Qanon, Proud Boys, Antifa: The 'extreme' ends of US political spectrum

NEW DELHI: If you have been following the

US elections

closely, you must have heard of certain extremist groups such as

QAnon

,

Proud Boys

,

Antifa

and

the Boogaloo Bois

. Far-right and far-left "fringe" groups that were once relegated to the sidelines have burst into the political mainstream in the US over the last months, becoming a serious talking point in the current presidential elections. Some of these groups have gained such popularity, especially on the internet, that President Donald Trump himself had to face several questions about their existence.



Here's a look at some of these extremist groups and the reasons behind their "notoriety":QAnonQAnon is the umbrella term for a sprawling set of internet conspiracy theories that allege that the world is run by a cabal of Satan-worshipping pedophiles who are plotting against US President Donald Trump while operating a global child sex-trafficking ring.

Many QAnon followers believe thousands of deep state operatives and top Democrats, including Hillary Clinton, will be rounded up and sent to Guantanamo Bay during an event called "The Storm." Anonymous 'drops'The group's intertwined series of beliefs are based on anonymous Web postings from "Q," who claims to have insider knowledge of the Trump administration.Q's identity is still unknown, although there have been hints and speculation about it for years. Some speculate that a single internet troll has been posting as Q the entire time; others say that multiple people are involved in posting as Q, or that Q's identity has changed over time. However, digital signatures confirm that the posts were written by the same person or group."Drops" are what QAnon followers call Q's posts. There have been nearly 5,000 of them so far, and most take the form of a cryptic coded message.Trump's flip-flopQAnon supporters have been fixtures at Trump rallies for years. Asked about QAnon in 2018, then-White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said Trump "condemns and denounces any group that would incite violence against another individual."However, Trump praised QAnon supporters during a White House press briefing in August. "I heard that these are people that love our country," he said in his first public comments on the subject. Trump insisted that he hadn't heard much about the movement, "other than I understand they like me very much" and "it is gaining in popularity."In a recent town hall, Trump's praise was more specific. "I do know they are very much against pedophilia. They fight it very hard. But I know nothing about it."Academicians believe that Trump's refusal to denounce QAnon and frequent retweeting of QAnon-promoting accounts emboldens the supporters and sends a signal that he is "on their side" and they are "onto something."Fake storiesThe group has been responsible for propagating various fake claims online.A popular QAnon theory claims the Covid-19 pandemic was invented to divert from child trafficking incidents. A Facebook post shared over a million times claimed 39 missing children had been found in a trailer in the US state of Georgia. In reality, they were discovered in separate locations as part of a police operation and a majority were not trafficking victims.Another hoax falsely accused US furniture retailer Wayfair of trafficking children inside storage cabinets.Are online platforms doing anything about it?Platforms like Twitter, Facebook and YouTube have stepped up actions against QAnon, from blocking pages/groups associated with them to banning content promoting their theories.Proud BoysProud Boys is another right-wing group that was established during the 2016 US election by Vice Media co-founder and Canadian-British right-wing activist Gavin McInnes, who has since distanced himself from the outfit.

They describe themselves as a male-only club of "Western chauvinists" who "refuse to apologize for creating the modern world." The group, whose membership is multiracial, has been called out for misogynistic, anti-Muslim and anti-immigration rhetoric by advocates who monitor extremism.The group likely has several hundred members with chapters in most states and some other countries, according to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), an anti-hate organization.The group grew media attention in late 2018 after a violent confrontation with left-wing protesters in New York City, and returned to the spotlight during protests in recent months.Group members tend to adhere to an ideology that rejects overt white supremacy but embraces chauvinism, according to the ADL.What Trump has said about the groupDuring the first presidential debate, moderator Chris Wallace asked Trump if he was willing to condemn white supremacists and militia groups and tell them to "stand down" and not add to violence during recent protests in US cities. Trump agreed to do that, asking, "Who would you like me to condemn?" Joe Biden interjected: "The Proud Boys."Trump then urged the Proud Boys to "stand back and stand by," but quickly turned the conversation to antifa, a left-wing anti-fascist ideology, whose adherents he has blamed for violence at protests in recent months.In a Proud Boys channel on the messaging app Telegram, members shared a version of their logo that included the words "stand back, stand by" following Trump's remarks.Joe Biggs, a Proud Boys member, celebrated the group's mention on the social media platform Parler, saying: "President Trump told the proud boys to stand by because someone needs to deal with ANTIFA...well sir! we're ready!!"On Wednesday, Trump walked back his remarks at the White House, telling reporters he was not familiar with the Proud Boys, but that the group should let law enforcement do its workIs it a hate group?The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), an anti-hate advocacy organization, labeled the Proud Boys as a hate group in 2018. McInnes sued the organization over the hate designation in February 2019, saying it was "purposefully deceitful" and meant to hurt his reputation. The case is still ongoing.AntifaShort for "anti-fascists," Antifa is not a single organization but rather an umbrella term for far left-leaning militant groups that confront or resist neo-Nazis and white supremacists at demonstrations.

