The United States has taken a significant step in combating terrorism by designating a Scandinavian neo-Nazi group, the Nordic Resistance Movement, along with three of its leaders, as terrorists. This move comes in response to the group’s history of violence and its racist, anti-immigrant, antisemitic, and anti-LGBTQI+ platform.
The Nordic Resistance Movement, also known as NMR, is the largest neo-Nazi group in Sweden and has branches in Norway, Denmark, Iceland, and Finland. The group was banned in Finland in 2020 due to its extremist ideologies and violent activities. In light of these concerns, the US State Department has placed NMR and its leaders on the Specially Designated Global Terrorist list, which means that their US-based assets will be frozen, and they will be prevented from using the US financial system.
The three leaders of NMR who have been blacklisted are Fredrik Vejdeland, Pär Öberg, and Leif Robert Eklund, all of whom are Swedish nationals. The group, initially founded in Sweden in 1997 as the Swedish Resistance Movement, evolved into NMR in 2016 with the aim of establishing an “ethnic Nordic” nation based on Nazi ideologies. Despite its claims of peaceful protests against immigration, NMR has been linked to acts of violence, including a fatal assault in Helsinki in 2016 and a series of bombings in Gothenburg in 2016 and 2017.
The US government’s decision to designate NMR as a terrorist organization underscores its commitment to countering racially or ethnically motivated violent extremism on a global scale. This move is part of a broader strategy to address domestic terrorism, as outlined by the Biden administration in 2021. By targeting foreign groups that support extremist ideologies, the US aims to safeguard the security and well-being of its citizens while upholding its values of inclusivity and tolerance.
This action against the Nordic Resistance Movement sends a clear message that hate-based violence and discrimination have no place in a democratic society. By holding extremist groups and their leaders accountable for their actions, the US is taking a proactive stance in preventing acts of terrorism and promoting peace and unity within its borders and beyond.