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. 

Steven Lane, National President of Urban Infidels Canada, having a completely normal one - then deleting it. (1/)@VestsCanada @ARCCollective @JaneQCitizen @agtbloodrayne pic.twitter.com/xxbBco6MR0

— EdmontonAgainstFascism (@EdmontonAgainst) January 27, 2020

 He did, indeed, keep going.

...? pic.twitter.com/VKQBgkyhhF

— EdmontonAgainstFascism (@EdmontonAgainst) January 27, 2020

And that's January, 2020.

It's good to be back. 

💗