Abandoning the Far-Right
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Abandoning the Far-Right
23rd March 2021 @ 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm
From cultural nationalism to white supremacy, the far-right has become a significant counter terrorism priority over the last few years across Europe, the UK and North America.
Far-right inspired plots, attacks and arrests are on the rise. This is a result of the increased membership of cultural nationalist, white nationalist, and white supremacist groups and the ever-widening global online reach of outspoken far-right individuals.
While global understanding of the variances in far-right rhetoric has greatly improved, individuals’ radicalisation and subsequent journeys into the far-right sphere remains an under researched area. This is made ever clearer when compared to that of the Islamist extremist thematic.
How does a person become involved in far-right extremism? What differences are there amongst groups and ideologies within the far-right? Why only now, is the far-right space beginning to be taken seriously as a national security threat? And how might a person renounce their far-right views?
The Henry Jackson Society is pleased to invite you to this timely and informative debate, where we will be joined by two men previously involved in far-right and neo-Nazi movements. They will discuss how they became involved in the far-right movement, what they witnessed inside it, and how they escaped it.
Tony McAleer was leader of one of Canada’s largest neo-Nazi skinhead organizations, ‘White Aryan Resistance’, in the 1980s. He was also an organiser for the White Aryan Resistance and Aryan Nations. Tony ran a computerized racist hotline and was an outspoken Holocaust denier. He built one of the first white supremacist websites for Resistance Record. Since renouncing his far-right views, Tony has authored the book ‘The Cure for Hate’ and is an international speaker who now strives to educate individuals, families, communities, law enforcement and governments struggling to grapple with the white supremacist movements. Tony is Co-founder of the not for profit organisation, Life After Hate, which seeks to help people leave white supremacist movements behind.
Caolan Robertson was a correspondent for Rebel Media between 2017 and 2019. He was also a director and producer for several individuals including American far-right radio show host and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, far-right American political activist Lauren Southern and British far-right and anti-Islam activist Tommy Robinson. During these years, Caolan was also responsible for the production of content for many others on the online far-right. This included warnings of “the nightmare of mass immigration” in Europe and “a genocide against the white population”; videos that received millions of views worldwide. After the far-right storming of the Capital building in Washington DC in January of this year, Caolan, alongside a number of other former far-right extremists, founded a group called ‘Future Freedom’. This offers an online space for people to talk through their far-right views, anonymously share their stories and ultimately, renounce their extreme ideologies.
Eilish O’Gara is an experienced counter-terrorism analyst, who has spent the last five years working in UK Counter Terrorism. Working across the country, she undertook analytical training from both the UK Cabinet Office and the FBI. She has extensive counter-terrorism research experience from both the private and public sector, leading on a variety of strategic thematic areas and in priority operations. She is a History graduate from Queen’s University in Belfast, having also studied Social Anthropology and Women’s History at the University of New South Wales, Australia. In addition, she holds a MA in Intelligence and International Security Studies from King’s College London, specialising in counter-radicalisation and British diplomacy studies. Previously, Eilish has worked across a wide range of sectors, including the media, political risk analysis, and freelance writing. Her expertise is in home-grown extremism, Islamist fundamentalism, and lone-actor terrorism.
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