The 'Red Jihad' : How Far-Left and Jihadist Extremism are Merging

Hedieh Mirahmadi 

 

 

For nearly a quarter century, Western counterterrorism was built around the jihadist threat. That focus was understandable. September 11 changed the world, and the rise of al-Qaeda and ISIS forced the United States and its allies to build intelligence, law enforcement, and military systems capable of stopping large-scale attacks.

At the recent international conference on political terrorism, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warned that the threat environment has changed. Rubio argued that the West developed a dangerous blind spot toward far-Left terrorism. Bessent stated that “old ideological boundaries are now giving way to new operational alliances,” especially between international Marxism and radical Islamic movements that may not share the same ultimate vision but do share the same immediate enemy: free and self-governing societies.

That convergence is what I call the “Red Jihad.”

The Red Jihad is not a single organization. It is a cross-ideological threat coalition made up of actors who may identify as Marxist, anarchist, Islamist, Satanist, neo-Nazi or something even more obscure. They do not need to agree on what should replace the West. They only need to agree that the existing Western social order should be destabilized and ultimately destroyed.

This is why our current debate over “nihilistic violent extremism” is so important.

The FBI describes nihilistic violent extremists as individuals who engage in criminal conduct in furtherance of political, social or religious goals that grow out of hatred for society and a desire to bring about its collapse through chaos, destruction and social instability. These actors are often young, highly networked online and involved in communities such as 764, the Order of Nine Angles, Maniacs Murder Cult and related ecosystems.

Some researchers insist that these networks have no real ideology. They say the violence is merely “violence for violence’s sake,” driven by misanthropy, online status, notoriety, or sadism.

In my opinion, that description is woefully incomplete.

Belonging, notoriety and social status may explain why an individual joins a network. They do not tell us what the network teaches, rewards or seeks to accomplish. A young person may enter ISIS seeking purpose or brotherhood, yet no serious analyst would conclude that ISIS therefore has no ideology. A recruit may join a revolutionary movement for excitement or identity, but that does not erase the movement’s larger goals.

The same distinction must be made here.

When a network systematically teaches contempt for humanity and the destruction of social order, those principles form an ideological worldview. When members are encouraged to reject every moral boundary, celebrate cruelty, terrorize vulnerable people and accelerate social collapse, we are no longer dealing with random violence alone.

Accelerationism is itself an ideology.

Its central claim is that the existing social and political order cannot or should not be reformed. It must be pushed toward crisis until it collapses. Violence, sabotage, social division and terror become tools for speeding up that collapse. The actors may disagree about what comes next, but they are united by the belief that destruction must come first.

This helps explain why groups such as O9A, 764 and Maniacs Murder Cult borrow from apparently contradictory movements. They appropriate neo-Nazism, Satanism, anarchism, jihadism and mass-shooter culture as interchangeable vehicles for recruitment, terror and social breakdown. Hitler and ISIS are glorified less because every participant accepts their full ideology and more because both are viewed as models of transgression, fear and civilizational conflict.

Labeling these networks simply “neo-Nazi” or “far right” is misleading. In many of these cross-ideological ecosystems, antisemitism is no longer rooted in a coherent belief in white racial supremacy. Jews and Israel are instead portrayed as symbols of capitalism, Western power and the existing social order. Anti-Jewish hatred is the common language connecting radical leftists, Islamists, and accelerationists who otherwise hold conflicting beliefs. It is also deliberately used to inflame racial and religious tensions, provoke civilizational conflict and accelerate the destabilization of Western society.

The same cross-ideological pattern can be seen in the overlap between the Democratic Socialists of America [DSA], pro-Palestinian mobilization, Iranian influence networks and anti-American revolutionary movements connected to Cuba or China. As Bessent warned, groups do not have to share an ultimate destination to share an immediate enemy. Marxists may envision a communist state. Islamists may seek religious rule. Anarchists may want no state at all. Their long-term visions conflict, but their short-term objective can still be the same: weaken the West, delegitimize its institutions, and make ordered society harder to defend.

This is also why it is a mistake to focus only on fringe online spaces. Discord and Telegram matter, but radicalization does not begin only there. Mainstream platforms such as TikTok and Instagram can become echo chambers of anti-social, anti-establishment and anti-American messaging. High schools, college campuses and activist organizations can normalize the belief that America is inherently oppressive, that violence is justified if the cause is considered righteous and that Western civilization deserves to be dismantled.

The young people drawn into these networks are not always isolated or mentally unstable. Many come from ordinary or even affluent families. They are often searching for purpose, belonging and meaning. In a culture that has emptied itself of spiritual truth, they become vulnerable to ideologies that offer identity through rage, transgression and destruction.

The danger is not only that these networks teach violence. They teach that nothing is sacred.

Churches, schools, children, police officers, and public officials become symbolic targets because they represent order, authority, faith or community. The destruction of those things is not random. It communicates a message: society cannot protect what it values.

The political terrorism conference was important because it challenged the old assumption that only one side of the ideological spectrum presents a serious threat. Rubio warned that Left-wing violence has been excused, minimized, or treated as a tragic excess of idealism. Miller argued that these movements are driven by hostility toward civilization itself. Bessent focused on the operational alliance between Marxist movements, radical Islamic networks, foreign influence operations and the financial structures that sustain them.

Together, their remarks point toward a broader reality. The threat is transnational, networked and increasingly cross-ideological. It cannot be understood through outdated categories that separate every movement into neat political boxes.

Law enforcement must continue targeting criminal conduct, child exploitation, and violence. Families, churches and communities must also understand the deeper battle. This is not merely a fight over platforms, labels or law-enforcement terminology. It is a struggle over whether moral order, human dignity and the Judeo-Christian foundations of the West are worth defending.

The Red Jihad is united by destruction. Our answer must be clarity, courage and a renewed confidence in what we are defending.

Hedieh Mirahmadi was a devout Muslim for two decades working in the field of national security before she experienced the redemptive power of Jesus Christ.  She dedicates herself full-time to Resurrect Ministry, an online resource that harnesses the power of the Internet to make salvation through Christ available to people of all nations, and her podcast LivingFearlessDevotional.com. She is the author of the International Bestselling book"Living Fearless in Christ-Why I left Islam to Win Battles for the Kingdom."