Puneet Varma (Editor)

Nordic Resistance Movement

Updated on
Edit
Like
Comment
Share on FacebookTweet on TwitterShare on LinkedInShare on Reddit
Leader
  
Simon Lindberg

Founded
  
2016

Newspaper
  
Nordfront

Founder
  
Klas Lund

Headquarters
  
Stockholm

Nordic Resistance Movement

Ideology
  
National Socialism Pan-Scandinavianism

The Nordic Resistance Movement (Swedish: Nordiska Motståndsrörelsen; NMR, Norwegian: Nordiske motstandsbevegelsen; NMB, Finnish: Pohjoismainen vastarintaliike; PVL, Danish: Nordiske modstandsbevægelse; NMB) is a Nordic National Socialist movement that exists in Sweden, Finland, Norway and Denmark.

Contents

Formation and structure

In the mid-1990s, a number of former members of the White Aryan Resistance (Swedish: Vitt Ariskt Motstånd), also known as VAM laid the foundation of what was called Svenska motståndsrörelsen (SMR) or the Swedish Resistance Movement founded in December 1997. Later on a similar Norwegian resistance movement was established. Both SMR and the Norwegian resistance movement, became more militant in their rhetoric. In 2006, Sweden's Nationell Ungdom (in English National Youth) was merged into the main organization. The Norwegian resistance movement resurfaced again in 2010. The Finnish Resistance Movement was founded between 2006 and 2007 and in 2013 the Danish Resistance Movement was founded. All these similar-aimed and named organizations are affiliated in the Nordic Resistance Movement, an umbrella organization coordinating their efforts.

Unification as Nordic Resistance Movement

In 2016, a Nordic Resistance Movement was officialized having four separate departments, the Swedish Resistance Movement (SMR), Finnish Resistance Movement (Suomen Vastarintaliike), the Norwegian resistance movement (The Norwegian Motstandsbevegelsen) and the Danish Resistance Movement (Den Danske Modstandsbevægelse). In June 2016, Nordic Resistance Movement further emphasized in a press release that these departments are branches of the same organization and that the old names and abbreviations should not be used anymore.

The Nordic Resistance Movement advocates an immediate stop to mass immigration to the Scandinavian countries, and as soon as possible implementing the repatriation of the majority of peoples that are not of North European descent from the Nordic countries. It also advocates the eventual creation of one unified Nordic self-sufficient state with a common military, common currency and central bank. Mass media shall be owned exclusively by citizens of the new North. Domestic as well as foreign media that act and behave hostile towards the Nordic people, shall be banned. The Nordic state will introduce national military conscription and expand the military. All those who have completed service in the Nordic military service will keep their weapon and gear. Each citizen should be able to aid in the defense of the nation towards domestic as well as foreign enemies. Memberships in The European Union and other similar associations will immediately be terminated.

The organization has a closed structure, a strong hierarchy and discipline. Its present leader is Simon Lindberg, while the other board members are Emil Hagberg, the international spokesman and coordinates for so-called regional affairs, Fredrik Vejdeland is the political strategist and chief editor of the online newspaper Nordfront and Pär Öberg, is the chairman of the political wing within the framework of the organization.

In October 2014 the Swedish branch of the organization announced it was being formed as a political party. This represents a parliamentary wing within the larger organization and is headed by Pär Öberg. The launch as a political party took place on September 5, 2015.

Sweden

The Swedish branch of Nordic Resistance Movement was known earlier as Svenska motståndsrörelsen (or Swedish Resistance Movement) (SMR) and was founded by Klas Lund. Its present leader is Simon Lindberg, whereas the political wing in Sweden is managed by Pär Öberg. It is known for its opposition to non-white immigration to Sweden. Svenska motståndsrörelsen is considered a central actor in Sweden's white power movement.

In the mid-1990s, former members of White Aryan Resistance (VAM) were released from prison and formed the core of Svenska motståndsrörelsen. The organisation was founded in December 1997 by individuals working with Folktribunen, the neo-National Socialist magazine, and members of National Youth and VAM, the now discontinued far-right organisation.

