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Intelligence and Security Committee Report: Extreme Right-Wing Terrorism/Extreme Right-Wing Terrorist Groups

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4595113Intelligence and Security Committee Report: Extreme Right-Wing Terrorism2022the Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament

​EXTREME RIGHT-WING TERRORIST GROUPS

58. MI5 assesses that, while individuals present the greatest Extreme Right-Wing Terrorism (ERWT) threat, there remains "a significant, albeit smaller risk from organised online and offline groups in the UK".[1] As previously mentioned, according to an MI5 paper from early 2020,[2] there are broadly three key ideologies driving ERWT groups (although individuals and groups may subscribe to ideological tenets and ideas from multiple categories):

  • 'White Supremacist' and 'White Nationalist';
  • 'Cultural Nationalist'; and
  • 'Identitarian' movement.

'White Supremacist' and 'White Nationalist' groups

59. The majority of ERWT groups in the UK that endorse violence in service of their ideology are assessed to have White Supremacist and White Nationalist views (previously referred to under the category of the 'Extreme Right Wing' or XRW).

60. 'White Nationalism' is a belief that mass migration from the 'non-white' world poses an existential threat to the so-called 'white race' and 'Western culture', with a resulting desire to create an all-white state. 'White Supremacism' is the belief that the Caucasian race is superior to all others in either a physical or spiritual sense. However, groups motivated by each ideology can still vary significantly in terms of motivating factors, and may additionally incorporate a variety of individual grievances, such as antisemitism or anti-government sentiment.

61. Across these two categories, there are *** organised groups with an overtly violent ideology—for example, National Action, Sonnenkrieg Division (SKD) and System Resistance Network, which have all now been proscribed by the Government. National Action was banned in 2016, and SKD (assessed to have been inspired by the neo-Nazi Atomwaffen Division) in February 2020, with System Resistance Network being recognised as an alias of National Action at the same time. The issue of proscription is covered later in this Report.

62. In July 2018, JTAC assessed that *** with the ability and intent to conduct terrorist attacks:

The wider XRW movement ***; however, we assess that they remain focused on the so-called upcoming 'race war' for which they are preparing and ***.[3]

​'Cultural Nationalist' groups

63. JTAC has defined 'Cultural Nationalism' as:

A belief that 'Western Culture' is under threat from mass migration into Europe and from a lack of integration by certain ethnic and cultural groups. The ideology tends to focus on the rejection of cultural practices such as the wearing of the burqa or the perceived rise of the use of sharia law. In the UK this has been associated with anti-Islam activist groups.[4]

64. MI5 notes that, although 'Cultural Nationalism' is the least explicitly violent of the three ideologies:

[We] assess the inspired threat from 'Cultural Nationalist' ideologies may be further reaching than 'White Supremacists' or 'White Nationalist' ideologies, owing to the mainstreaming of many of the 'Cultural Nationalist' principles into conventional media reporting. This increases the prospective audience for 'Cultural Nationalist' grievances and agendas to a far greater number than those of White Supremacist' and 'White Nationalist' ideologies, who are largely restricted to the online space.[5]

65. The Director General of MI5 explained the pervasiveness of 'Cultural Nationalism' across the ERWT spectrum, noting that there have been a number of examples of Self-Initiated Terrorist attacks linked to ‘Cultural Nationalist' narratives:

If it were the case that, for the sake of argument, the 'White Supremacist' strand of this was consistently the most dangerous, ***. But if you look at the particular instances where Right Wing Extremists have mounted attacks in this country—Thomas Mair against Jo Cox in 2016, and then Darren Osborne outside Finsbury Park Mosque in 2017, and then Vincent Fuller, the man who stabbed the Bulgarian individual in 2019—in no case was any of those three assailants a confirmed 'White Supremacist' individual. They were more, if you will, 'Cultural Nationalists', each with very strong anti-Islam sentiment in their make up, and so it is difficult, because the violence is not distributed in the same way that the sort of extremity of some of the ideological views are distributed.[6]

'Identitarian' movement

66. In the past five years, there has been a significant growth in the profile and influence of the 'Identitarian' movement (which includes groups such as Generation Identity in Europe, and spin-off group the Identitarian Movement in the UK). According to MI5, 'Identitarian' groups seek to normalise a combination of 'White Nationalist' and 'Cultural Nationalist' principles behind an intellectual façade, in order to be seen as a viable alternative for those who do not want to associate themselves with the negative connotations of "White Nationalist' and 'White Supremacist' groups. The 'Identitarian' movement—which actively distances ​itself from violent ideology—has been very successful in attracting a youth movement of highly educated, middle-class members, and has been branded 'hipster fascists' because of its predominantly middle-class, student membership.

67. It is currently assessed that these groups ***. However, there is a possibility that 'Identitarian' concepts—such as the 'Great Replacement theory', which argues that white European populations are being deliberately replaced at an ethnic and cultural level through migration and the growth of minority communities,[7] and as can be seen throughout the 'manifesto' of Christchurch attacker Brenton Tarrant—will be ***.[8]

Satanism

68. In addition to these three ideologies, there are also newer movements which have influenced organised groups: for example, the influence of Satanism in White Supremacist and White Nationalist groups. This can be seen in the influence of groups such as the Order of the Nine Angles (O9A): an international Nazi-Satanist group, which is believed to have been established in the UK in the 1960s and has influenced the ideology of some of the most extreme UK ERWT groups, including the Sonnenkrieg Division.[9] (The group encourages its members to participate in extreme violence, sexual assault and murder, and also promotes infiltrating and subverting other organisations such as the police and the military.)

