Right Wing Death Squad, often abbreviated to RWDS, is a slogan used in the 21st century by U.S. far right extremists. The term was first used in the 1970s to describe Latin American paramilitaries who targeted their left-wing opponents.
Right Wing Death Squad, often abbreviated to RWDS, is a slogan used in the 21st century by U.S. far right extremists. The term was first used in the 1970s to describe Latin American paramilitaries who targeted their left-wing opponents.
The term was first used in the 1970s to describe Latin American paramilitary death squads who targeted left-wing opponents. [1]
From the 2010s onwards, the term was used in the U.S. by far right extremists. The term, often abbreviated to RWDS is used in memes, [2] in online forums, on clothing, patches, and stickers. [1] The Global Project Against Hate and Extremism attribute the terms' popularity to usage by the American neo-fascist organisation the Proud Boys. The slogan is often accompanied by the words "Pinochet Did Nothing Wrong" [3] and the abbreviation RWDS is used as a hashtag #RWDS. [4]
The slogan was used by attendees of the 2017 Unite the Right rally white supremacist event in Charlottesville, Virginia. [1]
A 2019 Facebook group called Right Wing Death Squad was monitored by the FBI due to the violent, anti-semitic, and white supremacist content being posted. [5]
Mauricio Garcia, the perpetrator of the 2023 Allen, Texas outlet mall shooting wore a RWDS patch when he killed eight people. [6] After the shooting, former Proud Boys regional leader Jeremy Bertino [7] spoke of his regret about wearing a Right Wing Death Squad patch. [8]
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.
Fourteen Words is a reference to two slogans originated by David Eden Lane, one of nine founding members of the defunct white supremacist terrorist organization The Order, and are accompanied by Lane's "88 Precepts". The slogans have served as a rallying cry for militant white nationalists internationally.
Gavin Miles McInnes is a Canadian writer, podcaster, far-right commentator and founder of the Proud Boys. He is the host of Get Off My Lawn with Gavin McInnes on Censored.TV, which he founded. He co-founded Vice magazine in 1994 at the age of 24, and relocated to the United States in 2001. In 2016 he founded the Proud Boys, an American far-right organization which was designated a terrorist group in Canada and New Zealand after he left the group. McInnes has been described as promoting violence against political opponents, but has claimed that he only has supported political violence in self-defense and that he is not far-right or a supporter of fascism, identifying as "a fiscal conservative and libertarian".
Right-wing terrorism, hard right terrorism, extreme right terrorism or far-right terrorism is terrorism that is motivated by a variety of different right-wing and far-right ideologies. It can be motivated by Ultranationalism, neo-Nazism, anti-communism, neo-fascism, ecofascism, ethnonationalism, religious nationalism, anti-immigration, anti-semitism, anti-government sentiment, patriot movements, sovereign citizen beliefs, and occasionally, it can be motivated by opposition to abortion, tax resistance, and homophobia. Modern right-wing terrorism largely emerged in Western Europe in the 1970s, and after the Revolutions of 1989 and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, it emerged in Eastern Europe and Russia.
Accelerationism is a range of revolutionary and reactionary ideas in left-wing and right-wing ideologies that call for the drastic intensification of capitalist growth, technological change, infrastructure sabotage and other processes of social change to destabilize existing systems and create radical social transformations, otherwise referred to as "acceleration". It has been regarded as an ideological spectrum divided into mutually contradictory left-wing and right-wing variants, both of which support the indefinite intensification of capitalism and its structures as well as the conditions for a technological singularity, a hypothetical point in time where technological growth becomes uncontrollable and irreversible.
The Proud Boys is an exclusively male North American far-right, neo-fascist militant organization that promotes and engages in political violence. The group's leaders have been convicted of violently opposing the United States government, including the constitutionally prescribed transfer of presidential power. It has been called a street gang and was designated as a terrorist group in Canada and New Zealand. The Proud Boys are known for their opposition to left-wing and progressive groups and for their support of former U.S. President Donald Trump. While Proud Boys leadership has denied being a white supremacist organization, the group and some of its members have been connected to white supremacist events, ideologies, and other white power groups throughout its existence.
The Three Percenters are an American and Canadian far-right anti-government militia.
