Right-wing terrorists aim to overthrow governments and replace them with
Imperial Japan and Francoist Spain with some exceptions, right-wing terrorist groups frequently lack a rigid ideology.[5] Right-wing terrorists tend to target people who they consider members of foreign communities, but they may also target political opponents, such as left-wing groups and individuals.[citation needed] The attacks which are perpetrated by right-wing terrorists are not indiscriminate attacks which are perpetrated by individuals and groups which simply seek to kill people; the targets of these attacks are carefully chosen.[citation needed][dubious – discuss] Because the targets of these attacks are often entire sections of communities, they are not targeted as individuals, instead, they are targeted because they are representatives of groups which are considered foreign, inferior and threatening by them.[6][7]
According to an analysis by the Institute for Economics and Peace, there has been
a surge in far-right terror incidents since 2010, with a 320% increase between 2014 and 2018.[2]
Causes
Economy
German economist Armin Falket al. wrote in a 2011 article that Right-Wing Extremist Crime (REC), which includes anti-foreigner and racist motivations, is associated with unemployment rates; as unemployment rates increase, REC also increases.[8] A 2014 paper argues that right-wing terrorism increases with economic growth, seemingly due to its proponents often being people who lose out under economic modernisation.[9] Conversely, a 2019 study found that economic predictors did not predict right-wing terrorism in Europe, rather, levels of extra-European immigration did; right-wing terrorists did not want immigrants in their countries and they sought to drive them out with force. Thus, increased migration caused greater resentment and thus, their greater resentment was a greater motive for their attacks.[10]
Right-wing populist politics
In 2016, Thomas Greven suggested that right-wing populism is a cause of right-wing terrorism. More simply put, populism supports the advancement of "the average citizen", not the agendas of the privileged elite. Greven defines right-wing populists as those who support ethnocentrism, and oppose immigration. Because right-wing populism creates a climate of "us versus them", terrorism is more likely to occur.[11] Vocal opposition to Islamic terrorism by Donald Trump has been obscuring right-wing terrorism in the US,[12][13] where right-wing terror attacks outnumber Islamist and left-wing attacks combined.[14]
In the wake of the Christchurch mosque shootings at the Al Noor Mosque and Linwood Islamic Centre in Christchurch, New Zealand, by terrorist Brenton Harrison Tarrant, expert in terrorism Greg Barton, of Deakin University in Australia (the home country of Tarrant), wrote of the "toxic political environment that allows hate to flourish". Saying that although right-wing extremism in Australia is not nearly as serious as the European neo-Nazi movements or the various types of white supremacy and toxic nationalism seen in American politics, both major parties attempted to win votes by repeating some of the tough language and inhumane policies which appeared to reward right-wing populists. He further argued: "The result has been such a cacophony of hateful rhetoric that it has been hard for those tasked with spotting the emergence of violent extremism to separate it from all the background noise of extremism".[15]
References to individual groups may also appear by country below. This section is related to their role in inspiring terrorism.
According to Moghadam and Eubank (2006), groups which are associated with right-wing terrorism include
far-right hooligans, and their sympathizers. The "intellectual guides" of right-wing terrorist movements espouse the view that the state must "rid itself of the foreign elements that undermine it from within" so the state can "provide for its rightful, natural citizens."[16]
In Australia, experts, police and others have been commenting on the failure of the authorities to act effectively in order to combat right-wing radicalisation,[17][18] and the government has vowed to put right-wing extremist individuals and groups under greater scrutiny and pressure, with the home affairs secretary Mike Pezzullo making strong comments to a parliamentary committee.[19] A week after the Christchurch mosque shootings in Christchurch, New Zealand, it emerged that three years earlier, Australian-born Brenton Harrison Tarrant, the perpetrator of the shootings, had been active on the Facebook pages of two Australian-based white nationalist groups, the United Patriots Front (UPF) and True Blue Crew (TBC) and praised the UPF's leader neo-Nazi Blair Cottrell as they all celebrated Donald Trump's victory in the 2016 presidential election in the United States. Tarrant was also offered but declined a membership in the Lads Society, a white nationalist fight club which was founded by Cottrell.[20][21]
In the
NYPD officer, wrote of the growth of white nationalism by saying that the political climate of polarization "has provided an opportunity for violent bigots, both on- and offline. Times of change, fear and conflict offer extremists and conspiracists a chance to present themselves as an alternative to increasingly distrusted traditional mainstream choices." He quotes former FBI agent Erroll Southers' view that white supremacy "is being globalized at a very rapid pace", and he urged the government to hold hearings to investigate homegrown extremism.[22] Sociologists at the University of Dayton pointed to the origin of white nationalism in the US and its spread to other countries, and they also noted that the Christchurch attacker's hatred of Muslims was inspired by American white nationalism.[23]
The
