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A white steel pole rises out of the sea off the Caribbean coast of Panama, poking above the waves like the funnel of a sunken steamship. Launched into the water last month, this is no shipwreck, but the base of what will soon become a floating home and, in the eyes of its makers, the first step towards building a brave new post-Covid-19 society, out on the open ocean.

Coronavirus is an opportunity to show the world that what were building is actually going to be very useful in the future, says Chad Elwartowski, in a recent video post from his beachside base in Panama. The Michigan-born software engineer turned bitcoin trader is a leading figure in the seasteading movement, a libertarian group dedicated to building independent floating cities on the high seas. Along with the bunker builders and survivalist preppers, their long-held ambitions have been bolstered by the current global pandemic. No matter if youre scared of the virus or the reaction to the virus, he adds, living out on the ocean will be helpful for these situations.

It is not the first time Elwartowski has attempted to realise his dream of a floating future. In April last year, he and his Thai partner Supranee Thepdet (aka Nadia Summergirl), were forced to flee their first floating home off the coast of Thailand, just moments before it was raided by the Thai navy. They had constructed what they declared to be the first seastead 12 nautical miles from Phuket, but the authorities decided that the six metre-wide fibreglass cabin, perched on top of a floating pole, posed a threat to Thailands sovereignty. It was an offence punishable by life imprisonment or even the death penalty. The couple announced on social media declaring their autonomy beyond the jurisdiction of any courts or law of any countries, including Thailand, said Rear Admiral Vithanarat Kochaseni, adding that they had invited others to join them. We see such action as deteriorating Thailands independence.

After a few weeks on the run, dodging Thai patrol boats and eventually making their way to Singapore, the couple moved to Panama to relaunch their company, Ocean Builders with the financial backer of the project, Rdiger Koch, a retired German aerospace engineer. This event has doubled down our efforts, the group said in a statement, following the Thai ordeal. We can all clearly see that seasteading needs to happen now as tyranny creeps ever more deeply into our governments to the point that they are willing to hunt down a couple of residents residing in a floating house in middle of nowhere.

The coronavirus pandemic has given fringe libertarian groups around the world renewed vigour to pursue their dreams of building autonomous new societies. Government-enforced lockdowns and increased digital surveillance have added fuel to their suspicions of state control, while the suspension of day-to-day norms and the spectre of an economic meltdown have amplified their calls to rethink society. When youre not sure which virus is more contagious, says the slogan of a recent meme made by Americans for Liberty, shared on Elwartowskis Facebook page. Covid-19, or those fine with complete government control.

The sentiment lies at the core of the seasteading community, a disparate group that has grown since 2008, when the Seasteading Institute was founded in San Francisco by Patri Friedman. The self-styled anarcho-capitalist (and grandson of Nobel prize-winning economist Milton Friedman) was working as a Google software engineer when he managed to attract funding from PayPal billionaire Peter Thiel to set up the institute. In a founding statement, they described its goal as being to establish permanent, autonomous ocean communities to enable experimentation and innovation with diverse social, political, and legal systems. Thiel was nothing if not confident: The nature of government is about to change at a very fundamental level, he proclaimed.

A new kind of government arises, born in Earths last free places, fated to advance the human frontier

Seasteading represents the ultimate Silicon Valley approach to governance, conceiving society as a technology that can be hacked and innovated upon as simply as an operating system. It is predicated on the idea that government regulation stifles innovation, and therefore the route to a better world can only be found by unleashing a new generation of start-up societies that are forced to compete for citizens in a free market of ideologies. Dont like the rules of your current micro-nation? Simply move to another one. We will give people the freedom to choose the government they want, said Friedman, instead of being stuck with the government they get. Its boosters see it as the route to salvation; its critics say it would lead to an apartheid of the worst kind.

Progress has been bumpy. Thiels donations soon dried up, and Friedmans plans never got much further than launching Ephemerisle a waterborne version of the Burning Man festival, staged in the Sacramento River delta near San Francisco, where rival floating pontoons compete for the attention of soggy partygoers. He has since moved his focus away from the water, recently launching a company to develop experimental cities on dry land instead. But the Seasteading Institute continues without him, headed by author and self-appointed seavangelist, Joe Quirk.

