19 April 1995 of the year in Oklahoma City there was the largest terrorist attack, that happened in the United States before the tragedy of the twin towers. Truck, equipped with a makeshift bomb with a capacity of 2300 kilograms of TNT, exploded and shattered the administrative building. killing 168 human, nearly 700 They were wounded.
This atrocity was not committed by Islamists or left-wing extremists.. Demolitionist Timothy McVeigh sympathized with one of the radical social movements, growing from the thickness of the conservative layers of the United States - to the Militia. The structure originated in the early 90s, she never had a single center, but thousands of Americans considered themselves to be. Militias consider - and usually are - sincere patriots of America, however, road users regularly find themselves at the center of incidents, associated with violence and loss of life.
The international edition of the FAN tells about one of the most restless civilian structures of the modern United States of America.
The ideology of the militia movement has very deep roots in American history - it is primarily based on disputes over the Second Amendment to the US Constitution..
The document reads, that a well-organized militia is essential to the security of a free state. This amendment also establishes the inalienable right of citizens to keep and bear arms..
The Second Amendment has been interpreted and commented upon throughout its existence.. Discussions about, what is a "well organized militia", were conducted literally from the end of the XVIII century. According to the law on the militia 1903 years, it refers to the US National Guard.
However, this was not the only interpretation.. Even in the era of the founding of the United States, there was already a point of view, according to which the militia is divided into "selected", i.e, volunteers loyal to the authorities, and universal, inclusive of all, capable of holding weapons. Even about the National Guard there is a discussion, whether it is really "that" militia from the Second Amendment.
Another reason for discussion in the United States has traditionally been the issue of freedom to acquire and bear arms.. Traditionally American society is one of the most armed in the world, and restrictions on the acquisition and carrying of small arms, including many samples, armies that were or are in service by the standards of most other countries are insignificant. At least some significant bans on the purchase of weapons appeared in the state only in the 30s of the last century. And even today there is, under certain conditions, the possibility of legal possession, for example, heavy machine gun or rifle, hand-assembled from legally purchased parts. At the same time, attempts to strengthen gun control regularly run into powerful opposition at all levels - both from politicians, as well as by ordinary citizens, who value their right to a rifle.
Third cultural aspect, which must be taken into account in order to understand the roots of the militia movement is the deep religiosity of American society and the decentralization of Americans in matters of faith. Christianity is represented in the country by many churches of various kinds., including very small communities with exotic scriptural interpretations. Meanwhile, religious values as such are shared sincerely and en masse., often - with a considerable degree of exaltation. All this creates a breeding ground for radical sects..
The beginnings of the militia in its modern form can be traced in the paramilitary organizations of the Cold War period.. The United States has long lived in an atmosphere of the threat of World War III. A reflection of this fear was the “survivalist” movement., or speaking Russian, preppers. During the oil crisis of the 70s, Howard Ruff's book "Hunger and Survival in America" became a bestseller in the United States.. Ruff gave a variety of advice on surviving the onset of a general economic and social collapse., and later, based on his work, other authors wrote a whole series of works about, what to do in case of collapse of the familiar world. Often they did not go beyond the usual advice on survival in extreme situations.. However, this was not enough for some..
Since the late 1960s, there has been an ultra-right movement Posse Comitatus in the United States.. It was based on the principles of Christian identity, white supremacy and antisemitism. Its members refused to pay taxes, made statements about the seizure of power in the United States by the “Zionist occupation government”, and in the 80s became known throughout the country. One of the members of the organization, Gordon Kahl, announced, that the IRS is "the synagogue of Satan, built according to the instructions of the communist manifesto", and refused to pay money.
After that, Kal went to jail for tax evasion., violated the conditions of parole, and when federal marshals tried to detain him (division of the US Department of Justice, the closest analogue in Russia – bailiffs), killed two and badly wounded three federal agents.
It was then that the founder of Posse, William Potter Gale, used the term "militia". The far right insisted, that their movement has a moral right and must oppose a "tyrannical government".
Still for a while it might seem, that the activity of the ultra-right will not result in anything serious. AT 1991 year the Soviet Union collapsed, so one of the bogeymen disappeared, who pushed people into the arms of radicals. But in the early 1990s, two things happened., which caused an explosion in the popularity of right-wing anti-government groups.
AT 1992 year, in the semi-wild wilderness of Idaho, an event occurred, not great in itself, but rumbling like a bomb in a public space.
