In Slovakia, the attack on the Tepláreň, a prominent if rare LGBTQ+ hangout, prompted shock and statements of concern. The president, Zuzana Čaputová, called on politicians to stop spreading hate.
“I’m sorry that [we were] not able to protect your loved ones,” she told a crowd of thousands at a vigil. “You belong here; you are valuable for our society.”
The Tepláreň was “a place of acceptance, of love, of happiness”, said Michaela Dénešová, the deputy head of the Inakosť initiative, which campaigns for LGBTQ+ rights in Slovakia. “They were young people. They did nothing wrong. They were just enjoying the evening with friends in a bar. That’s all. Because of their gender identity, because of their sexual orientation … Should we kill people because of that? Not at all.”
Elsewhere, the attack attracted little attention, perhaps because the death toll was comparatively low for such shootings, or because it appeared to be motivated by local factors with limited wider significance, or perhaps because it seemed to be the act of single deranged individual.
In fact, there was no evidence that Krajčík had a psychological illness or was a lone actor. Instead, it has become clear that he was a link in a chain of mutually inspired young men living thousands of miles apart, all fervent believers in a violent ideology that first gathered momentum in the US and is now spreading in Europe.
Evidence seen by the Guardian suggests Krajčík may have been helped – possibly even piloted – by an older extremist based in the US who has yet to be identified and could even now be working with a new potential attacker.
This is an interesting bit of reporting. Runs counter to the “lone wolf with no motive, nothing to see here” approach we’ve seen in similar cases. I hope this means journalists are waking up to the reality of far right political terrorism, but it is the Guardian so that awareness may not spread.
Slovakia elected for a far right pro-Kremlin party last year. This won’t be the last attack against a minority group.
Removed by mod
Red fash, rather than traditional far-right
None of this should be new. Just like America Europe was ripe for right-wing radicalization. Islamophobia, homophobia, racism (ESPECIALLY against Romani) has always been a thing. All that was needed is some kindling to be added to the embers.
Western Europe will blame the East (rightfully so because they are racist and homophobic as FUCK) but go to a Football match in Spain, Germany, Italy, or France and you’ll hear some vile shit that is completely normalized.
“You will not replace us” is even dumber when used against LGBT+ people than when it’s used against ethnic minorities.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Elsewhere, the attack attracted little attention, perhaps because the death toll was comparatively low for such shootings, or because it appeared to be motivated by local factors with limited wider significance, or perhaps because it seemed to be the act of single deranged individual.
Many also falsely believe that feminism is a tool to undermine birth rates of the “white race” and see progressive efforts to fight homophobic prejudice or restrictive laws on homosexuality as part of a similar plan.
Far-right protesters at the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, which led to the killing of a woman, chanted: “You will not replace us.” The online rants of mass murderers who have attacked synagogues, an LGBTQ+ club and other targets in the US have repeated the same slogans in various forms.
Extreme-right conspiracy theories often accuse Jewish people of promoting LGBTQ+ rights in order to destroy the perceived nuclear family unit and lower white birth rates, analysts said.
Krajčík’s manifesto falsely claimed the world was run by “Zionist Occupied Government” and provided a lengthy list of “ZOG” targets that ranged from politicians, journalists and judges to Hollywood, pornography studios, “the Rothschilds” and “invasive non-Whites”.
Kupper ran a check against an extensive archive of manifestos to rule out systematic cutting and pasting as she sought to resolve the mismatch between the “author profile” of a 19-year-old Slovak who had never lived abroad and the language used in what he had supposedly written.
The original article contains 2,455 words, the summary contains 243 words. Saved 90%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