Nearly half of the worlds surface is unclaimed, says Quirk, who published a book on seasteading in 2017, with the ambitious subtitle: How floating nations will restore the environment, enrich the poor, cure the sick, and liberate humanity from politicians. In an introductory video, he describes the planets oceans as a sort of research and development zone where we could discover better means of governance, and says that seasteading could provide the technology for thousands of people to start their own nano-nation on the high seas, giving people opportunities to peacefully test new ideas about living together. The most successful seasteads, he says, will become thriving new societies, inspiring change around the world.

So far, his own attempts dont bode particularly well for the future of floating utopias. In January 2017, after years of technical feasibility studies and political negotiations, the Seasteading Institute signed a memorandum of understanding with the government of French Polynesia to build the first seasteads in its territorial waters. The designs, developed by Dutch architects Blue21, looked like a high-end resort in the Maldives, depicting a series of villas linked by an undulating green landscape. It was all to be magicked from the waters by an initial coin offering, a form of crowdfunding through selling tokens of a new cryptocurrency, all the rage among the tech community in 2017. Were going to draw a new map of the world with French Polynesia at the centre of the aquatic age, Quirk declared.

The choice of location was strategic. Comprised of almost 120 dispersed low-lying islands and atolls, French Polynesia is at severe risk of suffering devastating consequences from even the slightest rise in sea level. It also happens to boast the worlds largest exclusive economic zone, an area of sea that can stretch for 200 nautical miles from a territorys coastline, over which it can claim exclusive economic rights. At five million square kilometres, French Polynesian waters span an area as large as the landmass of the entire European Union, making it an ideal place to experiment with novel forms of aquatic jurisdiction. In theory.

We explained to the Polynesians how having a quasi-autonomous area nearby was a good thing, says Tom W Bell, professor of law at Chapman University in Orange County, California, who drew up the legal agreement for the project. Look at Monaco, or Hong Kong or Singapore special jurisdictions create a lot of growth outside their borders. In his book, Your Next Government? From the Nation State to Stateless Nations, Bell traces the projected evolution of a seastead. It would begin like a coral polyp, he writes, protected by a countrys territorial waters, where it would start to generate economic activity, enriching its environment and attracting still more life, before breaking free to start a new autonomous life on the open ocean. Ultimately, he imagines seasteads nurtured by different host nations congregating in mid-ocean gyres, sheltered within floating breakwaters. A new kind of government arises, he writes, born in Earths last free places, fated to advance the human frontier.

The reality didnt quite pan out that way in the South Pacific. There wasnt a perfect alignment of interests, says Marc Collins Chen, former minister of tourism of French Polynesia, who co-founded the company Blue Frontiers with Quirk to realise the project. The government was looking for something to address sea level rise and environmental degradation, whereas the Seasteading Institute was more about autonomy. He says that the prospect of a tax-free enclave held little appeal for the locals, given that Polynesians dont pay income tax anyway. One Tahitian TV host compared the situation to the evil Galactic Empire in Star Wars imposing on the innocent Ewoks, while secretly building the Death Star. The libertarian position didnt help either. As Collins Chen puts it: Its very difficult to ask for government support when your narrative is that you want to get rid of politicians. In retrospect, Bell agrees: They already had a beautiful paradise in French Polynesia. The local community wasnt very enthusiastic about the project, and I get it. They didnt need strangers coming in and ruining their view.

Over the next 40 years, the world is expected to build 230bn square metres in new construction. This could be a way to accommodate that growth

Collins Chen has since moved to New York, where he has established a new company to develop further plans for floating cities, this time stripped of any libertarian tax-dodging ideology. I realised that the real future for these sorts of projects has to be closer to cities, he says. They have to be an extension of an existing citys infrastructure, they need to be run by the mayor, and they have to pay their taxes as opposed to being enclaves for the wealthy.

His plan, titled Oceanix City, has been designed in slick Ted Talk style by Bjarke Ingels, the Danish architect beloved of Silicon Valley tech companies. His twinkling animations depict a floating world of interlocking hexagonal islands, where power is harvested from waves and the sun, where residents live on a diet of seaweed and fish, and where marine life is regenerated by artificial reefs. If this floating city flourishes, said Ingels in a presentation, it can then grow like a culture in a petri dish. On a screen behind him, the floating hexagons multiplied until they took up an area more than three times the size of Manhattan, a vision of low-density suburbia sprawling virulently across the sea.

