Calgary Neo-Nazi Group Claims Responsibility for Hanging Racist Banners on MacLeod Trail

One weekend in August, a banner with a phrase coined by one of America's most famous white supremacists was hung on a busy Calgary street.

All that's left are the images flying around the internet. And maybe that was the point.

A banner hung on the MacLeod Trail featured a phrase written bywhite supremacist and convicted felon David Lane. The Southern Poverty Law Center calls this phrase, known as the 14 Words, "the rallying cry of militant white nationalists."

A white supremacist social media channel claiming to be in Alberta shared the image on August 8 of him. Originally posted by Adolf HitlerMein Kampf

Read more: In Canada during the COVID-19 pandemic Reports of Hate Crimes Soar: StatCan

According to one insider of the modern neo-Nazi movement, these Images and posts are then used as recruitment propaganda.

"They put these [banners and stickers] up and they take pictures of them. Those images can live online much longer than the stickers," said the researcher and investigative journalist. Peter Smith, Canada's Anti-Hate Network, said:

``You get one guy in a small town to put up 100 flyers, take the 10 best photos, and suddenly you see — as far as the world is concerned, or whoever is interested. As long as you're — you make a presence, whether you're in a small town in Alberta or based in Saskatchewan and Manitoba. An image of its existence is created.”

Community members reported to Global News that someone had removed the banner on the same day it was posted, and another impromptu He said the banner was put up. Call that place, racism.

The Calgary Police Service's Hate Crime Division has confirmed to Global News that it is investigating the incident.

The banner had been removed when ordinance officials went to the city-owned footbridge after one had filed a 311 complaint.

Get in shape

Wild Rose is one of the so-called athletic clubs that have spread across North America in recent years.

Barbara Perry, director of the Center on Hate, Bias and Extremism at the Ontario Institute of Technology, said that this latest iteration of her fascist Neo-Her said it had improved its tactics and strategies. isolated man.

"We see it as a place for young white men to go and network and get fit," Smith explained.

Perry said he saw these extremist groups recruiting online in the gaming community. rice field.

Active club social media videos show calisthenics and combat training.

"They are very much aware that a lot of the time the need for belonging, the need for community, draws people to any group or any movement," said Perry.

It provides a space for socializing and action, which can lead to radicalization, Smith explained.

READ MORE: The Rise of White Supremacy and Its New Face in the 21st Century

Active clubs are: Smith explained that it was started by Robert Rundo, who is believed to be in self-imposed exile in Serbia.

Lund ran various white power street gangs, such as the Rise Above Movement (RAM), a form of street enforcement against the growing Black Lives Matter protest movement. .

"He is an active club that is a network, as opposed to groups that share the ideology of whites first, white unity, like a sort of open embrace of neo-Nazism and its symbols." We developed the idea of ​​​​"Smith".

READ MORE: US Capitol Hearings: Why Canadians Care. Extremism, security experts consider

"Anyone start one of these groups They can carry their propaganda and push their image through Rundo's larger online (social media) channels.''

However, clubs operating in Canada are "very It is coordinated by the Vinland Hammerskins, an elderly white power gang with a long history of violence, Smith said.

"In Canada, after being inactive for nearly 20 years, it was very quiet.(Hammer Skins) involvement was revealed when”

Decentralized structure allows Rundo and other representatives to claim ignorant and plausible deniability.

"For him, it is white nationalism 3.0. (Version) 1.0 is the skinhead movement of the 80s and 90s, 2.0 is the alt-right movement, the white nationalism An attempt to be a neat face, (3.0) is what he calls a "educated thug". He's trained, he's physical, he's lethal, but he's still someone who reads and is involved in their exercise philosophy," Smith said.

The alt-right's trademark polo shirts and khaki uniforms are held in Charlottesville with the Proud His Boys was seen at his 2017 Unite the Light rally. To give white nationalism a friendly image. The racist skinhead uniform was more outwardly intimidating — shaved heads, combat boots, bomber jackets, neo-Nazi and white power tattoos — the Southern Poverty Law Center said it was "soonis a symbol of recognizable hatred.

Read More: New Faces

Roses with Thorns

Wild Rose said on social media that its goal is to "take public space, and indefinitely, without conceding or surrendering."

"It's a win to see pro-white propaganda on your daily commute (sic)," they wrote days after posting the banner photo. wrote.

Wildrose, along with the local White Lives Matter (WLM) group, attended events such as the Drag His Queen His event "Reading with Royalty" held at the Louise Riley Public Library on July 30. are also vigorously protesting.

