by KRISTIAN GRAVENOR

I'm at the Cock - i.e. the Cock 'n' Bull Pub - across a wood table from a pair of massive eyes, a tight black T-shirt and white jeans. A pair of long arms are smothered in tattoos. She speaks softly but firmly in a slight Western Canada twang. Slowly sipping a tall glass of water is the avowed white nationalist Tara Dribnenki.

Dribnenki says that she's had her apartment windows smashed, as well as her car's. While pregnant, she was beaten outside of Murphy's Bar by several assailants who cracked her ribs, leading her to abort her child. Her apartment was broken into and all her photos stolen. One of the pictures was then photocopied and placed throughout her neighbourhood, along with a text denouncing her. When she formed a band, people lobbied bar owners and doormen to refuse them a venue, leading the band to break up.

She blames Anti-Racist Action (ARA), a group of anonymous Montrealers who track and denounce those who hold what they consider offensive political views. The group can be reached by telephone or Internet, but members refuse to reveal their names. An ARA rep said "No comment" when asked about Dribnenki's allegations.

Dribnenki, 27, was born in Edmonton to a religious family. At six, she was injured by a runaway truck. As a teen, she lived briefly in a foster home, but is now on good terms with her parents. She moved to Montreal, hung out with punks and then travelled Europe, where she married an Irishman involved in white nationalism. She returned without her husband, but kept his politics.

One view of white nationalism is that whites are allowed to display ethnic pride, like any other ethnicity. Among those who argue this is Steve Sailer, whose www.isteve.com offers a compelling and insightful take on ethnicity and politics. But the movement is also tinged with a dark side. On the www.stormfront.org discussion forum, anonymous commentators praise Hitler and mutter about various anti-white conspiracies. Another post debates whether Jed Clampett is a better white role model than Tim Allen.

Tara credits the ARA attacks with driving her further into the white nationalist movement. She has recently participated in protests against censorship and gay marriage, and tells me she's concerned that European immigration candidates aren't adequately welcomed compared to those from the Third World. I tell her that my wife is black and my children are half-black. She gently disapproves. I disagree politely with her too, arguing that white pride should lie in the knowledge that as whites, we're leading the movement to evolve beyond primitive tribal impulses.

White nationalists come in two flavours. Tara says she's in the moderate "For Canada" camp. But she reports that constant opposition has forced them closer to the more objectionable "Against Everything" wing. She says she's near mainstream politically, but also seems unaccustomed to preaching to the unconverted, rambling cautiously about her politics as if cajoled into recounting a naughty joke to in-laws.

Tara suggests that too many Third World immigrants are allowed into Canada, something she wasn't shy to tell her immigrant trade-school classmates directly. I try to guilt her into being blind to the glory of immigrants. My Korean depanneur even opens on Christmas Day. She's unbudged.

Dribnenki's views seem perhaps xenophobic, probably unenlightened, but they hardly seem to merit vigilante assault, threats and intimidation. One explanation is that the ARA has been on the warpath since a series of violent confrontations between the sides a few years back, while Dribnenki was in Europe. The legacy of those times means that anytime she goes out for a drink, she risks getting swarmed by the ARA. Police generally break up conflicts and tell everybody to go home, but it's dangerous sport.

Dribnenki has moved to another apartment in Hochelaga-Maisonneuve in an effort to avert further home invasions. Nowadays, the ARA has reverted to tossing words, recently describing her as an "Eva Braun wannabe." She says the descriptions are "often amusing, sometimes even flattering, but as far as attacks go, it would be nice if it ended there."

Comments? kgravy@openface.ca