Over the next 40 years, the world is expected to build 230bn square metres in new construction, says Collins Chen, the equivalent of adding one New York City every month. This could be a way to accommodate that growth, without the devastating effects of land reclamation or deforestation. He says part of the appeal is the ability to reconfigure the urban form according to changing needs, in a process of drag-and-drop city building. You could literally float one a city block away and put a different one in its place, when the need for a new school, hospital or university arose.

Remarkably, their sci-fi scheme has won the support of the United Nations sustainable development arm, UN-Habitat, which hosted a round table discussion for the project in April 2019. As global heating accelerates, sea levels rise and more people crowd into urban slums, floating cities is one of the possible solutions, said UN-Habitats executive director, Maimunah Mohd Sharif.

Back in Panama, the notion that floating habitats could be an inclusive solution to global housing need seems a long way off, to put it mildly. Despite the countrys coronavirus lockdown, the Ocean Builders team has been at work throughout, laying the foundations for a factory that will soon house the largest 3D printer in Central America, ready to produce what their website touts as the worlds first 3D-printed, smart floating home with an underwater room wrapped in an eco restorative 3D-printed coral reef yours for between $200,000 to $800,000 (160,000 to 640,000).

In light of the global pandemic, were really focusing on making the homes feel like a kind of lifeboat, says the companys CEO, Grant Romundt, who worked on the Freedom Ship project in Florida in the 1990s, an aborted plan to build a mile-long cruise ship for 40,000 people, topped with a runway. They should be a safe place to escape to and be totally energy independent, with solar panels on the roof, water desalination on board, waste collection by drone, and aeroponic systems to grow your own food.

Designed by Koen Olthuis of Dutch architecture practice Waterstudio, the plans for the luxury SeaPods look like a row of gigantic motorbike helmets on poles, sticking up out of the sea in pearlescent shades of blue, green and grey. We wanted to have something that was very futuristic looking, very clean and flowing, says Romundt. I didnt want to have a 90-degree corner anywhere in the house. I think thats bad feng shui. The interiors recall supersized sanitaryware, envisaged as white, wipe-clean worlds of free-flowing surfaces, echoing retro-futuristic visions of streamlined space capsules. The similarity is no accident: for company founder, Rdiger Koch, seasteading is merely a stepping stone for trialling exploits in space. He has long harboured plans to build a cable launch loop to propel payloads into space without rockets, and he sees the ocean as the perfect launchpad. There are almost only large open spaces at sea, he told German regional newspaper, Rhein-Neckar-Zeitung, and you need them to make sure that nothing goes wrong and nobody is hit by possible flying parts.

Romundt insists that the company is merely building floating holiday homes, which will be registered as boats under the Panama flag for legal purposes, and likely operate on a timeshare basis. That would give you the slow adjustment period, he says, then more of an economy would start to build as more people come requiring more services, and it would start to self-perpetuate and grow.

For Bell, the ultimate goal is to see such floating communities raise their own flags in the open ocean. Right now, a self-flagged seastead would have effectively no status at all in international law, he says. The coast guard would show up, assume you were either a pirate or a floating meth lab, and tow you right back in to shore. But if seasteaders can say they have enough people and a big enough territory, and start flagging themselves, thats when things will start to get interesting.

And if they fail? Thats the marvellous thing about seasteads, says Quirk. If a government fails, theres nothing much the people who live there can do about it, but if seasteads fail, they simply disassemble and go away seeing all those bitcoin dollars sink into the sea just as quickly as they were conjured.

Link:
Seasteading a vanity project for the rich or the future of humanity? - The Guardian

The Democrat-led House of Representatives passed a package of criminal justice legislation Thursday night, largely along party lines, to address nationwide protests and demands for policing reforms following the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer last month.

By a 236-181 vote, with only three Republicans voting in favor of it, the House passed the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act. The legislation would end qualified immunitya legal doctrine that shields cops from liability in civil rights lawsuitsestablish a national registry for police misconduct, ban police chokeholds and no-knock raids in some circumstances, and limit the transfer of military equipment to state and local police departments. It would also require federal law enforcement officers to wear body cameras and to have dashboard cameras installed in their vehicles.

Ending qualified immunity has long been on criminal justice reform advocates and libertarians' wish lists.

"Qualified immunity is a failure as a matter of policy, as a matter of law, and as a matter of basic morality," said Robert McNamara, a senior attorney at the Institute for Justice, a libertarian-leaning public interest law firm. "For too long, qualified immunity has denied victims a remedy for violations of their constitutional rights. It's encouraging to see Congress is finally taking steps to fix this pernicious mistake by the Supreme Court."

