Category Archives: The far right

Facebook bans far-right groups including BNP, EDL and Britain First

Posted on by

Number of organisations and individuals permanently banned for being ‘dangerous’

Years after the company first dismissed fears it was empowering extremists, Facebook has permanently banned a number of far-right organisations and individuals including the British National party (BNP), the English Defence League (EDL) and Britain First .

The ban, which came into effect at midday on Thursday, extends beyond the groups and individuals specifically cited as hate organisations: posts and other content that “expresses praise or support” for them will also be banned, as will users who coordinate support for the groups.

Continue reading...

Steve Bannon ‘told Italy’s populist leader: Pope Francis is the enemy’

Posted on by
Trump’s ex-strategist advised Matteo Salvini ‘to target pontiff’s stance on plight of refugees’

Donald Trump’s former chief strategist Steve Bannon advised Italy’s interior minister Matteo Salvini to attack the pope over the issue of migration, according to sources close to the Italian far right.

During a meeting in Washington in April 2016, Bannon – who would within a few months take up his role as head of Trump’s presidential campaign – suggested the leader of Italy’s anti-immigration League party should start openly targeting Pope Francis, who has made the plight of refugees a cornerstone of his papacy.

Continue reading...

German police raid 30 premises linked to far-right extremists

Posted on by

Alleged target is Inferno Cottbus ’99 group, suspected of criminal activity and neo-Nazism

Police have carried out extensive raids in four German states on premises linked to suspected far-right extremists.

Thirty properties including flats, offices and commercial premises in the states of Brandenburg, Berlin, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Saxony were searched in the operations which began at dawn and continued into Wednesday afternoon.

Continue reading...

Israelis go to the polls: what you need to know

Posted on by

Election seen as a referendum on Benjamin Netanyahu, who could almost certainly become Israel’s longest-serving leader

Israelis are due to cast their votes on Tuesday in an election that could end Benjamin Netanyahu’s astonishing 10-year uninterrupted run as prime minister. Or he will be re-elected, virtually guaranteeing him the title of Israel’s longest-ever serving leader.

Continue reading...

Holocaust memorial replica stunt shines light on rightwing radicalism in Germany

Posted on by

Art collective likened to ‘terrorist organisation’ by far-right politician Björn Hocke

When a group of performance artists erected a replica of Berlin’s Holocaust memorial next to the home of a far-right politician, they were hoping to draw attention to the revisionist views of a rising figure on Germany’s nationalist right.

But as the collective finds itself targeted by the first criminal investigation of its kind against a group of artists in modern German history, their stunt is instead putting the spotlight on the proximity between far-right politics and the public servants in formerly Communist east German states.

Continue reading...

Populists are whipping up a storm as Europe faces lurch to the right

Posted on by
Nationalist groups across the continent are stoking anti-immigrant and Islamophobic sentiment to win seats in next month’s EU elections

The battle for Europe is coming to a head – but, surprise, surprise, the main focus is not Brexit. Across the continent, far-right populist and nationalist parties are mobilising ahead of next month’s EU parliamentary elections. Polls show their support growing. For Europe’s newly energised hard right, Brexit is both a spur and a sideshow.

Whipping up anti-immigrant, Islamophobic and anti-semitic sentiment, and exploiting public anger over austerity and the perceived arrogance of the Brussels political class, the populists aim to reassert the pre-eminence of national identity, narrowly defined, and halt the European project in its integrationist tracks.

Continue reading...

Footage of Italian boy who stood up to fascists goes viral

Posted on by

Video shows boy known as Simone saying Roma people should not ‘be abandoned’

A 15-year-old boy who stood up to far-right activists during violent protests in Rome has won plaudits across Italy.

The boy, Simone, was filmed speaking out in defence of minorities on Tuesday, when hundreds of far-right activists and residents took to the streets of Torre Maura, a Rome suburb. They were demonstrating against the temporary rehousing of 70 Roma people at a reception centre in the area.

