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Blood and Honour Gig 28th Jan, London

TopCat said:
I'm trying to recollect why it was imperative they were opposed before and now imperative that they are not opposed.
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Good point. Any constructive debate on this would be much appreciated.

It's especially interesting now that several Anti-Fascists have recently served jail terms for bashing a couple of B+H on the way to a gig.

Maybe someone should have reminded them that the rest of the left couldn't actually give a fuck.
 
Who cares about a bunch of useless, going-nowhere bands that no one gives a fuck about playing some shit hole or another, anyway?
 
intersol32 said:
Good point. Any constructive debate on this would be much appreciated.

It's especially interesting now that several Anti-Fascists have recently served jail terms for bashing a couple of B+H on the way to a gig.

Maybe someone should have reminded them that the rest of the left couldn't actually give a fuck.
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I give a fuck and I give respect to all the anti fascists both AFA and Antifa. . I think the reasons for opposing Blood and Honour are as valid today as they were back in the day (of the battle of Waterloo).

Opposing Blood and Honour keeps their clientèle on the back foot, unconfident and fearful. Letting them have free rein leads to all sorts of shit.
 
spot on TC, i would want to do something to stop this if it was in my area. i remember what it was like last time they were confident and i think it's better to stop them before they start.
 
Blood and Honour are still in business and happy to carry on promoting their poisonous anti-working class agenda. We may accept that on an organisational level B+H went into a decline after Waterloo and then Stuart's death, but I don't see any excuse in not opposing them in some form because their gig attendances went from 1000 per event to 500.

Anything that causes these deluded arseholes to reconsider, or watch their step, is beneficial to anyone who holds progressive politics. Further to this it actually helps build confidence in the radical left.

At present we're in a situation (much like the early 80's) where apart from a small militant minority, the left are constantly associated with Middle Class pacifism. The resurrected corpse of the ANL under the UAF banner is being allowed to set the public image. And as such it does nothing but present itself in terms of 'victimhood'. They expect to use terms like "Smash the EDL" and then hope for sympathy from the majority of observers when their meetings get trashed. It's no wonder they have difficulty in relating to the working class (the base from which the EDL, BNP, B+H etc draw from) if they insist on collecting together a crowd of unicyclists, jugglers, college students and members of the Labour Party.

But unfortunately it is correct to affirm that this is the acceptable public view of "Anti-Fascism" in England today.
 
Would these bands be composed of those 'urban' types that I hear the Met are watching so closely these days?
 
8ball said:
Would these bands be composed of those 'urban' types that I hear the Met are watching so closely these days?
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Expand on this for us?

If it's a case of stating that police surveillance of Fascist activity would cause a problem (or expose) Anti-fascists who oppose them, this has always been the case.

Granted that technology and intelligence gathering has increased significantly, it's a case of adapting the tactics to acknowledge that. Rushing into pubs that are now festooned with CCTV wouldn't be wise, but (despite what many suggest) the "surveillance society" is not 100% and probably never will be. Besides this, our own use and awareness of technology can also be beneficial to activists in some instances.

(apologies if this isn't exactly what you were getting at!).
 
I've seen this lot mentioned a few times on the forum, any links to a good history of them?
 
B+H?

The only decent link is probably the Wikipedia (below). Their activities are traced throughout the 'Beating the Fascists' book too, which probably gives the best account of the 'Battle of Waterloo' in particular.

I've read through the Blood and Honour "history" on their website, but it's pure, pure shite. If you thought David Irving was a revisionist crackpot this takes the biscuit. They may as well try and assert that the Siege of Stalingrad was a German victory, it's so full of inaccuracies and lies.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_and_Honour
 
Searchlight put out a book called white noise - most def not recommending it by any means, just suggesting it as another possible source for those coming with no background here.
 
We've already given this bill of clueless no-marks more publicity than they'd ever hope to get.

Yep: search for "Blood and Honour Gig 28th Jan" and we're #1, ffs.

