ON WEDNESDAY, neo-Nazi groups were raided in Adelaide. Two people were arrested — one for possessing an IED and the other for possessing “extremist material”. More raids followed in Queensland. The leader of White supremacist groups European Australian Movement (EAM) and National Socialist Network (NSN), Tom Sewell, took to Telegram to say that the Adelaide arrests were of members of an ‘unaffiliated group’ and that the bomb was only firecrackers. But firecrackers alone don’t make an IED — they’re only a component in one. So this is probably a lie.
I want to take this opportunity to dive into the irrational goals and propensity for violence of Sewell and his neo-Nazi groups. I believe these groups are developing young men and boys who will be capable of committing a terrorist attack. They repeatedly say they are non-violent, though. What are we to believe?
I think their individual members might only turn violent after being threatened by state action, like Sewell once threatened. But I don’t know that. I know it’s impossible to take them at their word because neo-Nazis change their own direction at the drop of a hat. That irrationality is what makes them effective neo-Nazis. Their history demonstrates this.
Neo-Nazis after World War 2 have faced an uphill battle trying to convince the public of the virtues of fascism. In frustration, generations of neo-Nazis – from street-level nationalist thugs to important WW2-era fascist philosophers like Julius Evola – have eventually given up in waves on the futility of populist organising while hiding their fascist beliefs.
Read the article by Tom Tanuki in Independent Australia.