It was founded by Klas Lund as the Swedish neo-Nazi grouping. The present leader of the organisation is Simon Lindberg whereas the political party formed as part of it is managed by Pär Öberg.

The aim of Nordic Resistance Movement is to establish a Nordic National Socialist government by revolution or elections. The organization says its fight will require bloodshed. SMR praise Adolf Hitler and Corneliu Codreanu in their publications.

Their main tactics are distributing leaflets and making public speeches in inner-city areas about National Socialism and immigration. They also publish the Nationellt Motstånd magazine.

Their camps in the Swedish woods have led some people to believe that they are training for a civil war or a revolution, although all such claims have been publicly rejected by the organisation. In November 2003 the Swedish Security Service raided homes of leading members, among them Klas Lund, who was later sentenced to prison for illegal possession of firearms.

National Youth

Nationell Ungdom (in English National Youth) was a Swedish neofascist and openly racist organisation closely linked with the Swedish Resistance Movement.

The group became famous in the summer of 1998 for tearing down photographs of nude boys at the Swedish Historical Museum. The reason behind the action was to protest against paedophilia and "degenerate art". The exhibition was closed down after the event.

Since December 2000 they participated in the annual Salem March for Daniel Wretström, who was killed in the Stockholm suburb of Salem by a group of which some were young immigrants.

Together with the Swedish Resistance Movement they published the magazine Nationellt Motstånd. Earlier they published the magazine Folktribunen, which among other things has praised the people behind the racist killings in Kode and Klippan (in Sweden) as true patriots. Klas Lund edited the magazine.

In May 2006, the Swedish Resistance Movement announced the youth organization and all its activities and members as merged with the main organization.

Actions

  • In 1999 Björn Söderberg, a warehouse worker and a syndicalist trade unionist was killed by three men allegedly with connections to the Nationell Ungdom. This was in retaliation to Söderberg revealing earlier to Arbetaren owned by Sveriges Arbetares Centralorganisation (SAC) that Robert Vesterlund, a colleague member of the board of the local union, was a Nazi sympathiser. As a result of this Robert Vesterlund resigned his job and was forced out of the union.
  • In 2004, the former leader of the Swedish Resistance Movement, Klas Lund, was sentenced to four months in prison for illegal possession of weapons. He escaped from prison in October 2004, but was arrested in Norway in March 2005. Klas Lund has previously been convicted of manslaughter, robbery and assault.
  • In January 2006, in an antisemitic incident at Stockholm, and day before the International Holocaust Remembrance Day, a handful of extreme right activists of the Nordic Resistance Movement (Svenska motståndsrörelsen), held a symbolic demonstration in Sergel Square. They burned the flag of Israel and hung a banner over one of the busiest roads of Sweden which read: ‘vi Älskar Arier’ (‘we love Aryans’).
  • In July 2006, four activists from the Swedish Resistance Movement and the National Youth were sentenced by the Swedish courts for incitement to racial hatred, after handing out leaflets in schools in Söderhamn linking homosexuality with pedophilia.
  • On 1 September 2007, a fight broke out between SMR members and anti-fascists. In the scuffle a person was stabbed in the neck. In December 2007, courts sentenced Niklas Frost, an activist in the Swedish Resistance Movement, to five years in prison for attempted manslaughter. SMR campaigned for his release. Frost was previously convicted of multiple counts of assault, assaulting a police officer, unlawful threats and hate speech.
  • In September 2007, two men with links to the Swedish Resistance Movement were imprisoned for a series of crimes including assault, unlawful detention and coercion, theft, drug trafficking, and weapons offenses. They had previously been convicted of assaulting immigrants. In December of same year, another activist in the Swedish Resistance Movement was convicted of arson, larceny and vandalism.
  • In March 2008, Swedish police seized a large number of weapons and explosives in arms caches in Värmdö and western suburbs. Three men from SMC arrested on suspicion of larceny and preparation to the devastation endangering the public.
  • On September 28, 2008, fights broke between SMR activists and members of the Socialist Justice Party in Brunnsparken in Gothenburg.
  • In 2010, an editor of pro-SMR website Patriot.nu was convicted for hate speech after publishing an image with heading "Håll Sverige rent" ("Keep Sweden clean") and depicting a Star of David thrown in the trash. Similar convictions for hate speech were handed down on editors of Patriot.nu in 2011 and 2012 and an editor of SMR's new site Nordfront.se in 2013.
  • On 15 December 2013, 30 to 40 members of the Swedish Resistance Movement attacked an anti-racist demonstration in Kärrtorp, a suburb of Stockholm. The activist network Linje 17, named after the subway line that passes through Kärrtorp, organized the demonstration after Nazi symbols had been painted in several locations. The attack left many people injured, including young and elderly protestors.
  • In late April 2014, a man who stabbed one of the neo-Nazis during the attack with a knife was convicted and given a six-year prison sentence. Seven of the neo-Nazis involved in the attacks were sentenced from six to eight months imprisonment.
  • In 2017, NRM members were arrested for involvement in two bombings and a bombing attempt in Gothenburg, near two refugee accommodations and a syndicalist organization.

