ABSTRACT
This paper analyzes a five-year cycle of radical nationalist vigilantism in Sweden 2013–2017 by looking at four different groups that organized street patrols, including the Soldiers of Odin and the national socialist Nordic Resistance Movement (NMR). With the exception of NMR, radical nationalist vigilantism was a “popcorn phenomenon” brought about by negative press on migrants amplified by fake news on the alleged “rape jihad” of white Swedish women circulating radical nationalist social media. Concerned clicktivists responded with calls to protect the nation and women they claimed to be uniquely theirs. The first vigilante patrols to materialize In Real Life (IRL) inspired local activists across the country to do the same, until the cycle had run its course and trend-sensitive clicktivists dashed off to other projects. The fact that the Soldiers of Odin frequently patrolled areas with no migrants to save white women from is analyzed as a performative articulation of white Swedish masculinity. The Soldiers of Odin patrols were ceremonial re-enactments meant to define, manage and control the national space as a white Swedish space, an undertaking that actually worked better where no non-white men disturbed their ritual performance.
