The Base is a neo-Nazi accelerationist paramilitary group and training network, formed in 2018 by Rinaldo Nazzaro. It is active in the United States, Canada, Australia, South Africa, and Europe.
History
The group was founded in June 2018 by Rinaldo Nazzaro, who uses the pseudonyms Norman Spear and Roman Wolf. Nazzaro was reported to have bought several blocks of off-the-grid land in Washington state, United States, in 2018 for use as a survivalist training camp.
Nazzaro, who used to work for the FBI and the Pentagon, moved to Russia around the time he created The Base, and directs the group's activities from there. In November 2020, a feature-length interview with Nazzaro was broadcast on Russian state television.
Ideology and status
The Base is a white nationalist accelerationist paramilitary group and training network. It advocates the formation of white ethnostates, a goal which it believes it can achieve via terrorism and the violent overthrow of existing governments. The group's vetting process serves to connect committed extremists with terroristic skills to produce real-world violence. It organizes "race war preppers" and operates "hate camps", or training camps. The group has links to the Atomwaffen Division and the Feuerkrieg Division, which are far-right extremist groups.
Nazzaro has characterized The Base as a "survivalism and self-defense network ... sharing knowledge and training to prepare for crisis situations", but he denies its connections to neo-Nazism. Nazzaro has stated that his goal is to "build a cadre of trainers across the country."
The Base has been designated as a terrorist entity by the following countries:
Canada (February 3, 2021) United Kingdom (July 12, 2021) Australia (November 24, 2021) New Zealand (June, 2022)
Recruitment strategies
The group is active across the United States, and it is also active in Canada. Before his identity was revealed in January 2020, Nazzaro, known online as "Roman Wolf" and "Norman Spear", was personally involved in active recruitment, with the aim of forming cells in Europe, South Africa and Australia.
The Base has recruited members by using iFunny, a meme social media website. In secure chat forums, VICE noted members designing memes to spread as propaganda.
Propaganda from a The Base training camp near Spokane, Washington was posted in August 2019.
In late 2019 and early 2020, secret recordings were made of some of The Base's recruitment activities. The tapes include its attempts to recruit several Australians, including a 17-year-old teenager and a Western Australian man, Dean Smith, who ran for parliament for Pauline Hanson's One Nation party. Another Australian who went by the name of Volkskrieger was a key person in the recruitment drive, which focused on finding people with legal access to firearms and security licences.
Activities
Anti-Semitic activities
Richard Tobin and The Base were linked to synagogue vandalism in Racine, Wisconsin, and Hancock, Michigan, which occurred a day apart in September 2019. Court documents allege that Tobin organized the vandalism, then named the two members of The Base who he assigned to vandalize the synagogues. Tobin called the event "Operation Kristallnacht".
Yousef O. Barasneh, a Neo-Nazi Arab whose father immigrated from Amman, spray-painted swastikas and other anti-Semitic symbols and slogans on Beth Israel Sinai Congregation in the city of Racine, Wisconsin sometime between September 15 and 23, 2019.
Virginia protests
On 16 January 2020, three members of The Base were arrested by the FBI just before a gun rights protest, 2020 VCDL Lobby Day, was scheduled to be held at the Virginia State Capitol in Richmond. The FBI had six members under surveillance for several months and had set up CCTV cameras inside the group's apartment to observe them and to prevent them from causing any harm. According to FBI documents, three members were discussing "the planning of violence at a specific event in Virginia, scheduled for January 20, 2020." On January 17, the trio were indicted for illicit activities. The next day, three additional members were arrested for plotting to "derail trains" and poison water supplies. FBI recordings released in November 2021 showed two of the men discussed mass murder of black persons to trigger a race war; they were both sentenced to nine years in prison in October 2021.