人兽性交

After BBC TV鈥檚 鈥淧anorama鈥� showed how The Base expanded its network to Europe, Hatewatch can reveal that it also had success in expanding to a society whose settler history parallels the U.S.: Australia. Recorded vetting interviews, application documents, social media posts and The Base鈥檚 own internal chats show that the network, led by Rinaldo Nazzaro (who operated online under the pseudonyms 鈥淣orman Spear鈥� and 鈥淩oman Wolf鈥�), had some success in exporting both its听ideology and organizing model to Europe and settler cultures such as Australia.

The materials show that the group made significant inroads into parts of Australia鈥檚 far right, and in particular the Lads Society, a white nationalist group that once invited Brenton Tarrant, the Australian who murdered 51 Muslims in Christchurch, New Zealand, on March 15, 2019, to be a member.

They also show how local Australian far-right activists acted as virtual franchisees for The Base, finding fresh recruits in the ranks of the Lads Society, a local white nationalist network, and also vetting a man who had previously run for election to Australia鈥檚 parliament as a member of a right-wing populist party.

鈥楴orman Spear鈥�: Rinaldo Nazzaro and the beginning of The Base

In late 2017, under the alias 鈥淣orman Spear,鈥� Rinaldo Nazzaro began promoting an idea with a long history among white supremacists: that the Pacific Northwest could secede from the United States to create a white ethnostate.

The proposal had previously been associated with white supremacist Harold Covington听and his Northwest Front organization. Before him, another influential advocate was Christian Identity preacher and Aryan Nations founder Richard Girnt Butler, who until 2000 occupied a compound at Hayden Lake, Idaho. Butler was associated so closely with the idea of a white ethnostate in the Pacific Northwest that it is sometimes known as the 鈥淏utler Plan.鈥�

Covington, who died in 2018, had a long history听in the organized white power movement. By the time of his death, however, his Northwest Front organization was largely inactive, and Covington鈥檚 main activity in the movement was writing propagandistic speculative fiction, some of which touched on race war and the establishment of an ethnostate in the Pacific Northwest.

In his 2007 novel 鈥淭he Brigade,鈥� Covington set out a scenario in which a guerrilla group, the Northwest Volunteer Army, is carrying out insurgent warfare against the administration of President Hillary Clinton, who has commenced a plan of 鈥渨hite genocide.鈥� In the novel, the Northwest Volunteer Army鈥檚 motto is 鈥淓x Gladio Libertas,鈥� Latin for 鈥淔reedom comes from the sword,鈥� which The Base 听in online recruiting materials.

In podcasts and social media posts at that time, 鈥淣orman Spear鈥� praised Covington and the 鈥淏utler Plan.鈥� He did so in an episode of Lone Wolf Radio, a podcast hosted by British white nationalist Chris White, in December 2017. White introduced Nazzaro as a Northwest Front activist and 鈥渘orthwest migrant.鈥�

Also in late 2017, 鈥淪pear鈥� released a series of videos spelling out a theory of 鈥渞evolutionary struggle鈥� with the stated aim of 鈥渃oercing the system and making it capitulate to political demands.鈥� Topics included 鈥渓one wolf operations,鈥� 鈥渓eaderless resistance鈥� and guerrilla warfare. He advocated for guerrilla struggle wherein 鈥渓one wolves鈥� would carry out acts of violence as a form of 鈥減ropaganda of the deed,鈥� and an above-ground leadership would negotiate with 鈥渢he system鈥� to achieve its military goals.

The argument was for acts of terrorism, which would bring about a condition of 鈥渟iege鈥� as the state imposed unsustainable condition of martial law, at which time it would negotiate with guerrilla leaders. 鈥淰ictory isn't inherently dependent on physically defeating the enemy,鈥� 鈥淪pear鈥� said in the video. 鈥淕uerrillas win if they don鈥檛 lose,鈥� and the central aim was to carve off sovereign territory from the state.

鈥淪pear鈥� thus synthesized the Butler Plan with some of the ideas for destabilizing and defeating liberal democracy put forth by the neo-Nazi who had the most influence on the accelerationist movement, James Mason.

