Man jailed for membership of banned neo-Nazi terror group National Action

A neo-Nazi was jailed last week for remaining a member of the proscribed terror group National Action after being sentenced at the Old Bailey.

Thirty-six-year-old David Musins admitted guilt to belonging to a proscribed group, contrary to section 11 of the Terrorism Act 2000.

At least 25 members of the neo-Nazi terror group have faced prison since the banning order took effect in December 2016.

Our in-depth report, published on May 17, explored the lingering influence of National Action and their aliases – including the System Resistance Network, Scottish Dawn, and NS131.

Officers from the Met Police connected Musins to the infamous fascist online forum Iron March, as posts from him in early 2016 detailed his interest in history before embracing the genocidal ideology of National Socialism.

Within a few short weeks, Musins attended a National Action meeting in Paddington on March 6, 2016, and within the same month, participated in a far-right ‘Legion’ training camp in Derbyshire – (which fuses MMA, boxing and self-defence skills and ideological sessions). And finally, he attended a National Action agitation in Darlington in November of that year (which included other far-right and neo-Nazi groups, like the Scottish Defence League and the North-west Infidels).

The Met made clear that following proscription, Musins continued his activities with NS131 throughout 2017, which included events that included knife survival techniques – believed to have been held in May of that year.

When officers raided the north London address of Musins in late 2017, they found black clothing, spray paint cans, boxing gloves and a groin guard, which they connected to his activity with the banned group. In addition, a USB stick contained a digital journal referencing his time at the far-right Legion training camp. Musins was pictured with others giving a Nazi salute above an NS131 banner in August.

He pleaded guilty on March 14 before receiving a prison sentence of three years, with an extended period on licence for twelve months, at the Old Bailey on May 27.

Judge Anthony Leonard QC said: “That you left the group voluntarily is particularly significant, but it cannot expunge your earlier behaviour, which is abhorrent.”

Commander Richard Smith of the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command said: “This was a detailed investigation which led to an admission of guilt and the team should be highly commended.

“Outwardly, Musins was unremarkable but secretly he willingly joined and took part in activities run by an extreme right wing group of individuals, united by confused and hate filled ideologies.”

Nick Price, who leads the CPS Counter Terrorism Division, said: “David Musins continued to associate with members of a banned right-wing group which perpetrated hateful and racist views. It is right that faced with the evidence against him he admitted this offence and has been sentenced today.

“There is no place in society for these beliefs. Our team at the CPS has prosecuted a number of National Action cases since it became a proscribed organisation, and we will continue to prosecute all cases involving banned organisations where possible.”

 

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Categories: Far Right groups, MET Police, National Action, News, terrorism

Muslim teen has hijab torn off in racist attack at bus stop

Devon and Cornwall Police continue to investigate the racist assault on a Muslim teenager in Plymouth who had their hijab torn off.

PlymouthLive reported that the girl, aged 16 and from a refugee background, was waiting for their bus to school when the attack occurred on May 27 at Embankment Road, which is next to the Astor Playing Field in Prince Rock.

The older perpetrator, described in the PlymouthLive article as being either aged eighteen or nineteen, targeted the girl with abuse before they attempted and failed to punch them in the face – but were able to pull their headscarf off violently.

We thank the upstander who assisted the girl targeted, ensuring they had someone to accompany them on their bus ride, and upon arriving at school, staff contacted the police.

An upstander can assist when safe to do so (especially when particular power dynamics are at play) in ways that include challenging the perpetrator’s behaviour with body language and words, creating a distraction by engaging with those targeted, checking on their wellbeing, changing the subject, or creating a diversion. After the perpetrator(s) leave, continue to provide reassurance, and if they consent to do, call the police on their behalf, noting the perpetrator’s details – including their physical appearance, clothing or notable piercings or tattoos.

Tell MAMA provides safety tips for the public and age-appropriate advice for children and young people, which anyone can download.

