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ROMEThe mission statement for the so-called Identitarians Defend Europe project doesnt leave a lot open to interpretation. The groups members, sometimes described as right-wing hipsters, are hate-mates with American alt-right white nationalists and often fly the same flag with the Greek letter lambda in a circle.

Before they went into action they wrote, Its a mission to rescue Europe by defending the Mediterranean Sea by stopping illegal immigration, they said of their plan to take to the sea to stop refugees and migrants from crossing into Italy. We want to get a crew, equip a boat and set sails to the Mediterranean to chase down these enemies of Europe.

Those enemies are the thousands of migrants and refugees who arrive in Italy from Libya every week, and the dozen or more charity boats that rescue them. They promise to stop at nothing to stop the influx they say is threatening their culture.

When the governments fail, we step in because this land is ours, they promise in a YouTube video shot on the shores of Sicily with sampled images of terrorist attacks and sea rescues, apparently to prove that the two are connected. It starts here and it has to end here, the men who narrate the video say in a variety of European languages.

In mid-May the Defend Europe activists managed to nudge up against the Aquarius rescue vessel in the middle of the night and interfere with its departure. The ship, run by the French organization SOS Mditerrene, was headed out toward the search and rescue zone near Libyan waters. The Identitarians shot flares and yelled hate slogans at the big red vessel and then posted a video of the incident on YouTube and throughout their social networks.

It remains to be discovered just how the tiny boat of activists was able to gain access to the highly protected port of Catania, but it just might have something to do with Carmelo Zuccaro, the Sicilian prosecutor who is hell-bent on stopping the NGO rescue vessels at any cost. Zuccaro has petitioned the Italian parliament, calling for it to stop and investigate the rescue boats, but he has repeatedly come up short on evidence that they are doing anything illegal or in any way colluding with human traffickers.

The Identitarian movement began in France but has spread through Europes wealthier nations where anti-immigration sentiments are strongest, and has managed to find footing in Germany and Austria.

The movement, which shares ideology and members with the French group known as Generation Identity, has some important voices in the world of anti-Islam and anti-immigration hate activism. Conservative Canadian activist Lauren Southern, who tweets hate speech she does endorse by the likes of U.S. President Donald Trump and others, was apparently on the Defend Europe boat when it confronted the SOS Mditerrane rescue ship in Italy.

SOS Mditerrane put out an official statement about the May confrontation, but, like the other NGOs that operate in the search and rescue zone in the central Mediterranean, they have chosen not to engage in a media war with activists who clearly revel in publicity.

During the last weeks, we were confronted with two incidents in which far-right activists have expressed their resentment with the life-saving work that SOS Mditerrene is carrying out in the Central Mediterranean for more than one year now, the charity said in a statement. We regard these incidents as part of the enormous challenges that we and other humanitarian organizations are currently confronted with. Saving lives is a moral and legal duty. SOS Mditerrene will continue its works as long as people fleeing war, torture and poverty, have to risk their lives on perilous journeys.

Defend Europe, which did not respond to multiple requests for comment, insists it will protect Europes borders at sea at any cost, even if most of its actions are little more than seaborne selfies. The Defend Europe project organizers have hinted through social media that they will officially launch their next active phase to stop the rescue boats in Catania on June 9, although nodetails are yet available.

They say they have raised around $60,000 so far through a crowd-funding drive to buy boats and film equipment and to pay for travel expenses to Italy. Well be back, they say. And no doubt they will.

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What that means for the already perilous situation at sea remains to be seen. So far, more than 71,000 migrants and refugees have made it to Europe across Med this year and more than 1,700 have died trying. A battle at sea between activists and rescuers is the last thing anyone needs.

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Alt-Right Group Plans to Hunt Migrants at Sea - Daily Beast

Palmer Luckey, the guy who founded Oculus, sold it to Facebook, and then used the money to fund racist, far-right meme creation in the 2016 election cycle is now running a Peter-Thiel-backed startup to build surveillance technology that could be part of Donald Trump's border wall.

Peter Thiel is the Donald Trump advisor who secretly funded the litigation campaign that destroyed Gawker, secretly bought citizenship in New Zealand, and openly says that democracy is not compatible with freedom and that giving women votes made America hostile to capitalism.

As as he sees it, according to those familiar with the plan, the technology can be used for many kinds of perimeter security, including military bases and stadium events, where it could be used to detect drones. Software would help the system figure out which objects to ignore, like birds and coyotes.

