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The actress, filmmaker and activist, one of the first "silence breakers" to share her story, claiming that the mogul sexually assaulted her in a Park City hotel room in 1997, says: "Hopefully now this will be the first day of the rest of my life."

I'm currently sitting on my bed and I have my arm around my puppy Pearl Kali, a Havanese from Cuba named Kali after the warrior goddess. A therapist told me that I needed a puppy for chronic PTSD and so, here we are. I'm looking at her while staring at a horizon that I haven't seen since I was raped in 1997. I haven't had a free moment from this man since then.

God bless the women who testified: Annabella Sciorra, Miriam Haley, Jessica Mann, Dawn Dunning and Tarale Wulff and Lauren Young. I can imagine what it felt like for them to be on that stand because, essentially, its like standing there naked in front of the world, allowing people to put tiny pinpricks in you as they try to pull the skin off. Death by a thousand cuts during a trial that was reality versus gaslighting. Its brutal and harrowing but they were brave. Donna Rotunno, Harveys lawyer, came at them with this kind of wink to the incel movement and by using the same trigger words as the alt-right dudes. These women had to literally look at the belly of the beast while the beast that hurt them is standing behind the beast. It was a Herculean effort and there aren't enough words to describe how I feel for them or what I feel for them.

Justice is a privilege and thats a really twisted thing to say. Justice should be the norm, not a 2 percent conviction rate on rape cases. Most women, men, boys, girls or anybody who has ever been hurt myself included will never have that moment where they can sit across from the person who hurt them and point at them and say, That was the person who hurt me. Thats a privilege and thats a sick privilege to have. I wonder how long it would have taken if wed all been black or Latina? I have so many thoughts about the cultural aspect of it all, but theres also a personal aspect. It's two separate things for me and I haven't had as much opportunity to process the personal of it until now, until tonight, when I feel like I have the weight of a thousand boots off my back.

I can breathe now. Obviously, I breathe a minimal amount to stay alive but I've gotten used to living with such a weight on me. Now I feel that I can breathe for the first time in years. The weirdest part is I feel connected to the girl who walked in that hotel room that morning for a meeting, and I have not felt her for a long, long time. I mean, I know her because shes frozen in time in a few of the movies I made, but when I see pictures of myself from around that time, Im like, damn, she was a baby. Now, it feels like she and I are high-fiving. [Rose pauses and starts crying.] These are happy tears. I'm crying tears of relief for the first time.

It can be an extremely hard push as an activist or global re-educator, whatever you want to call it, trying to unwire millennia of tradition brought on a certain subject and yet being a trauma survivor myself who has to do the work that triggers an act of trauma. Gee, no wonder I short-circuit sometimes? But if somebody were to ask, is Rose more angry with Harvey or the complicity machine? I would definitely say the complicity machine because I do believe there's something deeply wrong with him that he'll never fix in his head.

Hopefully, now this will be the first day of the rest of my life as I attempt to see what life would have been like without someone trying to kill me or paint me as an insane person. I had an entire career before. I do a fuck ton of creative things besides talk about stupid Harvey Weinstein. Thats what I find exciting about this moment. I understand that people are terrified of me out there and I don't know what to do about them. I cant hold onto that because while I had to help take down their cult leader, its OK to not be in a cult, you know? I should know, I was in one. Its actually OK to say this is fucked up and I dont need someone like him in my life. What if its time for someone else to just come in and make amazing movies? I just feel, energy-wise, that the planet would be better off if he wasnt on it. Thats my hippie answer.

What I do know is that tonight, a predator is off the streets. Recently, Ive been watching new TV shows and movies and Ill see an actress and say to myself, Wow, he would have raped her. Thats totally his type. Now, I get to hope to God that these women will get to live their lives, have careers and do everything they want to do and achieve what they want to achieve. And I get to be centered and free. That's my gift.

Read this article:
Rose McGowan on Weinstein Verdict: "I Can Breathe for the First Time in Years" - Hollywood Reporter

Courtesy of bloomberg.com

By Eva Lynch

Germanys leading political party, Angela Merkels Christian Democratic Union (CDU), and the near political future of the country were thrown into chaotic disarray when Merkels heir apparent resigned earlier this week.

Merkel announced in October 2018 that she would not seek reelection as leader of the CDU, but would continue her tenure as Chancellor until Germanys next federal election, set for 2021 at the latest. While she declined to officially name a successor, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, often fondly referred to by her initials AKK, was widely seen as the most likely choice.

