Click on image for full-sizeCopyright law, for one. Last year we had the enjoyable spectacle of Paul “Green Arrow” Morris having to change the masthead to his horrible little blog under threat of legal action from DC Comics – and now there are copyright problems for the National Front. Remember the NF? Once the brand leader for Far – Right nutcases (Prop: John Tyndall); long since fallen on hard times.
Well, times may get a little harder yet.
While doing my daily trawl of the internet sewer yesterday, I came upon an exciting offer to purchase “Thunderbolt - The Quarterly Political Magazine of the National Front” (above). It was helpfully subtitled “White Nationalism for a new Millennium!” in case I missed the point, and featured a lovely painting of the Norse God Thor, dressed only in helmet, oil, sandals and a thong, and just caught in the act of going into a Muscle Beach posing routine to try and impress some passing giants.
Let's face it; It's not great art. But more to the point, it's not the NF's art, either. It's a detail from a painting by Boris Vallejo, who's been the Illustrator of Choice for muscular adolescent fantasies involving well – built chaps and ladies with no blouses on since the 1960's.
The internet's a wonderful thing, etc, etc, and it only took a few minutes to verify the authorship of the painting, find a contact email for Mr Vallejo and drop him a few lines (with links) about his latest magazine cover.
A reply came just as quickly: “This is not only a violation of my copyright but also my principles...if you can tell me where to write to these people I will be happy to let them know.” Easily done. Gratifyingly, Mr Vallejo (along with most of his colleagues in the U.S Fantasy / Comic scene) guards his copyright jealously, and employs lawyers who possibly (I like to imagine) dress like Mr Thor and have muscles in their very earlobes.
It may not be something that will bring the NF tumbling down, but it's certainly going to be an irritant for them. Something they could well do without and easily avoidable if only their “Thunderbolt” Editor had shown the slightest bit of sense.
Excellent. And a new poster too. Hi AndyMinion. :)
ReplyDeleteGood work, guys.
ReplyDeleteWell spotted mate - this sort of thing can be extremely useful as for instance the SPLC in States realised one of the best ways to fight the Klan was to SUE them into total bankruptcy and they severely damaged the racist movement as a result. Top stuff!
ReplyDeleteBTW, slightly off-topic but there a vid on You Tube in which BNP ex-councillor Lawrence Rustem says he spent years infiltrating Red Action and AFA...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgovxn9sfSE
That poster looks very homo-erotic...
ReplyDeleteHeil homo-erotocism!
ReplyDeleteA new writer for LU? Great. Welcome to the gang.
ReplyDeleteJUst found this on Jeffersons blog.
ReplyDeleteMr Griffin, himself a rare breed pig breeder, at his small holding in Wales, was most impressed by the rare and endangered breed section of the show and is pictured above with a endangered breed of goat that incredibly was imported into Britain by an ancestor of Mr Griffins in 1380.
so there you have it Griffins ancestors were liberal,marxists allowing immigrants into the country lol
Brilliant. thanks for the you tube link as well.
ReplyDeletetulip
Sue the arse off them!
ReplyDeleteEXETER EDL BOSS RESIGNS: -
ReplyDeletehttp://www.thisisexeter.co.uk/news/Boss-city-right-wing-group-quits/article-2453655-detail/article.html
That cover is so "camp".
ReplyDeleteI'm sure many a Nazi will be disappearing into the Mens' Room with that!
And the moral of this story is no Norse is good Norse.
ReplyDeleteI've just watched the Lawrence Rustem video on youtube. The sound's bad and I can't make out everything he said about AFA/RA. I assume when he was an AFA/RA member he's talking about the 90s as AFA was wound up by RA after the 97 general election when they opted instead for the IWCA. There was an AFA member called Lawrence on the Isle Of Dogs in East London but as it's nearly 15 years since I saw this bloke I can't tell if it's the same one. Anyway this Lawrence was considered so useless that he got chased off round about 96/97. If it wasn't the same Lawrence - and it may have been but I can't be sure - he must have joined the BNP straight after. If it isn't the same one then there wasn't another Lawrence in East London that I can remember. But if it is then it begs the question who he infitrated AFA on behalf of. Presumably the state and maybe he's still working for them. Ex-RA should be able to confirm but then they should have been able to confirm this for many years.
ReplyDelete"I've just watched the Lawrence Rustem video on youtube"
ReplyDeleteCan you provide a link?
The only one I can find is where he's supporting Butler in the leadership challenge and where he makes some interesting and telling remarks about Griffin's candidacy in Barking.
