National, two Utah Chapters
Location:
Category:
Anti-Liberties
Status:
Active
Background
Active Club is a decentralized network of white nationalism groups that started in Southern California before spreading across the United States, many European countries, and even Australia. The group was founded by Robert Rundo after his previous group, Rise Above Movement, disintegrated following his arrest during the 2019 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, VA. Decentralization is a key feature of the network, “making it more difficult for researchers and law enforcement to identify them and shut down operations.”
Ideology
The Active Club slogan is “white unity at every opportunity,” a message shared in propaganda spread by the network. Active Clubs promote the return to a “European-American” culture and actively subscribe to “The Great Replacement” theory, a conspiracy about the replacement of the white race due to intentional migration and unchecked national borders. The groups are also notably anti-LGBTQ, increasingly protesting at Pride events, and antisemitic.
Active Clubs “emphasize mixed martial arts training to prepare their members for violence against their perceived enemies.” The focus on fitness and self-improvement is also meant “to dispel weakness, embrace hyper masculine ideals, improve individual and collective discipline, and reinforce dedication to the white nationalist cause.” These offline exercise and sparring opportunities create a sense of fraternity among members, “united by a common goal and ideology,” and help to present an alternative clean online image behind which the white supremacist ideology can hide.
Active Club
Tactics
Active Clubs spread propaganda both physically, such as a poster placed at Utah Tech University earlier this year that read “DEFEND YOUR HERITAGE” and “STOP WHITE ERASURE,” and online, through platforms such as Telegram. Once an Active Club has enough members, they typically begin holding in-person events, such as training sessions, protests, or meetings with other Clubs in the region.
Utah Connections
Two Utah Chapters and regularly hosted meetups in Utah