Hate Rock Online: New Tool for Racists and Anti-Semites
Using the Internet to Coordinate
Hate Rock Concerts
Using the Internet as an organizational tool, the
Imperial Klans of America - the largest Ku Klux Klan group - and the
Hammerskin Nation - the most violent and best-organized neo-Nazi skinhead
group - have staged successful hate rock concerts, drawing attendees from
faraway places. The success of hate rock concerts
demonstrates the benefits of careful, long-term event coordination online
Nordic Fest
Over three days in May 2000, the Imperial Klans of
America (IKA) held a concert and rally, Nordic Fest, in Powderly,
Kentucky. Co-sponsored by the hate rock record label Panzerfaust Records,
the event featured hate rock bands, vendors, tattoo artists, food, guest
speakers, and a swastika lighting.
Extremists viewed information about Nordic Fest at a
password-protected Web site. The site provided a list of area motels,
directions to the area via train and plane, and a rundown of the vendors
selling their wares, among other information.
Potential attendees from more than two dozen states,
as well as other nations, coordinated transportation to the event using
the guestbook at this site (a guestbook is one kind of electronic bulletin
board). More than a dozen extremists volunteered to provide car rides;
more than two dozen messages contained requests for such rides.
These messages evinced a spirit of cooperation among
extremists, and it seems that those who posted messages would not have
connected with each other had they not gone online.
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If any people out in Southern Ca [sic] are going and wanna split
the gas cost I will surely go.
CApeckerwood
Anyone want a ride?
Brandon - Southern California
I’m really happy this will be going on, about 5 of us coming from
Chicago why the hell is it that I don’t know any of the people that
signed here who are from Chicago? Let’s unite!!!
marek1
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The IKA Web site claims that 383 people attended
Nordic Fest despite "3 days of rain," and the group held another
Nordic Fest in May 2001. Potential attendees seeking or offering
transportation again posted messages to an online guestbook.
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Help. I am in desperate need of a
ride to nordic fest. I will help out with gas, beer, food, or what
have you. !!!
Jon Doe of North Carolina
if you are from Charlotte or west towards the mountains or
can get a ride into charlotte…I might be able to arrange something
for you so drop me a line.
Will V.
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Following the event, the IKA Web site exclaimed,
"This years [sic] Nordic Fest-2001 was Great! Everyone had a very
nice time... Start making your plans to be here for next years [sic]
Nordic Fest-2002."
Hammerfest
In October 2000, the Hammerskin Nation
sponsored Hammerfest, a hate rock concert and skinhead convention in
Draketown, Georgia. Bands performing at Hammerfest included Brutal Attack,
White Wash, Dying Breed, Extreme Hatred, Code of Violence, and Hatecrime,
all of which play hard rock music with racist lyrics.
"There is absolutely no excuse (minus
death or babies) that you cannot attend the greatest musical event of our
times," asserted the staff of Panzerfaust Records when announcing
Hammerfest online in July 2000. "This event will include some of the
greatest White Power bands on the globe and it will be held on private
property with a restaurant, beer store, and round the clock
security."
A few months later, another message for those
interested in coming to Hammerfest appeared in the "Upcoming
Events" section of the Stormfront Web site. This message
provided essential logistical information to potential event attendees,
including advice on which airport to fly into, information about camping
on the site of the concert, and guidance on which items to bring (beer)
and which to leave at home (drugs, weapons).
Most significantly, the message told interested
parties exactly how to find Hammerfest. "The exact location will not
be disclosed until the weekend of the concert," explained the
Hammerskins. "Flyers will be distributed at area motels in Bremen,
beginning Friday before the show. A cell phone will also be activated for
people to contact, for directions, in case you were unable to meet up with
people at the motels in town. This number will be released in
October."
Hammerskin Nation maintained a number of
online bulletin boards where extremists considering attending Hammerfest
shared information. In answer to a question about where to stay on
a tight budget, ChicagoSkin88 suggested that concertgoers
"find a hotel and sleep in the lobby or find someone" that is
"having a party after" and "crash there."
Hey, I’m in New York
City and I need a ride down to Hammerfest 2000, "If anyone in the
area can give me a ride down, I’d chip in a lot of gas and also hotel
if you want.
NYC_HATE.
I
will be passing thru [sic] Atlanta on the Friday night before the
Fest,Anyone needing
a ride from the airport or the bus station, let me know.
Wartooth -- Oslo, Norway
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When chaos88
from the Netherlands wondered who from "Germany, the Netherlands or
Belgium" would rent a hotel room with him, he got the following aswer"
| There are about ten
Dutch Hammerskins going to Hammerfest…Give us your private E-mail
address and we’ll talk Skip
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A few days after Hammerfest, Vinland Records sent a message to its mailing list that proclaimed Hammerfest “a huge success!!!” Approximately 300 people attended the event
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