    • Finland

    Suomen vastarintaliike (in English Finnish Resistance Movement) is a Finnish branch of the Nordic Resistance Movement. The Finnish Resistance Movement is active in at least the cities of Helsinki, Turku, Tampere, Oulu, Jyväskylä and Pori. One of the main tactics has been the planting of propaganda stickers and posters, but the organization has also engaged in violence. The members are also participating in combat training arranged by the organization. Researchers have commented that it is not surprising the Finnish Resistance Movement is escalating its use of violence.

    Actions

    The Finnish Resistance Movement has a history of using escalated levels of violence. Some of the violent attacks that have been reported by the media include:

  • In July 2010 members of the Finnish Resistance Movement attacked a Gay Pride event in Helsinki. Gay pride participants and bystanders were assaulted with tear gas and pepper spray. Some victims were small children. Three members of the Finnish Resistance Movement were later charged for 87 counts of assault, 71 counts of violations of political freedoms and substance possession.
  • Before the Finnish 2011 parliamentary election members of the Finnish Resistance Movement attacked a National Coalition Party election official.
  • In July 2012 a member of the Finnish Resistance Movement attacked a gay rights event in Oulu. One person was hospitalized due to use of pepper spray by the attacker. A member of the Finnish Resistance Movement was later arrested for the crime.
  • In January 2013 three members of the Finnish Resistance Movement attacked a library discussion event in Jyväskylä. Violence included stabbing one of the event organizers with a knife, who was without proper authorization posing as a security guard for the said event. Two members of the Finnish Resistance Movement were arrested. One is still at large. The police investigation found that a single member of the Finnish Resistance Movement had collected a database of 300 political opponents. The event was a presentation of a book examining the increasing support of the extreme right in Finland.
  • In January 2014 members in Vantaa assaulted a man who criticized their fliers. On May Day of the same year, members disrupted the Pori Left Alliance May Day parade by throwing smoke bombs into crowds of spectators, blaring sirens and shouting into a megaphone. Police detained seven neo-Nazis, with harmful objects confiscated.
  • In May 2015, the movement intruded on a church assembly to hand out Magneettimedia magazines; this resulted in a brawl with event security.
  • In August 2015 the movement organized a demonstration in Jyväskylä, where a stabbing of three individuals had taken place in 2013. The police detained 32 people.
  • In September 2016 the movement organized a demonstration in downtown Helsinki, where a passer-by, who stopped to spit at one of the banner carriers, was punched once and was knocked out. A week later the 28-year old died of a brain hemorrhage. The movement called their action an instance of "swift disciplining."

    • References

    Nordic Resistance Movement Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA