New Zealand has designated The Proud Boys and The Base, two US organizations, as terrorist organizations.
It was published in the gazette, the government’s official journal of record, on Monday, June 20. It was made public a week later, but not to a larger audience. According to Police Commissioner Andrew Coster’s decision, everyone who is connected to The Base and the Proud Boys financially or through the property is liable for prosecution and might face up to seven years in prison under the Terrorism Suppression Act.
The Minister has also made the decision to speak with the Central Bank of Sri Lanka about the holdup in approving commercial banks’ use of the Golden Paradise Visa Landing program to bring in foreign revenue.
The Minister has agreed to increase from one year to five years the validity of Spouse Visas issued to foreign nationals who marry Sri Lankans.
Leadership and members of the American Proud Boys, a US neo-fascist group, have been charged with crimes related to the disruptions at the US Capitol on January 6. There are reports of training cells for the paramilitary white nationalist hate group The Base in South Africa, Australia, and Europe. The Base is active in the US and Canada.
The explanation for the designation has not yet been made public on the police website, despite the gazette’s assertion that it will. The designation automatically expires on June 20, 2025, unless extended or revoked.
According to the FBI, a far-right extremist group called The Proud Boys was established before the 2016 US presidential elections. The organization was started by former commentator and Vice Media co-founder Gavin McInnes. McInnes argued that the group’s existence was essential because society did not allow men to be proud of Western civilization.
Eventually, there would be chapters of the “brotherhood,” a male-only organization, in all 46 US states. Women nonetheless continue to support the organization, which its founder once referred to as a “gang,” despite this.
According to the Anti-Defamation League, a Jewish civil rights organization with US headquarters, the national Proud Boys organization recognizes 119 active Proud Boys chapters dispersed throughout 46 American states.
The Base, a white nationalist organization and training network, was started by Rinaldo Nazzaro in 2018. It operates in the United States, South Africa, Australia, and Europe. The group was founded in June 2018 by Rinaldo Nazzaro under the names Norman Spear and Roman Wolf. Nazzaro reportedly bought many blocks of off-the-grid land in Washington state, United States, in 2018 to use the region as a survivalist training camp.