Nazzaro began advertising The Base in July 2018 and trying to recruit members. He was in the 鈥淩ead SIEGE鈥� group on white power-friendly 鈥渁lt-tech鈥� platform, Gab. The group was dedicated to promoting the work and ideas of neo-Nazi author Mason, who advocated terrorism as a means to creating a white ethnostate. In December 2018, through a Delaware LLC called 鈥淏ase Global,鈥� Nazzaro 听three 10-acre blocks of undeveloped land in remote Ferry County, Washington, but maintained his principal residence in Russia.

Spear also 听from imprisoned members of the accelerationist neo-Nazi group Atomwaffen Division听(AWD), one of the groups that sought to put Mason鈥檚 ideas into practice.

In fall 2018, early recruiting material for The Base stopped short of explicitly advocating for terrorism. Sources who spoke online and in person with Nazzaro, however, say Nazzaro told The Base鈥檚 inner circle that in truth, The Base was an 鈥渁ccelerationist鈥� project: Its real purpose was to hasten the collapse of American liberal democracy into civil war, and bring about a white ethnostate in at least part of its current national territory. In encrypted chats, members discussed the methods and efficacy of tactics such as sabotaging infrastructure and the finer points of guerrilla warfare.

The Base and accelerationism

In most of the recorded vetting interviews obtained by 人兽性交, standard questions for potential recruits included whether they considered themselves national socialists; whether or not they had read 鈥淪IEGE,鈥� the compilation of Mason鈥檚 newsletters that became the central text of the accelerationist movement; and whether they believed 鈥渁 political solution鈥� could remedy the perceived genocide of white people.

The ideal recruit would answer, respectively, yes, yes and no.

The final question, on the feasibility of 鈥減olitical solutions鈥� to so-called 鈥渨hite genocide,鈥� marks a defining characteristic of The Base, and the accelerationist ideology to which it adhered.

The false belief that a conspiracy exists to carry out 鈥渨hite genocide,鈥� or to effect a 鈥済reat replacement鈥� of white Americans through mass immigration, is widely prevalent across the racist far right, from outright neo-Nazis, to so-called 鈥渋dentitarian鈥� groups, to influential Republican officials. Many white nationalists hold, again falsely, that this 鈥済enocide鈥� or 鈥渞eplacement鈥� has been orchestrated by Jews.

As Hatewatch鈥檚 primer on accelerationism听details, this belief has allowed white power movements to portray their own violence as a matter of racial self-defense. White power movements are necessarily violent because their various political projects, such as the creation of a white ethnostate, cannot be achieved without violence. But before accelerationism gained momentum, many groups and individuals sought to downplay or obfuscate this violence.

In 2016 and 2017, some did this successfully enough to reach the threshold of mainstream politics.

During and immediately after Donald Trump鈥檚 successful run for president in 2016, many so-called 鈥渁lt-right鈥� groups 鈥� which included white nationalists with such conspiracy-minded racist beliefs 鈥� felt emboldened by the victory of a politician who they considered to share at least some of their values, and who they felt they had played a part in electing.

Some were enthused enough to promote their beliefs more openly, using tactics associated with mainstream forms of political advocacy in liberal democracies. Throughout 2016 and 2017, groups such as Identity Evropa听(now called the American Identity Movement) openly participated in rallies, street protests, campus recruitment and publicity campaigns. Many had platforms on mainstream social media services.

Others decided that the 鈥減olitical solution鈥� was a false promise. Some of them came to believe that pluralist, multiracial democracy was headed for inevitable collapse, and that they should help it on its way by joining one of the burgeoning neo-Nazi accelerationist groups.

Atomwaffen Division was the template for accelerationist neo-Nazism. Following the ideas of Mason, whom they adopted as a kind of spiritual patriarch, Atomwaffen advocated terroristic violence as a political tool. Having abandoned electoral politics and the mainstream political process as futile, 鈥渙ptics鈥� were of little concern.

Just as accelerationism was gaining influence, Nazzaro appeared on social media in the guise of Norman Spear.

