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OPINION JULY 22, 2022 | The Indian Eye 12

Far-right extremists use violence country, for those willing to leave
or threat of violence to advocate, such lifestyles behind.
among other things, ethno-White India must keep a close watch
supremacy and violent overthrow of on these developments, especially if
state authorities. They are both an- the far-right elements come to pow-
ti-feminist and anti-Semitic. Unlike er. Even if they do not form govern-
Islamist radicals, far-right extrem- ments, individuals professing such
ists generally do not claim responsi- views could occupy important port-
bility for their actions in the attacks’ folios. The far-right agenda is seeped
aftermath. They want to preserve with protectionist, anti-globalist, and
the secrecy associated with their anti-immigration attitudes, which
organizations, thereby preventing frequently have resulted in violence
authorities from bringing the outfits in these countries. Such worldviews
onto their radar. can negatively undermine Indian in-
These outfits or individuals also terests.
prefer to operate in a decentralized India and other Asian countries
manner. Louis Beam, in Essays of also must no longer depend on the
a Klansman, advocated for White West, led by the US, to uphold the
supremacists to form leaderless and liberal democratic values that have
smaller groups, to create an ‘intelli- sustained the post-World War II era.
gence nightmare’ for security agen- They must seek alternative arrange-
cies. James Mason, who advocated perceived ineptitude of governments was dissolved. The charges against ments to strengthen their guard
for the establishment of a succes- to address worldwide socio-econom- this company included indulging in against far-right ideologies perme-
sor state to Nazi Germany, called ic and health crises. extreme-right rock music and per- ating these countries. India is the
on his supporters (in his collection What ‘oppressed’ far-right find forming Nazi salutes. The trigger for world’s largest democracy and the
of newsletters, Siege) to selectively problematic is the demand for equi- the unit’s disbandment came when most important bastion in regional
target and eliminate people, while table rights by supporters of ‘Jewish one of its Sergeant Majors, who had affairs to lead this task.
fomenting a White supremacist in- Marxist’ elites and the latter’s at- served in the company for 20 years, The beginnings of the National
surgency against the host state. tempts at replacing them from posi- was found to have concealed stolen Socialist Party or the Nazi Party in
The far-right draws inspiration tions of authority, which they believe explosives and ammunition, along- Germany, while initially appearing
from martyrdom tactics propound- rightfully belongs to them. Unsur- side Nazi mementoes. as benign, culminated in the hor-
ed by ISIS, and generally, while not prisingly, President Barack Obama’s Governments, social media fo- rors of the Holocaust and World
always, convene online on platforms inauguration in 2008 sent a shock rums, and civil society organizations War II. Although governments and
such as Telegram, Gab, Twitch, Dis- wave across the conservative Repub- have adopted several measures to societies now are cognizant of such
cord, and Facebook. They also rely licans, several of whom, by January counter the surge in far-right extrem- nefarious tendencies, they still need
on social media and on seeming- 2021, tilted towards the extreme far- ism. Initiatives like Verlassen Sie to strengthen their efforts to counter
ly innocuous posts to further their right. Deutschland or Exit Germany have this menace. Former German Interi-
agenda. Fictional novels and movies have become successful. Since its incep- or Minister, Horst Seehofer, pointed
Far-right extremists bestow titles inspired some deplorable, mass-ca- tion in 2000, it has reported at least to mounting evidence of “brutaliza-
such as ‘saints’ on White perpetrators sualty terrorist attacks. William Lu- 800 successful cases and a mere 3 per tion” of German society on account
carrying out acts of mass violence. ther Pierce’s The Turner Diaries cent recidivism rate. It counsels those of rising far-right crimes. Extremism
They use channels like Telegram to inspired the April 1995 Oklahoma willing to leave the far-right lifestyle is a sociological challenge and must
praise these individuals and encour- City Bombing, a coordinated attack behind. It also provides practical aid be treated as such. The far-right
age others to follow suit. Adulation by Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nich- to those looking to disengage from taps into the emotions of people
of mass violence, as indicated by ols on the Alfred P. Murrah Federal extremist movements through mea- and exploits their socio-econom-
hashtags such as #pleaseletitbewhite Building which wounded more than sures such as police protection and a ic grievances to further its cause. If
on several encrypted Telegram chan- 600, including children at a daycare new identity. not tackled effectively, at the societal
nels every time a shooting occurs, centre and killed 168 people. Until Additional steps that need to be and governmental level, such ideolo-
indicates the gravity of the situation. 9/11, this was the deadliest attack on taken to contain the far-right threat gies could lead to the collapse of the
This occurs primarily in countries American soil and the first known include the need to increase funding liberal and rules-based domestic and
such as the US, where easy access to significant act of violent domestic ex- for research into such issues. Re- international orders.
guns exacerbates the threat of far- tremism. search centres should be set up to
right terrorism. Far-right forces have gradually evaluate challenges through policy Saman Ayesha Kidwai is
Far-right extremism has emerged infiltrated armed forces and police and academic prisms. There is also Research Analyst at Manohar Parri-
as a counter-response to what White as serving or retired personnel, par- a need to create a mutually accessi- kar Institute for Defense Studies and
supremacists consider acts of attri- ticularly in the US, Germany and the ble database for affected countries Analyses, New Delhi.
tion against their culture, values, tra- UK. In the US, Proud Boys and Oath and their intelligence agencies to
dition and identity. Far-right ideolo- Keepers—far-right, armed militias draft global strategies to counter the Views expressed are of the author and
gies are being rebranded to become comprised of former and serving far-right threat, focusing on overall do not necessarily reflect the views of
more relevant by mainstreaming it service officials, stormed the Capitol profiles, logos, attacks and threat as- the Manohar Parrikar IDSA or of the
worldwide. Some of the fundamen- Hill. A grand jury charged several sessments of various neo-Nazi and Government of India.
tal reasons why neo-liberal model of them with seditious conspiracy neo-fascist groups. It is vital to boost
has been declining in proportion to in June 2022. Neo-Nazi inclinations digital literacy to counter misinfor- This is the abridged version of the In-
far-right’s resonance with ordinary within the German army continue mation and disinformation stemming troduction of the book which appeared
people is due to the re-assertion of to haunt that country’s armed forc- from conspiracy theories. Finally, first in the Comment section of the
nationalist identities, lack of trust in es. In July 2020, the second compa- it is paramount to set up rehabilita- website (www.idsa.in) of Manohar Par-
liberal democratic governance and ny of the Kommando Spezialkräfte tion programmes based on the Ger- rikar Institute for Defense Studies and
moderate media platforms, and the (Special Forces Command, KSK) man format, tailor-made to suit each Analyses, New Delhi on July 12, 2022

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