Why The Western Media Establishment Is Openly Supporter of Nazism In Ukraine ? American “RAM” Ties With Azov Nazis Back to 2016-2018

Formed: 2016

Disbanded: Group is active.

First Attack: 2017

Last Attack: 2017

Executive Summary

The Rise Above Movement (RAM) is a white supremacist militant organization based in southern California. The group was founded in 2016 as the DIY Division – a reference to the commonly used acronym for “do it yourself.” With ties to the U.S. skinhead movement, RAM operates essentially as a street-fighting club. Members train in mixed martial arts in order to physically assault their opponents at events such as political rallies, protests, and demonstrations. RAM members have been arrested by U.S. federal law enforcement for their use of violence at political rallies in the United States, though charges against some of these members have been dismissed. The group has sought to cultivate transnational links, most notably with the Azov Battalion in Ukraine. RAM considers itself a part of the alt-right and promotes white supremacism, anti-Semitism, and xenophobia.

Group Narrative

The Rise Above Movement (RAM) emerged in 2016 as a loose collection of neo-Nazis and white supremacists.[1] The group came together organically as like-minded men gradually encountered each other in various southern California fitness centers and gyms.[2] The men were drawn together by similar extreme-right political views, similar criminal backgrounds, and for at least some members, shared experience in military service.[3] Collectively, the men shared beliefs about the need to use physical force against perceived enemies of the U.S. right-wing extremist movement.[4]

In 2017, Robert Rundo organized the men into the DIY Division – a reference to the acronym for “do it yourself.” The group soon changed its name to the Rise Above Movement.[5] RAM adopted a white supremacist, neo-Nazi, anti-Semitic, and anti-immigrant ideological agenda. Members sought to bring back an America dominated by European culture and foster a new “conservative counter-culture” focused on white identity.[6] RAM is known to have initially recruited members of the Hammerskin Nation, the largest U.S. white supremacist skinhead group.[7]

RAM first attracted public attention in March 2017 after group members physically attacked journalists and counter-protestors at a “Make America Great Again” rally for U.S. President Donald Trump in Huntington Beach, California. About a dozen RAM members attended the event, carrying an anti-Semitic sign and a banner emblazoned with the words “Defend America.”[8] The fighters punched, shoved, and physically assaulted counter-protesters and journalists.[9] This incident was the group’s first recorded use of violence.

Throughout 2017, RAM continued attending rallies of the U.S. far right and beating up counter-protesters, which became the group’s standard modus operandi (for example, . a far-right rally in Berkeley, California in April 2017 and a demonstration hosted by the anti-Muslim group ACT for America in San Bernardino, California). RAM founder Robert Rundo was arrested for assaulting a police officer in Berkeley, although prosecutors declined to bring charges.[10]

In August 2017, RAM perpetrated its first violent acts outside California when members attended the landmark “Unite the Right” rally of U.S. white supremacists and far-right extremists in Charlottesville, Virginia. Along with other attendees, members of RAM marched through the city and the campus of the University of Virginia chanting anti-Semitic slogans, including “Jews will not replace us.”[11] They assaulted counter-protesters, including a clergyman and college students, by punching, kicking, head butting, and bludgeoning them with a tiki torch.[12] According to an FBI affidavit, the RAM fighters were “among the most violent individuals present in Charlottesville.”[13] Their actions caught the attention of federal authorities and led to criminal charges in late 2018.

After the “Unite the Right” rally, an anonymous leader of the group told ProPublica that RAM planned to move away from attacks at rallies.[14] For the next two years, the group largely refrained from engaging in acts of violence in the United States. Instead, RAM diversified its activities specifically, by expanding its contacts with like-minded groups. In mid-2017, RAM may have begun holding monthly networking events with the Proud Boys – a white supremacist and misogynistic group active in the U.S. alt-right movement – in Laguna Beach, California. This report of joint meetings with the Proud Boys was published in an article by the Northern California Anti-Racist Action, a community group opposed to white supremacy, and has not been independently confirmed.[15] Additional photo evidence posted online by the Northern California Anti-Racist Action shows members of RAM and the Proud Boys attending each other’s events.[16]  In April 2018, a member of RAM attended a conference hosted by the U.S. white supremacist publication American Renaissance in Tennessee.[17]