Although civil liberties groups say the bill is far from perfectthey criticized provisions that would increase federal funding for state and local law enforcementKanya Bennett, senior legislative counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), said in a press release that tonight's vote is still "the most significant action that Congress has taken on police reform in the six years that have transpired between the deaths of Michael Brown in Ferguson and George Floyd in Minneapolis."

"Given this significant and historic moment we are in, though, Congress can and must do more," she continued. "We can't band-aid police with more federal dollars or take away just some of the military weapons. Congress must divest entirely from an institution that has brutalized Black people for centuries."

However, the fate of any comprehensive policing reform, at least at the federal level, seems doomed, at least for the moment. The White House and congressional Republicans have made it clear that ending qualified immunity is off the table.

Meanwhile in the Senate, Democrats have blocked Republican's more modest policing reform bill, the Just and Unifying Solutions to Invigorate Communities Everywhere (JUSTICE) Act, introduced by Sen. Tim Scott (RS.C.).

The JUSTICE Act would, among other things, increase the penalties for filing a false police report and incentivize departments to create systems to share disciplinary records with each other to stop problem officers from being rehired. Another section, the Breonna Taylor Notification Actnamed after a Louisville woman who was killed in a botched no-knock raid in Marchwould require states to collect and report data on the use of no-knock raids.

Democrats and civil liberties groups like the ACLU say Scott's legislation doesn't go nearly far enough in addressing systemic problems in American policing. Republicans, however, say their bill balances the need to address problematic policing while still supporting police overall.

"The American people know you do not really want progress on an issue if you block the Senate from taking it up," Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell (RKy.) said in a floor speech Thursday night. "They know that most police officers are brave and honorable and that most protesters are peaceful. And they know our country needs both."

For the moment, both parties are at an impasse. In a press release after tonight's vote, Rep. Doug Collins (R-Ga.), a member of the House Judiciary Committee, said Democrats' legislation is "just another thinly veiled Democrat attempt to look like they are getting something done when we all know this bill will never become law."

Read more:
House Passes Policing Reform Package, Including Provision That Would End Qualified Immunity - Reason

Two familiar names are vying for the Democratic nomination in the 25th Congressional District.

Incumbent Joe Morelle and challenger Robin Wilt ran in a four-way race for the nomination two years ago. It was Morelle who ran away with the nomination, and later won both a special and general election to fill the seat that was long held by Louise Slaughter, who died in office in 2016.

The final results wont be known until after June 30, when all the absentee ballots can be counted, but the most current figures show Morelle leading Wilt by 30% after counting the votes that were made in person today and during early voting. Morelle has already secured the Independence Party nomination. Wilt appears to have conceded the race, posting the following on Facebook during the overnight hours:

While we are still awaiting every vote to be counted, we have fallen well shy of our vote goals to be successful in the contest for the 25th Congressional District Democratic Primary. I am honored by all of those who have supported me, and I will continue to advocate for every voice to be heard. I am humbled to have been part of this movement for change, and I realize we have much work left to do. I look forward to the continued engagement.

The Monroe County Board of Elections says 53,318 absentee ballots were sent out to Democrats in NY-25, with 25,746 returned as of Tuesday; ballots have until June 30 to reach the board of elections in order to be counted.

The winner will move to the general election, where they will face Republican and Conservative candidate George Mitris, Working Families candidate Afua Atta-Mensah, and Libertarian candidate Kevin Wilson.

The district includes all of Monroe County except for the towns of Scottsville, Rush, and Mendon.

See the original post:
Morelle with big lead over Wilt but absentee votes still to be tallied - WXXI News

While celebrating the Africa Day, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reaffirmed Russias commitment to offer support and participate in the sustainable development processes in Africa. In a videoconference held May 28 with local and foreign media, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, highlighted the history behind the establishment of the Africa Day, which is observed as an annual holiday symbolizing the desire of the peoples of the African continent to peace, independence and unity.

According to her, the close nature of friendly ties with African countries, the significant experience of mutually beneficial cooperation dates back to the early 1960s, when the Soviet Union unconditionally supported the desire of Africans to free themselves from colonial oppression. It provided them with substantial practical assistance in shaping the foundations of statehood, establishing national economies, and preparing civilian and military personnel.

In recent years, however, African countries have been actively gaining weight and influence in international affairs, are increasingly participating in solving pressing issues of modern world politics and economics, she said.