Merkels consistency, which has characterized her leadership tenure, remains true even as she moves toward exiting the political stage; once she makes a decision, she does not back down from it. Supposedly, she made her informal choice in Kramp-Karrenbauer as her successor long ago and began grooming her for the position ever since. AKKs ascension to party leader was carefully planned by Merkel, including her experience as the CDUs secretary general. Merkels hope in this choice was reportedly to continue her legacy of moderate policies by installing a leader with political views similar to her own. With this strategy now in shambles, Merkels attempt at the smoothest transition of leadership possible has now sent the biggest shockwaves through Germany since World War II.

Kramp-Karrenbauer, whose likelihood of succeeding Merkel was boosted by her promotion to Minister of Defense in 2019, became involved in politics in the 1980s when she was elected chairwoman of her hometown of Pttlingens CDU association. While she originally accepted Merkels succession little more than a year ago, Kramp-Karrenbauer has since reversed this decision during a CDU party meeting on February 10. She stated her plans for resignation of her chairship later this year; further, she stated she does not plan to put herself in the running for Chancellor in 2021.

Though she has not named a single reason for her decision, recent criticism Kramp-Karrenbauer has faced regarding her handling of controversies surrounding the recent local elections in the German province of Thuringia may be to blame. Free Democrat Thomas Kemmerich was elected state premier after the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party joined the CDU in endorsing him. Kramp-Karrenbauers response to questions of collusion in the election, as this is the first candidate to have won an election with the help of the alt-right since World War II, sparked the criticism that is speculated to have led to her resignation.

Kramp-Karrenbauer said that she would remain party chairwoman until the CDU decides on a suitable candidate for Chancellor; this process could take until the end of the year, if not longer.

In the same response to alt-right collusion, AKK blamed her predecessor in part for her dismal fate, commenting that Merkels decision to separate Chancellor and the party chair weakens the CDU and set her up for failure as chairwoman.

Now, German citizens eyes are trained on the future of the CDU. It is unlikely that any proposed successor would accept party chairship without a guarantee of candidacy for the chancellorship, given Kramp-Karrenbauers experience thus far, meaning Merkels timeline may be significantly accelerated. According to the CDUs most recent statements, they will reconvene on April 25 in a special congress to decide on a new party leader and candidate for chancellor.

See the original post:
The Future of the German Conservative Party: Following Angela Merkel Out? - Catholic University of America The Tower

The internet is a place where everyone meets everyone else. It is the site of a billion different micro- and macro-cultures; it is a space where you can find out anything you want, provided humans have come up with it; it is a weirdly temporary repository of our speciess history, which will end when the server lights finally wink off.

In historical terms, its also very new. The World Wide Web debuted to the general public in August 1991, only 29 short years ago. And because it was a new technology, a kind of public square that felt novel and transformative, things felt lawless, and people began to behave lawlessly, as though the web was a place beyond pro-social norms. Today, that has changed somewhat, if only because now its easy for the majority of people to get online: in 2018, 69.6 percent of Americans had a smartphone, which is the way most people access the internet.

The other reason for the change was Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerbergs crusade for a real-name internet because real people are easier to sell to advertisers and because anonymity breeds toxicity. (Less discussed, of course, is pseudonymity: you can get the same social benefits just by having a persistent identity online. But that isnt quite as lucrative.) Even so, vestiges of the old internecine spats and flame wars spring up now and again, generally with the unlikeliest people and brands centered in the crosshairs.

The latest victim was Yorkshire Tea, a black tea blend 14 years older than the net and the current bestselling black tea in the United Kingdom. Last week, Rishi Sunak, Boris Johnsons chancellor, posted a picture on Twitter of himself with a very large bag of Yorkshire Tea bags.

That tweet kicked off a shitstorm of anger at Yorkshire Tea, which hadnt staged the photo or been involved in any financial way. Nothing to do with us - people of all political stripes like our brew, the company wrote in a since-deleted tweet later that day. Plus theres no way wed intentionally stick ourselves in a Twitter storm on a Friday afternoon. Its nearly hometime! The angry tweets continued through the weekend, which compelled the brand to tweet an unusually frank call for civility and kindness.

Its a very nice sentiment from a tea brand: dont forget that there are people behind the usernames, and those people have feelings, too. Even faceless accounts are run by humans who look and think and have the capacity to feel, just as you do.

