Fascists Among Us

by Jeff Sparrow

  Mark Ames, Going Postal: rage, murder, and rebellion: from Reagan’s workplaces to Clinton’s Columbine and beyond (Soft Skull Press, 2005), p. 5.

  Ames, p. 173.

  William Broyles, Jr, ‘Why Men Love War’, Esquire, May 2014.

  Broyles.

  Jonathan Shay, Achilles in Vietnam: combat trauma and the undoing of character (Simon & Schuster, 1995), p. 84.

  Hannah Arendt, ‘Reflections on Violence’, New York Review of Books, 27 February 1969.

  Eric J. Leed, No Man’s Land: combat & identity in World War I (Cambridge University Press, 1979), p. 41.

  Brian E. Crim, ‘Terror from the Right: revolutionary terrorism and the failure of the Weimar Republic’, Journal of Conflict Studies, 27.2 (2007).

  Dale Beran, ‘4chan: The Skeleton Key to the Rise of Trump’, Medium, 15 February 2017.

  ADL Center on Extremism, ‘When Women Are the Enemy: the intersection of misogyny and white supremacy’, Anti-Defamation League, July 2018.

  ‘Elliot Rodger: how misogynist killer became “incel hero”’, BBC, 26 April 2018.

  Alex DiBranco, ‘The Incel Rebellion’, Public Eye Magazine, Spring 2018.

  ‘Elliot Rodger: how misogynist killer became “incel hero”’.

  Rick Anderson, ‘“Here I Am, 26, with No Friends, No Job, No Girlfriend”: shooter’s manifesto offers clues to 2015 Oregon college rampage’, Los Angeles Times, 23 September 2017.

  Harry Shukman, ‘Online Comments Reveal Florida Gunman Nikolas Cruz Idolized Santa Barbara Shooter Elliot Rodger’, Babe, 15 February 2018.

  Salvage editorial board, ‘Mass Media and the Theodicy of Terror — Salvage monthly editorial #2’, Patreon, 19 March 2019.

  O’Connor.

  Weiyi Cai and Simone Landon, ‘Attacks by White Extremists Are Growing. So Are Their Connections’, The New York Times, 3 April 2019.

  Salvage editorial board.

  Charlie Warzel, ‘Mass Shootings Have Become a Sickening Meme’, The New York Times, 28 April 2019.

  Tarrant, p. 15.

  ‘The Territorial Solution to the Jewish Question’, Holocaust.cz [accessed 9 June 2019].

  John Earnest, ‘Manifesto’, 2019.

  Warzel.

  Robert Evans, ‘Ignore The Poway Synagogue Shooter’s Manifesto: Pay Attention To 8chan’s /pol/ Board’, Bellingcat, 28 April 2019.

  5 ‘FORESTS, LAKES, MOUNTAINS, AND MEADOWS’

  Tarrant, p. 15.

  See, for instance, Stefan Molyneux’s tweet: ‘The NZ shooter hated Conservatism. He called himself an “eco-fascist.” His favourite government was Communist China’, , 14 March 2019.

  Gaby Del Valle, ‘When Environmentalism Meets Xenophobia’, The Nation, 8 November 2018.

  Richard Smyth, ‘The Dark Side of Nature Writing’, New Humanist, 20 June 2018.

  Alexander Reid Ross, Against the Fascist Creep (AK Press, 2017), p. 25.

  Tarrant, p. 38.

  Sarah Manavis, ‘Eco-Fascism: the ideology marrying environmentalism and white supremacy thriving online’, New Statesman, 21 September 2018.

  Robin MacKay and Armen Avanessian, #ACCELERATE# : the accelerationist reader (Urbanomic Media, 2014), p. 4.

  Benjamin Noys, Malign Velocities: accelerationism and capitalism (Zero Books, 2014), p. x.

  Matthew N. Lyons, ‘The Christchurch Massacre and Fascist Revolutionary Politics’, threewayfight, 18 April 2019.

  Tarrant, p. 66.

  F.T. Marinetti, ‘The Futurist Manifesto’ [accessed 18 June 2019].

  Quoted in Walter Benjamin, ‘The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction’ [accessed 18 June 2019].

  Walter Benjamin.

  Manavis.

