Right Wing Extremists V. Left Wing Extremists

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Right Wing Extremists V. Left Wing Extremists

From many centuries ago, blacks and whites have not been equal in the society. The whites have always believed that they are more superior to the blacks. As a result, it has led to the blacks being oppressed. In the process, the blacks have always wanted to prove that they are equal to the whites. This has resulted in the formation of extremists groups. These groups use violence as a form communicating their grievances. They are known as left wing extremists groups. On the other hand, the whites want to protect themselves from these thus; they have formed their own groups. They are known as right wing extremists groups. Therefore, comparative analysis of the groups will provide clear information on how they operate and how they affect American society.

I Right Wing Extremists-History

The term right wing is believed to have originated from the French revolution where the different groups, which were supporting the government sat on the right hand of the president, while those that were against the government sat on the left hand side of the president during parliament. The ideologies of this group are extremely conservative and traditional. They believed in the principles of natural law. In this case, the right wing extremists are extremely resistant to change due to their ideologies (George, 1996).

The ideologies of the right wing extremists have its root from nationalism and racism. They believe that the ethnic affiliation to a nation is the most important thing to an individual. This means that all other values rules and regulations are subordinate to this idea. Based on this ideology the right wing extremists tend to use violence to concur the minority groups of the nation just because of their ethnic background. Additionally, the right wing extremist ideologies are extremely selfish because they only think of their own interest as they eliminate potential opposition from the minority groups.

The right extremists are highly motivated with the ideologies they share. However, the most common motivation of right extremists is hatred. The driving force or what makes them behave in the way they do is because of the amount of hatred they have towards a certain ethnic community. For instance, when President Barrack Obama was elected, the white supremacy groups started to react. They started to discriminate minority groups to exert pressure that they still have power despite the ethnicity of their president.

The right extremists are also motivated by the different government rules and regulations. In this case, they tend to oppose the government rules and regulations. For example, the government might create a new rule to be followed by the people. This rule might be one sided in the sense that it promotes one ethnic community. As a result, it might spark tension among the different ethnic communities leading to the motivation of the ethnic groups (George, 1996). Therefore, rules and regulations formed by the government can be a form of motivation to the right extremists.

According to the department of homeland security, the right extremists can be motivated by the economic and social situation of the country. Currently, there is a global financial crisis leading to the loss of jobs by many American citizens. In this case, those people that have lost their jobs might create violence to protest against the loss of jobs blaming the government for poor formation of policies. This shows that they are highly motivated by the loss of jobs which is an economic factor.

On the other hand, they might be motivated by social factors of the country. One of the social factors is discrimination. The people that come from the majority ethnic community are discriminative. They believe that they own the government and the country thus they can do anything. This shows that they are motivated by the fact of being the majority; hence, they cannot be defeated. In this case, the right wing extremists are motivated by social backgrounds that are surrounding them.

In the past, right wing extremists used traditional tactics to fuel their attacks towards the ideologies and groups that they hated. One of the tactics they used was conducting secret meetings with members so that they can be able to plan their moves. These meetings were camouflaged as social gatherings. However, this tactic came into light by making these groups explore other alternatives. As a result, the right wing extremists have resulted in using the new technology as part of their tactics.

When communicating, they use the social network to communicate to its members. This way the authorities will not be able to detect their activities. Additionally, it is the cheapest and easiest way to maintain their secrecy as they continue to carry out their operations. On the other hand, when using the social network they do not plainly put information on the sites. What they usually do is that they communicate using codes created by them (Bruce, 2005). In this case, it will be extremely difficult for the government or authorities to catch them.

Another tactic used by these groups is disrupting the congress and President Obama as much as possible. If President Obama is trying to introduce a new law in to the country, the extremists will try to disrupt the motion and create fear among the people. Additionally, they are also targeting the congress members by disrupting all their initiatives aimed at creating new policies. This tactic creates fear among the people and the congress members weakening the government. Therefore, the right extremists can be said to use both physical and intelligent tactics in their different operations.

The right wing extremists are increasing in numbers every day by recruiting new members. These groups have a basic strategy of recruiting members. The first strategy they use is fear. For instance, there is global financial crisis and countries are not doing well. Additionally, there is globalization that is affecting the whole. This means that the countries are not doing any better to solve the situation. The right wing extremists fear among the people showing them that the country is doing any better. They inform them that the right wing extremists groups are the only ones that can save them from these crises. As a result, new members turn up for recruitment due to fear.

