Since 2015, the Atomwaffen Division has received the bulk of academic and media attention in coverage of the neo-fascist accelerationist movement. Atomwaffen’s criminal history, hyper-violent propaganda, and involvement with neo-Nazi ideologue James Mason gave it a particularly notorious reputation. As a result, many researchers and reporters have referred to Atomwaffen as a keystone group that has generated many affiliates and splinter groups throughout the world. However, evidence from Atomwaffen’s development and collapse reveals that it was not the apex of a hierarchy of groups, but rather one node in a larger network of violent accelerationists. This network is built on membership fluidity, frequent communications, and a shared goal of social destruction. This framework is vital to understanding how and why action against individual groups is not sufficient, and why the threat from Atomwaffen has not faded in spite of its reported “collapse.” The lesson to be drawn from the history of the Atomwaffen Division is that the current threat of neo-fascist accelerationism exists more in the evolution of the network as a whole, rather than in any one individual group. On July 25, 2020, a blog post appeared on an extreme far-right website that announced the formation of the “National Socialist Order” (NSO), a new terrorist group situated within the broader neo-Nazi accelerationist milieu.1 a The NSO declared that it would “build an Aryan, National Socialist world by any means necessary”, and it would be led by some of the remaining membership of the Atomwaffen Division, a now-defunct U.S.-based group that had gained notoriety for a string of high-profile murders during the 2010s.2
The formation of the NSO out of the remnants of Atomwaffen represents one example of a much larger trend within neo-Nazi accelerationism around the world: the continual collapse, reshuffling, and reemergence of groups over time. A close look at the legacy of Atomwaffen shows that significant fluidity of membership, themes in branding, and shared goals tie its successor groups more closely together than may otherwise be apparent. However, it also reveals that Atomwaffen did not serve as an umbrella group for those that came after it; rather, it is but one node in a much larger global network of accelerationist activity.3 The accelerationist movement encompasses much more than just neo-Nazi and neo-fascist activists, but neo-fascist groups represent its most violent, dangerous, and extreme core: The vast majority of the groups presented in this article have been alleged to have either plotted or participated in violent activity.4 Although these groups generally never expand beyond a few dozen members, their demonstrated commitment to violence for the sake of sparking more violence indicates that investigating the network’s survival and operational strategies is increasingly important. To advance understanding of how the network has developed, this article will first explore the history of the Atomwaffen Division. Then it will examine the expansive transnational network cultivated by its members and allies, before finally looking at the current state of the network’s activities following disruption efforts by law enforcement agencies. Along the way, it presents a novel way for conceptualizing the threat posed by neo-Nazi accelerationist communities.
via combating terrorism center: The Threat Is the Network: The Multi-Node Structure of Neo-Fascist Accelerationism