experts are sounding the alarm: the current pandemic threatens the rise of extremism of all kinds around the world – from the jihadist to the far-right. Supporters of extreme ideas saw appeared out of nowhere in an unprecedented global crisis is a great opportunity to fish in troubled waters. One of them is preparing the ground for gathering new recruits, and someone who is ready for violence now.
pandemic and its accompanying upheavals, dramatic changes on a global scale – all these quarantines, isolation, work stoppages number of companies and institutions that have already happened and are still threatening in the future, the loss of millions of people – became an ideal nutrient solution for heterogeneous supporters of extremist ideas.
the Atmosphere is full of uncertainty and General confusion, the fear not only to the invisible, but deadly coronavirus, but absolutely dismal socio-economic prospects, impending unemployment for many people, the atomization of society, the discontent with actions of the authorities, mistrust towards authorities and the mass media – all this makes many people susceptible to extremist propaganda.
At a time when millions of people are trapped in their own four walls, many of them are immersed in social networks, in colorimeters to find, apart from information and communication – how calm your fears, and blame for the situation.
According to the report of a startup Moonshot CVE, which monitors extremist queries in Google, the level of activity of extremist content online in the American States, which was introduced by the rigid restrictive measures in connection with the “lockdown”, grew up in early April at 21% compared to the eight previous months.
Similar trends captures and London analytical center ISD Global, dedicated to the study of American social networks: the number of subscribers to extremist channels has increased significantly.
the same was said not so long ago and the assistant Director for security infrastructure of the Ministry of internal security of the United States Brian Harrell, saying that amid the crisis coronavirus in the Network increased the number of hate speech, encouraging violence and spreading hatred.
of Particular concern is the fact that distributed of assorted extremists the materials affect the minds of impressionable teenagers who spend a lot of time on the Internet.
Characteristically, right-wing extremists and radical Islamists are using the pandemic coronavirus instability and panic to advance their violent programs, often using similar tactics and even the same mobile application to exchange messages.
* * *
the Propagandists of ISIS (ISIS – banned terrorist organization) pandemic is presented as the “punishment of the countries of the crusaders” as an act of Supreme retribution against the “pagans” and “infidels”, claiming that outbreaks in China and Iran is a punishment from above, respectively, the Chinese “atheists” for the oppression of Muslims in Xinjiang and the Shiite “heretics”
“ISIS sees the global pandemic as an opportunity to further weaken his enemies, Fox News quoted a senior researcher at the Counter Extremism project Project Josh Lipowski. – Governments are trying to focus on the issues of international security, while addressing the global crisis in health, which also causes an economic crisis. ISIS is aware of this and sees opportunities to take advantage of growing fears among the civilian population and the governments that preorienting and restrict their resources.”
we Have to admit that the terrorist activity coronavirus downward, it seems, had no effect.
Police across Europe checks to see whether the sly under the guise of “Loktionov” restore cells. In April in Spain have been arrested who were wanted by British authorities, a supporter of ISIS, a former rapper Abdel-Majed Abdel Bari. This extremist posing in front of the camera with a severed head managed to move into Europe from Syria, avoiding obstacles in the avoid border control and biometric tracking at the border.
In recent months, intelligence agencies have reported several cases when in the Russian regions was neutralized supporters who were preparing terrorist attacks in Yekaterinburg, Murmansk, Stavropol.
In April, law enforcement authorities in Germany were thwarted by the alleged ISIS plot allegedly hatched by militants from Tajikistan – the attackers were arrested in North Rhine-Westphalia. According to Deutsche Welle, as possible targets for attacks they considered the American bases in Germany and persons who, in the opinion of the extremists, is critical to Islam.
At the beginning of may the Spanish police arrested a Moroccan citizen on suspicion of planning an attack.
And it’s not talking about the bloody terrorist attacks in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria – the traditional “hot spots” that, too, by the way, are feeling the devastating impact of the pandemic.
* * *
far-right supporters of the ideas of white supremacy is also actively operate on conspiracy theories and accuse the government of failing to deal with pandemonium crisis.
“They are very effectively benefit from the pandemic,” – CITrange The New York Times words of the head of the Institute for research and education in the field of human rights, based in Seattle research center for far-right movements, Devin Burghart of the supporters of extremist ideas.
the inconsistency of judgments extremist hard to find single rod, but somehow they fit well into popular among supporters of conspiracy in the context of combating the “New world order”.
In social networks spread false allegations of a racist nature (in particular that of East Asians are more predisposed to suffer from exposure to coronavirus). Or the assertion that the virus was originally developed as a biological weapon.
Expressed and arguments in support of the idea that only the consistent racism and xenophobia can protect against a global pandemic.
a Number of groups, for example, in the United States have agreed to the fact that it is the left use epidemic Covid-19 to establish a government of dictatorship. And that the coronavirus will lead to the “Communist” seizure of major industries and directed against the Second amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which provides for the right of Americans to guns.
A militia and “Patriotic” groups view introduced because of the coronavirus restrictions as repressive maneuvers of a tyrannical government.
right-wing extremists, many of whom call the pandemic “hoax”, claim that the crisis organized a “behind the scenes” (this role may be given to extremist and conspiracy builds, Jews, Chinese, etc. – someone like that). And “scapegoats” drawn immigrants, politicians, representatives of other races and other.