  Tarrant, p. 22.

  Umair Haque, ‘How Capitalism Torched the Planet and Left It a Smoking Fascist Greenhouse’, Eudaimonia and Co, 10 October 2018.

  Tarrant, p. 22.

  Tarrant, p. 66.

  6 ‘COBBERS’

  Patrick Begley, ‘Alleged Mosque Shooter’s Meme Popular with Australian Far-Right Group’, Sydney Morning Herald, 15 March 2019.

  Alex Mann, Kevin Nguyen, and Katherine Gregory, ‘“Emperor Cottrell”: Accused Christchurch Shooter Had Celebrated Rise of the Australian Far-Right’, ABC News, 23 March 2019; Byron Kaye and Tom Allard, ‘New Clues Emerge of Accused New Zealand Gunman Tarrant’s Ties to Far Right Groups’ Reuters, 4 April 2019.

  Sasha Polakow-Suransky, ‘How Europe’s Far Right Fell In Love with Australia’s Immigration Policy’, The Guardian, 12 October 2017.

  Alex Cullen, ‘The Faces Behind the Reclaim Australia Movement’, Yahoo! News, 18 October 2015.

  Michael Safi, ‘Reclaim Australia Rallies: protesters clash in Melbourne and Sydney’, The Guardian, 4 April 2015.

  ‘Who Are The Australian Defence League?’, New Matilda, 29 January 2014.

  ‘Far Right Targets Muslims with Hate Campaign’, New Zealand Herald, 26 April 2014.

  Andy Fleming, ‘Reclaiming Reality’, Overland Literary Journal, 23 April 2015; Danny Nalliah of Catch the Fire Ministries discusses his relationship with the UPF in this Australian Broadcasting Corporation ‘Background Briefing’ piece: Christine El-Khoury, ‘Anti-Muslim Extremists: how far will they go?’, Australian Broadcasting Corporation Radio National, 22 November 2015.

  Paul Toohey, ‘Mind Wars: the extremists taking Australia to dark places’, Daily Telegraph, 18 June 2016.

  ‘No Jail for Melb Man for Racist Calls’, SBS News, 12 February 2014.

  Michael Bachelard and Luke McMahon, ‘Blair Cottrell, Rising Anti-Islam Movement Leader, Wanted Hitler in the Classroom’, Sydney Morning Herald, 16 October 2015.

  See, for instance, ‘Explaining Propaganda - YouTube’ [accessed 7 April 2019].

  Julie Nathan, ‘The Far Right, the “White Replacement” Myth and the “Race War” Brewing’, Australian Broadcasting Corporation Religion & Ethics, 12 February 2019.

  Juan Diego Quesada, ‘New Zealand Mosque Shooting: New Zealand attacker had name of spanish killer on weapon’, El País, 15 March 2019.

  James Dowling, ‘“Anti-Islamist” Rally Organiser Shown Laughing at Death Footage’, Herald Sun, 16 July 2015.

  Nick Dyrenfurth, ‘“The Real Threat Facing Us”’, Australian Jewish News, 24 August 2017.

  Andy Fleming, ‘Quotations from Chairman Blair Cottrell’, Slackbastard, 27 July 2015.

  Simon Thomsen, ‘Sky News Just Put the Adam Giles Show in “Recess” over Blair Cottrell Interview’, Business Insider Australia, 6 August 2018.

  Richard Cooke, ‘Age-Old Hate’, The Monthly, July 2017.

  Jakubowicz.

  Jason Wilson, ‘Australians Are Worried about Trump. But There’s a Lot to Be Worried about at Home’, The Guardian, 10 February 2017.

  ‘Neil Erikson on Cottrell, Nazis & Nathan Sykes the Troll’, Vimeo, .

  Mann, Nguyen, and Gregory.

  Tarrant, p. 27.

  Alex Mann, Kevin Nguyen, and Katherine Gregory, ‘Christchurch Shooting Accused Brenton Tarrant Supports Australian Far-Right Figure Blair Cottrell’, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 23 March 2019.

  Martin McKenzie-Murray, ‘How Reclaim Australia Hid a “Terrorist”’, The Saturday Paper, 13 August 2018.

