Long overlooked in the West, the Byzantine Empire has recently picked up interest among far-right and conspiracist circles. A historian of medieval culture explains what white supremacists get wrong.
Virginia National Guard troops in front of the U.S. Capitol building, Feb. 5, 2021.
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Shannon M. Smith, College of Saint Benedict & Saint John's University
Some 5,000 National Guardsmen will stay in Washington to protect the Capitol into March, according to the Pentagon. The Guard is seen as a reliable peacekeeping force – but it wasn’t always that way.
Far-right groups like the Proud Boys, seen here marching in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 12, are increasingly organizing their activities on messaging services like Telegram.
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Kevin Grisham, California State University, San Bernardino
Encrypted messaging services like Telegram provide virtual dark corners where far-right extremists can recruit, organize and plan unhindered.
Some 25,000 National Guard troops protected Joe Biden’s presidential inauguration due to fears of a far-right extremist attack.
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Far-right extremists in the US have the potential to mount a coordinated, low-intensity campaign of political violence. It wouldn’t be the country’s first experience with domestic terror.
Twitter’s suspension of Donald Trump’s account took away his preferred means of communicating with millions of his followers.
AP Photo/Tali Arbel
Banning extremists from social media platforms can reduce hate speech, but the deplatforming process has to be handled with care – and it can have unintended consequences.
Rioters mass on the U.S. Capitol steps on Jan. 6.
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Ostensibly protesting an election they may have thought was stolen, their actions fed a larger set of goals that American militants are seizing upon to take more extreme action.
Rioters carrying white supremacist symbols were inside the Capitol on Jan. 6.
AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta
Different groups carried their own symbols at the riot, but they all share a common idea.
On January 6, 2021, Donald Trump addressed his supporters in Washington. Shortly afterwards, thousands of them will forcibly enter the Capitol.
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In his January 6 speech in Washington DC, Donald Trump urged his supporters to force their way onto Capitol Hill, is a perfect compendium of his inflammatory populist rhetoric.
Parler is similar to Twitter but doesn’t control or discourage hate speech or calls to violence.
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Millions of supporters of Donald Trump flocked to the far-right social media platform, where hate speech and calls for violence thrive. The US Capitol insurrection could be the platform’s undoing.
The people who attacked the U.S. Capitol building lived up to their word to engage in violence.
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Far-right Trump supporters are afraid American democracy has been overturned by their left-leaning ‘opponents’, even as they themselves actively undermine liberal democratic values and institutions.
Parler is similar to Twitter but doesn’t control or discourage hate speech or calls to violence.
OLIVIER DOULIERY/AFP via Getty Image
Millions of supporters of Donald Trump have flocked to the far-right social media platform Parler, where hate speech thrives.
A man wearing a T-shirt alluding to the QAnon misinformation campaign walks through the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6 incursion.
AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta
Many people are concerned about far-right extremism. But they may not understand the real threat.
In this April 2020 photo, protesters carry rifles near the steps of the Michigan State Capitol building in Lansing, Mich. A plot to kidnap Michigan’s governor has put a focus on the security of governors in the United States.
(AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
Is right-wing violent extremism the new fifth wave of modern terrorism? If so, there’s no doubt the impacts of COVID-19 will only help accelerate the radicalization of its adherents.
There is a long history of links between white nationalist movements and the U.S. military.
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The boogaloos, a far-right community, have taken to wearing Hawaiian shirts. This co-option is far from the spirit of the shirt, which signifies respect for all animated or inanimate beings.
The platform also took down another 2,000 communities, including left-leaning groups. The move comes just months ahead of the 2020 US presidential election.
Members of militia groups demonstrate in Virginia in January 2020.
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Many militia members have championed the importance of individual rights, but have also backed a president who is now threatening the kind of crackdown they fear.
A member of the far-right Boogaloo Bois group walks next to protestors in Charlotte, N.C., on May 29, 2020.
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They’re not really protesting – they’re hoping to find an opportunity to spark violence and trigger a war between black and white Americans.
Joey Gibson, leader of the right-wing group Patriot Prayer, addresses a crowd on April 19, 2020, in Olympia, Washington, insisting the state lift restrictions put in place to help fight the coronavirus outbreak.
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