On the wave of fears of the dangerous disease documented cases of attacks on people of Asian descent and insult them in public places. (But from China, there are reports that there are some places because of the situation with coronavirus were facts of discrimination against blacks and some other countries of Asia and Africa targets became white tourists).
* * *
Pandemic and spurred the transfer of the old anti-Semitic myths on the “new track”. From right-wing radicals (as well as representatives of ultra-conservative Christian circles, and to a lesser extent, leftists, and – tellingly – on the part of the Islamists) accusations in the spirit of the notorious “Protocols of the elders of Zion” to the Jews around the world and the Zionists that they allegedly conspire, “as usual”, using the pandemic to undermine the stability of the world economy, so it was easier to get control over it.
there were also allegations that high-tech Jewish and Isra��skie companies have already produced a vaccine and cure COVID-19, and then, they say, will sell the drugs to countries with huge profit margins.
In April, at the tel Aviv University has published a report on the situation with anti-Semitism in the world who is in the grip of a nightmare coronavirus. According to the President of the European Jewish Congress and the “world Holocaust forum” Vyacheslav Moshe Kantor, with the outbreak of coronavirus are increasingly began to sound the accusations against the Jews who supposedly are behind the spread of the virus or directly cashing in on the situation.
Among those who spread primarily through the Internet – these days such conspiracy theories, is not only marginalized extremists, but political and religious leaders, journalists, scientists, artists, etc.
“MK” turned to the experts with questions – how big is the danger of activation on the background of the current crisis of extremism of all stripes? What are the prospects for growth of far-right sentiment in the West?
“the Resurgence of extremism that we have seen in recent years, even more intensified due to the crisis, when rising xenophobic sentiment and lay the blame for everything on foreigners, representatives of not indigenous, and at the same time, blooms nationalism, says the Chairman of the Board of the Center for Cantor Arie Zuckerman. All these right-wing and extreme right-wing elements will only intensify in the near future. And this is true for the whole world, not only of the West.”
“Yes, we are witnessing the rise of far-right and neo-Nazi political forces in the West, in Western Europe – says Professor of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (Israel) Dr. Shmuel since you will. We also see the rise of right-wing populism in Central and Eastern Europe, specifically in Hungary, to some extent, in Poland, there is some evidence of activity of such forces in Russia, which, however, are not supported by the official authorities, we observe a historical debate on the role of certain officials during the Holocaust in Lithuania, as well as recent discussions by the end of 2019 on a semblance of the new law, very similar to the law in Poland, denying Lithuania’s participation in the crimes during the Holocaust. So we are seeing the same trend, although we must understand that the events in the West are developing at a more dangerous scenario so far, also taking into account the level of information we receive from the West and the activity of Jewish communities in the West.”
* * *
by Itself, a search for “culprits” is associated with a pandemic crisis is increasing social tensions, increasing the degree of intolerance and deepening the mistrust between different groups in society. And in turn, theKai tensions forms the basis for future “recruits” various extremist associations.
While some extremists are looking at all this coronavirus history as the opportunity to catch in their network of supporters, others clearly can not sit still and wants to act.
In the US, there is a category of right-wing groups, which are referred to as “accelerationists”, seeing racial war as an opportunity to overthrow the government. They found that the spread of chaos and violence will accelerate the disintegration of existing society, which will allow them to establish in its place to fit their needs racist society.
Other adherents of far-right ideas that look at the pandemic as a powerful strike across the modern liberal-democratic world order and argue in the spirit of “worse is better”. They encountered the “new reality” is regarded as an opportunity for the development of their movement and achieve their goals through acts of violence.
In late March in the United States in a shootout with FBI agents was killed 36-year-old extremist Timothy R. Wilson, the suspect in planning the attack on the hospital Missouri. In a statement the FBI said that his actions were “motivated by racial, religious and anti-government hatred.” In one of the online channels Wilson has accused the Federal government in that it seeks to use the pandemic as a “pretext for the destruction of our people.”
Another American, 36-year-old resident of Arkansas Aaron Swenson announced in social media on 12 April that he was going to ambush a law enforcement officer to deal with it. Swenson was arrested on charges of terrorist threats and illegal possession of weapons.
This is just a couple of examples of how walking on the Internet the hatred reflected in practice. The recently published report of the project Tech Project Transparency, shows that thousands of armed right-wing militias are preparing a violent uprising against the government during the crisis with the coronavirus, having the social network as a platform for training and organization.
In ultrapro segment of the Internet began to receive calls deliberately spread coronavirus infection in order to provoke riots. There were also calls for the spread of the virus among Jews, blacks and police officers, for acts of sabotage against infrastructure (again, to incite riots).
In one Facebook, according to HuffPost, it was discovered 125 groups on Facebook dedicated to the idea of “Boogaloo” (the term describing the American far-right is inevitable, in their opinion, a new civil war in the USA). The participants of the forums and chats discussing weapons, military operations, medical issues and ways to get explosives, says��I’m in the Tech report Transparency Project. One group even posted a document detailing how to destroy the supply lines of the US government, and discussed the possible need to murder government officials.
According to the report, more than 60% of these groups were created only in the last three months. 125 groups, there are about 73 thousand members, though it’s unclear how many people may belong to multiple groups.
whether or not to exaggerate the capabilities of a real (in any case, any mass) realization of the wild calls of “armchair” supporters of the extreme right-wing ideas?
Hardly. But it is impossible to underestimate danger of dissipation of the seeds of hatred, which may radicalize potential extremists and terrorists.
