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Accelorationism: Creating Chaos & Hungering for Race War Neo-Nazis Attack Power Grids [1]
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Date: 2023-03-06
While most Americans probably know little about Accelorationism -- the use of terrorism to create chaos leading to a race war – the strategy has been percolating within the white power movement for a while. Brandon Russell, one of the alleged perpetrators of a planned attack on the power grid of Maryland, is a longtime white nationalist who along with others, envision creating the conditions for race war in the U.S.
Before Russell, in 2018, “Rinaldo Nazzaro purchased 30 acres of remote land in Republic, Washington, a city of roughly 1,000 people about an hour’s drive south of the Canadian border. The tract was meant to serve as a training ground for a terroristic white power group he founded earlier that year called The Base,” the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Hatewatch project’s Cassie Miller reported in June 2020 (
https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2020/06/23/there-no-political-solution-accelerationism-white-power-movement).
According to a recent Intelbrief from The Soufan Center, “Recent arrests of neo-Nazis in the United States who planned to target the power grid in Maryland demonstrate the persistent risk posed to critical infrastructure and ‘soft’ targets. One of those arrested, Russell, is a founding member of Atomwaffen who promoted accelerationism and sought to instigate terrorist attacks to spark a race war in the U.S.
“Attacks against critical infrastructure have long been high on the agenda of violent extremists, with planned and foiled attacks across the United States against dams, electrical systems, and energy sites.
“Online, in Telegram and other platforms, American far-right extremists speak openly of attacking the power grid in the United States in an attempt to hasten the downfall of the government.”
The Soufan Center’s Intelbrief pointed out (
https://thesoufancenter.org/intelbrief-2023-february-10/) that Russell, “and Sarah Clendaniel, whom Russell met in prison, were charged with conspiring to destroy an energy facility, a charge which carries a possible twenty-year sentence. The plot was disrupted with the help of local, state, and federal law enforcement entities working together to share information. Russell and Clendaniel are considered racially and ethnically motivated violent extremists (REMVE), owing to their neo-Nazi ideological beliefs.
“Clendaniel left behind writings that showed an infatuation with Adolf Hitler, Ted Kaczynski (the Unabomber), and Anders Breivik, the far-right terrorist responsible for the racially motivated 2011 attacks in Norway, which killed 77 people in Oslo and Utøya, respectively. She also commented, “I would sacrifice everything for my people,” referring to the white race. White supremacist extremists have also been unequivocal in their quest to build and detonate a dirty bomb, with the intent of killing large numbers of people and destabilizing the country.”
In late February, The Southern Poverty Law Center’s Hannah Gais and Jason Wilson reported that “Leaked chats, documents and online materials have revealed that Atomwaffen Division (AWD) founder Brandon Clint Russell was secretly but tirelessly active as a white-power propagandist and organizer between his release from prison in 2021 and his arrest on charges of plotting terror attacks.”
“Driven by their ideology of racially-motivated hatred, the [Baltimore] defendants allegedly schemed to attack local power grid facilities,” said Assistant Attorney General for National Security Matthew G. Olsen. “The Justice Department will not tolerate those who threaten critical infrastructure and imperil communities in the name of domestic violent extremism.”
“This alleged planned attack threatened lives and would have left thousands of Marylanders in the cold and dark,” said U.S. Attorney Erek L. Barron for the District of Maryland. “We are united and committed to using every legal means necessary to disrupt violence, including hate-fueled attacks.”
“Attacks on multiple electrical substations in Maryland would have caused suffering to thousands of Americans going about their everyday lives, but the FBI and our partners put a stop to that threat,” said Assistant Director Robert R. Wells of the FBI's Counterterrorism Division. “According to the criminal complaint, the defendants allegedly were taking specific steps to carry out their plans, including selecting targets and trying to illegally acquire a rifle. The FBI and our partners will hold accountable all those who commit criminal acts that threaten the safety of those in our communities, regardless of their motivations.”
The Soufan Center noted that targeting critical infrastructure is not a new strategy. “There were attempts by extremists to attack the Hoover Dam in the 1980s, as well as plots seeking to poison local water supplies with cyanide. In 2013, several gunmen opened fire on a transmission substation south of San Jose, California, causing approximately $15 million worth of damage to 17 transformers. Online, in Telegram and other platforms, far-right extremists speak openly of attacking the power grid in the United States in an attempt to hasten the downfall of the government. In 2022, there was a string of attacks on electrical substations throughout the Pacific Northwest, including attacks in Oregon and Washington state, which remain unsolved.”
Accelorationists have long dreamed of using violence, creating chaos, which would lead to a race war. Their ultimate goal appears to be the creation of a fascist society built on ethnonationalism.
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