FAR-RIGHT

DEFENDING TERRORIST
EUROPE:
“GLOBAL BRITAIN”
MANIFESTOS:
AND
A THE FUTURE
CRITICAL ANALYSIS
OF EUROPEAN
BY DR RAKIB EHSAN AND DR PAUL STOTT
GEOPOLITICS
BY JAMES ROGERS

DEMOCRACY | FREEDOM | HUMAN RIGHTS February

Report No.2020
2018/1
Published in 2020 by The Henry Jackson Society

The Henry Jackson Society

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© The Henry Jackson Society, 2020. All rights reserved.

The views expressed in this publication are those of the author and are not
necessarily indicative of those of The Henry Jackson Society or its Trustees.

Title: “FAR-RIGHT TERRORIST MANIFESTOS: A CRITICAL ANALYSIS”

Authors: Dr Rakib Ehsan and Dr Paul Stott

ISBN: 978-1-909035-55-3

£9.95 where sold

Front Cover: Image taken from a screenshot from social media of ‘The Great Replacement’ manifesto
published online prior to the Christchurch Mosque shootings.
FAR-RIGHT
DEFENDING TERRORIST
EUROPE:
“GLOBAL BRITAIN”
MANIFESTOS:
AND
A THE FUTURE
CRITICAL ANALYSIS
OF EUROPEAN
BY DR RAKIB EHSAN AND DR PAUL STOTT
GEOPOLITICS
BY JAMES ROGERS

DEMOCRACY | FREEDOM | HUMAN RIGHTS February

Report No.2020
2018/1
Far-Right Terrorist Manifestos: A Critical Analysis

About the Authors

Dr Paul Stott joined the Henry Jackson Society’s Centre on Radicalisation and Terrorism as a
Research Fellow in January 2019.
An experienced academic, he received an MSc in Terrorism Studies (Distinction) from the
University of East London in 2007, and his PhD in 2015 from the University of East Anglia
for the research “British Jihadism: The Detail and the Denial”. He is a frequent commentator
in both the British and international media on terrorism, the Middle East, security and the
political fringe. His last published article on far-right extremism was ‘The White Wolves: The
Terrorist Manifesto that Wasn’t?’ in Perspectives on Terrorism, Vol 13 No 4 (2019).

Dr Rakib Ehsan is a Research Fellow in the Centre on Radicalisation & Terrorism. He holds a BA
Politics & International Relations (First-Class Honours), MSc Democracy, Politics & Governance
(Pass with Distinction), and a PhD in Political Science, all from Royal Holloway, University of
London. His PhD investigated the effects of social integration for British ethnic minorities.
Rakib has had research published by a number of UK-based think-tanks, including Runnymede
Trust, Policy Exchange and Intergenerational Foundation, as well as the Mackenzie Institute,
an independent security think-tank based in Toronto, Canada. He has spoken at parliamentary
events and academic conferences on the ideological motivations driving the growth of far-
right extremism.

About CRT at The Henry Jackson Society

The Centre on Radicalisation and Terrorism (CRT) is unique in addressing violent and non-violent
extremism. By coupling high-quality, in-depth research with targeted and impactful policy
recommendations, we aim to combat the threat of radicalisation and terrorism in our society.
The Henry Jackson Society is a think-tank and policy-shaping force that fights for the principles
and alliances that keep societies free, working across borders and party lines to combat extremism,
advance democracy and human rights, and make a stand in an increasingly uncertain world.
The Henry Jackson Society is a company limited by guarantee registered in England and Wales
under company number 0765741 and a charity registered in England and Wales under registered
charity number 1140489. HJS is a 501(c)(3) organisation in the United States EIN 46-1190785.
For more information, please see www.henryjacksonsociety.org.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank all the staff and interns at the Henry Jackson Society for their
support in making this publication possible. Special thanks must be given to HJS’s Director of
the Centre on Radicalisation & Terrorism, Nikita Malik, along with HJS’s Director of Research, Dr
Andrew Foxall. Dr Ehsan would also like to thank his incredible family for their love, support, and
encouragement. Dr Stott would like to thank his family for their patience whilst he wrote and
researched, and Dr Larry O’Hara for sharing his knowledge of the far-right across so many years.
This publication was funded by the generosity of a research grant from the Airey Neave Trust.
The authors would like to express their gratitude to both the Trust, and its employees – working
with them has been a pleasure.
Their website can be viewed at http://www.aireyneavetrust.org.uk/.

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 Far-Right Terrorist Manifestos: A Critical Analysis

Chapter 1: Introduction

The nature of contemporary far-right terrorism poses a myriad of challenges. It is global,

ideologically diverse, and unpredictable. As such, analysis of the ideological motivations and
characteristics of perpetrators, as well as the operational strategies associated with far-right
terrorism, 1 is needed more urgently than ever. This type of terrorism is on the rise – there
was a fourfold increase in far-right terrorist attacks across the Western world in 2016–17. 2
The challenge posed by this type of violence continues to be demonstrated, for example by
the neo-Nazi gunman who conducted a massacre in Hanau, Germany on 19 February 2020,
murdering nine civilians. 3

Statistical data, though, do not convey the horror this violence brings to those it targets. On
15 March 2019, a 28-year-old Australian, Brenton Tarrant, allegedly shot dead 51 Muslims at
the Al Noor Mosque and the Linwood Islamic Centre in Christchurch, New Zealand. 4 A month
later, on 27 April, 19-year-old John Earnest allegedly shot and killed one person and injured
three others at the Poway synagogue in California, United States (US). 5 On 3 August, 21-year-
old Patrick Crusius allegedly murdered 22 people at a Walmart store at El Paso, Texas, US. 6
All three men face trial in 2020, and seemingly chose different ethnic groups as their targets
– Muslims in Christchurch, Jews in California, Hispanics in Texas. The publication online of a
pre-attack manifesto by the alleged perpetrator was a feature in each of the three attacks.
Each document combined a justification for the action about to be undertaken with a broader
political analysis of the world’s problems, as the author saw them. It should be noted that
Brenton Tarrant, John Earnest and Patrick Crusius are pleading not guilty at their upcoming
trials. Therefore, and throughout this report, we wish to make it clear that it is for the courts to
decide if they murdered those killed in Christchurch, Poway and El Paso, and if they wrote the
manifestos distributed immediately before the attacks.

This report presents a qualitative analysis of each of these manifestos. From this, we identify
points of ideological convergence and divergence, in order to best understand the theoretical
motivations behind this violence. In this, we make no pretence of academic neutrality – in
demonstrating the ideological complexities which underpin contemporary far-right terrorism,
it is intended that this study will contribute to the development of effective political responses
and compelling counter-extremist narratives. In common with opposing the threat of jihadist
terrorism, we believe liberal democratic values must be fought for if they are to endure. Doing
nothing is a luxury we can ill afford.

1.1. Background
Whilst the combination of manifestos with terrorist attacks was a prominent component of
far-right violence in 2019, statements of principle, claims of responsibility, and declarations of
intent have long been a feature of politically inspired violence. In 2004 one of the doyens of

1 In the US context, this is sometimes referred to as ‘racially and ethnically motivated terrorism’ (REMT).
2 Wilson, T., Terrorism in the West: An Age of Extremes (London: Henry Jackson Society, 2018), available at:
https://henryjacksonsociety.org/publications/terrorism-in-the-west-an-age-of-extremes/.
3 Hall, A and France, A, ‘Hanau shooting: Neo-nazi gunman kills nine in Germany before turning gun on himself and mother
at their home’, Evening Standard, 20 February 2020, available at: https://www.standard.co.uk/news/world/hanau-shooting-
germany-nine-killed-tobias-r-neonazi-far-right-a4367161.html, last visited: 21 February 2020.
4 ‘Christchurch attack: Brenton Tarrant pleads not guilty to all charges’, BBC News, 14 June 2019, available at:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-48631488.
5 ‘San Diego synagogue shooting: One person dead in Poway, California’, BBC News, 28 April 2019, available at:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-48081535.
6 ‘El Paso shooting: Suspect “confessed to targeting Mexicans”’, BBC News, 9 August 2019, available at:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-49256867.

