When Alberta RCMP launched photos of the weapons and tactical gear seized from a gaggle that took half within the Coutts, Alta., border blockade, the photographs confirmed patches displaying a white diagonal line on a black background -- the calling card of the Diagolon far-right extremist group.
4 males related to the Coutts blockade have been charged with allegedly plotting to kill RCMP law enforcement officials, however the Mounties haven't but publicly commented on any attainable connections with the group.
With out naming any particular group, Public Security Minister Marco Mendicino alluded to ties between protesters in Ottawa and the Coutts arrests whereas talking to reporters Wednesday, saying “a number of of the people at Coutts have robust ties to a far-right excessive group with leaders who're in Ottawa. We’re speaking a few group that's organized, agile, educated and pushed by an extremist ideology the place may makes proper.”
Mendicino appeared to double down on his remarks in Thursday’s Home of Commons session, saying “there may be an ideologically-motivated operation that we see within the rhetoric right here that's meant to incite,” which was one of many main causes the federal government selected to invoke the Emergencies Act, he stated.
WHAT IS THE DIAGOLON?
Diagolon could be categorized as an “accelerationist” group, in response to researchers who examine extremism.
Director of the Centre for Bias, Hate and Extremism at Ontario Tech College Barbara Perry outlined accelerationism because the “intent on accelerating or fomenting a civil struggle, overturning what they see as the present corrupt, illegitimate order.”
In an e-mail to CTVNews.ca Thursday, Perry listed violent teams comparable to The Base, Atomwaffen, and the Boogalo Boys as examples of adherents to that precept.
“For some, this resonates with the normal RAHOWA, or Racial Holy Conflict. For others, it represents an all-out civil struggle that might delegitimize and destabilize the present regime,” Perry stated in her e-mail. “Many accelerationists celebrated the occasions of January 6, 2021 in Washington DC because the onset of this civil struggle (e.g., The Base), therefore the calls…for the Freedom Convoy to be our January 6. A few of these teams/people are among the many most aggressive and unstable parts of the far-right, and as we noticed in Coutts, closely armed.”
WHERE DID DIAGOLON COME FROM?
The Diagolon group is a free community of individuals with neo-fascist, militant views which emerged from a gaggle of dwell streamers referred to as “The Plaid Military,” in response to the Canadian Anti-Hate Community (CAHN).
The Plaid Military has been accused of platforming and espousing rampant racism and anti-Semitic content material of their streams, and had a few mainstays on their exhibits together with Jeremy MacKenzie, who has been recognized by CAHN because the de facto chief of Diagolon in Canada.
MacKenzie, who's a Canadian navy veteran, beforehand made headlines for protesting in Halifax towards a joint-speaking engagement of Romeo Dallaire and Omar Khadr about youngster troopers, and extra just lately for his January arrest associated to 4 weapons fees after a video was posted on social media which police allege confirmed MacKenzie pointing a gun at a person’s head.
MacKenzie has been seen on livestreams in Ottawa encouraging the blockades on his Telegram and YouTube channel the place he goes by variations of the username “Raging Dissident.”
In a single video posted by a consumer referred to as "Raging Dissident III" which the CAHN says belongs to MacKenzie, the “Diagolon Nationwide Anthem,” which seems to be a self-shot video of a Korean Conflict memorial in Halifax and photographs of a Canadian flag, wheat fields and the Diagolon flag is about to a model of “Rolling Right down to Outdated Maui” by Stan Rogers and sung by Mannerbund, in response to the CAHN, a gaggle they determine as a U.S.-based white supremacist males’s group.
The brand new lyrics reference that “by blood or sweat” the singers will reclaim their dwelling, and if “there isn't any hearth” to gentle their method they are going to begin their very own.
He's additionally the supply of the idea of Diagolon, in response to the CAHN, which began as an internet joke referencing a fictional nation state of “sane” individuals who reject the present authorities and society, working diagonally throughout North America from Alaska to Florida.
WHAT ARE THE GROUP’S MOTIVATIONS?
In an e-mail to CTVNews.ca Thursday, the CAHN stated Diagolon is a superb instance of how irony poisoning can be utilized to warp an internet joke right into a motion.
Irony poisoning is a time period used to explain the strategy of desensitization to extremist, hateful rhetoric by way of “humour,” and particularly on the web -- memes -- that help in sliding an individual additional into the spheres of fascism, white supremacy and violence.
The CAHN stated in its e-mail that Diagolon shortly attracted a community of like-minded anti-authority people, which they estimate are probably now within the 1000's, with members in Canada, the U.S. and Australia – judging from their Telegram channels.
“When you have a look at the Telegram channels and chats related to these folks, all of them referred to Diagolon constantly,” deputy director of CAHN Elizabeth Simons stated in a phone interview with CTVNews.ca Thursday. “They name themselves Diagolonians or Diags or Dags. Individuals exterior of Diagolon are referred to as Circulonians as a result of the remainder of the remainder of North America is what they name Circulon.”
A perusal of Telegram channels of alleged Diagolon members or supporters exhibits assist for the blockades in Ottawa, folks posing with weapons and the sharing of violent photos, together with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s head on a spike.
Simons identified that violence is a core component to Diagolon, citing MacKenzie’s motto repeated in his chats and streams -- “by gun or rope” -- describing how his enemies can select to die.
The CAHN said in its e-mail that the perceived enemies of the group are the media, the mainstream authorities and politicians and people they understand as communists.
When requested why Diagolon targets communism, Simons stated the concern of “encroaching communism” is rife amongst conspiracy theorist actions as an insult towards authorities insurance policies, however in neo-fascist and militia actions it stands for one thing else.
“The concern of communism truly comes from Nazism and neo-Nazism the place Communist is a placeholder for Jews,” she stated. “In neo-Nazi circles…that is why you see anti-Communist symbols and imagery amongst neo-Nazis and racist skinheads and issues like that. So this concept of being against communism instead of being against Jews as a result of it is a bit extra palatable, goes again a very long time.”
For Diagolon, Simons stated the time period communist has morphed into “anybody that they do not like,” or is their opposition. Nevertheless, Simons identified there's a “huge contingent” of Diagolon members who're anti-Semitic and racist who seemingly use the time period because the historically-derived placeholder for Jewish folks.
The key concern, Simons stated, is that CAHN is witnessing the Diagolon community department out and go offline.
“These photos of them about capturing collectively, the photographs of them coaching collectively, they get collectively and share data, they're growing cells,” she stated, including that regardless of MacKenzie being their de facto chief, cells and Diagolon member networks are autonomous. “Jeremy [MacKenzie] does not inform them what to do or how one can act…and so after what occurred in Alberta, we're anxious about different potential cells and networks that might result in violence.”
A picture dated Nov. 8, 2021 of alleged Diagolon members with faces obscured taken from an alleged Diagolon 'influencer' on Telegram. (Canadian Anti-Hate Community/Telegram)
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