Monday, January 27, 2020

January 2020 Bits and Bites: Mathews Apprehended, Vanderweide Angers Vets, Northern Guard Defection, Are Ronny Cameron and Steven Lane Okay?

It's been a minute, so we decided a nice round-up of January, 2020 was the appropriate way to get back into it. Keep your eyes peeled for some other changes too, which are just around the corner. 

Patrik Mathews, the former Canadian Reservist who was exposed last summer as a member of the accelerationist neo-Nazi group The Base was arrested earlier this month along with 2 other members of The Base in Maryland and Delaware. They were allegedly planning on traveling to Virginia to attend a pro-gun rally with the intent of kicking off the boogaloo (their parlance for a civil war.) 

Three more members of The Base were arrested a day later in Georgia, US, for allegedly planning to murder an anti-fascist couple. The same 3 members were also allegedly planning on double crossing Mathews and murdering him as they considered him a liability. 

Mathews was denied bail and remains in federal US custody. 

The stories are wild, and we encourage everyone to read the affidavit leading to Mathews' arrest. In the meantime, we are planning on a more comprehensive piece detailing the events surrounding Mathews. We also recommend Nick Martin's fantastic breakdown here. 

Jason Wilson of The Guardian also identified the leader and founder of The Base as Rinaldo Nazzaro, an American national living in Russia. There is a lot of speculation surrounding his involvement and intentions, so we will reserve our judgment until more information comes out.

Rinaldo Nazzaro

It turns out that The Base had been infiltrated by an antifascist for some time.  It is presumably this antifascist who took over their Telegram channel and began making it better.

Now that's a makeover 

Jacob Kaderli, one of the three Georgia Base members arrested for an alleged murder plot of an antifascist couple 

Chris Vanderweide angered Canadian veterans recently when he posted a picture of himself wearing a vest with Urban Infidels patches and a pair of jump wings.


It was pointed out to Chris that he should not have that patch since he did not earn it, however he felt that the veterans would be on his side.


Veterans were very much NOT on his side. Stolen Valour Canada found out and they were not having it. Many contacted Vanderweide to request he remove the wings, which they have now posted he's done.

Screenshot: Stolen Valour Canada, with names redacted 

Despite Vanderweide agreeing to remove the jump wings, he was still what we would consider disrespectful.





Georgie Fagan defected as the VP of the Northern Guard, and is now speaking out against the group:
Then this New Year’s Eve, Georgie messaged me an apology. He wanted me to know that he had left the Guard some months ago, that he renounced their hate, and that he was sorry for the harm he had caused. He wanted to make amends to his community. 
Since leaving the Northern Guard and speaking out against them, he has faced threats both against himself and his nine-year-old daughter. He knows people will think he is a rat, he told me, but he thought that staying silent was the same as supporting hate, and he did not want to do that. He hopes that by telling his story, and how he was lured into the group, he can prevent other people from making the same mistake.
Fagan has also posted a video to Facebook detailing his departure and threats made against his daughter by remaining Northern Guard members. We've linked to the video in full, as we feel it's a powerful testimony.

While we believe these numbers to be inflated, Fagan also advised the Halifax Examiner that Northern Guard's leader, Nick Gallant, is making bank off the backs of his members.
He has at least 1200 members. Plus there’s 100 dollars a year dues. He’s collecting 120,000 plus tax free money a year. Somebody else said to me, he don’t care about us anyway. He just wants 120,000 tax free dollars, so that’s the greatest scam I ever heard of. I said, you know what? Come to think about it, you’re right. He’s using other people’s feelings, weaknesses, or whatever the case may be to develop his own. And then our dues were twenty dollars on top of that to buy sandwiches or do stuff or go places, buy more patches. But not the head. The head leader gets 100 dollars from each member, and right now there’s over 1200 members from Maritimes to BC.
George Fagan's defection from the Northern Guard appears to be very genuine, and if he happens to read this we want to congratulate you on leaving that life behind. We hope you continue to work against hate groups in Canada, and find peace and happiness in your life. If you have any information that you wish to disclose about Northern Guard, please contact us.

Ronny Cameron was messaging his supporters, asking for cash, and had a run-in with Toronto based fascist Gavin David.

Grab a snack, because this is a ride.



































Finally, we have Steven Lane, president of SOO-offshot Urban Infidels (and Vanderweide's boss, we guess?) behaving rather strangely. 
 He did, indeed, keep going.
And that's January, 2020.

It's good to be back. 

💗
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Thursday, January 09, 2020

After More Than 12 Years, Allow Me to Introduce Myself

My name is Kurt Phillips

For over 12 years I have been anonymously tracking neo-Nazis and hate groups and sharing that information on this blog. I am proud of my work and stand by its accuracy. When we write about individuals and groups we use their own words and actions to describe what they’ve done. We don’t make things up. If they’re on the blog, there’s a very good reason.