In a statement, a spokesperson for Devon and Cornwall Police said: “This was an unprovoked attack on a young female student on her way to school. The motive for the assault is unknown but is considered to be racially or religiously aggravated because the female was wearing the hijab.”

Witnesses can contact Devon and Cornwall Police on 101 or email 101@dc.police.uk or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111 quoting CR/046059/22. Tell MAMA can pass on such information on behalf of witnesses if they get in touch by emailing info@tellmamauk.org.

 

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Categories: Devon and Cornwall Police, hate crime, Hijab, News, Plymouth

Far-right terror trial: man allegedly sent “The Muslims must die” message

An Aberdeen man accused of far-right related terrorism offences is said to have told police officers he had the materials to make “weapons of mass destruction,” a court on the first day of the trial.

In evidence at Edinburgh High Court, police officers described not initially taking the threats of 29-year-old Richard Smith seriously due to his intoxicated state.

The court heard from PC Joanne Smith, who described how Mr Smith made their threats whilst receiving medical attention for a head injury on September 21, 2019 – with the jury learning that police found the 29-year-old was bleeding from their head and mouth before regaining consciousness.

PC Smith spoke of their belligerence and abuse and, whilst not under arrest, had been placed in handcuffs for the safety of himself and emergency workers.

She told the court: “He said he had chemicals in his home that he could use to make weapons of mass destruction and bombs,” adding that he threatened to bomb police stations and their vehicles and spoke of apparent military background, along with claims of being able to build a functional gun from their urine.

In evidence to the court on Tuesday, the BBC reported that the accused’s uncle, also called Richard Smith, received a WhatsApp message: “The Muslims must die” on October 8, 2019.

When asked about the nature of the message, he told the court: “It was just something that it was his sense of humour sort of thing,” as reported in the Press and Journal.

News of the arrest made headlines back in December 2020.

The prosecution claims that Smith had produced or “knowingly” possessed “explosive substances” across various locations in Aberdeen between October 19, 2018, and November 13, 2019.

The 29-year-old denies charges under the Terrorism Acts of 2000 and 2006 and offences concerning the Explosive Substances Act and the Poisons Act.

Smith also stands accused of possessing racist, anti-Muslim and neo-Nazi documents alongside accusations that he had documents about manufacturing explosive substances, improvised detonators, and IEDs (improvised explosive devices).

Other documents alleged to have been recovered by the police include survivalist, combat and resistance techniques, manufacturing guns and other weapons, and guides for the practice of guerilla warfare.

Other accusations against him include the alleged manufacture of chemical and biological agents.

The trial continues.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Categories: News, Scotland, terrorism

CCTV appeal after criminal damage to the windows of Shoreditch Mosque

The Metropolitan Police have released CCTV of a man they would like to speak with following criminal damage to the windows of a mosque in Shoreditch, east London.

Officers responded to calls of religiously and/or religiously aggravated criminal damage to the windows of the Shoreditch Mosque on Redchurch Street last week (May 18) at around 6:45 pm.

Credit: Met Police

The Met Police statement mentions that a man damaged the mosque’s windows after throwing bottles at it – with no injuries to worshippers reported.

The Met’s Central East Command Unit is leading the investigation as their local faith officer continues to liaise with representatives from the mosque as they increase reassurance patrols in the area.

For members of the public who recognises the man pictured, they can contact 101 or tweet @MetCC and quote CAD 6831/18May or contact us at Tell MAMA.

The Met statement also clarifies that “Information can also be provided to and advice obtained from tellmamauk.org.”

We will continue to provide updates where possible.

For those wishing to remain anonymous, the charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 or online.

Or, if you prefer that we at Tell MAMA contact the Metropolitan Police anonymously or on your behalf, get in touch via our website, or call our freephone on 0800 456 1226.

 

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Categories: CCTV appeal, criminal damage, MET Police, mosque, News

The Annual No2H8 Awards

After a three year gap in the No2H8 Awards, they are back this November 2022.