The creation of the Russia-Africa Partnership Forum was one of the appreciable results of the first Russia-Africa Summit held last year, Zakharova noted, and expressed hope that the mechanism of partnership between Russia and the African continent created during the summit will allow to establish and broaden cooperation.

Looking Back

Under the current circumstances, African leaders and business elites try, most importantly, to reflect on how far Africa has gone in building a unified identity and strides made in socio-economic development. These socio-economic developments in some individual countries were achieved by harnessing internal resources and through bilateral and multilateral relations with external countries and cooperation with development partners.

For example, Soviet Union and Africa had very close and, in many respects, allied relations with most of the African countries during the decolonization of Africa. For obvious reasons, the Soviet Union ceased to exist in 1991.

As a result, Russia has to struggle through many internal and external difficulties. For the past few years, it has been struggling to survive both the United States and European sanctions. Moscow still has a long way to catch-up with many other foreign players there in Africa.

Currently, Russia seems to have attained relative political and economic stability. As we regained our statehood and control over the country, and the economy and the social sphere began to develop, Russian businesses began to look at promising projects abroad, and we began to return to Africa, noted Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov early September during his interaction with students and staff of Moscow State Institute for International Relations.

Emphasizing that the process of returning to Africa has been ongoing for the past 15 years, he further explained: the return is now taking the form of resuming a very close political dialogue, which has always been at a strategic and friendly level, and now moving to a vigorous economic cooperation. But economic cooperation is not as far advanced as our political ties.

With this understanding, Dmitry Medvedev, while addressing the Russia-Africa Economic forum in July, also added his voice about strengthening cooperation in all fronts. We must take advantage of all things without fail. It is also important that we implement as many projects as possible, that encompass new venues and, of course, new countries, he said.

In addition, Medvedev stressed: It is important to have a sincere desire. Russia and African countries now have this sincere desire. We simply need to know each other better and be more open to one another. I am sure all of us will succeed if we work this way. Even if some things seem impossible, this situation persists only until it is accomplished. It was Nelson Mandela who made this absolutely true statement.

Acknowledging undoubtedly that Africa has become a new world center for global development, Russian legislators at the State Duma (the lower chamber) have advocated for supporting business and economic cooperation with Africa. Thus as a step forward, State Duma has established relations with African parliaments.

During an instant meeting held with the Ambassadors of African countries in the Russian Federation, Viacheslav Volodin, the Chairman of the State Duma, remarked: We propose to move from intentions to concrete steps. Our people will better understand each other through parliamentary relations. The full transcript is available on the official website.

Moving Forward

On April 29, Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC), a powerful Russian NGO that focuses on foreign policy, held an online conference with participation of experts on Africa. Chairing the online discussion, Igor Ivanov, former Foreign Affairs Minister and now RIAC President, made an opening speech. He pointed out that Russias task in Africa is to present a strategy and define priorities with the countries of the continent, build on the decisions of the first Russia-Africa Summit.

On the development of cooperation between Russia and African countries, Igor Ivanov pointed out a few steps here: Russias task is to prevent a rollback in relations with African countries. It is necessary to use the momentum set by the first Russia-Africa Summit. First of all, it is necessary for Russia to define explicitly its priorities: why are we returning to Africa? Just to make money, strengthen our international presence, help African countries or to participate in the formation of the new world order together with the African countries? Some general statements of a fundamental nature were made at the first Summit, now it is necessary to move from general statements to specificity.

Sergey Lavrov, long ago, asked for more substantive dialogue on Russia-Africa issues, and chart ways for effective cooperation. In an interview with the Hommes dAfrique, he stressed time is needed to solve all those issues, but it could start with experts meetings, say, within the framework of the St Petersburg Economic Forum or the Valdai forum, and other events where business leaders of both countries participate.

Experts from the think-tank Valdai Discussion Club, academic researchers from the Institute for African Studies and independent policy observers have noted Russias policy, its current achievements and emerging economic opportunities and possibilities for partnerships in Africa. Quite interestingly, majority of them acknowledged the need for Russia to be more prominent as it should be and work more consistently to achieve its strategic goals, comparing and citing largely unfulfilled pledges over the years.

Established in 2004, its (the club) primary goal is to promote dialogue between Russia and the rest of the world. It hosted an expert discussion titled Russias Return to Africa: Interests, Challenges, Prospects with participation of experts on Africa. Officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Africa Department were present.

