Morning Briefing: Neo-Nazi Fight Clubs Expanding Globally
The number of neo-Nazi right clubs associated with the Active Club Network has 'increased by 25 percent,' according to a new report published by the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE).
Morning Briefing: There are an increasing number of neo-Nazi fight clubs known as Active Clubs, a decentralized network of White Supremacist groups that were inspired by the Rise Above Movement (RAM). During the past two years “movement is continuing to expand globally,” and the number of Active Clubs has “increased by 25 percent,” according to a new report published by the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE).
Worldwide, there are now 187 active Active Clubs chapters in 27 countries, which is an increase from “149 chapters in 21 countries in late 2023.” However, at least 37 Active Club chapters that were previously documented by GPAHE “have either had their social media accounts deleted.”
During a sentencing hearing in a Canadian courtroom, government prosecutors argued that Patrick Gordon Macdonald, the White Supremacists propagandists known online as “Dark Foreigner,” should receive at least 14 years in prison — while his defense “argued for six to eight years and about 10 months of credit for time already served in custody and on bail under strict conditions.”
Macdonald was previously “found guilty on all charges” related to his participation in terrorist activity for Atomwaffen Division, the violent extremist accelerationist neo-Nazi group which was “branded a terrorist organization in Canada in 2021.”
Ryan McCann, a Canadian citizen and members of the antisemitic neo-Nazi White Supremacist group Goyim Defense League (GDL), was convicted for the assault of a Jewish man in downtown Nashville, Tennessee.
Radical Reports is tracking the far right anti-LGBTIQ activists, Christian Nationalists, White Supremacists, and violent extremist groups targeting LGBTIQ events during Pride Month.
There are now 106 anti-LGBTIQ incidents mapped — including 41 incidents of vandalism and 8 incidents of anti-LGBTIQ violence or threats.
If you have any tips on LGBTIQ groups or events that have been targeted online, or any intel on far right anti-LGBTIQ groups actions during Pride Month, please reach out via email or Signal.
Must Reads
Sean Craig writes that a “neo-Nazi fight club that secretly infiltrated a Tennessee martial arts school where young children train has been banned from the facility, after an inquiry by the Guardian. Last month, the South Central Tennessee Active Club published video footage on the messaging app Telegram showing its members participating in combat training at Shelbyville BJJ Academy, a Brazilian jiu-jitsu school in Shelbyville, Tennessee, that offers classes to students as young as three years old. The group is part of the wider Active Club network, which consists of dozens of decentralized cells across the US and abroad that use combat sports to lure people into white nationalist and neo-Nazi causes. While lesser known than other far-right groups like the Proud Boys, experts warn Active Clubs are acutely dangerous because they recruit boys and young men into violent white nationalist circles by using notions of fraternity as a gateway to extremism.” [The Guardian]
Tyler Hicks writes that “the Pentagon’s decision to stop evaluating the military’s counter-extremism work arrived weeks after Brandon Russell, a former National Guardsman, was convicted of plotting to destroy the Baltimore power grid. Russell was a neo-Nazi and the founder of the Atomwaffen Division extremist outfit. Russell’s group included members like Vasillios Pistolis, who was on active duty with the Marines when he attended the infamous ‘Unite the Right’ rally in Charlottesville. After the rally, Pistolis bragged online that he’d ‘cracked 3 skulls open’ and assaulted a trans woman. Roughly two years later, a Military Times survey found that 36% of active-duty personnel had witnessed signs of white supremacy and racism within the military — a 14% increase from the prior year. And though some recent research suggests that veterans are no more likely than the average American to support extremist groups, those who do join such groups pose a heightened threat due to their specialized training.” [InkStick]
Anna Merlan writes that “many of the Trump administration’s most famous figures are deeply engaged in the right-wing and conspiratorial internet. [Dan] Bongino, for instance, had a long career as a conservative talking head, while HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was the chairman of Children’s Health Defense, which pumps out largely false anti-vaccine, anti-5G, and anti-GMO content at a furious clip. In office, senior Trump officials have devoted a lot of time and attention to ideas that circulate mainly in those right-wing and conspiratorial spaces: whether hundreds of thousands of children went missing under the Biden administration, whether the September 11 attacks were in fact a ‘controlled demolition,’ or whether there were two shooters responsible for the JFK assassination. In some cases, Trump administration officials are content to simply bring these ideas up in public forums, without much followup. At other times, they mention these supposed mysteries, coverups, and scandals to pledge that they are doing something about them.” [Mother Jones]
What to expect from Radical Reports: Morning Briefing provides a daily round-up of reporting on the Radical Right; Extremist Links offers a weekly round-up of extremists activities including the white supremacist and militia movements; Narratives of the Right delivers weekly analysis of the current narratives in far right online spaces and promoted by right-wing media; and Research Desk provides monthly highlights research and analysis from academia on the Radical Right.
