Shofar FTP Archive File: orgs/american/adl/skinhead-international/skins-forward
Newsgroups: alt.skinheads,alt.politics.white-power,alt.politics.nationalism.white
Subject: ADL: Skinhead International; Forward
Summary: The ADL's "Skinhead International: A Worldwide Survey
of Neo-Nazi Skinheads"
Followup-To: alt.skinheads
Archive/File: pub/orgs/american/adl/skinhead-international/skins-forward
Last-Modified: 1995/08/06
FOREWARD
The unspeakable Oklahoma City bombing of April 19 brought home to
the American people, like no other even in memory, the tragic lesson
that no country is immune from terrorism. Although those charged
with the bombing are widely thought to have had ties to larger
extremist groups, the actual explosion appears to have been the work
of a relative few. Here lies a second important lesson of Oklahoma
City: it does not take a mass movement to perpetrate the most
horrible kinds of crimes.
These thoughts seem relevant to the report which follows. Nowhere do
the neo-Nazi Skinheads by themselves constitute a mass movement,
although in many countries they do have links with broader political
forces. But the paramount danger posed by these young racist thugs
lies in their proven taste for violence. As the following pages
show, neo-Nazi Skinheads across the globe have committed numerous
murders, firebombings and other crimes of violence against innocent
victims whom they deemed to be of the "wrong" race, religion,
nationality or sexual orientation. Their goal, whether in Los
Angeles, Berlin, Sydney, or Sao Paulo, is a "racially pure" society
of the kind that prevailed in the Third Reich.
The Anti-Defamation League has paid close attention to the Skinhead
movement ever since it first arose in the United States in the
mid-eighties. Through a series of published reports we have tried to
keep the American public informed of the activities of this
movement. At meetings with successive U.S. Attorneys General, we
have stressed that the Skinhead propensity for violent hate crimes
warrants the close attention of the Department of Justice. Similar
representations have been made to the appropriate law enforcement
authorities on the State and local levels.
From the start, the Anti-Defamation League has been aware that the
Skinheads are an international phenomenon. Hence this survey. It is
designed to reveal to all concerned the global dimensions of this
growing neo-Nazi menace. In light of the recent demonstration of the
dangers posed by armed extremism, the report which follows seems
more timely than ever.
/s
David H. Strassler Abraham H. Foxman
ADL National Chairman ADL National Director
Work Cited
Anti-Defamation League. The Skinhead International: A Worldwide
Survey of Neo-Nazi Skinheads. New York: Anti-Defamation League,
1995. (Forward)
© The Nizkor Project, 1991-2008