white supremacist propaganda and recruitment efforts both on and around college campuses have been increasing sharply, with 1,187 incidents in 2018 compared to 421 incidents in 2017, far exceeding any previous year.[24] Far-right terrorists rely on a variety of strategies such as leafleting, the performance of violent rituals, and house parties in order to recruit, mostly targeting angry and marginalized youth who are looking for solutions to their problems. But their most effective recruitment tool is extremist music, which avoids monitoring by moderating parties such as parents and school authorities. Some risk factors which are facilitating recruitment include exposure to racism during childhood, dysfunctional families such as divorced parents, physical, emotional, and sexual abuse, neglect, and disillusionment.[25]
Copycat terrorism
In the cases of far-right extremists, they will sometimes seek inspiration from other mass murderers and use it as a template to carry out future terrorist attacks. A notable case of this is Brenton Harrison Tarrant, the Australian-born perpetrator of the Christchurch mosque shootings that killed 51 and injured 49; he cited several earlier far-right attackers, including Anders Behring Breivik, who carried out the 2011 Norway attacks; and Dylann Roof, who killed nine black people in the Charleston church shooting.[26][27][28] Tarrant has directly inspired at least six other shootings.[29]
an arson attack on a mosque in Escondido, California, and a mass shooting in a synagogue in nearby Poway, wrote an open letter in which he stated that he was inspired by Tarrant and Robert Bowers, the perpetrator of the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting. Following the Escondido arson attack, he had left graffiti that read "For Brenton Tarrant, -t /pol/", and prior to the synagogue shooting, he published the said open letter on 8chan and attempted to livestream the attack on Facebook Live, just like Tarrant. In the open letter, Earnest also mentioned "The Day of the Rope", a talking point in white nationalist and neo-Nazi circles which refers to the execution of all non-whites, Jews, and liberals, as it is detailed in the 1978 novel The Turner Diaries.[30]
Patrick Crusius, the 21-year-old suspect in the mass shooting at a Walmart store in El Paso, Texas, on August 3, 2019, which killed 23 people and injured 23 others (almost all of whom were Hispanic Americans and Mexicans), wrote an online manifesto titled The Inconvenient Truth, and in it, he stated that he supported Tarrant and his manifesto. Just like Tarrant, Crusius posted his manifesto on 8chan, as well as a Collin College notification letter.[31]
Role of the media
Social media
Social media platforms have been one of the principal means by which right-wing extremist ideas and hate speech have been shared and promulgated, leading to extensive debate about the limits of free speech and its impact on terrorist action and hate crimes.
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, was a regular verified user on Gab, a "free speech" alternative to Twitter, and spread antisemitic, neo-Nazi, and Holocaust denial propaganda as well as interacted with and/or reposted at least five alt-right figures: Brad "Hunter Wallace" Griffin of Occidental Dissent and League of the South (LS), Daniel "Jack Corbin" McMahon, a self-described "Antifa Hunter" and "fascist", former California Republican Patrick Little, Jared Wyand of Project Purge and Daniel "Grandpa Lampshade" Kenneth Jeffreys of The Daily Stormer and Radio Aryan.[38][39][40] Twitter was found to be offering advertisements targeted to 168,000 users in a white genocide conspiracy theory category, which they removed shortly after being contacted by journalists in the wake of the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting.[41] After a Brooklyn synagogue was vandalized with death threats, the term "Kill all Jews" was listed as a trending topic on Twitter.[42]
The Great Replacement on his Facebook and Twitter accounts and on 8chan /pol/ where he would announce the attacks and prior to this his social media was filled with white nationalist, anti-Islamic and neo-fascist material and his profile picture was "The Australian Shitposter" an image of a tanned, blonde-haired Akubra hat wearing man from Australia used to represent users on 4chan and 8chan as well as the alt-right subculture "The Dingoes".[43][44][45][46] The government of New Zealand already had laws in place relating to terrorism under which people sharing the video can be prosecuted, and it was announced that this would be vigorously pursued. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern also vowed to investigate the role played by social media in the attack and take action, possibly alongside other countries, against the sites that broadcast the video.[32]
Facebook and Twitter became more active in banning extremists from their platform in the wake of the tragedy. Facebook pages associated with Future Now Australia had been removed from the platform, including their main page, Stop the Mosques and Save Australia.[47]Far-right activist leaders in Australia urged their supporters to follow them on Gab after being banned from Twitter and Facebook.[48] On March 28, 2019, Facebook announced that they have banned white nationalist and white separatist content along with white supremacy.[49]Patrick Crusius the man responsible for the 2019 El Paso shooting which killed 23 people and injured 23 others had prior to the incident liked/posted/retweeted content on his Twitter account in support of Donald Trump.[50]
Mass media
Cultural Marxism and misleading headlines such as "1 in 5 Brit Muslims" having sympathy with jihadists (The Sun).[51]
In 2010, South African authorities foiled a plot by far-right terrorists to commit attacks as revenge for the murder of Eugène Terre'Blanche, seizing explosives and firearms.[52]
International organisations
Atomwaffen Division is an accelerationist neo-Nazi terror organization founded in 2013 by Brandon Russell responsible for multiple murders and mass casualty plots. Atomwaffen has been proscribed as a terror organization in United Kingdom, Canada and Australia.