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Far-Right Terrorist Manifestos: A Critical Analysis

terrorism studies, Walter Laqueur (1921–2018), published a compendium of such statements

entitled Voices of Terror. 7 This brought together statements from a range of ideological and
religious positions across several centuries. The document serves as a reminder that, whilst the
technological opportunities for dissemination afforded the modern terrorist may be greater
than ever before, the need to explain, justify, impress, and recruit are ever present. If terrorism
and terrorist attacks are a method of communication, the accompanying manifesto is a tool to
ensure that the correct message is presented to the world. As Laqueur writes: ‘Public relations
and projecting the right image matter’. 8
Of significant relevance to the 2019 manifestos and terrorist incidents were the bomb and
gun attacks carried out in Norway on 22 July 2011 by Anders Behring Breivik, which killed 77
people. 9 Prior to his bombing of the Norwegian prime minister’s office, and mass shooting
at a Labour Party island youth camp at Utoya, the Norwegian white supremacist produced a
1,500-page manifesto titled ‘2083 – A European Declaration of Independence’. 10 Uploaded to
the Internet, this statement received global attention as an international search for Breivik’s
potential co-conspirators and ideological partners began. Brenton Tarrant’s alleged manifesto
namechecks Breivik, and received similar levels of attention. A pattern set, John Earnest
namechecks Tarrant, as in turn does Patrick Crusius, illustrating what the academic Graham
Macklin calls the ‘chain reaction’ of global right-wing terror. 11

1.2. Definitions
One of the challenges facing any researcher studying terrorism is to find working definitions
that are both justifiable and readily understandable. This is particularly problematic when
covering the far right, as this is an area where a ‘conceptual chaos’ is predominant, with
scholars from a range of perspectives discussing what they variously characterise as the ‘far
right’, ‘extreme right’, ‘right-wing populism’, and the ‘radical right’. 12 Worse, it is also the case
that sometimes precise definitions are considered superfluous. At the time of writing, the
Home Office website displays an article titled ‘Fact sheet: right-wing terrorism’ that does not
even attempt to define what right-wing terrorism actually is. 13
This report’s authors make the following definition of far-right terrorism: the support for or use
of deadly violence in order to promote a separation of the races, rooted in the view there is a
common, exclusively white identity threatened by the presence of an ‘other’. Whilst it may be that
other terms – such as ‘white separatist’ or ‘white nationalist’ – possess similar qualities, for the
sake of consistency and ease of understanding, the term ‘far-right terrorism’ is used throughout.

1.3. Methodology
The ideological composition of each manifesto was examined through qualitative analysis
using the software package NVivo. The aim of this was to produce a comprehensive account

7 Laqueur, W. (ed.), Voices of Terror: Manifestos, Writings and Manuals of Al Qaeda, Hamas, and other terrorists from around the
world and throughout the ages (New York: Reed Press, 2004).
8 I bid., p.2.
9 ‘Rapport fra 22. juli-kommisjonen: Preliminary English version of selected chapters’, Oslo: Gjorv Commission, 13 August 2012,
available at: https://www.sintef.no/globalassets/project/nexus/01--report-22-july-gjorv-commision-summary_english_
version.pdf, last visited: 2 January 2020.
10 ‘“Breivik manifesto” details chilling attack preparation’, BBC News, 24 July 2011, available at:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-14267007.
11 Macklin, G., ‘The El Paso terrorist attack: The chain reaction of global right wing terror’, CTC Sentinel 12.11 (December 2019):
pp.1–9, The Combating Terrorism Center at West Point, available at: https://ctc.usma.edu/el-paso-terrorist-attack-chain-
reaction-global-right-wing-terror/, last visited: 2 January 2020.
12 Perliger, A., ‘Challengers from the sidelines: Understanding America’s violent far-right’, The Combating Terrorism Center at
West Point, November 2012: p.13, available at: https://ctc.usma.edu/app/uploads/2013/01/ChallengersFromtheSidelines.pdf,
last visited: 2 January 2020.
13 ‘Fact sheet: Right wing terrorism’, Home Office News Team, 20 September 2019, available at:
https://homeofficemedia.blog.gov.uk/2019/09/20/fact-sheet-right-wing-terrorism/, last visited: 2 January 2020.

4
 Far-Right Terrorist Manifestos: A Critical Analysis

of the key ideological terms, thinkers, politicians, and activists referenced, as well as insights
into who the declared enemy and the opponents are for each of the authors. This was used to
inform a content analysis of each publication. With this, it was then possible to flesh out points
of ideological convergence and divergence.

Discussions held at a Henry Jackson Society roundtable on 9 January 2020 consisting of

academic researchers, security practitioners, and counter-extremism advisers have fed into the
policy themes and recommendations outlined in the final chapter. The policy themes discussed
were wide-ranging, reflecting the need for both an effective policy mix and sophisticated
multi-agency response to address the threat of far-right extremism and terrorist activity, both
in the UK and overseas.

Finally, it is important to raise a particular qualification. In his compendium of terrorist

manifestos, Laqueur was aware that, just because an author declares something to be so,
does not necessarily mean that it is. The art of propaganda walks hand in hand with terrorism.
Laqueur saw an increasing cleavage “between terrorist propaganda and terrorist practice …
the true aims of terrorist groups are often stated in veiled terms of implication, and sometimes
they are not stated at all”. 14 That means a critical, questioning approach to each and every
word that appears in the three manifestos has been taken. The concept of ‘shitposting’, 15 or
laying traps for researchers and investigators, is one we have borne in mind, and we urge
others to do the same.

14 Laqueur, W., Voices of Terror, p.2.

15 Evans, R., ‘Shitposting, inspirational terrorism, and the Christchurch Mosque massacre’, Bellingcat, 15 March 2019, available
at: https://www.bellingcat.com/news/rest-of-world/2019/03/15/shitposting-inspirational-terrorism-and-the-christchurch-
mosque-massacre/, last visited: 2 January 2020. See also p.22.

5
Far-Right Terrorist Manifestos: A Critical Analysis

Chapter 2: ‘The Great Replacement’ by Brenton Tarrant

‘The Great Replacement’ was authored by Brenton Tarrant before he allegedly killed 51 Muslim
worshippers during Friday prayers in the New Zealand city of Christchurch. The document, 74
pages in length, comes to over 16,500 words. Brenton Tarrant’s trial is currently scheduled to
commence on 2 June 2020; he has pleaded not guilty to the murder of 51 people, as well as
denying 40 charges of attempted murder and one charge laid under New Zealand’s Terrorism
Suppression Act 2002. 16 Online links to Tarrant’s ‘pre-attack’ manifesto were posted on both
8chan and Twitter, with the document being emailed to New Zealand prime minister Jacinda
Ardern’s office and several media outlets. 17

The dominant thread that runs through the manifesto is the view that white people are being
replaced in Western countries against their will – in both a demographic and socio-cultural
sense. The term “replacement” (including associated ‘stemmed terms’ such as “replace” and
“replacing”) features a total of 46 times – more than “immigration” (33 occasions). As well as
criticising recent processes of mass immigration, Tarrant places considerable emphasis on the
fertility rates of established migrant Muslim communities in Western countries (which in turn
are blamed for spurring a rapid pace of demographic and cultural change). Tarrant’s central
beliefs are summarised in the bluntest of terms – writing that he is “anti-immigration, anti-
ethnic replacement and anti-cultural replacement”. 18

Tarrant’s manifesto has a segmented Sonnenrad on its front cover. 19 Two of the segments are
labelled “workers’ rights” and “anti-imperialism”. Tarrant makes a total of 15 separate references
to corporations, advancing the view that mass inward migration of “cheap labour” into Western
countries is encouraged by the profit-driven interests of private capital, subsequently placing
“native populations” under both demographic and cultural threat. Further demonstrating his
support for left-leaning economics, Tarrant’s manifesto includes excerpts in favour of greater
unionisation of workers, as well as an increase in the minimum wage in the market-based
economies of the Western world. 20

Figure 1 presents a word cloud of the 100 most frequent terms in Tarrant’s manifesto. As
can be seen from this, as well as in Table 1, two terms that feature prominently in Tarrant’s
manifesto are “European” and “nations” (69 and 72 times respectively). This forms the basis
of Tarrant’s central aspiration: to stimulate an uprising across “brother nations” 21 that share
a common European heritage, and are perceived by Tarrant to be under demographic and
cultural threat from Muslim migrant communities. As will be discussed in more detail in Chapter
5, this forms part of growing efforts to construct a cross-continental militant alliance in which
those involved are bonded by a common racial and ancestral heritage, and a shared desire to
“confront” processes of demographic and cultural change. Indeed, Tarrant uses the “brother
nations” concept in an attempt to justify his act of anti-migrant terrorism – despite being an
Australian citizen living in New Zealand. 22

16 ‘Christchurch attack: Brenton Tarrant pleads not guilty to all charges’, BBC News, 14 June 2019, available at:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-486314887.
17 ‘Jacinda Ardern received Brenton Tarrant’s manifesto nine minutes before New Zealand attack’, The Telegraph, 17 March 2019,
available at: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/03/17/jacinda-ardern-receivedbrenton-tarrants-manifesto-nine-minutes/.
18 ‘The Great Replacement’, p.15.
19 Sonnenrad – a German word – translates as ‘Sun Wheel’ (a neo-Nazi symbol).
20 ‘The Great Replacement’, p.68.
21 ‘The Great Replacement’, p.55.
22 ‘The Great Replacement’, p.16.

