Gates of Vienna is a far-right

blog A blog (a Clipping (morphology), truncation of "weblog") is an informational website consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries also known as posts. Posts are typically displayed in Reverse chronology, reverse chronologic ...

established in 2004 by Edward S. May and his wife. The website has featured the writings of international hardline

anti-Muslim Islamophobia is the irrational fear of, hostility towards, or hatred against the religion of Islam or Muslims in general. Islamophobia is primarily a form of religious or cultural bigotry; and people who harbour such sentiments often stereot ...

writers such as

Fjordman Peder Are Nøstvold Jensen (born 11 June 1975) is a Norwegian far-right counter-jihad blogger who writes under the pseudonym Fjordman. Jensen wrote anonymously as Fjordman starting in 2005, until he disclosed his identity in 2011. He has been ac ...

and

Paul Weston Paul Weston (né Wetstein; March 12, 1912 – September 20, 1996) was an American pianist, arranger, composer, and conductor who worked in music and television from the 1930s to the 1970s, pioneering mood music and becoming known as "the Fathe ...

, and "is a central player in the

counter-jihad Counter-jihad (also known as the counter-jihad movement) is a self-titled Islamophobia, anti-Muslim political movement loosely consisting of authors, bloggers, think tanks, demonstrators, and other activists across the Western world. Proponents are ...

movement within the United States and across Europe".

History and activities

The first blog entry was published on

Blogspot Blogger is an American online content management system founded in 1999 that enables its users to write blogs with time-stamped entries. Pyra Labs developed it before being acquired by Google in 2003. Google hosts the blogs, which can be acc ...

in January 2003 by Baron Bodissey, a pseudonym used by May, along with his wife who wrote as Dymphna, and was run from

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

, United States. The name of the blog comes from the 1683

battle of Vienna The Battle of Vienna took place at Kahlenberg Mountain near Vienna on 1683 after the city had been besieged by the Ottoman Empire for two months. The battle was fought by the Holy Roman Empire (led by the Habsburg monarchy) and the Polish–Li ...

, in which the alliance of Polish and Austrian armies defeated the invading Turkish Ottomans, framed by the blog as part of a centuries-long war between

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...

and

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

. The blog considers this the beginning of the end of the "second wave" of the "Great Islamic Jihad", while considering the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

in 2001 a significant part of the beginning of the "third wave". The website itself was founded in October 2004. May also writes as Ned May, and describes himself as a "computer programmer with some outlandish right-wing political ideas". May has later participated in several "counter-jihad" conferences, has been on the board of directors of the

International Free Press Society The International Free Press Society (IFPS), founded in 2009, is a creation of the Danish Free Press Society. The stated purpose of IFPS "is to defend freedom of expression wherever and by whomever it is threatened". It has been described as a k ...

, and was the director of the

International Civil Liberties Alliance The International Civil Liberties Alliance (ICLA) is an international counter-jihad organization that was originally founded as the 910 Group in 2006, and which has spanned over twenty countries. Central to the organization has been Edward S. May o ...

(formerly the 910 Group and the Center for Vigilant Freedom). He wrote articles for ''

Breitbart News ''Breitbart News Network'' (; known commonly as ''Breitbart News'', ''Breitbart'', or ''Breitbart.com'') is an Radical right (United States), American far-rightMultiple sources: * * * * * * * * * * * * syndicated news, opinion, and commentar ...

'' around 2011, and was "the principal organizer of the international counter-jihad movement from 2006-2011" according to

Hope not Hate Hope not Hate (stylised as HOPE not hate) is an advocacy group based in the United Kingdom which campaigns against racism and fascism. It has also mounted campaigns against Islamic extremism and antisemitism. It is self-described as a "non-pa ...

. The blog was investigated by the

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...

after the

2011 Norway attacks The 2011 Norway attacks, also called 22 July () or 22/7 in Norway, were two domestic terrorism, domestic terrorist attacks by far-right politics, far-right extremist Anders Behring Breivik against the politics of Norway, government, the civil ...

as it was revealed that it was one of the most cited websites in the manifesto of

Anders Behring Breivik Anders Behring Breivik (; born 13 February 1979), officially named Fjotolf Hansen from 2017 to 2025, and Far Skaldigrimmr Rauskjoldr av Northriki since March 2025, is a Norwegian neo-Nazi terrorist and mass murderer. He carried out the 2011 No ...