Another form of recruitment the different right wing extremist groups are using is hate and anger. In America, many people especially the whites have hate and anger towards President Obama. The rules and regulations that are created by the Obama administration are seen as wrong. As a result, it has created anger to those people who have not joined these groups leading to them join. Therefore, the right wing extremist groups are using hatred and anger to motivate and brainwash new recruits to join these groups so that they can be able to enforce their rules and regulations.

The other method that the right extremist groups use is the creation of conspiracies and the use of weapons as a form of protection. They create conspiracy making the people who have not joined them to fear. This will usually create tension and fear to those people who are not in any of the groups. As a result, this people will need protection due to the fear of their lives. Therefore, the right extremists groups take this advantage to recruit new members who want protection. This results to the increasing number of people joining these groups.

According to the Department of Homeland Security, the right wing extremists are using the election of the first African American president as the driver to recruit new members. As discussed earlier, the ideologies of these groups are based on racisms. Statistics show that the American population is saturated with the whites as the majority among the different ethnic groups. Before the election of President Barrack Obama, the whites did not see the need of forming the right extremists groups (Bruce, 2005). However, after President Obama was elected the whites so the need of joining these groups due to the hatred they have towards the president. This is resulted in the recruitment of whites in the right extremists groups.

In the past, they were small groups of people who felt that their lives were threatened. Over the years, these groups have evolved due to hate and racism of minority ethnic communities. Additionally, they have continued to increase in numbers. Several factors have made them be successful in spreading all over America. One of the reasons is that they are cooperative. The people who join these groups are not rebellious among themselves. This is because they have the same goals and values. In addition to this, these people have the similar motivating factors like hate. For this reason, this groups end up becoming successful than that the other groups.

The other reason that makes the leadership of these groups successful is patriotism from the different members. These members believe in the same issues thus they cannot betray what they believe. For example, an American solder cannot not betray the US government by selling their war secrets to the enemy or another country like China (Bruce, 2005). This is similar to these groups because there is no way a member can sell their secrets to the enemy or a person that does don’t belong to the group. As a result, the leadership of these groups is perceived to be strong.

On the other hand, the right wing extremists have the worst of leadership. This is where they use poor strategies. In these groups, the leaders instill a lot of fear in the members making them vulnerable to attacks. The leaders show the members that if they move out of the groups their lives are threatened. Additionally, the methods they use to discipline the members who disobey their orders are also terrifying making the members quit the groups. Moreover, it is this fear that makes the members shift from the groups. Therefore, the use of fear is one of the failures used in leadership by these groups.

The other reason to failure used in the leadership of Right wing extremist is violence. There are members who might have similarity in ideologies but they might have a difference in the tactics or strategies used by the leaders. For example, there are whites who natural hate blacks, but they do not like the use of violence as opposed to what the leaders of the groups drive them to do (Bruce, 2005). Additionally, the leaders do not provide them a guarantee that they will protect them from the law once they commit the violence attacks. This makes them feel uncomfortable and eventually they move out of these groups.

The right wing extremists are driven by hate and their ideologies. These ideologies are based on racism. The ultimate goal for the right wing extremists is the use of violence to suppress the minority groups so that they can be able to achieve both their sociological and political ideologies. In a society, the right wing extremists believe that the rule of natural law should play its part as opposed to equality, which they believe is artificial. Therefore, their ultimate goal is to ensure that the rule of natural law is enforced together with their political ideologies (Bruce, 2005).

The right wing extremists are willing to take their own, and other people’s lives so that they can enforce this ultimate goal. The extremists believe that their lives were in danger that is xenophobia, and in order for them to solve these issues, they have to fight for their lives hence killing anybody believed to threaten their lives. For instance, there was an incident where a right wing extremist short seven people dead in Texas due to hatred. This clearly shows the extent to which the right wing extremists are willing to go in order to enforce the ultimate goal.

Larry Pratt was one of the individual members and leader of these groups that made a name due to the different activities conducted. He is known have conducted numerous attacks on the blacks in living Texas at 1970. However, there were other members in the group in the early 1970s that made their name known. They conducted several violent attacks that left many people of minority ethnic community to die. As a result, they erupted violence and encouraged other right wing extremists to rise.

The militia extremists group is one of the most successful right wing extremist groups. This group has been all the mouths in America for the last few decades since it was started. What they have done differently for the other groups is being organized. The militia group is well organized, and the members often have training before the different violent missions that they make to express their point. This is contrary to the other groups since they are not that organized (Anti-Defamation League, 2003). In addition, most of them do not offer training to their members.

