CEP Senior Advisor Alexander Ritzmann writes: "On 8 December 2023, two alleged members of the Canadian branch of the Atomwaffen Division (AWD) were arrested in Canada. In a statement, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said that they participated in the creation of Terrorgram Collective manifestos and Atomwaffen Division (AWD) recruiting videos. In 2021, Atomwaffen Division became a listed terrorist entity in Canada. The statement also highlights that many former Atomwaffen Division members joined Active Club Canada, including the two arrestees."

"Active Club portrays itself as consisting of combat sports groups. Alexander Ritzmann, a senior adviser at the Counter Extremism Project in Berlin, said in a research paper that the Active Club’s real purpose is to create a 'standby militia' that can be activated to create violence on behalf of neo-Nazi causes."

"Active Club portrays itself as consisting of combat sports groups. Alexander Ritzmann, a senior adviser at the Counter Extremism Project in Berlin, said in a research paper that the Active Club’s real purpose is to create a 'standby militia' that can be activated to create violence on behalf of neo-Nazi causes"

"Alexander Ritzmann, a senior advisor of the Counter-Extremism Project, has been a leading expert on Active Clubs and their international spread. He told VICE News that in the United States, the Active Clubs appear to be building 'a militia that looks like a combat sports network.'"

"In past columns, I have explored the psychology of conspiracy theories and extremism, as well as focusing on extremist groups such as the Boogaloo Boys and QAnon. This month, I wanted to explore the transnational extremist group, known as the Active Club. In September 2023, the Counter Extremism Project (CEP) referred to them as a racist group 'hiding in plain sight'. The Active Club network in Canada is, in part, a recruiting front for the Hammerskins, a racist skinhead gang with a decades-long history of violence"

"According to Vice News, a report from the Counter Extremism Project identified ;at least one hundred Active Clubs in the United States, Canada and Europe.'

A worrying phenomenon - The phenomenon is very worrying because, as reported by Alexander Ritzmann, author of the report, 'it is an unprecedented growth. I have never seen a right-wing extremist network grow so quickly. It usually takes years to build a transnational network.'"

"'Their own propaganda says ‘we are a white nationalist sports network, it’s about fitness,’' said Alexander Ritzmann, a political scientist and senior advisor at the Counter Extremism Project who studies Active Clubs, in an interview. 'But reading their documents and listening to their podcasts, I’m curious about if they are a combat sports network or if they are a militia hiding in plain sight.'"

"The number of far-right, white supremacist fight clubs is exploding. The Counter Extremism Project (CEP) published a recent report that pinpointed at least 100 in the USA, Canada, and Europe.

...

Alexander Ritzmann, the CEP report’s author, said recently: 'This is an unprecedented growth. I’ve never seen a network in right-wing extremism grow so fast. Usually, it takes years to build a transnational network. It’s concerning.'"

"Active clubs are a strand of the white nationalist movement that is aimed at creating 'a stand-by militia of trained and capable' right-wing extremists 'who can be activated when the need for coordinated violent action on a larger scale arises,' according to a 52-page report from the Counter Extremism Project (CEP).

...

Alexander Ritzmann, author of the CEP report, tells Metro Times that the Great Lakes Active Club 'fits the profile of a stereotypical Active Club as it was designed by Robert Rundo.'"

“…These so-called “Active Clubs” are now recruiting across the United States, according to Alexander Ritzmann, a Berlin-based senior adviser who co-authored the report “Hiding in Plain Sight–The Transnational Right-Wing Extremist Active Club Network,” which was released last month and highlighted in Rolling Stone. The clubs advertise as sporting groups designated for white-only men, but their real objective, Ritzmann tells The New Abnormal, “is to essentially train a white supremacist militia.”