ME AND CHRIS ROBERTS (DECEASED)

by Colin Liddell

When I recently heard that Chris Roberts died, I thought, "Oh, that's the guy who helps out Jared Taylor at the American Renaissance site." It was shocking that he was only 29 and I immediately thought of drug overdoses and suicide, but of course we don't know the cause of death yet. But I also noted that one of his many pen names was Gilbert Cavanaugh and that his real name was Martin Rojas. 

The name "Gilbert Cavanaugh" in particular struck a chord with me, as I had published several articles by him at the original AlternativeRight.com site and its immediate successor AlternativeRight.blogspot.com site.

Yes, I must have had a considerable correspondence with the dead man that had somehow largely slipped my mind. Well, it was some years ago, and every year for me has been an exceedingly busy one. So, what kind of person was this Chris Roberts/Martin Rojas/Gilbert Cavanaugh guy? Checking past emails might provide some clues.

First contact was made on 8th January 2013, when I guess Rojas was around 19 or 20. It read as follows:

Mr. Liddell,

About one week ago I sent a submission to Mr. Spencer and never heard back, so I am sending it to you. Hope that's not too much trouble.

Thanks,

Martin Rojas

The attached article was "Five Historical Hate Facts," which you can read here.

I wrote back:

Hi Martin. I think Richard forwarded that to me. We're always happy to get unsolicited stuff, so thanks for sending it. I enjoyed it and will post it soon.

Cheers!

Rojas then asked me to publish it under a pen name, a practice of which I don't really approve, but which was common in the Alt-Right in those days. The use of an Irish name made me suspect that Rojas was trying to hide more "Spanish sounding" ancestry.

"Five Historical Hate Facts" was published on the 10th of January, but was unpublished when Spencer switched the site over to a new host, Squarespace. This led to some more emails, as well as a new submission, "A Domestic Arctic Alliance." On March 12th 2013, Rojas wrote:

Mr. Liddell,

I'm e-mailing you because Richard Spencer's old e-mail, "richard@alternativeright.com" seems to be down. Is that permanent, or was it just a hiccup?

     I am curious when my past article, "Five Historical Hatefacts" will be re-posted to your website.

     In addition, I have another submission for your review.

Thanks,

Martin Rojas / Gilbert Cavanaugh

You can read "A Domestic Arctic Alliance" here.

I tried to respond to the note of insistence in his email by promptly writing back:

Hi Martin,

Very interesting and clear article. I will put it up in a day or two. I will also try to get your Hatefacts piece back up. Richard no longer uses that email address but you can email me instead.

Colin

Based on having submitted two articles to our site, Rojas then pressed us for an internship. On 10th April 2013, he wrote:

Mr. Liddell,

Summer is coming soon, and I am currently looking around for internships. Does Alternative Right or the National Policy Institute offer anything? Let me know if I should be sending a resume, transcript, and writing samples from places other than AltRight to yourself or Mr. Spencer. Also, if your corner of the dissident right can not offer me anything, do you know where else I should look?

Thanks so much

Martin Rojas

He really was barking up the wrong tree as Spencer's operations were always badly organised and underfunded, but I tried to be encouraging, CC-ing my reply to Richard:

Hi Martin,

I admire your enthusiasm. Your best bet is to try Richard. He is in a better position to advise you on this than I am. My feeling is that there is not much in the way of internships in the alternative right, and that the best thing is just to get involved by writing (which you've been doing under the pen name Gilbert Cavanaugh), blogging or taking some kind of direct action, like publicity stunts or demos. 

Best,

Colin

Rojas wasn't very encouraged. This suggested to me a somewhat morose tendency.

Mr. Liddell,

I appreciate the honesty, although the news is unfortunate. Can you give me Mr. Spencer's e-mail address?

Thanks,

Martin

Unable to get an internship, he decided instead to go for a free book! On 10th May, 2013, he wrote: 

Mr. Liddell,

School is out and with that comes a great deal of time to read. I was wondering if I could perhaps receive a free book from WSP given my past submissions for AltRight.

Thanks,

Martin Rojas

WSP, of course, was Richard's nascent publishing house Washington Summit Publishers. I forwarded this email to Richard to zero effect. leading to a "nag mail" from Rojas on 1st June, 2013:

Mr. Liddell,

It looks like you were right and Mr. Spencer does need to be reminded about my book.

Thanks

I had to write back: 

Martin,

There's no point reminding him now as he's on a Baltic cruise for the next week or two.

Remind me to remind him after this.