The reason as to why they have been so successful as compared to the other groups is because they are extremely courageous, cooperative, patriotic, and violent and they have strategic plans. This is because, majority of the members are trained veterans who have the tactical knowledge fighting. Additionally, these members are disciplined, trained to follow orders and they can go to any extremes to fulfill their mission (Anti-Defamation League, 2003). Therefore, they are more successful that the other groups.

One of the leaders of the militia group, Larry Pratt was a dedicated man to the group at around 1992, where they planned several strategic missions that made the groups famous. At around 1999, the group leaders also planed another successful mission where they kidnapped the president’s daughter. This shows that the group has strong and able leaders who have led to the group’s success over the last few decades.

Finally, these groups have great effect in the American society. For instance, they have led in the killing of innocent people in the name of put forth their demands and ideologies. Additionally, they are increasing the rate of discrimination and fear to the members of the black community. According to homeland security, they are currently on terrorist alert after the election of President Barrack Obama.

II Left Wing Extremists Ideology – History

The term left wing was derived from the French revolution where the people who were against the government and they were fighting for the rights of the other people. They were always disadvantaged because they were always the minority and against the government. The ideologies of the left wing extremists are based on fighting for the rights of minorities. These ideologies are based on the social and political issues that affect the minority groups. For example, in the past, the black groups were fighting for their civil rights so that they can be able to vote for their leaders. This was based on a political level (US Department of Energy Office of Safeguard and Security, 2002).

Socially, their ideologies are based on equality. For many years, the blacks have been treated as second-class citizen in America. This angered them, and they needed to prove their equality to the other ethnic communities. In this case, their social ideology is to ensure that there is equality in the society. This means that the different ethnic groups have equal rights and opportunities in the society.

The left wing extremists are motivated by different things. For instance, there are social left-wing extremists, and there are political extremists. The social left-wing extremists are motivated by the social inequality of rights and freedoms in the society. For example, the issue of discrimination against the minority ethnic communities has been on the lips of many. This has angered the minority groups (US Department of Energy Office of Safeguard and Security, 2002). As a result, they have joined forces to create the left wing extremists. Therefore, social inequalities are one of the main motivations of these groups.

The other motivation is political inequalities. There are political left extremists who follow the political rights of the minority. For this reason, they are usually motivated by any instance where there is political inequality where the minority ethnic communities are oppressed. For instance, in the past, the blacks were motivated to fight for their civil rights after the whites decided that they were second-class citizens, and they were not eligible to vote. This angered them and motivated them to join the left wing extremists so that they can be able to fight for their rights. Therefore, political inequality is another motivation for the left wing extremists.

            The most common tactic the left wing extremists use is terrorism. Terrorism is a political tactic where the aggravated create terror attacks. It is alike a form of protesting in order for the demands of the aggravated group to be met. Over the years, the left wing extremists have been using terror attacks as a form of protest so that their demands could be heard. In this situation, they attack people who they feel are the ones who are making them not to have political or social equality.

Recently they have changed their tactics due to the change in current technology. The left wing extremists are now using cyber attacks another tactic to attack or protest for their rights and freedoms. According to the department of Homeland Security the left wing extremists are likely to increase their attacks in the coming decade. They are using the attacks to raise their grievances over equality issues. Therefore, the left wing extremists can be said to be using the cyber attacks as one of their main strategies to voice their demands and grievances.

Over the past few years, the left wing extremists’ activities have reduced drastically. However, they have realized that they need to increase in numbers so that they can be able to grow increasing their attacks. The first method they used to recruit their members is the use of demonstration. In this case, when they are demonstrating they are educating the different potential recruits the need and the urgency fighting for their rights. Additionally, they are able to show potential recruits what they can do when they are demonstrating.

Another method of recruitment used by the left wing extremists is the political and economic climate of the country. For example, in America an economic crisis is making many people lose their jobs. Majority of these people are the minority ethnic communities (US Department of Energy Office of Safeguard and Security, 2002). In this case, the left wing extremists will the recruits the sense of belonging into a group where their rights can be protected. For this fact, they end up recruiting many people in the groups thus increasing in numbers.

The left wing extremists have been successful in fighting for their ideologies. On the other hand, there have been situations where they have failed. The leadership of these groups has led them in attaining some of the freedoms and rights that they are fighting for. This has been as a result of the use of appropriate strategic plans. For instance, in the past, at around 1990, these groups were involved in terrorist attacks killing more than seventy four percent of the people. Despite the method, their grievances were met, and the government was willing to comprise and offer them equality. This shows that the leadership of the group was successful.

