Fundraising is certainly not my favorite task. Indeed, I often wish I had a team of elves to do it for me. Every Christmas morning they would leave shiny gold bars under the tree, and we’d all be free of worry.

Alas, growing up means putting aside childish things—and doing the things that are important and necessary. Fundraising is just that. NPI and Radix simply cannot complete our projects—and start new ones—without raising money during Yuletide.

And there are silver linings. For one thing, with this year’s campaign, you get something in return, beginning with books. And giving to something you care about is meaningful and inspiring in itself. It’s a chance to do something, even if it’s in a small way. Moreover, the turn of the year gives us a chance to reflect on what we’ve accomplished and think about where we want to go in the future.

Our movement has a tendency to get caught up in gloom and doom . . . but one unequivocal accomplishment is the blooming of a thousand flowers of what I’ve called the “alt Right.” (Indeed, the expanse that’s taken place in just the five years since I founded AlternativeRight.com has been tremendous.) There is more media revolving around European identity, traditionalism, and the study of human biodiversity than ever before. Much of it is of high quality. And we are able to communicate with each like never before—and able to understand each across the national lines that divided us over the past century.

But as a thousand flowers bloom, there remains a certain emptiness.

Anonymity and privacy—the ability to mask our identities online and read and think what we want—are things we should defend fanatically.

That said, we’re not going to change the world sniping on comment boards, nor will we as a collection of pseudonymous blogs.

We need a real movement. And real movements are lead by those who are willing to risk something, willing to suffer, willing to stand firm when in the right, willing to speak truth to power and face the consequences, and wiling to be happy warriors.

Over the past few months, I’ve received quite a few messages of sympathy and support for my arrest and imprisonment in Budapest this fall, for what can only be described as “thought crimes.”

In truth, I look back quite fondly on my brief stint as a political prisoner.

First off, my suffering was not great. There was the sleep deprivation . . . getting marched around in handcuffs . . . being declared a “national security threat” . . . a prison cuisine that resembled a cross between gravy and cat food (I don’t know what it tasted like, as it inspired me to go on a hunger strike) . . . But at the end of the day, these were the experiences of a thought criminal in the Hungary of Viktor Orbán, not Béla Kun.

Secondly, despite it all, our gathering took place, thanks to the work of Jared Taylor and a small, dedicated group of supporters, who more than compensated for my absence. In other words, we won.

Thirdly, and most important, as our enemies attack us, we become more powerful. Unquestionably, our Budapest event brought more attention to our ideas and ideals than any other event over the past year (probably over the past five years). Much of that attention was negative or hysteric, as would be expected. Some of it was sympathetic or expressive of understanding. In some cases, sympathy was wrapped up in hysteria. Quite a few learned of the existence of a movement for European identity through our perseverance.

If we’re going to have a serious movement—one that challenges the current dispensation in the most radical manner—then some of us are probably going to get arrested.

Our movement excels at analyzing the world. We need institutions that are working to change the world. NPI, Radix, and everything we do will be at the center of that effort.