Those familiar with the plan say Mr. Luckey believes his system, which can be mounted on telephone poles, can be built far more cost effectively than Mr. Trumps proposed wall on the Mexican border and with fewer obstacles from landowners.

The company, which is based in Southern California and has a warehouse there, is being self-financed by Mr. Luckey for now. He has hired a handful of people, including Christopher Dycus, who recently left Oculus and was the companys first employee. Eventually, he wants to explore new applications of other technologies including drones, Mr. Luckey has told people.

Mr. Thiels investment firm, Founders Fund, plans to invest in it, according to people with knowledge of its plans. They said the firm sees Mr. Luckeys venture in the mold of Palantir Technologies, a data-mining company co-founded by Mr. Thiel, which serves a wide range of clients, including intelligence agencies. A spokeswoman for Founders Fund declined to comment.

Oculus Founder Plots a Comeback With a Virtual Border Wall [Nick Wingfield/New York Times]

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Oculus Founder/alt-right troll Palmer Luckey teaming up with Peter Thiel to build surveillance tech - Boing Boing

CNN has rebutted a claim by alt-right bloggers that they staged a live shoot of Muslim people rallying against radicalismin the wake of the terrorist attack in London.

A video posted on YouTube claims to show CNN staging the narrative by having Muslim mothers rallying in support of London police gathered in front of cameras.

The signs held by the mothers read #ISIS Will Lose, #Love Will Win, To The Heroes of London, and #TurnToLove #ForLondon, among other phrases.

Far-right bloggers seem to believe that CNN set up the shot to show Muslims in a positive light following the attacks, which left seven people dead and 48 hospitalized when attackers hit pedestrians with a van on the London Bridge and then drove into Borough Market and stabbed people with knives.

The video shows several police officers standing next to a crime scene tape and slowly allowing some of those at the rally past the cordoned off area to stand in front the cameras. Behind the cameras, the video shows several producers, likely making it difficult it turn the cameras and film the protesters.

CNNs Becky Anderson then stands in front of them and speaks for a narrated part of a segment.

The video was first posted to Twitter by @MarkAntro. It caught the attention of alt-right blogger and personality Mike Cernovich, who shared the video with hundreds of thousands of followers across his social media accounts, including Twitter, Medium, and YouTube.

Its a fairly normal practice for television news outlets to arrange protesters in front of cameras, especially when, as CNN claims, the protesters were nearby.

This is nonsense, CNNs PR team said in a tweet. Police let demonstrators through the cordon to show their signs. CNN along with other media simply filmed them doing so.

Brian Stelter, CNNs Reliable Sources host, also said the video was misleading.

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CNN rebuts alt-right claim of staged London attack segment - The Daily Dot

Pat Based Spartan Washington: I look over there and I just want to smash. Photograph: Jason Wilson/the Guardian

A much-anticipated alt-right rally in Portland, Oregon has ended in police using stun grenades and tear gas against the most militant segment of a counter-protest.

At 3.30pm, police began pushing antifascist or antifa activists out of Chapman Square, just across from the rally in Terry Schrunk Plaza, in downtown Portland. Officers discharged grenades and gas as missiles were thrown. Portland police said on Twitter that they had closed the park due to criminal behavior including the use of bricks, mortar and other projectiles.

As the antifascists were pushed out, alt-right activists interrupted their schedule of speakers to rush to the edge of Schrunk Plaza and taunt them. Police said they had confiscated makeshift weapons and shields from protesters in Chapman Square, and said that at around 2pm protesters there launched marbles and other projectiles towards Schrunk Plaza.

Hours before, as the opposing activists gathered, tensions in the city were high, a little over a week after two men were killed and one wounded in a stabbing on city transportation.

Jeremy Christian, 35, was charged in the attack, in which Rick Best, 53, and Taliesin Myrddin Namkai Meche, 23, were killed after they intervened to help two young women who were the target of racial abuse. Christian was found to have expressed far-right views and to have attended a similar free speech rally in the city in April.

Portland mayor Ted Wheeler sought to block Sundays event, while on Saturday the leader of the Oath Keepers militia organisation told the Guardian members of his group were on their way to the city, to support and if necessary defend the rightwing protesters.

In the event, the alt-right rally was surrounded on three sides by separate counter-protests. Antifa activists occupied Chapman Square, to the south of the plaza. Portland United Against Hate, organized by 70 community and political groups, occupied the forecourt and sidewalk outside City Hall to the west. To the east, a protest organized by labor groups occupied the street outside a federal building.