Continue reading...

Boy confronts far-right activists protesting against Roma refugees in Italy – video

Posted on by

A 15-year-old boy is being hailed as a 'hero of the left’ after he stood up to far-right activists during violent protests in Rome. Simone was filmed speaking out in defence of minorities on Tuesday, when hundreds of people took to the streets to demonstrate against the temporary rehousing of 70 Roma people in Torre Maura, a Rome suburb

Continue reading...

Spanish PM: Brexit and Catalan independence bid both based on lies

Posted on by

Exclusive: Pedro Sánchez says rhetoric in both debates will lead societies down blind alley

Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, has compared Brexit to the failed push for Catalan independence, warning that “engaging in campaigns or political projects based on lies eventually leads societies down a blind alley”.

Renewing his appeal for the UK to accept the EU’s withdrawal deal, Sánchez said he saw clear parallels between the rhetoric that drove the Brexit debate and the arguments used in the regional independence campaign that plunged Spain into its worst crisis in four decades.

Continue reading...

Rosie Cooper: ‘I was to be murdered to send a message to the state’ – video

Posted on by

Labour MP Rosie Cooper has spoken in the house of commons about the attempted plot to murder her. Jack Renshaw, 23, admitted to preparing an act of terrorism after he bought a machete to kill Cooper. She said that ‘our freedoms, our way of life, our democracy is under threat’. Speaker of the house, John Bercow commended her courage, adding that Parliament will not be ‘cowed’ and ‘the sooner the purveyors of hate, of fascism, of nazism, of a death cult realise that, the better’

Continue reading...

Neo-fascist violence keeps Roma out of Rome neighbourhood

Posted on by

City council appears to capitulate after protesters set cars on fire and destroy food

Hundreds of neo-fascists, far-right activists and local residents took to the streets of a Rome suburb on Tuesday in a violent protest against 70 Roma people, including 33 children and 22 women, who were to be temporarily transferred to a reception centre in the area.

Demonstrators set fire to cars and bins, destroyed food that was meant for Roma and prevented their entry into a shelter for vulnerable people.

Continue reading...

The murder of Raymond Buys: ‘I think they knew they were going to kill my boy’

Posted on by

The South African teenager was 15 when he was enrolled in a training camp that claimed to ‘make men out of boys’. Was the resurgence of the far right to blame for his death?

In their final family photograph, Raymond Buys looks as awkward as any 15-year-old boy standing next to his mother. He’s nearly 6ft tall and the harsh South African sun glints off his newly cropped blond hair. Despite the heat, he wears teen regulation black. Soon he’ll be in khaki.

Wilna Buys pulls her son close, knowing there are only minutes before she must send him through the gates behind them into Echo Wild Game Rangers camp. An electric fence almost seems to buzz in the background. Giant fake tusks guard the gates, giving the impression of a mouth. Raymond narrows his eyes, maybe at the sun, maybe at the man taking the picture – Gys Nezar, his mother’s boyfriend. Nobody smiles for the camera.

Continue reading...

City of love? Christian right congress in Verona divides Italy

Posted on by

Opponents says League-backed event symptomatic of politics of extremism going national

Antonio Gardoni had petrol thrown in his face when he opened the door of the home he shares in Verona with his husband after being woken up in the middle of the night by noise from outside. The assailants slashed the tyres of the couple’s car and daubed a swastika on the wall alongside the message: “We’ll put you all in the gas chambers”.

Gardoni escaped serious injury but is looking on with trepidation as Verona, better known around the world as the “city of love”, plays host to a lineup of anti-LGBT, anti-feminist and anti-abortion activists whose self-declared goal is to restore the “natural family order”.

Continue reading...

Far-right terrorism threat is growing, say MI5 and police chiefs

Posted on by

Andrew Parker and Cressida Dick say numerous plots have been foiled in recent years

Far-right terrorism has been identified as a key threat to the safety and prosperity of the country, according to the director general of MI5, Andrew Parker, and Cressida Dick, the commissioner of the Metropolitan police.

