Three Percenters
The Three Percenters (also known as "3 Percenters", "3%" or "3% United Patriots") is a group within the Patriot Movement in the USA . The most important concern is the armed resistance against attempts to restrict private gun possession .
Origin and name
Three Percenters was founded in 2008 by Mike Brian Vanderboegh (1953-2016), who was active in militia groups in Alabama in the 1990s . Its name refers to the alleged (now refuted) percentage of American colonialists who took up arms against the British during the Revolutionary War. One symbol is the "Nyberg Three Percent Flag" designed by Gayle Nyberg in 2008, it is based on the Betsy Ross flag with the Roman numeral III, in a circle of thirteen stars.
Structure and ideology
The Three Percenters have a loosely defined membership and a decentralized organizational structure in the individual US states . Apparently anyone can use the name and symbols. Ideologically, the Three Percenters are very similar to the better-known Oath Keepers , a patriotic movement group of current and former military personnel. There is considerable membership overlap and its most prominent members appear together in public; for example Vanderboegh and Oath-Keepers President and Founder Stewart Rhodes.
Right-wing extremists were also involved in the violent clashes in Charlottesville on Aug. 12, 2017 .
Web links
- www.blogspot.what-is-three-percenter (self-presentation, engl.)
- 3percent.org (self-presentation, engl.)
- thethreepercenters.org (self-presentation, engl.)