69. Nick Lowles, Chief Executive of Hope Not Hate, pointed to the O9A as wielding notable influence across the extremist sphere:

I think the other thing that we've seen in the last few years is that in some of these very small groups, National Action and some of the spin-off groups, not only a kind of anti-women misogyny narrative but aggressively so, and about sexual violence, and this is particularly these very small pro-terrorist groups, that have [been] influenced by the Order of the Nine Angles, the Nazi satanic group, who not only glorify sexual violence but use it as a weapon, and set up channels like Rapewaffen and stuff, things we would never have seen 20 or 30 years ago, so I think that's a really key thing amongst the young—we're talking about influence on teenagers.[10]

70. When we asked MI5 about 09A, it told the Committee that Satanist groups although it did recognise that "an interest in satanic rituals may increase a propensity for violence, and that investigations involving individuals with an interest in the occult are more likely to present *** issues".[11]

Virtual groups

71. ERWT 'groups' may also exist in a virtual sense, and this is increasingly the way in which communities will organise to promote their ideology and recruit. Virtual groups can ​comprise members from different countries who discuss ERWT propaganda and promote terrorist activity and rhetoric (such as conducting attacks against Muslims).

72. Many 'real-life' groups are evolving to become more virtual, increasingly using online communications rather than offline meetings among members, and some groups will start and continue entirely in the online world. MI5 is realistic about the challenges this presents:

We are mindful that the implications of this shift are uncertain at present, however any shift from the offline to the online space *** in terms of coverage and ***.[12]

The online challenge is addressed later in the Report.

Incels and Right-Wing Extremists: Shared grievances

73. Jacob Davey at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD) highlighted to the Committee the significant overlap between the growing online misogynist communities (sometimes called the 'manosphere') and Right-Wing Extremist ideologies.[13] The manosphere includes the Incel movement—an abbreviation of the term 'Involuntary Celibate'.

74. The Cambridge Dictionary defines Incels as a group of people on the internet who are unable to find sexual partners despite wanting them, and who express hate towards people whom they blame for this. When we asked MI5 about the Incel movement in the UK, it advised:

  • Most Involuntary Celibates (Incels) are non-violent or criminal and their activity would not meet MI5 terrorism thresholds ("the use or threat of action, both in and outside of the UK, designed to influence any international government organisation or to intimidate the public. It must also be for the purpose of advancing political, religious, racial, or ideological cause.").[14]
  • When Incel activity does meet terrorism thresholds, MI5 recommend that it should be categorised as a type of Single Issue Terrorism (SIT).[15]

75. MI5 pointed to the attack carried out by Elliot Rodger in the US in 2014 as an example of Incel terrorism, since it was aimed at societal change:

For example, in May 2014 Elliot Rodger killed six and injured 14 before killing himself, in a firearm attack at multiple locations in Isla Vista, California. Rodger identified as an Incel, and left a 137-page manifesto detailing not only his vengeful motivations, 'to punish everyone who is sexually active', but also his ideological motivations to bring about his 'second phase' of 'War on Women'. Rodger articulated aspirations for an 'Incel Rebellion' that would bring about a future world where women would be forced to have sex with Incels. Rodger is a classifiable Incel terrorist, targeting men and women in pursuit of societal change. His attack and ​manifesto language are commonly referenced and revered by the more extreme sub-sections of the Incel community.[16]

76. MI5 acknowledges that there is a growing synergy between Incel and ERWT ideologies:

*** Incel and white supremacist narratives can have many cross-cutting features, including tendencies towards a victimhood mindset, misogyny, and conspiratorial thinking (blaming of target-sets such as women, feminists, liberals, the Jewish community). Overlaps of Incel and right-wing grievances are therefore not unexpected, *** when assessing the nature and level of threat posed by a given individual . . . due to the diverse nature of the Incel movement, we recommend that Incel references *** should not be treated automatically as SIT, but recognised as a potential terrorist motivation and assessed case by case against [terrorism] thresholds . . .[17]

77. However, the Director General of MI5 cautioned against putting too much emphasis on the links between Incel terrorist activity and EWRT:

It is not, as things stand, something we are seeing a huge crossover [with ERWT] into this territory but there is a crossover. It has cropped up from time to time but in slightly odd ways and I think we would struggle to give you any sense of a strategic trend here.[18]

  1. ↑ MI5 Strategic Intelligence Group paper, 13 January 2020.
  2. ↑ MI5 Strategic Intelligence Group paper, 13 January 2020.
  3. ↑ JTAC paper, 1 July 2018.
  4. ↑ JTAC paper, 16 May 2019.
  5. ↑ MI5 Strategic Intelligence Group paper, 13 January 2020.
  6. ↑ Oral evidence - MI5, 28 April 2021.
  7. ↑ Jacob Davey and Julia Ebner, 'The Great Replacement': The Violent Consequences of Mainstreamed Extremism, Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD), 2019.
  8. ↑ MI5 Strategic Intelligence Group paper, 13 January 2020.
  9. ↑ Hope Not Hate, State of Hate 2020, 2020.
  10. ↑ Oral evidence - Nick Lowles, Hope Not Hate, 16 December 2020.
  11. ↑ MI5 Strategic Intelligence Group paper, 13 January 2020.
  12. ↑ MI5 Strategic Intelligence Group paper, 13 January 2020.
  13. ↑ Oral evidence - Jacob Davey, ISD, 16 December 2020.
  14. ↑ cps.gov.uk/crime-info/terrorism
  15. ↑ MI5 Strategic Intelligence Group paper, 5 August 2020.
  16. ↑ MI5 Strategic Intelligence Group paper, 5 August 2020.
  17. ↑ MI5 Strategic Intelligence Group paper, 5 August 2020.
  18. ↑ Oral evidence - MI5, 28 April 2021.
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