From the far left to the defense of freedom: The extraordinary life of David Horowitz gives us the reference we urgently need

On April 29, the David Horowitz Freedom Center announced that, after a long battle with cancer, its founder, David Horowitz, passed away. He was 86 years old.

Horowitz's death caused a deep hole in the conservative world. The movement lost one of its most energetic and structured speakers. As a result, social media was filled with messages from wards, friends and followers, from influencer Charlie Kirk, Dutch conservative leader Geert Wilders and commentator Mark Levin.

Jack Posobic, a well-known American right-wing influencer, said Horowitz was "the godfather of the new right."

Without a doubt, Horowitz was an emblematic figure of American conservatism, largely due to his personal history and his impressive ideological and political journey. He underwent a transformation like the great converts in history: from being a prominent leader of the most radical and energetic left of the 1960s to becoming one of the most fervent defenders of conservative doctrine.

From Marxist militancy to disenchantment

Born on January 10, 1939, in Queens, New York, into a family of Jewish communist teachers, Horowitz initially embraced Marxism. During the 1960s, he was the editor of the influential Marxist magazine Ramparts, where he promoted the idea that the revolution should focus on groups such as African Americans and feminists, whom he considered the new vanguard in the United States.

His collaboration with the Black Panthers, the radical far-left black rights group, especially with its founder, Huey P. Newton, was significant at this stage.

However, the murder in 1974 of his colleague Betty Van Patter, whom he had recommended as an accountant for the Black Panthers, marked a turning point.

Although police never charged anyone with the murder of Horowitz's friend, "there was a universal belief that the Black Panthers" had been responsible for Van Patter's murder, which journalist Frank Browning wrote in a lengthy profile on Horowitz for the magazine Mother Jones.

Several authors and intellectuals of the time were allegedly witnesses to Huey Newton's confession: he had had Van Patter murdered, who was white and had become inconvenient for the far-left party.

Convinced that the group perpetrated the crime, Horowitz began to question his beliefs deeply and moved away from the radical left. This process of reflection and transformation culminated in his autobiography "Radical Son: A Generational Odyssey" (1996), where he narrates his ideological "homecoming."

Architect of the new right

After his ideological conversion, Horowitz became an influential voice of conservatism. He founded the David Horowitz Freedom Center, edited FrontPage Magazine and created Discover the Networks, a platform dedicated to exposing the connections and agendas of the radical left. His writings addressed issues such as Islamism, antisemitism, defense of Israel, and criticism of the progressive left's suppression of academic freedom.

His 2004 book, "Unholy Alliance: Radical Islam and the American Left," rightly exposes how the progressive left, distorting the struggle for minorities and in its zeal for social justice, coordinates with Islamic fundamentalism to undermine American values and principles. The text gains strength in light of antisemitic protests at America's top elite universities.

Horowitz, likewise, was one of Donald Trump's early supporters. He endorsed his vision of a populist conservative coalition and his combative approach against the left. From there, he patronized much of the generation of influencers, activists and intellectuals who today make up the MAGA world. One of the great pupils would be the current White House deputy chief of staff, Stephen Miller, who is seen as one of the administration's strongest voices on immigration issues.

His influence extended through numerous publications and lectures, cementing him as a key figure in articulating and promoting conservative values in the United States.

Legacy

David Horowitz passed away surrounded by his family, including his wife, April Mullvain, and his children, Benjamin, Jonathan and Anne.

Horowitz's legacy lives on in his tireless advocacy for individual liberty, private property and a limited state. His life exemplifies the power of personal transformation and steadfastness in the fight for conservative ideals.

Beyond his numerous books, the work of his organizations or the journals he founded, Horowitz's positions such as his strong support for sovereignties, his warnings about Islamic fundamentalism, his support for the state of Israel and his steadfast defense of academic freedom have a relevance that will need to be heeded in order to safeguard what is left of our societies.