The very fabric of Western nations is shifting. Europeans will soon be minorities in their own countries, their languages replaced and their cultures forgotten, with younger generations forced to pay into social systems that are so generous with strangers, they have become unsustainable for themselves. National Geographic depicted this future when they featured a Middle-Eastern family on their front cover; above them was emblazoned the words, “The New Europeans.”

Right now, in London, the most common name of young men is Mohammed. German towns and cities, such as Marxloh, have been colonized – their windows adorned with Turkish flags. Most shocking of all, the French president declared that terrorism was now just part of the lives of his citizens, and that they must accept it.

Western nations are akin to battered wives: they take their beatings, and apologize to their attacker, making whatever excuses they can for those that invade their communities and terrorize their citizens. Headlines scream “Islamophobia” if anyone suggests that Islam is a common link between terrorists, “xenophobia” if welfare abuse becomes the topic of the day, and, if the media really wants somebody ostracized, they will be labeled “Nazi” or “white supremacist”.

Until the people said, “no more.”

Nationalists raised their lambda flags across Europe. Marine Le Pen called to defend France’s culture. Geert Wilders mobilized his followers to de-Islamize the Netherlands. Nigel Farage fought for independence from the European Union, upholding the national sovereignty of Britain. Patriotism was rekindled in America by the men and women who rallied alongside Trump, wearing their iconic red hats and cheering as he yelled into the microphone, “no longer will we listen to the false song of globalism!”

Some cheered as they regained their nations, whilst others wept, afraid of what they believed to be the rise of far-right extremism thinly veiled under a guise of self-preservation. The West is throwing away the shackles of globalism, and choosing a different path, rather than the one that was forced in front of them. This path is one of nationalism.

You can conjure up images of red flags adorned with spidery black symbols and hands raised at 45-degree angles. You can imagine words shrieked from underneath a stupid little mustache. You can cry Nazi all you want, but all it will do is expose that your reaction is simply Pavlovian, rather than well calculated, rational thought.

The mainstream media spends too much time attacking caricatures of nationalists and so-called “fake news”. Instead of trying to understand where this rekindling of nationalism has come from, they no-platform anyone who disagrees with them.

This wave of nationalist sentiment has not simply arisen from an edgy counterculture or the alleged fear mongering of right wing politicians, but something much deeper; a complete and utter dispossession, dilution and disintegration of the Western soul.

Whether the message is masked in seven layers of irony on a meme page, or from behind an anime avatar, young nationalists are asking some of the most pressing philosophical and political questions of our age. They are some of the few people with the gall to critique modernity.

Can our nihilistic, consumeristic culture last through the ages? Can a society that worships moral and cultural relativism survive? Do we really want a raceless, genderless and meaningless future? Or do we need something deeper to satisfy and fulfill the many who feel orphaned by their detached cold and impersonal relationships with institutions of government and corporation? The left can only hide behind the smoke and mirrors of “diversity is our strength” for so much longer. Their answers do not satisfy the thirst for knowledge that exists within the growing the political sect that call themselves the alt-right.

Their governments have forgotten them, their communities no longer exist and their cultures are being removed and replaced. These groups want their nations to be a family again, they want their cultures back and they strive for a return of their national identity.

Until the mainstream left addresses this, this rekindling of nationalism will not go away. In fact it will grow stronger, it will begin to take hold in more generations and as it did with Trump – it will begin to see real world political success.

Young people are no longer buying the promises of hope and change. The ideas of national identity and family ring true in a world of confusion. Say hello to a new age, because this is just the beginning.

Lauren Southern is a Canadian right-wing activist, book author, political commentator and writer for The Rebel Media. Her new book, Barbarians: How Baby Boomers, Immigrants, and Islam Screwed My Generation can be found on Amazon.

