Karl Lauterbach hat auf Twitter Morddrohungen gegen ihn öffentlich gemacht. Auf Facebook hatte ein Mann geschrieben, es wäre „ideal“, wenn man Lauterbach erschießen würde. Ein Screenshot des inzwischen gelöschten Kommentars wurde an Ermittler übergeben. Seit Wochen und Monaten ist SPD-Gesundheitsexperte Karl Lauterbach Hassnachrichten ausgesetzt. Doch nun rief ein Mann auf der öffentlichen Facebook-Seite „Für unsere Heimat“ sogar zur Erschießung des Politikers auf. „Ideal wäre, wenn man dieses Arschloch nullkommaplötzlich erschießen würde“, schreibt ein Olaf Z. unter einen Beitrag, der Lauterbachs Forderung nach einem kurzen, aber harten Lockdown thematisiert. Lauterbach teilte auf Twitter einen Screenshot der Meldung, schrieb dazu: „Unglaublich, dass so etwas immer noch möglich ist“ – und: „Eine kleine Gruppe gewaltbereiter Demagogen versucht, engagierte Wissenschaftler und Politiker, nicht nur mich, mundtot zu machen. Wir müssen dagegen zusammenhalten.“ (…) Die Recherchegruppe Die Insider, die systematisch auf Facebook AfD-nahe Gruppen nach Hassnachrichten und kriminellen Botschaften durchsucht, hatte den Fall öffentlich gemacht. Nach eigenen Angaben wurde ein Screenshot des Kommentars auch an die Ermittlungsbehörden gemeldet
Karl #Lauterbach hat auf Twitter Morddrohungen gegen ihn öffentlich gemacht. Ein Screenshot des inzwischen gelöschten Kommentars wurde an Ermittler übergeben.https://t.co/4WPO3qQ2IA
The Counter Extremism Project (CEP) reports weekly on the methods used by extremists to exploit the Internet and social media platforms to recruit followers and incite violence. Last week, CEP researchers located several pieces of white supremacist and neo-Nazi propaganda on Facebook-owned Instagram, including footage from the Christchurch terrorist attack video. Two different uploads of a notorious ISIS bomb-making video on the Internet Archive that instructs viewers on making explosive devices using commercially available products were also found. Also, a pro-ISIS propaganda website put out a call through their Telegram channel for assistance from individuals skilled in fields such as programming, hacking, cybersecurity, editing, and translation, among others. Meanwhile, CEP researchers located a fundraiser for the Australian neo-Nazi Thomas Sewell on the website “Buy Me a Coffee” (BMAC). Sewell was charged with “affray, recklessly causing injury and unlawful assault” for an alleged videotaped attack on a television station security guard. Finally, a Telegram channel supported by the main Proud Boys channel shared two previously released videos threatening 28 journalists, researchers, and anti-fascist activists. Neo-Nazi Propaganda, Footage from Christchurch Terrorist Attack Video Located on Instagram The week of March 7 to March 13, CEP researchers located several pieces of white supremacist and neo-Nazi propaganda on Facebook-owned Instagram. Accounts with approximately 45, 80, and 160 followers uploaded slightly modified propaganda images made initially by the neo-Nazi groups Atomwaffen Division and the Feuerkrieg Division. Another account was located with approximately 150 followers, and referenced a murder committed by a member of the Atomwaffen Division in the username, contained neo-Nazi imagery and statements, and praised ISIS. Despite violating Instagram’s Community Guidelines, the account was not removed after it was reported. An additional account with over 2,500 followers was advertising items for sale, including The Turner Diaries, knives, pepper spray, and white supremacist clothing. CEP researchers also located an account that posted an approximately 30-second clip from the March 15, 2019, Christchurch terrorist attack that was slightly modified so that the attacker made a different vocal statement. The clip was posted on February 20, 2021, and had 46 views when it was located. Instagram removed the video approximately five minutes after CEP reported it. The account that posted the clip was not removed. Another account that posted a meme containing a screenshot from the Christchurch attacker’s video was reported for violating the site’s Community Guidelines but was not removed by Instagram. The photo was posted on August 28, 2019, and had 20 likes.
