In military science, a compound is a type of fortification made up of walls or fences surrounding several buildings in the center of a large piece of land. The walls can either serve the purpose of being tall, thick, and impenetrable, in which case they would be made of wood, stone, or some other like substance; or dangerous to attempt to scale, in which case they could be made of barbed wire or electrified. Compounds can be designed to double as living spaces and military structures in the middle of hostile territory or as a military area within a country's territory; they are also used by civilians and government officials (IE: Embassies) and those who want to protect against threats to themselves or their property.
A number of survivalists own fortified compound-like structures as a means of protection in case civilization breaks down or their government becomes abusive.
The term compound is also used to refer to an unfortified enclosure, especially in Africa and Asia. See compound (enclosure).
Insurgent, militant, and terrorist groups alike have been known to maintain their own compounds which commonly feature training camps. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] The CSA, Al-Qaeda, various Ku Klux Klan factions, The Taliban, Aggressive Christianity Missionary Training Corps and ISIS are some of the organizations who use such. [7] [8] [9]
Large outlaw motorcycle clubs will typically use a compound for a particular chapter's headquarters. In motorcycle subculture, these are commonly referred to as "clubhouses". [10] [11] [12] [13] [14]
Many new religious movement organizations and cults have used compounds to facilitate their own privatized practices or activities. Additionally, they can serve as a residency for followers of that particular commune. Mount Carmel Center, Tama-Re, YFZ Ranch, and Gold Base are some of the most notable of these. [15] [16]
Due to their offensive imagery and paraphernalia, large neo-Nazi and white supremacist groups will operate secluded compounds that can serve as a headquarters for a certain organization. In this particular movement, they are also used to hold gatherings and serve as venues for Nazi punk, Rock Against Communism and White power music concerts. [17] [18] The most famous of these would be the now-defunct Aryan Nations compound in Hayden Lake, Idaho. [19] [20] [21]
The Ku Klux Klan, commonly shortened to the KKK or the Klan is the name of several historical and current American white supremacist, far-right terrorist organizations and hate groups. Their primary targets are African Americans, Hispanics, Jews, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans, Italian Americans, Irish Americans, and Catholics, as well as immigrants, leftists, homosexuals, Muslims, atheists, and abortion providers.
The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit legal advocacy organization specializing in civil rights and public interest litigation. Based in Montgomery, Alabama, it is known for its legal cases against white supremacist groups, for its classification of hate groups and other extremist organizations, and for promoting tolerance education programs. The SPLC was founded by Morris Dees, Joseph J. Levin Jr., and Julian Bond in 1971 as a civil rights law firm in Montgomery.
White nationalism is a type of racial nationalism or pan-nationalism which espouses the belief that white people are a race and seeks to develop and maintain a white racial and national identity. Many of its proponents identify with the concept of a white ethnostate.
The Imperial Klans of America, Knights of the Ku Klux Klan (IKA) is a white supremacist, white nationalist, neo-Nazi paramilitary organization. Until the late 2000s, it was the second largest Klan group in the United States, and at one point in the early 2000s, it was the largest. In 2008, the IKA was reported to have at least 23 chapters in 17 states, most of which were small.
In the United States, domestic terrorism is defined as terrorist acts that were carried out within the United States by U.S. citizens and/or U.S. permanent residents. As of 2021, the United States government considers white supremacists to be the top domestic terrorism threat.
Louis Ray Beam, Jr. is an American white supremacist and neo-fascist.
Rocky Joe Suhayda is an American neo-Nazi and far-right activist, who as of 2017 was chairman of a fringe group that split from the American Nazi Party. He has held the office since at least 2000. He and his Party are based in Michigan.
Stormfront is a neo-Nazi Internet forum, and the Web's first major racial hate site. The site is focused on propagating white nationalism, Nazism, antisemitism and islamophobia, as well as anti-feminism, homophobia, transphobia, Holocaust denial, and white supremacy.
The Ku Klux Klan has had a history in the U.S. state of New Jersey since the early part of the 1920s. The Klan was active in the areas of Trenton and Camden and it also had a presence in several of the state's northern counties in the 1920s. It had the most members in Monmouth County, and operated a resort in Wall Township.
Thomas Linton Metzger was an American white supremacist, neo-Nazi skinhead leader and Klansman. He founded White Aryan Resistance (WAR), a neo-nazi organization, in 1983. He was a Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1970s. Metzger voiced strong opposition to immigration to the United States, and was an advocate of the Third Position. He was incarcerated in Los Angeles County, California, and Toronto, Ontario, and was the subject of several lawsuits and government inquiries. He, his son, and WAR were fined $12 million as a result of the murder of Mulugeta Seraw, 28, an Ethiopian student, by skinheads in Portland, Oregon, affiliated with WAR.
The Loyal White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan is a group styled after the original Ku Klux Klan (KKK). Formed around 2012, it aims to "restore America to a White, Christian nation founded on God's word".
The Atomwaffen Division, also known as the National Socialist Resistance Front, is an international far-right extremist and neo-Nazi terrorist network. Formed in 2013 and based in the Southern United States, it has since expanded across the United States and into the United Kingdom, Argentina, Canada, Germany, the Baltic states, and other European countries. The group is described as a part of the alt-right by some journalists, but it rejects the label and it is considered extreme even within that movement. It is listed as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), and it is also designated as a terrorist group by multiple governments, including the United Kingdom and Canada.
The Aryan Nations Sadistic Souls Motorcycle Club, also known as Sadistic Souls MC, is a white-supremacist outlaw motorcycle club founded in 2010. Since 2014, they have been listed as an active neo-Nazi group in annual reports conducted by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
The 1st SS Kavallerie Brigade Motorcycle Division, also known as the Aryan Nations Motorcycle Riders Division, was the name of a white supremacist outlaw motorcycle club set up by law enforcement units as an undercover operation to investigate crime and domestic terrorism within the neo-Nazi movement.
The Base is a neo-Nazi accelerationist paramilitary group and training network, formed in 2018 by Rinaldo Nazzaro. It is active in the United States, Canada, Australia, South Africa, and Europe.
Paul Nicholas Miller, better known by his online alias GypsyCrusader, is an American far-right political commentator, streamer, white supremacist, former Muay Thai fighter and convicted felon. He is known for his livestreams on various media services that feature him cosplaying as an array of different characters including the Joker, the Riddler, Mario, and others while he tells his political beliefs to strangers on Omegle. He is known for his advocacy for a race war, espousing white supremacy and neo-Nazism. He has been tied to multiple alt-right and far-right organizations, including the Proud Boys and the Boogaloo movement.