The problem, however, is that it doesnt matter. Everybody knows that theres a human on the receiving end of an angry post; thats why the posts are sent in the first place. They are meant to hurt. But beyond hurt, their point is to shame because shame can seem like an effective way to change someone elses behavior. And historically, shaming has been used as a visible way to enforce a communitys standards.

As the historian of emotions Peter N. Stearns writes in his book Shame: A Brief History: An impressive variety of regions, from ancient Egypt onward, displayed people who had misbehavedfrom mischievous students who had not done their lessons to adults accused of adulteryin some form of public stocks, where for a few hours, even a few days, the general public could walk past and express their disgust. (Remind you of anything?) Even so, he writes, because of shames power, some people either figured out ways to be welcomed back into their communities or to avoid it in the first place.

The problem with public shaming on Twitter the kind that Yorkshire Tea experienced is that Twitter isnt a community at all. It is a mishmash of random groups that form and deform unpredictably and encompass everyone from Juggalos to JNCO enthusiasts. Its context- and community-free nature means that Twitter shaming isnt usually productive; it makes most targets dig in their heels.

So lets back up for a second. The reason this seemingly innocuous post from Sunak was controversial in the first place is because the chancellor / MP for Yorks is a Tory and a Brexiteer. As a person appointed by Johnson, the current prime minister, Sunak is expected to help cudgel the UK and the rest of Europe into supporting the United Kingdoms withdrawal from the European Union. As an American, its been interesting to watch whats been happening across the proverbial pond: seeing a culture war from a distance has a way of making the issues and deceptions appear relatively easy to parse.

Obviously, that isnt the case. Its rare that a culture war is about the material considerations that birth it because theyre mostly about feelings. The Brexit vote was less about funding for the National Health Service and more about nostalgia for an empire the sun never sets on. (The same dynamic is currently playing out in the US Democratic primary for its presidential candidate, and it will play out again as soon as a nominee is decided and we start in on election season in earnest. To put it lightly, Trump and his party are, more than anything, nostalgic.)

The online hostility toward Yorkshire Tea, then, can be read as a way for people who are angry about Brexit to vent or express an unfavorable opinion toward the powerful. Its also a symptom of a capitalist culture that conflates someones personality with the things they buy and consume which itself has become a predictor in the never-ending culture wars. If you like [insert thing], you probably believe [insert belief], right? (Its the same on Amazon.) And as societies become more politically polarized, the predictive power increases: you buy this brand because it represents this thing.

Because the internet operates as a feedback loop, those trends have started happening faster than ever. One example that feels particularly au courant is people involved in the alt-right / alt-light using the OK hand gesture to winkingly gesture toward white supremacy because posters on 4chan decided it would be an excellent way to troll the libs. That meant, eventually, it became both of those things at once.

Naturally, this brings us back to tea. Tea isnt hard to find, not anymore. But it is the original symbol of globalization. More than one war has been fought over those precious leaves, and its trade has opened borders. The Boston Tea Party wouldnt have happened without the Tea Act in 1773, which was meant to stop tea from being smuggled into America by granting the British East India Company the right to export tea from Britain duty-free to North America which the colonists still had to pay tax on, according to the Townshend Acts. That conflict, of course, started the American Revolution.

Last weekend, Yorkshire Tea found itself at the center of a thoroughly modern phenomenon: its brand was inadvertently associated with politics that a large number of people dislike; a group of people formed on Twitter who might not normally band together but shared the same feelings about Brexit; angry posts were tweeted as a way to shame the brand into saying something in line with the groups views; the conflict went viral; and here you are now.

Anyway, this morning, Chancellor Sunak posted another tweet about tea.

It would seem he learned a lesson, although I still think hes missing the point (even if hes not digging his heels in), which is: you cant escape from politics because it is everything now. The deception was that it didnt matter, that the policies that determine the shape of our lives were anything but incredibly important. In an age of wild and growing inequality, people are starting to realize the way we use power matters and the internet happens to be the best place to see it.

Visit link:
The internet melted down over Yorkshire Tea because of Brexit - The Verge

The myths and conspiracy theories that fuel the radical right often take on lives of their own: Think of how the QAnon phenomenon began as a handful of conspiracy theorists making groundless claims and predictions about a coming Storm that metastasized first into a wildly popular body of Patriot/militia conspiracism, and finally into a massive submovement operating within the framework of the Trump presidencywhile producing a growing record of lethal violence by its unhinged believers.