Best,

Colin

Around this time I started to become aware of what a busy writer Martin was. From somewhere in the Baltic Sea Richard Spencer forwarded an email from Kevin MacDonald of The Occidental Observer to both Andy Nowicki and myself, with the following question:

On vacation. What do you think?

MacDonald's email was itself forwarded a submission from Rojas titled "An Open Letter to Niall Ferguson." MacDonald wrote:

Richard: This would be better for AltRight. I assume that Ferguson did not write for AltRight, as this author contends.

The forwarded mail from Rojas read: 

Dear TOO,

I am uncertain if you accept unsolicited submissions, but I figured I'd give it a try. I have pasted it below this text.

Thanks,

GC

You could see this young guy was a tryer.

The article was basically an invitation to Niall Ferguson to step up and defend Jason Richwine, who was under attack by people like Rachel Maddow for his "connection" to AlternativeRight.com. Rojas thought this was a logical thing for Ferguson to do because Richard Spencer had republished one or two of Ferguson's articles at AlternativeRight in 2010 without permission.

An extract from Rojas's article is well worth publishing, especially as it points out how "diverse" AlternativeRight was in those days, and correctly describes one of my most "notorious" articles "Holocaust Amnesia Day":

The magazine has a much more diverse authorship than the mainstream media has led people to believe. Homosexuals such as Justin Raimondo and Jack Donovan have been featured. Jews such as Eugene Girin and Paul Gottfried have also been featured. Elizabeth Wright, a respected black woman, was also regularly featured there until her untimely death.
     Alternative Right has never published anything in the way of Holocaust Denial. Rachel Maddow, and many others have been grossly incorrect in this characterization.
     The piece they cite, "Holocaust Amnesia Day" does not in any way deny that the event occurred, it simply ridicules our nation's current obsession with the event. If you will recall, even Jesse Jackson has made that point before.

Andy was very keen to use it, and even used a term that is now indelibly linked with Richard Spencer: 

hot stuff... let's use it!

Was this where Spencer got this catchphrase from? Possibly, but let's put a bookmark in it.

We decided to go ahead and publish Rojas's article.

Immediately some commenters attacked it because Ferguson did not have a connection with AlternativeRight.com beyond being excerpted there by Spencer without his knowledge. Rojas was worried and wrote to me on 8th June 2013:

Mr. Liddell,

It seems that commenters have also raised the question as to whether or not Ferguson knew he was being published by AltRight. Is there any way you can get Mr. Spencer to post an "Update" at the bottom of the piece assuring the readers that Ferguson was in the know?

     Given how many people seem to be doubting this - I myself am getting a bit worried, and would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks

I wrote back, keeping the tone cheerful and upbeat, after all this was just a few words on the internet:

I've forwarded your concerns to Mr S.

      In the meantime I wouldn't worry about it. Even if Ferguson's connection with us was as tenuous as some commenters are saying it wouldn't matter because one of your points is that the left likes to damn people by such tenuous connections. Richwine is the perfect example, but Ferguson in an odd way is an even better one.

     Another example: "C.Liddell, the famous holocaust denier, wrote for Taki's a magazine in which the work of several prominent journalists appeared, including Taki Theodorcopulas who also writes for the Spectator, which was edited until comparatively recently by Boris Johnson, Mayor of London, and close associate of Prime Minister David Cameron. I guess that makes Dave a fellow holocaust denier... ;)"

For the time being the article stayed up, but Rojas really wanted to see more support from Richard.

Anyway, Rojas was full of new ideas and projects. On 18th June, 2013, he wrote: 

"I have an idea for a quick project on Alternative Right that I hope you will go for. I often dig through the archives of AltRight and recently I found a gem I would love to replicate - Eugene Girin's symposium on the presence of anti-Semitism within the old/alt right. It featured opinions from Taki, Paul Gottfried, and Srdja Trifkovic. It was published on July 29th of 2010, so I was thinking that for its third anniversary the same question could be asked. However, Girin wanted to ask old stalwarts of the far right, while I think that because that wing is slowly being phased out and replaced with a new generation of AltRighters, younger figures within the movement should be asked - since they are the future of it. Ideally, I would want yourself, Mr. Nowicki, and Mr. Kurtagic to write responses to the question, "Will the new generation of the Alternative Right have a better relation with Jews then the last - and should it?" However, Mark Hackard and/or Jack Donovan would be good as well.

     Let me know if you think it's a good idea, and I'll write a brief intro the way Girin did.

Thanks!

I wrote back, responding to this, as well as his concerns about his "Open Letter to Niall Ferguson":

Hi Gilbert,

Alas, this is what Richard said: "Ferguson has absolutely no connection to us. I reposted an article by him once in 2010. He had nothing to do with this."