At the City Hall rally, Seemab Hussein of the Oregon Council on Islamic Relations, a rally sponsor, said he wasnt surprised to see an alt-right gathering in the city.

Its part of Portland, he said, its part of Oregon, its part of society. He added that he didnt take seriously disavowals of the racist politics of older far-right movements.

I dont think they actually moved away from that, he said. Its the same ball of yarn the hate, the prejudice, the violence. It just finds a new victim. If its not Muslims, its immigrants. He was heartened, he said, to see so many Portlanders show up to oppose the rally.

All told, there were some 3,000 counter-protesters and only a few hundred at the free speech rally, where Kyle Based Stickman Chapman, who became a movement hero after physically attacking antifascists in Berkeley, California addressed the crowd. So did Joey Gibson, the organizer of the event. On the fringes, Pat Based Spartan Washington, a so-called alt-right celebrity, held an impromptu press conference.

I believe in freedom of speech, he said. Our speakers have a right to say what they want, and not be exposed to this shit across the street. I am definitely willing to use violence to make sure my family is safe and my patriot family is safe. But do I want it? Not necessarily. Until antifa learns not to use violence God, I hate them. I look over there and I just want to smash.

Members of the Oath Keepers and another patriot militia group, the Three Percenters, were present, identifiable by their insignia. Also present were members of the Proud Boys, associated with Vice founder Gavin McInnes and identifiable by their uniform Fred Perry T-shirts, and members of Warriors for Freedom, a group led by Gibson.

Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes gave a late afternoon speech, referring to growing links between established rightwing groups and internet subcultures.

We just went to Boston not too long ago, Rhodes said, and it was run by 4chan kids who put the rally on. They were standing there with pale skin, cos they dont go outside too much, but they had homemade shields in their hands and they were there. Its my job as a paratrooper veteran to teach those kids everything I know.

Tusitala Tiny Toese, a member of Warriors for Freedom, told the Guardian he was present to stand for free speech.

If you look all around America, he said, theyre trying to take away free speech silently. He also said that the group had ejected Jeremy Christian from the 29 April Portland rally. We heard what he was doing, he said, we heard he was doing [Nazi] salutes, and we said we dont like that, so we told him, you gotta leave.

Earlier in the day, as protesters gathered, two members of the Rose City Antifa group, wearing masks, spoke to the Guardian. Weve got hopes for what we want to happen and were preparing for the worst, one said, adding that their goals were being here, being a visible opposition.

These guys are mostly not interested in free speech, theyre interested in fighting us, the activist said. If they come over here, were going to respond in self-defense, but our plan is not to take that path. Our main goal is the defense of the community, and to reveal their actions for what they are: fascist street violence.

At one point Brian Fife, an alt-right protester, walked up to Chapman Square in an attempt to speak. He was surrounded and drowned out with air horns. Earlier, on the grass at Schrunk Plaza, Fife, who said he ran a small business in Salem, Oregon, said Jeremy Christian did everything right up until the point he started killing people.

I do not support killing people, he said, I dont think anyone does. But calling out the changing elements of our culture, I think thats something I wish more of us would do.

As police and DHS officers dressed in riot gear kept the groups apart, the rally passed without full-blooded confrontation between protesters. Police also announced that any movement between Chapman Square and Schrunk Plaza would be considered a criminal act. The plaza was cordoned off with yellow tape and police SUVs partially blocked traffic. Before the decision to clear Chapman Square, a small number of arrests were made.

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'Alt-right' Portland rally sees skirmishes with counter-protesters - The Guardian

Jeremy Christian, right, seen during a Patriot Prayer, allegedly stabbed three men, two fatally, in Portland last month. During a subsequent courtroom appearance, he exclaimed: "Free speech or die, Portland. You call it terrorism I call it patriotism." John Rudoff/AP hide caption

Jeremy Christian, right, seen during a Patriot Prayer, allegedly stabbed three men, two fatally, in Portland last month. During a subsequent courtroom appearance, he exclaimed: "Free speech or die, Portland. You call it terrorism I call it patriotism."

Alt-right. White nationalist. Free speech. Hate speech.

A number of labels involving the far right have been tossed about once again after a white supremacist allegedly stabbed three people who tried to keep him from shouting at two teenage girls, one wearing a hijab, on the Portland metro.

Fearing trouble because emotions are running high, Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler asked the federal government to revoke a permit for a "Trump Free Speech Rally" on Sunday, describing the organizers as "alt-right." But a rally organizer rejected that characterization, insisting he didn't even know precisely what the phrase meant. Left-wing groups also are planning rallies this weekend.