Covid and ongoing restrictions from 2022 through to this year, meant that the Awards were unable to be hosted and they will be in full swing later this year.

Here are some key dates for you diaries:

Public nominations for the various categories of the No2H8 Awards will open on the 18th of July 2022.

Public nominations will close on the 9th of September 2022.

Previous award winners and categories for 2019, can be found here.

We hope that you may consider nominations for individuals or organisations between these dates.

The post The Annual No2H8 Awards appeared first on Faith Matters.

Categories: Awards, Categories, Hate Crimes, launch, No2H8 Awards, No2H8 Crime Awards, organisations

Suffolk Police investigating hate crime arson outside of mosque

Suffolk Police are investigating an arson attack in the car park of a mosque as a hate crime.

Officers responded to calls of a burning wheelie bin at 4 am on May 17 in the car park of a mosque in Camps Road.

The police confirmed that no injuries occurred as the investigation remains ongoing.

As protocol, Tell MAMA has safety and security advice for mosques and Islamic institutions – which covers the value of CCTV for evidence gathering and what to do in situations with individuals who may seek to harm worshippers or the mosque infrastructure.

High-resolution copies are available from the Resources section of our website. If you’d like free copies of such resources sent in the post, email info@tellmamauk.org

Suffolk Police request that anyone with information get in touch online or over the phone on 101, quoting crime ref 37/29904/22. Members of the public can email the investigating officer at ashley.gorbutt1@suffolk.police.uk

For those wishing to remain anonymous, the charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 or online.

Or, if you prefer that we at Tell MAMA contact the Metropolitan Police anonymously or on your behalf, get in touch via our website, or call our freephone on 0800 456 1226.

The post Suffolk Police investigating hate crime arson outside of mosque appeared first on TELL MAMA.

Categories: hate crime, mosque, News, Suffolk

Definition of Anti-Muslim Hatred

Faith Matters has watched the difficult and abrasive debates that have taken place around the development of a definition on anti-Muslim hatred or prejudice by this Government.

We are of the firm opinion that a definition is essential if we are to ensure that some fundamentals of our society are to be protected. Firstly, there needs to be a common definition that lets the public know what anti-Muslim hatred is and what it ‘looks like’ and ‘sounds like’. This definition also needs to be framed so that it fits into existing legislation and does not become an exercise in producing a piece of text that has no legal relevance.

Secondly, the debate rumbles on about ensuring that any definition does not stop critique of religion or faith. This also covers Islam. People have the right to critique or even dislike any faith. What they don’t have the right to do, is to attack, harm of hurt people who happen to be Muslim.

This is essential to lay out though there is a common agreement amongst many, that the definition must protect individuals and their rights to live freely without fear, harm or intimidation, as British Muslims. This does not mean that criticism of Islam is anti-Muslim, though we also acknowledge that each issue must be taken on a case by case basis and if criticism of Islam turns into targeted hatred towards Muslims, then such behaviour is not protected under the rights of free speech. At this stage, it should not be tolerated.

For far too long, there has been inaction on this and we urge the Government to take urgent action to move this process along. We must also commend the Government on the actions that they have taken in the last few days on the launch of a security fund for mosques and Islamic institutions, given the targeting of mosques by anti-Muslim activists and bigots. Furthermore, we acknowledge the work that Government has done to support the monitoring of anti-Muslim prejudice and support for victims of it, through Tell MAMA.

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Categories: British Muslims, Definition of Anti-Muslim hatred, Government, security fund

Neo-Nazi Alex Davies guilty of belonging to banned terror group National Action

The other co-founder of the neo-Nazi terrorist group National Action was today (May 17) guilty of remaining a member of the proscribed group.

Alex Davies, 27, from Swansea, created the terror group alongside Benjamin Raymond (jailed for eight years in December 2021 for the same offence) in 2013.