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 Far-Right Terrorist Manifestos: A Critical Analysis

Figure 1: Word Cloud for ‘The Great Replacement’ (100 most frequent terms) 23

The word cloud also includes (bottom right) “https” and “wikipedia”. This is the result of
Tarrant including a stream of Internet links to Wikipedia pages documenting large-scale sexual
exploitation cases in England. Taking place in post-industrial towns such as Rotherham and
Rochdale, the cases selected by Tarrant primarily involved male perpetrators of South Asian
Muslim origin and young female victims of white British heritage. 24 The cases are utilised
by Tarrant to support his claims that white indigenous populations in Western societies are
under Muslim-led social and cultural invasion. It is important to note that the term “invaders”
is consistently used in reference to Muslims throughout the manifesto. Tarrant’s anti-Muslim
sentiment lies at the heart of his fears over white replacement and cultural displacement in the
“brother nations”.

Tarrant’s overall threat evaluation of Muslim migrant groups in the Western world appears
to be shaped by perceptions of how such communities are socially bonded and internally
structured. He writes about how Muslim communities take pride in their robust traditions
and internal bonds of social trust, as well as their cultured appreciation of architecture. 25

23 Terms of fewer than three characters were excluded from the analysis for the word cloud, which includes ‘stemmed terms’
(e.g. ‘immigration’ incorporates ‘immigrant’ and ‘immigrants’.
24 ‘The Great Replacement’, p.33.
25 ‘The Great Replacement’, p.10.

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Far-Right Terrorist Manifestos: A Critical Analysis

Table 1: Top 10 terms (by frequency with weighted percentages) 26

Weighted
Root Term Associated Term/s Frequency
Percentage

People Peoples 171 1.98

Attack Attacked, attackers, attacking, attacks 95 1.10
Culture Cultural, culturally, cultures 74 0.86
Nations Nation, national, nationalism 72 0.83
European Europeans 69 0.80
Time Times 60 0.70
Invaders Invade, invader, invaders, invading 59 0.68
Lands Landing 48 0.56
Replacement Replace, replaced, replacing 46 0.53
Ethnic Ethnically, ethnicity, ethnicities 44 0.51

This is set against fundamental problems Tarrant identifies with the mainstream culture in the
“brother nations” – Western societies with shared European Christian roots. This includes the
proliferation of broken family units and the perceived obsession with “feckless”, “degenerate”,
“drug-taking” celebrity icons. 27 In this part of the manifesto, Tarrant targets American pop star
Madonna, labelling her as a “whore”. 28
This arguably strikes at the core of the threat Tarrant perceives from what he calls an “invasion”.29
It is the prevailing fear of mainstream modern Western culture – perceived to be characterised
by family breakdown, materialistic individualism, celebrity obsession, and general moral decay
– being overrun by traditionally minded, higher-birth-rate Muslim migrant communities that
are considered more socially cohesive, family-oriented, and community-spirited.
With regard to political figures, Tarrant expresses much admiration for Sir Oswald Mosley, who
he describes as “the person from history closest to my own beliefs”. 30 While not supporting US
president Donald Trump as a political leader and policymaker, Tarrant appears to view Trump
as a “symbol of renewed white identity and common purpose”. 31 In terms of current national
political culture, Tarrant states that the nation with the “closest political and social value” to his
is the People’s Republic of China. 32 Tarrant views China’s economic success and development
as rooted in ethnic and cultural homogeneity – stating that the “non-diverse” nature of East
Asian countries (such as Japan and South Korea) is their greatest source of strength. 33 This
in turn is compared with multiracial, ethnically heterogeneous societies such as the United
States, Brazil, and South Africa, which Tarrant claims are beset with serious problems when it
comes to race relations. 34

26 Words with fewer than three characters excluded from the analysis.
27 ‘The Great Replacement’, p.35.
28 Ibid.
29 ‘The Great Replacement’, p.3.
30 ‘The Great Replacement’, p.16.
31 Ibid.
32 ‘The Great Replacement’, p.15.
33 ‘The Great Replacement’, p.33.
34 Ibid.

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 Far-Right Terrorist Manifestos: A Critical Analysis

Chapter 3: ‘An Open Letter’ by John Earnest

‘An Open Letter’ was authored by John Earnest (at the time, a 19-year-old nursing student)
before he allegedly killed a Jewish worshipper during Passover celebrations in the California
city of Poway. The seven-page manifesto contains 4,216 words. Earnest’s trial is currently
scheduled to commence on 2 June 2020 – the same day Brenton Tarrant’s trial is due to
begin. 35 Earnest has been charged with murder, attempted murder, arson, and a spate of hate
crime allegations for the April 2019 shooting at the Chabad of Poway, as well as a March 2019
arson attack at Dar-ul-Arqam Mosque (also known as the Islamic Center of Escondido). 36 The
current trial date may be changed, depending on a death penalty decision by the San Diego
County District Attorney’s Office. 37 The pre-attack manifesto allegedly written by Earnest was
posted on 8chan. Seeking to follow in the footsteps of Tarrant, Earnest attempted – but failed
– to livestream the attack on Facebook. 38

The pre-attack manifesto, while much shorter than Tarrant’s, shares a number of ideological
themes with ‘The Great Replacement’: the perceived demographic threat to white people, the
role of celebrity culture and the entertainment industry in perpetuating forms of moral decay,
and the broader view that modern conservatism merely serves the profit-driven interests of
private capital. There are notable differences, however. ‘An Open Letter’ is aggressively anti-
Semitic. While there is considerable overlap in the nature of the grievances raised, Earnest
(unlike Tarrant) blames a myriad of social ills and international conflicts on an “international
Jewry”.39 He also advances the view that “every Jew is responsible for the meticulously planned
genocide of the European race”. 40

Figure 2 is a word cloud showing the 50 most frequent terms in Earnest’s pre-attack manifesto.
The central thrust of the document is that a global Jewish elite is directly complicit in the
destruction of the white race – specifically people of ethnically European heritage. Earnest – a
US citizen born and raised in California – opens his manifesto with the declaration that he is a
“man of European ancestry”, fleshing out that he is of English, Irish, and Nordic stock. 41 As well
as holding Jewish people responsible for the aggressive promotion of racial mixing, Earnest
argues that their “genocidal” intent is demonstrated by the financial support they provide to
progressive political parties and social organisations that supposedly “use mass immigration
to displace the white race”. 42

While white-replacement narratives are a shared and dominant feature, Earnest’s manifesto
differentiates itself on the grounds of its Christian-fundamentalist rhetoric. The framing of
supposed Jewish-sponsored genocide is very much in religious terms as well as ethnic and

35 ‘Trial date set for accused Chabad of Poway synagogue shooter John Earnest’, 10News San Diego, 5 December 2019,
available at: https://www.10news.com/news/local-news/trial-date-set-for-accused-chabad-of-poway-synagogue-
shooter-john-earnest.
36 Figueroa, T. and Pauline Repard, ‘Criminal court cases to keep an eye on in 2020’, The San Diego Union-Tribune,
2 January 2020, available at: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/public-safety/story/2020-01-02/
criminal-court-cases-to-keep-an-eye-on-in-2020.
37 ‘Trial date set for accused Chabad of Poway synagogue shooter John Earnest’, 10News San Diego, 5 December 2019,
available at: https://www.10news.com/news/local-news/trial-date-set-for-accused-chabad-of-poway-synagogue-
shooter-john-earnest.
38 Wilkens, J., Kristina Davis, and Teri Figueroa, ‘One dead, three injured in Poway synagogue shooting’, The San Diego
Union-Tribune, 27 April 2019, available at: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/public-safety/story/2019-04-27/
reports-of-several-people-shot-at-poway-synagogue.
39 ‘An Open Letter’, p.1.
40 Ibid.
41 ‘An Open Letter’, p.1.
42 Ibid.

