Sunday, July 24, 2011

True Believers and Far Right Politics

The man accused of carrying out Friday's massacre and bombing, Anders Behring Breivik, has confessed to both the attacks, but denied criminal responsibility, saying they were "gruesome but necessary".

  UK Guardian

I spent four years interviewing far right activists, many of whom rejected political violence. Yet what became clear during this research was that there is, unquestionably, a culture of violence within the broader far rightwing subculture.

[...]

Through websites, literature and meetings [...] this movement cultivates several narratives among its followers: the belief that they are engaged in a battle for racial or cultural survival; that their racial, religious or cultural group is threatened by imminent extinction; that existing political options are incapable of responding to this threat; that urgent and radical action is required to response to these threats in society; and that they must fulfil this duty in order to leave a legacy for their children and grandchildren.

These motives provide followers of far right and fundamentalist groups with a compelling and convincing rationale for getting actively involved.

[...]

Furthermore, they also contend that this threat is cultural rather than economic. It is not simply about jobs or social housing. It is a profound sense of concern that a set of values, way of life and wider community are under threat, and that only the most radical forms of action can remove this threat.

  UK Guardian

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Man is the only animal that loves his neighbor as himself and cuts his throat if his theology isn't straight. -- Mark Twain

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