9/24/2020 Far-right attacks in the West surge by 320 per cent – Vision of Humanity

Far-right attacks in the West surge

by 320 per cent
The last ve years has seen an increase in far-right terror
attacks in western countries.

Far-right terrorist attacks increased by 320 per cent over the past five years in North
America, Western Europe, and Oceania, the latest Global Terrorism Index reports.

In 2018, total deaths attributed to far-right groups increased by 52 per cent to 26 deaths. The
trend continues into 2019, with 77 deaths attributed to far-right terrorists up until the month
September.

Far-right terrorist attacks accounted for 17.2 per cent of terrorist incidents in the West in
2018, compared to 6.8 per cent for attacks by Islamist groups and 62.8 per cent. Attacks not
attributed to any group accounted for 62.8 per cent of incidents in the West.

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9/24/2020 Far-right attacks in the West surge by 320 per cent – Vision of Humanity

Last year in the United States, there were no recorded attacks by a known terrorist group.
Out of 57 terror events recorded, 28 were committed by far-right extremists, 27 by unknown
perpetrators, and two by jihadi-inspired extremists.

The rise in far-right terrorism in the US has been mirrored by an increase in hate crimes,
although the total number of hate crimes is lower than it was a decade ago.

In Europe, the number of arrests linked to right-wing terrorism increased for the third year
in a row, yet the long-term data shows the level of political terrorism in the West was much
higher in the past.

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9/24/2020 Far-right attacks in the West surge by 320 per cent – Vision of Humanity

The growing concern in the West over the threat posed by far-right extremism and terrorism
has been particularly notable after a number of high profile terrorist attacks in 2019.

In New Zealand, a lone gunmen attacked two mosques in Christchurch, killing 51 people and
injuring 49. The fact that the attacks happened in New Zealand, which had almost no prior
history of terrorist activity, highlighted the way in which far-right ideology and violence had
spread across the Western world.

The attacks in New Zealand were followed by a number of mass shootings in the United
States, at least some of which were carried out by people influenced by far-right ideology. In
El Paso, Texas, a gunman carried out an attack on a Walmart store, killing 22 people and
injuring 24. The gunmen cited the Christchurch attack as an inspiration.

Far-right terrorism remains a small fraction of total terrorism worldwide, but the rise in
attacks has led some observers to state that far-right domestic terrorism has not been taken
seriously enough in the West, and that security and intelligence services should be paying
closer attention to the threat.

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9/24/2020 Far-right attacks in the West surge by 320 per cent – Vision of Humanity

While historically, nationalist or separatist, Islamist, and far-left terrorism has been much
more common in the West, the three largest politically motivated terrorist attacks in the last
50 years have been perpetuated by far-right extremists.

According to the GTI the term ‘far-right’ refers to a political ideology that is centred on one or
more of the following elements: strident nationalism, fascism, racism, anti-Semitism, anti-
immigration, chauvinism, nativism, and xenophobia. Far-right groups tend to be strongly
authoritarian, but often with populist elements, and have historically been anti-communist,
although this characteristic has become less prominent since the end of the Cold War. Groups
that are strongly anti-government are not necessarily far-right, although there is a subset of
anti-government groups in the US that have been classified as far-right.

Not every group or organisation with any of these characteristics can be considered far-right,
and not every far-right group is automatically violent or terroristic. However, terrorist groups
with these characteristics and individuals sympathetic to these ideals have been classified as
‘far-right terrorism’ in the 2019 GTI.

Vision of Humanity
EDITORIAL STAFF

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Vision of Humanity is brought to you by the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP), by staff in our global offices in Sydney,
New York, The Hague, Harare and Mexico. Alongside maps and global indices, we present fresh perspectives on current
affairs reflecting our editorial philosophy.

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