Neo-Nazi groups banned in Canada and Europe set sights on Australia

Four neo-Nazi groups banned in Europe and North America are operating in Australia, it has been revealed, as police and terrorism experts warn of an increasing global threat posed by lone-wolf far-right extremists.

A new report has identified more than a dozen white supremacist organisations operating in Australia that recruit disaffected young men and women through encrypted online messaging platforms.

According to the report: "Australia has become fertile ground for radical right extremist activism and violence."

Men with links to one of the groups banned overseas were responsible for shooting at a Perth mosque in 2010, and for assassinating a German politician in 2019.

The report, prepared jointly by the UK's Centre for the Analysis of the Radical Right (CARR) and Hedayah, a UAE-based violent extremism research centre, said: "Australian chapters of more fringe neo-Nazi cells [have been] actively engaged in campaigns of radical right terror and violence."

Compiled with policy assistance from Australia's Department of Home Affairs, the report also finds that since the Christchurch terrorist attack of 2019, which was perpetrated by an Australian, these groups have "become more explicitly anti-Semitic, aggressively racist and white supremacist".

"I think there has been a growth in individuals who are embracing extremist or terroristic ideologies in Australia in the aftermath of the Christchurch attack," Dr Bethan Johnson, a researcher with CARR told the ABC.

One of Britain's most senior counter-terrorism police officers, Detective Chief Superintendent Martin Snowden of Yorkshire Police, echoed the report's findings.

"It's a significant risk for us, and I think that risk can be seen in a number of countries around the world including Australia," he said.

"Daesh or AQ [Al Qaeda] inspired terrorism is still the most significant threat, but right-wing is growing at a faster pace.

"Arrests over the past 12 months would indicate that 20 to 25 per cent of those are in the right-wing terrorism space, and that volume is growing year on year and I think will continue to grow."

Some of these groups subscribe to "accelerationism", a philosophy that seeks to encourage not just hate crime, but terrorism, in the hope of provoking a race war.

"Essentially, it says because democracies are doomed to fail what needs to happen is that terrorism needs to be used to accelerate the destruction of these societies and that will facilitate the rise of white people again," Dr Johnson said.

Australia's terror list growing

Four of the groups named in the report have been proscribed overseas but not in Australia: Combat 18 (proscribed by Canada in 2019 and Germany in 2020), Blood and Honour (proscribed by Canada in 2019), Generation Identity (proscribed by France in 2021) and the Proud Boys (proscribed by Canada 2021).

There are currently 27 listed terror groups in Australia, including Al Qaeda, Islamic State, Boko Haram and Jemaah Islamiyah.

Earlier this month, Australia followed Britain's lead in proscribing Sonnenkrieg Division, or SKD, the first neo-Nazi group to be so designated in Australia.

Chief Superintendent Snowden's team was responsible for having the group banned in Britain.

"In the UK we’ve certainly seen the benefits of proscription," he said.

"It helps to dismantle the group, it stops the group from reinvigorating themselves and coming back … it's a really valuable tactic."

Federal Parliament's intelligence and security committee is currently conducting an inquiry into violent extremism.

Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton has asked it to consider what "changes … could be made to the Commonwealth's terrorist organisation listing laws to ensure they are fit for purpose, address current and emerging terrorist threats, reflect international best-practice, and provide a barrier to those who may seek to promote an extremist ideology in Australia".

Dr Johnson said proscription generally triggered greater powers for law enforcement and security agencies to investigate these groups, and "shows a seriousness" about the threat.

"Each country deals with it differently, so some are more proactive in proscriptions and designations of terrorist groups," she said.

"Australia I would say is more reticent to do so at present."

Group linked to politician's assassination

One of the groups identified in the report, Combat 18, was linked to the shooting of a Perth mosque 10 years ago. In 2015, members of the group plastered anti-Islam stickers over a Melbourne playground.

Dr Johnson said: "Combat 18 in Australia has had a sort of chequered history … it ebbs and flows like everywhere else, but they certainly engage in and believe in the use of violence in the advancement of their belief systems."