Davies formed the National Action offshoot NS131 and had praised the System Resistance Network; both groups, alongside Scottish Dawn, all faced the same fate: proscription.

National Action (proscribed December 2016 – who never hid their desire to rebrand, writing on VK in 2016, “We will fight this in the courts or disband and organise under a new name”)

Scottish Dawn (proscribed September 2017)

NS131 (proscribed September 2017)

System Resistance Network (proscribed as a National Action splinter group in February 2020)

Tell MAMA documented the racist, homophobic tactics of NS131 and the System Resistance Network in the summer of 2017, documenting the links between National Action and the System Resistance Network in September of that year. Unfortunately, as noted above, the proscription took several years to occur.

An offshoot of the System Resistance Network, later proscribed, was the Sonnenkrieg Division; more broadly, other neo-Nazi groups proscribed include The Base (the US-bad neo-Nazi group with links to the infamous Atomwaffen Division).

Alex Davies is the twenty-fifth person convicted of links to the banned group.

Davies received two Prevent referrals (aged 15 and 19) in his teenage years and boasted that ‘nothing’ came of them. Political activities pre-National Action include membership in the youth wing of the neo-fascist British National Party and, later, an active member of Ukip.

He made headlines in 2016 after sharing a photo of himself performing a Nazi salute in the execution chamber at Buchenwald concentration camp – instigating a police and security service investigation in Germany.

A Mirror investigation into National Action in 2016 resulted in Davies leaving Warwick University.

Later jailed, other noted members of National Action include Alice Cutter, Mark Jones, Garry Jack, Connor Scothern, and the paedophile Jack Renshaw who went on to plot the murder of his local Labour MP Rosie Cooper and ex-Met Police probationary officer Benjamin Hannam. In late 2018, six convictions for membership of National Action occurred – those guilty were 27-year-old Daniel Bogunovic, 22-year-old Adam Thomas, Claudia Patatas, 33, 24-year-old Joel Wilmore, Darren Fletcher, 28, and 27-year-old Nathan Pyke. In addition, Christopher Lythgoe and Matthew Hankinson received prison sentences months earlier, with the police arresting Lythgoe as they investigated the plot to murder Rosie Cooper MP and a female police officer.

A leading figure within National Action before prescription, Wayne Bell (aka Wayne Jarvis, who has a history of violence), used Twitter and the Russian platform VK to post hundreds of violently racist, extremist material that included direct calls for the murder of Jewish communities. He also daubed neo-Nazi graffiti in his local area of Castleford before receiving a prison of four years and three months in May 2018.

In 2017, an ITV investigation detailed how former members of National Action were meeting in secret in training camps that fused ideological lectures and ideological violence – with sessions tailored toward boxing, street fights, and dealing with a knife attack. One former member of note cited in the ITV was Garron Helm (jailed in 2014 for sending racist tweets to the then Jewish Labour MP Luciana Berger).

The embryonic stages of National Action focused on the West Midlands, aligning closely with the tiny yet enduring neo-Nazi British Movement with one form of street militancy: stickers in public spaces. Taking inspiration from “autonomous national socialist movements” in Europe, National Action took its tactics to universities in 2014, for example, for recruitment purposes directly and via any media exposure it generated. Other racist agitations included an anti-halal demonstration in Coventry and desecrating the Nelson Mandela statue in Trafalgar Square with a banana during a protest.

The racist attempted murder of the Sikh dentist Dr Sarandev Bhambra by the neo-Nazi Zack Davies, who claimed membership of National Action, made headlines in 2015, and whilst they denied his membership, the leadership of National Action used Davies in their memetic propaganda on VK years later.

The racist militant agitations peaked in 2015 with violence in Liverpool (as they worked with Polish neo-fascists) and Dover, with members of National Action aligning with other small fascist groups to attack anti-fascist protesters on both occasions. On Holocaust Memorial Day that year, members held a racist flash demo proclaiming “Hitler was Right” as a different banner read “Refugees not Welcome”.

