The Base

Overview

The Base is a white supremacist neo-Nazi accelerationist terrorist group founded in 2018. The Base is also part of the broader neo-fascist skullmask movement among white supremacists, such as Atomwaffen Division and Feuerkrieg, advocating for the formation of white ethnostates through the overthrow of existing governments using terrorism.

Ideology

The Base’s ideology centers around militant white nationalist accelerationism. Accelerationism is a range of revolutionary left- and right-wing ideologies that advocate for the rapid acceleration of economic and technological growth as part of a broader process of social change that will ultimately destabilize existing social systems to create radical transformations. Far-right accelerationism calls for its adherents to commit acts of racial violence and terrorism, including attacks on critical infrastructure, to exploit racial divisions and hasten the collapse of Western society, allowing for the formation of white ethnostates run by white supremacists.

The Base’s organizational model relies on the concept of “leaderless resistance,” a term coined by neo-Nazi Louis Beam, where small decentralized cells operate independently of one another. By following this model, cells are less likely to interact with one another and draw the attention of law enforcement and intelligence services.

Notable Members

Rinaldo Nazzaro

Rinaldo Nazzaro, also known as “Roman Wolf” and “Norman Spear,” grew up in Livingston, New Jersey, where he attended a private all-boys Catholic school. Later, Nazzaro attended Villanova University, majoring in philosophy, before dropping out the summer after his junior year. In 2002, he founded Omega Solutions International, a security company specializing in intelligence for homeland security and counterterrorism. Nazzaro continued working in the private intelligence and security sector as an FBI and Pentagon contractor after 9/11 and reportedly spent multiple overseas tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. It was during this time, some close to Nazzaro suggest, that he radicalized and became a neo-Nazi.

In 2017, Nazzaro and his family moved to Russia, where he obtained Russian citizenship and a Russian passport, possibly in an attempt to avoid legal consequences in the United States. Shortly after, Nazzaro began appearing on far-right podcasts, advocating for Harold Covington’s Northwest Front. In 2018, Nazzaro visited Covington–the infamous white nationalist whose goal was to create an all-white ethnostate in the Pacific Northwest. However, Nazzaro would never have the opportunity to meet Covington, as he died on the day of their scheduled meeting. Covington’s death inspired Nazzaro’s conception of The Base, leading to his purchase of several properties in Washington state under the name “The Base LTD,” marking the group’s official formation. These off-the-grid land parcels, or “hate camps,” served as a preparatory space for an impending race war, which The Base hoped to inspire.

Notable Events and Activities

In 2019, a reporter from the Winnipeg Free Press infiltrated The Base after Patrik Mathews, a member of the Canadian Army Reserve, began posting flyers around Winnipeg. The paper published its findings that August, leading to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) raiding Mathews’ home, forcing him to escape across the border into Michigan, where he met with fellow members of The Base, Brian Lemley and William Bilbrough, who drove more than 600 miles from Maryland. The FBI closely tracked Mathews and his compatriots until January 2020, when they were arrested for planning a mass shooting at the Virginia VCDL Lobby Day gun rights rally, hoping to incite a race war.

Members of The Base have also been implicated in several antisemitic incidents since 2019. In September 2019, Richard Tobin instructed two members of The Base to vandalize synagogues in Racine, Wisconsin, and Hancock, Michigan, an event which Tobin dubbed "Operation Kristallnacht," a direct reference to the anti-Jewish pogrom carried out by the Nazi Party's SA in November 1938.

Symbology and Iconography

The Base utilizes the runic alphabet in their symbology, most notably the Eif rune, a rotated and reflected version of the Eihwaz rune. The Eif rune was used by Nazi Germany during the Holocaust.