Great work, OP. :facepalm:
 
[quote="intersol32, post:

They expect to use terms like "Smash the EDL" and then hope for sympathy from the majority of observers when their meetings get trashed.
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theyre pretty much asking for that tbh

It's no wonder they have difficulty in relating to the working class (the base from which the EDL, BNP, B+H etc draw from) if they insist on collecting together a crowd of unicyclists, jugglers, college students and members of the Labour Party.
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my instinctive reaction to such people is that they could all do with a good slap come to think of it . However the downside is that johnny fascist gets to boast in the pub to his impressionable hangers on about all the hidings he dished out to the reds , reds who have in fact been giving it the big un while being unable to stand their ground . Then gets himself a larger impressionable following whod like to emulate him .

Unless someday Johnny fascist hobbles into the pub on crutches with his nose all over his face ,and has to shamefacedly explain how the reds kicked him round the place he's likely to go from strength to strength thanks to the street cred oppotunities that are being handed to him on a plate by those talking about smashin him but who shy from confrontation with him . Thanks to uncicylists , jugglers , yoghurt knitters and muesli enthusiasts bandying around slogans like Smash the EDL which they have neither the intention or ability to do. Which are , lets face it, a direct come on to those of a more robust and physical orientation .

Nobody should be making the chalenge of smashing them , with all the connotations that go with that term , unless they intend following through on it . Every failure that follows on from that is an advance for the scum in my view .
 
that document said:
The history of Blood & Honour

Blood & Honour emerged in 1987 after the demise of the National Front’s ‘Rock Against Communism’ project. Founded by Skrewdriver singer Ian Stuart, who had a long history of involvement with the National Front and British Movement, Blood & Honour takes its name from the motto of the Hitler Youth, ‘Blut und Ehre’. And it did not take long before Blood & Honour showed they had taken more than their name from the Third Reich: a September 1988 article in the Guardian reported that an early issue of Blood & Honour magazine declared they would ‘follow the example of the one uncorruptible ideal: National Socialism and its great martyr, Adolf Hitler’.[1]

The emergence of this new organization also saw a new breed of fascist skinhead emerge, where traditional skinhead fashion was abandoned in favour of a paramilitary look comprised of shaved head, black flight jacket, Blood & Honour t-shirt, black combat trousers and high, black boots, often steel-capped.[2] This fashion required shops selling the gear: and by 1989 some shops in Carnaby Street obliged. As well as Blood & Honour t-shirts, this merchandise included swastika flags. Carnaby Street was becoming the political and financial centre of a growing Blood & Honour network, both local and international.[3] MP Jeremy Corbyn tabled an Early Day Motion in the House of Commons to draw attention to this trade, which he felt included material which fell foul of the Race Relations, Public Order and Obscene Publications Acts, such as a magazine featuring cartoons showing ways to beat up black people. The stock was reported to have been supplied by Blood & Honour.[4]

Even at that early stage there was a tacit recognition by Blood & Honour that what they were doing was highly offensive and racist – a report in the Independent in April 1989 said that Blood & Honour’s concerts had had to be organised secretly to avoid prosecution under the Race Relations Act.[5] Indeed, in May 1989 Blood & Honour attempted to hold a concert at an assembly hall owned by Camden Council, booked under a false name. Speaking about the cancellation of the booking, council leader Tom Dykes declared that ‘we want to make it absolutely clear that fascists are not welcome in this country’.[6]

The association of fashion and violence which had characterized Blood & Honour’s venture in Carnaby Street was remarked by a 1991 BBC report which stated
You don’t become a member of Blood & Honour. You support it by buying its records, carrying its flag, wearing its t-shirts and tattoos. Although Blood & Honour numbers about 800 activists, it reaches many thousands of young people through crude underground magazines, through music and through violence on the streets and football terraces. [7]
This connection between music, violence and football – and a close association with football hooliganism – has been a longstanding feature of Blood & Honour.

