One of the most antiquated, destructive ideologies humanity hasn’t managed to shake off is that of fascism. One would think that with the gradual progressivism we have attained, its ability to rear its head in society would have resulted in it being all but dead. Sadly, its talent for influencing the disillusioned of our times has a particular tenacity.
North America has had wide-scale issues with white supremacy for a long time, along with multiple other western nations. The list of groups, especially underground and criminal ones, that follow this ideology in the US and Canada is a long one. One of the newer to establish itself is called The Base, being founded in June 2018. It is an affiliate of the Atomwaffen Division, a global network of groups that espouses and practices far-right ideology, and are considered extreme even within that end of the political spectrum.
For example, the UK faction of the network, called Sonnenkrieg Division, glorifies sexual violence and pedophilia and made headline news after two of its teenage members were put on trial for calling for violence against Prince Harry after his marriage to Meghan Markle, who is mixed race. Sonnenkrieg Division is seen as a continuation of National Action, a terror group that was banned in 2016. They also have a great interest in extreme Satanism, taking inspiration from the Order of the Nine Angles.
The Base has the vision of destroying American society in the Pacific Northwest of the US and forging a white ethnostate from the ashes. This concept is not a new one, as they too have taken to calling it the Northwest Territorial Imperative, which has been advocated by various white supremacist groups in the US since the 1970s. The area varies slightly from group to group in terms of its proposed borders, but it is chosen because of its lack of racial diversity compared to the rest of the contiguous US, and for it’s residents’ ability to easily live in open spaces, while being self-sustaining.
“The Base” is what Al-Qaeda roughly translates to, which shows a continuance of white supremacist admiration for extreme jihadist groups. They are made up of the usual roster for white supremacy, young white males whose disillusionment with modern society is taken advantage of, and serves to help in their indoctrination. Many of the members are as young as seventeen years old. They undergo a vetting process that checks they are familiar with accelerationist Nazi theory, as well as seeing what they can contribute to the movement, mainly through skills they can teach fellow members to face the coming collapse they envision. Although they claim not to be any kind of paramilitary or militia, they have a strong ideation of militarism within it’s ranks, organising training camps to prepare members for the race war it fantasises of, in the same vein as the Atomwaffen Division. The formation of these camps is encouraged by its founder and leader, going by the alias “Norman Spear”, who believes in-person meetups are vital to the success of the movement, rather than just spreading its message along internet channels. The camps also put on crude Satanist or pagan rituals, in keeping with their marriage of the occult and Nazism.
This vetting process has proven to be a failure, however, as late last month an antifascist infiltrator revealed their findings from their time inside the group. They were part of the group for more than a year, masquerading as a fellow believer in their ideology. Their patience and stealth paid off, and they were able to provide audio recordings, screenshots of encrypted chatrooms and also videos, all showing how the The Base have planned attacks on synagogues and the planning of their armed training camps.
One of the most significant things this leak revealed was the identity Norman Spear, who turned out to be Rinaldo Nazarro, a 46-year-old security contractor from the US who claims to have extensive military experience, which is not an unbelievable claim, given the group’s familiarity with military training. Very little is known about him, as he has no social media records and otherwise seems to have put effort into keeping a low profile. It has been discovered that Nazarro lives with his wife in St. Petersburg, Russia, and has been coordinating the group in secrecy from there. Thanks to the available resources and funding at the disposal of Nazarro, he has been able to purchase land for The Base to establish training grounds in Ferry County, Washington back in December 2018, chosen specifically because the land is secluded and out of the public eye. It was only after leaks of the group’s correspondence came to light, and the subsequent media interest, that the police began to acquire information on the group in order to shut down the camp.
Seven other members were apprehended by the FBI last month, with an apartment having been bugged in a domestic terror investigation. They were planning to attend a gun rights rally in Richmond, Virginia, with a Maryland cell formulating plots to carry out various attacks at the rally, in hopes that it would cause more widespread and greater advocacy of the white ethnostate they wish for. One of the aspects of these attacks was killing police officers, whose high-end gear they could then steal and use for their own devices. Beyond this, there were talks of in the future derailing trains and poisoning water supplies.
Again, much like its main inspiration the Atomwaffen Division, they have aspirations to set their place on the global stage. Last October, a mink farm in Sweden was burned to the ground, in an attack that is suspected to have been carried out by an “eco-fascist” faction of the movement. Eco-fascists adopt the usual blame of over-industralisation for the damage being done to the environment, but also combine it with belief that over-population is also responsible, and a solution to this is the killing of immigrants into western society. While it is not confirmed that The Base are accountable for this arson, a video posted by a Swedish member of the group on the site iFunny, one of many sites often used to host their propaganda videos, shows a farm being burned down. The owner of the mink farm points to various aspects of the video, such as the ceiling of the barn, the brand of sawdust seen in the video and the fencing, which are the same as those in his own farm, and there has apparently been no other arsons of farms in the region in the same period. An animal liberation group claimed responsibility, but they have only reused broadcast images in the media. The evidence much more strongly supports the implication of the teenager who posted the original video, which ends with a call to action and features neo-Nazi death metal music.
Just yesterday, it has also been reported that a member of The Base, Matthew Ryan Burchfield, travelled to Ukraine in Autumn of last year, in order to take part in the military action in Donbass. They are not alone in this, as Ukraine is being seen as an attractive place for the far-right to gain combat experience, and Burchfield went there also hoping to establish connections with ultra-nationalist factions of the military fighting there, such as Azov Battalion and Right Sector. Neo-Nazism is rife in the region, with Russian-backed units engaging in a continuing six-year-long engagement with these far-right segments of the Ukrainian army.
While the activities of these many varying groups are still rare and on the underground, the picture being painted is one of ever-increasing hate. It can be said that the political centre is seeing its demise slowly approach on the horizon, with leftist and rightist movements fighting to fill the vacuum left behind. It seems that the lessons of the past in terms of how fascism plays out have been ignored by a small minority in society, and instead serve as encouragement, with the ideology seen as a cause to be fought for with vehemence. It can only be hoped that there is a virtuous counter to this rise of hate, that will grow in kind.
Image credit: Mark Ramsay