Exposing Canada's Fascist Fight Clubs
In this week's "Everything is Fine!": Fascist fight clubs exposed in Canada; Football returns to war-torn Sudan; Trump steals Club World Cup Trophy; Jiu-Jitsu in Palestine
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The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC)—Canada’ national public broadcaster—published an investigation this week uncovering some of the fascist fight clubs operating across the country.
Known as “active clubs,” this decentralized network of white nationalists and neo-Nazis has been spreading over the past few years, with Canada becoming a hotbed for some of the most notorious groups. The activities of these groups range from martial arts training to public protests and vandalism campaigns.
The CBC visual investigations team was able to uncover the location of their training sessions by matching up distinctive features of the inside of boxing clubs, such as padded walls. Some of the gyms were places that children practiced martial arts as well.
The entire investigation can be read here.
Over the past five years, active clubs have emerged as the fastest growing right-wing extremist network in the world. As of January 2025, Sports Politika has found more than 125 cells spread across the U.S., Canada, Australia and Europe. The Global Project Against Hate puts it closer to 187.
Active clubs are present in at least 35 U.S. states, five Canadian provinces, and 10 European countries, including Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Italy, Norway, The Netherlands, Poland, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.
Some of the clubs focused on small-scale training sessions and spreading white supremacist propaganda in their local towns. Some Canadian active clubs welcomed members of the Atomwaffen Division, allowing the terrorist group to organize under a different name. The groups have been involved in political intimidation and violence, both in the United States and abroad. In October 2023, members of the Tennessee Active Club escorted far-right mayoral candidate Gabrielle Hanson and her husband to an event. In France, where at least 50 active clubs reportedly operate, members of the militant neo-Nazi groups were involved in an attack on an asylum center near Nantes in 2023.
Active Clubs have also been recruiting from among active and former members of the military. Last year, The Guardian reported that an active club based in California counted several U.S. military members among them, including a lance corporal machine gunner currently in detention on insubordination charges.
So why are neo-Nazi fight clubs growing in popularity? The answer lies in the violent nature of MMA and other combat sports, and their ability to thrive within it. Over the years, fighters with links to the far-right have been involved in some of the world’s most recognizable promotions, including the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). Meanwhile, The rapid growth of MMA in the U.S. and abroad has created a steady stream of potential recruits and a built-in system to network both nationally and internationally. This ready-made system is being infiltrated by the far right and is utilized to radicalize youth into joining their ideological warfare.
While much of the attention has centred on the U.S. following Trump’s return to office, a CBC investigation revealed the extent to which active clubs have proliferated in other countries, including Canada—where they not only exist, but operate in plain sight.
News
Football Returns to War-Torn Sudan
Sudan’s domestic football league has returned home for the first time since civil war erupted in 2023.
The Sudan Football Association (SFA) has launched the Sudan Elite League—a month-long, eight-team competition that will decide which clubs qualify for continental tournaments in the 2025–26 season. No matches are being staged in the capital Khartoum, which has been badly damaged by the civil war, with games instead being played at Atbara, 320km north of Khartoum, and Ad-Damer, 430km to the north east of the capital.
The civil war began in April 2023, when tensions between the Sudanese military (SAF), under army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary group, led by his former deputy chief Mohamed Hamdan “Hemedti” Dagalo, plunged the country into a state of all of war. Urban centres such as the capital Khartoum were transformed into battlefields, destroying critical infrastructure and creating the world’s largest displacement crisis.
Over the course of the war, tens of thousands of civilians have been killed—figures vary widely from 20,000 to 150,000—while more than 13 million have been displaced, including at least 2.5 million who fled to neighbouring countries. The civil war has also been marked by horrific atrocities such as sexual violence, torture, mutilation and ethnic cleansing. A cholera outbreak also killed hundreds more civilians over the past few months.
Much of the reported war crimes have been committed by the RSF, a fighting force that grew out of the Janjaweed militias used by the government in counter-insurgencies responsible for the genocide in the Darfur region. Human rights organizations have since documented the Janjaweed’s systemic killing of mostly non-Arab ethnic groups in Darfur, as well as their use of rape and sexual violence as a tool of genocide.
More than 500,000 children have died due to malnutrition, with widespread hunger, famine, and disease outbreaks have been reported to the United Nations Security Council.
Amid the ongoing war, football seems to offer a rare moment of fleeting joy for Sudan. In November 2024, the country secured qualification for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON)—an extraordinary achievement given the circumstances.
The next AFCON will take place between December 21, 2025 and January 18, 2026.
Trump Steals Club World Cup Trophy
Last week, Donald Trump attended the final of the Club World Cup alongside several members of his cabinet, as well as FIFA’s president Gianni Infantino. The two presidents later presented the trophy to Chelsea, who celebrated their defeat of European champions Paris St-Germain. Traditionally, the team celebrates alone on the podium, but Trump remained front and center—confusing Chelsea players and prompting FIFA president Gianni Infantino to try and steer him aside.
Reports later revealed that the version of the trophy awarded to Chelsea was a copy of the original trophy, which remains in the Oval Office. According to Trump, he was told he could keep the trophy for himself.
“I said, When are you going to pick up the trophy? [They said] ‘We’re never going to pick it up. You can have it forever in the Oval Office. We’re making a new one,’” Trump said in an interview with official Club World Cup broadcaster Dazn on Sunday. “And they actually made a new one. So that was quite exciting, but it is in the Oval [Office] right now.”