, a neo-Nazi who exploited counter-jihad writings. May has later said that the attack, which he condemned, has been used to try to "shut down" criticism of Islam and Sharia. One of the most prominent writers on the site is Fjordman, who presents Muslims as being in an ongoing warfare with Western society, which he claims is being precluded from being recognized by mainstream society by

political correctness "Political correctness" (adjectivally "politically correct"; commonly abbreviated to P.C.) is a term used to describe language, policies, or measures that are intended to avoid offense or disadvantage to members of particular groups in society. ...

and

Cultural Marxism "Cultural Marxism" refers to a far-right antisemitic conspiracy theory that misrepresents Western Marxism (especially the Frankfurt School) as being responsible for modern progressive movements, identity politics, and political correctness. ...

, and presents

multiculturalism Multiculturalism is the coexistence of multiple cultures. The word is used in sociology, in political philosophy, and colloquially. In sociology and everyday usage, it is usually a synonym for ''Pluralism (political theory), ethnic'' or cultura ...

as a form of

totalitarianism Totalitarianism is a political system and a form of government that prohibits opposition from political parties, disregards and outlaws the political claims of individual and group opposition to the state, and completely controls the public s ...

. Another writer is El Inglés, who in contrast to most other writers "more or less directly advocate violence" in extended hypotheticals about future violent confrontations between Muslims and European citizens. Paul Weston has written about an impending civil war with Muslims, while Seneca III is said to promote ideas drawn from within elements of the ''

Nouvelle Droite The ''Nouvelle Droite'' (, ), sometimes shortened to the initialism ND, is a far-right politics, far-right political movement which emerged in France during the late 1960s. The ''Nouvelle Droite'' is the origin of the wider European New Right ( ...

''. The essay "Tet, Take Two: Islam's 2016 European Offensive", written by Matthew Bracken, which likened the

2015 European migrant crisis The 2015 European migrant crisis was a period of significantly increased movement of refugees and migrants into Europe, mostly from the Middle East. An estimated 1.3 million people came to the continent to request asylum, the most in a single ...

to the infiltration leading up to the Vietnam War's

Tet Offensive The Tet Offensive was a major escalation and one of the largest military campaigns of the Vietnam War. The Viet Cong (VC) and North Vietnamese People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) launched a surprise attack on 30 January 1968 against the forces of ...

, has been noted to have been influential in parts of the American militia movement. Danish psychologist Nicolai Sennels has also written for the site. In 2015, a group of British Labour Party MPs called for an investigation into the site following what was described as a "training manual for anti-Muslim paramilitaries", amid fears that an upcoming exhibition of cartoons of

Muhammad Muhammad (8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious and political leader and the founder of Islam. Muhammad in Islam, According to Islam, he was a prophet who was divinely inspired to preach and confirm the tawhid, monotheistic teachings of A ...

in London was designed to incite Islamist violence. The website features a banner that promotes the books and activities of counter-jihad figures such as

Geert Wilders Geert Wilders (born 6 September 1963) is a Dutch politician who has led the far-right Party for Freedom (PVV) since he founded it in 2006. He is also the party's leader in the House of Representatives. Wilders is best known for his right-wing p ...

, Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff and

Tommy Robinson Stephen Christopher Yaxley-Lennon (' Yaxley; born 27 November 1982), better known as Tommy Robinson, is a British anti-Islam sentiment, anti-Islam campaigner and one of the UK's most prominent far-right activists. Robinson has been active in ...

. The site has also supported far-right activist groups such as the

English Defence League The English Defence League (EDL) was a Far-right politics, far-right, Islamophobia, Islamophobic organisation active in England from 2009 until the mid-late 2010s. A social movement and Advocacy group, pressure group that employed street demo ...

and Pegida. In addition, it hosts a news feed with around one hundred weekly news stories of various topics helped by "tipsters".

References

External links

* {{Official website, http://gatesofvienna.net/ 2004 establishments in the United States American political blogs Anti-Islam sentiment in the United States Blogs critical of Islam Counter-jihad Far-right publications in the United States Internet properties established in 2004 Islamophobic publications