  Rachel Eddie and Jennifer Smith, ‘United Patriots Front Leader Blair Cottrell Details Criminal History’, Daily Mail, 13 June 2013.

  Jessica Haynes and Anna He
nderson, ‘Sam Dastyari Warns White Nationalism on the Rise after Pub Ambush By Far-Right Group’, Australian Broadcasting Corporation News, 9 November 2017; Anna Prytz and Noel Towell, ‘Coffin-Bearing Far-Right Protesters Crash Moreland Council Meeting’, Age, 12 October 2017; Josh Butler, ‘White Nationalist Extremists Storm Gosford Church’, 10 Daily, 21 May 2018.

  ablokeimet, ‘UPF Nazis Menace Melbourne Anarchist Club’, Melbourne Anarchist Communist Group, 1 November 2015 ; Myriam Robin, ‘Nationalist Group Invades 3CR Office, Uploads Dramatically Scored Video’, Crikey, 9 November 2015.

  Eddie and Smith.

  Luke McMahon, ‘Gun-Toting Anti-Muslim “crusader” at Lead of United Patriots Front’, Sydney Morning Herald, 7 November 2015.

  Louise Milligan, ‘White Nationalists Found Guilty of Inciting Serious Contempt of Muslims’, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 5 September 2017.

  Genevieve Gannon, ‘Vic Man Loses Gun Permits over “Beheading”’ Yahoo! News, 13 December 2016.

  Imogen Richards, ‘A Dialectical Approach to Online Propaganda: Australia’s United Patriots Front, right-wing politics, and Islamic State’, Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, Vol 42, No 1–2, 2019.

  Andy Fleming, ‘A Brief Guide To The Australian Far Right’, Slackbastard, 9 April 2019.

  Willie Graf, ‘Antipodean Resistance and the Lads Society’, April 2019, thewhiterosesociety, [accessed 20 June 2019].

  Willie Graf.

  Thomas Sewell, ‘Leave Us Alone, or Else?’, Lads Society, 2 May 2019.

  Willie Graf.

  Patrick Begley, ‘Threats from White Extremist Group That “Tried to Recruit Tarrant”’, The Sydney Morning Herald, 2 May 2019.

  Tessa Akerman, ‘Anti-Islam Activist Faces Trial’, Australian, 6 February 2018.

  Joanna Crothers, ‘Melbourne’s Trades Hall Targeted by Man Who Planned to Carry out Terrorist Attacks, Court Told’, Australian Broadcasting Corporation News, 3 September 2018.

  Rick Goodman, ‘Accused Vic Extremist Was “Nuts”: Witness’, The Standard, 3 September 2018.

  Crothers.

  Australian Associated Press, ‘Far-Right Terrorism Accused Phillip Galea Boasted of Plans, Court Told’, The Guardian, 19 December 2016; Alex Mann, Kevin Nguyen, and Katherine Gregory, ‘Christchurch Shooting Accused Brenton Tarrant Supports Australian Far-Right Figure Blair Cottrell’, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 23 March 2019.

  McKenzie-Murray.

  Joanna Menagh, ‘“My Mum’s in Jail, My Dad’s Dead and I Don’t Know Why”: 5yo Son of Neo-Nazi Murderer’s Tragic Plea’, Australian Broadcasting Corporation News, 8 May 2018.

  Harriet Alexander, ‘White Supremacist Michael Holt Sentenced to 4.5 Years for Weapons, Child Porn Offences’, Sydney Morning Herald, 29 September 2017.

  Rachel Olding, ‘“I’m Fully Prepared to Shoot Cops”: messages of white supremacist revealed’, Sydney Morning Herald, 25 August 2017.

  Andy Fleming, ‘Antifa Notes: Reclaim Australia, Michael Holt, Richard Spencer’, Slackbastard, 30 January 2017.

  CONCLUSION

  ‘Blair Cottrell’, YouTube [accessed 4 June 2019]; Hunter Wallace, ‘New Zealand Mosque Mass Shooting’, Occidental Dissent, 15 March 2019; Colin Liddell, ‘Framing the Christchurch Horror’, Affirmative Right, 16 March 2009.

  Brett Barrouquere, ‘After New Zealand Shooting, Far-Right, Racists Claim Victimhood, Hail Killer as Hero’, Southern Poverty Law Center, 15 March 2019.

