When the organizer of far-right “active clubs” goes to prison, his violent movement goes global

American Neo-Nazi Robert RundoA six-year “battle with federal gangs” — a fight that has included two impeachments, three appeals and extradition and deportation from at least two countries — ends today with his sentencing to federal prison for attacking ideological opponents at political rallies in California. in 2017.

Along with several members Rise Above MovementRunning a club and street gang he founded with fellow extremist Ben Daly in Southern California at the height of the alt-right movement, Rundo was convicted in 2018 of conspiracy to violate federal riot laws for training and planning a series attacks on political opponents in California and Unite the Right rallies in Virginia last year Rundo could spend years behind bars, the movement he created is raging around the world.

In the intercessory years since then preliminary arrestindictment, prison, and flight from the United States after his case was initially dismissed in 2019, Rundo helped create an international network of RAM clones known as “Active Clubs,” a transnational alliance of far-right fight clubs that closely aligned with skinhead gangs and neo-fascists in North America, Europe, the Antipodes and South America with political movements. Active Club network breeds internationally dozens of active clubs in the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Scandinavia, Australia and Colombia, according to the groups’ presence on Telegram and extremism researchers.

Seemingly innocuous, the Active Clubs are small groups of young men who go on hikes, train in martial arts, and build friendships, all part of the original plan of the Rise Up movement. But the darkness is in the details. the groups membership often overlaps with other extremist organizations such as the Patriot Front, criminal skinhead groups such as the Hammerskins, etc. violent extremists in foreign nations. Some Clubs in the US are branching out into politics intimidation and: violencelike the Rise Up movement before them.

“I definitely believe that in the future there has to be a grassroots movement, a grassroots organization, but when it comes down to it, do you really want a bunch of guys coming from a strictly online world to come join a grassroots movement without having one?” any experience or skill,” Rundo said in a video posted online shortly before his arrest in Bucharest, Romania. “Active clubs are a great local outlet to get the boys started as they come from the online world into the real world, learning real skills.”

Hannah Guice, a senior research analyst at the Southern Poverty Law Center who has long studied Rundo and her colleagues, says the Active Club model features a low barrier to entry, an emphasis on building a positive community to draw new blood outside of extremist circles ready international network. “The model has made it really easy to make those transnational connections,” Guice says. “If you’re not an organization, you can connect with whoever you want.”