A recent major police operation in Germany saw the arrests of 25 people in connection with the Reichsbürger movement, thwarting a planned coup in Germany.
Catch me up. What’s going on?
The Reichsbürger movement, which translates to “citizens of empire,” is a group consisting mostly of right-wing extremists, sovereign citizens and conspiracy theorists who reject German democracy and believe in a return to the pre-WWI German Empire. The now-arrested figurehead of the failed coup, Henrich Reuss is a distant relation of the 19th and 20th-century emperors.
As with many extremist groups, Reichsbürger membership was boosted by the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent growth of conspiracy theories. Members spoke at anti-lockdown and anti-vaccine protests where the imperial German flag, commonly seen as a symbol of far right ideology, was openly displayed.
While the idea of installing absolute monarchy in Germany sounds comical, concern about the group is justified. Several ex and current military officers were among those arrested, and it’s worth noting how seriously Germany took it, given some 3000 police and special forces were involved in just 25 arrests.
Could a Reichsbürger coup have succeeded? Unlikely. But when there are ringleaders with military means and experience, the Reichsbürger are a long way from harmless.
What does this mean for New Zealand? Are there similar groups?
It’s complicated.
Aotearoa has its share of conspiracy theorists calling the government illegitimate and believing it needs to be replaced, and some are willing to use threats of violence to get what they want.
Reichsbürger members do not believe themselves part of the German state and often refuse to pay taxes, use fake drivers licenses, and even issue their own passports. This is understandable. After all, if you believe the state to be illegitimate, what reason is there to follow its laws?
This year we’ve seen this idea – the state is illegitimate and so are its rules – pop up more and more in NZs so-called “freedom movement”. It’s largely due to the increased popularity of sovereign citizen theories.
An example of sovereign citizen theory in action is Nganga, a cafe owner in Golden Bay who is on the hook for selling alcohol without license, not showing up to court after being summoned, and dangerous driving. He’s also espoused numerous anti-vaccine views in the past. Yet he has refused to acknowledge that the laws apply to him, and is only appearing at the court under duress.
Put these ideas of the state’s illegitimacy on a wider scale with more dangerous people, and you get Voices for Freedom calling for NZ to be made ungovernable and Liz Gunn crying for Kiwis to rise up in the wake of Baby W.
Where this gets most concerning is when someone takes the next step to believing violence is an acceptable tactic to replace a corrupted system. This is what leads to sovereign citizens issuing death sentences for the New Zealand government. A Nuremberg tribunal 2.0 is commonly proposed in theorist circles, with the idea being those involved in vaccine mandates like Jacinda Ardern and Ashley Bloomfield have committed crimes against humanity grave enough to equal the holocaust.
At the end of the day Aotearoa’s sovereign citizen movement is a small minority of the population whose ideas have been continually rejected via democracy. With democratic tactics not working, disruption and violence appear to be a new way forward towards their goals.
Are they a threat to the government? Probably not.
Are they a threat to democracy? Somewhat. Sovereign citizens aren’t going to turn New Zealand into a dictatorship, but continued threats to politicians have real world consequences. For example, accessibility to politicians. Due to the threat posed by fringe extremists Ardern’s traditional Waitangi barbecue has been shelved for next year. While one barbecue isn’t the end of the world, it’s a microcosm of the wider issue.
Are they a threat to public safety? They can be. The danger there is increasing, with threats of violence and extremist rhetoric on the rise. Ultimately some conspiracy theorists do go through. In the time it took to write this article, two police officers in Queensland were tragically shot and killed by a conspiracy theorist with sovereign citizen beliefs.
Concern is definitely warranted over New Zealand’s conspiracy theorist movement. The government agrees – the SIS now has a third of its resources countering the ‘anti-authority’ extremists. The Combined Threat Assessment Group also reported on the extremist threat in February, judging that while most fringe protests were peaceful, a small minority could undertake ‘opportunistic’ violent action in response to current events with ‘little to no warning.’
New Zealand finds itself in a similar position threat wise as Germany is with Reichsbürger. The government will probably not collapse due to sovereign citizens, however there is absolutely will and capability for sovereign citizens to cause damage to the fabric of Aotearoa’s society.
What differences are there with Germany? Give me good news.
Had Reichsbürger succeeded, Henrich Reuss would have been made emperor. If a hypothetical extremist insurrection in New Zealand succeeds, our new conspiracy theorist leader is decidedly less clear.
Unlike in Germany, the extremist elements in New Zealand have failed to coalesce in any meaningful way. Think of conspiracy theorist figureheads and names like Billy Te Kahika, Voices For Freedom, Kelvyn Alp, Sue Grey, and Brian Tamaki come to mind among others. Can any of those be said to command more of a presence in the fringe sphere than their counterparts?
Even when these groups cooperated during the occupation of parliament, the leadership of the occupiers was decentralized with no singular person heading the cause. Yet that is reason not to overstate the importance of NZ’s lack of figurehead, given how when these groups cooperated, they still forcibly occupied a significant chunk of Wellington for three weeks.
While many of the arrests in the Reichsbürger case were ex-military and police, if Aotearoa has the same level of conspiracy theorist’s from similar backgrounds is unknown. We do know the NZDF was investigating 16 cases of extremism within its ranks, with at least one person being charged. How many of the 15 others remain in service is unknown, as is the number of cases with evidence of extremism.
Are there extremists of a military background mingling with the sovereign citizen crowd in New Zealand? We just don’t know.
