What a staggering gun cache discovered in one suspected neo-Nazi's house says about far-right extremism in Europe

Bernhard Weidinger, who research the far proper on the Documentation Archive of the Austrian Resistance in Vienna, says that the criminalization of Nazi ideology has ensured that it's neither notably sturdy nor organized. "But what we do have is a very high frequency of weapons finds," he informed CNN.Neo-Nazi exercise in Europe is regularly related to biker gangs, organized crime and soccer followers. In Austria, a group known as the Immortal observe the membership Rapid Vienna, generally displaying the Reich War flag at matches. In Italy, fan teams referred to as Ultras undertake fascist slogans and monikers.In Austria, as elsewhere in Europe, the neo-Nazi scene consists of virulent strains of each anti-Semitism and anti-Muslim racism.

In Austria, 12% of individuals aged 18 to 34 mentioned they'd by no means heard of the Holocaust. Austria additionally had the best variety of individuals in the survey -- 4 out of 10 adults -- who mentioned they knew "just a little" about the Holocaust. And a third of Austrians (32%) mentioned Jewish individuals have an excessive amount of affect on enterprise and finance around the globe, echoing a long-standing anti-Semitic trope.

Austria is grappling with the legacy of anti-Semitism in different methods. For virtually a decade, a statue in Vienna has been on the heart of that troubled historical past. It is of Karl Lueger, the town's mayor firstly of the twentieth century. Lueger exploited anti-Jewish feeling in his bid for workplace, emphasizing Christian and Germanic supremacy, and was a lot admired by Adolf Hitler. The bronze statue, 4 meters excessive, has been defaced however nonetheless stands in a distinguished place in a Vienna sq.. City authorities determined this month that it could stay in place however be set in context.

Sellner has turn out to be a main mild in the Identitarian motion which opposes mass migration and needs Europe to have a homogenic white and Christian id. They see this id being bought out by political elites dedicated to multiculturalism. Austrian authorities prosecuted him and 16 others utilizing anti-Mafia legal guidelines in 2018, accusing them of hate speech and prison affiliation. After a high-profile trial they have been acquitted.

Analysts make a distinction between conventional neo-Nazis --- whose actions are based mostly on violence and crime --- and the rising Identitarian teams, that are political. Besides Sellner and the IBO in Austria, they embrace Génération Identitaire in France and the Neue Rechte (New Right) in Germany.

In Vienna, Gottfried Kuessel -- now out of jail -- and others beforehand related to neo-Nazism joined marches towards lockdown. Weidinger says it is notable that in addition they seem to have attracted a youthful era -- individuals in their twenties -- to hitch them. They have additionally begun to prepare their very own protest for the primary time in a few years, he informed CNN.

In a video message, Sellner informed the protesters they might mobilize a "broad, patriotic mass" to battle the "grand strategy" of worldwide elites. Members of the Reichsburger group tried to drive their manner into the parliament, a symbolic act meant to recall the Nazis' burning of the Reichstag.

In each Germany and Austria, the more excessive factions converse of "Day X" -- an apocalyptic fantasy when democratic establishments will collapse in a tide of violence and a neo-Nazi state might be born.

The 'mainstream' proper

There is a few ideological overlap between Identitarian teams and Europe's established right-wing events, such because the Freedom Party in Austria, the National Rally (previously the National Front) in France, and Matteo Salvini's Northern League in Italy.

"In a time when Europe is facing a serious demographic crisis with low birth rates and ageing population, pro-family policy making should be an answer instead of mass immigration," they mentioned.

Bernhard Weidinger says that the Identitarians supply what he describes as "critical solidarity" to the Freedom Party (FPO), which dominates the precise in Austria. He says that now the Freedom Party is in opposition in Austria after a spell in a authorities coalition it has tilted additional proper, depriving the IBO of territory of its personal.

The European far-right is a fractured surroundings, the place political activism and calls to violence overlap, and teams develop and morph rapidly. Much of it's online or underground, however it has been given new impetus -- in each Europe and America -- by lockdowns, vaccination mandates and an epidemic of conspiracy theories. Where it coalesces -- not less than in spirit -- is on the problems of cultural id and migration, which teams such because the Austrian IBO regard as an imminent existential menace. In June this 12 months, the Austrian parliament handed a regulation banning the symbols of the IBO and one other group, "The Austrians," basically conflating them with terror teams.