Members, of course, stockpiled weapons (including knives, crossbows, pump-action shotguns, and baseball bats) according to counter-terror police. A serving British soldier later identified as Mikko Vehvilainen – was jailed for eight years in 2018 for membership in the terror group and possessed “an arsenal of weapons and swastika bunting”. At the time of their conviction, Jack Coulson, aged 19, pleaded guilty to terror offences related to building a viable pipe bomb.

Four members of National Action went to prison in 2018 after vandalising Aston University in the West Midlands with various racist propaganda stickers in the summer of 2016. Alexander Deakin, the Midlands regional organiser, also belonged to a closed Telegram page named after the white supremacist terror group the Ku Klux Klan (named the Triple KKK Mafia) involved 21 members with a secondary group of seven members called Inner. Deakin would boast about how he got “redpilled by forums, spending years arguing online, and then finally deciding to take action when this group [National Action] impressed me”.

From violent training camps to small MMA training sessions, National Action always incorporated the promise of violence – to engineer in recruits (and indeed core members) the thrill of violence to accompany their uncompromising genocidal beliefs. Its leadership carefully cultivated and policed the uniform of it members to foster group image.

National Action used social media sites like VK as a recruiting platform – to promote their fight clubs and encourage new members.

As the academic Graham Macklin noted of their tactics, National Action positioned themselves as an unrelenting “revolutionary national socialist group, they consciously conceived of themselves as a youth-oriented ‘vanguard’ movement whose role, as political and spiritual elites, was to channel ‘hatred and rage’ and to ‘use it to shatter the decaying power of the enemy.”

The security services expressed their concerns about a growing cohort of young people drawn to far-right extremism in March (notably teenagers) – an age demographic National Action recruiters often sought out.

The post Neo-Nazi Alex Davies guilty of belonging to banned terror group National Action appeared first on TELL MAMA.

Categories: far right extremism, Far Right groups, National Action, Neo-Nazi, News, terrorism

Neo-Nazi Alex Davies guilty of belonging to banned terror group National Action

The other co-founder of the neo-Nazi terrorist group National Action was today (May 17) guilty of remaining a member of the proscribed group.

Alex Davies, 27, from Swansea, created the terror group alongside Benjamin Raymond (jailed for eight years in December 2021 for the same offence) in 2013.

Davies formed the National Action offshoot NS131 and had praised the System Resistance Network; both groups, alongside Scottish Dawn, all faced the same fate: proscription.

National Action (proscribed December 2016 – who never hid their desire to rebrand, writing on VK in 2016, “We will fight this in the courts or disband and organise under a new name”)

Scottish Dawn (proscribed September 2017)

NS131 (proscribed September 2017)

System Resistance Network (proscribed as a National Action splinter group in February 2020)

Tell MAMA documented the racist, homophobic tactics of NS131 and the System Resistance Network in the summer of 2017, documenting the links between National Action and the System Resistance Network in September of that year. Unfortunately, as noted above, the proscription took several years to occur.

An offshoot of the System Resistance Network, later proscribed, was the Sonnenkrieg Division; more broadly, other neo-Nazi groups proscribed include The Base (the US-bad neo-Nazi group with links to the infamous Atomwaffen Division).

Alex Davies is the twenty-fifth person convicted of links to the banned group.

Davies received two Prevent referrals (aged 15 and 19) in his teenage years and boasted that ‘nothing’ came of them. Political activities pre-National Action include membership in the youth wing of the neo-fascist British National Party and, later, an active member of Ukip.

He made headlines in 2016 after sharing a photo of himself performing a Nazi salute in the execution chamber at Buchenwald concentration camp – instigating a police and security service investigation in Germany.

A Mirror investigation into National Action in 2016 resulted in Davies leaving Warwick University.