Blood & Honour’s international network developed in parallel to its merchandising and concert promotion. By 1991 Blood & Honour were reported to have connections with the Ku Klux Klan in the United States, Germany’s neo-Nazi Freiheitliche Deutsche Arbeiterpartei and Italian fascists responsible for terrorist atrocities. Within London it was reported in the same year that east London community leaders believed Blood & Honour followers responsible for attacks on Asians and blacks.[8] Certainly some people at and near the heart of Blood & Honour were no strangers to violence. In October 1991 five men – members or supporters of Ian Stuart’s band Skrewdriver who were on tour – were arrested in Germany and charged with grievous bodily harm following a serious attack on some ‘long-haired’ German youths in Cottbus.[9] According to Swindle magazine the men were held in prison for six months before being released when a judge threw out the case for lack of evidence, while the ‘B&H/C18’ site screwdriver.org says ‘stayed in jail for over a month, being moved to top security Moat Prison in Berlin. … Ian set about recording a mini-LP entitled 'Justice for the Cottbus Six.' The rest were released on bail and charges were eventually dropped after two years of stop and start trials’.[10]
After the failure of their previous attempts to hold a large concert in London, failures which had made Blood & Honour lose considerable face, Blood & Honour laid their credibility on the line with a gig organized for 12 September 1992, with Waterloo Station as the redirection point. According to the Blood & Honour version of events, the violence which erupted at Waterloo was all part of a cunning plan whereby anti-fascists would be lured into a trap. However, a 1989 interview with Ian Stuart, in the Evening Standard’s ES Magazine, saw Stuart declare that Blood & Honour could fill the Albert Hall if they were able to organize a concert without interference from anti-fascists.[11] In a change from tradition, Blood & Honour flyposted far and wide, across London and throughout England. Although a concert went ahead, most of the hundreds of Blood & Honour supporters who converged on Waterloo that day were unable to get to the venue. While Blood & Honour now claim the day as a victory, it’s very much a claim unsupported by evidence.[12] A concert planned for Folkestone in October 1992 was cancelled by the venue owner because of the potential for violence.[13] Following their ignominious defeat Blood & Honour returned to their habit of holding gigs spread by word of mouth and in secret, a habit they have retained to this day.

[1] EDM1474, ‘Nazi activity in Huntingdon’, available at <http://edmi.parliament.uk/EDMi/EDMDetails.aspx?EDMID=6603>, accessed 20 January 2011

[2] Martin Delgado, ‘Jews suffer more attacks from far right’, in Evening Standard, June 15 1993, p. 15

[3] Alex Kershaw, ‘Inside story: a hate they could hum’, in The Guardian, 30 October 1993, Weekend section, p. 24

[1] Tanya Wilde, ‘Young Guardian: Cable Street Beat goes on – musical opposition that aims to combat the spread of neo Nazi groups’, in Guardian 28 September 1988

[2] Sean Birchall, Beating the fascists: the untold story of Anti-Fascist Action (London: Freedom, 2010), p. 94

[3] Birchall, Beating the fascists, p. 152

[4] David Horovitz, ‘Carnaby Street clash: skinheads versus Anti-Fascist Action group’, in Jerusalem Post, 22 January 1989

[5] Phil Reeves, ‘In the secret world of Hitler’s heirs: today is the centenary of Hitler’s birth. Phil Reeves looks at the far-right, from blatant Nazis to fanciful revolutionaries’, in The Independent, 20 April 1989, p. 3

[6] Stephen Cook, ‘Council blocks far-right concert in hall booked under false name’, in The Guardian, 27 May 1989

[7] Quoted in Irwin Suall, ‘Skinheads started as British youth cult’, in Jerusalem Post, 19 March 1991

[8] J. Herd, ‘Neo-Nazis on march in Britain’, in Herald Sun, 28 June 1991

[9] Tim Kelsey and Adrian Bridge, ‘Five Britons charged after man is stabbed; Tim Kelsey and Adrian Bridge in Berlin examine the close links that are being forged between right-wing extremists in Britain and neo-Nazis in Germany’, in The Independent, 21 October 1991, p. 3

[10] <http://swindlemagazine.com/issue03/ian-stuart/>, accessed 20 January 2011; <http://xxx.skrewdriver.org/stuart.html>, accessed 20 January 2011

[11] Birchall, Fighting the fascists, pp. 291-292

[12] For conflicting versions of the event, see Birchall, Fighting the fascists, pp. 291-303 and <http://xxx.bloodandhonourworldwide.co.uk/history/waterloo.html>, accessed 20 January 2011

[13] ‘Nazi group’s concert banned’, in The Guardian, 17 September 1992, p. 6
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The violence associated with Blood & Honour events was mentioned above. This was recognized in a 1993 Early Day Motion submitted to the House of Commons by Peter Hain and supported by 71 MPs:
EDM 1474

