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Soldiers of Odin

Soldiers of Odin
FormationOctober 2015[1]
FounderMika Ranta
Founded atKemi, Finland
PurposeAnti-immigrant activism
Anti-Islam
Far-right activism
Nordicism
Vigilantism
Neo-Nazism (factions)

Soldiers of Odin (SOO; Finnish: Odinin sotilaat) is an anti-immigrant group which was founded in Kemi, Finland, in October 2015. The group was established in response to the thousands of migrants who were arriving in Finland amidst the European migrant crisis.[2][3][4] They call themselves a "patriotic organisation that fights for a Finland" that wants to scare away "Islamist intruders" they say cause insecurity and increase crime.[5]

In interviews as well as on the group's public Facebook page, SOO has denied claims which state that the group is racist or promoting neo-Nazism. However, the group's founder, Mika Ranta, has connections to the far-right and neo-Nazi Nordic Resistance Movement as well as a criminal conviction which stems from a racially motivated assault which he committed in 2005. According to the Finnish public broadcaster Yle, a private Facebook page for selected members of SOO shows that racism and Nazi sympathies are rampant among higher-ranking members. The group's nature has raised concerns about anti-immigrant vigilantism.[6][7]

Though the group denies the claim,[8] Soldiers of Odin have been recognised by both the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Anti-Defamation League[9] as a hate group. An ADL report states that their apparent purpose is "to conduct vigilante patrols" to protect citizens from "alleged depredations of refugees", and that "though not all such adherents of the group are white supremacists or bigots, so many of them clearly are that the Soldiers of Odin can easily be considered a hate group."[10]

In addition to Finland, affiliates of the group have a presence in Australia, Belgium, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Estonia, the United States, the United Kingdom, Portugal and Spain.[11]

  1. ^ "Soldiers of Odin USA" (PDF). Anti-Defamation League. 2016. Retrieved 3 June 2020.
  2. ^ "Soldiers of Odin registers as NGO, warns Loldiers against using spoof name". Yle.fi. 15 February 2016. Archived from the original on 18 February 2016.
  3. ^ Jussi Rosendahl and Tuomas Forsell (13 January 2016). "Anti-immigrant 'Soldiers of Odin' raise concern in Finland". Reuters.
  4. ^ "Soldiers of Odin's secret Facebook group: Weapons, Nazi symbols and links to MV Lehti". YLE. 16 March 2016. Archived from the original on 17 May 2017.
  5. ^ "'Patriot' group Soldiers of Odin debut in Norway". The Local. 15 February 2016.
  6. ^ "Police Commissioner: Street patrols have "no special rights"". YLE. 5 January 2016.
  7. ^ "Kaikilla Joensuussa partioivan Soldiers of Odin -ryhmän pomoilla useita rikostuomioita". MTV3. 5 January 2016.
  8. ^ SiriusXM. (2020). Spokesman for Soldiers of Odin Explains that the Group is NOT a Racist Hate Group [Podcast]. Retrieved 3 June 2020, from https://soundcloud.com/siriusxm-news-issues/soldiers-of-odin
  9. ^ "Anti-Muslim". Southern Poverty Law Center. 2020. Retrieved 3 June 2020.
  10. ^ Soldiers of Odin USA. (2016). Retrieved 3 June 2020, from https://www.adl.org/sites/default/files/documents/assets/pdf/combating-hate/Soldiers-of-Odin-USA-Report-web.pdf
  11. ^ Yleinen, SoldiersofOdin in (23 September 2019). "Soldiers of Odin: Barcelona". Soldiers of Odin Finland. Retrieved 26 October 2019.

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