoppers in opposition to the "great white replacement" he believed to be underway.
这天之前，年仅2个月的小婴儿保尔·安琼多（Paul Anchondo）无论如何也不会明白，自己是如何在一次普通的超市之行中永远地失去了双亲；60岁的退伍老兵阿图罗·贝纳维德斯（Arturo Benavides）估计从未想过，自己在战争中幸存下来，却在一个平凡的日常中被迫与相伴三十余年的妻子天人永隔；86岁的安吉丽娜·英格利斯比（Angelina Englisbee）则全然不知，自己与儿子在收银台前的电话对讲，竟会成为她生命中的最后一次通话……
Before this day, a 2-month-old baby, Paul Anchondo, never knew he would lose both parents in an ordinary grocery shopping trip; a 60-year old veteran like Arturo Benavides might have never expected that even though he survived a war, he would die in an everyday event and leave behind his wife whom he had spent over 30 years with; 86-year old Angelina Englisbee had absolutely no idea that the phone call she had with her son at the cashier would be the last in her life…
这是2019年发生在美国得克萨斯州埃尔帕索的枪击案，造成23人死亡，是当年最为致命的一起枪击案，却也不过是近年来美国众多极右恐怖主义犯罪中的一起。2017年8月，数千名白人至上主义者聚集在弗吉尼亚夏洛茨维尔，其间发生暴力冲突，导致40人死伤；2018年10月，匹兹堡生命之树犹太教堂发生白人至上主义恐怖袭击，造成11人死亡，7人受伤；2019年4月28日，加利福尼亚州波威市的一所犹太教堂再次发生枪击案，造成1人死亡；2021年1月6日，支持特朗普的选民在极右分子的煽动下冲入国会山，试图推翻2020年的大选结果，最终造成严重骚乱和人员伤亡……
The 2019 El Paso shooting in Texas led to 23 deaths. Although the deadliest attack in 2019, it was but one of the many far-right terrorist crimes to have occurred in the U.S. over the past few years. In August 2017, as thousands of white supremacists staged a rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, 40 people were injured or killed; in October 2018, the white supremacist terrorist attack in Pittsburgh's Tree of Life synagogue killed 11 and injured seven; On April 28, 2019, the Poway synagogue shooting in California left one dead; On January 6, 2021, the Capitol building saw severe chaos and casualties after Trump supporters at the instigation of right-wing extremists swarmed it in a bid to overturn the results of the 2020 general election.
国内恐怖主义袭击，特别是极右主义的高涨，已成为当前美国的最大威胁之一。美国的极右主义主要包括白人至上主义（white supremacy）、极端反政府主义（anti-government extremism）和极端社会保守主义（social ultraconservatism）这三种类型。其中，白人至上主义在本质上是一种种族主义，是目前在美国最为盛行、发展势头最快的一种极右主义意识形态。
The rise of homegrown terrorism, particularly the surge of far-right extremism, is one of the biggest threats to the U.S. today. American right-wing extremism has three main types: white supremacy, anti-government extremism and social ultraconservatism. The first is a kind of racism in nature, and it is the most popular and the fastest growing far-right ideology in the United States.
极端反政府主义的一个重要分支为民兵组织（Militia Movement），主要来源之一为美国的退伍军人队伍。他们成立训练营，目标在于建立一个白人分裂主义的家园。虽然极端反政府主义的首要目标是政府权威，但是随着奥巴马于2008年当选总统，这一运动日渐具有反对移民、反穆斯林的倾向，与白人至上主义相互重叠。
An important branch of anti-government extremism is the Militia Movement – mainly made up of ex-soldiers. The Militia Movement put up training camps that are actually the gathering place for white separatists. Although this extremist strand primarily targeted government authorities, it has become increasingly anti-immigration and anti-Muslim, overlapping with the white supremacist ideology since 2008 when Barack Obama became the U.S. president.
极端社会保守主义则是指那些要求回归美国传统的极右主义运动与思想，包括极端反堕胎主义、极端反同性恋、极端反移民主义、非自愿独身主义等。在这类极端社会保守主义的案件中，有不少在意识形态上与白人至上主义有所重叠，例如非自愿独身主义、反移民和反犹主义等。
Social ultraconservatism is a movement and ideology calling for a return to the American tradition. It includes anti-abortion extremism, anti-gay extremism, anti-immigration extremism and involuntary celibacy (Incel). Many social ultraconservatist movements, for example, the Incel movement, anti-immigrationism and anti-Semitism, share ideological similarities with white supremacy.
2019年，美国有48人因国内极端恐怖主义丧生，其中39人被白人至上主义者杀害。虽然该数值在2020年有所下降，但国内恐怖主义阴谋和袭击数量仍然达到1994年以来的最高水平，其中有2/3是由极右主义者发动的。
In 2019, 48 Americans were killed in domestic terrorist attacks, 39 of them by white supremacists. Although less people died in 2020 for this reason, the number of domestic terrorist plots and attacks was at the highest level since 1994, with two-thirds of them being conducted by right-wing extremists.
