The Observer reports:

Driving through western Sweden, through pine forests dotted with elk warning signs, Lars Stiernelöf says he has noticed a worrying new trend among young boys. Since the inauguration of Donald Trump in January, after which the US president’s top adviser and the world’s richest man, Elon Musk, gave two fascist-style salutes, there has been a rise in children using the Nazi salute in schools in Värmland.

“They don’t do it as a type of homage to Hitler – they do it because Musk did it,” says the sociologist, who works to counter violent extremism in the county where the Swedish Nazi party was founded 100 years ago. There is, he adds, “a lot of attention around Musk’s salute”, which some boys see as “a bit cool”.

While he says that the number of children engaging in this behaviour is small and by no means mainstream, it is evidence of the need for early intervention when it comes to the recruitment of young boys into far-right groups. “It is a ­violent ­message, and it can also be very serious if they’re drawn in. It should definitely be taken seriously.”

Far-right extremism has long been present in Sweden, but – as in other parts of Europe and the US – the last few years have seen a dramatic shift in the dominant groups, their structure, activities and recruitment.

The number of active groups in the Swedish far right are at their highest level since 2008, according to a new report by Expo, a Swedish anti-racism institute. After several years in decline, last year saw an increase in the number of groups “attracting a new generation of young men who have lost faith in democracy”. Violence, it reports, plays an increasingly important role – “both rhetorically and in actual acts of violence”.

Sweden’s largest neo-Nazi group, the Nordic Resistance Movement (known in Sweden as Nordiska motståndsrörelsen, or NMR), is not the force it once was. Its activities were heavily impacted by being designated a terror group by the US last year, meaning any US-based assets were frozen and it was blocked from the US financial system. It was also affected by changes in leadership and has struggled to recruit younger men within an aging membership.

But in its shadow a multitude of new, smaller, more agile and, to many, more invisible groups have emerged, using racist memes and violent videos to fish for new members on platforms like TikTok before the conversation moves on to other, private platforms.

Among the most successful is Aktivklubb Sverige, which acts as an umbrella organisation in Sweden for five smaller groups across the country, including White Boys Stockholm. The homegrown Gym XIV, which focuses on physical training and preparing for violence, has also played a key role in the development of Sweden’s active club movement. Both Aktivklubb and Gym XIV have developed extensive international links across Europe and the US – Aktivklubb is part of the international Active Club network founded in 2020 by the US far-right extremist Robert Rundo.

Stiernelöf, who works for Agera Värmland, a group that helps people to leave violent extremism, says one of the most notable changes is how the age of those being pulled in has plummeted. Some of the boys being recruited, he says, are now as young as 10.

The other notable change is the profile of the types of people who are attracted. “Ten to 15 years ago, it was about the strong, expressive guys who wanted to be seen,” he says. “Today, it is about young, vulnerable guys who often spend their time online and maybe miss social contact. That is a very big difference.” [Continue reading…]