Something similar appears to be coalescing around the boogaloothe vision of members of the far right ofa coming civil war, which they claim is being forced upon themby liberals who want to take their guns away as the first step towardtheir incarceration and enslavement. In reality, of course, a number of sectors of the far right have ginned up this kind of rhetoric for decadesbut now, a systematic study of its spread through social media has found that it appears to be massing into a movement of its own.

The study, conducted by the independent Network Contagion Research Institute, explores, according to its subtitle, how domestic militants organize on memes to incite violent insurrection and terror against government and law enforcement. It focused on the boogaloo in large part due its increasing popularityparticularly as a hashtag (#Boogaloo or #Boogaloo2020)on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, as well as the extreme and often callous expressions of violent intent that form the essence of the chatter.

In its initial forms, the civil war talk was generated in different sectors of the radical right in different ways. Among neo-Nazis, it generally has focused on a race wari.e., a genocidal conflict between whites and nonwhitesdating back to the 1980s and the classic white-supremacist blueprint, The Turner Diaries. This vein of rhetoric has produced a long record of lethal domestic terrorism, including the 1984 neo-Nazi criminal gang The Order; the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing; and more recently, the 2011 attack in Norway that killed 87 people and the 2019 Christchurch mosque attacks in New Zealand that killed 51.

Among the Patriot movement believers who form militias in resistance to the New World Order, most of the rhetoric has focused on using arms against law enforcement, particularly the federal kind, as well as the mythic blue-helmeted United Nations soldiers about to descend on them from black helicopters. In its more recent iterations among far-right Oath Keepers and III Percent militiamen, the boogaloo talk has mostly revolved around resistance to liberal gun-control legislation.

This reached its apotheosis in January when thousands of armed Patriots from around the United States descended on Richmond, Virginia, to protest imminent gun safetylegislation making its way through the states General Assembly. Before the rally, FBI agents arrested a trio of neo-Nazis who were preparing to open fire on law enforcement at the event.

However, one of the results of the broad emergence of popular boogaloo rhetoric has been a blurring of the lines between the anti-government extremists who foresee conflict with federal forces and the more extreme white supremacists who lust for a bloody conflict between the white and nonwhite races. While many of the latter also eagerly participate in the anti-government talk, many of the former appear to be warming up to the race-war talk.

The NCRI study found not only that the discussion of the boogaloo on social media had surged, but that discrete groups were coalescing around the discussion and creating the nascent forms of a movement. The boogaloo topic network produces a coherent, multi-component and detailed conspiracy to launch an inevitable, violent, sudden, and apocalyptic war across the homeland, it said, adding that the models created by researchers show that the meme acts as a meaningful vector to organize seditious sentiment at large.

The conspiracy, replete with suggestions to stockpile ammunition, may itself set the stage for massive real-world violence and sensitize enthusiasts to mobilize in mass for confrontations or charged political events. Furthermore, the memes emphasis on military language and culture poses a specific risk to military communities due to the similar thematic structure, fraternal organization, and reward incentives.

One of the boogaloo groups featured in the study, calling itself Patriot Wave, illustrated perfectly how the lines between militia Patriots and alt-right white nationalists were completely blurred and submerged in the larger project of fomenting a violent civil war. Its members wore alt-right Pepe the Frog patches with the title Boogaloo Boys, while others wore the skull balaclava generally associated with members of the fascist Atomwaffen Division.

The study also pointed to a particular area of concern: namely, the ability of these extremists to simply blend into existing power structures, including law enforcement and the military. One boogaloo enthusiast, Coast Guardsman Christopher Hasson, was arrested with a full arms cache and a plan to assassinate liberal political leaders. A Patriot Wave member is quoted in the study: Some of the guys we were with arent exactly out of the military yet, so they had to keep their faces covered.

The spread of the boogaloo organizing on social media has been facilitated with the use of hashtags #Boogaloo and #Boogaloo2020, which are then accompanied by associated hashtags such as #2A, #CivilWar2, and #2ndAmendment, as well as hashtags such as #BigIgloo, intended to elude filters.

This kind of informational conflictor what the study calls memetic warfarehas evolved, the study says, from mere lone-wolf threats to the threat of an entire meme-based insurgency.

The NCRI report was sent to members of Congress and the departments of Defense, Homeland Security, and Justice, among others. Paul Goldenberg, a member of the Homeland Security Advisory Council, told NBC News Brandy Zadrozny that the report was a wake-up call.