I would like to begin my speech with the words of Foreign Minister (Sergey Lavrov), who said, referring to the current situation: No more fairy tales, joked Oleg Ozerov from the Africa Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation. For us, Africa is not a terra incognita: the USSR actively worked there, having diplomatic relations with 35 countries. In general, there are no turns, reversals or zigzags in our policy. There is consistent development of relations with Africa.

Over the past few years, contacts between Russia and Africa have expanded, and at the same time, this was also due to the African countries interest in Russia, he added. Nevertheless, Oleg Ozerov is now Ambassador-at-Large with the key responsibility for expediting work on the Russia-Africa Partnership Forum created at the initiative of African participants during Sochi summit.

As Head of the Secretariat, the Russia-Africa Partnership Forum, his task is to prepare for the second Russia-Africa summit in 2022 in pursuance of the agreements, achieved during the first Russia-Africa summit held on October 23-24 in Sochi. The Secretariat of the Forum will also organize annual political consultations of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation and the troika of the African Union.

In 2010-2017, Ozerov served as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to Saudi Arabia, concurrently from 2011-2017, Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.

In conclusion, worth to say Russia sees Africa as a key potential partner in the vision for a multipolar world order, and for now, it is well-known that strengthening ties with African countries is among Russias foreign policy priorities. But, much has to be done to change image, perceptions and the old narratives.

The symbolic Russia-Africa Summit was the result of President Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin authorities progressive steps taken to move toward a new phase in consolidating political and economic ties broadly at the state levels with Africa. The final declaration, joint declaration, seeks to consolidate the results of the summit. It has undoubtedly reaffirmed the goals of Agenda 2063 and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Related

Link:
Libertarian Perspective to the Pandemic and the Biopolitics of Survival - Modern Diplomacy

During recent months of unrest over coronavirus shutdowns and deaths of unarmed Black Americans in police custody, a right-wing extremist group aimed at overthrowing the government has been growing, experts say.

The "boogaloo" movement named for a 1980s breakdancing movieand characterized by members whocarry weapons andwear Hawaiian shirtsand tactical gear looks to exploit unrest in order to start a second civil war.

But there are various facets to the loosely organized group: One generally stems from its original ties to neo-Nazis andwhite supremacists, while a newer facet is libertarian.

"There's a lot of overlap and the boundary is blurry because they both evolved together," said Alex Newhouse, digital research lead at Middlebury Institute's Center on Terrorism, Extremism, and Counterterrorism. "It is very difficult to know if the 'boogaloo boi' you see standing in the middle of the street at a protest is there in solidarity or to incite violence."

Antifa, explained: What is antifa and what does the movement want?

While the full groupis not expected to perform large-scale attacks, individual actors are more likely to initiate violence, Newhouse said.

Here's what to know about the boogaloo movement.

A member of a far-right movement, known as Boogaloo Bois, walks next to protesters demonstrating outside a police department in Charlotte, North Carolina. May 28, 2020(Photo: LOGAN CYRUS, AFP via Getty Images)

The boogaloo meme began emerging in both white power and antigovernment spaces online in the early 2010s, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.

"In both of these communities, 'boogaloo' was frequently associated with racist violence and, in many cases, was an explicit call for race war," the SPLC said.

Recent events play into the group's hands, said Devin Burghart, executive director of the NationalInstitute for Research and Education on Human Rights.

They believe that in this current moment, the chaos that surrounds us is signaling the potential for an impending second civil war which, believe it or not, they are hoping for because they believe that will rid the United States of all its problems, Burghart told USA TODAY.

There are mainly two wings of the boogaloo movement, but their objective of overthrowing the government and sparking societal collapse remains the same, Newhouse said.One side is made up of some neo-Nazis andwhite supremacists, whose plan fordestroying the government is by starting a race war.

"They want to spark some sort of confrontation that will kill both sides," Newhouse said."They believe, 'If we start the bullets flying, then they'll kill each other' sort of thing," with no regard for who lives or dies.

Another side is characterized as radical libertarian, notablymen carrying weapons and wearingHawaiian shirts. Some have recently beenspotted at Black Lives Matter protests, waving anti-police signs alongside protesters, Newhouse said.

They believe in defending the rights of individuals against the government and have been known to incite violence against police.

Nazis used red triangles to mark political prisoners. That symbol is why Facebook banned a Trump reelection campaign ad.

