The Active Clubs are a loose network of white supremacist groups operating within the United States and internationally. The network’s founder and leader, Robert Rundo, has a long history of racist activism and violence. While living in Eastern Europe, he founded the group in close collaboration with Denis Yevgenyevich Kapustin, a neo-Nazi of Russian-German descent who uses the pseudonyms “Denis Nikitin” and “White Rex” in the white supremacist movement.
Rundo and the Active Clubs seek to build their own white nationalist cultural ideal through music, clothing, propaganda and mixed martial arts training.
Key Takeaways
- Within the United States, the Southern Poverty Law Center documented that the Active Club network grew from four chapters in 2021 to 31 in 2024. Rundo and his followers support and promote the Active Clubs through two companies, Media2Rise and Will2Rise, that he founded in 2020.
- Rundo first rose to prominence within the white supremacist movement as the leader of the Rise Above Movement (RAM), formerly known as the DIY Division. He and several fellow RAM members were arrested in late 2018 on federal rioting charges in connection with attacks at political rallies that took place mainly in California throughout 2017. He was sentenced in December 2024 to time served for conspiring to violate the federal anti-riot act. The conditions of his release prohibit him from being “physically present in any area known to the defendant to be a location where members of the RAM organization meet or assemble.” Nevertheless, Rundo has remained involved with the Active Clubs following his release.
- Unlike some white supremacist groups, members of Active Clubs are not dissuaded from networking with other organizations in the movement. Leaders or members of Active Clubs have closely collaborated with Patriot Front, as well as racist skinhead groups.
- In addition to the United States, Active Club chapters operate elsewhere in North America, South America, Europe and Australia.