20 replies to this topic

[Set and Meet Goals]

People who dislike the Republicans often fear the next Republican will be more crazy then Trump or a competent fascist.

People who dislike the Democrats say Kamala Harris Is a fascist due to her police ties, statements about protestors, tech ties etc. Alot of these people also view Biden as a fascist or at best a massive racist who locked up black people and puts a fake personality on.

Regardless it seems that in US consciousness or even world consciousness people think fascism is coming to the US.


From my personal perspective "fascism is Capitalism in decay" protecting itself.


This thread is to observe a trend towards fascism in the US many claim to see, as well as potential fascist presidential candidates etc.

[caltrek]

I had been thinking of setting up a Fascist Watch thread or something along those lines. While not inevitable, a fascist outcome is a possibility for the U.S.  The price of liberty is indeed eternal vigilance.

 

"Fascism is Capitalism in decay protecting itself" provisionally works for me. 

 

Thank you for starting this thread. 

[caltrek]

Countering the Fascism To Come

 

https://www.commondr...ng-fascism-come

 

Extract:

(Common Dreams) Perhaps the racism and craziness are stunning enough for Biden to realize that centrist cliches and corporate obeisance are no longer adequate counters. They no longer hold their own against the possibility of fascism to come.

 

Timothy Snyder puts it this way in the New York Times: “For a coup to work in 2024, the breakers will require something that Trump never quite had: an angry minority, organized for nationwide violence, ready to add intimidation to an election. Four years of amplifying a big lie just might get them this. To claim that the other side stole an election is to promise to steal one yourself. It is also to claim that the other side deserves to be punished.

 

“Informed observers inside and outside government agree that right-wing white supremacism is the greatest terrorist threat to the United States. Gun sales in 2020 hit an astonishing high. History shows that political violence follows when prominent leaders of major political parties openly embrace paranoia.

 

“Our big lie is typically American, wrapped in our odd electoral system, depending upon our particular traditions of racism. Yet our big lie is also structurally fascist, with its extreme mendacity, its conspiratorial thinking, its reversal of perpetrators and victims and its implication that the world is divided into us and them. To keep it going for four years courts terrorism and assassination.”

[caltrek]

Global Right-Wing Extremism Networks Are Growing. The U.S. Is Just Now Catching Up.

 

https://www.propubli...now-catching-up

 

Introduction:

(Pro Publica) During the past two years, U.S. counterterrorism officials held meetings with their European counterparts to discuss an emerging threat: right-wing terror groups becoming increasingly global in their reach.

 

American neo-Nazis were traveling to train and fight with militias in the Ukraine. There were suspected links between U.S. extremists and the Russian Imperial Movement, a white supremacist group that was training foreigners in its St. Petersburg compounds. A gunman accused of killing 23 people at an El Paso Walmart in 2019 had denounced a “Hispanic invasion” and praised a white supremacist who killed 51 people at mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, and who had been inspired by violent American and Italian racists.

 

But the efforts to improve transatlantic cooperation against the threat ran into a recurring obstacle. During talks and communications, senior Trump administration officials steadfastly refused to use the term “right-wing terrorism,” causing disputes and confusion with the Europeans, who routinely use the phrase, current and former European and U.S. officials told ProPublica. Instead, the FBI and Department of Homeland Security referred to “racially or ethnically motivated violent extremism,” while the State Department chose “racially or ethnically motivated terrorism.”

 

“We did have problems with the Europeans,” one national security official said. “They call it right-wing terrorism and they were angry that we didn’t. There was a real aversion to using that term on the U.S. side. The aversion came from political appointees in the Trump administration. We very quickly realized that if people talked about right-wing terrorism, it was a nonstarter with them.”

 

The U.S. response to the globalization of the far-right threat has been slow, scattered and politicized, U.S. and European counterterrorism veterans and experts say. Whistleblowers and other critics have accused DHS leaders of downplaying the threat of white supremacy and slashing a unit dedicated to fighting domestic extremism. DHS has denied those accusations.

[caltrek]

One thing about establishing a Fascist Watch Thread is where to draw the border line between this thread and the Terrorism and Senseless Violence News and Discussion thread.  While the article below straddles both, I will put it here as the emphasis is on organization and the spread of ideologies and misinformation as opposed to an individual terrorist event.