The libertarian side of the movementbecomes enraged when referred to as a "white supremacist group," said JJ MacNab, research fellow at George Washington Universitys Program on Extremism. She said there are some Black and Hispanic members.

"The earlier boogaloos were white supremacist," MacNab said."The ones that came later did not inherit that side of the belief system. Most of them arent even aware of white supremacy in subsets of the movement until they read it in the newspapers. A vast majority on Facebook are adamantly against it."

The boogaloo bois' relationship to antifa left-leaning, anti-racist groups that monitor and track the activities of neo-Nazis is murkier. The libertarian side of the movement is split between members who see antifa as communists, whom they want to dissociate from, and members who see them as "brothers-in-arms," MacNab said.

The "boogaloo" name isa code word for the second civil war and came from the 1984 movie "Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo," according to Associated Press.The film is about breakdancing teens battling to save their local community center from corrupt politicians and corporate development.

Sam Firstenberg, director of the cult classic, told The Hollywood Reporter that the "Electric Boogaloo" began as a meme on the internet. "In the last 10 years or so, it became equal with the word 'sequel,'" Firstenberg said, in conjunction with the second civil war the boogaloo movement aspires to create. "Civil War 2: Electric Boogaloo" began popping up on message boards, The Hollywood Reporter said.

Boogaloo bois often wear Hawaiian shirts, body armor and carry weaponry or tactical gear.

The shirts come from the popular term in boogaloo internet spaces, "Big Luau," from the tradition of luau pig roasts, which boogaloo bois are drawn to because their common reference to police as "pigs," experts with the Middlebury Institute of International Studies say.The "Big Luau" is another code used to describe the fall of society.

Ties to boogaloo: Grand jury indicts 3 men on terror charges over Las Vegas protest plot

In Wisconsin: Young white men with long guns at George Floyd protests likely affiliated with far-right group Boogaloo

The movement,which stemmed from memes in social media pro-gun groups, has been organized through Facebook, Reddit and YouTube.The Tech Transparency Project, a public research and data initiative, identifiedroughly125 Facebook groups relatedto the movement, more than half of which were created between February and April and had recently attracted tens of thousands of members.

"Online extremists are using Facebook to plan and organize for a militant uprising in the United States as they cast coronavirus lockdowns as a sign of rising government suppression," according to a Tech Transparency Projectinvestigation.

Facebook has taken steps to limit the groups. In May, the social media company banned the use of the term boogaloo and related words when they accompany pictures of weapons and calls to action. Later, Facebook said it would no longer recommend such groups to members of similar associations.

Members of the Boogaloo Movement attend a demonstration Saturday at the State House in Concord, N.H., against the lockdown over concerns about the spread of COVID-19.(Photo: Michael Dwyer/AP)

During the coronavirus lockdowns, "something changed," MacNab said.

"It put a pressure on (the boogaloo movement)that I've never seen before. I saw (online) rhetoricthrough the roof on killing cops," she said.

This month, an Air Force sergeant, whoprosecutors claim has ties to boogaloo, faces murder charges in the deaths of a California sheriff's deputy and a federal security officer. He also is accused of wounding five other law enforcement officers.

In March, a Missouri man with ties to neo-Nazis was shot and killed when FBI agents tried to arrest him. Timothy Wilson, 36, was planning to bomb a hospital in the Kansas City area on the day that a stay-at-home order was scheduled to take effect, authorities said. Wilson told an undercover FBI agent that his goal was to kick-start a revolution and referred to his plans as operation boogaloo, according to an agents affidavit.

In May,three alleged boogaloo members were arrested on terrorism-related charges in what federal prosecutorssay was a conspiracy to spark violence during protests in Las Vegas over reopening businessesand George Floyd's death. Authorities allege the three white men filled gas cans and made Molotov cocktails in glass bottles and were headed to a Black Lives Matter protest, according to a copy of the criminal complaint.

"Violent instigators have hijacked peaceful protests and demonstrations across the country, including Nevada, exploiting the real and legitimate outrage over Mr. Floyds death for their own radical agendas," saidNicholas A. Trutanich, U.S. attorney for the district of Nevada.

More: Men tied to 'boogaloo' movement conspired to spark protest violence in Las Vegas, feds say

Contributing:Ed Komenda,Reno Gazette Journal

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The boogaloo movement is gaining momentum. Who are the boogaloo 'bois' and what do they want? - USA TODAY