While anti-hate rallies flood the plaza outside Hamilton City Hall, a small but diligent cadre of activists is infiltrating and exposing racist groups on the internet.

"Most of the work of anti-fascism is this kind of research and exposure," said Evan Balgord, executive director of the Canadian Anti-Hate Network.

The strategy relies on social consequences that pressure targets to cease their activities, cancel their events or at least scramble to reorganize them.

Infiltrators use "sock" accounts — fake social media personalities — to gain entry into private far-right extremist conversations online.

From there, videos and screen-grabs of anti-immigrant, racist and homophobic rhetoric are shared among dozens of activists in Canada.

"That's one of our main tools because we absolutely have to get information from the inside because they lie about what they are," Balgord said.

For one infiltrator, Sam, a deadly attack on a Quebec City mosque and protests against the federal government's anti-Islamophobia motion in 2017 demanded a response that went beyond attending vigils.

"I was like, 'OK, this is enough ... I need to find something else to do.'"

Sam, a "pesky millennial" who lives in southern Ontario, operates a sharp-witted Twitter account under "Bob Nesta Makhno," a reference, in part, to the Ukrainian anarchist Nestor Makhno (1888-1934).

"Bob" shares the dirt, but Sam uses sock accounts to dig it up. Sometimes the vile exchanges are too much.

"I try to stay balanced because it really does take a toll on my mental health ... if they knew who I was, they would want me dead."

Sam, a queer person who uses the non-binary pronoun "they," didn't want to share more biographical information for this article due to security concerns.

In Hamilton, there has been a great sense of unease and anger since extremist Christian preachers and white nationalists crashed the Pride celebration in Gage Park on June 15.

In response, rallies have been held outside city hall to drown out far-right demonstrators who regularly gather there. Further, on Aug. 1, a diverse coalition launched a "No Hate in the Hammer" campaign.

Coun. Brad Clark, who was at the launch, said he appreciates activists who were in the trenches before others joined the fight. "In many respects, they have been the canary in the coal mine."

Dan Horner, an associate professor in Ryerson's department of criminology, said history offers examples of how radical movements tend to seek legitimacy in the mainstream.

That includes being visible in public spaces, which seems to be the modus operandi of far-right groups in Hamilton, Horner suggested.

"I don't think people were paying much attention to them until they started having these rallies every Saturday at city hall."

Lesley Wood, an associate professor in York University's sociology department, notes research shows how countermovements form in response to a "perceived threat."

The election of President Donald Trump in the United States, who has played to alt-right supporters, stoked anti-immigrant sentiments and sown racial division, is a modern-day example.

Mobilization against hate groups gained steam after a protester was killed during a "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville, Va., in 2017, which forced them to rethink their approach, Wood said.

"There are definitely some key people in the extreme-right movement that have said, 'Protests where we're going to be confronted are not effective.'"

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So if the extremist right vacates the public square, how does the countermovement respond? That's where the online work becomes important, Wood suggests.

Balgord, of the Canadian Anti-Hate Network, said internet sleuthing has ferreted out bigots and ruined their projects.

He said it ended one of the most prominent neo-Nazi podcasts in Canada, "This Hour Has 88 Minutes." (The number 88 represents the eighth letter of the alphabet, "H," thus denoting "Heil Hitler.")

"We found out who they were. We exposed them, which led to social consequences ... And, as a result, both of these individuals essentially quit."

Woody Boychuk, a local anarchist and LGBTQ+ activist, calls this kind of work "extremely" important.

"Not only to offer that counter-information that is able to deprogram people, but straight-out de-platforming them, as well," he said, referring to when accounts are blocked on Twitter and Facebook.

Sam, a.k.a. Bob Nesta Makhno, says the activists are regular people who worry about paying the bills while working low-wage, precarious jobs as the gap between rich and poor widens.

But instead of the power brokers, immigrants, racial and religious minorities as well as the LGBTQ+ community have become targets of the far right, Sam added. "We are frustrated. We are angry."

tmoro@thespec.com

905-526-3264 | @TeviahMoro

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