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- The 'lone wolf' myth
The 31-year-old man who threw a bomb at the Invasion Day rally in Perth is now charged with one count of engaging in a terrorist act (on top of the two initial charges of making or possessing an explosive, and committing an act with intent to cause harm). He is the first person to ever face terrorism charges in WA.
At a press conference announcing the charge this week, WA Police Commissioner Col Blanch gave an indication of what the WA Joint Counter Terrorism Team found that justified it:
“It was self-radicalised — acting alone — access to pro-white, pro-white male material online.”
“...At this point, we understand he’d been accessing and participating in [Neo-Nazism].”
The man will next appear in court on 17 February. Now that this case is in the courts we might not get much more information until there is a trial.
But there is another case that we can and should be talking about a lot more.
Self-radicalised online. Pro-white male material. Acting alone.
Authorities used similar terms to describe the Christchurch shooter, the Australian man who massacred 51 people at two mosques in New Zealand in 2019. He is Australia’s worst terrorist (if we’re judging ‘worst’ by number of people murdered), but because he committed the atrocity overseas the story seems to fly under the radar when we discuss extremism, radicalisation and political or ideological violence in Australia.
BT grew up in Grafton, in regional NSW. He moved to NZ in 2017. When he committed the terrorist attack in 2019, he was 28 years old.
I’ve recommended the podcast series Secrets We Keep: Lone Actor by Joey Watson multiple times before, and I’m recommending it again now. It is an essential listen for anyone worried about the radicalisation of young men online into any extremist, violent ideology.
The entire series challenges the categorisation of “lone wolf” terrorists in the digital age. If someone is radicalised online by communities and networks of people creating, sharing and exchanging with each other, then have they come to violence on their own?
Episode two, “Shitposting”, details the Christchurch terrorist’s online presence, including disturbing posts leading up to the attack and the infamous manifesto and livestream on the day of. BT had been active on 4chan since the age of 14, from the very beginning of the site, and remained there as it became increasingly irony-poisoned, extremist and, ultimately, overrun with white supremacists what we would now call incels.
Watson makes it clear that this is the beginning of BT’s radicalisation journey. The exposure to explicitly racist and pro-white ideas begins 15 years before he commits the mass shooting. He is discovering this material on his own — as in, alone on the computer — but the posts and content are made by others. 4chan is a community of people engaging with each other.
In episode three, “In the scene”, Watson traces BT’s connections to, support of and donations to organised neo-Nazi groups in Australia, including the group that would eventually become the National Socialist Network. “As he was becoming more violent in this anonymous world, he began connecting with Australian far-right groups online. He stays connected to these groups as he moves to New Zealand and begins training with assault weapons.”
And, most tellingly, after the attack in which the terrorist targeted Muslims at mosques, the leader of this group champions BT as he revs up members of the group about preparing for “race wars” that will “free him”. BT shooter also made a significant donation to Austrian far-right extremist, Martin Sellner, months before the massacre.
But, despite being encouraged along his journey to violence by an extensive network of like-minded creeps, the Christchurch shooter could still be described using the same terms that WA Police Commissioner Col Blanch used in Perth: Self-radicalised online. Pro-white male material. Acting alone.
The NZ government conducted a royal commission into the Christchurch attack, with the full report released in 2020. A chapter is dedicated to examining the terrorist’s upbringing in Australia, which among other things spotlights his unsupervised access to the internet and expressing racist ideas in high school (including about Aboriginal people and antisemitism) serious enough to be dealt with by teachers. He expresses being ‘concerned’ about immigration as young as 12 (it’s worth noting Grafton has a population of about 19,000.)
At some point we’ll be privy to more information about the Perth man who threw a bomb at 2,500 peaceful protesters rallying in support of First Nations people. When that time comes, special attention should be paid to who he was isolated from and who he was listening to.
Intelligence agencies like ASIO have been warning for years that individual actors (mostly teen boys and young men) being inspired to violence by online extremist content is one of the fastest growing threats in Australia. “Individuals are moving to violence with little or no warning, and little or no planning. Acts of violence can be almost spontaneous … motivated by a diversity of grievances and personalised narratives.”
From a policing and legal perspective, the distinction between a “lone actor” versus someone who is a member of a defined and organised group makes sense. Once a singular attacker has been taken into custody or killed the immediate threat is generally over; if it’s an attack planned by a group, it may just be one in a series of coordinated attacks and many more factors to consider depending on the size of the group. The Bondi Beach shooting is one recent example – despite being inspired by ISIS, the two men acted alone.
But it’s not helpful framing for the societal threat. It doesn’t help us understand how someone gets there — which is crucial for knowing how to stop someone getting there. None of this happens in a vacuum.
Smart stuff on the Internet 💭
All the stuff I found on the web that made me think, smile, or have an ‘aha!’ moment. Spend your Sunday reading them – you'll be better off for it:
As you are reading this, Isaac Herzog will be touching down in Australia for an official visit. He is the president of Israel, and statements he has made were highlighted by a UN special commission inquiry as incitement of genocide. Protests and rallies have been organised for Monday, 9 February in many cities around the country. Amnesty International has a handy tool to find the times and locations. If you are attending in NSW, know your rights beforehand.
Here's how Epstein broke the internet on Garbage Day
Great, even more psychopaths x 4chan news. “One of the central internet mysteries of the last 15 years is why 4chan creator Christopher Poole reversed course in 2011 and brought back the site’s politics board, which is called /pol/, or “Politically Incorrect.” It would become the staging ground for Gamergate, the 2016 Trump campaign, and the far-right populism wave that swept the world in the back half of the 2010s … Buried inside the newest batch of files related to the Epstein investigation is a possible hint as to what made Poole change his mind. He met with Epstein the day before /pol/ was created.”
This insightful video explaining why people mocking the polarising KATSEYE song “Gnarly” (and their Grammy’s performance of it) is a consequence of “separating the art from the artists”. Justice for songwriter Alice Gao!!!