 

U.S. Could Face a Simmering, Chronic Domestic Terror Problem, Warn Security Experts

 

https://theconversat...-experts-153375

 

Introduction:

(The Conversation) Right-wing extremists called for open revolt against the U.S. government for months on social media following the election in November. Behind the scenes on private messaging services, many of them recruited new followers, organized and planned actions, including the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.

 

Encrypted messaging platforms like Telegram, which was launched in 2013, have become places for violent extremists to meet up and organize. Telegram serves a dual purpose. It created a space where conversations can occur openly in the service’s public channels. Those who wanted more privacy can message one another through private chats.

 

In these private chats, violent extremists can share tactics, organize themselves and radicalize, something I’ve observed in my research of hate and extremism. New Telegram users are exposed to violent extremist beliefs on the public side of Telegram and then group members carry out the logistics of recruiting and organizing in the private chats.

 

Online extremism’s long history

 

Violent extremists’ use of the internet is not new. In the 1990s, electronic bulletin boards and simple websites allowed white supremacists, neo-Nazis, anti-government groups and a variety of other violent extremists to sell their ideologies and recruit.

 

In the 2000s, mainstream social media platforms like YouTube, Facebook and Twitter became the new way for extremists to recruit and spread their beliefs. For many years, these groups cultivated their online presences and gained followers on these mainstream platforms.

[wjfox]

Exclusive: Proud Boys leader was ‘prolific’ informer for law enforcement

January 27, 2021 2:09 PM

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Enrique Tarrio, the leader of the Proud Boys extremist group, has a past as an informer for federal and local law enforcement, repeatedly working undercover for investigators after he was arrested in 2012, according to a former prosecutor and a transcript of a 2014 federal court proceeding obtained by Reuters.

In the Miami hearing, a federal prosecutor, a Federal Bureau of Investigation agent and Tarrio’s own lawyer described his undercover work and said he had helped authorities prosecute more than a dozen people in various cases involving drugs, gambling and human smuggling.

Tarrio, in an interview with Reuters Tuesday, denied working undercover or cooperating in cases against others. “I don’t know any of this,” he said, when asked about the transcript. “I don’t recall any of this.”

Law-enforcement officials and the court transcript contradict Tarrio’s denial. In a statement to Reuters, the former federal prosecutor in Tarrio’s case, Vanessa Singh Johannes, confirmed that “he cooperated with local and federal law enforcement, to aid in the prosecution of those running other, separate criminal enterprises, ranging from running marijuana grow houses in Miami to operating pharmaceutical fraud schemes.”

https://www.reuters....r-idUSKBN29W1PE

[caltrek]

An aspect of fascism is how it thrives on lies and extreme propaganda to gain power.  The present extremist movement indulges itself greatly in these lies.

 

 

CNN's Anderson Cooper Chats with QAnon Follower Who Believed the Anchor  "Ate Babies"

 

https://www.alternet...nderson-cooper/

 

Introduction:

(Alternet) A former QAnon follower recently sat down for an interview with CNN's Anderson Cooper where he shed light on a number of bizarre beliefs he had based on the far-right conspiracy theory.

 

According to the Huffington Post, a new clip of the interview has been released with highlights of Cooper's conversation with Jitarth Jadeja. One part of the segment focused on Jadeja disturbing former beliefs and Cooper asked if he really believed Democratic leaders were eating babies.

 

"Did you, at the time, believe that Democrats, high-level Democrats, and celebrities were worshipping Satan, drinking the blood of children?" Cooper asked Jadeja.

 

Jadeja actually offered a shocking response to Cooper's question. He admitted that he believed Cooper was the one eating babies as he offered words of apology for his incorrect stance. "Anderson, I thought you did that," Jadeja responded. "And I would like to apologize for that right now. So, I apologize for thinking that you ate babies. But, yeah, 100%."

 

When asked for clarity, Jadeja said, "Yes, I did," as he went on to reveal that some of his QAnon followers also believe that Cooper is not a real person, but rather "a robot."

[caltrek]

The Nazification of the Republican Party

 

 

https://www.counterp...publican-party/

 

Introduction:

(Counterpunch) After World War II, the Nazis who helped Hitler rise to power and murder millions of people, including at least 6 million Jews, were put on trial to send a warning to the world. Not all of them faced a judicial process, but enough were not protected by their high status, official offices, or claims of “innocence” and “patriotism.” Power through violence was the only language they spoke—not justice, not freedom—and they were held accountable. These criminals faced a tribunal at Nürnberg (Nuremberg) so momentous that the disgraced word “Nazi” is forever attached to those who participated in and enabled their horrific crimes.

