Blood and Honour
|
|
Blood & Honour are a militant neo-Nazi network founded in 1987 in response to the Anti-Nazi League's Rock Against Racism organisation. The group organises neo-Nazi concerts and distributes records by RAC bands. Sometimes the code "28" stands for "Blood & Honour", the code is derived from the second and eighth letters of the alphabet, the initials B & H.
The history of the organisation starts in 1977, with the creation of the Anti-Nazi Leagues 'Rock Against Racism' music organisation, causing the National Front to responded with its own 'Rock Against Communism' organisation. By 1982 the reformed skinhead band Skrewdriver re-launched Rock Against Communism to help themselves and other bands promote and organise concerts.
With the aid of the National Front, gigs were organised under the RAC name through the White Noise Club, with White Noise Records acting to release records. The RAC grew throughout 1983-84 with gigs regularly attended by over 600, seeing bands such as Skrewdriver, Brutal Attack, No Remorse, The Ovalitinees, Peter & The Wolves and Skullhead, with only word of mouth publicity.
Later in 1984, skinheads from all over Britain and Europe united to attend several outdoor RAC festivals organised by WNC and the NF. With the release of Skrewdriver's Hail The New Dawn album on the German Rock-O-Rama label the WNC gained an even larger audience.
The National Front split in 1986, which effectively saw the conclusion of the White Noise Club and links to the German label Rock-O-Rama. In addition it emerged that the WNC had been ripping off the bands and gig goers. After which, several bands left the WNC including Skrewdriver, No Remorse, Sudden Impact and later Brutal Attack. By mid-1987, these breakaway bands launched a new white music organisation called Blood and Honour with a magazine of the same name. In September the new organisation was officially launched at a London gig, seeing Skrewdriver play with Brutal Attack, Sudden Impact, and No Remorse.
This then became the new independent voice of Rock Against Communism and welcomes bands from national socialist, nationalist, patriotic, anti-Communist or white power views. By becoming politically independent it supports many organisations and is not exclusive. The Blood and Honour movement uses an international network of official Divisions to act as one united pro-white National Socialist organisation.
The late Ian Stuart Donaldson, singer of the band Skrewdriver, was the founder and one of the prominent leaders of "Blood & Honour" until his death in 1993.
There are several "divisions" of "Blood & Honour" e.g. in Great Britain, Germany, Australia, Slovenia, Romania, Bulgaria and Serbia. The German "division" was prohibited on September 14, 2000.
External links
- Blood & Honour Great Britain (http://www.bloodandhonourworldwide.co.uk/) (Neo-Nazi content)
- Blood & Honour UK - Central (http://www.bloodandhonourcentral.tk)
- [http://www.bloodandhonour.org/ Blood & Honour Official forum)
- Blood & Honour Poland (http://www.bhpoland.org/)
- Blood & Honour Scandinavia (http://www.28scandinavia.com/)
- Neo-Nazi Skinheads and Racist Rock: Youth Subculture of Hate (http://www.adl.org/poisoning_web/racist_rock.asp) (Anti-Defamation League)
- Fascism in the United Kingdom and Europe 1997 (http://www.searchlightmagazine.com/stories/fascism.htm) (Searchlight magazine)
- Shut Down the Peddlers of Hate (http://www.searchlightmagazine.com/stories/music_may98.htm) (Searchlight magazine)
- Music that maims (http://www.searchlightmagazine.com/stories/MusicMaims.htm) (Searchlight magazine)
- IDGR Lexikon Rechtsextremismus, Stichwort "Blood & Honour" (http://lexikon.idgr.de/b/b_l/blood-and-honour/blood-and-honour.php/) (German, Anti-Racist)
Further reading
- White Noise, inside the international nazi skinhead scene; edited by Nick Lowles and Steve Silver, London 1998