Nordic Resistance Movement is a pan-Nordic neo-Nazi organization that adheres to accelerationism and is tied to ONA and multiple terror plots and murders, like the murder of an antifascist in Helsinki in 2016. There has been an international effort to proscribe NRM as a terrorist organization, and it was banned as such in Finland in 2019.[53][54]
Order of the Nine Angles is a neo-Nazi satanist organization that has been connected to multiple murders and terror plots. There has been an international effort to proscribe ONA as a terror organization. Further, the ONA is connected to the Atomwaffen and the Base and the founder of ONA David Myatt
was one-time leader of the C18.
Russian Imperial Movement is a white supremacist accelerationist organization found in Russia and proscribed as a terror organization in United States and Canada for its connection to neo-fascist terrorists. People trained by RIM have gone on to commit a series of bombings and joined the separatist militants in Donbass. While based in Russia, RIM trains and maintains contacts with neo-Nazis internationally, including with Atomwaffen.[55]
was a bombing attempt that happened on the night of April 30, 1981. Severe casualties were suffered by the terrorists. While an NGO held a fundraiser fighting for democracy and free elections and celebrating the upcoming holiday, a bomb exploded at Riocentro parking area killing army sergeant Guilherme Pereira do Rosário and severely wounding captain Wilson Dias Machado, who survived the bomb explosion. The bomb exploded inside a car where both were preparing it. Rosário died instantaneously. They were the only casualties.
The Para-SAR example[57][58] was revealed by Brazilian Air Force captain Sérgio Ribeiro Miranda de Carvalho in 1968 before it reached the execution phase as it was made public to the press after a meeting with his superior Brigadier General João Paulo Burnier and chief of Para-SAR unity. Burnier discussed a secret plan to bomb a dense traffic area of Rio de Janeiro known as "Gasômetro" during commute and later claim that Communists were the perpetrators. He expected to be able to run a witch-hunt against the growing political military opposition. Burnier also mentioned his intentions on making the Para-SAR, a Brazilian Air Force rescue unity, a tool for eliminating some military regime political oppositors throwing them to the sea at a wide distance of the coast. On both of these events, no military involved on these actions or planning was arrested, charged or faced retaliation from the Brazilian military dictatorship. The only exception is captain Sérgio de Carvalho which had to leave the air force for facing his superiors retaliation after whistleblowing brigadier Burnier's plan.
Colombia
Colombian paramilitary groups were responsible for most of the human rights violations in the latter half of the ongoing Colombian conflict.[59] According to several international human rights and governmental organizations, right-wing paramilitary groups were responsible for at least 70 to 80% of political murders in Colombia per year during the 1980s and 1990s.[59][60] The first paramilitary groups were organized by the Colombian government following recommendations made by U.S. military counterinsurgency advisers who were sent to Colombia in the early 1960s, during the Cold War, to combat leftist political activists and armed guerrilla groups.[61][62][63]
These groups were financed and protected by elite landowners, drug traffickers, members of the security forces, right-wing politicians and multinational corporations.[64][65][66][67] Paramilitary violence and terrorism has principally been targeted towards peasants, unionists, indigenous people, human rights workers, teachers and left-wing political activists or their supporters.[68][69][70][71]
Nicaragua
The
human rights violations and carried out over 1300 terrorist attacks.[72][73]
During the 1980s, more than 75 right-wing extremists were prosecuted for acts of terrorism in the United States, they carried out six attacks.[79] In 1983, Gordon Kahl, a Posse Comitatus activist, killed two federal marshals and he was later killed by police. Also that year, the white nationalistrevolutionary group The Order (also known as the Brüder Schweigen or the Silent Brotherhood) robbed banks and armored cars, as well as a sex shop,[80] bombed a theater and a synagogue and murdered radio talk show host Alan Berg.[81][82]
, a friend of McVeigh, conspired in the plot to construct the bomb.