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Far-Right Terrorist Manifestos: A Critical Analysis

Figure 2: Word Cloud for ‘An Open Letter’ (50 most frequent terms) 43

racial ones. Within the relatively short manifesto, Earnest provides a “historical account”
containing instances of purported Jewish-led persecution of Christians. This section of the
document makes reference to the persecution of “Christians of old” (namely “ancient prophets
of Israel” such as Jeremiah and Isaiah), as well as referring to Simon of Trent – writing that the
“horror” countless children “have endured at the hands of the Jews will never be forgiven”. 44
Lastly, and in what is a hallmark of anti-Jewish Christian fundamentalism, Earnest emphasises
the role Jews played “in the murder of the Son of Man” – Jesus Christ. 45

In keeping with the Christian-fundamentalist nature of the manifesto, Earnest advances the
view that his intention to carry out an attack on Jews is blessed with the understanding of
God: “My God does not take kindly to the destruction of His creation. Especially one of the
most beautiful, intelligent, and innovative races that He has created.” 46 As shown in Table
2, ‘God’ is one of the most frequently used terms in the manifesto (14 times). Earnest also
refers to specific passages from the Book of Matthew, Book of John, Book of Revelations, and
First Thessalonians, in an effort to provide his anti-Semitic attack with theological legitimacy.

43 Words of fewer than three characters were excluded from analysis for the word cloud.
44 Simon of Trent (1472–5) was a Christian boy from the Italian city of Trento whose disappearance and murder was blamed on
the leaders of the city’s Jewish community.
45 ‘An Open Letter’, p.1.
46 ‘An Open Letter’, p.2.

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 Far-Right Terrorist Manifestos: A Critical Analysis

Table 2: Top 10 Terms (by frequency with weighted percentages) 47

Weighted
Root Term Associated Term/s Frequency
Percentage

Jews Jew, jewed [sic] 43 2.17

Race Races 33 1.67
Know Knows, knowing 20 1.01
Love Loved, loving 17 0.86
People – 15 0.76
White Whites 15 0.76
Using Use, used, useful 14 0.71
God – 14 0.71
Hate Hates 14 0.71
European Europeans 13 0.66

Firmly rejecting the view that his deadly intentions are against the core essence of “Christian
compassion”, Earnest offers the view that his act is one of care and protection: “It is not loving
towards your friend to let him be murdered”. 48

It is important to note the degree of inspiration Earnest drew from Tarrant’s anti-Muslim attacks in
New Zealand. In fact, the terms “Brenton” and “Tarrant” both feature in the word cloud (see Figure
2, bottom left and top right respectively). As well as taking ownership for the arson attack on an
Islamic centre in the San Diego city of Escondido shortly after the Christchurch terrorist attacks,
Earnest claims that he spray-painted the message “For Brenton Tarrant –t. /pol/” on the centre’s
car park. This form of cryptic language is often used in far-right online forums on platforms such
as 8chan and Gab. This particular phrase, reframed in general English terms, pays homage to
alleged far-right terrorist Brenton Tarrant and celebrates perceived forms of unadulterated truth
and political incorrectness. Based on his writings, Tarrant appears to have been instrumental in
inspiring Earnest to carry out his terrorist attack: “Tarrant was a catalyst for me personally. He
showed me that it could be done. … WHY WON’T SOMEBODY DO SOMETHING? WHY WON’T
SOMEBODY DO SOMETHING? … – the most powerful words in his entire manifesto.” 49 Earnest
also refers to Robert Bowers, an American far-right terrorist who killed 11 people in the October
2018 Pittsburgh synagogue terrorist attack, as a further source of inspiration.

Another observation from Earnest’s manifesto is its lack of substantive discussion on perceived
social and political developments – in both the United States and other parts of the world. While
it is far shorter than Tarrant’s pre-attack manifesto, Earnest’s document makes little reference
to major political parties and global leaders – apart from an isolated reference to current US
president Donald Trump as a “Zionist, Jew-loving, anti-White, traitorous cocksucker”. 50 The
manifesto, as suggested by the figures shown in Table 2, is ultimately defined by its unrelenting
vilification of an “international Jewry”, which is located at the heart of perceived grievances
over the “replacement” of white people of European Christian stock.

47 Words of fewer than three characters have been excluded from the analysis for the word cloud.
48 ‘An Open Letter’, p.2.
49 ‘An Open Letter’, p.4.
50 Ibid.

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Far-Right Terrorist Manifestos: A Critical Analysis

Chapter 4: ‘The Inconvenient Truth’ by Patrick Crusius

‘The Inconvenient Truth’ was authored by Patrick Crusius, at the time a 21-year-old from Allen,
Texas, before he allegedly killed 22 people at Cielo Vista Mall in the Texas city of El Paso on 3
August 2019. The shortest of the three manifestos under examination, the four-page document
comes to 2,356 words. The choice of location and the content of post-attack interrogations
suggests that the terrorist attack was motivated by anti-Hispanic sentiment, with the pre-
attack manifesto itself containing white nationalist themes and ethnic replacement narratives.
Crusius has pleaded not guilty to capital murder charges, with El Paso County’s district
attorney declaring his intention to pursue a death penalty sentence. 51 The prosecutor for
Texas’s Western District has stated that the attack is being treated as an act of domestic
terrorism. 52 As in the cases of Tarrant and Earnest, the pre-attack manifesto was posted on
online forum 8chan shortly before Crusius undertook his deadly act of far-right violence.

Demonstrating the self-referential nature of contemporary far-right terrorism, the manifesto

expresses support for Brenton Tarrant (referred to as “the Christchurch shooter”) in its opening
sentence. It shares the central message contained in the pre-attack manifestos written by
Tarrant and Earnest – that white people are being replaced in a demographic and sociocultural
sense, with private capital and corporate-friendly mainstream political parties facilitating such
processes in the name of profit and self-interest. Striking a similar tone to the documents
produced by Tarrant and Earnest, Crusius couches his deadly targeting of “Hispanic invaders”
in the language of protection and self-defence: “They are the instigators, not me. I am simply
defending my country from cultural and ethnic displacement brought on by an invasion.” 53

Even though Crusius does speak of ‘protecting’ the United States (which is reflected by the
terms ‘America’ and ‘Americans’ featured in the word cloud depicted in Figure 3), the pre-attack
manifesto is decidedly more ‘local’ and ‘regional’ in its focus compared to Tarrant’s document.
In the opening few sentences of ‘The Inconvenient Truth’, Crusius states that his planned attack
is “a response to the Hispanic invasion of Texas”. 54 Perceiving the Hispanic population to be
the primary demographic and cultural threat when it comes to processes of white replacement
in the American context, Crusius fleshes out his fears over political domination on local, state,
and national levels of governance: “Due to the death of the baby boomers, the increasingly
anti-immigrant rhetoric of the right and the ever increasing Hispanic population, America will
become a one-party state. The Democrat party will own America and they know it.” 55

Crusius views social developments in his home state of Texas as being integral to this broader
movement towards the US eventually becoming a one-party state: “The heavy Hispanic
population in Texas will make us a Democrat stronghold. Losing Texas and a few other states
with heavy Hispanic population to the Democrats is all it would take for them to win nearly
every presidential election.” 56

Similar to Tarrant, Crusius draws a connection between profit-driven corporate interests,

inward migration of cheap labour from predominantly non-white countries, and fast-paced

51 Torres, E. and Bill Hutchinson, ‘Alleged gunman in El Paso mass shooting pleads not guilty to capital murder’,
ABC News, 10 October 2019, available at: https://abcnews.go.com/US/alleged-gunman-el-paso-mass-shooting-
pleads-guilty/story?id=66182203.
52 ‘El Paso Walmart gunman hit with 90 federal hate charges’, BBC News, 7 February 2020, available at:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-51413425.
53 ‘The Inconvenient Truth’, p.1.
54 Ibid.
55 Ibid.
56 Ibid.

12
 Far-Right Terrorist Manifestos: A Critical Analysis

Figure 3: Word Cloud for ‘The Inconvenient Truth’ (25 most frequent terms) 57

demographic change. While Crusius is scathing of the Democratic Party, the Republican Party
is not spared: “…the Republican Party are also terrible. Many factions within the Republican
Party are pro-corporation. Pro-corporation = pro-immigration”. 58 Crusius also expresses his
discontent over what he perceives to be bipartisan support for immigration and work visa
regimes that facilitate the replacement of white Americans.

