NEW ZEALAND LABELS ‘PROUD BOYS’ AND ‘THE BASE’ AS TERRORIST ORGANIZATIONS

Thu 30 June 2022:

New Zealand has designated The Proud Boys and The Base, two US groups, as terrorist organizations. It was published in the gazette, the government’s official journal of record, on Monday, June 20.

It was made public a week later, but not to a larger audience.

According to the Police Commissioner Andrew Coster’s decision, everyone who is connected to The Base and the Proud Boys financially or through property is liable for prosecution and might face up to seven years in prison under the Terrorism Suppression Act.

A US neo-fascist organisation called the American Proud Boys has leadership and members who have been federally indicted in connection with the disturbances at the US Capitol on January 6. A paramilitary white nationalist hate group known as The Base is active in the US and Canada, and there have been rumours of training cells in South Africa, Australia, and Europe.

The police website has not yet made the justification for the designation public, despite the gazette’s claim that it would be there. Unless extended or cancelled, the designation automatically expires on June 20, 2025.

Who are the Proud Boys?

The Proud Boys are a far-right extremist group that was formed in the lead-up to the 2016 US presidential elections, according to the FBI. Gavin McInnes, a co-founder of Vice Media and former commentator, founded the organisation. McInnes contended that the society’s incapacity to permit men to be proud of Western culture made the group’s existence vital. The “brotherhood,” an exclusively male organisation, would eventually have chapters in 46 US states. Yet despite this, women continue to embrace the group, which its founder previously referred to as a “gang.”

The national Proud Boys organisation recognises 119 active Proud Boys chapters spread throughout 46 American states, according to the Anti-Defamation League, a Jewish civil rights organisation with headquarters in the US.

Who are The Base?

The Base, a white nationalist organization and training network, was started by Rinaldo Nazzaro in 2018. It operates in the United States, South Africa, Australia, and Europe. The group was founded in June 2018 by Rinaldo Nazzaro under the names Norman Spear and Roman Wolf. Nazzaro reportedly bought many blocks of off-the-grid land in Washington state, United States, in 2018 to use the region as a survivalist training camp.

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