National Action

Introduction

National Action is a British far-right, neo-Nazi, white supremacist group that emerged in 2013.* The group, which aims to enact its vision that “Britain should be for British people,”* has held rallies and demonstrations at which supporters have declared that “Hitler was right” and warned against ”the disease of international Jewry,” which will eventually end “in the chambers”––referring to Nazi gas chambers.* During a 2014 demonstration in Liverpool, National Action members distributed pamphlets calling to “Cleanse Britain of parasites. The white man is on the march – white power.”* The British government designated National Action as a terrorist group in 2016, marking the first time that membership of a far-right group had been prohibited in the United Kingdom since World War II.*

National Action praised the June 2016 murder of Member of Parliament Jo Cox by the far-right ultra-nationalist Thomas Mair. National Action members reportedly adopted the extremist language that Mair used during his trial, calling for “death to traitors, freedom for Britain.” The phrase appeared on National Action's website before the site was removed.*

British police reportedly arrested 22 members of National Action throughout 2016.* That December, then-U.K. Home Secretary Amber Rudd banned National Action, officially classifying the group as a terrorist organization and outlawing membership and support of the group. Rudd declared National Action to be “a racist, antisemitic and homophobic organization which stirs up hatred, glorifies violence and promotes a vile ideology…It has absolutely no place in a Britain that works for everyone.”* Despite the proscription, National Action has not disbanded. In January 2018, British police arrested six suspected National Action members. According to whistleblower Robbie Mullen during the suspects' June 2018 trial, the group has maintained its organizational structure and continued to meet without the official label of National Action. He further described combat training camps where members learned hand-to-hand fighting.* Mullen described plans to kill a Labour Party parliamentarian and preparation for a so-called “white jihad.”* In February 2020, the United Kingdom banned System Resistance Network as an alias of National Action.* In April 2021, U.S. Representative Elissa Slotkin called on the U.S. government to designate more than a dozen foreign white supremacist groups as terrorist organizations, including National Action. *

Leadership

Benjamin Raymond was revealed as National Action's leader and Alex Davies as the group's co-leader in 2014.* During the 2018 trial of alleged National Action member Jack Renshaw, former member Robbie Mullen testified that Christopher Lythgoe led the group and organized combat training.*

Benjamin Raymond

Base of Operations

United Kingdom

Website

http://nationalaction.info/ (decommissioned)

Membership Size and Relevance

The membership size is not determined.

Recruitment and Propaganda

National Action initially targeted students, particularly between the ages of 16 and 25. The group was “a general reaction to the malaise in the current scene of the British right,” according to one of its members.* An insider told the British Sun newspaper that meetings would attract about 30 “youngsters,” many of whom weren't even old enough to drive or go to bars.* In June 2016, National Action held a Miss Hitler contest to raise awareness of female white supremacists. The identity of the Scottish woman who won the contest was concealed, but when asked by National Action's website whom she'd like to kill, she responded that she would put German Chancellor Angela Merkel “in one of her camps and let her pet refugees do the rest.”*

In March 2018, British Member of Parliament Yvette Cooper accused YouTube of complicity for failing to remove a video of a National Action rally from 2016. Cooper flagged the video at least seven times with no action taken by YouTube.*

Violent Activities

National Action has not been linked to specific violent attacks. Nonetheless, the group's rhetoric threatens violence to initiate its belief that “Britain should be for British people,”* and some of its members allegedly attend military-style training camps in preparation for violence, where judo, kickboxing, and street fighting are reportedly taught.* During his 2018 trial, alleged National Action member Jack Renshaw admitted to buying a knife in order to kill Labour MP Rosie Cooper.*

Rhetoric

Daily Dose

Extremists: Their Words. Their Actions.

Fact:

On January 23, 2019, two car bombs exploded outside of a mosque in Benghazi, Libya, killing 41 people and injuring 80 others. No group claimed responsibility for the blast, but remnants suggested an ISIS affiliate was responsible.  

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