BIRN’s unique new database includes court verdicts handed down in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia for domestic terrorism and for going abroad to fight in the conflicts in Syria and Ukraine. The Terrorism and Foreign Fighters Database, which was launched on Friday by the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network, contains comprehensive information about court verdicts for domestic terrorism in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia. It also includes verdicts from the trials of people accused of going abroad to fight for the so-called Islamic State and other militant groups in Syria and for pro-Russian separatist forces in the conflict in Ukraine. The database utilises BIRN’s extensive experience of covering terrorism trials in the Western Balkans and includes photographs and videos as well as a resource centre that offers video explainers and PDF booklets on how to report on violent extremism and terrorism. BIRN’s regional director Marija Ristic said the database is the result of the BIRN network’s long-term reporting efforts and knowledge.
Zusammenrücken (Moving Together) was established in Germany in its online format in February 2020. It operates primarily as a Telegram channel and internet platform, calling the far-right faithful to relocate en-masse from western Germany to the southern states of the former German Democratic Republic (GDR) – which, post-unification, is referred to as central Germany. The logic for this relocation is simple: “A high proportion of foreigners in west Germany makes it biologically impossible to reach broad sections of the population – these regions are ultimately lost,” Michael Brück, a 31-year-old far-right activist, stated on Telegram Dr Floris Biskamp, lecturer at the University of Tübingen, who co-ordinates the university’s doctoral programme on Right-Wing Populist Social Policy and Exclusionary Solidarity told Byline Times: “The Telegram group is clearly a project of right-wing extremists and neo-Nazi activists. This becomes clear both from the biographies of those people involved as well as the language they use. “In principle, the strategy of settling in the east is not new. Since the reunification of 1989-90, neo-Nazi cadres from western Germany have repeatedly moved to eastern Germany because they hoped to have good mobilisation opportunities there. In fact, parts of the high prevalence of right-wing extremism in eastern Germany can be blamed on this western German colonialism.”
A US intelligence assessment says white supremacists pose a transnational threat. The threat assessment says some of these groups have traveled abroad to network. The threat of domestic violent extremism has been given increased focus since the Capitol attack. White supremacists have the “most persistent and concerning transnational connections” of any violent domestic extremist group in the US, according to an unclassified summary of a joint threat assessment released by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence on Wednesday. The assessment said this is because individuals with similar ideological beliefs exist outside of the US, and such groups “frequently communicate with and seek to influence each other.” “We assess that a small number of US [racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists] have traveled abroad to network with like-minded individuals,” the report added. The assessment of the national security threat posed by domestic violent extremism was ordered by the White House in January and produced by the ODNI as well as the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security. The transnational links between white supremacist groups, fueled in part by social media, have been a growing concern for US officials and extremism watchdogs in recent years. “The danger of terrorism is growing in the United States, just as it is elsewhere in the world, with white supremacist extremists strengthening transnational networks and even imitating the tactics, techniques, and procedures of groups like al-Qaeda and the Islamic State,” a 2019 report from the Soufan Center states.