Before The Base was formed, Nazzaro raised his profile in far-right spaces online by claiming he had served in the military and had experience with intelligence work. While The Base was operating, Nazzaro reiterated its emphasis on action. He demanded that members engage in training and meet-ups, and that potential recruits detail any skills that they could bring to the group or teach other members.

This practical orientation, his embrace of ideas important to survivalist and apocalyptic prepper movements, the openness of the network to members of other organizations, and his adoption of Covington鈥檚 project of a white ethnostate in the Pacific Northwest made Nazzaro鈥檚 offering distinct from Atomwaffen Division and other emerging accelerationist outfits.

The Base struggled early on after leaks from its chats on an app called Riot were exposed by an antifascist group operating in the Pacific Northwest. The group gradually reestablished protocols for internal communication and vetting for new members using the encrypted messaging platform, Wire.

Its brand 鈥� though drawing heavily on U.S.-specific white supremacist movements 鈥� proved highly exportable to white power individuals and groups around the world.

The Base eventually recruited members in Canada, Germany, the United Kingdom, Scandinavia and Australia.

Eventually, some members of the group began acting on the hate The Base fostered. Former members in 听and Wisconsin stand accused of conspiring to vandalize synagogues, the Georgia cell with plotting an assassination. Charging documents for the cell based in Delaware and Maryland allege that the men discussed firing at random into a pro-gun rally in Virginia last January.

Nazzaro鈥檚 claim that the group had no formal member list, and even no formal existence, allowed a tolerance for 鈥渄ouble-patching鈥� 鈥� or dual membership in another white supremacist group. The Base was designed as an umbrella that could draw in people who had been radicalized in other groups, like Atomwaffen Division.

Richard Tobin, 18, one of those arrested in relation to the desecration of synagogues in Michigan and Wisconsin, was a member of both neo-Nazi accelerationist groups.

Volkskrieger: The Australian connection

Late in the group鈥檚 active history, it began recruiting in a country whose history of indigenous dispossession, white supremacy and xenophobic politics is on a parallel track with the U.S.

In late October 2019, members of The Base鈥檚 vetting committee received a bundle of identically formatted PDF documents from five Australian men.

A sixth, who operated under the alias 鈥淰olkskrieger鈥� within The Base and elsewhere online, appointed as Australian recruiter for the group in 2019, had acted as a virtual local franchisee in bringing these recruits forward for the group.

The group had had several Australian applicants and had accepted some as members. But until late 2019, according to audio recordings, none had been as dedicated as Volkskrieger, who according to open source materials and internal communications obtained by the 人兽性交, lives in the vicinity of Perth, Western Australia.

After Spear and other Base members were banned from Gab after , Volkskrieger was one of the few left to carry the group鈥檚 banner. On Gab, in May 2019, he posted Western Australia-specific advertising for the group, advising potential recruits to contact the group鈥檚 main email address.

In June, he posted photographs showing that design being used in a poster run in Perth鈥檚 Hyde Park. At this time, as revealed in a voice chat with The Base鈥檚 leadership recorded on Oct. 20, 2019, he was the only standing Australian member of the group.

Apart from poster runs, Volkskrieger claimed to have used more active methods, and his existing network of white supremacists in Australia, to find recruits.

In chats on the encrypted messaging application, Wire, Volkskrieger claimed on May 28, 2019, that he was 鈥渕eeting some West Aussie NatSoc [National Socialist] group today, if all goes well I might be able to send some guys our way.鈥�

Eventually, this dedication to the cause was rewarded. In the October voice chat, Nazzaro, other senior leaders, and Volkskrieger discussed his new role as The Base鈥檚 lead Australian recruiter.

In that conversation, Nazzaro told Volkskrieger, 鈥淵ou鈥檝e been really solid for us,"听specifying that 鈥淵ou鈥檝e postered, you鈥檝e produced some content for us, you鈥檝e postered on Gab.鈥�

Nazzaro expressed dissatisfaction with the progress made in Australia up until that point, saying, 鈥淲e鈥檝e had 7 Australians come and go,鈥� and 鈥淲e鈥檝e probably had a dozen apply,鈥� adding, 鈥淲e think there is potential there,鈥� and 鈥淲e need someone to lead the charge.鈥�

Later in the call, Volkskrieger mentions collaborating on a promo image for an Australian Base cell with with 鈥淢atthias,鈥� a California-based admin of an accelerationist website, FascistForge.

