Why Fascism Should Have No Home in NationStates

By All Wild Things
17 August 2025

Note: This op-ed was originally published as a factbook titled 'Fascism' by All Wild Things. Publication has been made with the permission from the author. You can view the original factbook here.

OPINION: I've been meaning to write something on this for a few years, but never have. This isn't even a draft of the document I'd like to write. It's more like just a few bullet points, but I'll never get round to writing it otherwise, so here it is.

Fascism and far-right ideology should have no home in NationStates. My aim here is to explain why I think this.

There are countless arguments on the forums 'but what about communism - they killed more people than fascists' and so on. But none of that is relevant. We don't live in the 1930s or 1940s. We live in the 21st century, and the problems we have are 21st century problems.

Many NationStates players are teenagers or young adults. This is the age where we explore different ideas and develop our opinions. We meet onsite first, but get encouraged to join forums and Discord channels offsite. Most players have a positive, fun offsite experience. But offsite is not always a safe space. It is not monitored by the NationStates moderation team. And there can be some weird stuff that happens there.

Feuerkrieg Division
This Politico article describes how in 2018, an 11-year old set up a far-right group called Feuerkrieg Division. (Read the article, it's fascinating). The following people were, according to Politico, included in the group's membership:

U.S., 2019: Conor Climo, 23, is arrested in Las Vegas for plotting attacks on a synagogue and a gay bar. He is sentenced to two years in prison.

U.K., 2019: Police arrest Paul Dunleavy, 16, after he tries to procure a gun. He has been planning terrorist attacks. He is sentenced to five years and six months in prison.

U.S., 2019: Jarett William Smith, a soldier from Kansas, is arrested for planning an attack on a news station. He is sentenced to 30 months in prison.

Lithuania, 2019: Gediminas Berzinskas, 20, is arrested in Vilnius after trying to blow up an office building. He is sentenced to two years and four months in prison.

U.K., 2019: Luke Hunter, 21, incites terrorist attacks. He is sentenced to four years and two months in prison.

Germany, 2020: In the district of Cham, special forces arrest Fabian D, a 22-year-old electrician, at his place of work, for trying to build an assault rifle for use in an attack. He is sentenced to two years in prison.

UK - Court Cases of Minors Accused of Terrorism Offences
This PDF, published in April 2024 by the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation (ICSR), records 49 UK court cases where the defendants were children accused of terrorism offences. 29 of those cases related to extreme right-wing ideologies, with offences dated 2018 to 2023.

My Point
NationStates is a good place to goof around, have fun and fall out with people over their bad political opinions. What it shouldn't be is a recruitment ground for wanna-be terrorists. That sounds far-fetched, right? NS as a terrorist recruitment ground? That's ridiculous.

But then, an eleven year old setting up a terrorist network sounds far-fetched. That's ridiculous. But it happened.

It sounds far fetched that twenty-nine children in the UK have been charged with far-right terrorism offences. That's ridiculous. But it happened.

So no, far-right ideologies should not be tolerated on NS. Because there's some weird stuff that happens off-site. And I don't want to discover one day that the cool, clever, imaginative and witty people I admire so much have gone and shot a bunch of other people.

Editor's note: Only minor grammatical and formating edits were made to this op-ed. The views reflect those of the authors and not necessarily those of The NationStates Times.
Edited by Ecclestia.

Image Source: Photo by Melany Rochester on Unsplash

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