 

After the war, Germany banned Nazi flags and neo-Nazis. In fact, the only way that Nazi paraphernalia got into Germany was through smuggling from other countries such as the United States, like from Nazi propagandist Gerhard Lauck in Nebraska, the man called the “Farm Belt Führer” who served four years in a German prison for distributing banned pro-Nazi materials throughout Europe.

 

I know this because I teach a course on White Supremacy at Smith College that focuses on anti-Semitism, anti-Black racism, and the many intersecting components of white supremacist ideology. After more than 30 years of organizing and teaching about fascism as a Black feminist activist and academic, I know the destructive influence of these noxious ideas, and I teach young people how to interpret and resist them.

 

Global contempt for the word “Nazi” is a lesson for us today in the United States after the attempted criminal coup at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. Anyone identified as sympathetic, supportive, or financing these seditious acts that attempted to deny the peaceful transfer of power in our country should be treated with the same public condemnation that the Nazis received after World War II. This includes Nazified people in Congress, in the media, in universities, in regular jobs, and throughout society because fascism is not the fevered dream of one delusional man. Trump is a white supremacist; that he is also a deranged narcissist is really incidental.

[caltrek]

The Pentagon Finally Admits It Has an Extremism Problem in the Ranks

 

https://www.motherjo...m-social-media/

 

Introduction:

(Mother Jones) Extremism in the military is not a new problem, but the involvement of at least two-dozen veterans and active-duty service members in the insurrection at the Capitol on January 6 gave the issue more urgency with Defense Department leaders. The insurrection was a “wake-up call” for the department, spokesperson John Kirby said last week. But while identifying the problem may be a positive step, solving it will be a different—and far more complex—matter.

 

Kirby acknowledged as much last week after announcing Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s decision to order service-members across the ranks to “stand down” from their normal duties at least once over the next 60 days discuss extremism as a group. “We don’t know how we’re going to be able to get after this in a meaningful productive tangible way,” he said, adding “that’s why” Austin ordered the stand-down in the first place. 

 

The military has not commissioned a formal study on extremism in the ranks in more than two decades, but recent outside polling suggests that the problem is on the rise again throughout the ranks. Last year, a Military Times survey found that 36 percent of troops had “seen evidence of white supremacist and racist ideologies in the military,” a 14-point increase from the previous year. 

 

While the Pentagon figures out how it wants to approach the problem, Democrats in Congress already have some ideas. Late last month, Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.), a House Armed Services Committee member, sent a letter urging Austin and other national security officials to more proactively hunt for signs of extremism among new recruits. The military does not systematically review social media activity as part of the background check that new recruits go through, “despite collection and reporting of other intrusive, private data, such as financial and behavioral health information,” Speier wrote. 

[Yuli Ban]

Curious...
 
https://twitter.com/...403085603041286
 
https://twitter.com/...339498364604419
 

[Yuli Ban]

Just Before Delhi Riots, Militant Hindutva Leader Called Repeatedly for Muslims to be Killed

In the last week of February 2020, 53 people were killed in Delhi in violence that lasted four days.
Even though three-quarters of those killed were Muslims and most of the worst property damage was sustained by Muslims, BJP leaders describe what happened as an ‘anti-Hindu riot’. And the Delhi Police have also helped in this cover up, alleging a conspiracy to trigger violence by Muslim and progressive activists involved in the protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act.
In Part One of our investigation into the conspiracy the police has ignored, we examined the role of two Hindutva activists, Deepak Singh Hindu and Ankit Tiwari. Today, we will focus on Yati Narsinghanand Saraswati and his associates whose hate speeches and incitement played a crucial role in radicalising the rioters who eventually unleashed a bloodbath in North East Delhi in February 2020.
It is now clear that the relentless call for violence against Muslims in the run up to the riots was not abstract advocacy but an essential component of the real conspiracy – executed in the open because they knew the police would never touch them.