He also said that at that time, there were new Australian members in FascistForge who might be recruited for The Base.

In the call, the men agreed to establish a separate email account for the Australian cell, and Nazzaro and others coached Volkskrieger on methods of email vetting.

Within two months, Volkskrieger presented the group with five applicants who were ready for vetting calls, along with his own commentary on the quality of the recruits and their pathways into neo-Nazi accelerationism.

The applications and vetting interviews reviewed by Hatewatch showed that the men who applied for Base membership came from other white nationalist groups, after growing dissatisfied with those groups鈥� unwillingness to embrace more extreme tactics.

The Base and the Lads: Connecting with Australian white supremacists

In the May voice call, Volkskrieger describes his involvement in a series of groups on Australia鈥檚 fractious far right.

He explains that he needs to conceal his Base membership from his comrades in the Society of Western Australian Nationalists (SWAN), which does not allow dual patching.

SWAN is a regional breakaway from the Lads Society, a national network of white nationalists founded in 2017 by prominent local far right activists previously associated with the anti-Muslim United Patriots Front, including Blair Cottrell, Neil Erikson and Thomas Sewell.

They were soon joined by other local extremists including Jacob Hersant, who was 听of local neo-Nazi accelerationist group, Antipodean Resistance.

Like Atomwaffen Division, Antipodean Resistance 听of the IronMarch forum, which helped shaped the development of accelerationist ideology and aesthetics.

Between Volkskrieger and the five applicants he brought to The Base, four claimed some involvement in Lads Society or SWAN, including one who claimed to be the Queensland chapter leader. Of the remaining two, one came to group via FascistForge, and another heard about the group on the 鈥淕oy Talk鈥� website, one of a number of online hubs for the alt-right.

Lads Society has conducted a range of activities 鈥� both public and private 鈥� aimed at building a cadre of white nationalist activists and injecting their talking points into mainstream Australian political debate.

Away from the public eye, the group has operated underground 鈥渇ight clubs鈥� and maintains clubhouses in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.

In 2018, reporters 听the Lads Society鈥檚 involvement in significant far-right infiltration of the youth branch of the conservative National Party.

But the group 鈥� and especially Cottrell and Sewell, its figureheads 鈥� have also sought the media limelight with rallies and stunts.

In 2019, 听on St. Kilda Beach, in the midst of a 听about the supposed activities of 鈥淎frican gangs鈥� in the city of Melbourne.

Cottrell鈥檚, Erikson鈥檚 and Sewell鈥檚 previous organization, the United Patriots Front, was 听during anti-Muslim mosque protests in the Australian city of Bendigo.

In 2015, members of the group beheaded a dummy mocked up as a crude representation of an ISIS fighter, spilling fake blood on the ground outside Bendigo鈥檚 City Hall.

That stunt led to Cottrell, Erikson and another UPF member, Christopher Shortis, being convicted and fined for inciting contempt for Muslims.

After Tarrant鈥檚 March 2019 massacre in Christchurch, New Zealand, 听that he had contacted Tarrant about joining Lads Society at its formation in 2017. Responding to other members鈥� concerns that Tarrant鈥檚 attack may have been a 鈥渇alse flag鈥� operation, Sewell said that Tarrant had in fact 鈥渂een on the scene for a while.鈥�

听showed that Tarrant had been a devoted online follower of United Patriots Front, and Cottrell in particular. When Cottrell and Sewell livestreamed their ecstatic reaction to the election of Donald Trump in November 2016, Tarrant reportedly wrote a series of comments on the group鈥檚 Facebook wall.

鈥淜nocked it out of the park tonight Blair,鈥� he wrote. "Your retorts had me smiling, nodding, cheering and often laughing.

He added, 鈥淣ever believed we would have a true leader of the nationalist movement in Australia, and especially not so early in the game鈥�.

