A new report released today by the Centre for Social Cohesion (CSC) and Nothing British exposes violent ideology of white supremacism. Featured in yesterday’s News of the World, Blood & Honour: Britain’s Far-Right Militants analyses the threat posed by white supremacist militant network, Blood & Honour (B&H). Click here to download full report.
B&H is an international neo-Nazi network that has evolved from its original incarnation as a neo-Nazi music scene into a far-right franchise.Through music CDs and ideological texts, the B&H network reinforces and disseminates a violent ‘white power’ supremacist ideology, encourages terrorism and spreads racial hatred. This ideology derives from Third Reich Nazism and B&H seeks the creation of a ‘Fourth Reich’. While it is not an organisation with official membership, B&H acts as an effective international network through which to spread violent neo-Nazism.
Connections to Far-Right Terrorism
A number of recently convicted far-right terrorists were found to be followers of B&H music and literature:
- Nathan Worrell: Found guilty in December 2008 of possession of material for terrorist purposes and racially aggravated harassment; jailed for over seven years. At his residence, police uncovered bomb-making manuals and materials, as well as a Combat 18 (C18) video, which contained instructions on how to make a bomb using household items. Worrell was also in possession of a large amount of neo-Nazi propaganda material, including some produced by C18 (part of B&H).
- Neil Lewington: Convicted in September 2009 on seven separate charges, including preparing acts of terrorism; sentenced to an indeterminate prison sentence of at least six years. The expert witness at his trial stated that B&H materials played a central role in his radicalisation.
- Martyn Gilleard: Found guilty in June 2008 of preparing for terrorist acts and possessing articles and collecting information for terrorist purposes; sentenced to 16 years in prison. Among the materials found at his residence were copies of Blood & Honourmagazine. Also found among his own writings was the ‘14 Words’ slogan, which is popular with B&H and can be found in much of the organisation’s literature.
Encouraging Terrorism
A number of B&H texts glorify and encourage acts of terror against minorities, and also provide followers with detailed information about how to carry out a successful attack:
- The National Socialist Political Soldiers Handbook [sic]: This B&H text is described as a manual for members of the network, and essentially amounts to a terrorist handbook. It glorifies and encourages acts of ‘lone-wolf’ terror, which are carried out by white supremacists with no official organisational links. This text also includes detailed explanations of counter-surveillance techniques that should be employed by these ‘lone-wolves’, in order to avoid the attention of the authorities.
- Blood & Honour Field Manual: This text also endorses acts of ‘lone-wolf’ terror, stating that the individuals concerned ‘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.’
Spreading Racial Hatred
B&H’s largest source of income is the sale of neo-Nazi rock music CDs, many of which incite racial hatred and violence, and glorify neo-Nazi terrorism. Two key UK B&H merchandising operations are Highlander East Coast and Rune and Sword Productions, both of which sell ‘white power’ music and other neo-Nazi material that contravenes UK legislation on racial and religious hatred. Lyrics from music CDs distributed by B&H include:
We’ll bomb your cities, destroy your towns
Wipe out the scum, kill all the browns
Hang politicians and waste the police
Until I’m feeling better, the murder will not cease!
‘Bomb the Cities’, from the Blue Eyed Devils album Murder Squad
Non white scum we’re gonna kill you
Slit your throat and watch you die
Time to crush the brown eyed subrace
Strangle, beat and crucify
Total destruction of all non whites
Right now is it time to attack
Take your guns, go shoot and kill
Cause the jew government won’t send them back
‘Vandalize and Victimize’, from the Blue Eyed Devils album Murder Squad
Praise for Report
‘By highlighting the dangers of Blood & Honour neo-Nazi terrorism, this new pamphlet points to the dangers of unduly focusing on the electoral side of the contemporary extreme right. This development threatens a spiral of cumulative extremism, as an important aspect of the strategy is to provoke an ethnic minority response which will escalate into race war, which groups like Blood & Honour see as necessary to awake apathetic true Britons from their slumbers.
Roger Eatwell, Professor of Comparative European Politics and Dean of Faculty, Humanities and Social Sciences, Universityof Bath and author of ‘Fascism: A History’
‘This well-researched and forcefully written exposure of the threat to democracy posed by Blood & Honour is a wake-up call to all those liberals who complacently assume the militant far-right died with the National Front. ‘Britain Awake’ is a slogan that should not just be left to the far right!’
Roger Griffin, Professor of Modern History, Oxford Brookes University and author of ‘The Nature of Fascism’
Report co-author Edmund Standing says:
The terrorist threat posed by white supremacists is still at a stage where it can be neutralised before it can mature any further. We must not repeat the mistakes that were made in dealing with the rise of Islamist extremism. All extremists who promote violence and seek to divide communities and attack our freedoms must be firmly resisted, whether they cloak their hatred in the language of religion or nationalism.
Co-author Alexander Meleagrou-Hitchens says:
Far-right groups like B&H seek to divide this country along racial lines and incite violence against all non-whites. They do this by exploiting grievances such as poverty and unemployment amongst white Britons while also promoting a violent, supremacist ideology derived from Hitler’s Third Reich.
Mohammed Abbasi 