[Yuli Ban]

Erdogan slammed, will open a fascist ‘Grey Wolves’ school in occupied Artsakh

Anti-fascist forces in Turkey blasted authoritarian President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s links to right-wing paramilitary death squads today after reports that he will open a new Grey Wolves school in occupied Nagorno-Karabakh.
He will lay the foundation for the building alongside Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev in the city of Shushi, which was taken by Azeri forces in November 2020 after a three-day battle.
Turkey’s neofascist Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahceli pitched the idea earlier this year, but the school’s construction is seen as a deeply provocative move as the Grey Wolves have been responsible for the extrajudicial killings of minorities, including Armenians. Until the Azeri invasion, the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh had been run by its Armenian majority since 1994.
A spokesman for Turkey’s United Fighting Forces (BGM), a newly formed coalition of communist and leftist parties that includes Figen Yuksekdag’s Socialist Party of the Oppressed (ESP), Partizan, and the Revolutionary Party, condemned the move.
“The Grey Wolves are a dark stain on Turkey’s blood-soaked history and responsible for the massacre of thousands of Kurds, Alevis and minorities, and attacks on trade unionists, communists, and progressives,” he said.

[Yuli Ban]

Will this radical nationalist monk be India’s next divisive leader?

The year was 2007 and Narendra Modi, then the chief minister of the state of Gujarat, was inaugurating the Vibrant Gujarat Global Investors Summit, an event carefully planned to bolster his image as pro-business development. The event attracted big companies and leading industrialists, including the billionaire Mukesh Ambani — even though the man presiding over the summit had been refused a U.S. visa for his role in stoking a brutal wave of anti-Muslim attacks in his state in 2002 that killed more than 800 and displaced thousands. 

But the pro-business event marked another step on the road to promote the Hindutva (Hindu supremacy) model championed by Modi, who went on to become prime minister. Even as prominent Gujarat officials — including his Minister of Home Affairs and right-hand man, Amit Shah— faced charges for their roles in the extrajudicial murders of Muslim citizens, Modi’s political star shone bright and vast segments of the population decided to back him.

These days another major political figure is following Modi’s footsteps, perhaps with eyes of becoming prime minister in 2024: Ajay Bisht, or Yogi Adityanath, a radical Hindu nationalist monk who is chief minister of India’s most populated state, Uttar Pradesh.

Adityanath’s talent for stoking communal polarization while hiding behind a market-friendly facade is right out of the Modi playbook, and many see him as the leader who could carry the torch to establish Hindu supremacy in India. But in many ways, Adityanath is even more dangerous than Modi. He doesn’t even bother to camouflage his disdain for Muslims.

Uttar Pradesh has approved “love jihad” laws criminalizing religious conversions by marriage with jail terms of up to 10 years. Adityanath, 48, openly hates the Taj Mahal because, in his view, it does not represent Indian culture (since it was built by Mughals, and Muslims in the country are seen as their lineage). In 2020, he announced that Muslims who chose India as their home during the partition in 1947 did no favor to the country. He further stated that his party did not belong to the “biryani” eating tribe, another anti-Muslim slur.

He has had journalists arrested under sedition laws for publishing reports critical of his administration, including the botched investigation into the gang rape of a lower-caste girl by upper-caste men. The saffron-clad leader is the founder of the Hindu Yuva Vahini, a nationalist organization for Hindu youth who started cow vigilantism (also known as cow protection using violence) that has led to the lynching of Muslims in the state. The Yuva Vahini also led an “anti-Romeo” squad that opposes any public presence of young unmarried couples and celebration of things like Valentine’s Day.

[caltrek]

Michigan GOP Leader Calls Top Democrats ‘Witches,’ Jokes About Assassination of Republicans

 

https://www.washingt...-assassination/

 

Introduction:

(The Washington Post) The head of the Michigan GOP came under fire Friday for calling three female Democratic leaders “witches” to be burned “at the stake” and for mentioning “assassination” as an option for how to oust two Republican congressmen who voted to impeach former president Donald Trump.

 

State GOP Chairman Ron Weiser’s rhetoric, which was captured on video this week, was rebuked by Michigan Democrats as “sexist” and “dangerous” and led members of the University of Michigan Board of Regents to call for his resignation from the governing board. Included in Weiser’s “three witches” comment was Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D), the target of a foiled kidnapping plot last year amid virulent criticism from her political opponents.

