Thursday, 21 December 2023

Is it time to start referring to Diagolon as a Neo-Nazi movement?

Yes, you read that question correctly. I think it may be time to have that discussion. Most people I speak with on the topic have noticed the rhetoric coming from their most prominent personalities has become far more explicitly white nationalist within the last year or so. I detailed it a few months ago, along with their advocacy for viewers to join Neo-Nazi Active Clubs. For a lot of people that is likely a red line for describing Diagolon as a Neo-Nazi movement, but let's take a look at some of their rhetoric in the last quarter of the year.

We'll start with Dan Sleno's Halloween live stream. Here he receives a donation for $14. Pete Sorrenti then jokes that they should have sent an $88 donation. This is an obvious reference to both the 14 words and 88 or Hail Hitler.
Also content warning for all the video clips. Racism, homophobia, ableism

Dan also receives a comment about a film titled "The Eternal Jew", which is a Nazi propaganda film released in 1940. Sleno calls it "a good choice of movie".
And before anyone asks, yes those appear to be SS lightning bolts on Dan and Leigh Stuart's faces.
Likely just a joke. Just like this one about domestic abuse because they're just the funniest comedians ever.
Or this joke about Active Clubs.
I found these clips from the Halloween stream interesting. They aren't happy about Josh Alexander's tweets disapproving of Halloween. Maybe the Diagolon/Save Canada honeymoon is coming to an end.

Here is Dan Sleno on Alex Vriend's stream performing a Roman salute. Just for jokes because they're amazing comedians. Kinda hard to laugh when he's streaming with someone advocating that his viewers join Neo-Nazi fight clubs.
Side note: This isn't the first time Sleno has done this during a stream. Last time he pulled the video and re-uploaded an edited version. I couldn't say this before, but since I now have proof that he has done it, I can.
Speaking of Vriend lets take a look at some of the things being said on his live streams.
He seems very comfortable using racist slurs.
I'll double down on the content warning now.
But he wishes he could use... a different racial slur.
In this clip Alex compares Palestinians to dead skunks. A while back I cautioned people about the far-right "supporting" the Palestinians. This is why.
For anyone that requires a video clip to help explain why schools should not be forced to out LGTBQ+ children to their parents, look no further than this. Derek Harrison discusses hitting children for being gay/trans and says they should be bullied.
Alex encourages people to share speeches by Adolf Hitler and asks "Where's the lie?".
Alex and Derek engage in a bit of Holocaust denial. Shocking I know. They share a tweet that shows a letter written by a Red Cross observer in 1944 that claims he did not see any extermination facilities at Auschwitz. What they neglect to mention was that the observer was not granted access to those areas of the facility and he only met the commandant in the office outside of the fences.

Alex states that Jews "can't stop lying".
Here Ferryman quotes Mein Kampf to justify his hatred of Jews.
One of their viewers says that we should "drive (((them))) out of all our lands", clearly suggesting that we deport Jews.
Ferryman gushes over how wonderful he thinks the sonnenrad is.
This next clip is very telling. Leigh Stuart asks Alex how they plan to make "them" go back, referring to immigrants. Ferryman dances around the question but I'll answer it... violently. There is no peaceful way to make people leave a country. White nationalism is an inherently violent ideology.
We've focused on Alex quite a bit and I'll get back to him shortly but let's see some of the rhetoric coming from other prominent Diagolon live streamers.
Here Greg Wycliffe claims that the LGTBQ+ community is "anti-white" because they can't create more white people. Plenty of gay and trans people have children, so clearly he's wrong.
Dan Sleno shares a clip from white supremacist Jared Taylor.
Saxon Murray, Morgan Guptil, and Marcella Hall being blatantly antisemitic.
I think this clip is one of my favorites ever. A while back I wrote a thread about Pete Sorrenti. He has been complaining about it ever since but in it I mentioned his opposition to PSAC. I only brought it up because the strike was a big news story at the time, but you'll never guess how he justifies his anti-union views.
"if you read Mein Kampf it's what drove Hitler mad in the first place"
Thanks Pete, you make my work so much easier.
Back to Ferryman. Not long ago he appeared on a "Nordic Frontier" podcast, which is an English-language show to promote the violent Neo-Nazi group the Nordic Resistance Movement.
The Diagolon guys are looking to create their own brand of Active Clubs in the future, likely after Jeremy's legal issues are resolved. The plan is to call them "Second Sons". Get it? SS. Masterminds of comedy these guys are.
2 Active Club members were recently arrested on terrorism related charges. This will likely affect their recruiting ability. Ferryman doesn't explicitly say this but look for these new Diagolon groups to try and fill that void.