More generally, the manifesto itself can be interpreted as a rally against the perceived excesses
of ‘Corporate America’ and, more broadly, the US’s free-market capitalist system. This is
demonstrated by the fact that ‘corporations’ and ‘jobs’ (and associated terms) are two of the most
frequently used words in the manifesto (as shown in Table 3). Similar to Brenton Tarrant’s ‘The
Great Replacement’, Crusius’ pre-attack manifesto expresses support for left-leaning economics
and prioritises environmental sustainability. Crusius, critical of the market forces of globalisation,
bemoans the socio-economic effects of industrial decline and the human cost of technological
change in the form of automation (although he suggests the latter may be a blessing in disguise,
as it may reduce corporate demand for low-cost migrants to fill menial roles). 59

With large-scale, automation-related job losses being considered an inevitability, Crusius

suggests that the threat of widespread poverty and civil unrest can only be neutralised through

57 W
 ords of fewer than three characters were excluded from the analysis for the word cloud.
58 ‘The Inconvenient Truth’, p.1.
59 ‘The Inconvenient Truth’, p.2.

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Far-Right Terrorist Manifestos: A Critical Analysis

Table 3: Top 10 Terms (frequency with weighted percentages) 60

Weighted
Root Term Associated Term/s Frequency
Percentage

Country Countries, country 16 1.27

American Americans 15 1.19
Immigration Immigrant, immigrants 15 1.19
America – 14 1.11
Even – 13 1.04
Corporations Corporate, corporation 12 0.96
Jobs Job 12 0.96
People – 12 0.96
Hispanic Hispanics 11 0.88
Attack – 10 0.80

the provision of comprehensive social security. However, he argues that, in order for ambitious
social projects such as universal healthcare and a universal basic income (UBI) to be socially
and financially sustainable, millions of migrant dependants on forms of welfare assistance
need to be “removed” from the US. 61

The title of the manifesto itself is worthy of discussion, given its environmentalist content.
‘The Inconvenient Truth’ seems to allude to former Democrat presidential candidate Al Gore’s
environmental documentary An Inconvenient Truth, produced in 2006, which highlighted the
dangers of global warming. Following in the footsteps of Tarrant, Crusius raises a number of
environmental concerns, including the perceived corporate destruction of the environment
through the “shameless overharvesting” of resources. 62 Crusius also blames “urban sprawl” for
the creation of “inefficient cities” that lead to the destruction of green spaces 63 – which ties
in with Tarrant’s concerns over mass immigration contributing to forms of urbanisation that
are damaging for the environment. 64 In line with sentiments expressed by both Tarrant and
Earnest, Crusius takes issue with the excesses of “consumer culture”, which he blames for the
creation of mass plastic and electronic waste. 65

Crusius does propose what in his eyes is a solution to the myriad social and political problems
he articulates. Labelling, somewhat ironically, the removal or murder of all non-white
Americans as “horrific”, Crusius proposes dividing the US into separate confederacies based
on race, arguing that this would “nearly eliminate race mixing and improve social unity” 66 –
and ultimately provide White America with the opportunity to create a social-democratic,
environmentally friendly, racially homogeneous ethno-state.

60 W  ords of fewer than three letters excluded from the analysis.

61 ‘The Inconvenient Truth’, p.2.
62 Ibid.
63 Ibid.
64 ‘The Great Replacement’, p.38.
65 Ibid.
66 ‘The Inconvenient Truth’, p.4.

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 Far-Right Terrorist Manifestos: A Critical Analysis

Chapter 5: Analysis and Overview

This chapter builds on the content analysis discussed in Chapters 2–4 by providing critical
analysis of far-right terrorist manifestos. These documents are discerned as a series of
interventions in which each action and each publication is created in an environment that
includes past statements and past atrocities. They also signpost an end political goal and, just
as worryingly, potentially inspire and direct further terrorist attacks. This continuum presents a
considerable challenge for society, as more attacks will almost certainly follow the course set.

5.1. Ideological Influences

In taking the title ‘The Great Replacement: Towards a New Society’, Tarrant’s manifesto echoes
a common theme in contemporary far-right thought – that long-established white communities
are being replaced by non-white migrants throughout the Western world. The development
of the concept of a great replacement lies with the French intellectual Renaud Camus, who
published Le Grand Replacement in 2011. 67 Camus sees these changes as beginning in the last
quarter of the twentieth century, and accelerating ever since. 68 As shown in Table 1, the term
‘replacement’ occurs 46 times in Tarrant’s manifesto, whilst similar themes percolate John
Earnest’s ‘Open Letter’ discussed in Chapter 3, and Patrick Crusius’s ‘The Inconvenient Truth’,
analysed in Chapter 4.

Having agreed that a replacement of indigenous whites is occurring, Tarrant and Earnest differ,
however, as to why. Tarrant appears ambivalent about Jews, stating he is not an anti-Semite,
declaring rather ambiguously “A jew [sic] living in israel [sic] is no enemy of mine, so long as
they do not seek to subvert or harm my people”. 69 This is in marked contrast to John Earnest,
who is a robust believer in anti-Semitic conspiracy theories: “Every Jew is responsible for the
meticulously planned genocide of the European race. They act as a unit, and every Jew plays
his part to enslave the other races around him …” 70

In Patrick Crusius’s ‘The Inconvenient Truth’ a great replacement is again occurring, only this
time it is Hispanics replacing whites. Crusius blames this on corporations and their demand for
cheap labour, and specifically frames his actions as influenced by Tarrant’s text: “... the Hispanic
community was not my target before I read The Great Replacement”. 71 This is potentially an
honest assessment, as Tarrant’s manifesto stresses what he sees as pivotal changes occurring
in Texas: “Soon the replacement of whites within Texas will hit its apogee and with the non-
white political and social control of Texas”. 72

Each document therefore seeks to offer an explanation – albeit an unpalatable one – for not
just its author’s own actions, but also the rapid demographic changes occurring in many
Western societies. Replacement theories on the far right clearly matter.

On a gun used in the Christchurch massacre, among many inscriptions the number ‘14’ could
be observed. A reference to the ‘14 words’, this situates the gunman firmly in the American
neo-Nazi tradition. The 14 words are ‘we must secure the existence of our people and a

67 Le Grand Replacement: Introduction au remplacisme global, translated into English as You will not replace us!, along with
other works by Camus (Plieux: Chez l’auteur, 2018).
68 Camus, R., Le Grand Replacement, p.19.
69 ‘The Great Replacement’, p.15.
70 ‘An Open Letter’, p.1.
71 ‘The Inconvenient Truth’, p.1.
72 ‘The Great Replacement’, p.69.

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Far-Right Terrorist Manifestos: A Critical Analysis

future for white children’. 73 Written by the American Nazi David Lane (1938–2007), it enjoyed
widespread dissemination as notoriety followed the action of Lane’s group, The Order, a neo-
Nazi terrorist organisation inspired by William Pierce’s 1978 novel The Turner Diaries. 74 In the
Christchurch manifesto, in answer to the question ‘What do you want?’ the author declares “we
must ensure the existence of our people, and a future for white children”. 75 When the actions
of the Christchurch gunman are considered, theory and practice are thus potentially enjoined.
The Turner Diaries is also a reference point in the manifesto by John Earnest, issued shortly
before the Poway synagogue shooting. It states: “Some of you have been waiting for The Day
of the Rope for years. Well, The Day of the Rope is here right now – that is if you have the
gnads to keep the ball rolling.” 76 In Chapter 23 of The Turner Diaries, the Day of the Rope is a
day of mass vengeance, where 55–60,000 white Americans are publicly hanged in a ten-hour
period for being ‘race-criminals’ guilty of acts such as miscegenation, or collaborating with the
Jews. 77 By declaring the Day of the Rope, Earnest clearly hopes others will follow him to action
and, presumably, commit mass murder. Whilst the manifestos authored by Tarrant and Earnest
enjoyed online dissemination on 8chan and include a setting in gamer culture, the influence
of Lane and The Turner Diaries demonstrates that much older neo-Nazi ideals also exist in the
ideological base of the authors. A reminder of the potentially limitless nature of this type of
terrorism comes from Tarrant’s manifesto, which declares “they [sic] are no innocents in an
invasion”. 78 The text goes on to justify the murder of children: “any invader you kill, of any age,
is one less enemy your children will have to face”. 79