A man with links to the group was recently convicted of murdering a German politician, Walter Luebcke, in 2019.

His killer attended a meeting four years earlier at which Mr Luebcke spoke favourably about allowing refugees into Germany.

"They videotaped the event, their hatred grew from there," the Luebcke family lawyer, Dr Holger Matt, told the ABC from Frankfurt.

"[Mr] Luebcke was not a nationally well-known politician before, but became a symbol of hate from that meeting."

Dr Johnson warns that the death of Walter Luebcke should stand as a warning for all.

"Governments should do all [they] can to ban and block these groups," he said.

'There's a significant risk'

Another group of concern is the Proud Boys, which attracted international attention after their role in the riots on Capitol Hill in Washington DC in support of Donald Trump.

The organisation has been banned by Canada but is operating in Australia.

In November 2018, its founder Gavin McInnes was denied a visa to enter Australia.

Blood and Honour, which has a local chapter in Australia, was banned by Canada in June 2019.

Chief Superintendent Snowden told the ABC he remained concerned about its activities worldwide.

Generation Identity – whose Austrian chapter received a financial donation from the Christchurch shooter – was proscribed by France just weeks ago.

It, too, has a local offshoot.

Chief Superintendent Snowden said the relatively small size of these organisations in Australia – officially, the Proud Boys number fewer than 30, for example – should be of little comfort.

"A group in Australia may only have a handful of members, but if they're using other forums to promote their views then there's a significant risk there," he said.

There was also a trend among these organisations of disguising their true membership, and Dr Johnson said it only took one person to cause significant harm.

"Even if your group has fewer than 20 individuals, if those 10 individuals are preparing terrorist attacks that can be a very serious problem, and I would argue that could be the case or maybe the case in Australia if things aren't done."

Homegrown groups on the rise

William Allchorn, another CARR researcher, said there were several homegrown groups in Australia that were also of concern, including Antipodean Resistance and the relatively new National Socialist Network, which had posted photographs of its followers to its encrypted Telegram channel.

"It posts regularly about its offline activism, including camping, the burning of crosses, graffitiing and stickering," Dr Allchorn said.

The group was responsible for intimidating members of the public on Australia Day in the Grampians National Park.

New photographs provided by Dr Allchorn show members of the group in disguise in locations including Adelaide and in the hills outside Canberra.

"Subscribing to an extreme, anti-democratic and openly neo-Nazi ideology, the group advocates National Socialism as the only world view that will ensure the survival of the white race," Dr Allchorn said.

He also said "they're very tactical in how they use their language" and "try to avoid anything that they think would get them proscribed or made illegal".

The report lauds the success of a countering extremism program called CAPE (Community Action for Preventing Extremism), run by All Together Now, a not-for-profit organisation. CAPE is funded by Multicultural NSW.

"It is important to note that only one notable program to date has attempted to distribute radical right counter-narratives in the Australian context; namely CAPE's 'Exit White Power' project."

Lockdowns see increased online radicalisation

Dr Allchorn said Australia had "done well to kind of look at the Islamist extremist case but there hasn't been as much history in terms of countering violent extremism programming on the far right".

"In terms of the post-Christchurch context, more of these programmes should exist."

Dr Johnson said security agencies worldwide were concerned about the impacts of the pandemic and societal lockdowns.

"People are no longer experiencing the benefits of living freely in a multicultural society," she said.

"This period of isolation that we've all had to go through … has unfortunately led to all sorts of people turning inwards and then going online and seeking out communities [of like-minded people], and this is actually what radical right and terrorist groups are looking for.

"They recruit predominantly online and have done for some time, and they had the structures in place to recruit."

Chief Superintendent Snowden agreed: "We certainly saw during the lockdown periods in the UK, an uptick in online activity from a number of people across the ideological spectrum, and that has raised concerns about what might happen upon lockdown release."

Taken from: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-03-28/banned-neo-nazi-groups-set-sights-on-australia/100030072