So I've laid it all out as best as I could. You'll likely notice that Jeremy Mackenzie is largely absent from this discussion. He hasn't been streaming as frequently because he is focused on his various legal issues.

Obviously I was being a bit provocative in how I titled this post but I do feel it's a valid question.
What activity does it take to cross the line into Neo-Nazism? Recruiting for Neo-Nazi fight clubs? Citing Hitler for your antisemitic views? Holocaust denial?
Diagolon is a decentralized movement. There's no real leader or membership but there are certainly prominent speakers within the community.
Is it fair to label their entire movement as Neo-Nazi based on the examples I've provided? Certainly something worth thinking about.

Thursday, 14 December 2023

AFA Sweden leaked the names from Neo-Nazi music website Midgård. Let's look at some of the Canadians.

 Last week AFA Sweden released information from the Neo-Nazi music website Midgård.

I've been going over the release and have tracked down a few of the people named. To preface this blog post I didn't look in to anyone from Quebec. Finding the few people that I have so far was difficult enough, tossing in a language barrier certainly wouldn't help. Some of the Quebec Neo-Nazis have already been named, and I'm sure more will be in the future.

It's also important to note that I won't be discussing people who's names and identities I was able to find, but couldn't find any evidence for them expressing Neo-Nazi beliefs. The Midgård list is pretty big and this post is only meant to get started on naming people. I plan to go back over the list and see if I can find more information.
Now to get some of the more notable names out of the way. A few people listed in the Midgård already have noted histories of Neo-Nazi activity.

Update: I'm currently about half-way through writing this and the Canadian Anti-Hate Network released a report on the Midgård leak. My blog post should be similar but those wonderful people beat me to the punch again.


Anyway, now on to the Nazis.

Andrew Benson
Andrew is based out of Toronto and is involved with the White Lives Matter movement. He also has ties to Neo-Nazi Paul Fromm.


Jason Harley

Jason Harley is a Neo-Nazi based out of Calgary. He's known for harassing people at drag story time events and is a member of the Alberta Active Club chapter. According to CTV News, he's wanted by police.

Robert Jones
Robert Jones is a Neo-Nazi and former Proud Boy based out of Barrie, Ontario. He has also been involved with Northern Guard, Soldiers of Odin and PEGIDA.

Jesse Rankin
Jesse Rankin is a Neo-Nazi involved with the Hammerskins and the Active Club movement. He is apparently based out of BC but has a PO Box listed in Grande Prairie, Alberta.

Brendon Nowoselski

Calgary based Neo-Nazi with ties to 2 Neo-Nazis convicted of murder.

The remaining people that I will be naming are those who I wasn't familiar with prior to writing. Other researchers may have been aware of them however.

Paul Cunningham
Probably the easiest to identify with the SS insignia hanging behind him and totenkopf T-shirt. He's located in Bowmanville, Ontario.

Martin Schovanek
I don't know much about this person based in Edmonton. I wasn't even able to find a picture. The only reason I'm raising concern is that his name and contact information are tied to a business that imports firearms.

Steve Ridley
Calgary based Neo-Nazi. I was able to find his Twitter page which is full of Nazi imagery. Thanks to a friend for helping with this one.

That's all I have for now. I plan to go through the list again to see if I can track anyone else down.

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