Like Tarrant, many young men would be drawn into the orbit of Sewell and Cottrell, the Lads Society and other groups that overlapped with or broke away from the group.

Andy Fleming, an antifascist researcher who 听a number of members of the group, estimated that the Lads Society has around 80 core members, with scores more in the group鈥檚 orbit.

The politician

In one vetting interview obtained by Hatewatch, a panel of Base members, including Nazzaro, tested a recruit Hatewatch has identified as a former political candidate for the right-wing populist Pauline Hanson鈥檚 One Nation Party (PHON). Hatewatch determined this using internal materials from The Base, material on the public record and other materials provided by Australian antifascist group the White Rose Society,

His efforts to join The Base suggest that the barriers between anti-immigrant right-wing populist electoral parties and accelerationist terror networks are permeable, and that progress through the stages of radicalization can happen very quickly.

In the interview, a necessary step for new recruits, Dean Smith, under the aliases 鈥淲ill鈥� and 鈥淲LL2PWER,鈥澨齞escribed himself as a Western Australian member of PHON who had been a candidate for the party in 2019.

He said that he had signed up for a five-year membership in 2019, and that he was still a member at the time of his vetting interview with American members of The Base.

The interview took place more than a month after the first member of The Base was arrested. Richard Tobin, 18, of New Jersey, made international news after he was 听on Nov. 19, 2019, with federal hate crimes for allegedly orchestrating the vandalism of synagogues hundreds of miles away, in the midwestern states of Michigan and Wisconsin.

This did not deter Smith from seeking access to the network. When he was asked about his political background, he replied that he had 鈥渂een a member of One Nation for almost a year now. I signed up with them in May when I was still believing in the political system.鈥�

鈥淏eing around that sort of party structure and political structure in Australia, I sort of lost faith in the whole thing. And then I decided take more direct action, and then got pushed on to the Society of West Australian Nationalists (SWAN),鈥� he said.

His loss of faith in PHON, he said, was not just due to their slow progress. He told The Base interviewers, 鈥淭hey鈥檙e all race mixers and it turns my gut upside down.鈥�

But he added that 鈥�(SWAN鈥檚) progress is too slow on things like demographic change and how the political atmosphere is turning towards our race,鈥� referencing the鈥淕reat Replacement鈥� conspiracy theory, which holds that mass immigration is a deliberate effort to wipe out the white race.

Smith also described how between joining PHON and SWAN, he had run as a candidate.

鈥淪o I was a member of One Nation maybe two months, three months prior (to joining SWAN). Because I actually ran for the last Federal Election in Australia as a candidate of One Nation.鈥�

He also describes how he 鈥渂ecame more and more extreme and passionate about my views and it was harder and harder to speak out about it for fear of losing my political career.鈥�

鈥淎nd I thought, well, I have to sell myself to the devil to have a career in politics, or I can leave my career in politics and live an authentic life. And I think that, you know, leaving politics behind is a much better option than going for it,鈥� he said.

In his written application, submitted prior to the interview, Smith described his ideology as 鈥淣atSoc (National Socialism)听ubermenschnihilism,鈥� a reference to the concept of the 鈥溍糱ermensch,鈥� or superman, derived from the work of philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche.

Though Nietzsche鈥檚 work has been drawn on by a diverse range of thinkers and political traditions, fascists from the 20^th-century European interwar period on have made simplified and selective readings of Nietzsche, focusing on his antisemitism, his opposition to democracy and feminism, his anticipation of a superior human type, and his affinity for a warrior ethos to claim him as their own.

The commonalities between Smith鈥檚 online, far-right persona and his comments as a candidate helped reveal his identity.

Prior to the leak of the interview, Smith had been identified as WLL2PWR by the White Rose Society, an Australian antifascist group. Their materials were provided exclusively to the Southern Poverty Law Center.

The reference to the philosopher Nietzsche links Smith鈥檚 username to his far-right YouTube channel and Twitter account, both of which are also run under the WLL2PWER moniker.

On the Twitter account, Smith has repeatedly expressed disgust at diversity initiatives in a local technical college.

