NYYRC President Stefano Forte To Speak In Pretoria Amid Growing Ties With Afrikaner Nationalists And European Far Right

Stefano Forte, president of the New York Young Republican Club (NYYRC) and executive director of the 1776 Project PAC, is scheduled to speak at the Lex Libertas "Future of Nations" conference in Pretoria on 25 February. The event brings together Afrikaner nationalist figures, representatives of Belgium’s Vlaams Belang and analysts connected to Hungary’s government, underscoring an increasingly visible transatlantic network of right-wing groups.

Conference And Participants

Lex Libertas — founded in 2025 by Ernst Roets, an activist from the Afrikaner settlement of Orania — says the conference aims to discuss decentralisation and self-governance. The advertised programme includes senior figures from the Afrikaner Solidarity Movement, Vlaams Belang leaders such as Tom Van Grieken, Kristof Slagmulder and Johan Deckmyn, and Zoltán Koskovics, a geopolitical analyst from a Budapest-based centre funded by the Hungarian prime minister’s office.

Institutional Links And Reciprocal Visits

Forte’s participation follows a series of reciprocal engagements: Afrikaner nationalists have attended NYYRC galas in New York, while NYYRC members have appeared at right-wing events in Budapest and Brussels. Those interactions have helped formalise relationships between US-based conservative youth networks and European and South African ethno-nationalist groups.

Historical Context And Influence

Observers say the cross-border advocacy has had tangible political effects. Ernst Roets and other Afrikaner activists have lobbied US officials for years; Roets appeared on Tucker Carlson’s Fox News during 2018 to raise concerns about farm attacks in South Africa. Jaco Kleynhans, the Solidarity Movement’s international liaison, has described increased access to US officials and said he speaks with government contacts regularly.

Rita Abrahamsen, professor of African studies at Oxford, said these meetings "are all trying to form networks, share ideas and learn from each other."

Critics, including Heidi Beirich of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism, link these networks to policies in the Trump administration. In February 2025, an executive order paused some South African aid and prioritised Afrikaner refugee resettlement — a move that drew international criticism and was cited by observers as evidence of the influence of overseas advocacy.

Controversies And NYYRC Connections

Relations between the NYYRC and foreign nationalist figures have been contentious. Roets headlined an NYYRC event in July 2024 and he and Orania Movement director Joost Strydom served as toastmasters at the NYYRC’s December gala. Reports indicate Forte’s first gala as NYYRC president in December 2025 was attended by white nationalist Jared Taylor and roughly 20 lawmakers from Germany’s far-right AfD. At that gala, Forte reportedly declined to denounce the AfD and said the club was "prepared to endorse" Donald Trump for 2028.

The NYYRC and Lex Libertas were contacted for comment.

What To Watch

• Whether speeches at the Pretoria conference further consolidate transnational ties among ethno-nationalist groups.
• Any direct policy outcomes or new advocacy campaigns that link conference participants to official US or European decisions.
• Responses from civil society groups monitoring extremist networks and from the NYYRC about its international engagements.

Note: This article summarises reported events and statements from public figures and organisations. Where possible, direct quotes and affiliations are retained.