RAM also cultivated ties with European groups. In April 2018, Rundo and other RAM members embarked on a tour of Europe to network with white supremacist organizations. Its declared intention was to “bridge the gap between the two nationalist scenes.”[18] In Germany, RAM attended the Schild und Schwert (Shield and Sword) Festival, a mecca for German white supremacists that is held every year on Adolf Hitler’s birthday, April 20.[19] In Ukraine, RAM was hosted by Olena Semenyaka, head of the National Corps, the political wing of the Azov Battalion, a unit of the Ukrainian National Guard with neo-Nazi and white supremacist affiliations.[20] Semenyaka later stated that Rundo and his compatriots “came to learn our ways” and “showed interest in learning how to create youth forces in the ways Azov has.”[21] During their visit, the RAM members joined the Azov Battalion for sparring at the Reconquista Club, an mixed martial arts (MMA) club affiliated with the group.[22] Rundo entered an MMA competition for white supremacists from across Europe, supposedly the first American to take part in the history of the event.[23] While in Kiev, Rundo also got a tattoo of the Viking warrior logo of White Rex, a clothing label founded by Russian MMA fighter and Azov Battalion associate Denis Nikitin.[24]

As 2018 drew to a close, RAM faced increasing pressure from law enforcement. In early October, the FBI arrested four members of the group and charged them in Virginia with violating a federal rioting law at the “Unite the Right” rally. Those arrested included Benjamin Daley, a leader of RAM.[25] In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Virginia Thomas Cullen stated that the investigation took over a year due to the massive amount of digital evidence, which required authorities to scrutinize photos and videos to build a case against RAM.[26] Though RAM solicited the public to contribute to a legal defense fund and share evidence to prove the defendants’ innocence, all four men ultimately pleaded guilty in May 2019.[27] In July 2019, Benjamin Daley was sentenced to 37 months in prison. Two other RAM members were sentenced to 27 months and 33 months in prison, while a fourth is set to be sentenced in October 2020.[28] The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit upheld the convictions of Daley and a second RAM fighter, Michael Miselis, in August 2020.[29]

Other attempts at prosecuting members of RAM have not been as successful. In a separate case, federal law enforcement arrested four other members of RAM in late October 2018, including group founder Robert Rundo.[30] Rundo had fled to Central America to evade arrest but was soon returned to the United States and taken into custody at Los Angeles Airport.[31] Citing RAM’s violence at political rallies in California and Virginia, authorities charged the men with incitement of riots.[32] In June 2019, a federal judge dismissed the charges against Rundo, Robert Boman, and Aaron Eason, ruling that the anti-riot statute the defendants were accused of violating was overly broad and raised First Amendment concerns.[33] Rundo and Boman were released from custody. A fourth RAM member charged with conspiracy to riot was expected to file a motion for his charges to be dismissed as well.[34]

The RAM prosecutions inspired sympathy for the group across the U.S. far right. The Free Expression Foundation (FEF) – a relatively low-profile group linked to the white supremacist movement – filed an amicus curiae brief arguing that the charges against RAM should be dismissed.[35] According to its website, FEF provides “moral, legal, and financial support” to “victims of the potent social forces that have chosen the un-American path of monitoring, intimidation, and destruction.”[36]  Many white supremacists took to the internet to express support for RAM. For example, the group received support from Robert Bowers, the perpetrator of a mass murder attack at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in October 2018. However, there is no evidence that suggests that Bowers had an affiliation with RAM.[37]

Following the sentencing of RAM leader Benjamin Daley and two of his peers for riot offenses in July 2019, the U.S. Department of Justice claimed that the group was “defunct.”[38] Evidence suggests that the group was not highly active in 2019, perhaps because of the legal cases against eight RAM members. A.C. Thompson, a reporter who extensively covered RAM and other U.S. white supremacist groups, noted that RAM was “absolutely on the verge of collapse.” After the wave of arrests in October 2018, its leaders were imprisoned, and potential recruits were wary of joining.[39] The dismissal of charges against RAM leader Rundo and two group members boosted the RAM’s fortunes. According to Thompson, the group has gotten “a second life.”[40] The release of Rundo and his compatriots prompted a slew of new RAM propaganda on social media. Additionally, the group launched a new line of branded clothing through the far-right label Our Fight Clothing Co.[41]

As of 2020, RAM remains active online. In May 2020, RAM debuted a channel on Telegram, an encrypted messaging app popular among extremist groups. RAM members shared anti-Semitic and anti-immigration material as well as links to a website affiliated with the group.[42] Within two days of its founding, the channel boasted over 250 followers.[43] In July 2020, RAM leader Robert Rundo released several videos on YouTube with tips for right-wing extremists on spreading propaganda and traveling abroad while on a U.S. government watchlist, such as the no fly list.[44]

RAM has exploited the May 2020 killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis, Minnesota police and the resulting explosion of activism by the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement in the United States. RAM made social media posts attacking white Americans who participated in the BLM protests as race traitors and celebrated a video showing white men attacking BLM protesters in Philadelphia.[45]