ABSTRACT
A number of lessons can be taken from the story of Siege’s genesis. (1) Neo-Nazism must be analyzed just as other political movements are. (2) Terrorism is not purely the result of psychological factors like alienation but can be a direction that parts of political movements turn to. (3) Siege is an ideology of failure. (4) Terrorist acts are shaped by the ideologies that promote them. (5) Changes in a movement should be watched for signs of success. (6) Prisoners and their supporters can play influential roles in political movements. (7) Neo-Nazis are not necessarily the same as other White Supremacists. (8) Cultural actors like musicians can offer them new opportunities to political activists. (9) Cultural actors’ involvement in themes like eugenics, misogyny, and anti-leftism have common ground with neo-Nazis and can bring the two into contact. (10) A fascination with the Nazis, such as seeing them as evil, can facilitate contact with actual neo-Nazis. (11) The “cultic milieu,” where ideas excluded from the mainstream cross-pollinate, provides opportunities for neo-Nazis. (12) Media coverage of neo-Nazis needs to be handled with great care. (13) Certain individuals from the very groups that neo-Nazis target, like Jews, are willing to work with them.
