"Alexander Ritzmann, a senior advisor of the Counter-Extremism Project, has been a leading expert on Active Clubs and their international spread. He told VICE News that in the United States, the Active Clubs appear to be building 'a militia that looks like a combat sports network.'"

"In past columns, I have explored the psychology of conspiracy theories and extremism, as well as focusing on extremist groups such as the Boogaloo Boys and QAnon. This month, I wanted to explore the transnational extremist group, known as the Active Club. In September 2023, the Counter Extremism Project (CEP) referred to them as a racist group 'hiding in plain sight'. The Active Club network in Canada is, in part, a recruiting front for the Hammerskins, a racist skinhead gang with a decades-long history of violence"

"According to Vice News, a report from the Counter Extremism Project identified ;at least one hundred Active Clubs in the United States, Canada and Europe.'

A worrying phenomenon - The phenomenon is very worrying because, as reported by Alexander Ritzmann, author of the report, 'it is an unprecedented growth. I have never seen a right-wing extremist network grow so quickly. It usually takes years to build a transnational network.'"

"'Their own propaganda says ‘we are a white nationalist sports network, it’s about fitness,’' said Alexander Ritzmann, a political scientist and senior advisor at the Counter Extremism Project who studies Active Clubs, in an interview. 'But reading their documents and listening to their podcasts, I’m curious about if they are a combat sports network or if they are a militia hiding in plain sight.'"

"The number of far-right, white supremacist fight clubs is exploding. The Counter Extremism Project (CEP) published a recent report that pinpointed at least 100 in the USA, Canada, and Europe.

...

Alexander Ritzmann, the CEP report’s author, said recently: 'This is an unprecedented growth. I’ve never seen a network in right-wing extremism grow so fast. Usually, it takes years to build a transnational network. It’s concerning.'"

"Active clubs are a strand of the white nationalist movement that is aimed at creating 'a stand-by militia of trained and capable' right-wing extremists 'who can be activated when the need for coordinated violent action on a larger scale arises,' according to a 52-page report from the Counter Extremism Project (CEP).

...

Alexander Ritzmann, author of the CEP report, tells Metro Times that the Great Lakes Active Club 'fits the profile of a stereotypical Active Club as it was designed by Robert Rundo.'"

“…These so-called “Active Clubs” are now recruiting across the United States, according to Alexander Ritzmann, a Berlin-based senior adviser who co-authored the report “Hiding in Plain Sight–The Transnational Right-Wing Extremist Active Club Network,” which was released last month and highlighted in Rolling Stone. The clubs advertise as sporting groups designated for white-only men, but their real objective, Ritzmann tells The New Abnormal, “is to essentially train a white supremacist militia.” 

"By August, research conducted by Alexander Ritzmann for the Counter Extremism Project (CEP), a nonprofit that tracks extremist groups, found that there were 46 clubs operating in 34 different states—a 50 percent increase in the number of clubs and a 100 percent increase in the geographical spread in the space of just five months....
The vast majority of the Telegram channels identified as belonging to the clubs listed in the CEP report are public, available for everyone to see. The transparency is part of Rundo’s White Supremacy 3.0 strategy where he urges groups to only post positive content about training of the sense of brotherhood that the clubs claim to inspire, while avoiding violent threats and Nazi symbolism. But some groups do not appear to be subscribing to Rundo’s ideals—chief among them, the Tennessee Active Club."

"The Active Clubs are flying below the radar of law enforcement. But as described in a new 50-page report from the Counter Extremism Project (CEP), the network is evolving into a dangerous 'stand-by militia' of well-trained, white-nationalist fighters 'who can be activated when the need for coordinated violent action on a larger scale arises.'"

The Active Clubs present themselves as groups of gym bros who pursue mixed martial arts — and just happen to dabble in white power. 'They are specifically asked not to talk about ‘The Jews’ when recruiting, but to focus on positive things like brotherhood, community and so on,' says Alexander Ritzmann, the Berlin-based researcher who authored the CEP report. This follows Rundo’s belief that: 'A group of strong white men is a fascist statement in itself.'"

"'The Active Clubs are flying below the radar of law enforcement,' Rolling Stone's report stated. 'But as described in a new 50-page report from the Counter Extremism Project (CEP), the network is evolving into a dangerous 'stand-by militia' of well-trained, white-nationalist fighters 'who can be activated when the need for coordinated violent action on a larger scale arises.'"