5.2. Fun, Games and Shitposting

Far-right terrorism is, it seems, a laughing matter. Among a series of quips, in-jokes and self-
referential comments, Tarrant claims to have learned ethno-nationalism from the children’s
video game ‘Spyro the Dragon 3’ – something that hardly sits well with other, more substantive
political references to the Fourteen Words, the British fascist Oswald Mosley, and Norwegian
terrorist Anders Breivik.
In an early assessment of the Christchurch terrorist’s manifesto, Bellingcat researcher Robert
Evans warned “this manifesto is a trap itself, laid for journalists searching for the meaning behind
this horrific crime. There is truth in there, and valuable clues to the shooter’s radicalization,
but it is buried beneath … ‘shitposting’”. 80 For the uninitiated, this is where an author “posts
something typically nonsensical, surreal, and ironic online – sometimes in order to bait people
into a reaction”. 81
This reaction was achieved when it was realised that ‘The Great Replacement’ namechecked
the American conservative activist Candace Owens, with a national newspaper reporting she

73 M ichael, G., ‘David Lane and the Fourteen Words’, Politics, Religion and Ideology, 10.1 (2009): pp.43–61.
74 Pierce published The Turner Diaries under the pseudonym Andrew Macdonald. After Mein Kampf, it was arguably the most
important call to arms on the far right in the twentieth century. For an assessment, see Berger, J.M., ‘The Turner Legacy: The
Storied Origins and Enduring Impact of White Nationalism’s Deadly Bible’, ICCT Research Paper (The Hague: International
Centre for Counter-Terrorism, 2016), available at: https://icct.nl/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/ICCT-Berger-The-Turner-
Legacy-September2016-2.pdf, last visited: 29 January 2020.
75 ‘The Great Replacement’, p.7. It is unclear why Tarrant replaced the original word ‘secure’ with ‘ensure,’ although this hardly
changes the meaning.
76 ‘The Open Letter’, p.7.
77 Macdonald, A., The Turner Diaries (Hillsboro, WV: National Vanguard Books, 1995), pp.160–169.
78 ‘The Great Replacement’, p.13.
79 ‘The Great Replacement’, p.22.
80 Evans, R., ‘Shitposting, Inspirational terrorism and the Christchurch Mosque massacre’, Bellingcat, 15 March 2019.
81 Manavis, S., ‘What is shitposting? And why does it matter that the BBC got it wrong?’, New Statesman, 8 November 2019,
available at: https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/media/2019/11/what-is-shitposting-and-why-does-it-matter-bbc-
brexitcast-laura-kuenssberg-got-it-wrong, last visited: 6 January 2020.

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 Far-Right Terrorist Manifestos: A Critical Analysis

had been “named as killer’s ‘biggest influence’ in his manifesto”. 82 It is highly unlikely that
Owens, who is black, inspired the Christchurch terrorist. Robert Evans argues “this was almost
certainly misdirection”. 83 Owens is a contentious figure for some on the American left due
to her support for President Trump and insistence that black Americans should abandon the
Democrats. Evans believes that, when read in context, Tarrant’s “references to Owens were
calculated to spark division, and perhaps even violence, between the left and the right”. 84
There are other examples of this. Tarrant’s claim that hundreds of thousands of members
of the military in Europe, and a similar number of police officers, “also belong to nationalist
groups” 85 should almost certainly be seen in a similar light.

This brings us to something hidden beneath the shitposting and quips – possible attempts in
the Christchurch manifesto to lay false evidence trials. There are claims to have made money
investing in cryptocurrency, and a hint of possible earlier involvement in violence by claiming
to have been working as a part-time “kebab removalist”. 86 This is a reference to the Serbian
paramilitary song ‘Remove kebab’, which glorifies violence against Muslims in the Balkans. 87
These claims may be true, or they may equally be false, but any thorough investigation into
the Christchurch crimes will accordingly have to examine each. This may even extend to
suggestions that are almost certainly fictitious, such as having contacted “the reborn Knights
Templar for a blessing in support of the attack” 88 and having had “brief contact” with “Knight
Justiciar Breivik”. 89 How much contact would it be possible to have with Anders Behring
Breivik, who is in a top-security prison in Norway with limited access to the outside world?

5.3. The Challenge of locating the far right on the ideological scale
In earlier chapters we noted the mixture of ideological positions adopted by Brenton Tarrant
and Patrick Crusius in particular, and to analyse this we return to some historically familiar
arguments. In Weimar Germany, the Nazis and communists had in many ways competed for the
same target audience, both claiming to best represent the working class against exploiters. 90
That Tarrant and Crusius each adopt positions that combine racial separatism with anger at
economic exploitation and the behaviour of big corporations is therefore not an aberration.
Although Tarrant’s manifesto makes 15 references to corporations and Crusius’s 12, the shorter
length of the latter’s text ensures it is the sixth-most popular term in his testament.

Further complexities, and indeed paradoxes, abound. After describing himself as a “fascist”
and an “eco-fascist”, Tarrant claims that the “nation with the closest political and social values
to my own is the People’s Republic of China”. 91 China is officially a communist country, and one
recognised for its homogeneity, but hardly for its environmentalism. Indeed, it is the world’s
most polluting country, emitting more carbon dioxide than the United States and the European

82 Apen-Sadler, D. and Jennifer Smith, ‘Right-wing commentator Candace Owens is eviscerated for putting a LAUGHING
emoji on a post about the New Zealand mosque massacre after being named as killer’s “biggest influence” in his manifesto’,
Daily Mail, 15 March 2019, available at: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6812739/Christchurch-shooting-Candace-
Owens-eviscerated-putting-LAUGHING-emoji-post-attack.html, last visited: 7 January 2020.
83 E
 vans, R., ‘Shitposting, Inspirational terrorism and the Christchurch Mosque massacre’, Bellingcat, 15 March 2019.
84 Ibid.
85 ‘The Great Replacement’, p.10.
86 ‘The Great Replacement’, p.5.
87 ‘Remove Kebab’, Serbia Strong, 4 December 2018, available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WshDkAbFBoc,
last visited: 28 January 2020.
88 ‘The Great Replacement’, p.10.
89 ‘The Great Replacement’, p.18.
90 See, for example, Klussman, U., ‘The Ruthless rise of the Nazis in Berlin’, Spiegel International, 29 November 2012, available
at: https://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/how-the-nazis-succeeded-in-taking-power-in-red-berlin-a-866793.html,
last visited: 29 January 2020.
91 ‘The Great Replacement’, p.15.

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Far-Right Terrorist Manifestos: A Critical Analysis

Union combined. 92 The environment also takes a major chunk of Crusius’s focus. In declaring
the position that “our lifestyle is destroying the environment of our country”, 93 a familiar green
argument is presented. Elsewhere, however, Crusius moves towards a race-based futurism in
which he expects the corporate appetite for cheap labour to stall: “Automation is a good thing
as it will eliminate the need for new migrants to fill unskilled jobs”. 94

Sometimes, far-right extremists do not say what some might expect. The author of the
Christchurch manifesto seemingly rejects homophobia 95 and, whilst it expectedly considers
celebrities like Madonna, Michael Jackson, Kurt Cobain, and Freddie Mercury evidence
of a decadent, dying culture, there is focused criticism of Mercury’s hedonism, but not of
his sexuality. 96 Perhaps the homosexuality of Renaud Camus, the originator of the Grand
Replacement thesis, has influenced thinking here.

5.4. Internationalism
The content analysis in Chapters 2–4 demonstrates that two of the three manifestos we
considered were deeply internationalist in their outlook. Tarrant’s focus on European
peoples envisages a white, European internationalism, inevitably bounded, not by language,
culture, or national borders, but by race. The term ‘European’ is the fifth-most common in
his Christchurch manifesto, appearing no fewer than 69 times (see Table 1). John Earnest is
similarly minded, with ‘European’ the tenth-most common term in his text (see Table 2). Indeed,
if we add the word ‘whites’ to Earnest’s word count – his sixth-most frequent term – the view
of an ethnically driven, pan-nationalist vision is even further enhanced. The exception here is
very much ‘The Inconvenient Truth’, in which Patrick Crusius is overwhelmingly focused on
domestic matters. Only in the final paragraph does he mention “the beginning of the fight
for America and Europe”. 97

5.5. The problem of popular arguments

For disinformation to work, it must be presented alongside accurate, reliable information
from respected sources. Similarly, if far-right terrorist manifestos consisted solely of calls for
mass murder and statements of racial hatred, and appeared draped in Nazi banners or the SS
Death’s Head, they would likely have little popular appeal. A significant part of the threat from
contemporary terrorist manifestos is the combination of deeply dangerous messages – for
example, the open calls to racial violence in all three texts considered here – with comment
and criticisms that will appeal to mainstream audiences. The material on the environment and
criticism of corporations, discussed above, provides evidence of this. Further examples may
be found in ‘The Great Replacement’, where Tarrant assesses the failures of contemporary
conservatives, asking: “What has modern conservatism managed to conserve? What does it
seek to conserve? The natural environment? Western Culture? Ethnic autonomy? Religion?
The nation? The race?” 98

It is likely that few modern conservatives in the UK view the world in terms of preserving race
or ethnic autonomy. Any reader would struggle to find such declarations at a Conservative

92 Rapier, R., ‘China emits more carbon dioxide than the US and EU combined’, Forbes, 1 July 2018, available at:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/rrapier/2018/07/01/china-emits-more-carbon-dioxide-than-the-u-s-and-eu-combined/,
last visited: 5 February 2020.
93 ‘The Inconvenient Truth’, p.2.
94 Ibid.
95 ‘The Great Replacement’, p.16.
96 ‘The Great Replacement’, p.35.
97 ‘The Inconvenient Truth’, p.4.
98 ‘The Great Replacement’, p.24.