Eric Rudolph
Eric Rudolph executed a series of terrorist attacks between 1996 and 1998. He carried out the 1996 Centennial Olympic Park bombing – which claimed two lives and injured 111 – aiming to cancel the games, claiming they promoted global socialism and to embarrass the U.S. government.[85] Rudolph confessed to bombing an abortion clinic in Sandy Springs, an Atlanta suburb, on January 16, 1997, the Otherside Lounge, an Atlanta lesbian bar, on February 21, 1997, injuring five and an abortion clinic in Birmingham, Alabama on January 29, 1998, killing Birmingham police officer and part-time clinic security guard Robert Sanderson and critically injuring nurse Emily Lyons. He was linked an extreme right-wing group.[86]
The Jewish Defense League is a Jewish religious-political organization in the United States, its stated goal is to "protect Jews from antisemitism by whatever means necessary".[87] The FBI has classified it as "a right wing terrorist group" since 2001,[88] and it has been designated as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.[89] According to the FBI, the JDL has been involved in plotting and executing acts of terrorism within the United States.[88][90] As of 2015, most terrorism watch groups classified the group as inactive.[91]
Events following the September 11 attacks
According to a report published by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, as of 2020, right-wing terrorism accounted for the majority of terrorist attacks and plots in the United States.
Orlando nightclub shooting in which 49 people were killed by a lone gunman. No deaths were attributed to left-wing terrorist groups.[94][95]
White supremacy
In October 2020, the
U.S. Department of Homeland Security reported that white supremacists posed the top domestic terrorism threat, which FBI director Christopher Wray confirmed in March 2021, noting that the bureau had elevated the threat to the same level as the threat which was posed by ISIS.[96][97][98][99]
Further reports
A 2019 report stated that 50 people in the United States were killed in murders which were committed by domestic extremists (the murders included ideologically and non-ideologically motivated homicides) during the previous year. Of these killings, 78% of them were perpetrated by white supremacists, 16% of them were perpetrated by anti-government extremists, 4% of them were perpetrated by "
As of 2023, according to New America's tally, 133 people have been killed in right-wing extremist terrorist attacks since 9/11. The incidents which caused deaths were the following:[93]
* Count of "victims killed" and "victims wounded" excludes attackers.
Prevalence of right-wing terrorism compared to left-wing
A report in The Washington Post, published on November 25, 2018, showed violent right-wing-related incidents up, and left-wing-related incidents down. Total domestic terrorism incidents was down to 41 in 2001, from a high of 468 in 1970, but then went up to 65 in 2017. Of those 65 events in 2017, 36 were right-wing-related (with 11 fatalities), 10 were left-wing-related (with 6 fatalities), 7 were related to Islamist extremism (with 16 fatalities), and 12, including the 2017 Las Vegas shooting, were categorized as "Other/Unknown" (with 62 fatalities, including 58 from the Las Vegas incident at the time). The report found that 2018 was a particularly deadly year, with 11 people dying in the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting, 2 others in an incident in Kentucky, and two more in a shooting in Tallahassee. All three incidents were right-wing related.[103]
The Post reported that the upsurge in right-wing violence began during the
Barack Obama administration and picked up steam under the presidency of Donald Trump, whose remarks after the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017 that there were "some very fine people on both sides" is widely seen as giving confidence to the right that the administration looked favorably on their goals, providing them with "tacit support". A former FBI assistant director for counterintelligence, is quoted as saying that "[political leaders] from the White House down, used to serve as a check on conduct and speech that was abhorrent to most people. I see that eroding. ... The current political rhetoric is at least enabling, and certainly not discouraging, violence."[103]
According to analysis by the newspaper of data from the
John Jay College stated that right-wing attacks were statistically more likely to result in fatalities.[103]