Gates of Vienna is a far-right

blog A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order ...

established in 2003 by Edward S. May and his wife. The website has featured the writings of international anti-Muslim writers such as

Fjordman Peder Are Nøstvold Jensen (born 11 June 1975) is a prominent Norwegian counter-jihad blogger who writes under the pseudonym Fjordman and who has been characterized as far-right and Islamophobic. Jensen wrote anonymously as Fjordman starting in ...

and

Paul Weston Paul Weston (born Paul 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 F ...

, and "is a central player in the

counter-jihad Counter-jihad, also spelled counterjihad and known as the counter-jihad movement, is a self-titled political current loosely consisting of authors, bloggers, think tanks, street movements and campaign organisations all linked by apocalyptic beli ...

movement within the United States and across Europe". The first blog entry was published on

Blogspot Blogger is an American online content management system founded in 1999 which enables multi-user blogs with time-stamped entries. Pyra Labs developed it before being acquired by Google in 2003. Google hosts the blogs, which can be accessed thr ...

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 state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

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

battle of Vienna The Battle of Vienna; pl, odsiecz wiedeńska, lit=Relief of Vienna or ''bitwa pod Wiedniem''; ota, Beç Ḳalʿası Muḥāṣarası, lit=siege of Beç; tr, İkinci Viyana Kuşatması, lit=second siege of Vienna took place at Kahlenberg Mou ...

, in which the Polish and Austrian armies defeated the invading Turkish Ottomans, framed by the blog as a fight between Christianity and

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...

. 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 numerous "counter-jihad" conferences, has been on the board of directors of the International Free Press Society, 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 in 2006, and which has spanned over twenty countries. Central to the organization has been Edward S. May of the Gates of Vie ...

. He was "the principal organizer of the international counter-jihad movement from 2006-2011". 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 its principal Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement age ...

after the

2011 Norway attacks The 2011 Norway attacks, referred to in Norway as 22 July ( no, 22. juli) or as 22/7, were two domestic terrorist attacks by neo-Nazi Anders Behring Breivik against the government, the civilian population, and a Workers' Youth League (AUF) ...

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

Anders Behring Breivik Fjotolf Hansen (born 13 February 1979), better known by his birth name Anders Behring Breivik () and by his pseudonym Andrew Berwick, is a Norwegian far-right domestic terrorist, known for committing the 2011 Norway attacks on 22 July 2011. On ...

. May has later said that the attack, which he condemned, has been used to try to "shut down" criticism of Islam and Sharia. The website features a banner that promotes the books and activities of anti-Muslim and far-right figures such as

Geert Wilders Geert Wilders (; born 6 September 1963) is a Dutch politician who has led the Party for Freedom (''Partij voor de Vrijheid'' – PVV) since he founded it in 2006. He is also the party's leader in the House of Representatives (''Tweede Kamer'' ...

Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff is an Austrian counter-jihad activist. Before she became involved in the counter-jihad movement, she held positions at the Austrian embassies in Kuwait and Libya, and in the Austrian ministry of foreign affairs. Biography ...

and Tommy Robinson.

References

External links

{{Official website, http://gatesofvienna.net/ 2003 establishments in the United States American political blogs Blogs critical of Islam Counter-jihad