Karim Zidan delves into Denis Nikitin, the dangerous neo-Nazi attempting to revive his White Rex MMA lifestyle brand. “Our“Our work continues. Stay tuned.” These five words appeared in a March 3, 2021 post on a Telegram channel run by Denis Kapustin (aka Denis Nikitin), the neo-Nazi hooligan, MMA fighter, and entrepreneur who founded the infamous White Rex clothing brand and MMA promotion known for propagating neo-Nazi and white nationalist rhetoric. After years of relative silence regarding his defunct promotion, the post signalled White Rex’s potential revival. Over the past few months, Nikitin has used Telegram to help rejuvenate interest in his White Rex brand. He posted pictures of Caucasian women dressed in White Rex clothing—one wore a t-shirt sporting the “88” symbol which stands for “Heil Hitler”—as well as video montages of his old MMA events and Nazi celebrations, and an announcement confirming a new White Rex “summer collection”. While it remains unclear what the notorious organization is planning, Nikitin’s decision to pour renewed resources into his brand underscores his desire to further his extremist agenda. Given that Nikitin is considered one of the most dangerous neo-Nazis in Europe, as well as the godfather of Europe’s extreme-right MMA scene, his renewed interest in the sport is a cause for concern. (…) In 2008, Nikitin founded White Rex, his MMA lifestyle brand that combined MMA subculture with far-right political ideologies. The White Rex logo featured as stylized Black Sun Nazi symbol, while the company name, often written as WH|RX, stands for “White Heterosexual Reactionary Xenophobe”. The company produced shirts, hoodies, pants, sports gear, and other items branded with white nationalist and Nazi symbols, as well as slogans such as “Zero Tolerance,” “Angry Europeans,” and “White Rex Against Tolerance.” While White Rex operates under the guise of a clothing brand, Nikitin also uses his brand to organize MMA events that provided a safe haven for neo-Nazis to congregate. From 2011 to 2015, White Rex hosted multiple MMA shows, some of which featured several notable Russian fighters, including Bellator star Anastasia Yankova (Yankova has since denied sharing White Rex’s ideology). White Rex also hired former Bellator middleweight champion Alexander Shlemenko to train its fighters ahead of one of their shows in 2013. Anastasia Yankova dressed in White Rex gear Nikitin used White Rex to market his ideology to disenfranchised youth whom he viewed as the next generation of hooligans and fighters. White Rex used hyper-masculine men and women with blonde hair and blue eyes to strategically market their clothing brand to the young men who are inclined to join their cause. (…) In 2017, Nikitin joined forces with the far-right Azov Battalion, a neo-Nazi paramilitary regiment in Ukraine that eventually morphed into a political party. The group’s insignia features the Wolfsangel and the Black Sun, which are both neo-Nazi symbols adopted by many white supremacist groups around the world. The group is also known for organizing annual summer camps for children and teenagers to learn practical military tactics mixed with lectures on Ukrainian nationalism. Nikitin moved to Kyiv and served as the unofficial ambassador for their MMA events at the Reconquista Club, a restaurant turned fight club run by the Azov Battalion. He hosted several events there and brought in notorious neo-Nazis and white supremacists from around the world, including Robert Rundo, one of the founding members of the Rise Above Movement, a white supremacist, pro-Trump gang that considered itself the “premier MMA fight club of the alt-right.”.
Almost everything about the killing of eight people, six of whom were Asian women, at three spa salons in Atlanta, Georgia, speaks to the intersection of white supremacy and misogyny – from the way in which the locations were targeted by the white male suspect to the manner in which the predominantly white, male Cherokee County Police Department responded. When Captain Jay Baker stood before reporters, he did not use the words “terrorism” or “hate crime” to describe the violence. Instead, he seemed to apologise on behalf of the gunman, by saying that “he had a really bad day” – an odd way to speak of the premediated killing of eight individuals. He went on to mention 21-year-old Robert Aaron Long’s struggle with “sex addiction” and said that he was a “deeply religious” man. “He apparently has an issue, what he considers a sex addiction, and sees these locations as something that allows him to go to these places,” Baker added. “It’s a temptation for him that he wanted to eliminate.” In other words, the attack was not motivated by race, misogyny or religion – because the white male accused said so to a white police officer. This violence did not occur within a vacuum. Hate crimes against Asian Americans, mostly women, have spiked 150% during the past year, even as overall hate crimes have fallen by 7%, according to the Centre for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University in San Bernardino. (…) In a 2018 report titled ‘When Women are the Enemy: The Intersection of Misogyny and White Supremacy‘, the the Anti-Defamation League observed: “There is a robust symbiosis between misogyny and white supremacy; the two ideologies are powerfully intertwined. While not all misogynists are racists, and not every white supremacist is a misogynist, a deep-seated loathing of women acts as a connective tissue between many white supremacists, especially those in the alt-right, and their lesser-known brothers in hate like incels (involuntary celibates), MRAs (Men’s Rights Activists) and PUAs (Pick-Up Artists). “This cross-pollination means the largely anonymous outrage of the men’s rights arena acts as a bridge to the white supremacist and anti-Semitic ideology of the alt-right. After all, it’s not a huge leap from ‘women’s quest for equal rights threatens my stature as a man’ to ‘minorities’ and women’s quests for equal rights threaten my stature as a white man’.”