     Anyway it doesn't really matter because one of the implicit points in your article is that the left likes to damn people by the most tenuous of connections. Richwine is the perfect example, but Ferguson, in an odd way, is an even better one.

     I've suggested doing your Jewish idea as a podcast, as that would be better way to deal with the exchange of viewpoints that you suggest.

     BTW, I liked your [Occidental Observer] piece on the $PLC. Good writing.

Cheers!

Colin

Rojas now decided to take down his Ferguson piece. Whether rightly or wrongly, I got an impression from this that he was a bit timid of him: 

Mr. Liddell,

Thanks so much for your compliment on my $PLC piece - I also like this podcast idea!

     However, I have to ask that AltRight take down my letter to Ferguson, I agree with you that the general point the piece makes is still valid, but the specifics of it are inaccurate, so I would really like it gone.

Thanks,

GC

Spencer was not very interested in Rojas's Jewish symposium podcast idea, writing to me and Andy on 19th June 2013:

For me, discussing Holocaust revisionism just isn't worth it.  I would never attack any of these people, I just feel like I already have enough enemies.

     I would like to do a podcast on the Jews.  Indeed, I'd like to invite Kevin MacDonald on. I'm sure he'd do it.

     There are some important questions to ask about any possibility of our side working with Zionists.  This kind of thing has happened before. . .

R

Andy, as usual, was open-minded in a sort of "whatever" kind of way:
 

I'm not sure if I have anything original or interesting to say about the subject, but I'm certainly not averse to it.

After this Rojas and I engaged in an exchange of compliments:
 

Mr. Liddell,

I greatly appreciate you pulling that piece, I know you did not have to, and that it was not particularly professional on my part to ask it of you - so really, thanks.

     Attached is a new submission for your consideration.

     PS - From your Google+ invites I have discovered just how much you write, the output is really amazing!

The attached piece was "The Eternal Culture War" a book review of  "Guns, Crime, and Freedom," by Wayne LaPierre from Regnery Publishing, which you can read here. I shot back:

Sure, Martin, no problem. You're one of our most frequent and - as your latest contribution shows - best contributors. This review will be published shortly.

Cheers,

Colin

After this, our relationship started on a gentle incline downwards, caused by Spencer's failure to financially reward his writers. On 6th August 2013, Rojas wrote: 

Mr. Liddell,

I am really unsure how to put this in a way that doesn't sound whiny, so I'm just gonna level with you.

     I really like Alternative Right, and it's very cool writing for you guys, but both VDARE and The Occidental Observer pay per article; American Renaissance has also offered to pay me.

     I would love to keep writing for AltRight, but basic economics is starting to make that seem unlikely. Is there any way at all we could work something out? Even as little as 25 bucks or a book per article would be fine by me.

Hope you don't take this the wrong the way.

Respectfully,

"M"

Take things the wrong way? In 2013? No, not me. I shot back:

Yes, you're quite right. We should pay our writers (and editors), but that all depends on funds raised divided by the number of articles published, etc. etc. Mr. Spencer is  doing a lot of work on fundraising so hopefully that will start to make a difference at some (unspecified) time in the future. You seem like a pretty prolific writer so I'm sure that after you've sent off your contributions to VDare, TOO, and AR, you'll still probably have the occasional article for us. As for me, I continue to treat AltRight as my charity project to ensure a slightly better flagon of ale in Valhalla.

Cheers!

Colin

Of course, by then I knew that Spencer was taking the lion's share or any money raised by the site to finance his own lifestyle -- Baltic cruises, for example. Although Andy and myself did get a very occasional cheque. This never bothered me as I had already built up a fair amount of wealth and income by this stage.

Martin was still very interested in our site and seemed to be reading every article. On 14th September he wrote:

Mr. Liddell,

What happened to the "Keynes, Orwell, and the Great Erasure of Whiteness" piece by Nelson Hultberg that was posted on AltRight a bit ago? I saw it listed on a newsletter, but can't find it on your website.

     Also, I recently realized that although Alex Kurtagic has a page on Takimag, he is not listed on that site's contributors roll.

Do you know why that is?

best,

GC

I tried to keep up the conversation:

Hi Martin,

Funny about Alex. Must be a glitch.

As for "Keynes, Orwell, and the Great Erasure of Whiteness," that was put up by Andy. He chose the title, putting in the bit about the erasure of Whiteness which the writer then took exception to, thinking it made the piece sound racist. 

     What have you been working on recently?