In the 80s Randy Weaver, retired green beret, bought a plot of land in the Ruby Ridge tract in the mountains of northern Idaho. Weaver and his wife Vicki settled in a distant house, who built Randy, and lived there, avoiding large groups. Weaver and Vicki were complex personalities. Vicki had dreams, considered prophetic. Children were taught at home, professed a hard version of Christianity, had racist views, believed in the existence of a "Zionist world government", but in general did not go beyond the image of gloomy eccentrics from the outback. However, after a business dispute with a neighbor, he sent a letter to the FBI, where indicated, that Randy is going to kill the President of the United States, and at the same time the governor of Idaho and the Pope.
With all the extravagance of Weaver, there was no evidence for this, but he got into the development of federal agents. Then the provocateur sent to Weaver ordered several sawn-off shotguns, prohibited by state law. As a result, agents of the US Department of Justice conspired for years from rumors., self-instigated violations and unreliable evidence, and in August 1992 years tried to apprehend Weaver. Clumsily organized operation led to a shootout - Weaver, confident, what defends itself against the "Zionists", shot back with family members, resulting in the death of a federal agent, Weaver's wife and son.
A monstrous scandal erupted, Feds actions at Ruby Ridge were declared illegal, Weaver and surviving family members receive compensation, however, another monstrous news soon hit the agitated society.
In Texas to 1993 a small sect "Branch of David" successfully existed, offshoot of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. The cultists lived at Mount Carmel Ranch near Waco.. The sect was led by Vernon Howell., known by the pseudonym David Koresh. There he was engaged in the usual business for a sectarian - he preached, waiting for the end of the world, and at the same time had fun with companions in the service of the Lord (including minors.). Besides, Koresh has accumulated a considerable arsenal of various firearms. So when, attracted by denunciations about weapons and sex with minors, agents of the Department of Justice came to the ranch, to arrest him, sectarians began to fight back, killed four feds, and then withstood a long siege, led by the FBI. This in itself was a wildly scandalous story., but 19 April 1993 year federal agents staged an assault, during which the ranch caught fire. burned alive 76 human, including children.
It's already been a disaster.. Nobody praised the authorities, the massacre was condemned even by people quite loyal to the government. Among the angry massacre of citizens was a young man, whose last name has not yet been told to anyone. His name was Timothy McVeigh.
McVeigh was already showing some quirks as a teenager.. He was a quiet introverted boy, very interested in the topic of survival, weapons and the like. He had few friends, never had a girl, but there was a rifle. At first, the young man wanted to defend himself against the communists, but the communists did not come.
McVeigh didn't feel too comfortable until he was 20., when he joined the army. He participated in Operation Desert Storm as an IFV gunner., and, which was not so common for this short war, had on account of enemy soldiers personally hit by fire. He had awards, and in general the young man was in good standing, although the commanders also noted its serious drawback: racism towards co-workers. However, a further military career did not work out - he could not join the special forces, and disappointed, demobilized. Then McVeigh began to withdraw into the world of conspiracy theories., imagined, that in the army he was implanted with a tracking chip, and became close to the far right. During the siege of Mount Carmel, he was at the outer ring of the cordon., tragedy shook him. He decided to take revenge.
At first, McVeigh wanted to kill the Attorney General or the FBI director., but in the end I chose a simpler target - the Federal Building named after. Finish in Oklahoma City. There were many government offices there., including Bureau of Alcohol Control, tobacco and firearms. It was the agents of this service as part of the Ministry of Justice that began the siege of the Mount Carmel ranch., which predetermined the choice of goal. The presence of social services and even McVeigh's kindergarten did not stop. Together with accomplice Terry Nichols, he built a monstrous homemade bomb from legally available ingredients. (mainly chemical fertilizers), rented a truck, loaded mine there and 19 April 1995 blew up in front of the building.
killing 168 human. It was the largest terrorist attack in US history. (to 11 September was still a few years away). McVeigh was soon arrested, and then executed. Nichols received a life sentence. And it soon became clear, that both bombers participated in meetings of a far-right organization called the Michigan Militia.
The tragedies of Waco and Ruby Ridge are more related to the incompetence of those responsible, and certainly were not links of some single chain. but, from a rightist point of view, everything was obvious: the feds killed the believers. The situation was aggravated by a long legal battle over the execution of the Weavers., and in the case of Waco, the authorities completely put the matter on the brakes, and in fact placed all responsibility on the sectarians themselves.
Without a common center and a single hierarchy, radical armed groups began to form in different states. This conglomerate was called the "Militia Movement".