Rustem tried to infiltrate anti-Fascist groups in East London on the orders of Tyndall but in the early nineties. Tyndall wrote him a letter thanking him.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgovxn9sfSE
ReplyDeletePaste that into google. The sound's poor but the RA/AFA stuff is early on. I can't tell if it's the same Lawrence. I was in East London AFA and there was a Lawrence there who stuck out like a sore thumb and eventually got told to fuck off. But I just can't be sure if it's him or not.
"Paste that into google. The sound's poor but the RA/AFA stuff is early on."
ReplyDeleteThanks. It is was him then he was lucky just to receive a verbal "fuck off". Red Action, especially, would have treated a known fascist infiltrator much more harshly.
In the youtube video I think he says he infiltrated AFA/RA for 8 years so he could have done so late 80s/early 90s and still been around late 90s. It's unlikely that he would have infiltrated RA but AFA would have been easier as there was a mix of politics - RA, anarchists, Labour Party, unaffiliated, etc. Just about everyone but RA left AFA after 97.
ReplyDeleteLawrence Rustem - the honorary white? He's still kicking around? These hoary old fascists never seem to peg-out. I noticed Patrick Harrington was mentioned in another article. I remember a big campaign at some London poly to kick him out way back in the '80s.
ReplyDelete"These hoary old fascists never seem to peg-out"
ReplyDeleteGriffin invited all his old NF buddies to climb on board the BNP gravy train a few years back and most accepted whether they'd previously fallen out with him or not.
The only "major" figures from the 1980's not to do so (yet) are Ian Anderson and Derek Holland.
Anonymous said...
ReplyDelete"These hoary old fascists never seem to peg-out"
Griffin invited all his old NF buddies to climb on board the BNP gravy train a few years back and most accepted whether they'd previously fallen out with him or not.
The only "major" figures from the 1980's not to do so (yet) are Ian Anderson and Derek Holland.
It's been said many times here, there and everywhere about how much Martin Wingfield hates Griffin for what happened in the past but he and his wife are in well paid jobs and nobody wants to lose a well paid job in the current economical climate, unless they have something better to go to.
Eddy Morrison is the "editor" of the NF's Thunderbolt magazine - but will it be Morrison or NF leader Ian Edward that would be sued?
ReplyDelete"The only "major" figures from the 1980's not to do so (yet) are Ian Anderson and Derek Holland."
ReplyDeleteShould also mention Joe Pearce there. Griffin would love to get him back on board but Pearce has a successful career as a writer in America and seems to have turned his back on fascism.
In response to John P reference to Wingfields, I am picking up on other forums that they may be about to jump the Griffin ship, it is certainly strongly hinted by what appears to be a female posting comment, who I believe could be Tina, that they are laying low, but, are backing Butler.
ReplyDeleteCould well be that like the rabbit pulled from the hat over the next week or two they come out.
tulip
What Lawrence Rustem says in the video (1:40 onwards) is "I got involved with this party (the BNP) when I was 17 years old back in the mid to late summer of 91... THROUGH THE PARTY I for 8 years infiltrated the far-left, the likes of Anti-Fascist Action, Red Action, which was its front group, then I did a couple of years inside the SWP stroke ANL, Anti-Nazi League, then I came into the party properly doing the stuff that I'd been wanting to do for the time I'd spent inside the Reds, and came over in 99, and... that was about the same time that Nick (Griffin) became leader of the British National Party". What he says is that he infiltrated AFA, RA, the SWP and ANL on behalf of the BNP, not the State.
ReplyDeleteSaying that of the 8 years he says he spent infiltrating Anti-Fascism 2 of those years were spent in the SWP / ANL would be consistent with what an earlier post says about AFA winding up in 1997, and Griffin did indeed become chairman of the BNP in 1999.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgovxn9sfSE
Looking at the bigger picture however it's tentatively encouraging that opposition to Griffin's leadership is coming from known Nazis like Eddy Butler, Nick Cass and Richard Edmonds etc, as a more "moderate" (relatively speaking) take-over of the BNP could be problematic from the POV of Anti-Fascist campaigning, and because the splits this opposition generates among BNP activists are among the hard-core, long-term activists who are in effect the back-bone (again, relatively speaking) of the BNP (better to divide the party in its core rather than the periphery).
"Lawrence Rustem ....for 8 years infiltrated the far-left.... and came over in 99"
ReplyDeleteI remember his name being linked to the BNP in the mid-90's so if he did infiltrate it was in the early 90's for a time considerably shorter than 8 years.
Any supposed damage that he did would have been marginal as AFA/RA were very security concious and would have sussed him quickly and the ANL/SWP were/are completely open about their activities, even advertising them in advance, and didn't need infiltrating.