Here's a look at some of the phrases being used to describe the people involved, and what's behind them:

Alt-Right/White Nationalist

White supremacist Jeremy Christian, who has been charged with two counts of aggravated murder, attempted murder and intimidation in the second degree, began his courtroom appearance last week shouting about free speech. "Free speech or die, Portland. You call it terrorism I call it patriotism," Christian shouted. "If you don't like free speech get the f*** out of my country."

So what exactly was Christian ranting about? Was it nonsensical ravings or something more an exclamation of his political ideology? Was he saying he allegedly stabbed the three men, two of them fatally, because he believed they were interfering with his right to speak to the young women?

Understanding the language of the far right is a good place to start. There's plenty of disagreement and debate about what language to use to describe far right politics and the groups that operate there.

These days, the labels white nationalist and alt-right have become ubiquitous. Radical right and ultra-right are older terms from the 1950s and 60s, and other terms include paleo-conservative, the militia movement, identity movement, American fascists, national socialists, neo-Nazis. But according to Mark Potok, a leader at the Southern Poverty Law Center for the last two decades, essentially these groups can be broken down into two main categories those who focus primarily on issues of race and those who focus primarily on conspiracy theories. One idea that courses through nearly all of them is the belief that healthy societies are dependent on racial, ethnic and cultural purity that for the white race, diversity is the path to political and cultural extinction.

The thinking is that each racial/ethnic group should get their own country, but the USA (and Europe) is for white, European, Christian culture. It's why language like Christian's "get out of my country" is prevalent among the far right.

This supremacist vision is what separates alternative right/white nationalists from others on the political spectrum. It's an enormous leap ideologically from mainstream conservatism and the main reason why alt-right membership remains relatively low. Where does the term alt-right come from? Paleo-conservative philosopher Paul Grottfried first used the phrase in 2008 but white nationalist Richard Spencer ran with it and helped make alt-right ubiquitous.

Spencer is a new face of the extreme right movement. Well educated at the Universities of Virginia, Chicago and Duke, he is a world away from old images of the Ku Klux Klan. According to Pete Simi, professor of Sociology at Chapman University ant the co-author of the book American Swastika: Inside the White Power Movement's Hidden Spaces of Hate, the term alt-right was a successful attempt by Spencer to rebrand himself and his followers as something fresh, young and smart for a new generation.

Among its allies, the alt-right embraces President Trump advisor and former Breitbart editor Steve Bannon. Bannon has called the site a "platform for the alt-right."

Free Speech or Hate Speech?

Free Speech has grown into a major issue for both mainstream conservatives and the alt-right. For mainstream conservatives, the belief that the left is more intolerant of dissent than the right is evidenced by the protests against right-wing speakers on college campuses.

White nationalists believe their First Amendment rights go further: that they should have the freedom to say whatever they like and not suffer consequences for example, getting fired from their job for posting something hateful on Facebook.

The alt-right has developed its own language and symbols on the Internet. Parentheses around a person's name means they are Jewish. "Cuckservative" is a particularly ugly racist and derogatory term describing establishment Republicans who aren't considered conservative enough.

Professor Simi says a key feature of white nationalist belief is seeing themselves as victims. "We're not the haters, we're the victims of white genocide," Simi says, describing the alt-right mindset. Marginalized, oppressed, and fighting an uphill battle against the powers that be, they view themselves as noble, courageous, even heroic warriors.

"Patriot" or Terrorist?

A second category of the extreme right in the American militia movement, which can be characterized by its belief in conspiracy theories. On his Facebook page, Christian praised Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh, "May all the Gods Bless Timothy McVeigh a TRUE PATRIOT!!!"

Former SPLC director Potok said the movement's fundamental idea is that the federal government is involved in a conspiracy against its people's liberties. The imposition of martial law will be followed by the forced confiscation of guns and Potok explains that in the end, the U.S. government will be forced into a one world government, the so-called "New World Order" that will be run to serve the global elite. Elements of these conspiracy theories recently made a prominent appearance in Texas in 2015 during an armed forces military exercise, which stoked fear among some worried Texans that President Obama was about to use Special Forces soldiers to confiscate guns and round up resisters. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott responded by ordering the Texas State Guard to monitor the Special Forces soldiers while they trained in Texas.

Martin Kaste contributed to this story.

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Alt-Right, White Nationalist, Free Speech: The Far Right's Language Explained - NPR