Category Archives: The far right

Enrique Tarrio, leader of rightwing Proud Boys, arrested ahead of rallies

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He was charged with destruction of property – related to his role in burning a Black Lives Matter banner – and a firearms offense

The leader of the Proud Boys, the violent far-right group, was arrested in Washington DC and charged with destruction of property and a firearms offense, according to local police.

The arrest of Enrique Tarrio on Monday comes ahead of pro-Donald Trump protests in Washington planned for Tuesday and Wednesday to coincide with the US Congress’ vote on Wednesday affirming Joe Biden’s election victory.

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Sisters in Hate review: tough but vital read on the rise of racist America

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After black women helped push Trump from office, Seyward Darby’s work on white extremists is more resonant than ever

It’s not Proust, Nietzsche or even Toni Morrison when it comes to difficult reading, but some are sure to find Seyward Darby’s book even more arduous to wade through.

Related: From A Very Stable Genius to After Trump: 2020 in US politics books

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White supremacists plotted attacks on US power plants, FBI alleges

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  • Ohio teen ‘suggested buying ranch for militant training’
  • Court documents mistakenly unsealed last week

White supremacists plotted to attack power stations in the south-eastern US, and an Ohio teenager who allegedly shared the plan said he wanted the group to be “operational” on a fast-tracked timeline if Donald Trump were to lose his re-election bid, the FBI alleges in an affidavit that was mistakenly unsealed.

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Unlike Trump, Europe’s far-right leaders haven’t been damaged by the pandemic | Cas Mudde and Jakub Wondreys

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A study of 31 countries shows other rightwing populists have not been ‘exposed’ by Covid-19 in the way the US president was

By now it is almost received wisdom that “populists” (often used as a euphemism for “the far right”) have ignored the threat of Covid-19, that populists have been the electoral victims of the pandemic, and that the pandemic has exposed the political incompetence of populists in government.

Most of this speculation is based on one or two individual cases, most notably the US president, Donald Trump. But he is the exception rather than the rule. In a recent comparative study of far-right parties in the European Union, we found that none of those three assumptions holds up to scrutiny. In fact, there has been significant variety in far-right responses to the pandemic.

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The neo-Nazi symbol posted by Pete Evans has a strange and dark history | Jason Wilson

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The sonnenrad is associated with a grab bag of esoteric racist nonsense, but that doesn’t make it any less powerful as a symbol of hatred and murder

If you weren’t aware that the symbol posted by Pete Evans is functionally equivalent to a swastika, that’s because part of its attraction to contemporary neo-Nazis is its slight obfuscation of the true nature of their movement.

It’s also because it has been more widely adopted as a symbol for the racist politics of fascism as the focus of that movement has changed its emphasis from ultranationalism to a transnational focus on supposed dangers to the white race, wherever they may be.

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German minister condemns lockdown protesters’ Nazi victim comparisons

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Heiko Maas criticises young protester who compared herself to Sophie Scholl, a German student executed by the Nazis

German foreign minister, Heiko Maas, on Sunday lashed out at anti-mask protesters comparing themselves to Nazi victims, accusing them of trivialising the Holocaust and “making a mockery” of the courage shown by resistance fighters.

The harsh words came after a young woman took to the stage at a protest against coronavirus restrictions in Hanover on Saturday saying she felt “just like Sophie Scholl”, the German student executed by the Nazis in 1943 for her role in the resistance.

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Driving Mr Donald – White House excursion reveals a presidency pushing up daisies

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From the motorcade, leaving Washington, it was clear how Trump thrives on a noisy minority’s support – and why he lost

It was a jarring few minutes of seeing the world through Donald Trump’s eyes and indulging his fantasies.

Related: Trump supporters gather in Washington as president refuses to concede to Biden

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End of Trump era deals heavy blow to rightwing populist leaders worldwide

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As Biden’s victory sinks in across Brazil, Hungary and elsewhere, dreams of a rightwing global crusade appear to be fading

As the Donald Trump era draws to a close, many world leaders are breathing a sigh of relief. But Trump’s ideological kindred spirits – rightwing populists in office in Brazil, Hungary, Slovenia and elsewhere – are instead taking a sharp breath.

The end of the Trump presidency may not mean the beginning of their demise, but it certainly strips them of a powerful motivational factor, and also alters the global political atmosphere, which in recent years had seemed to be slowly tilting in their favour, at least until the onset of coronavirus. The momentous US election result is further evidence that the much-talked-about “populist wave” of recent years may be subsiding.

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Steve Bannon banned by Twitter for calling for Fauci beheading

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Former Trump adviser falls foul of Twitter rules with ‘heads on pikes’ comments

Twitter has banned the account of the former Donald Trump adviser and surrogate Steve Bannon after he called for the beheading of Dr Anthony Fauci and the FBI director, Christopher Wray, and the posting of their heads outside the White House as a “warning”.

Speaking on his podcast, the War Room, which was distributed in video form on a number of social media outlets, the far-right provocateur appeared to endorse violence against Wray and the US’s most senior infectious diseases expert.

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Prosecutors in Brazil file embezzlement charges against Jair Bolsonaro’s son

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Flávio Bolsonaro accused of siphoning off employees’ publicly funded wages

Jair Bolsonaro’s eldest son has been formally accused of embezzlement, money laundering, misappropriation of funds and directing a “criminal organisation” as sleaze allegations continue to swirl around the family of Brazil’s far-right president.