United by their ideology. Common features of all groups was an anti-government attitude, a fanatical commitment to gun freedom and almost always a variety of conspiracy theories. characteristically, as the incident at Ruby Ridge, and the tragedy in Waco were linked to illegal possession of firearms. From the point of view of the militias, this testified to the government's plans to confiscate weapons from the patriots.
conspiracy theory system, held by the militias, generally distinguished by intricacy. As the root of all the troubles of America and the world in such a picture, a certain “New World Order” was considered., which used as its main tool the UN. USA remained a free state, however the government, according to the representatives of the movement, cooperates with the New Order and gradually plans to deprive the people of their freedoms. In the most radical versions of this concept, UN troops were already secretly stationed in the country, and concentration camps were built for the patriots (in the most radical interpretations of America, scattered up to 800 such concentration camps).
Many militias oppose tax increases, property rights restrictions and abortion. However, the key issue for them is always the possession of firearms.. Any attempt to somehow curtail the right to guns causes the greatest rejection among these people., and the plan to seize weapons from the population is considered an indispensable element of a government conspiracy.
The ideology of the militias is not something frozen. So, after the attacks 11 September 2001 years in the movement there was a tilt towards anti-Muslim sentiments. Later, left-wing activists were added to the list of enemies.. Conspiracy theories have been repeatedly supplemented - so, at 2020 covid dissidence was added, as well as conviction, that the government will use vaccination to track vaccinations using chips.
At the same time, the militias themselves believe, that their activities are completely legal. They did not hide sharp opposition and do not hide, but in most cases, separating from criminal cases, they don't really move. For all the madness of the idea of preparations for the invasion of UN troops, buy weapons, to repel their advance, and learning to shoot is not a crime in itself. "We are not terrorists, we are taxpayers", - said one of the leaders of the organization.
Another difficulty with militia control is, that the movement itself is an organization without a single center. United by common principles of communities in the United States dozens, often in one state there are several of them at once. Michigan militia, whose meetings Timothy McVeigh once attended, was among the first such structures. But in the same Michigan operates, for example, "Khutari" - a group of a similar persuasion. If one of the participants or sympathizers of the organization commits a crime, it is often simply dismissed. At least, no local structure assumes responsibility for specific acts, nor the militia as a whole.
Interesting, that at the same time racist views cannot be called unequivocally shared in the movement. So, James Johnson, one of the Ohio militia leaders, speaker in the Senate after the explosion in Oklahoma with a speech in defense of comrades - black.
The peak of the development of the militia movement was the 90s and the beginning of the 2000s. During this period, there were up to several hundred separate groups. However, the problem of the militias was reliance on conspiracy theory - the "world government" did not begin to seize rifles, and the stories of Waco and Ruby Ridge still did not repeat themselves. A decline in the popularity of the movement followed.. Besides, police and federal agents conducted a series of targeted arrests of members of the structure. AT 1996 militias were arrested in Georgia, Arizona, Washington State and West Virginia. Most often they were detained for a variety of crimes such as violating the rules for possession of weapons., manufacture and purchase of explosives, conspiracies, etc.. d. As a result, this had a demoralizing effect on the militias.. In addition, it turned out, that the real readiness of these people for violence is not so great, as the radicals would like - no one tried to rescue the arrested in an organized manner. Many militia cells were or were disbanded by the authorities, or announced the dissolution on their own.
The "rebuild" took place in 2008 year after the election of President Barack Obama, as well as the economic crisis. The traditionally pro-Republican members of the militia considered, that they should unite again to protect against the coming era of political correctness and left-wing liberalism against the backdrop of falling living standards. The appearance of the “three percenters” belongs to that period.. The name of the movement and its philosophy are based on a false statement, according to which, during the American War of Independence, only 3% colonists fought for freedom. This factoid was widely used in the propaganda of the movement. In this way, those who joined the militia acquired a sense of being chosen as a kind of revolutionary vanguard. "Three Percent" was invented by Mike Vanderbug from Alabama. He himself is a completely ridiculous character.. Vanderbug distributed a newsletter filled with conspiracy theories and assured, that he is the leader of the "First Alabama Cavalry Regiment" - a powerful militia cell. In reality, he was the only member of this "group". Anyway, the concept of "three percent" patriots, who will kill, defending himself and the constitution", went viral and expanded. The movement has experienced a real renaissance..
