far-right extremism

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"'Violence is the underlying feature of all of this,' said Joshua Fisher-Birch, an analyst for the Counter Extremism Project, a non-profit that combats extremist groups. 'If you're training people in combat sports in this capacity, it seems like a matter of time before someone is going to use that against someone else.'"

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April 11, 2023
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"The leaders of these active clubs also maintain connections with several pre-existing far-right groups, some of whom have perpetrated hate crimes. 'Violence is the underlying feature of all of this,' said Joshua Fisher-Birch, an analyst for the Counter Extremism Project, a non-profit that combats extremist groups. 'If you're training people in combat sports in this capacity, it seems like a matter of time before someone is going to use that against someone else.'"

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April 11, 2023
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Thursday, Mar 30, 2023

CEP Webinar: The Transnational Nexus of Right-Wing Extremism and Organized Crime | A. Ritzmann

On March 29, 2023, Mr. Alexander Ritzmann (Lead author & Germany chapter author; CEP Senior Advisor), gave a presentation on, "The Transnational Nexus of Violence-Oriented Right-Wing Extremism, Terrorism, and Organized Crime"

The new CEP study can be accessed here:
https://bit.ly/3ZPt9k1

About the study:
Existing studies on the extremism/terrorism-crime nexus in recent years have focused on Islamist extremism and terrorism, while the transnational nexus between right-wing extremism/terrorism and organized crime groups remains under-researched. This gap in knowledge can lead to a misunderstanding of the strategies of right-wing extremists as well as of the risks those actors pose to potential victims and society as a whole. 

A new CEP study, commissioned by the Federal Foreign Office of Germany, shows that several violence-oriented right-wing extremist individuals and groups in Europe and the U.S. engage in or maintain ties with organized crime. Many of the identified cases have a transnational dimension, be it through cross-border activities like the acquisition of illegal drugs for distribution or through supposedly legal activities such as co-organizing hate music concerts, including events with a transnational character. As the study demonstrates, Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs, VRWE-affiliated football hooligan groups, prison gangs, and a range of VRWE individuals and groups are part of transnational networks. Such connections are particularly visible in Austria, Germany, Poland, Sweden, and the U.S. 

The study aims at informing policymakers working on the prevention and countering of violent extremism or terrorism and organized crime with the goal of fostering a better understanding of the phenomena and to encourage further cooperation between relevant government agencies and civil society organizations.

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"European Eye on Radicalization (EER) was pleased to host a joint event with the Counter Extremism Project (CEP) recently about how Western states have handled domestic extremists and terrorists, the far-Right and Islamists."

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February 16, 2023
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"'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."

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January 31, 2023
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"'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.'"

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January 26, 2023
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"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."

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January 19, 2023
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"Only two days before the Moore County power grid attack, Uncle Ben’s Cabin was kicked off of TamTam, following a report by the New York-based nonprofit Counter Extremism Project. In a report released on Dec. 1, the nonprofit reported that TamTam removed 18 channels that promoted 'neo-Nazi accelerationism and acts of terrorism.'"

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December 20, 2022
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CEP Senior Director Dr. Hans-Jakob Schindler interviewed: "The 25 people that were arrested is not the end of the story. There are additional people that are under investigation and the number keeps growing. They all belong, at the core of it, to a movement that is called the Reichsbürger, which holds old neo-Nazi beliefs really prevalent since 1945 in Germany that the Deutsche Reich did not end with the end of the Second World War and the foundation of the Federal Republic, but continues and therefore all political institutions, on the local, state, and federal level are therefore inherently illegal."

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December 14, 2022
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Wednesday, Dec 14, 2022

CEP Senior Director Dr. Hans-Jakob Schindler on TalkTV

CEP Senior Director Dr. Hans-Jakob Schindler appeared on TalkTV with Trisha Goddard for the segment, "Heinrich XIII: Plot To Install New Far-Right Kaiser Foiled By Authorities." Dr. Schindler discussed details of the cell behind the plot, ideological underpinnings such as the Reichsbürger movement and QAnon, as well as the planning and its largely online component.

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Daily Dose

Extremists: Their Words. Their Actions.

In Their Own Words:

We reiterate once again that the brigades will directly target US bases across the region in case the US enemy commits a folly and decides to strike our resistance fighters and their camps [in Iraq].

Abu Ali al-Askari, Kata’ib Hezbollah (KH) Security Official Mar. 2023
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