The most dangerous thing we can allow to happen to the far right in Europe is to let it become normal. The last decade has seen a process of mainstreaming of far-right narratives, organisations and people. Things that have long been deemed beyond the pale have begun to creep back towards the realms of the acceptable.

This week could become a watershed moment in this dangerous process of normalisation. Right now, Mail Online columnist Katie Hopkins is in Catania, Sicily, spending time with a far-right group called Defend Europe, which had the original aim of harassing and block NGO search and rescue vessels operated by groups like Save the Children from picking up refugees and migrants in the Mediterranean.

This is a new collaborative project launched by far-right activists across Europe drawn from a movement of young, so-called Identitarian activists, who claim they are “defending European culture” and use direct action stunts (often filmed as slick propaganda videos) to drive home their message.

At its core this is a network of explicitly far-right activists who hold deeply anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant views, and who talk of a need for a “reconquista” in Europe (referring to the Christian recapture of the Iberian Peninsula from the Moors) and “remigrating” those who don’t fit in.

Members of this Identitarian movement have occupied mosques, blockaded roads around Calais, climbed the national theatre building in Vienna and the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, clashed with leftists and already attempted to block an NGO ship in Sicily.

They have managed to raise almost £180,000 and chartered a ship, the C-Star.

The far-right French Identitarian leader Clément Galant, the Berlin Identitarian leader Robert Timm, former leader of the Würzburg branch of the notorious anti-Muslim street movement Pegida and Ein Prozent reporter Simon Kaupert, Austrian Identitarian co-leader Martin Sellner, Italian Identitarian activist Gianmarco Concas and the Canadian activist and “citizen journalist” Lauren Southern all look likely to be on the ship. Put simply, this is a ship of far-right activists.

The stated aim of the Defend Europe “mission” was originally to actively block search and rescue (SAR) NGO vessels. They now claim they will “monitor” the situation and intervene should they see wrongdoing by the NGOs. They say they will fulfil their duty to rescue migrants from boats in peril, yet they also claim that they will return them to Libya, a deeply troubling claim considering Libya cannot currently be considered a place of safety under the SAR convention and returning legitimate refugees could possibly contravene the non-refoulment obligation under article 33 of the 1951 convention.

While of course any journalist has the right to cover this story from any angle they choose, it is deeply concerning that it appears Hopkins is supporting Defend Europe rather than reporting on them. Earlier this week, she tweeted: “Looking forward to meeting the crew of the C-Star in Catania tomorrow. Setting out to defend the Med. All this week @MailOnline”. She has also retweeted the Defend Europe Twitter account among other clearly supportive gestures, including being photographed with prominent far-right activists such as Peter Sweden, a UK-based far-right Holocaust denier who is also in Catania supporting the Defend Europe mission. He has previously tweeted: “The claim that 6 million jews were gassed seem highly unprobable. The concentration camps didnt have the facilities for that” (13 May, 2016). He also tweeted: “By the way just so you know i am not a nazi : ) I think hitler had some good points, but i dont agree with facism or socialism” (7 August 2016). [See footnote]

To place Hopkins’ support in context, other vocal supporters of this project including David Duke, former grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, who has helped raise funds for Defend Europe and the largest neo-Nazi website in the world the Daily Stormer.

This goes beyond merely disagreeing with the opinions of Hopkins and is actually about the Mail Online, and any other media outlet that offers a positive take on Defend Europe, possibly playing a role in the normalisation and mainstreaming of explicitly far-right and extremist people, organisations and narratives.

There is no doubt that the current situation in the Mediterranean is extremely difficult, as are the wider issues around refugees in Europe, but, surely, we can all agree that a ship of far-right activists possibly disrupting the lifesaving work of NGOs is not helpful and should not be supported or condoned. The ship has currently been stopped in Port Suez, due to “a lack of documentation and papers”. And Hopkins first article from Catania in Sicily has mysteriously disappeared from the MailOnline site. Perhaps there’s hope yet.

Now is a time for everyone, even those who are critical of current responses to the refugee crisis, to vocally condemn the Defend Europe project and its far-right motivations. Any hint of support from the mainstream will not only provide succour to extremists but will become remembered as a landmark moment in the normalisation of the far right in Europe.

• This article was amended on 25 July 2017 to include the precise dates of Peter Sweden’s previous tweets in 2016. Sweden tweeted a statement on 19 July 2017 to say that he no longer holds these views.

