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This is an incredible report on the fast-growing People’s Rights Network, which has grown from a few dozen people in Idaho in late March since late march “to a membership base of over twenty thousand across the country.” 1/
h/t @matthew_feldman https://www.irehr.org/reports/peoples-rights-report/
h/t @matthew_feldman https://www.irehr.org/reports/peoples-rights-report/
rapid membership growth is due to core far-right paramilitary supporters of Aaron Bundy “built up over years of armed standoffs” combined with a mass growth in “new activists radicalized in protest over COVID-19 health directives.” 2/
Among other interesting facts about the network: a majority of local leadership positions in the massive network are held by women- part of the growth in women’s far right engagement. (National leadership is still men.) But ideologically they also reflect a shift in anti-govt 3/
extremism in really fascinating ways: unlike “traditional ‘anti-government’ narrative, People’s Rights leaders have expressed a desire for governmental power to be used to protect the ‘righteous’ against ‘wicked’ liberals, antifa, Black Lives Matter activists, and others.” So 4/
they are trying to protect or work within the status quo, rather than against it. This makes them more like vigilante groups that come out to “support” law enforcement etc than like anti-govt extremists who want civil war or revolution 5/
The report even shows that “Several People’s Rights leaders are running for elected office—to become the government.” If that doesn’t work, “leaders have proposed a type of armed enclave-style ‘neighborhood’ nationalism, where ‘righteous’ neighbors stand against” 6/
”’the ‘wicked.’” But as the report details, “People’s Rights leaders have often defined the ‘wicked’ using far-right conspiracism, racism, antisemitism, anti-indigenous, and anti-transgender sentiment.” In short, this report captures a rapidly evolving 7/
mobilization on far-right fringe, which might look like paramilitary/armed militia movement but is oriented toward more traditional far-right ideology rather than claims abt anti-government tyranny. Imp part of constantly-evolving far-right spectrum. Kudos @IREHR on imp work. END
