This week in Quebec City, FBI agents gathered for an annual conference hosted by the non-profit FBI National Academy Associates, a group with over 20,000 members drawn from a cross-section of law enforcement agencies around the world.
One of the conference’s keynote presentations focused on "radical left wing gangs in America." The topic of right-wing terror was not on the agenda, with keynote speaker Dale Yeager denying its existence in an interview with VICE News.
Quebec City is an ironic place to be holding such a conference.
Just last year, a racist gunman walked into a local mosque and killed six people during prayer. In his interrogation, the shooter said that he was worried about Muslims immigrating to Canada.
The city is a hotbed of far-right organizing. La Meute, arguably Quebec's largest Islamophobic and anti-migrant formation, is highly active in the city. Atalante, an openly fascist skinhead crew whose membership includes individuals convicted of racist knife attacks, is based almost exclusively there. Racist, nativist "radios poubelles" (trash talk radio) dominate the airwaves.
Right-wing violence is indeed ascendant, and has a significantly higher body count in the United States and Canada than any other form of politically motivated violence. The historical relationship between the street-level far right and state security forces helps to make sense of the conference. While that history is littered with conflict and contradiction, it is also a history of collaboration. (more...)
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