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 Far-Right Terrorist Manifestos: A Critical Analysis

Party conference or issued by conservative parties elsewhere in the West. But conservatives
do, supposedly, seek to defend the environment, the culture of the West, and their own nation-
states. Have they done so? There is a danger here, for conservatives across the Western world,
of such criticisms landing a blow, especially in countries where conservative parties are under
attack from populist rivals.

5.6. Copycats
‘The Great Replacement’ manifesto refers directly to Anders Breivik. The Poway synagogue
manifesto, ‘An Open Letter’, refers to Tarrant’s manifesto. Patrick Crusius’s ‘The Inconvenient
Truth’ opens with a declaration of support for the Christchurch shooter and his manifesto. If
terrorism is a conversation, it is one where far-right participants are now repeatedly referencing
earlier discussions, and each other, as well as the general public. This is beginning to have a
serious knock-on effect, which poses a challenge to the authorities and to our communities.
On 7 January 2020, an unnamed 17-year-old male from County Durham was jailed for six years
and eight months, having been found guilty of six terrorism offences in November 2019. 99
Among his preparations was the writing of a manifesto, reportedly inspired by Breivik’s 2011
tome, entitled ‘Storm 88: A manual for practical and sensible guerilla [sic] warfare against the
kike system in Durham City area, Sieg Heil’. 100

On 9 October 2019 in Halle, Germany, there was a botched attempt to attack a synagogue
on Yom Kippur, followed by a shooting at a fast-food outlet nearby. Two people were killed.
The alleged gunman, Stephan Balliet, livestreamed his attack to a gaming site, and released
a manifesto online, in English. 101 Just before Christmas, police arrested a Polish man living in
Luton, England, on suspicion of plotting to carry out a terrorist attack inspired by the one in
Christchurch. 102

The need to break the chain of manifesto followed by attack, followed by manifesto, followed
by attack, is pressing.

99 ‘Durham teenager sentenced for terrorism offences’, Counter Terrorism Policing, 7 January 2020, available at:
https://www.counterterrorism.police.uk/durham-teenager-guilty-of-terrorism-offences/, last visited: 29 January 2020.
100 ‘Teen plotted terror attack on shuls’, Jewish Chronicle, 22 November 2019.
101 ‘Deadly attack exposes lapses in German security apparatus’, Der Spiegel, 11 October 2019, available at:
https://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/far-right-terrorism-in-germany-shooting-exposes-lapses-in-security-
apparatus-a-1291075.html, last visited: 29 January 2020.
102 Camber, R. and Larisa Brown, ‘Far-right terror plot smashed’, Daily Mail, 12 December 2019, available at:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7787393/Man-arrested-dawn-raid-planning-attack-inspired-Christchurch-
massacre-sources-say.html, last visited: 29 January 2020.

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Far-Right Terrorist Manifestos: A Critical Analysis

Chapter 6: Conclusion and Policy Recommendations

Having established the ideological diversity present in far-right terrorist manifestos and the
international, self-referential nature of the violence they justify, this chapter focuses on two core
issues. First, how might we reduce the political space in which the far right is able to operate,
in this country? The dangers inherent in political disaffection and distrust towards authority,
plus low levels of community interaction, are issues deserving of institutional response. That
doing so can weaken the propaganda base of the far right should be considered an added
bonus. Second, the international nature of the contemporary far-right is characterised as both
something in need of a proper, international response, and a potential weakness in an era
when national sovereignty, as opposed to racial separatism, is being re-established.

6.1. Political disaffection and institutional distrust

With far-right extremism being the fastest-growing terror threat in the UK, 103 the social grievances
and political concerns driving its growth need to be critically examined and robustly addressed.

Predominantly white working-class communities – particularly in pro-Brexit areas in northern

England, the Midlands, and post-industrial Wales – have suffered from acute forms of political
disaffection and disillusionment with public authorities. This is visible in a number of ways.
North East England, which has witnessed a notable spike in the number of far-right referrals to
Prevent and the recent imprisonment of a would-be neo-Nazi terrorist in Durham, is a region
of particular interest in this context. 104 Traditionally minded communities in deindustrialised
regions which have not fared well under the market forces of globalisation tend to be in a
more protectionist economic and cultural space. Stronger appreciation of socio-economic
and cultural anxieties over the pace of technological and social change in policymaking could
play an important role in fighting the growth of far-right extremism.

A lack of trust in public authorities – some of whom are increasingly seen to run against their
primary function of ensuring public safety and the security of communities – provides fertile
ground for the far right’s anti-establishment narratives to gain traction. The credibility of public
authorities – including the police – has been called into disrepute. 105 Perceived mismanagement
of cases of large-scale sexual exploitation involving perpetrators of South Asian Muslim origin,
in both post-industrial towns and major cities such as Manchester, are likely to undermine
forms of institutional trust within predominantly white British, working-class communities. It
is in these social conditions that far-right extremist narratives containing anti-establishment
sentiment and ‘Muslim invader’ rhetoric could gather appeal. The potential for future attacks,
aimed not just at minority communities but also at the officials and authorities who have
apparently mishandled such cases, cannot be discounted.

Grooming cases have the potential to feed into the broader perception that institutions cannot
be trusted to prioritise public safety and are ultimately disinterested in addressing primary
social grievances within predominantly white working-class communities. It is important to
note that Brenton Tarrant’s pre-attack manifesto included a list of online links to cases of
sexual exploitation cases in England that involved ‘rings’ consisting of male perpetrators of
South Asian Muslim heritage. A myriad of developments – social, cultural, economic – have

103 ‘Fastest-growing UK terror threat from far-right’, BBC News, 19 September 2019, available at:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-49753325.
104 ‘Durham neo-Nazi teenager convicted of planning terror attack’, BBC News, 20 November 2019, available at:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-50470957.
105 Norfolk, A., ‘Rotherham police chief: we ignored sex abuse of children’, The Times, 18 January 2020, available at:
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/police-chief-we-ignored-sex-abuse-of-children-hgrhc358v.

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created feelings of ‘political abandonment’ and anti-authority sentiment that can be exploited
by far-right extremist forces. National politicians, local councillors, police forces, and social
services must all develop a comprehensive re-engagement strategy designed to rebuild public
confidence and regain the trust of those living in such disaffected communities. This may
be a task that takes many years, and involve a return to reports such as Ted Cantle’s of 2001
on parallel lives and Dame Louise Casey’s of 2016 on opportunity and integration. Both are
discussed in the following section.

6.2. Community relations

The divisive nature of the manifestos is reflective of extremist narratives that are used to inflame
social tensions in urbanised parts of the UK. This type of material is particularly problematic if
cross-group contact is limited.

The 2001 report by Professor Ted Cantle suggested that intergroup tensions could be addressed
through greater cross-community contact:

In order to combat the fear and ignorance of different communities which stems from
the lack of contact with each other we propose that each area should prepare a local
cohesion plan, as a significant part of its Community Strategy. This should include the
promotion of cross-cultural contact between different communities at all levels, foster
understanding and respect, and break down barriers. 106

Fifteen years later, the central view advanced in the Cantle report was similarly expressed in a
2016 report by Dame Louise Casey:

There is strong evidence around the benefits that can derive from high levels of meaningful
contact between people from different backgrounds. … social mixing can … increase
trust and understanding between groups … Whereas … a lack of mixing can … increase
community tensions and risk of conflict. 107

The Cantle and Casey reports on integration correctly identified social, residential, and
economic segregation as a fundamental problem from a social cohesion perspective. A
lack of contact between different social groups in ethnically and religiously diverse parts of
‘post-industrial Britain’ remains a serious problem from a counter-extremism perspective.
Experiences of positive intergroup contact through active participation in cross-community
projects – skills schemes, health-awareness workshops, inter-institution competitions – can
help to foster meaningful intergroup relations that act as an effective shield from deliberately
divisive narratives constructed by extremist narratives.