从根本上来说，近年来极右势力在美国社会的高涨源自于美国白人因经济条件恶化和文化地位边缘化而产生强烈的挫败感和身份认同危机。这种心理的产生是美国社会经济与社会结构发生剧变的产物，也与美国政府无止尽的“反恐战争”密不可分。
The rise of far-right forces in the American society is fundamentally enabled by a strong sense of frustration and an identity crisis among the white people due to the deterioration of their financial situation and the ">
为了打击海外恐怖主义势力，美国在近20年来发动许多局部战争，包括对伊朗、伊拉克、阿富汗和也门等地的袭击，给当地和美国军人都带来了巨大的损失。布朗大学的最新调查显示，长达20年的阿富汗战争已经耗资2.3万亿美元（不包括政府应该为这场战争的退伍军人支付的终生护理经费），相当于美国公民人均6949美元。
To tackle terrorist groups overseas, the U.S. has launched regional wars over the past 20 years, including attacks on Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan and Yemen. This has incurred huge losses to both local and American troops. The latest research from Brown University shows that the 20-year war in Afghanistan cost $2.3 trillion. That is equivalent to the spending of $6,949 per American citizen.
同时，海外的反恐战争加剧了美国白人对穆斯林的偏见，并在2008年全球金融危机导致美国经济迅速恶化的背景下，使得美国白人对穆斯林的偏见和愤怒逐渐扩展为针对几乎所有少数群体的种族主义，助长了白人民族主义，并在极右势力的推动下引爆严重的种族冲突和社会动荡。
In the meantime, America's overseas war on terrorism has deepened the bias of white Americans against the Muslim population. Especially since the global financial crisis sent the U.S. economy on a rapid downturn in 2008, such bias and hostility has escalated to target almost all ethnic minorities, further consolidating the influence of white supremacists. This, at the instigation of far-right forces, has led to serious racial conflicts and social unrests.
唯一在这些战争中受益的，恐怕只有美国的军工复合体了。美国的军工企业是全球军工市场的主导者。2019年，美国的洛克希德马丁公司、波音公司、诺斯洛普格鲁曼公司、雷神公司和通用动力公司排名全球前五，销售额达到了1660亿美元。2019年，共有12家美国公司排名在全球军工企业排行榜的前25名，占军售总额的61%。而在阿富汗战争所消耗的2.3万亿美元中，约有87%被排名前五的国防承包商纳入囊中。
The only beneficiary of the wars is probably the military-industrial complex. American defense companies are the leader of the world's arms industry. In 2019, the total sales of the global top five, Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Northrup Grumman, Raytheon and General Dynamics – which are all American – reached a whopping $166 billion. In 2019, 12 American firms were on the list of the top 25 global defense companies, representing 61 percent of global arms sales. Among the $2.3 trillion spent in the war in Afghanistan, around 87 percent went into the pockets of the top five defense contractors.
通过资助、游说国会议员，美国的军工企业在国家政策制定中获得了重要的发言权，并在其所资助的国会议员的帮助下得到更多的资源去生产武器。通过对学术界、好莱坞和电子游戏等行业的渗透与影响，军工复合体得以在国内宣传维持美国霸权和推行军国主义的必要性，从而不断发动“无止尽”的战争，促进美国军工产业的发展。在军工复合体的影响之下，美国的思想、政治与文化都笼罩在军国主义的氛围之中，为极右恐怖主义的迅速发展创造极佳条件。
By funding and lobbying members of Congress, American defense contractors have gained tremendous influence in national policymaking, and, with the help of senators and representatives they have funded, obtained more resources to manufacture weapons. Through infiltration into and influence over academia, Hollywood and the video game industry, the military-industrial complex is able to propagandize at home that it is of necessity to uphold the U.S. hegemony and promote militarism. By doing so, it could keep the war machine running indefinitely to advance the defense industry. The military-industrial complex shrouds American ideologies, politics and culture with a militarist sentiment, creating a fertile ground for the rapid development of far-right terrorism.
1961年1月，军人总统艾森豪威尔在离任时发表了一篇著名的告别演说，警告美国“必须防止军工复合体获得不正当的影响力……权力错配现象正日益显现，其造成灾难性后果的可能将长期存在。”六十年后的今天，美国却在成为“战争机器”的道路上越走越远，成为一个庞大的帝国主义军事机器和国内极右恐怖主义的温床，为美国社会的内部分裂与动荡埋下隐忧。
America "must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist," then American President Dwight Eisenhower warned in his famous farewell speech in January 1961. Sixty years later, however, the U.S. is turning itself into an imperialist military machine, creating a hot bed for domestic far-right terrorism and sowing the seeds for social division and turmoil.
作者系中国社会科学院美国研究所助理研究员俞凤
The author, Yu Feng, is an assistant research fellow at the Institute of American Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.