Later jailed, other noted members of National Action include Alice Cutter, Mark Jones, Garry Jack, Connor Scothern, and the paedophile Jack Renshaw who went on to plot the murder of his local Labour MP Rosie Cooper and ex-Met Police probationary officer Benjamin Hannam. In late 2018, six convictions for membership of National Action occurred – those guilty were 27-year-old Daniel Bogunovic, 22-year-old Adam Thomas, Claudia Patatas, 33, 24-year-old Joel Wilmore, Darren Fletcher, 28, and 27-year-old Nathan Pyke. In addition, Christopher Lythgoe and Matthew Hankinson received prison sentences months earlier, with the police arresting Lythgoe as they investigated the plot to murder Rosie Cooper MP and a female police officer.

A leading figure within National Action before prescription, Wayne Bell (aka Wayne Jarvis, who has a history of violence), used Twitter and the Russian platform VK to post hundreds of violently racist, extremist material that included direct calls for the murder of Jewish communities. He also daubed neo-Nazi graffiti in his local area of Castleford before receiving a prison of four years and three months in May 2018.

In 2017, an ITV investigation detailed how former members of National Action were meeting in secret in training camps that fused ideological lectures and ideological violence – with sessions tailored toward boxing, street fights, and dealing with a knife attack. One former member of note cited in the ITV was Garron Helm (jailed in 2014 for sending racist tweets to the then Jewish Labour MP Luciana Berger).

The embryonic stages of National Action focused on the West Midlands, aligning closely with the tiny yet enduring neo-Nazi British Movement with one form of street militancy: stickers in public spaces. Taking inspiration from “autonomous national socialist movements” in Europe, National Action took its tactics to universities in 2014, for example, for recruitment purposes directly and via any media exposure it generated. Other racist agitations included an anti-halal demonstration in Coventry and desecrating the Nelson Mandela statue in Trafalgar Square with a banana during a protest.

The racist attempted murder of the Sikh dentist Dr Sarandev Bhambra by the neo-Nazi Zack Davies, who claimed membership of National Action, made headlines in 2015, and whilst they denied his membership, the leadership of National Action used Davies in their memetic propaganda on VK years later.

The racist militant agitations peaked in 2015 with violence in Liverpool (as they worked with Polish neo-fascists) and Dover, with members of National Action aligning with other small fascist groups to attack anti-fascist protesters on both occasions. On Holocaust Memorial Day that year, members held a racist flash demo proclaiming “Hitler was Right” as a different banner read “Refugees not Welcome”.

Members, of course, stockpiled weapons (including knives, crossbows, pump-action shotguns, and baseball bats) according to counter-terror police. A serving British soldier later identified as Mikko Vehvilainen – was jailed for eight years in 2018 for membership in the terror group and possessed “an arsenal of weapons and swastika bunting”. At the time of their conviction, Jack Coulson, aged 19, pleaded guilty to terror offences related to building a viable pipe bomb.

Four members of National Action went to prison in 2018 after vandalising Aston University in the West Midlands with various racist propaganda stickers in the summer of 2016. Alexander Deakin, the Midlands regional organiser, also belonged to a closed Telegram page named after the white supremacist terror group the Ku Klux Klan (named the Triple KKK Mafia) involved 21 members with a secondary group of seven members called Inner. Deakin would boast about how he got “redpilled by forums, spending years arguing online, and then finally deciding to take action when this group [National Action] impressed me”.

From violent training camps to small MMA training sessions, National Action always incorporated the promise of violence – to engineer in recruits (and indeed core members) the thrill of violence to accompany their uncompromising genocidal beliefs. Its leadership carefully cultivated and policed the uniform of it members to foster group image.

National Action used social media sites like VK as a recruiting platform – to promote their fight clubs and encourage new members.

As the academic Graham Macklin noted of their tactics, National Action positioned themselves as an unrelenting “revolutionary national socialist group, they consciously conceived of themselves as a youth-oriented ‘vanguard’ movement whose role, as political and spiritual elites, was to channel ‘hatred and rage’ and to ‘use it to shatter the decaying power of the enemy.”