NAZI ACTIVITY IN HUNTINGDON
25.02.1993

Hain, Peter
That this House notes with dismay that the Nazi group Blood and Honour, which includes bands such as Screwdriver - No Remorse, a reference to the Holocaust - Skullhead and Dirlewanger intend to hold a Nazi gig in the Prime Minister's constituency of Huntingdon and is confident of attracting hundreds of Nazi skinheads; further notes that these gigs normally culminate in attacks on people with clubs, knives and tear gas; remembers with shame that a similar event in Mansfield held under the banner Keep Christmas White attracted over 400 Nazis and subsequently has led to a rise in racist and anti-semitic attacks in the area; and urges the Prime Minister to use his considerable influence to prevent this nasty, offensive event taking place on his doorstep.[1]
This point was reiterated by the 1993 World Report of the Institute of Jewish Affairs which stated that ‘Blood & Honour’s rock concerts are regularly followed by assaults on blacks and Asians’.[2] And 1993 saw four fascists jailed for a 1991 incident in which just that happened. Following a Blood & Honour gig in Baldock, Hertfordshire, they had been part of a group of about 13 in a Transit van. They spotted five Asians walking home after working at an Indian restaurant in Buntingford, Hertfordshire. After hurling racist abuse, the men in the van jumped out and viciously assaulted the Asians with bottles and bats. The van was driven at the Asians as part of the attack, following which a second round of beating left the restaurant owner unconscious. The four men were members or supporters of the BNP. Three of the men were jailed for 21 months; the fourth, the driver, received a three year sentence.

Ian Stuart died in a car crash on the A38 in Derbyshire on 24 September 1993, aged 36. His career as a fascist activist spanned three decades, from his involvement with the NF at the tail end of the 1970s, becoming Young NF Organiser in Blackpool. In 1985 Stuart was sentenced to 12 months for stabbing a Nigerian man outside Kings Cross station. Stuart played in bands since the mid-1970s, but found fame in the second incarnation of his band Skrewdriver, which became the premier fascist band in the world. First playing under the aegis of ‘Rock Against Communism’, the NF project, Skrewdriver and some other bands departed the NF following the Front’s 1986 split when it emerged that some White Noise bands had been less than perfectly managed by Patrick Harrington, a prominent NF member, among others. According to a Guardian report published a month after Stuart’s death, Stuart loathed John Tyndall, BNP leader until 1999, and despised the National Front – although this latter sentiment might have had something to do with Skrewdriver’s treatment at NF hands. But Stuart was wily and intelligent: he noted that people read a political paper or pamphlet once, but listen to songs dozens of times. The ability of songs to carry the fascist message was perhaps his greatest insight; and his creation of Blood & Honour gave him a platform from which to spread this message.[3]

The involvement of Combat 18 in Blood & Honour before and after Ian Stuart’s death is confusing. Conflicting accounts prevent a simple narrative being presented. Suffice to say that C18, a violent fascist organization founded in 1991, attempted to seize control of Blood & Honour. This interest in the music scene was spurred by the amount of money available from the sale of CDs. What particularly complicates matters is that there seem to have been two organisations claiming to be ‘Blood & Honour’, one controlled by C18 and another, ‘Rock Against Communism’, claiming the preserve the legacy of Ian Stuart. If this was not enough, Steve Cartwright, who was active in Blood & Honour Scotland, declares that the Scottish Blood & Honour network left the C18/National Socialist Alliance orbit in 1994.[4] Cartwright also says that ‘most Blood & Honour groups’ around 1994 adopted an independent (i.e. not affiliated to C18) position: yet Nick Lowles, author of White Riot: the violent story of Combat 18, reports that after Ian Stuart’s death (September 1993) ‘Blood & Honour was now firmly in the control of Combat 18’.[5] In summary, for some years after Ian Stuart’s death the command of the fascist music scene is unclear.