When you have people talking about and planning sedition and violence against minorities, police and public officials, we need to take their words seriously, said Goldenberg.

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See the rest here:
Civil war talk takes on a life of its own as far-right extremists coalesce around the Boogaloo - AlterNet

news, latest-news,

The Director-General of ASIO expressed concern earlier this week about the growing extreme-right threat in Australia. Over the past five years or so, the likelihood of an Islamist attack in Australia has been high but the consequences probably low in terms of casualties; by contrast, the likelihood of a far-right terrorist attack had been low, but the consequences probably far higher in terms of casualties. Why is there a difference in lethality? Islamic State has superseded al-Qaeda as the dominant force in global Islamist terrorism over the past five years and its focus has been on "low-tech, high-impact" attacks - mainly vehicle rammings and knifings. Islamic State has preferred the kind of basic attack that any unsophisticated sympathiser could undertake with little or no preparation. By contrast, al-Qaeda's emphasis has always been on well-planned mass-casualty bombings and shootings. Al-Qaeda's most dangerous legacy (although the organisation is by no means down and out) was a series of articles in its Inspire magazines on issues like how to make a bomb in the kitchen of your "mom". Some Islamic State supporters also read Inspire and that perhaps could have "inspired" the plan to down an Etihad plane out of Sydney in June, 2017. We therefore can't totally discount an Islamist mass-casualty attack in Australia. The far right, on the other hand, tends to be inspired by its violent idols - foremost among them being Timothy McVeigh in the US, Anders Behring Breivik in Norway, and Brenton Tarrant in New Zealand. All three used bombings and/or shootings to cause mass casualties. Former soldier McVeigh bombed the federal building in Oklahoma City in 1995, killing 168 people. It was primarily an act of revenge against the federal government for the Waco "massacre". McVeigh did not formally belong to any extremist group. He chose not to appeal against his execution to remain in control of his fate. His favourite poem was Invictus: "It matters not how strait the gate, How charged with punishments the scroll, I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul." Breivik killed eight people in 2011 by detonating a vehicle bomb in Oslo, and then shot dead 69 participants at a Workers' Youth League summer camp on Utoya Island. Breivik identified himself as "a fascist and a Nazi, who practices Odinism and uses counterjihadist rhetoric to support ethno-nationalists". Australian Tarrant undertook shooting attacks at mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand in March, 2019, killing 51 people. Tarrant is a white supremacist and part of the "alt-right", but apparently not an active group member. He had, however, visited groups in Europe. Extremists inspired by Tarrant praised him as a "saint" online, and subsequently committed attacks of their own in Poway, El Paso and Norway. Concern is often expressed about the threatening activities of Australian far-right groups. The reality is that such groups are long on rhetoric and thuggish behaviour, but in the past have been more likely to kill their own members than members of the public. "National Action" killed two of their members suspected of being police informers for that reason. Unfortunately for them, ASIO was bugging the premises where one of the murders took place - and took the ethical decision of providing evidence that led to the perpetrators' conviction. READ MORE: Australian far-right groups now include Nationalist Australian Alternative, Lads Society, Antipodean Resistance, Proud Boys, Soldiers of Odin, Identity Australia, Australian Traditional, New National Action, Patriotic Youth League, Rise Up Australia, Yellow Vest Australia and so on. Some are short-lived (and may already have disbanded), and most don't have many members, but they can generate large numbers of supporters when they are able to hijack an incident - as they did during the 2005 Cronulla riots. While most Australian far-right groups are white nationalist, they may also embrace other right-wing ideologies such as fascism and neo-Nazism. Sometimes they share popular national concerns. For example, many Australians probably believe that an immigration figure of 200,000 a year is not sustainable for environmental and social reasons. Far-right groups oppose it for nationalist or racist reasons - notably because most of the migrants are from Asia. In fact, in recent years most far-right terrorist attacks have not been by carried out by groups but by adult males who are not active members. They have absorbed far-right ideology, usually related to white nationalism, antisemitism, and Islamophobia. They have made contact and met with like-minded individuals through internet chat sites. These lone actors are a difficult intelligence target. ASIO penetration of far-right groups will not necessarily turn them up. The most likely way to identify potential problem individuals is through their communications (usually encrypted), membership of gun and hunting clubs, the kind of literature they read, and links to bikie gangs.

https://nnimgt-a.akamaihd.net/transform/v1/crop/frm/tPntrWhUbGLyDWYCTv46rt/f0d1d573-ea68-40b6-8d45-c7854330f9e7.jpg/r20_0_5832_3284_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg

OPINION

February 28 2020 - 12:00AM

The Director-General of ASIO expressed concern earlier this week about the growing extreme-right threat in Australia.

