This is Part Four of Hate Online, a series examining the online presence of the far right in Ireland. The previous parts can be read here, here, and here.
The database of a now defunct far-right internet forum which was leaked online contains information about a number of Irish members who self-identified as “fascists” and “Hitlerists”. Irish users of the forum also declared their hatred for democracy, a love for fascism, and in more than one case a call to kill Jewish people.
The leaks of the Iron March forum have already been used to identify serving members of the US military. Iron March was also where Atomwaffen Division, a far-right terrorist group with links to several murders, was formed.
“Democracy is a farce”
Uploaded to the Internet Archive by the user antifa-data on 6 November, the database of Iron March contains information which can be used to identify its former members. This includes usernames, email addresses, IP addresses, posts made by forum users, and private messages that they sent to each other. Despite the fact that the forum has been defunct since 2017, the data contains a plethora of information for activists, researchers, and law enforcement
Although relatively small compared to the total number of users, The Beacon has found at least 13 accounts belonging to Irish members of the far right.
One user going by the name of Aodh Mor Macraynall discussed the virtues of Irish fascist Eoin O’Duffy. They lamented the fact that O’Duffy had “failed to bring fascism to Ireland”. And they asked:
How can we do this again and not fail?
A user who went by the name Réan discussed their own political evolution and how they came to identify as a fascist. Aged 21 at the time of his post and working in marketing, they told others on the forum that they were previously liberal. However, they said they were “always aware of the Jewish influence on modern day society”.
As they began to notice “the degeneracy around me in modern society”, they “gravitate[d] to researching fascism”. They related how they became “instantly mesmerised by it, both as a political ideology and a worldview”. And as a result:
After discovering my newfound [sic] worldview of truth, I now understand that Democracy is a farce. Individualism and Capitalism both promote degeneracy in society while Communism is on the other side of that same problem. Whereas, Fascism is inherently natural.
Online radicalisation
Other Irish users of the forum followed a similar political path. For example, Gaelic Tribalist, a 20 year-old man working in IT at the time related how he had come to adhere to Third Positionism, a political ideology “with strong neofascist overtones” according to the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC). He wrote that he considered Libertarianism and Marxism as “equally cancerous” and rejected them both in favour of the so-called Third Position. In a separate post he describes himself “as a hardcore Irish ethnonationalist”.
In another post he argued that fascists “need to go after the NGOs” due to their support for asylum seekers. Leo Varadkar also comes in for particular attention in his postings, with Gaelic Tribalist declaring that he’s only the taoiseach because “because he sucks cock and is half curry n****r”.
He goes on to state that Jewish people “convert to Christianity in order to further subvert our nations”. This, he says, explains why the church has been “promoting cultural marxism”. And given this, he writes:
Only good k**e is a dead one.
This developmental pattern was also seen in the poster known as Aquilae. From Ireland but living in Australia since youth, they related how they started out as “a regular anti-SJW”. From here they found 4chan, specifically the /pol/ board and as a result became a “full National Socialist”. Aquilae wrote:
National Socialism has changed me for the better, I used to be unhealthy, but now I’ve become much happier and healthier, as I have a purpose.
Their views align with those of his fellow forum members. They state unequivocally that “We need an ethno-state [sic]” and that Islam “should be wiped from the face of the earth”. This is because it and the West “cannot coexist”. He goes on to take aim at Jewish people, writing that:
They are our enemies, and the enemies of western civilisation. At best, we can separate them from us entirely.
The pattern of radicalisation via the internet is seen again in the development of the user Eternal Gael. He described himself as a “young Irishman attending 3rd level education”. Although “never really” involved in politics, he wrote that the activities of the National Party had “gotten me interested” in the far right. Prior to this he claimed to have read The Communist Manifesto to be “edgy”.
But he maintained that he “grew out of it” after using 4chan and 8chan. He wrote that he was “red pilled” there and eventually found his way to Iron March via a link posted on 8chan. Eternal Gael went on to discuss how he “grew out of my atheism” and is now a Catholic “but interested in Orthodoxy”. This, he says, is a result of “the current Pope being a communist f****t”.
He joined Iron March because he “wanted to contribute and be able to communicate with other Fascists”. Eternal Gael also revealed that he wants to form an Irish group similar to National Action. The latter is itself a British far-right group which is banned under the British Terrorism Act 2000 since 2016. This, it seems, is because despite the work of the National Party in Ireland, “we need to put words into action instead of through democracy”. In a separate post he said that “we need to gas all Jews”.
The strong versus the weak
Another Irish user went by the name Pádraig on the forum. In one post they recounted how they became “an esoteric Hitlerist” after having been “initiated into it” as a teenager. Elsewhere on the forum Pádraig stated that there is “no place in politics” for women. In another post he insisted that the tactics used by the far right in the 1930s won’t work today. And due to this,
The time to be peaceful is over.
In one incident he admonished a forum user for taking Adderall, telling them that “Fascism is for the STRONG, not weak” and that they should stop using the medication as an “artificial crutch”. Instead, in an attempt to apparently humiliate the forum user after telling them to improve themselves “using your own will”, he asked them if they are “took weak to even do that?”.
A fellow poster going by the name Crom Cruach relates how they are an Irish student “sick and tired of sitting by and watching Europe rot”. He tells others on the forum that although some of those who share his beliefs “object to the term ’Nazi’ as a Jewish slur”, he uses it “as a shorthand for National Socialist”. They close their post by writing “14/88, Hail Victory!”, this being a reference to the Fourteen Words and Heil Hitler.
The Beacon contacted the Garda Press Office for a comment and posed a number of questions to them about the leaks and asked if the gardaí have been examining them. A response has yet to be received.
A brief history
Iron March was itself founded in 2011 by a Russian nationalist by the name of Alexander “Slavros” Mukhitdinov. During its 6-year lifespan members of the forum generated hundreds of thousands of posts. The topics ranged from discussions of national socialism, the philosophy of Nietzsche and other authors and public figures associated with the far right, to discussions about how the alt-right “isn’t far-right enough”.
It has already been revealed that a number of members of the forum are or were serving members of the US military. As reported by Vice at the time of writing, there were at least 3 forum users who were members of the military. And one of them was trying to recruit members for a fascist paramilitary group. It went on to reveal that dozens more claimed to be in the military.
The forum was also where Atomwaffen Dvision was formed. The group, which is linked a number of murders, also used the forum to recruit new members.
Although Iron March has been closed down since 2017, another forum stepped into the gap it left. Known as Fascist Forge, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) describes it as a “platform [which] attracts disenfranchised, angry members of the white supremacist community”. And like Iron March, it also contains a number of members who claim to be from Ireland.
The lone wolf myth
One of the most common myths associated with mass shooters is that they are “lone wolves”. This analysis itself comes from an assessment of the murderers as being isolated from society and reliant on the internet for the meaning they lack in their lives. From here it’s not a large step for them to begin shooting innocent people.
But this analysis misses something important. Those who carry out such actions may indeed be physically isolated from others who share their beliefs and interests but they are not intellectually isolated. The internet bridges this gap. More specifically, 4chan, 8chan, and various internet forums provide the friendship and support that they lack in their daily lives in the physical world. And in that sense they are no more lone wolves when they carry out their atrocities than if they had been accompanied on their killing sprees by their ideological brethren.
The Iron March leaks give us an insight into this connection which exists in the online world of the far right.
Featured image via Wikipedia
Any suggestions indicating the class background of those quoted? Not surprised at the hatred directed at the targets.