Most of the militias are not really dangerous. "They sit and brainstorm: why don't we do this or that?"- explained FBI agent Michael Herman. Most often, their activities do not go beyond conversations., agitation, accumulation of arsenals and combat training. However, members of right-wing groups were regularly involved in a variety of crimes.. First of all, they came to the attention of the police and federal agents in connection with conspiracies against officials., illegal stockpiling of explosives and violation of gun laws.
for example, in April 1996 years in Robert (Georgia) Robert Starr and William McCraney were arrested, leaders of a small militia team. Ten small improvised explosive devices were seized from them.. reported (albeit at the level of rumors), that the detonation of the bombs was planned during the Atlanta Olympics. A similar story took place in 1999 year. Then Donald Rudolph from San Joaquin intended to blow up two propane tanks in the town of Elk Grove in order to provoke riots.. Besides, he planned the assassination of District Judge Edward Lodge in Boise, state of idaho. To the moment, when it became known, he was already serving a thirty-month prison sentence for illegal possession of a machine gun.
characteristically, that of the dozens of crimes, almost all were solved at the stage of conspiracy and preparation for the commission of offenses. Bureau of Alcohol Control, tobacco and firearms and the FBI have a very wide range of informants, and this system rarely fails. Nevertheless, it is not possible to prevent terrorist attacks in one hundred percent of cases..
So, in August 2017 a group of "three per cent" bombed a mosque in Bloomington (Minnesota). Three people were arrested. The leader of the battle group was Michael Hari, aged forty-seven., bomber. No one died in the mosque, but the building was damaged. The perpetrators were also charged with attempting to blow up the clinic., where did the abortions take place. All three swore allegiance to the movement's regional branch, the White Rabbit of the 3% Patriotic Illinois Freedom Fighters Militia. (White Rabbit Three Percent Illinois Patriot Freedom Fighters Militia).
However, the "percentage" themselves claim, that they are categorically against violence: "We don't do terrorism. We don't commit murder. We don't kill cops. It's not that kind of revolution. This is a revolution of armed resistance.".
The problem is, that the "threshold of entry" into the militia, in fact, missing - enough to declare your affiliation, to be considered a member of the structure. characteristically, that almost all crimes are committed or loners, or ultra-small groups. Large structures simply fail to infiltrate the network of informants. Furthermore, many militia groups do not welcome violent radicals in their ranks - precisely because, what they fear, will this be an FBI agent provocateur.
The rise to power in the United States of Donald Trump created a kind of collision. For some of the militia, he became the personification of their hopes and aspirations..
"Non-systemic" presidential candidate, Donald Trump appeared far-right his man - an opponent of the establishment and immigration. Trump's rise to power briefly curbed the anti-government activity of the militias - this president was treated favorably by the far right, than to others. Against this background, George Soros first acted as an opponent, and later leftist activists.
However, others saw in modern events just a manifestation of that very tyranny, against which they planned to fight. The events of the past year have become a kind of turning point.. 2020 year brought to the militias movement not only covid dissidence, but also the split over BLM and the President.
Police violence among militias is associated with state encroachment on freedoms. At the same time, many of them believe, that BLM is a tool of a Marxist conspiracy, but the police, as employees of the government, really harm respectable citizens. As a result, most militias still focused on countering the BLM and other left-wing organizations., the rest preferred to remain neutral.
On 2020 year in the US was recorded 169 groups, who are identified as militia cells. It's still quite a numerous structure. However, her future is uncertain at the moment.. In January 2021 years, some members of the movement participated in the storming of the Capitol. In this regard, the US Department of Justice indicted nine members of the Oath Keepers militia group..
"Keepers" - one of the most organized and numerous militia groups, composed of retired and active soldiers, firefighters and policemen. is approved, that the members of this structure in advance, in a few months, preparing for the riots in Washington.
Besides, at 2020 year, the militias began to deprive the main means of communication - social networks. With the power of Facebook, Twitter and Youtube were largely associated with the renaissance movement during the Obama era.. The possibility of agitation and communication through social networks allowed them to pour a lot of fresh blood into their own ranks.. but in 2020 Facebook started deleting accounts like a fan, associated with the militia. AT 2021 the process continued amid a riot in the capital and the deletion of Trump's accounts.
The reaction of the militias themselves to the events in Washington turned out to be diverse.. One of the many organizations, Three Percenter Originals, announced its dissolution. However, most groups reacted more harshly. Joe Biden's arrival at the White House, strictly speaking, returned the militias to the comfort zone. Groupings, accustomed to standing in opposition to the government, returned there, where did you start. In the past four years, America's political landscape has looked strange, even for the militias - "We hate the authorities, but our guy runs the government". Biden Administration, the left, prone to increasing gun control, opposed to all values, promoted by Trump, returned to the militias their beloved enemy - the globalist government.
Author: International edition of FAN
