Thread by @DavidNeiwert

I'm pleased that Australians are figuring out that @Lauren_Southern's presence on Sky News means they have a white nationalist on their teevees. Here's a little more history of her embrace of the racist right.

Southern was a kind of celebrity presence during the April 15, 2017, riot in Berkeley, CA, that was in fact the very first event organized by the Proud Boys. She had a PB security detail that day.

Accompanying her that day was Brittany Pettibone, who spoke to the crowd of right-wing extremists.

Southern and Pettibone teamed up a little later to lead a truly disgusting campaign to attack refugees in Europe. Here's a video the two of them made, giggling about their campaign.

https://twitter.com/DavidNeiwert/status/1124829031990317056?s=20

Pettibone is now married to Martin Sellner, the Austrian who leads Europe's white-nationalist "Identitarian" movement. He was recently featured in that NYT piece about how European neo-Nazis drew inspiration from the 1/6 Capitol insurrection.

nytimes.com/2021/01/24/wor…

Oh, one more thing: That April 2017 shit show in Berkeley was a key moment in the development of the alt-right's street-brawling strategy. Among the people linking arms with Southern that day were open fascists from Identity Evropa, Rise Above Movement, and others.

P.S. This is a correction; original tweet misstated Sellner's nationality, role. Thanks to @CasMudde for the heads up. (I am blaming a lack of coffee.)