This has affected me more than any other similar incident I can think of. The guy livestreamed his spree killing on Facebook. His manifesto is filled with 4chan/8chan/YouTube memes. He gave a shoutout to PewDiePie before he went in.
Australian Senator Fraser Anning sent out this press release in response. Background on Anning: he received 19 votes in the election. He only got into his senate seat when the person above him on his party's electoral list -- Malcolm Roberts -- was disqualified from parliament on citizenship grounds
Does anyone know any good books/articles on the specific phenomenon of internet-radicalised shooters, and how antifascists can respond?
According to the person's
According to the person's supposed manifesto, he was a former anarchist.
I've seen that mentioned
I've seen that mentioned elsewhere - is this based on reading it yourself? Does anyone know of any good analysis of the manifesto so I can get a bit more of a grasp of their ideology without having to trawl through an 87-page nazi document? I've seen this, which looks reasonably insightful, but doesn't touch on the ex-anarchist element: https://www.bellingcat.com/news/rest-of-world/2019/03/15/shitposting-inspirational-terrorism-and-the-christchurch-mosque-massacre/
I'm not going to link to it,
I'm not going to link to it, but the supposed shooter's manifesto included a Q&A part, where it literally says they used to be an anarchist.
That led me to go looking, he
That led me to go looking, he says "which I was young I was a communist, then an anarchist and finally a libertarian before coming to be an eco-fascist". So a former everything it seems and TBH given the amount of trolling it contains I'd not take any of those claims at face value. Politically nothing I read in it sounds derived from anarchism in any way. Fair sprinting of weird in the context Greek/Serbian far right nationalism
This dude sounds like a
This dude sounds like a Breivik copy cat. Eurabia, white power shit.
Twitter thread on the green
Twitter thread on the green fascism bits of the manifesto: https://twitter.com/kaibosworth/status/1106523895677546496
Thanks for that. Fwiw, A Reid
Thanks for that. Fwiw, A Reid Ross' summary of the manifesto here: https://twitter.com/areidross/status/1106442245320826880
Also, a meta-summary of various links here: https://twitter.com/bobfrombrockley/status/1106563068610428929
EDIT: Fury posting is never
EDIT: Fury posting is never appropriate.
Apologies to all, bar nazis.
R Totale wrote: I've seen
R Totale
It's probably important to understand the shitposting, multi-referencing, talking point creating aspect of the text as explained in that link. He seems to have put tendrils across so many topics and geographies just to maximize the amplification. There are ways in for many people to discuss from so many angles. Its functional. Don't trust any information in it, the information is not the content.
Terrifyingly calculated poisonous stuff.
I think it's probably best to not discuss or interpret the information but focus on analyzing the function and assuming it's all lies.
A schoolboy got into Sen.
A schoolboy got into Sen. Anning's press conference and calmly cracked an egg on him:
https://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2019-03-16/fraser-anning-egged-in-melbourne-while-speaking-to-media/10908650
Anning responded by punching the kid in the head twice, before a number of his fascist goons grabbed the kid and held him down in a chokehold. He was taken into police custody but was later released without charge; there's speculation that cops will charge Anning and/or his thugs with assault. 'Eggboy' as he has been christened has now been offered everything from free legal representation to free concert tickets.
Interestingly, it's seemed to trigger a public debate about direct action/violence against the far-right that I have never really seen in Australia on this scale. The public is mostly behind the kid as far as I can tell, the 'we need to be civil and have dialogue' people are roundly criticised. Although my social circles are either left-wing or multicultural and working-class, so maybe not the best sample size, but still!
Some of the discussion around
Some of the discussion around race and 'racial autonomy' in the manifesto looked liked the killer may have been aware of 'national anarchism' and the work of people like Troy Southgate, so I could believe the political transition the author claimed they underwent.
Reid Ross's claims there are Duginist influences seem slightly bizarre and come more from him being keen to describe anything he can as proof of red-brown alliances and fascist creep.
The Bellingcat article is useful but it seems to miss/massively understate the Turner Diaries link. In the manifesto the shooter repeatedly says the reason he used guns rather than explosives is because he wants guns to be banned in the United States. For those of you who haven't read the Turner Diaries, this is what starts the whole book, the left tries to ban guns and then white nationalists rise up, attack the federal government and the start taking over the world.
Due to the book, the left banning guns in the US has become something which neo-Nazis are desperate to happen, because they think it'll precipitate an uprising. The Christchurch shooter saw their actions as potentially being able to kick-start or accelerate that process. The shooter has not only read the Turner Diaries, they literally think they can make it happen by shooting people.
I'm also slightly surprised not to have seen more discussion about possible links between the shooter and Ironmarch, the fascist forum linked to several neo-Nazi groups implicated in terrorism. The Ironmarch affiliated groups in the UK (National Action) and US (Atomwaffen Division) have already have several murders or attempted acts of terrorism linked to them, I would be shocked if there wasn't some connection between the Christchurch shooter and Antipodean Resistance, the Australian neo-Nazi group which was affiliated with Ironmarch and has held training camps.
The killer was obviously strongly animated by the counter-jihad movement and Identitarian strains of thought, but they primarily appear to be a fascist. I've been slightly surprised at how many anti-fascist seem to be describing this as an Islamophobic attack rather than fascist terror.
Joshua Clover (of Commune
Joshua Clover (of Commune editions, and author of the book Riot-Strike-Riot') posted a thread on twitter a day ago, close-reading the perpetrator's manifesto, and he observes that the "threat to whiteness" that white supremacists perceive, is actually strikingly parallel to the unfolding climate crisis and the likely pressures this will put on the bastions of capitalism/imperialism and white privilege tied up with them. Hence climate crisis is "a secret key to the whole terrible rant".
