Officials Detail The Base’s Plans For Violence At Richmond Gun Rally

For Immediate Release Thursday, January 23, 2020

Neo-Nazi Group Planned On Ambushing Attendees; Denounces Arrest On Telegram

(New York, N.Y.) – Last week’s arrest of Patrik Jordan Mathews and two other members of the neo-Nazi group the Base shifted to the courtroom Tuesday, as federal prosecutors outlined how the accused planned on inciting violence at a gun rights rally in Richmond, Virginia. Amongst other tactics, the members planned on “ambushing” the police and firing upon “unsuspecting civilians.” All told, a total of seven members of the Base have been arrested. On Monday, Counter Extremism Project researcher Joshua Fisher-Birch disclosed that the group’s Telegram channel stated that the arrests were unfair and that the group’s founder, Roman Wolf, also stated that the Base would continue to exist and struggle “for survival.”

Since the arrests, CEP’s resource U.S. White Supremacy Groups and Fisher-Birch have been featured prominently in news outlets such as The Associated Press, The New York Times and Reuters. A select portion of the media coverage is provided here and part of the resource may be read below.

The Base is a neo-Nazi, white-supremacist group that describes itself as an “international survivalist and self-defense network” that seeks to train their members for fighting a race war. The group claims to have members in North America, Europe, South Africa, and Australia. The Base is influenced by tactics described in the book Siege by neo-Nazi James Mason and is an accelerationist group that encourages the onset on anarchy so it can then “impose order from chaos.” In a September 2018 episode of the podcast The Roper Report, Wolf claimed the Base’s goal is to unite white nationalists for the coming race war that will overthrow the government and reshape society.

The Base has organized training camps around North America to instruct their members in weaponry and military tactics. While the name ‘The Base’ is the English translation of al-Qaeda, it is unclear if the link was intentional. The Base heavily draws inspiration from the Atomwaffen Division (AWD) and Siege, which also inspired AWD. The exact relationship between AWD and The Base remains unclear beyond inspiration. The Base’s membership reportedly includes members of AWD and the far-right group Eco-Fascist Order.

To read the CEP report U.S. White Supremacy Groups, please click here.

To read the CEP report James Mason’s Siege: Ties to Extremists, please click here.

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On October 7, 2023, Hamas invaded southern Israel where, in the space of eight hours, hundreds of armed terrorists perpetrated mass crimes of brutality, rape, and torture against men, women and children. In the biggest attack on Jewish life in a single day since the Holocaust, 1,200 were killed, and 251 were taken hostage into Gaza—where 101 remain. One year on, antisemitic incidents have increased by record numbers. 

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