Over the past five years or so, the likelihood of an Islamist attack in Australia has been high but the consequences probably low in terms of casualties; by contrast, the likelihood of a far-right terrorist attack had been low, but the consequences probably far higher in terms of casualties.

Why is there a difference in lethality?

Islamic State has superseded al-Qaeda as the dominant force in global Islamist terrorism over the past five years and its focus has been on "low-tech, high-impact" attacks - mainly vehicle rammings and knifings. Islamic State has preferred the kind of basic attack that any unsophisticated sympathiser could undertake with little or no preparation.

By contrast, al-Qaeda's emphasis has always been on well-planned mass-casualty bombings and shootings. Al-Qaeda's most dangerous legacy (although the organisation is by no means down and out) was a series of articles in its Inspire magazines on issues like how to make a bomb in the kitchen of your "mom".

Some Islamic State supporters also read Inspire and that perhaps could have "inspired" the plan to down an Etihad plane out of Sydney in June, 2017. We therefore can't totally discount an Islamist mass-casualty attack in Australia.

The far right, on the other hand, tends to be inspired by its violent idols - foremost among them being Timothy McVeigh in the US, Anders Behring Breivik in Norway, and Brenton Tarrant in New Zealand. All three used bombings and/or shootings to cause mass casualties.

In recent years most far-right terrorist attacks have not been by carried out by groups but by adult males who are not active members.

Former soldier McVeigh bombed the federal building in Oklahoma City in 1995, killing 168 people. It was primarily an act of revenge against the federal government for the Waco "massacre". McVeigh did not formally belong to any extremist group. He chose not to appeal against his execution to remain in control of his fate. His favourite poem was Invictus: "It matters not how strait the gate, How charged with punishments the scroll, I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul."

Breivik killed eight people in 2011 by detonating a vehicle bomb in Oslo, and then shot dead 69 participants at a Workers' Youth League summer camp on Utoya Island. Breivik identified himself as "a fascist and a Nazi, who practices Odinism and uses counterjihadist rhetoric to support ethno-nationalists".

Australian Tarrant undertook shooting attacks at mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand in March, 2019, killing 51 people. Tarrant is a white supremacist and part of the "alt-right", but apparently not an active group member. He had, however, visited groups in Europe.

Extremists inspired by Tarrant praised him as a "saint" online, and subsequently committed attacks of their own in Poway, El Paso and Norway.

Concern is often expressed about the threatening activities of Australian far-right groups. The reality is that such groups are long on rhetoric and thuggish behaviour, but in the past have been more likely to kill their own members than members of the public.

"National Action" killed two of their members suspected of being police informers for that reason. Unfortunately for them, ASIO was bugging the premises where one of the murders took place - and took the ethical decision of providing evidence that led to the perpetrators' conviction.

Australian far-right groups now include Nationalist Australian Alternative, Lads Society, Antipodean Resistance, Proud Boys, Soldiers of Odin, Identity Australia, Australian Traditional, New National Action, Patriotic Youth League, Rise Up Australia, Yellow Vest Australia and so on. Some are short-lived (and may already have disbanded), and most don't have many members, but they can generate large numbers of supporters when they are able to hijack an incident - as they did during the 2005 Cronulla riots.

While most Australian far-right groups are white nationalist, they may also embrace other right-wing ideologies such as fascism and neo-Nazism. Sometimes they share popular national concerns. For example, many Australians probably believe that an immigration figure of 200,000 a year is not sustainable for environmental and social reasons. Far-right groups oppose it for nationalist or racist reasons - notably because most of the migrants are from Asia.

In fact, in recent years most far-right terrorist attacks have not been by carried out by groups but by adult males who are not active members. They have absorbed far-right ideology, usually related to white nationalism, antisemitism, and Islamophobia. They have made contact and met with like-minded individuals through internet chat sites.

These lone actors are a difficult intelligence target. ASIO penetration of far-right groups will not necessarily turn them up. The most likely way to identify potential problem individuals is through their communications (usually encrypted), membership of gun and hunting clubs, the kind of literature they read, and links to bikie gangs.

Read more:
Why homegrown right-wing threat has ASIO's attention - The Canberra Times