Recent events in the United States, in particular the violent attack on the U.S. Capitol Building on January 6 highlighted again the escalating threat by right-wing extremists and terrorists. A new leaderless, transnational, apocalyptic, and violent...
The violent right-wing extremist and terrorist milieu in the United States and Europe has developed a distinctly transnational character in its activities and therefore presents an increasing security threat on both sides of the Atlantic.
In November 2020, the Counter Extremism Project (CEP) released its report, Violent Right-Wing Extremism – Transnational Connectivity, Definitions, Incidents, Structures and Countermeasures, which was commissioned by the German Federal Foreign Office...
College campuses across the United States are increasingly becoming targets for extremist groups seeking to recruit young, impressionable minds and legitimize their movements. This appeal to students reflects an evolving strategy by hate groups in...
The Counter Extremism Project (CEP) reports weekly on the methods used by extremists to exploit the Internet and social media platforms to recruit followers and incite violence. Last week, a pro-ISIS supporter recirculated a previously released...
According to a new report by the United Kingdom’s Commission for Countering Extremism (CCE), extremists of all spectrums, including neo-Nazis and the far right, have been exploiting the coronavirus pandemic to launch broad misinformation campaigns...
Following the shooting in Hanau, Germany, the Counter Extremism Project (CEP) warns against underestimating the threat posed by right-wing extremism.
"'Harris’ arrest shows the international nature of the violent online extreme right, especially the subset of individuals who glorify attackers such as the Christchurch terrorist,' Joshua Fisher-Birch, an analyst on the far-right at the Counter-Extremism Project, told VICE News. 'While many of these individuals are concerned with committing attacks in their area, they are also part of this online community that seeks to encourage violence in other locations in the name of white supremacism.'
Fisher-Birch told VICE News there have been similar cases of online propagandists being arrested and charged for their work trying to inspire far-right extremists worldwide. For example, in November 2022, a Slovakian man was sentenced to six years for his involvement in terrorism and was, as Fisher-Birch puts it, 'an important player within the international neo-Nazi accelerationist online community and spread information helpful in committing terrorist attacks.' Neo-Nazi terror groups like The Base and Atomwaffen have had members belonging to cells located in North America, Europe, Scandinavia, and Australia.
'The issue is that around the globe, there are individuals who subscribe to the same or similar conspiracy theories and ideologies and feel they have the same group of enemies and either want to take violent action against them or encourage or facilitate others to do so,' said Fisher-Birch."
"'All of this, for a quite a few years, was fairly harmless,' said Hans-Jakob Schindler, a former German diplomat and a director at the Counter Extremism Project. 'They got fines and they harassed local authorities, but they weren’t planning large-scale violence. ... With Covid, this exploded. The right-wing extremists immediately realised that any type of severe societal crisis is something they can take advantage of.'"
"Joshua Fisher-Birch, a researcher with the Counter Extremism Project, a nonprofit that tracks extremists groups’ online activities, said the attacks in North Carolina and those in the Northwest have energized some on the far right.
'The recent substation attacks have been spoken about in glowing terms by certain members of the extreme right, particularly by neo-Nazi accelerationists and white supremacist accelerationists who subscribe to this ideology where they want to push chaos,' Fisher-Birch said."
Extremists: Their Words. Their Actions.
In Their Own Words:
So you go to India, and if you see a Hindu walking down the road you are allowed to kill him and take his money, is that clear? Jews should be killed ... as by Hitler. People with British passports, if you fly into Israel, it is easy. Fly into Israel and do whatever you can. If you die, you are up in paradise. How do you fight a Jew? You kill a Jew. In the case of Hindus, by bombing their businesses.
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