How far-right activists use network of martial arts to recruit

• The first Active Club in the UK is said to have been set up in Scotland last year  

Far-right activists are setting up a secretive network of martial arts and fitness clubs across the UK in a bid to recruit youngsters into fascism, a new report has found. 

Over the last year there has a been a rise in the clubs across the country, influenced by the international trend of creating small fascist martial arts groups going by the name ‘Active Clubs’.

The network’s members includes those who have made bomb threats in the past and marched with the now-banned Nazi terror group National Action, according to anti-racism advocacy group HOPE Not Hate.

One of the clubs that has emerged is Active Club Scotland (ACS) which released a propaganda video last May, the group’s report on the State of Hate 2024 found. It marks the first explicit branch of the Active Club network in the UK.

The club aims to increase members readiness for combat for an imagined future of conflict between ethnic groups or even a potential fascist revolution. 

It comes as a record number of far-right activists and sympathisers were convicted of terror offences in the last year. In total 23 were convicted, their average age being 32, however, there were also four teenagers. 

The report found that the conflict in Gaza had sparked a huge rise in antisemitism and anti-Muslim hate in the UK. The war, however, has divided the far-rights stance.

Former leader of the British National Party Mark Griffin and Patriotic Alternative Mark Collett have taken pro-Palestine stances, attacking ‘Zionist’ influences.

Meanwhile, anti-Muslim activist Tommy Robinson – real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, have taken pro-Israel stances and holding counter-protests to pro-Palestine marches.

The network targets young men through online channels such as Telegram where members are encouraged to set up their own clubs. They try to keep their anonymity by blurring their faces and any identifying features in all videos and images. 

ACS members have been training and recording propaganda videos for their channel from Evo Gym in Stirling, where one of its members called Shaun Caldwell (AKA Shaun McAlonan) is known to work out.

Caldwell previously posted photos of himself making a Nazi salute and posing with a sword, according to investigation website The Ferrett. 

The investigation found he stated he was ready for ‘guerrilla warfare’ and claimed to have ‘militia’ made up for ‘ex forces men’ in Forth Valley.

The former Patriotic Alternative activist was reported to have applied to the army reserves and wrote online in August 2021: ‘I have served and am serving again soon.’ 

The gym owner in Stirling, however, defended the group telling Hope Not Hate ‘it doesn’t look like far-right propaganda to me, it’s just guys training’. He added that he had known one of the members ‘for years’. 

Active Clubs first emerged from America after far-right activist Robert Rundo came up with the concept, taking inspiration from the fire-right street fighting groups in California, before spreading across Europe.

The group believes that physical exercise and hardship are necessary to prove their national beliefs and fulfil the hypermasculine ideal, Hope Not Hate reported.

ACS’ motto is ‘tribe and train’ and it tries to downplay its politics online, the report said.

The first Telegram message posted on its channel read: ‘We are not about politicking or engaging in the current nonsense plaguing the right in our nation, the soul [sic] aim is to create a strong band of brothers to tribe and train.’

Direct calls for violence and terrorism have been shut down and criticised by the networks leaders but most groups have been seen using fascist imagery and slogans.

On other occasions members have defaced anti-fascist or progressive posters. ACS has also forwarded messages from its Telegram channel referencing the ’14 words’ slogan which frequently used by white supremacists. 

The worldview of Active Clubs is said to be stemmed from ‘white victimhood’ and ‘attack from political opponents’ which is in turn used to motivate recruits. It claims to reject ‘the easy life of sitting in front of the TV on cold winter nights’.  

Patrik Hermansson, Senior Researcher at HOPE not hate said: ‘Active clubs aim to build the capacity for violence among the far right and they make their enemies explicit: people on the left and minorities.

Despite appearing non-political, they connect personal improvement and community with far-right ideology which makes them places for radicalisation. Scratch the surface and you’ll find they subscribe to an extreme and violent ideology.

What makes Active Club Scotland especially worrying is that its members have a history of violence and participation in extreme fascist groups.’

In response to the report finding ACS told The Times: ‘The purpose of AC Scotland is to promote a healthy counterculture of athletics, honour and identity. We reject violence of any kind and have a code of conduct that prohibits this. 

‘Our club’s activities are geared towards building better men, fathers and creating lasting friendship. We do not step on others and focus on the principle of self-improvement. Above all else, we are law-abiding, tax-paying citizens.

‘In your article you falsely accuse ACS of having members who do not belong to our club, including those mentioned who had committed criminal offences or who had previously been in banned groups such as National Action. Members who break our code of conduct are not tolerated in the organisation.’

Caldwell did not respond further to the paper’s request.