29 April 1999 Edition

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Racist bombings in London

By Larry O'Hara

     
It can be stated with some confidence that these attacks were not carried out by Combat 18 as such, but even if the bombings were not carried out by C18, it is quite possible they were carried out by former members or low-profile associates of this fragmented group
On 17 April and 24 April, two successive Saturdays, areas strongly associated with immigrant communities, Brixton in South London and Brick Lane in East London, were targeted by nail-bombs, left without warning and clearly intended to maim and kill. It is only by chance that npobody has yet been killed, although the casualties number dozens.

The finger of suspicion initially (and logically) pointed at the small Nazi group Combat 18, and (uncorroborated) phonecalls claiming they had done it were soon received. The C18 leadership (or at least those at their known addresses) have been leant on strongly by the police, with virtually daily visits to question them.

It can be stated with some confidence that these attacks were not carried out by C18 as such, given that the current strategy of this small group (60-100 members/associates) is to lie low and hold music concerts, the most recent taking place in Coventry on the day of the first bomb, designed to celebrate the weekend nearest to Hitler's birthday, 20 April. News of the Brixton bomb, when it filtered through, seemed to shock concert-goers as much as anyone.

Even if the bombings were not carried out by C18, it is quite possible they were carried out by former members or low-profile associates of this fragmented group. The targeting of areas containing ethnic minorities does fit with the strategy outlined in a 16-page document called the White Wolves, circulated in late1993/early1994, intially in Yorkshire more than anywhere else.

The purpose is to incite random counter attacks by affected communities, and thus spark a ``race war''. This view has been given some substance by a stencilled communique widely circulated to media outlets and potential targets a few days before the first bomb, calling upon ``non-whites and Jews to permanently leave the British Isles before the year is out'' and a subsequent letter claiming the White Wolves (named after a short-lived post-war Nazi underground movement in Germany) did it.

It is interesting that the former No. 2 in the C18 leadership has now gone missing and is perhaps not even in Britain. He has produced a magazine called The Wolf, although it may be this is just coincidence, and being wanted for questioning is not the same as having done anything (as readers of this paper well know).

Another thought, which will no doubt be developed further as evidence comes in: there is no real evidence that there is an organisation called the White Wolves as such. Indeed, the anonymous document calls for autonomous three to five-person cells.

When reading the text a few years ago, it struck me then, as it does now, that if a state employee was tasked to write a document designed to justify state oppression against all far right organisations, this would be it. I hardly find it coincidental that the government has on the table, and has had since December, a consultation paper by Lord Justice Lloyd aimed at the permanent extension of ``anti-terrorist'' legislation to cover domestic (English/Scottish/Welsh) groups unrelated to Irish matters. The most prominent group featured in the paper are animal rights activists, and ``terrorism'' has a far wider definition than previously. Although (understandably) there have been calls from ethnic minority representatives to ban all far right groups in the wake of the bombings, past precedent shows that (as with anti-stalking legislation) the main victims will be other domestic dissidents from the Left/Green part of the spectrum. In that case, whoever let the ``White Wolves'' out of their lair, may well achieve exactly the result intended in the first place.

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