Researchers who infiltrated Action Zealandia say the group’s members identify as neo-Nazis and fascists in violent, private online chats, Marc Daalder reports Two new academic studies on New Zealand’s main white supremacist group, based on 18 months of covert research, indicate Action Zealandia sees itself “as the seeds of a larger fascist social movement, and as a street fighting spearhead in the manner of the Nazis Sturmabteiling or brownshirts”, rather than as a terrorist organisation. University of Auckland terrorism and conflict lecturer Chris Wilson and then-independent journalist James Halpin (who now works at Stuff) published a paper in late July and another last week, after Halpin joined Action Zealandia undercover. He witnessed nearly two years of online private chats and attended in-person events, according to the studies, which were first reported by Stuff on Tuesday. The two researchers found that, contrary to its watered down “identitarian” public image, “in closed spaces online, members express overt white nationalism and discuss the use of political violence. Members self-identify as Nazis, fascists, nationalists, and white supremacists.” That public image will be even harder to launder after the group’s website was knocked offline over the weekend in an unrelated incident.
via newsroom: White supremacist group infiltrated