Smith鈥檚 social media accounts make frequent references to Nietzsche and Nietzschean philosophy. In Smith鈥檚 听in the Albany Advertiser on May 10, 2019, he said he would like to meet 鈥淔riedrich Nietzsche, Jesus Christ, Julius Caesar, and Thomas Jefferson.鈥�

In his written application to The Base, Smith says he is in his early 20s, and has skills including 鈥渨elding experience, and heavy machinery鈥�.

In his interview, he says he is 23.

A 听飞颈迟丑 The West Australian on May 12, 2019, said that Smith had 鈥渆ntered the political contest only a few weeks ago,鈥� and that while 鈥減olitics is a new venture for him, he believes in his party鈥檚 policies.鈥�

In media interviews and in his 听earlier in the year, Smith said he was 22 and he worked as a laborer.

Smith made other connections between his WLL2PWR persona and PHON in 2019.

On April 14, 2019, on his WLL2PWR YouTube channel, Smith 听fellow PHON WA candidate Tyler Walsh, and gave direct hints in the interview that he was an active PHON member in Western Australia.

At one point he asked Walsh, 鈥淲hat inspired you to put your hand up being such a young man like myself to go out there and basically face the world?鈥�

Looking forward to a PHON function in the Perth area, Smith said, 鈥淎nd we鈥檝e got the meeting tomorrow don鈥檛 we at Vic Park, is that right?鈥�

He also described the process of joining the party and his interactions with Sheila Mundy, another PHON candidate and influential Western Australian party member.

鈥淚 actually personally met Sheila. I think it was February. I鈥檇 just got involved, I鈥檇 just put my membership down for One Nation and then she rang me up three days afterwards and said, 鈥極h hey do you want to catch up and talk about 鈥μ齳our local issues,鈥� and I鈥檓 like, 鈥榃hat is this, people actually care!鈥欌��

Dean Smith did not respond to repeated requests for comment from the 人兽性交.

听

Tyler Walsh, who at the time of reporting was again running for PHON, this time for a seat in the Western Australian parliament, confirmed in email responses to questions that the "wll2pwr" YouTube account belonged to Dean Smith. Walsh denied any close or ongoing relationship with Smith.

"I have not communicated with Mr. Smith since the 2019 Australian Federal Election," Smith wrote. "I am unfamiliar with his personal political positions and beliefs apart from Mr. Smith being supportive of Pauline Hanson's One Nation."

听

Walsh also said that 鈥淸Smith] has not had any involvement that I am aware of with Pauline Hanson's One Nation since the most recent federal election.鈥�

Rinaldo Nazzaro did not immediately respond to requests from the 人兽性交 on his efforts to recruit members in Australia.

After Smith left the vetting call, the Australian white nationalist who had sponsored his application remarked to vetting team members that Smith 鈥渉as a mustache that is pretty distinguished.鈥� Smith sported a thick mustache in media and publicity photos during his campaign.

According to internal sources, Smith discontinued his application, choosing to remain with SWAN, who do not allow double-patching.

Exporting racism and violence

At the point in time that the chats, vetting calls and social media records obtained by the 人兽性交 end, The Base had recruited two Australians, was preparing to vet two more and had interviewed another two, including Smith, who withdrew their applications for their own reasons.

The 人兽性交 also documented听two other Australian men who were fully fledged members who left. In October 2019, Rinaldo Nazzaro asserted that a dozen in total had applied.

The Base鈥檚 success in attracting recruits from Australia, Europe and elsewhere suggests that an accelerationist politics founded on racism, a preparedness for violence, and a contempt for pluralist democracy can be exported, even if its founding tenets are rooted in the history of U.S. white supremacist movements.

This is not the first time that white supremacist ideas and movements have made their way from the United States to Australia. In the 1980s, groups such as National Action and the Australian Nationalist Movement formed under the influence of William Luther Pierce鈥檚 white supremacist novel 鈥淭he Turner Diaries.鈥�

Under the leadership of Jack van Tongeren, the Australian Nationalist Movement commenced its activities in 1987 in a similar fashion to The Base鈥檚 Volkskrieger, and in the same city: They plastered hundreds of anti-Asian, anti-immigrant posters around Perth.