The security services expressed their concerns about a growing cohort of young people drawn to far-right extremism in March (notably teenagers) – an age demographic National Action recruiters often sought out.

The post Neo-Nazi Alex Davies guilty of belonging to banned terror group National Action appeared first on TELL MAMA.

Categories: far right extremism, Far Right groups, National Action, Neo-Nazi, News, terrorism

From Buffalo to Christchurch, how online fascism causes real-world terror

The racist terror that targeted Black communities in Buffalo, New York, in what the Buffalo Mayor, Byron Brown said, intended to kill “as many Black lives as possible“, left 10 dead and three injured.

Amongst the dead include 77-year-old Pearl Young, 86-year-old Ruth Whitfield, Roberta Drury, 32, 68-year-old Heyward Patterson, Geraldine Talley, 62, 65-year-old Celeste Chaney, 52-year-old Margus Morrison, Andre Mackneil, 53, 72-year-old Katherine “Kat” Massey, and the retired police officer and the heroic store security guard, Aaron Salter, aged 53.

Police named the three individuals injured: Jennifer Warrington, Zaire Goodman, and Christopher Braden.

Of the thirteen people shot, 11 were Black.

The 18-year-old neo-Nazi, Payton Gendron, stands accused of attempting to murder as many Black people as possible in Buffalo, New York, took inspiration from other far-right and white supremacist terrorists in the United States, Norway, Christchurch, and the UK.

A 180-page screed (referred to as a “manifesto” in news outlets) uploaded online and attributed to Gendron clarifies their fascist, neo-Nazi views and an obsession with the racist “Great Replacement” conspiracy – which draws mainstream credence in the United States despite continued condemnation.

The Amazon-owned platform Twitch removed the live stream video in two minutes (of the attacks occurring) – but the video quickly appeared on Twitter and Facebook. In addition, the N-word and “14” – a reference to the infamous white supremacist “fourteen words” mantra appeared on the rifle. A private Discord server is also under investigation – as Unicorn Riot reported on the chat logs, as they sought advice about tactical armour and weapons.

According to the New York Times, the accused also made threats against their high school, resulting in his arrest and a psychiatric evaluation aged 17, but he was released days later. Nor was Gendron on the red-flag list – a New York law enacted in 2019 where a judge issues an “extreme risk protection order” that prevents the person from owning or buying a gun.

The screed details how their racist views grew in their teenage years before crystalising on the notorious /pol/ (politically incorrect) board of 4Chan to call for accelerationist racist terror and destabilisation tactics in communities to harm Muslims and other minoritised groups.

Like the white supremacist terrorist who murdered 51 Muslims in Christchurch, this screed adopts an eco-fascist slant, which echoes traditional fascist calls for the violent rebirth of a mythologised society. However, for the historian Robert Paxton, fascism functions primarily as a “political behaviour marked by obsessive preoccupation with community decline, humiliation, or victimhood”, where emotion drives the violent actions as a tool of recruitment and inspires others to such horrific acts of terror and violence.

It’s crucial that in the age of digital and cyberfascism, such violent appeals to this mythologised nation-state exist beyond traditional borders, much like the internet connections which draw such individuals and groups together. In their paper “Fascism at eye level“, Douglas Holmes argued that cyberfascism today functions as a “disperse” problem that echoes beyond traditional national contexts and geographies. Such emerging technologies present fascism with various faces and reconfigurations.