     My most recent line, as in "Playing for Matchsticks," is that Syria is overblown and that the world is actually sliding inexorably towards "PEACE" and stable, interlinked uneventful multipolar materialism.

Colin

Rojas responded, rather unfairly equating our site with the dreaded R-word:

Mr. Liddell,

Somebody asking a piece on AltRight to be pulled because of "racism" is really quite amusing.

     I haven't been working on much lately - late summer is always a time for procrastination.

"Multipolar materialism" is a great line - you should write an article about it!

best,

GC

In October 2013 he sent a new article "The Arctic Alliance, Again." This piece suggested some sort of community of interests between Whites and North Asians (NA), something I was not at all adverse to. I wrote back, commenting:

Hi Martin,

This passage doesn't quite work and will be easily attacked.

    "Internationally as well, things have been far from tumultuous. The Pacific Theatre of World War II serves as the only meaningful exception to this, all other incidents and wars have been very minor: Word War I, the Boxer Rebellion, the Russo-Japanese War, etc. The same cannot be said of any other race, whose histories involve numerous mass wars with whites, coupled with mass crime and agitation domestically in all white nations - something AltRight readers certainly do not need to be convinced of."

     The problems, as I see them, are downplaying  the Russo-Japanese war, Vietnam (not NA but racially identical) and Korea. Hard to dismiss these as minor wars. Commenters will jump on such details with the result that your larger points will get ignored. 

     Also, it's wrong to assume on the historical knowledge and interests of the readers, many of whom are morons ready to muddy the waters with their personal obsessions, so it's probably  good to throw in some examples of what you mean by "other races[s], whose histories involve numerous mass wars with Whites," by which I assume you mean the Arabs, Berbers, and Turks.

     It might be better to admit that there have been serious conflicts between Whites and NAs but not to the same degree as between Whites and Whites, and that this has not poisoned relations to any significant degree, rather in the same way as those wars between Whites.

If you could just work this into the text that would greatly help.

Cheers!

Colin

My gentle editorial pointers were taken on board:

Got it, give me a day or two to work on it and I will send you an updated version, thanks for the advice!

In December Rojas wanted to contact Andy Nowicki personally. For whatever reasons, he was interested in the short fiction by the late George Lincoln.

There followed some emails setting up book reviews, including one by Keith Preston. The postal address given for the book to be sent was in Minneapolis. At this point he was especially keen to bury his real name and stick to aliases. He was also keen to post a short piece on Hmong IQ:

Unless you already have, I would appreciate it if he did not know my real name, addressing it to Gilbert should be fine. What date would you like the review ready by?

     Also, would AltRight be willing to publish a micropost asking for information on Hmong IQ? I have been asking around and no one seems to know. So I was thinking maybe a two or three hundred word post outlining what is known, and asking for resources.

Soon after this -- notoriously on Xmas Day -- the original AlternativeRight.com site was killed off by Spencer without the agreement of Andy Nowicki or myself. This was a shock also to our readers and naturally to our contributors like Rojas.

On 27th December he wrote:

Mr. Liddell,

What on earth happened to the website? 

Not really sure of the full story myself, I threw a theory up into the air:

In essence, Rachel Maddow's attack rattled Dick Spencer (fear of losing NPI's one big sponsor)  so he decided to kill off AltRight and did it without squaring it with Andy or me. He has shown his enemies how to attack him  (go for his sponsor) while making unnecessary enemies.

This didn't quite tick all the necessary boxes. Rojas wrote back:

You've got to be kidding me.

So the site is just gone now? It just redirects to Radix? And the archive website is gone as well? I found a blogspot with a handful of posts from this month. What will happen to all those posts? What are you going to do now?

This is crazy.

After relaunching the site as a blogspot, Rojas continued to contribute, with a review of Keith Preston's book El Salvador: A War by Proxy, which you can read here.

We had a few more interactions and contributions. On the question of Rojas's views on the JQ, it is noteworthy that he attempted to introduce the Jewish writer John Engelman to the site. On 24th April, 2014, he wrote:

Mr. Liddell,

John Engelman recently reached out to me asking me to send you a piece he wrote for Alternative Right. Let me know if you don't want me to do this in the future.

The piece was called, "How Political Opinions are Formed, and How They are Changed." The piece remained unpublished following editorial advice from me that the author was unhappy with.

My last communication with Rojas was in May 2014 when he was becoming interested in writing more about art and literature, and started corresponding privately with Andy Nowicki about such matters.

No doubt his growing workload with sites that were able to pay him for his efforts was the decisive factor in ending our association.

Originally published on Colin Liddell's personal blog