The incident marked the latest example of how Trump has used sports as a form of soft power during his second term in office.He attended the Super Bowl in February, appeared at the Daytona 500, and received standing ovations at two separate UFC events since taking office.
His lengthy trophy presentation at the Club World Cup marked a strange conclusion to a tournament that was entirely bankrolled by the Saudi Arabian government. Next up is the 2026 World Cup, which will likely face several significant obstacles presented by the Trump administration. These include travel bans on countries that are participating in the event, threats of ICE raids, visa delays, and crackdowns on dissent.
Caster Semenya Wins Landmark Case
Caster Semenya, the celebrated South African runner and two-time Olympic gold medalist, won her case at Europe’s top human rights court this month, with the court ruling that she had not been given a fair trial when she contested a policy that required her to lower her testosterone levels in order to compete in women’s sport.
Semenya had challenged regulations imposed by World Athletics, the global track and field governing body, that bar women with certain Differences of Sex Development (DSD) from competing in the female category unless they undergo medically unnecessary intervention to lower their natural testosterone levels. These regulations have long been criticized as scientifically dubious, invasive, and discriminatory.
Semenya welcomed the European court’s decision, describing it as “great for me, great for athletes”. “We need to respect athletes, we need to put their rights first,” she added.
Jiu-Jitsu in Palestine
The Palestine Olympic Committee announced that a training camp for the national team was recently held by the country’s jiu-jitsu federation in the West Bank districts of Ramallah and Al Bireh. This is part of their strategy to maintain athletes' readiness for international and continental qualifications.
President Ghassan Abu Matar noted that the ongoing ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank has prevented several national team players from joining the camp due to the challenging transportation conditions between cities and governorates. The national federation plans to organize a central tournament when conditions permit and will continue to hold weekly training seminars.
Bahrain opens World Snooker Championships
More than 250 players, referees, and officials from 26 countries gathered last Sunday at the Bahrain Conference Centre at the Crowne Plaza Hotel to inaugurate the World Snooker Championships, which will take place over two weeks in the Kingdom's capital, Manama.
The event was organized under the patronage of Sheikh Khalid bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Bahraini prince behind Bahrain’s various sporting ventures, including an MMA organization and fight club named after him. Outside of combat sports, Bahrain has also made a habit of naturalizing foreign athletes in order to boost their Olympic medal count. These are among the kingdom’s efforts to compete with its more influential neighbours in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
In the words of Sheikh Isa bin Ali Al Khalifa, Vice President of the Bahrain Olympic Committee, organizing such major events in Bahrain highlights the Kingdom’s ability to host global tournaments, enhance its reputation as an international sporting hub, attract top athletes, and contribute to tourism and economic activity.
What I’m Reading
Culprit Unknown - A Short Story by Naguib Mahfouz
There was nothing noticeably unusual in the apartment, nothing that might help the detective with his investigation. It was an unassuming place, just two rooms and an entryway. The most surprising thing about it, in fact, was how ordinary it looked, given that it had just been the scene of a heinous crime. Even the bed was only as ruffled as you might expect after a good night’s sleep. But the man lying there wasn’t asleep. He was dead.
The World since 7 October - London Review of Books
The destruction of Gaza grinds on – ‘war’ seems an inadequate term, if not an obscene obfuscation, of such a lopsided struggle. The majority of its inhabitants have been forced into a sliver of land in the south, amounting to about 15 per cent of the territory. Potable water is scarce, baby formula impossible to find; raw sewage floods the streets; drones circling overhead produce a relentless, unbearable din. During the war with Iran, the IDF killed hundreds of people in Gaza waiting in line for food from the misleadingly named Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which is based in the US, backed (and possibly funded) by Israel and staffed by security contractors. The GHF distribution sites are located near military zones and require long, difficult journeys to reach, made still more arduous by hunger. According to Shehada, ‘it is now etched in people’s minds that trying to get food is a death sentence.’ Massacres that would have caused a scandal a decade ago are now an almost daily occurrence.
Shkoon Channels the Pain of Displacement Into Euphoric, Folkloric Electronica [New Lines Magazine]
When you hear Ameen Khayer’s powerful, bellowing yet tender voice, it’s hard to imagine that he just happened upon a career in music. In fact, he had no idea that he had any musical talent at all before he met his current bandmate, Thorben Diekmann. After an impromptu jam session one evening in their shared apartment, Diekmann heard Khayer sing for the first time and convinced him to try making some music together. The two would go on to start the band Shkoon, which would propel them to international success, selling out concerts from Berlin to Beirut.
Africa May Be on the Cusp of a Soccer Golden Age [New Lines Magazine]
Most worldwide soccer fans know the names of famous African players but would have a much harder time recognizing the names of the top clubs in the African countries in which those players were born. The Club World Cup saw four African teams testing themselves against some of the best clubs from around the world: South Africa’s Mamelodi Sundowns, Morocco’s Wydad Casablanca, Tunisia’s Esperance Sportive de Tunis and the continent’s most successful club of all time, Egypt’s Al Ahly.
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Married...with Jiu-Jitsu
10 years ago, I published my first longform—an interview with actor Ed O'Neill on the role Brazilian jiu-jitsu played in his life and career. Republished exclusively for Sports Politika subscribers.
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I saw that CBC piece and instantly thought of Sports Politika and the work you've done. Really scary that there's so many of those clubs around the world.
Regarding the fascist fight clubs. It is really scary how far reaching they are. To think Bob Arum was right about MMA. I never thought I’d hear Snooker mentioned here. I’ve seen a snooker table years ago. They’re large. Lastly what is being done with the GHF is deplorable.