Adolf Hitler and fascists on the group's social media channels, launched in January.

One image contained a sticker that read, "Stop swapping white people." armband and balaclava.

A declaration of their purpose appeared on Sunday.

"We stand for rat-free Alberta and operate on our own terms as free Aryans." It has long been used as a racist analogy for Jews by the Jewish people and the Nazis.

Research by Smith, Perry, and others found that internal conflicts often disbanded groups, but the propagation of ideas was the most pernicious part of modern white supremacist movements. be.

READ MORE: Far-right extremists deemed Trump's tweet a 'call for arms' before Jan. 6 : Commission

"For example, groups like the Proud Boys, designated a terrorist organization, have disbanded. But then it comes in many forms," ​​Perry said. "I think the danger there is that usually the most jarring and extreme people stay and rebuild something else."

"Rand and Hammerskins are the We're not part of it, but we're in the same network," Smith said. "They have the same connections, and long after the club is over and White Lives Matter fades from memory, these networks and personal connections will remain and continue to support the movement.

National and Regional Threats

In 2015, Perry and the Center for Hate, Bigotry and Extremism released a national survey of right-wing extremist groups in CanadaAbout 15% of the country's extremist groups live in Alberta, according to conservative estimates in that paper.

A follow-up study is due out this year, she said, and the number of groups has nearly tripled since then.

“We have seen the growth of the group. We have seen an increase in membership. ' said Perry.

The latest public report on the terrorist threat against Canadawas published in 2018 by the Canadian Public Security Service. ``The threat of violence by individuals, including those with extreme right-wing views, continues to be a concern,'' the federal government said.

It can manifest itself in terrorist activities and other forms of criminal violence," the report said. “However, while racism, prejudice and misogyny can undermine the fabric of Canadian society, they are ultimately not usually criminal acts or threats to national security.”

CPS const. According to Matt Messenger, Hate Crime his unit became aware of Wildrose and her WLM presence earlier this year and was inundated with complaints about her WLM stickers posted around the city.

Messenger said that while hate messages were widely contained in stickers, simply posting stickers or hanging banners did not reach the level of criminal offense under the Criminal Code. .

READ MORE: The Rise of White Supremacy and Its New Face in the 21st Century

Cities Without a Permit Owned overpasses only violate the City's Temporary Sign Bylaw.

However, such cases may fall within the definition of a hate incident and, if they involve an individual, are hate crimes that the judicial system could consider if a crime such as assault was committed. A history of deeds could be created, he said.

"They acted on it and the crimes they committed were motivated by hate and bigotry." If we can prove it's a hate crime, we'll investigate it," Messenger said.

Messenger is asking anyone with information about these or similar incidents to call the CPS non-emergency line at 403-266-1234 or anonymously call Crime Stoppers

Action & Reaction

This incident occurred becausea controversial essay promoting anti-immigrant and misogynistic sentiments It was just days after I was awarded a $200 gift card from. Online, WLM is the author's S. Silver said he should be rewarded "for telling so much truth."

Perry called the banner "a bold move."

"It's a very powerful symbolic move for the movement that they've had the courage to do," she said. "It says something about Alberta politics at the time that felt like something you could get away with without any backlash or reaction."

Read more Read: Call for anti-racism action from all levels of government at rally in Calgary

Women Perry also included in banner He pointed to a disparaging message, a directive governing women's reproductive rights.

"This is a real slap in the face, not just for women, but for people of color," said Perry.

On Tuesday, Wild Rose posted another propaganda photo around the city's Beltline district. This appears to be one of the first public appearances of their substitute logo: a helmeted skull crossed by a wrench and a hammer.

"The Wild Rose Active Club took to the streets to spread the word and remove possible signs of liberalism (sic)," the post read.

It urged sympathizers to speak out against "degenerate behavior and white substitution."

The resurgence of neo-Nazi sentiment is a stark reminder of his 77 years after the Holocaust.

The CEO of the Calgary Jewish Federation said that all Calgarians ``hate in all its forms''. "We need to unite to condemn completely and clearly." In his first two years of the pandemic, racially based hate increased significantly.

"There should be no place in Calgary, Canada, nor in any civil society, for the white supremacy and hatred sown by David Lane. This sign and its 'white alternatives' The conspiracy theory message perpetuates hatred and fear not only among the Jewish community, but among all marginalized groups.

Both Perry and Smith's equally bold response to brazen racist messages is to meet them where they are, on the streets and on his social media. I'm saying.

"I believe that community organization and the nature of it are of paramount importance in combating far-right, fascist and hate movements," said Smith.

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