Susanna Riva In early November, a series of emails were distributed announcing the presence of explosive devices aboard commercial flights in Europe. In Italy, the warnings affected Rome Fiumicino and Milan Malpensa airports, causing delays to numerous aircraft, additional checks, and significant inconvenience for passengers.
Threatening emails and their content
The messages, all written in Italian, threatened a detonation within sixty minutes and concluded with the phrase, " Your feminist regime will always remember this ." The message was signed by a group calling itself " Fighters of the Male State ," a name that immediately fueled speculation of an ideological attack on feminism.
Some of the emails also include ransom demands or threats directed at specific passengers, creating a climate of widespread panic.
Who are the “Fighters of the Male State”
The signatory's name explicitly recalls the Russian movement known as Male State (originally Muzhskoye Gosudarstvo ). The organization was founded in 2016 on VKontakte, the Russian social network similar to Facebook, by bodybuilder Vladislav Pozdnyakov.
In 2021, Russian authorities designated it as an extremist organization , banning its activities in the country, but the group's presence on Telegram and private forums remained active.
Origins and ideology of the group
Male State defines itself as a " national patriarchy " and advocates a radical vision of male supremacy. Its discourse is openly misogynistic, racist, and homophobic , with particular hostility toward Russian women who have relationships with foreign men, especially non-white men. Pozdnyakov, born in 1991, is also known for a 2018 conviction for inciting hatred against women and for faking his alleged killing in Indonesia in 2021 to attract the attention of his followers.
The connection with the “incel” network
The Italian media has often labeled these individuals with the term incel , but it is crucial to distinguish the phenomenon from the organized movement. Incel simply refers to those who experience involuntary celibacy; not all individuals who call themselves incels adhere to a violent doctrine. Danger emerges when personal frustration transforms into a collective theory of persecution, in which women and feminism are portrayed as responsible for an irreversible condition.
Social impact and risks of simplification
When a threatening message exploits gender hatred, it fuels existing tensions between men and women. The widespread identification of these acts as "incels" risks painting the entire male discourse as violent, obscuring the true dynamics of an extremist group and fostering a climate of mutual suspicion. If investigations confirm membership in a supremacist network, extending those positions to the entire sphere of men's issues would be dangerous and unfair.
Investigations, sources and technical difficulties
The emails originate from an anonymous and encrypted server that automatically deletes the sender's data, making tracking extremely difficult. The technique used corresponds to so-called swatting , a practice now common among hackers and cyberterrorists. A Telegram account linked to Male State denied any involvement, mocking the organization's very existence, while Pozdnyakov denied the accusations, declaring he had no connection to the threats.
The false bomb threats of early November highlighted a digital communications network capable of creating real panic, but also the authorities' difficulty in attributing responsibility to groups operating in highly anonymized online environments. The incident underscores the importance of distinguishing between individual frustration and extremist ideology, avoiding simplifications that fuel further gender divisions.