  Travis LeBlanc, ‘The Enigma of Christchurch’, Counter-Currents Publishing, 2019 [accessed 4 June 2019].

  Richard Seymour, ‘The Gamification of Fascism’, [accessed 6 June 2019].

  Nick Duffy, ‘“Sick” Far-Right Video Game Lets People Play as Christchurch Mosque Shooter, Hitler and Trump’, iNews, 2 June 2019.

  No Notoriety [accessed 9 June 2019].

  Sean Mantesso, ‘Jacinda Ardern’s Ambitious Plan to End Online Extremism after the Christchurch Massacre’, Australian Broadcasting Corporation News, 15 May 2019.

  Jason Baumgartner, Fernando Bermejo, Emily Ndulue, Ethan Zuckerman, and Joan Donovan, ‘What We Learned from Analyzing Thousands of Stories on the Christchurch Shooting’, Columbia Journalism Review, 26 March 2019.

  Denis Muller, ‘Christchurch Attacks Provide a New Ethics Lesson for Professional Media’, The Conversation, 20 March 2019.

  ‘Hack Live: what happened when we debated Aussie patriotism’, Triple J, 22 September 2016 ; Royce Kurmelovs and Rebecca Kamm, ‘How the Alt-Right Trolled Triple J to Advance Their Agenda’, Vice, 17 August 2017.

  Amanda Meade, ‘Outcry over Sky News Australia Interview with Far-Right Extremist’, Guardian, 6 August 2018.

  Fleming, ‘#7SummerOfNazis’.

  Ian Bogost, ‘The Meme Terrorists’, The Atlantic, 30 April 2019.

  Jack Shafer, ‘Why New Zealand’s Press Just Put on Blinders for Its Biggest Story’, Politico [accessed 13 June 2019].

  Andrew Bolt, ‘The Foreign Invasion’, Daily Telegraph; August 2018.

  Bolt had earlier published multiple pieces praising Jean Raspail’s racist novel The Camp of the Saints, a book Raspail had signed for him. See Andrew Bolt, ‘French-Speaking, Raspail-Loving Handwriting Sleuth Wanted’, Herald Sun, 15 August 2016.

  Kevin Roose, ‘The Making of a YouTube Radical’, The New York Times, 8 June 2019.

  Eshwar Chandrasekharan, ‘You Can’t Stay Here: the efficacy of Reddit’s 2015 ban examined through hate speech’, Medium, 19 September 2018; Rachel Kraus, ‘Milo Yiannopoulos’ Facebook Rant Shows That De-Platforming Actually Works’, Mashable, 28 August 2018.

  Nick R. Martin, ‘Twitter Suspends Journalist for Book About the Far Right’, The Daily Beast, 11 June 2019.

  Elizabeth Dwoskin and Tony Romm, ‘Facebook Purged over 800 U.S. Accounts and Pages for Pushing Political Spam’, Washington Post, 11 October 2018.

  Chris Hughes, ‘It’s Time to Break Up Facebook’, The New York Times, 10 May 2019.

  Mike Lillis, ‘“Unite the Right 2” Exposes White Nationalist Movement in Disarray’, The Hill, 12 August 2018.

  Kim Kelly, ‘What the Media Gets Wrong About Antifa’, Medium, 31 August 2018.

  Reuters, ‘Trump Hits His All-Time Low Approval Rating — Same as After Charlottesville Violence’, Haaretz, 23 April 2019.

  Australian Associated Press, ‘Scott Morrison Says He Wanted to “Address Fears on Islam, Not Exploit Them”, in Tense Interview’, SBS News, 22 March 2019.

  David Renton, The New Authoritarians (Pluto Press, 2019), p. 232.

  Zoë Schlanger, ‘Climate Anxiety’, Quartz, 30 May 2019.

  Joe Sandler Clarke, ‘Climate of Despair: how the state of our environment is affecting my mental health’, New Statesman, 23 October 2018.

  Michael Rosen, ‘Fascism: I Sometimes Fear …’, Michael Rosen, 18 May 2014 [accessed 21 June 2019].

  Naomi Klein, This Changes Everything (Penguin, 2014), p. 10.