Then, between 1987 and 1989, members firebombed six Chinese restaurants in the city, carried out a series of warehouse thefts in order to fortify their headquarters, seriously assaulted an anti-racist activist and finally murdered one of their own members they suspected of being a police informant.

Van Tongeren and other members of the group received long prison sentences in 1990. After his release in 2002, van Tongeren committed arson attacks on three more Chinese restaurants in 2004.

In the 1990s, the Southern Cross Hammerskins were formed in Australia as a chapter of the U.S.-originated white power group.

The success of The Base and earlier neo-Nazi movements should be seen in the context of long-standing white supremacy in these settler societies. Following each country鈥檚 dispossession of its indigenous peoples, both engaged in a transnational political project of creating 鈥渨hite men鈥檚 countries鈥� in the nineteenth century by means of immigration exclusion, which was in each case particularly directed at Asian immigrants amid an earlier wave of 鈥渨hiter genocide鈥� flavored racial anxieties.

Influential white men in both countries discussed the preservation of white supremacy extensively, with each other, creating an 鈥渋magined community of white men (that) was transnational in its reach, but nationalist in its outcomes, bolstering regimes of border protection and national sovereignty.鈥�

Whiteness in both places was identified with democracy itself. In his 1894 review of Australian politician, Charles Pearson鈥檚 book 鈥淣ational Life and Character,鈥� which worried that in the coming century the white race would be 鈥渆lbowed and hustled, and perhaps even thrust aside鈥� by other races, Theodore Roosevelt wrote:

Nineteenth-century democracy needs no more complete vindication for its existence than the fact that it has kept for the white race the best portions of the New World鈥檚 surface, temperate America and Australia. Had these regions been under aristocratic governments, Chinese immigration would have been encouraged precisely as the slave-trade is encouraged of necessity by any slave-holding oligarchy, and the result would in a few generations have been even more fatal to the white race; but the democracy, with the clear instinct of race selfishness, saw the race foe, and kept out the dangerous alien.

Understanding this shared history of white supremacy is necessary when considering a present where anti-immigrant politics pervades even mainstream rightwing parties; and, for those who gravitate towards accelerationism, fears of a future in which men such as themselves are subject to a 鈥済reat replacement.鈥�

The Base鈥檚 success in drawing on members of existing local groups, such as the Lads Society, shows how groups seeking to export accelerationist ideology can exploit existing networks of young men who have already commenced down the path of radicalization.

They are also aided by their use of information and communication technologies, including encrypted messaging platforms, which allow them to build global networks, away (or so they think) from the prying eyes of law enforcement and antiracist activists.

This is a story of mutual influence. Just as Iron March led to the creation of Atomwaffen Division and Antipodean Resistance, and just as The Base exerted its pull on an established Australian far right, Tarrant, an Australian and self-professed accelerationist, inspired by racial anxieties about the extinction of the white race, carried out a racist mass murder that in turn influenced violent white supremacists in the United States.

Like most neo-Nazi accelerationists, Base members celebrated Tarrant for his act of terror. In October 2019, following a synagogue attack by a white supremacist in Halle, Germany, that killed two, Base members discussed it on Wire, judging it a failure due to the killer鈥檚 inability to enter the synagogue.

One pseudonymous remarked that 鈥淥nly if he鈥檇 planned more He could of [sic] been up there with Tarrant.鈥�

Brenton Tarrant cited Anders Breivik in his manifesto. After his attack in New Zealand, he was cited by killers who carried out subsequent mass shootings in El Paso and Poway, and by a man who tried to burn down a mosque in Norway.

The transnational accelerationist network that takes in men like Rinaldo Nazzaro and Dean Smith is no more respectful of national borders than it is of pluralism, democracy or human life. White supremacy and violent extremism are shared, global problems.

Photo illustration by 人兽性交

Editor's note: An earlier version of this story misstated the name of a messaging app used by The Base. It is called Riot, not Rocket. The version also misstated the timing of Nazzaro's remarks about membership applications. He made those comments in October 2019, not October 2020. We regret the errors.