Writing in the Times, the pair warned that while Islamist terrorism remains the largest by scale, they are also “concerned about the growing threat from other forms of violent extremism … covering a spectrum of hate-driven ideologies, including the extreme right and left.”

Continue reading...

Moderate media, a compassionate leader: how New Zealand reacted to a tragedy | Calla Wahlquist

Posted on by

Is New Zealand’s civilised response to the Christchurch massacre just down to good stewardship, or is there something else going on?

To the rest of the world, New Zealand’s reaction to the Christchurch massacre has been extraordinary. The killing of 50 people at Friday prayers in two mosques by a white, right-wing Australian has united, rather than divided, this small country and galvanised a parliament that has been prevaricating on gun reform for 30 years into action.

Much of that response has been down to the leadership of Jacinda Ardern. But even there, the public reception has been remarkable.

Continue reading...

Austrian authorities raid far-right group over alleged links to Christchurch shooter

Posted on by

Home of far-right ‘Identitarian’ raided after he received a large donation from a person sharing the same surname as Christchurch suspect

Austria’s chancellor called Tuesday for authorities to “ruthlessly” investigate possible ties between an Austrian nationalist group and the alleged Christchurch mosque gunman, after it emerged that a prominent far-right activist had received a donation in the suspected shooter’s name.

Martin Sellner, head of the Identitarian Movement of Austria, said on social media that police searched his apartment Monday and seized electronic devices after he received a “disproportionately high donation” from a person named Tarrant the same surname as the suspected Christchurch shooter.

Continue reading...

Censor bans ‘manifesto’ of Christchurch mosque shooter

Posted on by

David Shanks says document ‘deliberately constructed to inspire murder and terrorism’, as more than 1,000 New Zealanders register to hand in guns

New Zealand’s chief censor has banned a document shared by the man allegedly responsible for killing 50 people in two Christchurch mosques.

Meanwhile, more than 1,000 people so far have opted to hand in their weapons following a ban on assault rifles and military-style semi-automatics (MSSAs).

Continue reading...

Christchurch attack: Al Noor mosque handed back to Muslim community

Posted on by

Leaders and worshippers escorted through cordon by police as life begins to return to normal

Muslim community leaders and worshippers have been escorted back to one of two mosques targeted in the New Zealand terror attack.

Two groups were taken through the cordon to Masjid Al Noor on Saturday morning, accompanied by a delegation of dignitaries. They received a briefing from officers on the street before being led to the front door where the shooting rampage that killed 50 began.

Continue reading...

New Zealand asks: how was the threat from the far right missed?

Posted on by

Muslim associations have expressed despair that no one in government heeded their warnings about a rise in racism and violence

As the alleged killer sits in an isolated, maximum security jail cell on the outskirts of Christchurch, many people in New Zealand are wondering how an alt-right extremist who allegedly amassed an arsenal of military grade weapons went undetected for so long.

Holed up in a wooden bungalow in the seaside town of Dunedin, the alleged shooter was an active member of the local gun club and pumped weights at a South Dunedin gym. He was quiet, but not reclusive, and appears to have made no effort to hide his obsession with military grade weaponry.

Continue reading...

Eco-fascism is undergoing a revival in the fetid culture of the extreme right | Jason Wilson

Posted on by

Some see looming ecological collapse as an opportunity to re-order society along their preferred, frankly genocidal, lines

In his shoddy manifesto, the accused shooter in Christchurch identified as an “eco-fascist”.

Over the weekend Kellyanne Conway seized on the term – which is unfamiliar to many – to lump him in with so-called “eco-terrorists”, saying “He’s not a conservative. He’s not a Nazi.” No doubt she was banking on common understandings of contemporary environmentalism to draw a link to the political left.

Continue reading...