 

Weiser tweeted Friday evening that he “should have chosen [his] words more carefully” when speaking Thursday to members of his party, but said his statements were taken out of context and that “anyone who knows me understands I would never advocate for violence.” The chairman, who said he would not resign from the Board of Regents, noted he had spoken with the two Republican representatives he indirectly mentioned. He did not directly address criticism of the “witches” phrasing.

 

Weiser’s rhetoric toward Democrats and Republicans opposing the former president comes at a time when elected officials villainized by Trump and other GOP leaders have faced armed protests, harassment and death threats.

 

In a filmed speech at the North Oakland Republican Club on Thursday, which was first reported by the Detroit News, Weiser had repeatedly emphasized his desire to oust three women whose terms are up in 2022: Whitmer, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel (D) and Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson (D).

[caltrek]

Far-Right Extremism Has Become One of the Intelligence Community’s Rising Threats

 

https://www.motherjo...ight-extremism/

 

Extract:

(Mother Jones) When the US intelligence community last released its public assessment of global threats at the beginning of 2019, white supremacism was barely mentioned. The 42-page report devoted one note about “ethno-supremacist” violence in the context of its threat in Europe, not the United States.

 

This year’s global threat assessment, which Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines released ahead of a hearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee Wednesday morning, was a much different story. In addition to its typical focus on Russia, China, and Iran, the report identified violent extremists, who were described as having “an often overlapping mix of white supremacist, neo-Nazi, and exclusionary cultural-nationalist beliefs,” as posing “an elevated threat to the United States.”

 

…The ODNI report says the threat from violent extremism “has increased since 2015,” a finding that aligns with what nongovernmental organizations and journalists have seen. The Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington identified “267 plots or attacks and 91 fatalities” involving right-wing extremists since 2015, more than four times the number of incidents linked to left-wing extremists, according to a Washington Post analysis of the data.

 

The most recent glaring example of this alarming trend was the January 6 insurrection, where pro-Trump protesters stormed the US Capitol, leading to the death of several protesters and one Capitol Police officer. A who’s-who of well-known extremist groups, including the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys, have had members charged in connection with the insurrection.

 

FBI Director Christopher Wray, who testified on Wednesday about the intelligence community’s annual threat assessment, had previously told Congress that the insurrection was just one piece of rising extremism nationally. “Unfortunately, January 6 was not an isolated event,” Wray said last month. “The problem of domestic terrorism has been metastasizing across the country for a long time now, and it’s not going away anytime soon.”

 

Extract from Annual Threat Assessment of U.S. Intelligence Community:

Racially or Ethnically Motivated Violent Extremists…motivated by a range of ideologies that are not connected to or inspired by jihadi terrorist organizations like al-Qa‘ida and ISIS pose an elevated threat to the United States. This diverse set of extremists reflects an increasingly complex threat landscape, including racially or ethnically motivated threats and antigovernment or antiauthority threats. Of these, violent extremists who espouse an often overlapping mix of white supremacist, neo-Nazi, and exclusionary cultural-nationalist beliefs have the most persistent transnational connections via often loose online communities to like-minded individuals and groups in the West. The threat from this diffuse movement has ebbed and flowed for decades but has increased since 2015.

•  Violent extremists who promote the superiority of the white race have been responsible for at least 26 lethal attacks that killed more than 141 people and for dozens of disrupted plots in the West since 2015. While these extremists often see themselves as part of a broader global movement, most attacks have been carried out by individuals or small, independent cells.
• Australia, Germany, Norway, and the United Kingdom consider white racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists, including Neo-Nazi groups, to be the fastest growing terrorist threat they face.
• Both these and other DVEs, such as antigovernment or antiauthority extremists, are motivated and inspired by a mix of ideological, sociopolitical, and personal grievances against their targets, which have increasingly included large public gatherings, houses of worship, law enforcement and government facilities, and retail locations. Lone actors, who by definition are not likely to conspire with others regarding their plans, are increasingly choosing soft, familiar targets for their attacks, limiting law enforcement opportunities for detection and disruption.

 

Link to Threat Assessment of U.S. Intelligence Community:  https://www.dni.gov/...fied-Report.pdf

[caltrek]

...

 

(Mother Jones) ...

 

The most recent glaring example of this alarming trend was the January 6 insurrection, where pro-Trump protesters stormed the US Capitol, leading to the death of several protesters and one Capitol Police officer. A who’s-who of well-known extremist groups, including the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys, have had members charged in connection with the insurrection.