Patriot Prayer is a US far-right group founded by Joey Gibson in 2016 and based in Vancouver, Washington, a suburban city in the Portland metropolitan area. Since 2016, the group has organized several dozen pro-gun, pro-Trump rallies held in liberal cities in the Pacific Northwest and Northern California. Often met with large numbers of counter-protesters, attendees have repeatedly clashed with left-wing groups in the Portland area. Far-right groups, such as the Proud Boys, have attended the rallies organized by Patriot Prayer, as well as white nationalists, sparking controversy and violence.
Patriot Front is an American white supremacist and neo-fascist hate group. Part of the broader alt-right movement, the group split off from the neo-Nazi organization Vanguard America in the aftermath of the Unite the Right rally in 2017. Patriot Front's aesthetic combines traditional Americana with fascist symbolism. Internal communications within the group indicated it had approximately 200 members as of late 2021. According to the Anti-Defamation League, the group generated 82% of reported incidents in 2021 involving distribution of racist, antisemitic, and other hateful propaganda in the United States, comprising 3,992 incidents, in every continental state.
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, and designated as a terrorist organization in Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand.
The Russian Imperial Movement is a Russian ultranationalist, neo-Nazi, white supremacist militant organization which operates out of Russia. The group seeks to create a new Russian Empire. Its paramilitary wing is the Russian Imperial Legion. During the Donbas War, it recruited and trained thousands of far-right volunteers who joined the Russian separatist forces in Ukraine. It has also given training to other far-right groups in Europe and North America.
The boogaloo movement, whose adherents are often referred to as boogaloo boys or boogaloo bois, is a loosely organized far-right anti-government extremist movement in the United States. It has also been described as a militia. Adherents say they are preparing for, or seek to incite, a second American Civil War or second American Revolution which they call "the boogaloo" or "the boog".
In late May and early June 2020, two ambush-style attacks occurred against security personnel and law enforcement officers in California. The attacks left two dead and injured three others.
Kyle Chapman, also known by the nickname Based Stickman, is an American white nationalist and alt-right activist. He earned his nickname and prominence in the alt-right movement after he was recorded beating an anti-fascist counter-protester with a stick at the March 2017 March 4 Trump rally in Berkeley, California. Shortly after, he founded the Fraternal Order of the Alt-Knights (FOAK), a paramilitary group that is considered a partner or subgroup of the far-right, neo-fascist Proud Boys organization. He led the FOAK until later that year, when he faded from his leadership position following an assault conviction related to the March 4 Trump rally. In November 2020, Chapman announced an attempted takeover of the Proud Boys organization, as well as a plan to reform the group as an explicitly white supremacist organization. The attempted coup was not successful.
Paul Nicholas Miller, better known as GypsyCrusader, is an American white supremacist internet personality. Described as antisemitic and racist by various advocacy groups and the US Department of Justice, he frequently broadcasts himself on the internet cosplaying as various contemporary popular culture personas. In June 2021, Miller pleaded guilty to charges related to unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition, leading to a 41 months' imprisonment. He is known to have cosplayed as the Joker, the Riddler, Mario, and others while video chatting with strangers on the now defunct website 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.
Since its foundation in 2016, members of the Proud Boys, a far-right, neo-fascist, and exclusively male organization, have been involved in a number controversial and violent events. This list contains a number of those events, some of which have resulted in criminal charges being filed against participants.
Tusitala John Toese also known as Tiny, is a convicted felon. He is a member of the Proud Boys, a far-right group that engages in political violence in the United States. He was, and still is, a member of the Portland area far-right group Patriot Prayer, prior to joining the Proud Boys and has been convicted of multiple criminal charges for violence at rallies.
Terrorgram is a portmanteau neologism created by the advocacy group Hope not Hate to refer to a set of Telegram channels and accounts that subscribe to or promote militant accelerationism. Terrorgram channels are neo-fascist in ideology, and regularly share instructions and manuals on how to carry out acts of racially-motivated violence and anti-government terrorism. Terrorgram is a key communications forum for individuals and networks attached to Atomwaffen Division, The Base, and other explicit militant accelerationist groups.
On May 6, 2023, a mass shooting occurred at Allen Premium Outlets, an outlet center in Allen, Texas, United States. Nine people, including the perpetrator, were killed during the shooting, the youngest of whom was a three-year-old boy, and seven others were injured. The perpetrator was fatally shot by a police officer already in the area on an unrelated call.
Jeremy Bertino is an American former member of the Proud Boys who testified against Enrique Tarrio during his trial for seditious conspiracy. Bertino was the first Proud Boys member to plead guilty to the same charge.
