Alpha Men Assemble

{{alt-right}}
'''Alpha Men Assemble''' (also known as '''Alpha Team Assemble''') is a [[UK|British]] far-right paramilitary group.<ref name=hnhcabal/> It began in 2021 as an [[antivax]] group protesting [[COVID-19]] vaccines, but has since moved onto other areas, including targeting [[LGBT rights]]. It also has taken inspiration from the [[men's rights movement]] (although it reportedly has a few female members, which is probably why they sometimes use the gender-neutral "team".<ref name=vice/>)

They have held training camps where members dress in black and learn about self-defence and martial arts, and claim to be committed to direct action to "protect our children, families and future from Draconian rules, [[dictatorship]] governments or unlawful acts, statutes and mandates", but members insist they are peaceful.<ref name=theweek/> Nonetheless it has links to other far right activists and organisations, including the proscribed [[neo-Nazi]] groups [[Atomwaffen Division]] and [[National Action]].<ref name=hnh/>

==Members==
According to [[Hope not Hate]] (HNH) its founder was '''Danny Glass''', a former British soldier in the Royal Fusiliers.<ref name=hnh>[https://hopenothate.org.uk/chapter/alpha-team-assemble/ Alpha Team Assemble], Hope not Hate, accessed 4 August 2022</ref>

HNH says one prominent figure in the movement is '''Richard Lumby''', formerly of the [[British National Party]], and a leader of the Independent Nationalist Network (INN), which split from [[Patriotic Alternative]] in 2021.<ref name=hnh/>

A later recruit was '''Andrew Barnes''', a self-proclaimed [[National Socialist]], and formerly of [[Atomwaffen Division]] and [[National Action]].<ref name=hnh/>

According to HNH, it also has links with Patriotic Alternative, and many AMA/ATA members attended a January 2022 demonstration organised by [[Stephen Yaxley-Lennon]], praising Yaxley-Lennon.

==Anti-vaxxers==
{{main|Anti-vaccination movement}}
Media reports suggested it organised via secure messaging application Telegram and organised a series of training events over the winter of 2021-2; ''The Times'' reported that on December 28, "up to 100 activists took part in boxing drills and a scrummaging exercise, in which two groups of dozens of people tried to push each other back". Meetings were held across the UK in Littlehampton in West Sussex, with further meetings planned in Brownhills in Staffordshire, and Motherwell in North Lanarkshire, [[Scotland]]. Attendees were encouraged to dress in black.<ref name=theweek>[https://www.theweek.co.uk/news/uk-news/955293/alpha-men-assemble-mandatory-vaccination Alpha Men Assemble: the group threatening ‘direct action’ over vaccines], The Week, 5 Jan 2022</ref>

At a training event an undercover reporter heard members talk about "tak[ing] it to the Old Bill" ([[police]]) and "hit[ting] vaccine centres, schools, head teachers, colleges, councillors and directors of public health in every area".<ref name=hnhcabal>[https://hopenothate.org.uk/2022/03/17/confronting-the-cabal/ Confronting the Cabal], Hope Not Hate, 17 March 2022</ref>

In February 2022, UK [[Labour Party]] leader [[Keir Starmer]] was attacked by a mob of anti-vaxxers, at least one of whom was a member of Alpha Men Assemble. Starmer was also heckled then and at other times for being soft on [[pedophilia]], because when he was the Director of Public Prosecutions he didn't take any action against notorious celebrity paedophile Jimmy Savile; while this is a dubious claim about Savile and highly improbable to suggest there were darker motives, this definitely feeds into wider [[far-right]] [[rhetoric]] about "groomers" and paedophile conspiracies.<ref>[https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/uk-news/what-happened-keir-starmer-boris-23035639 What happened to Keir Starmer - and will Boris Johnson apologise for his Jimmy Savile comments?], Birmingham Mail, 9 Feb 2022</ref><ref name=cnn/>

==Men's rights==
{{main|men's rights movement}}
Someone claiming to be an AMA member told LBC radio that one of their goals was "empowering men" opposing "an agenda to feminise men".<ref name=theweek/>

Joe Ondrak, an expert on online disinformation from company Logically, said "There’s no way in which this isn’t a worrying development. They’re very much attempting to portray themselves as this masculine ideal, as [[freedom fighters]]. If Alpha Men Assemble were a US-based group, those videos would have them shooting guns in a field, without a shadow of a doubt."<ref name=vice>[https://www.vice.com/en/article/xgdg7d/covid-conspiracy-theorists-alpha-men-assemble-hold-combat-training-sessions-in-uk COVID Conspiracy Theorists ‘Alpha Men Assemble’ Hold Combat Training Sessions in UK], Vice, 7 Jan 2022</ref>

==Sovereign citizen==
{{main|Sovereign citizen}}
Posts on the group's Telegram channel suggest a strong link to the sovereign citizens movement, which use an eccentric interpretation of [[common law]] to refuse to obey actual laws.<ref name=vice/>

==LGBT==
In 2022 it widened its attentions to attacking [[LGBT]] people. It was one of the prominent organisations in a campaign against Drag Queen Story Hour UK, an organisation which provides drag queens dressed in elaborate brightly-coloured costumes who visit libraries and other institutions to read children stories and promote inclusion and [[tolerance]]. On 1 August 2022 it was involved in anti-drag queen protests in Reading, England.<ref name=cnn>[https://edition.cnn.com/2022/08/04/europe/lgbtq-drag-queen-far-right-protests-intl/index.html Drag queen storytime in England promotes compassion and inclusion. British far-right extremists are importing US hate against them.], CNN, 4 August 2022</ref>

Part of their opposition involves the use of terms like "groomer" and the insinuation that LGBT people are all paedophiles; this is a common tactic of the far-right and anti-LGBT campaigners in both the UK and US.<ref name=cnn/>

==References==
{{Reflist|2|90%}}

[[Category:Anti-vaccination movement]]
[[Category:Anti-LGBT bigots]]
[[Category:Men's rights movement]]

Categories: Anti-vaccination movement, Anti-LGBT bigots, Men's rights movement