...

 

By way of clarification, I just thought I would add some additional information regarding the above statement.

 

From a University of Chicago Report:

 

MILITIA/VIOLENT RIGHT-WING GROUPS INVOLVED (in the January 6 capitol riot):

 ▪ Proud Boys: 10 arrested

▪ Oath Keeper: 4 arrested

▪ Three Percenters: 5 arrested

 ▪ Aryan Nations: 1 arrested

 

The vast majority (of those arrested) for participation in the riot) have no connection to existing far right militias or groups. “Normal” pro-Trump activists joined with the far right to form a new kind of violent mass movement

[wjfox]

Pro-Trump attorney Lin Wood receives standing ovation after making 'QAnon' gestures to crowd, report says

Sat, 17 April 2021, 3:17 pm

Lin Wood, a far-right attorney and loyal ally to former President Donald Trump, sent an audience into a frenzy when he made 'Q' gestures during a convention speech on Friday, according to Newsweek.

The Georgia lawyer, who has gained notoriety for spreading election misinformation and calling for former Vice President Mike Pence's execution, spoke at the conservative Health and Freedom Conference at Rhema Bible College in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

He repeatedly drew a 'Q' symbol in their air with his right index finger, Newsweek reported.

The letter 'Q' has become synonymous with the far-right conspiracy movement 'QAnon.' Adherents of this discredited conspiracy theory believe that a mythical cabal of Satanic pedophiles, who are thought to be part of the "deep state," work together to undermine former President Donald Trump.

During Wood's speech, Newsweek reported, he referenced 'Q' several times.

https://uk.news.yaho...-141712829.html

 

 

 

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Lin Wood stating Q is the truth and that the Clintons, the Obamas, the Bidens, and the Bushes are all involved in sex trafficking.

 

https://twitter.com/...706975058288646

 

 

 

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“Every lie will be revealed. They are killing our children, send them to jail. Put them in front of the firing squad. They are committing acts against humanity. The penalty for an act against humanity is death. Take them out.”

 

-Lin Wood

 

Video: https://twitter.com/...709884114341892

[Yuli Ban]

Dozens of Palestinians injured in police clashes as Jewish extremists chanting 'Death to Arabs' march in Jerusalem

Clashes between Palestinians from east Jerusalem and Israeli police around the Damascus gate entrance to the Old City erupted in a night of unrest that earlier saw Jewish extremists marching through another city street shouting "Death to Arabs."
The violence marks a high point so far in a new phase of complex heightened tensions in the city which began a week and half ago around the start of Ramadan, and prompted an unusual statement Friday morning from the US embassy in Jerusalem in which it called on "all responsible voices [to] promote an end to incitement."
Hundreds of Palestinians gathered in the area around the Damascus gate Thursday evening to protest the closure of the plaza space in front of the gate, a popular place for young Palestinians to hang out, especially during Ramadan.

[Yuli Ban]

Turkish far-right deputy threatens Armenian MP Paylan with another genocide

Far-right independent lawmaker Ümit Özdağ has threatened HDP deputy Garo Paylan with another genocide. "You'll go through a Talaat Pasha experience when the time comes and you should," Özdağ told Paylan on Twitter. Speaking to Duvar English, Paylan said that hate speeches lead to hate crimes and that crimes that go unpunished are bound to be recommitted. "We'll die if they kill us, but we'll never leave this country to fascists," he said.

Özdağ is part of the Gray Wolves, so no surprise.

[wjfox]

German society ‘brutalised’ as far-right crimes hit record levels

Tue 4 May 2021 17.10 BST

Germany’s interior minister has said that a dramatic rise in rightwing extremist crime demonstrates a “brutalisation” of society and poses the biggest threat to the country’s stability.

Horst Seehofer said politically motivated crime in general was a growing problem, pledging more police surveillance of protest groups as a result.

Police recorded almost 24,000 far-right crimes last year, a rise of almost 6% on the previous year and the highest level since records began 20 years ago. Crimes ranged from displaying Nazi symbols and antisemitic remarks to physical attacks and murder. Activities targeted mainly immigrants, refugees and black Germans, but also included a rise in anti-Asian violence, linked to the pandemic.

https://www.theguard...r-minister-says