Seattle, Washington-based white nationalist Greg Johnson, founder of Counter-Currents Publishing, was arrested this weekend by Norwegian authorities while en route to a meeting of the Scandza Forum in Oslo. Johnson was detained under the country’s immigration act because he was considered “to be a threat, not because of what he could do but because of his hate speech and his previously expressed support for Anders Breivik,” according to a spokesperson for the country’s security agency. Norwegian authorities were working “as quickly as possible to get him out of the country,” the official said.[i]
In July 2011 white nationalist Anders Breivik massacred seventy-seven people at a Norwegian Labor Party Youth League summer camp. Even as he criticized Breivik for potentially bringing crackdowns on the white nationalist movement and increasing public resistance to its message, Johnson wrote in a 2011 Counter-Currents article that,
“Yes, there was a certain logic to targeting a youth camp for the ruling social democratic Labor Party. Like all traitorous Western elites, the Norwegian Labor Party condemns ordinary Norwegians to being preyed upon by Third World thieves, rapists, and murderers, whom they import and coddle…Breivik may have decided to show these hypocrites that they are not invulnerable, that they cannot insulate themselves from the consequences of their own actions.”[ii]
In a 2017 Counter-Currents article Spencer Quinn wrote:
“I will take it easy on the memory of Anders Breivik. If the Angela Merkels of the world were to suddenly end non-white immigration and deport the vast majority of non-whites already in our ancestral homelands, then I might reconsider. Until then, however, I will neither praise nor renounce Anders Breivik. After all, he had his reasons. He had his reasons.”[iii]
The Scandza Forum was formed in 2017 as a vehicle for bringing together white nationalists from Europe and the United States. Greg Johnson, a Scandza participant from the start, declared that he was arrested for committing a “thoughtcrime,” explaining that,
“[The online Norwegian newspaper] Filter Nyheter suggests that I promote violence as a political tool. The reality is quite the opposite. I have always consistently condemned violence and terrorism. In fact, I do not know of anyone else who has so clearly and unequivocally spoken against Right-wing terrorism as me.”[iv]
Greg Johnson at 2019 Scandza Forum in Stockholm, Sweden
While Greg Johnson has indeed criticized recent white nationalist massacres, and advocates a hybrid of vanguardist and mainstreaming strategies, his claim that he has “always consistently condemned violence and terrorism” is simply false. Last month, IREHR documented that Greg Johnson has written favorably of violence on multiple occasions, including:
- Arguing, much like former Texas Klansman Louis Beam, that targeting societal elites may be a “productive” form of movement violence.
- Arguing that that violence may be necessary in countries that ban white nationalist activism.
- And writing that “of course there would be” violence in pursuit of a whites only ethno-state.
As with his criticism of Breivik, Johnson’s critique of recent white nationalist terrorism has taken place largely on strategic grounds. At a March 30, 2019 Scandza Forum in Stockholm, Sweden, Johnson expressed his views of Brenton Tarrant’s March 15 massacre of 51 people at two Christchurch, New Zealand mosques:
“Right-wing terrorism like Brenton Tarrant’s…helps the enemy and harms our movement in four ways. First of all, it creates public sympathy in our people for the people, for the victims of these crimes, and the victims of these crimes belong to groups that we would like to build a case for separating ourselves from them. And it makes all the liberals want to just cling to them even more…and show solidarity with them – that’s not a good thing. Second, it makes white advocates look bad because our job is to convince the world that white nationalism is a solution to ethnic conflict, not a cause of ethnic conflict. Third, it energizes the left. It gives them options for signaling and manufacturing martyrs and ginning up moral panics. And forth, those moral panics are used as pretexts for repressing us.”[v]
Despite these criticisms, the day of Tarrant’s massacre Johnson had written for Counter-Currents that, “Tarrant’s actions are predictable consequences of multiculturalism,” and that the racist murderer’s “underlying motive – fear of white replacement – is not irrational or insane. It is a healthy reaction to objective facts.”[vi]
A number of white nationalists stepped forward to show support for Johnson. On November 4, Scandza Forum founder “Frodi Midjord” interviewed Johnson’s attorney, John Christian Elden, who cast the arrest as unlawful and indicated that a complaint had been filed on Johnson’s behalf.[vii] Occidental Dissent, Red Ice and American Renaissances also chimed in to defend Johnson.[viii]
Scandza Forum Founder “Frodi Midjord” Interviews Greg Johnson’s Attorney John Christian Elden
Violence goes hand in hand with white nationalism – be it the immediate violence called for by vanguardists or the violence inherent in attempting to create the whites-only ethnostate sought by vanguardists and mainstreamers alike.
Greg Johnson is no exception.
[i] Seattle Times Staff & news services. Norway arrests Seattle-based far right activists, seeks deportation. Seattle Times.
[ii] Johnson, Greg. The Neo-Conservative Rambo Anders Behring Breivik. Counter-Currents Publishing. July 24, 2011. https://www.counter-currents.com/2011/07/anders-behring-breivik/print/.
[iii] Quinn, Spencer J. Anders Breivik Revisited. Counter-Currents Publishing. June 5, 2017. https://www.counter-currents.com/2017/06/anders-breivik-revisited/
[iv] Johnson, Greg. Greg Johnson Arrested in Norway for Thoughtcrime. Counter-Currents Publishing. November 2, 2019. https://www.counter-currents.com/2019/11/greg-johnson-arrested-in-norway-for-thoughtcrime/print/
[v] Johnson, Greg. Against Rightwing Terrorism. Counter-Currents TV. Speech at March 30 Scandza Forum in Stokholm Sweden. https://www.bitchute.com/video/PmWpUVXYqkQD/?fbclid=IwAR3gnf9uO0dbToJnjRSDIUBdTlAgDm_nLGGMCRwWNykVI4ExsLQg_vjdQdA
[vi] Johnson, Greg. Understanding the New Zealand Mosque Massacre. Counter-Currents Publishing. March 15, 2019. https://www.counter-currents.com/2019/03/understanding-the-new-zealand-mosque-massacre/
[vii] Counter-Currents Publishing. An Interview with Greg Johnson’s Lawyer. Counter-Currents Publishing. November 4, 2019. https://www.counter-currents.com/2019/11/an-interview-with-greg-johnsons-lawyer/print/
[viii] Wallace, Hunter. Greg Johnson Has Been Arrested in Norway and is Being Deported. Occidental Dissent. November 2, 2019. http://www.occidentaldissent.com/2019/11/02/greg-johnson-has-been-arrested-in-norway-and-is-being-deported-for-inciting-terrorism/comment-page-1/