The widespread theories of "replacement" and "white genocide", Clover says, are like a "fantastic form" for the very real prospects of catastrophic climate change, resulting migration flows and competition for resources etc. and hence the anticipations of a genocidal war from those who think the west should be a bastion to provide only white people with security.
https://twitter.com/joshuaclov3r/status/1106582093323100160
Does anyone understand where
Does anyone understand where the whole Serb/anti-Turk aspect comes from? I hadn't really encountered that particular strain of far-right imagery before, other than the gates of Vienna stuff.
If Clover's analysis is
If Clover's analysis is correct then perhaps we should not go along with those who see climate change as a threat to civilisation even of the extinction of the human race (as opposed to a problem that capitalism can't cope with adequately and so will cause a big problem but not as serious as that). We might want people to conclude that therefore socialism or communism (or whatever you want to call it) is the way out, but others might draw a quite conclusion. Trying to scare people as a way of getting them to overthrow capitalism could be dangerously counter-productive. What inspires people to change things is the hope of something better. Fear evokes a quite different response.
There is a balance somewhere
There is a balance somewhere between stressing the seriousness and urgency of tackling climate change and other ecological threats which capitalism is accelerating and avoiding a dependence on 'end of the world' scenarios to try and motivate people which frankly doesn't work anyway and leads either to right-wing extremism or more likely plain 'switching off' from any effort to change the social world around us at all.
I was reminded of this;
https://libcom.org/blog/infrastructure-against-borders-06122016
and other of the interesting 'Out of the Woods' blog texts.
R Totale wrote: Does anyone
R Totale
Do you mean the whole "remove kebab" thing?
It's a reference to a Serb nationalist song called "Serbia strong" from the Yugoslav wars. The song was nicknamed "Remove kebab" by people on 4chan and has lyrics like "The wolves are coming, beware, Ustashi and Turks".
"Turk" was a slur against Bosniak Muslims. It's referring to how Islam was introduced in Bosnia after Ottoman (Turkish) conquest.
A lot of Serbian anti-Muslim songs have gotten a lot of views on the internet. I suppose it has got a lot to do with the fact that many alt-righters and other far right individuals are obsessed with meme culture.
The music videos of anti-Muslim songs like "Serbia strong" and "Oj Alija, Aljo", with shitty digital instruments combined with old, low-quality war footage and anti-Muslim lyrics are exactly the kind of stuff that they love to consume.
I apologize if I've misunderstood your comment
Cooked wrote: It's probably
Cooked
One could probably go too far with this though. There was definitely an organized online effort by the far right to go after journalists that actually described the shooter as part of the far right in favor od downplaying or not mentioning his ideology at all.
Jim
I don't trust how he interprets things or how he uses his sources. Pretty much anything I've read from him has left me feeling like someone is pulling one over on me, even if I agree with the main thrust of what he is saying.
Juan Conatz wrote: One could
Juan Conatz
I meant specifics such as claiming a history as an anarchist. Perhaps its true but it also falls into the old trope of becoming more right wing as you get wiser. Which is just a way of emotionally boosting his right wing position.
I'm not all that clued up with this stuff but I'd consider any statement primarily from the angle of what does it do. What stories (memes, tropes) does it call on and for what specific ends. The general goal of his is quite well understood the text is his attempt att pushing buttons. Lots of them.
https://www.reddit.com/r/IASI
https://www.reddit.com/r/IASIP/comments/b2dswo/can_i_offer_you_a_nice_egg_in_this_trying_time/
I'd definitely take the
I'd definitely take the 'anarchists' bit with a massive pinch of salt given third-positionist anarchist entryism at the moment like Amir Taaki https://thebaffler.com/salvos/anarchists-guns-and-money-siegel / http://social-ecology.org/wp/2018/01/the-new-reactionaries-amir-taaki-alt-right-entryism-and-rojava-solidarity/
So he brings us in with those
So he brings us in with those bits and there is something for everyone. In film, literature and other art references are a way of making people who recognise them feel special. Giving you a way to discuss it on "your" terms from your little angle.
This isn't, as far as I know, a real theory just how it appears to me.
New slackbastard post: antifa
New slackbastard post:
antifa notes (march 20, 2019) : From Christchurch to Canberra
Indepth analysis of the local
Indepth analysis of the local far-right scene from NZ socialist group Fightback: https://fightback.org.nz/2019/03/21/christchurch-terror-how-did-this-happen/
Juan Conatz
Juan Conatz wrote:
And according to others, anarchists are nothing more than an 'anti-political sect' (IWW 1908)
When anarchism means anything that anyone says it is, it pretty much means nothing. Little wonder then that everyone from 'anarcho-capitalists' to 'national anarchists' imagine themselves to be anarchists. If Anarchy (Without Rulers) is Nothing, then the State (Rulers Ruling the Ruled) is All.
As part of the aftermath of
As part of the aftermath of this shooting looks like Facebook has announced that it is formally banning white nationalism and white separatism from the site.
Lugius wrote: And according
Lugius
Mmm, I can't help thinking that maybe this isn't quite the best thread for having a pop at IWW documents from 1908.
Analysis from Matthew
Analysis from Matthew Lyons/Three-Way Fight: http://threewayfight.blogspot.com/2019/04/the-christchurch-massacre-and-fascist.html
I don't know if the San Diego
I don't know if the San Diego synagogue shooting needs its own thread, but some analysis of that related shooting here: https://www.bellingcat.com/news/americas/2019/04/28/ignore-the-poway-synagogue-shooters-manifesto-pay-attention-to-8chans-pol-board/
Jim wrote: Some of the
Jim
What the hell is national anarchism? Is that like national socialism but dumber?
Pretty much, yes. See here
Pretty much, yes. See here for all you need to know: https://libcom.org/library/rebranding-fascism-national-anarchists-spencer-sunshine