[1] EDM1474, ‘Nazi activity in Huntingdon’, available at <http://edmi.parliament.uk/EDMi/EDMDetails.aspx?EDMID=6603>, accessed 20 January 2011

[2] Martin Delgado, ‘Jews suffer more attacks from far right’, in Evening Standard, June 15 1993, p. 15

[3] Alex Kershaw, ‘Inside story: a hate they could hum’, in The Guardian, 30 October 1993, Weekend section, p. 24

[4] Steve Cartwright, ‘Rock against Griffinism’, available at <http - - - finalconflictblog.blogspot.com/2008/01/b-responds-rock-against-griffinism.html>, accessed 2 April 2011; The NSA is variously described as an alternative name for C18 (Larry O’Hara, ‘Combat 18 and MI5: some background notes’, available at <http://www.borderland.co.uk/index.p...ground-notes&catid=47:fascism-a-anti-fascism>, accessed 2 April 2011) and as an alliance ‘of various extreme right-wing groups, which would function as a cross-party forum, one aim of which was to support the [Aryan] Homeland’ which C18 intended establishing in Essex (Nick Ryan, ‘Memoirs of a street-fighting man’, available at <http://xxx.nickryan.net/articles/c18.html>, accessed 2 April 2011); this is murky, as is so much else about this period of Blood & Honour’s history

[5] Cartwright, ‘Rock against Griffinism’; Nick Lowles, ‘White Riot: the violent story of Combat 18’ (Bury: Milo, 2001), p. 104
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Some consideration must be given to the internal workings of this scene. Until Ian Stuart’s demise, German label Rock-O-Rama were the exclusive producers of Skrewdriver material, as well as the recordings of every other British band bar No Remorse.[1] This meant that Nazi imagery, lyrics and so on were banned. More importantly, from the C18 perspective, it meant that profits were limited: Lowles claims that Neil Parish bought imported records for £8 and sold them at a £2.50 profit.[2] When ISD Records (ISD: Ian Stuart Donaldson) was set up and began producing their own CDs, the £2.50 profit per CD leapt to £8.[3] These CDs were pressed by a variety of mainstream manufacturers who did not investigate the material they were producing.[4] The ability to get CDs pressed and to distribute them gave the controllers of Blood & Honour great influence as well as the money which flowed in. They could now determine who was able to distribute the merchandise in each country. Of perhaps greater importance was the control this gave of the bands within the fascist scene. Charlie Sargent, the best known member of C18, declared after a spat with one band that
It should be remembered that we pay the bands up front 100 CDs or £1,000 for each thousand we press, as soon as they are available, most get two or three trips abroad each year free to play gigs. They make money out of the concerts by selling T-shirts, sweatshirts, etc. Jonesy [Steve Jones, lead singer of English Rose and Bulldog Breed, whose defection caused this outburst] makes money out of a skinzine he sells at gigs. Surely that’s enough money for bands involved in Blood & Honour.[5]
The power over band’s appearances, not to mention the amount of money in Blood & Honour’s gift, gave C18 considerable power. But other organisations wanted part of the action, and the argument referred to above led indirectly to the British Movement putting an English Rose gig on in Heanor, Derbyshire in March 1996. This gig was significant because C18 believed the British Movement was organizing a rival scene. C18 decided to squash this competition, and called out its supporters. By the time the location of the gig was established only about 10 of the 80 who had turned out were left. The result was a humiliation for C18, who tried, and failed, to shoot some of their rivals involved in the Heanor gig.[6]

In 1998 the anti-fascist magazine Searchlight declared that C18 had been a ‘honey trap’ run by the security services.[7] Charlie Sargent, convicted of the murder of fellow fascist Chris Castle, was exposed as a police informer.[8] The implosion of C18 in the aftermath of these revelations did not lead to the complete demise of the organisation, but ended its existence as a street force in Britain. Nonetheless, up to 2010 there was a C18 / Blood & Honour website in existence – www.bloodandhonour.com. The existence of a range of different Blood & Honour websites makes it difficult to ascertain which is the ‘official’ one; this may be a ploy to confuse police and their political opponents.

The Mail on Sunday reported in 1999 that ‘dozens of rightwing extremises from Britain travelled to Serbia’ to join up with Arkan’s Tigers.[9] Nearer home that year, the Loyalist Volunteer Force was reported to have hosted a Blood & Honour concert in Portadown, one of series of gigs which seem to have provided enough money for the LVF to buy new weapons.[10]

An early inkling of the Blood & Honour turn towards individual terrorism was reported in the Observer in May 2001. The paper reported that Blood & Honour ‘carried an article in its last newsletter urging whites to take up arms against Zog [Zionist Occupation Government, allegedly a shadowy Jewish elite]’.[11] ‘Lone wolf’ terrorists are discussed in more detail below.

