UN Chief Warns of Far-right, White Supremacy Threats in the West

By Staff, Agencies

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned of the threats posed by extreme right-wing and white supremacist groups in the West in the wake of authorities in Germany uncovering a group that planned to launch a coup attempt.

The UN chief, speaking to reporters during his annual end-of-year press conference in New York on Monday, said the case in Germany was just one example of the threat posed by the extreme right-wing to democratic societies around the world.

“It has been demonstrated that the biggest threat of terrorism today in Western countries comes from the extreme right, neo-Nazis and white supremacy,” Guterres said.

“And I think we must be very clear and very firm in condemning every form of neo-Nazism, white supremacists, any form of ‘anti-Semitism,’ anti-Muslim hatred,” he said.

“This is clearly a threat, and we must fight that threat with enormous determination,” he added.

The UN chief made his comments on Monday in response to a question as to whether he felt that Elon Musk, the new and volatile owner of social media platform Twitter, was a threat to free speech.

Guterres said that social media companies had a particular responsibility to preserve freedom of the press and to avoid spreading hate on their platforms. But he demurred on directly addressing Musk’s suitability to run a global social media company.