The other factor that makes the leadership of these groups be successful is the use of patriotism and cooperation from both members and leaders. Most members of these groups have been oppressed for almost the whole of their lifetime. This means that the only place they are comfortable is in these groups. Therefore, the leaders are able to dedicate their lives to the success of these groups. Eventually, the groups become successful in fighting for their rights due to the leaders’ dedication.

On the contrary, there have been instances where the leadership of the groups has failed miserably. One of the instances is due to corruption. Most of these groups do not have money to support themselves. This means that the leaders of these groups are not rich people. The American government takes this advantage to buy the leaders with money so that they can calm the members. The leaders end up taking the money since they also need money for their survival. As a result, they fail their groups due to their own person gains and interests.

Another factor that has made the groups fail miserably is the use of violence. The different terror attacks have led to some leaders becoming arrested while the other leaders going to exile in foreign countries. This has made it difficult for the leaders to lead the members making the groups die slowly. Additionally, these groups have been put on watch by the authorities incase they plan to attack again. Therefore, the use of violence has led to the fail of leadership by the different leaders of these groups.

The ultimate goal for the left wing extremists can be divided into two. The first is the attainment of social equality. When the left wing extremists groups were being formed, their main aim was to attain social equality of all the minority groups. All through this has been their driving force making them active. If America had social equality most of these groups would not have been formed since there is no reason for them to join again (Department of Health and Human Services & Department of Homeland Security, 2009). Therefore, one of the ultimate goals of the left wing extremists groups is to attain social equality.

The second ultimate goal is the attainment of political equality. Most of the marginalized communities have been fighting for their political rights. This is because they are always sideline by the majority communities. This has resulted to the formation of the let wing extremists to fight for their political rights. If America had political equality and stability, the left wing extremists groups, would not have been formed (US Department of Energy Office of Safeguard and Security, 2002). For this reason, the ultimate goal for the left wing extremists is to attain political equality for all the ethnic communities in the country.

One of the most prominent members of these groups is Jerome. This is because he has successfully been able to attain the group’s ideologies. He has liberated the minority groups from different social and political inequalities of the group. He is being credited with the terrorist attacks that killed majority of the people early 1990s. In these attacks, seventy percent of the people who died were planned by him. Other members were heard in the early 1990s where they were involved in different terrorist attacks that led to the deaths of more than ten thousand people.

The national liberation movements were among the first to start, and they have been so successful over the years. This group used a different approach to the way they carried their actions thus making them successful. The group used protests as their only form of expressing their grievances in order to attain their goals. However, when it deemed necessary they used violence, but it was on rear occasions. Additionally, this group is well organized as compared to the other groups. This is because all their activities are pre-planned basing all the information they require before gong on a mission.

The group was so successful as compared to the other groups because they used good tactical strategies. This is where they were pre-planning each and every move before they could strike. Additionally, they were courageous than other groups because they were ready to die for their rights. Lastly, they have never been affected by factors like corruption. This led to their many victories in achieving their main ideologies. On the contrary, the other groups rarely plan for the attacks, and dwell too much on violence thus they become targeted by the relevant authorities. As a result, they end failing and the leaders running away to other countries.

This is an international known group where its leaders are spread all over the world. However, in America, the prominent leader of this group who is known all over America is Jerome. He has led the group to successful missions to spear head the group ideologies with success. He is extremely dedicated and patriotic to the group. He has also shown a lot of courage. It is through him that the group has had the tremendous success in the attainment of the different political and social equalities.

Currently the groups are not active since most of their leaders are either in prison or in exile. Additionally, they are currently not affecting the society in anyway. However, they are trying to attack the right wing extremist groups. According to the Department of Homeland Security, the left wing extremist groups do not have that much to them and the society because they are currently not a threat.

The militia group is one of the most successful right wing extremists groups being able to succeed where other groups have not been able. This is because of the group organization and structures. Additionally, the policies and strategies of this group have helped the group to be where it is today. On the other side of the left wing extremists, the national liberation has been the most successful group. The group was started decades ago due to the growing inequality issues, and they have been able to survive many crackdowns from the authorities. The procedures and policies set by this group have made the group succeed. The two groups contain several similarities and differences when they are compared together.