The Belfast Telegraph reported in 2004 that the White Nationalist Party were organising a Blood & Honour gig in north Antrim, indicating further links between fascists and loyalists.[12] In June 2006 MP Alec McFadden called for the closure of the Red Watch site, which is linked to C18 and Blood & Honour.[13] This was followed by Liverpool Liberal Democrat councillor Robbie Quinn receiving a death threat after his details appeared on Red Watch.[14]

In 2010 Baroness Neville-Jones, then Shadow Security Minister, sent the following letter to Alan Johnson, then Home Secretary:

[1] Lowles, White Riot, p. 105

[2] Lowles, White Riot, p. 105; according to Lowles, Neil Parish, a BNP member from Milton Keynes, controlled Blood & Honour with Paul Burnley, a British Movement supporter from south London, prior to the C18 takeover (White Riot, p. 101

[3] Lowles, White Riot, p. 105

[4] e.g. Nimbus (UK), who did not know they were pressing racially inflammatory songs (Lowles, White Riot, p. 105-6)

[5] Quoted in Lowles, White Riot, p. 186

[6] Lowles, White Riot, pp. 188-190

[7] Matthew Collins, ‘Growing up in London’s deep south’, in Searchight, September 1998, available at <http://www.searchlightmagazine.com/index.php?link=template&story=247>, accessed 28 April 2011

[8] Mark Honigsbaum, ‘War of the Nazis’, in The Observer, Review, 25 January 1998, p. 3; Nick Lowles, ‘1990-1999: ballot box to bomb: fighting on all fronts’, available at <http://www.searchlightmagazine.com/features/century/cbf.php?include=page>, accessed 28 April 2011

[9] Nick Fielding, ‘British fascists “tried to join Arkan’s Tigers in Kosovo’, Mail on Sunday, 20 June 1999, p. 10

[10] Jennifer Doherty, ‘Loyalist gangs boosted by Nazi cash’, in Belfast Telegraph, 24 August 1999

[11] Tracy McVeigh, ‘UK extremists make martyr of McVeigh’, in The Observer, 27 May 2001, p. 7

[12] ‘Opposition to “fascist” rock gig growing: website warns of plans for concert’, in Belfast Telegraph, 18 May 2004

[13] ‘Close racist website, says MP’, in Daily Post (Liverpool), 21 June 2006, p. 3

[14] Jessica Shaughnessy, ‘Racists in death threat to councillor’, in Daily Post (Liverpool), 18 July 2006, p. 13

[15] In Alexander Meleagrou-Hitchens & Edmund Standing, Blood and Honour: Britain’s far-right militants (London: Centre for Social Cohesion, 2010), pp. 3-4
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The Rt Hon Alan Johnson MP
Home Secretary
Home Office
2 Marsham Street
London SW1P 4DF
21 September 2009
Dear Home Secretary
I am writing following reports on 18 September 2009 of the activities of the group ‘Blood & Honour’.

The reports suggest that Blood & Honour is currently distributing material, including music CDs, which encourage and glorify hatred and acts of terror against ethnic minorities. The reports also quote the group’s ‘Field Manual’ as stating that those who carry out actions in the name of neo-Nazism ‘must be respected rather than condemned’ and that ‘Die-hard “Nazis” not comfortable in any watered-down, democratic outfit, still have an option through leaderless resistance and direct action… These lone white wolves must be respected and left alone to stalk the worst enemies of our race. They expect no support and assistance but they deserve acknowledgement and understanding.’

Given these circumstances, I would like to know what your assessment is of the group’s activities and what action can be taken in response to them under relevant sections of the Public Order Act 1986 and the Terrorism Act 2000 and Terrorism Act 2006. For example, you will be aware that under Section 21 of the Public Order Act 1986 a person who ‘distributes, or shows, or plays, a recording of visual images or sounds which are threatening, abusive or insulting is guilty of an offence if he intends thereby to stir up racial hatred, or having regard to all the circumstances racial hatred is likely to be stirred up thereby’. You will also be aware that Sections 1 and 2 of the Terrorism Act 2006 (respectively) specify that the encouragement of terrorism and the dissemination of terrorist publications are offences. On the face of it, there appears to be a very strong case for the proscription of Blood & Honour.

