Recently, German police conducted arrests of over two dozen suspects in a plot by far-right terrorists to overthrow the government. (https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-63885028) They were part of the extremist “Reichbürger” movement, a movement that contends that the current German government isn’t the real one, and the last true German government was the Reich formed in 1871 under Bismarck. (https://www.dw.com/en/how-dangerous-are-germanys-reichsb%C3%BCrger/a-64020300) One of the ringleaders was Heinrich XIII Reuss, a scion of then aristocratic family. (https://www.dw.com/en/heinrich-xiii-germanys-far-right-prince-who-planned-a-coup/a-64031542) The plot included former and acting members of the military and the security services.
Here I see parallels to the situation in the United States, showing that extremist ideas are going worldwide; the Reichsbürger are compatible to the “sovereign citizens” movement, whose adherents decide which laws to obey, or not; who believe the government founded under the Constitution of 1787 was replaced by “admiralty law,” and that each person born in this country has a shell company in their name; and they tend towards filing frivolous lawsuits over anything from taxes to parking tickets, claiming that they don’t have to pay either one. (https://www.splcenter.org/20110430/intelligence-report-special-edition-sovereign-citizens) (https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/ideology/sovereign-citizens-movement)
Also, the Reichbürgers have also adopted the far-right conspiracies throughout our own far-right, such as Q-Anon and anti-vaxxing during the pandemic, showing how extremist ideologies blend together. (https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-63885028) This is a worldwide issue, and as citizens who value our democracy, we must recognize the danger right-wing terrorists, at home and abroad, pose and get ready to resist it.
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