Before taking selective extracts from the screed, it is essential to consider how digital subcultures can help facilitate the dehumanisation and others of minoritised groups into street-level forms of violence and terrorism. For example, in Cathrine Thorleifsson’s study on cyberfascism on 4chan’s/pol/ board, they argue that the role of echo chambers, when fused with a lack of counternarratives, and the creative process of creating fascist and racist memes, provides a ‘significant’ sense of agency and as a lightning rod for radicalisation through the unquestioning acceptance of the racist conspiracism that underpins white supremacist ideology. Such affective politics of fear grounded in the dehumanisation of minoritised groups, othering them as an existential threat, can inspire such violence and terror offline, as the above also helps build community beyond traditional borders.

Moreover, as Thorleifsson noted, the “gendered reconfiguration of fascist content and promotion of the urgency of the need of a national or racial rebirth” through the creative process which also “reflects a core feature of the fascist phenomena: the perception of an endangered community that need to be reborn through violent means.”

As we return to the screed, Gendron described accessing /pol/ during the covid-19 lockdowns of 2020, where they chanced upon a GIF of the Christchurch live stream. Then, wanting to understand more and be enthralled by the terror, they describe watching the terror attacks, accessing their screed, and how they “mostly agreed with him”. Before sanctifying the racist terror carried out by white supremacists – including Patrick Crusius, Anders Breivik, Dylann Roof, and John T Earnest.

Amongst various links of anti-Black racist pseudo-science and abhorrent memes, the screed links to a Telegraph article published in 2010, in which Richard Garside, director of the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies, called “racist claptrap” as “Crime is one of those areas of public policy where it is still respectable to seek explanations for behaviour in the colour of a person’s skin.”

Other racist memes targeting Black and Jewish communities found in the screed first appeared on the neo-Nazi white supremacist hate site, White Aryan Resistance, under the moniker “A Wyatt Man” in 2004 – the identity of whom has been a subject of much curiosity and investigation.

More modern racist memes about Jewish communities in the screed reinforce the historic antisemitic canard of so-called disproportionate influence in public life, blamed for all perceived social problems, as they call for genocide.

Transphobia appears in the screed, writing “LGB (drop the t)” and describing “transgenderism as a mental illness”. In addition, a racist meme blames Jewish communities for trans identities, reinforcing the above point.

Buried amongst the dizzying volume of racist anti-Black and anti-Jewish memes is a meme that blames the latter for criminal acts of child sexual exploitation in the UK – including a crude collection of headlines that further racialise the crime, which is not reflective of reviews into the backgrounds of such criminals, including from the Home Office.

The racialisation of Islam appears in the screed, othered to justify dehumanisation and violence. Therefore, it is no surprise that the screed also praises the Finsbury Park terrorist Darren Osborne (who they misspelt as Osbourne), the Christchurch terrorist, and the neo-Nazi Norweigan terrorist Philip Manshaus. The latter attempted to murder Muslims at a mosque after murdering his stepsister Johanne Zhangjia Ihle-Hansen in a racist shooting.

Buried towards the end of the screed is the further glorification of Patrick Crusius, John Earnest, Robert Bowers, Anders Breivik (spelt correctly this time), and Dylann Roof. Other notable white supremacist terrorists cited in this paragraph include Anton Lundin Pettersson and Luca Traini – a further example of how the Christchurch manifesto, including the narcissistic and psychotic Q&A section, took inspiration from the tragic events in New Zealand in March 2019.

The screed calls for the murder of the Jewish philanthropist and Holocaust survivor George Soros, the Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and London’s Mayor Sadiq Khan. Following this, we alerted the Metropolitan Police and Khan’s office. When asked about this, Khan told the press, “It’s been on public record that I receive police protection. “It’s unfortunate but it’s a fact of me being the mayor. “I’ve been incredibly safe because I’m looked after by dedicated, decent, brave police officers.”

President Joe Biden urged unity to address the “hate that remains a stain on the soul of America” in a press conference yesterday.

Authorities are still considering domestic terrorism charges.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The post From Buffalo to Christchurch, how online fascism causes real-world terror appeared first on TELL MAMA.

Categories: Christchurch, Far Right groups, Fascism, Great Replacement, Neo-Nazi, News, terrorism