Antifa members campaign against actions they view as authoritarian, homophobic, racist or xenophobic.There is no hierarchical structure to antifa or universal set of tactics that makes its presence immediately recognizable, though members tend to espouse revolutionary and anti-authoritarian views, said Mark Bray, a historian at Rutgers University and author of "Antifa: The Anti-Fascist Handbook."Antifa aims to "intimidate and dissuade racists," but its aggressive tactics including physical confrontations can create "a vicious, self-defeating cycle of attacks, counter-attacks and blame," the ADL said.The FBI has been increasingly concerned about violence perpetrated by Antifa at public events, according to a 2018 report by the Congressional Research Service, a public policy research arm of the US Congress.Violence at ralliesAntifa grew in notoriety following a 2017 rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, organized by white supremacists and white nationalists who clashed violently with counter-protesters. Trump drew criticism afterward when he said there were "very fine people on both sides" and blamed "many sides" for the violence. Trump specifically mentioned Antifa."You know, they show up in the helmets and the black masks, and they've got clubs and they've got everything," Trump said of Antifa days after the rally.Trump and members of his administration have even singled out Antifa as being responsible for the violence at protests triggered by the killing of George Floyd, a black man who died after a white Minneapolis police officer pressed his knee into his neck for several minutes even after Floyd stopped moving and pleading for air.Attorney General William Barr had described "Antifa-like tactics" by out-of-state agitators and said Antifa was instigating violence and engaging in "domestic terrorism" and would be dealt with accordingly. But it's unclear how big its involvement really is.What distinguishes Antifa from other protest groups?Bray said Antifa groups often use tactics similar to anarchist groups, such as dressing in all black and wearing masks. The groups also have overlapping ideologies, as both often criticize capitalism and seek to dismantle structures of authority, including police forces.Who are its members?It is impossible to know how many people count themselves as members. Its followers acknowledge that the movement is secretive, has no official leaders and is organized into autonomous local cells. It is also only one in a constellation of activist movements that have come together in the past few years to oppose the far right.Although Antifa is not affiliated with other movements on the left - and is sometimes viewed as a distraction by other organizers - its members sometimes work with other local activist networks that are rallying around the same issues, such as the Occupy movement or Black Lives Matter.Trump's stand on AntifaDonald Trump has said that Washington will designate Antifa as a "terrorist organization." However, the president hasn't specified how or when he intends to do that.It's not the first time he's endorsed that approach. Trump expressed a similar sentiment last summer, joining some Republican lawmakers in calling for Antifa to be designated as a terror organization after the skirmishes in Portland.Can his admin do that?Antifa is not a discrete or centralized group, so it's unclear how the government could give it a designation.Beyond that, though, Antifa is a domestic entity and, as such, not a candidate for inclusion on the State Department's list of foreign terror organizations. Those groups, which include Islamic extremist organizations and the Real Irish Republican Army, are based overseas rather than in the US.The Boogaloo boisBoogaloo is an organization-less, leader-less, loosely-shaped ideology formed around gun culture and the belief of a looming war or insurrection, fought with the left, with a dictatorial government, or over race.

The anti-government boogaloo movement, whose adherents are often referred to as boogaloo boys or boogaloo bois, embodies a militant ideology whose members believe the United States will enter into a second civil war, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate groups. Boogaloo followers anticipate the government will attempt to confiscate people's guns.The boogaloo movement’s name is inspired by the 1984 breakdancing film “Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo.” Followers suggest that, just as the movie was a sequel, any coming conflict would be the sequel to the American Civil War.The boogaloo ideology itself is not white supremacist, but some white supremacist groups have embraced it, the ADL found.The Boogaloo's goals differ depending on which Facebook or Telegram group you’re hanging out in. Some of these men claim to be antiracist, while others hold white-supremacist beliefs and warn of an impending white genocide. While some Boogaloo pages on Facebook feature periodic talk of racial justice and urgent needs to address climate change, many others are filled with memes featuring neo-Nazi black suns. If there is one thing that binds the Boogaloo together besides guns and Hawaiian shirts, it is a firm anti-authority, anti-law-enforcement stance — and a willingness, if not an outright desire, to bring about the collapse of American society.Boogaloo groups have grown in popularity online in the past year. The Tech Transparency Project, a Washington-based tech watchdog group, found tens of thousands of people joined boogaloo-related Facebook groups over a 30-day period in March and April as stay-at-home orders took effect across the United States.The arrest of 13 men in a plot to kidnap the governor of Michigan and "instigate a civil war" placed a fresh spotlight on the growth of armed, right-wing extremist "militias" under the administration of Trump.The FBI says such groups constitute the greatest domestic terror threat to the country, but Trump has appeared to encourage some, leading to worries of political violence around the November 3 presidential election.(With inputs from agencies)MostHighlighted