I knew that one day my identity would become public. We know who is responsible and what they’re capable of so they should just be left alone. I hope they find peace one day. Right now I am just so grateful to have the support of family, friends, and an entire community of people who have joined me in this project over the years

The reasons why I did the work anonymously should now be self evident. I have been subject to a barrage of threats and a campaign of lies by people online. On that note I would like to set the record straight.
  1. I am not a terrorist or a leader or member of any extremist groups. These claims are defamatory and I'm talking to lawyers. I am in fact a human rights activist whose political views are mainstream. I believe, by default, that every good Canadian is anti-racist. Threats have been made and my friends have been collecting evidence and filing criminal complaints.
  2. I have never, nor would I ever, promote acts of violence. Throughout my life I have rejected violence as a means of enacting change and have always promoted legal and democratic methods to make the world a better place. Those who know me know this. I believe exposing hate is one of the best ways to stop it.
  3. I have always encouraged critical thinking and free discussion in my class regardless of student's political beliefs. My only consistent demand is that students (as well as myself) treat each other with respect - and when disagreeing, do so in a manner that doesn’t vilify the other person. In nearly 20 years I have never had a complaint about my teaching, and I believe my past students would confirm this, many of whom have reached out to support me. Like any good teacher, I did my best to teach the values of tolerance and diversity within the curriculum. I never brought the blog into the classroom or encouraged students to join activist groups.
  4. I do not target conservatives. Being opposed to racism isn’t confined to any side of the political spectrum. Over the years I have focused on bigotry notwithstanding other political views. I know conservatives who are an ally in the struggle against hatred, and they're just as welcome in this fight as progressives.
  5. I am meticulous in my research. I strive to avoid mistakes and fix them when they are made. As a result I am considered an expert in this field of research and have been consulted for news stories, contacted by police to aid in investigations, and have been cited in mainstream academic studies. Again, if somebody is on this blog, there's a good reason. And if they’re attacking me right now, there’s a good reason for that too.
As of now I’m leaving the blog which will continue under new management. It is being left in very good hands. I am going to continue my work as a new board member of the non-profit Canadian Anti-Hate Network. Stay tuned.

Hate groups are more active today than I’ve ever seen. However, I am very hopeful about the future, especially seeing the critical and courageous young people growing up today.

We will win, together.

Cheers,

Kurt
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Saturday, January 04, 2020

UBC Cancels Andy Ngo Event; Global Platforms Ngo Without Challenge

Far-right grifter, propagandist, Patriot Prayer best bud, and fascist water-carrier Andy Ngo's talk about "antifa violence" scheduled for January 29 was canceled by the University of British Columbia.
The organizer, The Free Speech Club, which isn't funded in any part nor an official club with UBC, but instead an independent organization, reacted, and is working with John Carpay's Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms. A letter was issued to UBC demanding they honour the agreement, and the university has until January 10 to respond before they take legal action. 


The Post Millennial, the far-right's favourite publication which still seems to think that the "concrete milkshake" lie in Portland is real despite being fully debunked, covered the story. They claim it was canceled due to "antifa threats." 


As an aside, we strongly suspect the cited "Antifa Facebook BC" page is a fake. 

ARC is your website? Ok. 

Andy Ngo shared the same post, and also claimed that "antifa promised violence."  

Which groups promised violence, Andy? 

In case it hasn't been made clear, the only 'violence' being mentioned are jokes about milkshakes, which comes from incidents in Britain, where Tommy Robinson, Nigel Farage, and others were "milkshaked." Ngo himself was milkshaked in Portland, as well as covered with silly string. While the ethics of milkshaking can be debated, the fact that it is being construed as "violent" is disingenuous. 

While a diversity of tactics is always needed, and there may be situations where force is required to prevent fascists from carrying out their own violent agenda, UBC's Students Against Bigotry has expressed no intention to initiate violence. 

So... that's it. That's the joke. "Promised violence" indeed. 

The Vancouver Sun also covered the story: 
Ron Holton, the university’s chief risk officer, said in an emailed statement that campus safety and security is the primary concern, and the school does risk assessments to evaluate the impact that event bookings could have on the campus community. 
“The assessment in this case determined the safety and security of UBC students, faculty, staff and infrastructure was at risk if the event was allowed to proceed,” he said, noting the event was cancelled “in order to safeguard the safety and security of our community.” 
No specific safety concern was cited. 
“What they’re doing is pretty anti-Charter (of Rights and Freedoms), and as a publicly funded institution, they can’t really do what they’re doing, especially given the political nature of it,” said club director Angelo Isidorou. “What I’m hoping is that they rescind their cancellation. If they don’t, we will have to pursue legal action.”
It's interesting that FSC director Angelo Isidorou is so involved and now making the media circuit. 

In December, the author of this article engaged Isidorou, who we had been on speaking terms with for some time, to ask what he thought of the Ngo talk. We have never shared a private DM before, however we feel it's relevant to this story. 






It is, therefore, an interesting turn of events that Isidorou provided the following to the JCCF: 
For the past three years, The Free Speech Club has hosted numerous public intellectuals from all over the political spectrum. I found myself shocked and bewildered to see the school take such an anti-freedom stance. I believe the school needs to not only protect free speech, but stand against violent thugs who seek to undo our freedom.
It's also not unreasonable to assume from this that they're looking to capitalize on the legal case:


To contrast these alleged "antifa threats" with what supporters of the FSC and Ngo are saying: 







Significantly more threatening than milkshaking, no? 

Andy is well known for fabricating or twisting the facts to blame antifascists for violence, like the time he claimed antifascists beat violent fascists with a hammer... except it was the fascist's hammer, and he was swinging it. 
To compound the issue, Ngo appeared on radio with Global's Alex Pierson on January 2 where Pierson proceeded to allow Ngo to share his misinformation without any challenge whatsoever. 
This is just the latest in the long line of media figures who propagate myths and untruths about antifascism and far-right violence. 

As it stands now, according to the Post Millennial, the school is waiting to find out how the January 15 event with Janice Fiamengo goes before making a hard decision. 

We will update the story as necessary.  
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