6.3. Responding to the far right

In the far-right context, these divisive narratives tend to incorporate negative stereotypes of
British Muslims, based on wide-ranging generalisations. This can be especially problematic
in deindustrialised parts of the UK that not only are ethnically and religiously separated in
terms of neighbourhood, friendship group, and employment network, but also have been
disproportionately affected by cuts to public expenditure over the past decade. This has
arguably intensified the perceived competition for resources along ethnic, racial, and religious
lines. Policymakers need to devote more energy – and, crucially, resources – towards improving

106 ‘Community Cohesion: A Report of the Independent Review Team Chaired by Ted Cantle’, Home Office (2001): p.11,
available at: http://tedcantle.co.uk/pdf/communitycohesion%20cantlereport.pdf.
107 Casey, Dame L., ‘The Casey Review: A review into opportunity and integration’, Department for Communities and
Local Government (2016), available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/
attachment_data/file/575973/The_Casey_Review_Report.pdf.

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Far-Right Terrorist Manifestos: A Critical Analysis

social cohesion outcomes, as well as economically regenerating ailing post-industrial towns

and inner-city areas that are both socially segregated and socio-economically disadvantaged.

A characteristic of the far-right manifestos produced in Christchurch and at Poway is their

international focus, rooted in a transnational, white identity. Contrary to what many activists
on the left argue, it is not that the far right wishes to put up borders. Tarrant’s cross-continental
focus showed that he wished to tear down barriers between ‘brother nations’ on terms rooted
in racial and ancestral heritage. In the UK, at least, the international nature of such thinking
may prove to be a weakness, not a strength. It is potentially a hard sell in a Britain that prides
itself not on racial identity but, rather, on strong class, regional, and national identities. If
there was something rather un-British about the BNP, 108 there is even less of an instinctive
relationship between Britons who have just voted for Brexit, declaring the importance of
national sovereignty, and an international identity politics in which those from Warsaw to
Wyoming to Walsall are invited to unite around a common white identity. Just as overtly Nazi
organisations rarely prospered in a Britain where at least part of the national narrative comes
from having ‘saved’ ourselves and others from Nazi domination, so broadly ‘international’
campaigns present ready weaknesses for counter-extremism practitioners, and political rivals,
to attack. We should not be afraid to do so. It also seems equally unlikely that the type of bible-
quoting anger in John Earnest’s manifesto will find a ready home in a Britain where religious
adherence has rarely featured heavily on the far right. Political attacks on such material from
these angles may thus prove productive.

Challenging the distribution of far-right pre-attack manifestos through the law is a further
option for the authorities. Here the nature of technology may, however, mitigate against relying
on such an approach. Once a document is in pdf form, its distribution on file-sharing sites, and
on the dark web, will follow as a matter of course. Whilst possession of such material may
provide an opportunity for an intervention from policies such as Prevent, legislating far-right
material into the dustbin of history may prove easier said than done. This is not to rule out
such an approach, but it would appear one with very significant limitations.

At an international level, a legislative approach seems even more likely to fail. Each of the
terrorist attacks considered in this analysis was publicised in advance by the alleged perpetrator
on 8chan. After the El Paso shooting, the forum closed, as its network provider, Cloudfare,
terminated its access. It has reportedly reappeared, although it is inaccessible via conventional
search engines. 109 As Macklin points out, any response to far-right agitation in the United States
will differ from that in Europe, due to America’s legally enshrined commitment to freedom of
speech via the First Amendment. When added to the inability of some countries in Eastern
Europe to address far-right agitation, it does suggest Western European nations such as the
UK are operating within a framework in which restrictions on written materials are unlikely to
ever be blanket. Indeed, Tarrant’s ‘Great Replacement’ appears to have been translated and
printed in significant numbers in Russia and Ukraine in the months following his attack. 110

6.4. Policy recommendations

The proposals that follow call for new policies, and in places new thinking, at the local, national,
and international level. Underpinning each is a belief that significant weaknesses exist in many

108 The BNP is a far-right political party that, under its former leader Nick Griffin, enjoyed some success among white working-
class voters in parts of England until about 2014. Its collapse since then has been marked.
109 Macklin, G., ‘The El Paso terrorist attack: The chain reaction of global right wing terror’, CTC Sentinel 12.11 (December 2019):
pp.1–9 (The Combating Terrorism Center at West Point).
110 ‘The Russians and Ukrainians Translating the Christchurch shooter’s manifesto’, Bellingcat Anti-Equality Monitoring,
14 August 2019, available at: https://www.bellingcat.com/news/uk-and-europe/2019/08/14/the-russians-and-ukrainians-
translating-the-christchurch-shooters-manifesto/, last visited: 29 January 2020.

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 Far-Right Terrorist Manifestos: A Critical Analysis

of our societies that need to be addressed for liberal democracy to prosper. Filling this vacuum
will also deprive the far right of much of its current oxygen supply.
l Develop an effective community relations strategy through Prevent that views social
cohesion as an integral part of a broader counter-extremism strategy. Such initiatives
would have a particular focus on post-industrial towns and inner-city areas historically
blighted by disruptive race relations and which have witnessed a recent growth of
extremist referrals to Prevent.
l Public authorities – including police forces – must engage with white British working-
class communities where trust has been undermined by industrial-scale cases of
sexual grooming and exploitation. There must also be greater co-ordination between
police forces, social services, and community groups on this front, as well as greater
central funding to support an effective multi-agency approach.
l There has to be a renewed focus on the possible connection between the UK’s politico-
economic model and the threat of far-right extremism. A more inclusive economy
– one that is committed to comprehensive public investment in skills development,
tackles forms of precarious employment, and promotes local regeneration – may ease
anti-system sentiment within ‘at risk’ communities.
l The international focus of white far-right terrorism requires a co-ordinated international

response. This needs to be at the level of the United Nations, not that of a regional
bloc such as the European Union. Indeed, the need to share intelligence, monitor
the distribution of extremist materials, and respond to the cross-fertilisation of ideas
from far-right activists increasingly working across continents, requires the type of
response that can only come from combining the national and the truly international.
l Politicians need to recognise that the demographic change some Western countries
are experiencing is significant and, for some citizens, distinctly unsettling. Immigration
is not always an issue on which the predictions or commitments of politicians
have proved accurate. On 8 March 1971, in a debate on what was to become the
1971 Immigration Act, the (Conservative) Home Secretary, Reginald Maudling, told
the House of Commons:
It is right to say that if we are to get progress in community relations, we must give
assurance to the people who were already here before the large wave of immigration
that this will be the end and that there will be no further large-scale immigration. 111
That did not prove to be the case. In France, Renaud Camus, the inventor of the Great
Replacement theory, is currently facing a jail sentence for referring to immigration as
an ‘invasion’. 112 Given the contradictory statements politicians in many nations have
made on immigration in the past, such actions appear unwise, if not undemocratic.
l Finally, political trends come and go. It could be that the current trend of posting
manifestos immediately before an attack comes to be seen, by the next generation
of far-right terrorists, as old-fashioned or clichéd. The method of publicising or
justifying such attacks may change, as technology advances and the state garners
its technological forces in response. There seems little doubt, however, that far-right
terrorism will be with us for some time to come.

111 Hansard, House of Commons Debates, 8 March 1971, Vol 813, col 44, available at: https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/
commons/1971/mar/08/immigration-bill, last visited: 28 January 2020.
112 Khanna, R., ‘French intellectual sentenced to prison for calling mass immigration an “invasion”’, Recently Heard,
22 January 2020, available at: https://recentlyheard.com/2020/01/22/french-intellectual-sentenced-to-prison-for-calling-
mass-immigration-an-invasion/, last visited: 29 January 2020.

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Far-Right Terrorist Manifestos: A Critical Analysis

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DEFENDING EUROPE:
Title: “FAR-RIGHT TERRORIST The Henry Jackson Society

“GLOBAL BRITAIN”
MANIFESTOS: A CRITICAL ANALYSIS” Millbank Tower, 21-24 Millbank
By Dr Rakib Ehsan and Dr Paul Stott London SW1P 4QP, UK

AND THE FUTURE

© The Henry Jackson Society, 2020 www.henryjacksonsociety.org

OF EUROPEAN
GEOPOLITICS
BY JAMES ROGERS

DEMOCRACY | FREEDOM | HUMAN RIGHTS February

Report No.2020
2018/1