RAM’s revival and the ongoing struggle against MMA's far-right fight clubs
The Guardian
Karim Zidan
,The Guardian•November 27, 2019
Photograph: Steve Helber/AP
In October 2018, the FBI arrested four members of the Rise Above Movement (RAM), a US white supremacist group that trains in mixed martial arts, on rioting charges related to their participation at the infamous Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017. The four men, including RAM co-founder Ben Daley and UCLA doctoral student Michael Miselis, pled guilty and were sentenced for their crimes.
The prosecution was a contrast to another case the previous month against RAM members accused of rioting at a rally in Huntington Beach, California, in 2017. A district judge dismissed the charges against RAM co-founder Robert Rundo, Aaron Eason, and Robert Bowman, claiming that the federal statute used to prosecute the members infringed upon their First Amendment rights to free speech. Tyler Laube, who had pled guilty in a separate hearing, withdrew his guilty plea and had his case dismissed. The US government is in the process of appealing the case, though it appears that the damage has already been done.
“RAM has definitely gotten a second life thanks to the court rulings that have cleared their members on federal criminal charges,” AC Thompson, an investigative reporter for ProPublica, tells the Guardian. “The group was absolutely on the verge of collapse, with its leaders and key members locked up – and new recruits scared off by fears of going to federal prison. When you look at the history of the white supremacist movement in the US you can see many instances in which white power groups survived prosecution and came out the other side stronger and even more hardcore.”
Prior to the string of arrests, RAM boasted more than 50 members and marketed itself as the “premier MMA club of the alt-right.” Founded in 2017 by Daley and Rundo, RAM members trained in various combat sports such as MMA and boxing, which they later used during street fights and protests, including Charlottesville. Dressed in skull masks, RAM members specialized in attacking protestors who opposed their ideology. They would then glorify their antics in propaganda videos posted on social media.
With the dismissal of the Huntington Beach charges, RAM has been handed a lifeline. Armed with a new lease on life, one of the most dangerous white supremacist groups in the United States is set to retake its place among a growing international network of far-right fight clubs.
RAM’s revival
In the days and weeks following the California judge’s decision to dismiss the charges against Rundo and his associates, the group took to social media to drum up support for its cause and to reestablish its base.
Using an account on far-right social media platform Gab, RAM posted pictures celebrating the charges being dismissed against its “wrongfully imprisoned” members. One of the posts boasted a new hype video under the title Keep the Flame Alive, while another showed Miselis flexing beneath the caption, “They can lock us up, they can lie about us but they can’t stop a idea whos [sic] time has come.”
To monetize its cause, RAM reached an agreement with far-right clothing store Our Fight Clothing Co to feature several of its branded t-shirts, the proceeds of which it claims will “go directly to our legal defence.” RAM also used the far-right clothing store as a personal blog to promote its violent ideology. Shortly after his charges were dismissed, Rundo posted a lengthy essay, titled Combat Sports for the Future of Nationalist, to the store’s website in which he espoused the importance of MMA as a “weapon” for white supremacists, as well as a way of building a community of like-minded individuals. “The nationalist movement was never built on idle talk but on those with iron will who didn’t back down,” he wrote. “In a time of weak men it only takes some effort to rise above all. Combat sports is that way up.”
Instead of simply releasing training montages and hype videos as it did in the past, RAM is now carefully articulating its message in an attempt to create unity amongst members. These posts also verify that right-wing fashion, propaganda, and MMA are the basis of white supremacist recruitment and mobilization tactics – a topic that has been reported on extensively by the Guardian.
“RAM hold a unique place in the white supremacist scene in the US. They are really emulating the European groups who blend together racist politics and combat sports like MMA and boxing,” Thompson says. “They have a pretty mainstream aesthetic –they aren’t LARPers or cosplaying as Nazi soldiers. And they aren’t as nerdy as a lot of the alt-right guys. The RAM approach has the potential to grow in the US.”
Beyond RAM’s homegrown efforts to recapture its peak in 2017, there is a growing concern that the group will attempt to strengthen ties with white nationalist groups in Europe, including old allies such as Russia’s White Rex and Ukraine’s Azov Battalion.
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