Shining a Light on the Dark Foreigner: The Atomwaffen Arrest
The Royal Canadian Mountain Police (RCMP)
This article is brought to you by Glitterpill and summarises our recent research surrounding the arrest of the Dark Foreigner (Patrick Gordon Macdonald) and the first case in which an individual advocating far-right ideology has been charged with terrorism in the Canadian justice system.
On July 5th 2023, the Royal Canadian Mountain Police (RCMP) arrested 2 men for their connection to Atomwaffen Division (AWD). The Integrated National Security Enforcement Team (INSET) in Canada had been investigating these individuals since April of 2020. One of the men remains unnamed, but one has been identified as Patrick Gordon Macdonald, a 26-year-old Ottawa resident who goes by Dark Foreigner in online hate forums.
This is a landmark case in the Canadian justice system as it is the first time an individual advocating far-right ideology has been charged for terrorism. The three charges of terrorism in question are: participating in activity of a terrorist group, facilitating terrorist activity, and commission of offense for a terrorist group (or, willful promotion of hatred). Many of these charges stem from the production of hate propaganda by Macdonald, according to a press release by the RCMP.
In 2021, Vice published the first known identification of Dark Foreigner, noting that Macdonald has an immediately recognizable style of graphic design which set his propaganda apart. Macdonald became the driving force of AWD materials online, establishing a formal aesthetic that accelerationists, fascists and neo-Nazis still look to in 2023. Macdonald’s design style spread globally, both by his creating directly for and inspiring international groups such as Sonnenkrieg Division (UK), Feuerkrieg Division (Baltic States) Northern Order (Canada), and 6 other “divisions” across Europe and South America.
The home of Macdonald was raided by the RCMP in 2022, marking the third in that year with individuals connected to AWD, but what was seized in the Macdonald raid is still unknown. Macdonald has largely remained a visible ghost in the network, despite having a name and location.
“Researchers around the world have been sounding the alarm on the net-positive recruitment efforts of Active Clubs.”
As recently as January 2023, Macdonald was identified in photos of Active Club Canada in Ottawa by researchers at Antihate CA, showing that Macdonald was still involved with the movement at some level. Active Clubs, stemming out of Robert Rundo’s Will2Rise “white nationalism 3.0” movement, bridge the gap between “chauvinistic drinking clubs” such as Proud Boys and more extreme accelerationist groups, and Active Clubs appear to be rising in popularity. Researchers around the world have been sounding the alarm on the proactive and successful recruitment efforts of Active Clubs. The involvement of Atomwaffen Division and National Socialist Orders makes this even more prescient.
Between 2013 and 2015, Atomwaffen Division grew and solidified on a far-right forum known as Iron March, founded by “Alexander Slavros” (Alisher Mukhitdinov). Iron March is known to have been a breeding ground for many high-profile accelerationist fascists. Other groups founded after they met on the Iron March foum include National Action (UK) and Antipodean Resistance (Australia). According to Vice, Macdonald made his first post to the site sometime in the summer of 2017, shortly before the site was closed for reasons which are still unknown.
Iron March remains closed to this day, but the repercussion of the site lives on. A recent CBC article noted that AWD has reformed under the name Nationalist Social Order (NSO). NSO continues to publish both on the surface web and on Telegram. It is unknown to what extent Macdonald is involved with NSO, but it is evident that he was still creating and disseminating hate propaganda.
Atomwaffen Division was listed as a terrorist entity in Canada in January 2021. In April of the same year, the United Kingdom also listed AWD as a banned terrorist organization. Australia proscribed National Socialist Order as a terrorist organization in February 2022. Atomwaffen Division currently remains unlisted in the United States per the State Department (https://www.state.gov/reports/country-reports-on-terrorism-2021/#:~:text=rally in Pennsylvania.-,Atomwaffen Division,-(designated by Canada), as there are no laws combating domestic terrorism.
AWD has been a high priority for researchers as the group has been attributed to the murders of at least 5 people in the United States(1)(2)(3). There have been many other arrests within the group ranging from illegal firearm possession, to encouraging terrorism and hate speech. Most recently, Brandon Russell, along with his girlfriend Sarah Clendaniel, were arrested on federal charges for planning to take out portions, or the entirety, of the electrical grid for the Eastern Seaboard.
There have been at least 3 attempts, or plans, to take down the power grid. At least one was successful, plunging Moore County NC residents in the dark for several days last December. No one has been identified in the Moore County attacks. This increase in attacks on critical infrastructure has caused alarm for both the Department of Energy and the FBI.
In June of 2022, the Glitterpill team submitted a tailored report to one of our social media clients regarding a loose collective of accelerationists, fascists and neo-Nazis released a long-form propaganda publication that laid out plans of how to make dirty bombs, decommission HVAC and other filtration systems for business and large buildings, disrupt interstate travel for 2 weeks or longer to damage supply chains for food and other necessary items, and how to most efficiently shut down electrical power stations to create a “cascading effect” to decommission large portions of power grids. This loose collective known as “Terrorgram” includes adherents of National Socialist Order, which was formed after Atomwaffen Division disbanded. The ideologies and threats posed by Atomwaffen Division are still alive and growing under a new identity.
The Glitterpill Team waits for any information about the charges against Macdonald from the RCMP, so that we may continue to unravel the networks of accelerationists and fascists worldwide. Glitterpill continues to seek links between known groups such as Patriot Front, Active Clubs, and even Proud Boys, into the deeper recesses of domestic terrorists.
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