Harold Covington

From Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core
Jump to: navigation, search
Harold A. Covington
Born (1953-09-14)September 14, 1953
Burlington, North Carolina, USA
Died Script error: The function "death_date_and_age" does not exist.
Bremerton, Washington, USA
Occupation Writer, political activist
Genre White nationalism, science fiction

Harold Armstead Covington (born in Burlington, North Carolina on 14 September 1953 - died in Bremerton, Washington on 14 July 2018) was an American white nationalist and writer. He was involved in white nationalism in the United States and United Kingdom from the 1970s until his death. Covington advocated the creation of an "Aryan homeland" in the Pacific Northwest,[1] and was the founder of the Northwest Front, an online political movement which sought to further this goal.[2] It disbanded after his death.

Political activities

Born in Burlington, North Carolina, Covington joined the National Socialist White People's Party while in the U.S. Army in 1972, then moved to South Africa, and later to Rhodesia (now known as Zimbabwe).[3] Covington was a founding member of the Rhodesian White People's Party.[3] He was deported from Rhodesia in 1976, after sending threatening letters to a Jewish congregation.[3]

Covington joined the National Socialist Party of America (NSPA) after returning from Rhodesia.[3] In 1980, while leader of the party, he lost a primary election for the Republican nomination for candidates for attorney general of North Carolina.[4] Covington resigned as president of the NSPA in 1981.[5] That same year, Covington alleged a connection between the NSPA and would-be presidential assassin John W. Hinckley. However, law enforcement authorities were never able to corroborate the alleged Hinckley-NSPA connection.[6]

Covington later settled in the United Kingdom for several years, where he made contact with British far-right groups and was involved in setting up the neo-Nazi terror group Combat 18 (C18) in 1992. C18 openly promotes violence and antisemitism, and has adopted some of the features of the American far right.[7]

In 1994, Covington started a new political entity, the National Socialist White People's Party (NSWPP), in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, which was briefly the most active neo-Nazi party in The United States. However, Covington relinquished leadership of the NSWPP long before his death. He launched a website in 1996, and used the nickname Winston Smith, becoming one of the first neo-Nazi presences on the Internet.[8][9]

From 2005 until his death, Covington maintained a political blog entitled "Thoughtcrime".[10][11] He also recorded a weekly podcast, "Radio Free Northwest", in which he discussed politics and racial issues.[10] Covington was furthermore the author of a number of novels in various genres.[12][13]

Covington was mentioned in the media in connection with the 2015 Charleston shooting, whose perpetrator Dylann Roof cited Covington as an influence. According to Covington, the shooting was "a preview of coming attractions" but he also believed it was a bad idea for his followers to engage in random acts of violence, instead he supports organized revolution. [14]

Death

Covington died in Bremerton, Washington on July 14, 2018. His death was mourned by some white nationalists,[15] but considerably less so by others due to the numerous controversies that surrounded him throughout his life.[16] The extreme left celebrated Covington's death.[17]

Controversies

Covington was a controversial figure within the white nationalist movement for various reasons. He had a notorious rivalry with other white nationalists, such as William Luther Pierce, the founder of the National Alliance, who accused him of being an an agent provocateur working on behalf of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, while Covington accused Pierce of being a federal agent himself, as well as a "coward".[18] He also had known rivalries with other prominent white nationalists, such as David Duke and Matt Koehl, both of whom he called for the murders of along with Pierce.[19] However, his rivalry with Ben Klassen was often considered to have been his fiercest. Covington's alleged connections to the violent Neo-Nazi terrorist organization Combat 18 were also the subject of much controversy.[20]

References

  1. Brennan Clarke (July 25, 2011). "Neo-Nazi sympathizer fatally shot by Nanaimo police didn’t fire flare gun, probe told". Toronto Globe and Mail. Retrieved November 7, 2013.
  2. NorthwestFront.org. Retrieved June 6, 2012.
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. "Nazi Loses in Republican Primary". Reading Eagle via Google News. May 7, 1980. Retrieved February 18, 2013.
  5. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke (2001). Black Sun: Aryan Cults, Esoteric Nazism and the Politics of Identity. New York University Press. p.28. ISBN 0-8147-3124-4.
  10. 10.0 10.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. http://occidentaldissent.com/2018/07/24/rip-harold-covington/
  16. https://nationalvanguard.org/2018/07/death-of-a-con-man/
  17. https://angrywhitemen.org/2018/07/25/neo-nazi-leader-harold-covington-died-a-coward/
  18. https://noncounterproductive.blogspot.com/2011/06/harold-covington-calls-dr-william.html
  19. https://noncounterproductive.blogspot.com/p/harold-covington-calls-for-death-of.html
  20. https://noncounterproductive.blogspot.de/p/john-tyndall-on-harold-covington-and.html

External links