The first difference between these two groups is the ideologies they have. The militia group believes that equality is artificial and that the rule of natural law should be let to decide the course of the society. They believe that they are the ones who own the country because they are the majority. In this case, they see the minority groups as a threat to their life and their country. For this reason, they have formed the group so that they can protect themselves from the foreigner and be able to oppress the minority groups.

On the other hand, the National Liberation Movement has different ideologies. Their main ideologies are political and social equality for everyone. This group was formed as a result of oppression from the ruling ethnic community. They believe that everybody should have both social and political freedom similar to each other despite the ethnic background one comes from. This means that the group was formed to protect the rights of those people who have been oppressed by other ethnic communities.

The other difference is the motivation of each group. The Militia Group is motivated by hatred. Generally, this group does not like any other ethnic community apart from themselves, and they believe that they own the country. For instance, when President Barrack Obama was elected to become the first African American president, the group erupted after a long silence. This is because they hate blacks, and before the other leaders were white. It is because of this hatred that brought the group back into the limelight.

The other difference is the minority versus the majority issue. The Militia Group is protecting the interest of the majority. This is because it is formed by members of the white community who are the majority in America. The whites are extremely discriminative, and they do not believe in equality. This has resulted in the formation of a group that will cater for their interest as the majority group, that is, the Militia Group.

On the contrary, the National Liberation Movement is protecting the interest of the minority. Most members who have joined this group come from a minority ethnic community. Additionally, those people who are oppressed usually come from the minorities. Therefore, National Liberation Movement was formed for the purposes of protecting the interest of the minority communities as compared to the Militia Groups which protects the interests of the majority (Department of Health and Human Services & Department of Homeland Security, 2009).

On the other hand, the group has several similarities. The first is that the group uses the same tactics to speared head their ideologies. The two groups’ uses violence as their main strategy to make sure their grievances are heard and met. For instance, the Militia Group uses violence to oppress and remove the minority groups from their territories. They have done this on several occasions with success. This proves that the group has been using violence as their main tactic to put forward their ideologies.

Similarly, the National Liberation Movement also uses violence as their main tactic to spear head there grievances. In the early 1990s, the groups used terrorist attacks, killing more than seventy-four percent of the people who died in the different attacks. Additionally, the group has also been linked to other criminal activities like murder and kidnapping of the majority ethnic communities. This shows that the group has used violence as its main tactics to speared head their grievances similar to the Militia Group.

Another similarity of the group is the use of technology as their strategy to spread their ideologies. For instance, the Militia Group has been putting posters on the internet to create fear among the majority group. This is to show them that their lives are in danger not unless they decide to join the groups. Additionally, they have been using the internet to attack those people that they feel are in the way of their ideologies. This clearly shows that the Militia Group is using the new technology as one of their tactics to spread their messages.

National Liberation Movement is also using the new technology to spread their messages by conducting cyber attacks. After the movement saw that their violent attacks were being watched by the authorities, they decide to change to new tactics that would be difficult for the authorities to catch. In this case, they decided to use the new technology since it is secretive and non-violent. This shows that they have similarly used the new technology as one of their tactics to spread their message (Department of Health and Human Services & Department of Homeland Security, 2009).

 

References

Anti-Defamation League, (2003). The Militia Movement. Anti-Defamation League. Retrieved from: http://www.adl.org/learn/ext_us/militia_m.asp?xpicked=4&item=19

Braudy, S. (2003). Family circle: The Boudins and the aristocracy of the Left. New York: Knopf.

Bruce, T. (2005). The new American revolution: Using the power of the individual to save our nation from extremists. New York: William Morrow.

Department of Health and Human Services & Department of Homeland Security, (2009). Public Intelligence. Department of Health and Human Services & Department of Homeland Security. Retrieved from: http://publicintelligence.net/leftwing-extremists/

Eatwell, R., & Mudde, C. (2004). Western democracies and the new extreme right challenge. London: Routledge.

George, J. D. (1996). American extremists: Militias, supremacists, klansmen, communists and others. New York: Prometheus Books.

Hainsworth, P. (2000). The politics of the extreme right: From the margins to the mainstream. London: Pinter.

Mudde, C. (2000). The ideology of the extreme right. Manchester: ManchesterUniversity Press.

Roleff, T. L., Cothran, H., & Torr, J. D. (2001). Extremist groups: Opposing viewpoints. San Diego, CA: Greenhaven Press.

US Department of Energy Office of Safeguard and Security, (2002). Left-wing Extremism: the Current Threat.Washington, D.C.: US Department of Energy Office of Safeguard and Security.

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