Prosecutors in Rio de Janeiro announced late on Tuesday that they had filed the charges against Flávio Bolsonaro, 39, a senator whose affairs have been under the spotlight since the eve of his father’s January 2019 inauguration.

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Joe Rogan hosts Alex Jones on Spotify podcast despite ban

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Interview with conspiracy theorist leaves streaming service in awkward position

Joe Rogan, Spotify’s biggest podcast star, has left the platform in an awkward position after conducting a lengthy interview with Alex Jones, the conspiracy theorist banned by Swedish streaming company for producing “hate content”.

Rogan, the libertarian host of the long-running and wildly popular Joe Rogan Experience podcast, uploaded a three-hour discussion on Tuesday featuring Jones, the founder of the conspiracy site Infowars.

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Golden Dawn deputy leader evades arrest after jail sentence

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Greek neo-Nazi ideologue Christos Pappas will not turn himself in, says lawyer

Greek authorities have been forced to acknowledge that the neo-Nazi ideologue behind Golden Dawn’s unhindered embrace of national socialism has evaded arrest as other members of the extremist group headed to prison.

In an admission that is likely to raise embarrassing questions, police said on Friday they had been unable to find Christos Pappas, the party’s de-facto number two.

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Far-right online forum 8chan loses internet after protection services are cut

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Site was back online Monday morning with a Russian company enlisted to protect it from DDoS attacks

The latest incarnation of the hate-filled online forum 8chan was temporarily kicked off the internet on Sunday, after a company protecting the site from DDoS attacks cut its services.

The site, which is now called 8kun but was formerly known as 8chan, was back online on Monday morning, security researcher Brian Krebs reported, with a Russian company freshly enlisted to provide the protection services.

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Anti-lockdown advocate appears on radio show that has featured Holocaust deniers

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Dr Martin Kulldorff discussed ‘Great Barrington declaration’ letter on Richie Allen Show

One of the three co-authors of a letter that calls for lockdowns to be abandoned in favour of herd immunity has appeared on a radio broadcast that previously featured multiple Holocaust deniers and antisemites.

Dr Martin Kulldorff of Harvard medical school appeared on the Richie Allen Show on 6 October to discuss the letter, described as the Great Barrington declaration, after the Massachusetts town where it was drawn up.

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Dutch state broadcaster pulls logo from vans after attacks

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NOS takes unprecedented step amid far-right risk, saying ‘journalism is under attack’

The Dutch state broadcaster has removed its logo from outside broadcast vans as politicians complained of a steep rise in threats and the national counter-terrorism agency warned of a heightened risk of far-right violence in the Netherlands.

The broadcaster, NOS, said it had been forced to take the unprecedented step because “almost daily, journalists and technicians on the road to report are confronted with verbal abuse, garbage is thrown, vans are blocked [and] people bang on their sides or urinate on them”.

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Neo-Nazi leaders of Greece’s Golden Dawn sentenced to 13 years

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Leaders of violent far-right group, including former MPs, shown little leniency by judges

The neo-Nazi leaders of Golden Dawn have each been sentenced to 13 years in prison by a court in Athens, at the end of a historic hearing.

The neo-fascist group was officially laid to rest as its disgraced former MPs were shown little mercy by a three-member panel of judges. Last week the court ruled that Golden Dawn lawmakers had operated a criminal organisation under the guise of being a democratically elected party.

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Far-right plotters ‘discussed kidnapping Virginia governor Ralph Northam’

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  • FBI agent makes claim in Michigan court hearing testimony
  • Six men were charged with plot to kidnap Michigan governor

Members of anti-government paramilitary groups discussed kidnapping Virginia governor Ralph Northam during a June meeting in Ohio, an FBI agent testified on Tuesday during a court hearing for a group of men accused of plotting to kidnap Michigan’s Democratic governor.

Related: How the domestic terror plot to kidnap Michigan's governor unravelled

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Norway grants asylum to man claiming persecution by Polish government

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Rafał Gaweł’s prison sentence for fraud was retaliation by rightwing regime, Norway says

Norway has granted asylum to a Polish man who was facing prison for fraud and forging of documents, saying the sentence was a form of political persecution under Poland’s rightwing government.

Observers say that Rafał Gaweł’s case is the first time political asylum has been granted to a Pole in more than 30 years since the fall of communism in Poland. They see it as another sign that international trust in Poland’s justice system has been undermined by the government, which is putting it under political control.

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Michigan terror plot: why rightwing extremists are thriving on Facebook

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The platform provides tools for radicalization and coordinated violence, and critics say it’s been slow to ban dangerous groups

In a year of escalating political violence in the United States, Facebook has served as a key organizing tool for violent extremists.

An alleged plot to kidnap the Michigan governor, Gretchen Whitmer, was planned in part on Facebook, with one leader of the scheme broadcasting a video of his frustrations with Whitmer to a private Facebook group, and participants later sharing footage of their paramilitary exercises and bomb-making training, according to an FBI affidavit.

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Gretchen Whitmer accuses Donald Trump of inciting domestic terror

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  • Michigan governor targeted by alleged far-right kidnapping plot
  • Tweets attacking Whitmer creating ‘very dangerous situation’

The Michigan governor who was the target of a foiled rightwing kidnapping plot said on Friday that Donald Trump’s rhetoric “incites more domestic terror”, after the president posted a series of aggressive tweets overnight that sought to shame the victim of the plot.

Related: How the domestic terror plot to kidnap Michigan's governor unravelled

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