There is a further and related issue, which is that much of the group’s material is reported to be hosted and distributed from a website on an American server (although sale and distribution does occur in the UK). I would therefore like to know what scope there is to prosecute individuals involved and to block or remove this internet content.

I am sure you will agree that it is necessary to tackle all forms of extremism, including right wing extremism. The Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, John Denham, announced earlier this year that the Government’s PREVENT Strategy was being updated to reflect this. In light of public interest in these matters I am making a copy of this letter available to the press.

Baroness Neville-Jones
Shadow Security Minister[1]

LONE WOLF TERRORISM
Since the BNP’s retreat from street politics in the 1990s, and the inability of any far-right organisation before the rise of the EDL to take their place, there have been a surprising number of British fascists arrested and jailed for terrorism offences. Of these, the best known is David Copeland. Here other ‘lone wolves’ with links to Blood & Honour are detailed.

MARK ATKINSON
Mark Atkinson was a founding member of the Racial Volunteer Force, formed in 2002 following a split from C18. In 2005 he was jailed for five years for conspiracy to publish the RVF’s magazine Stormer (named after Julius Streicher’s Jew-baiting paper Die Stürmer) with the intention of stirring up racial hatred, and a year for operating the RVF website to run concurrently. Four other members of the RVF were also jailed for publishing the paper.[2] After being charged in 2004, Atkinson fled the country and was sheltered by Spanish members of Blood & Honour and C18. In the spring of 2005 he was arrested following a police raid and extradited to Britain.[3]

MARTIN GILLEARD
Martin Gilleard, the British People’s Party Goole organiser, was arrested in October 2007. Police raided his home acting on a tip-off about child pornography. Besides 39,000 child porn images – of all levels of severity – the police also found knives, guns, machetes, swords, axes, bullets and four nail bombs. Gilleard also possessed internet instructions for making bombs, and ‘significant’ quantities of racist literature, including material from Blood & Honour.[4] He was convicted of preparing terrorist acts with intent to carry them out, under section 5 of the Terrorism Act 2006, possession of material which would be of practical use to someone preparing an act of terrorism, under section 58 of the Terrorism Act 2000, possession of ammunition without a firearms certificate, 10 specimen counts of possession of indecent images of children, and sentenced to 16 years in prison.[5]

NEIL LEWINGTON
Lewington, arrested for smoking on a train and urinating in public, and abusing a conductor in October 2008, claimed to be a National Front member. When police searched his home they found a hoard of bomb-making material. This included chemical mixtures labelled ‘igniter’, weedkiller, firelighters, fuses, pyrotechnic boosters and a range of bomb-making manuals. In addition, he had a notebook titled ‘Waffen SS UK Member’s Handbook’, which contained notes about planning terrorist operations.[6] Lewington had links with a number of far-right groups including C18, Blood & Honour and the British People’s Party. He was convicted in 2009 of a number of terrorism and explosives offences and sentenced to an indeterminate prison term of a minimum six years for the explosives, with ten years for terrorist offences to run concurrently.

However, Britain was not the only country in which C18 or Blood & Honour were active.

AUSTRIA
In February 2006, the Documentation Centre of Austrian Resistance, an Austrian research group, accused officials in the province of Voralberg of not taking action to stem far-right extremists. As a result of this, they said, Blood & Honour had established a foothold in the region.[7]




[1] In Alexander Meleagrou-Hitchens & Edmund Standing, Blood and Honour: Britain’s far-right militants (London: Centre for Social Cohesion, 2010), pp. 3-4

[2] Gable, Lone wolves, p. 45

[3] Gable, Lone wolves, p. 46

[4] David Williams, ‘The nazi terrorist who prepared for race war’, in Searchlight 398 (August 2008), p. 4

[5] Gerry Gable, Lone wolves: myth or reality? (Ilford?: Searchlight, 2011), p. 35

[6] Gable, Lone wolves, p. 50

[7] ‘Local Austrian authorities too lax in treatment of neo-Nazis, group says’, Associated Press Worldstream, 10 February 2006
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