We have uncovered evidence that right wing Canadian band Légitime Violence are due to headline this year’s Ian Stuart Donaldson (ISD) gig – the largest annual white power concert held in the UK.
The ISD gig is held every September by the white power movement Blood and Honour (B&H) to mark the anniversary of the death of the B&H founder and former Skrewdriver frontman Ian Stuart Donaldson, who died in a car accident in 1993.
As their name suggests, Légitime Violence glorifies violence. Many of the band members have criminal convictions, including their lead singer Raphael Lévesque, who was convicted of drug trafficking in November 2015 in Quebec City and sentenced to nine and a half months imprisonment.
While Légitime Violence is not an openly nazi band, its lead singer Raphael Lévesque is active in the nazi Atalante Québec gang and the band boasts of its anti-left wing, anti-antifa, and Rock Against Communism credentials.
On their Facebook page, where the band can also be seen brandishing weapons, there are links to several openly fascist bands.
“We are nationalists,” Raphael told a Russian skinhead website. “We are 100% politically incorrect and take a hard anti-communist position. And we will smash the face of anyone who wants to put a stick in wheel of the Légitime Violence machine… Street politics!”
When asked about his attitude towards SHARP, RASH and political correctness, he replied: “Nothing to do with them…SEARCH AND DESTROY!!!”
Several of the other band members have criminal convictions due to their association with the Stomper Crew, another violent Quebec-based extreme right skinhead gang.
Recent ISD gigs have seen 600-1,000 people in attendance and the weekend event brings in as much as £25,000 to Blood and Honour and event organiser Robert Talland, aka Ginger Rob.
Talland, who runs a building company from his Waltham Abbey home, makes a pretty penny out of the ISD gig. In arranging the annual event, he rents out the stage and PA system to Blood and Honour and has exclusive rights to sell alcohol and merchandise. At last year’s ISD gig, he proved 20 barrels of beer and 4,000 cans of lager at a 600% mark up. His son, Steve, also runs the largest merchandising stall, selling hundreds of CDs, T-shirts, and books.
None of this money is declared to the taxman.
Also booked to play at this year’s ISD concert are Code 291, a Swedish nazi band fronted by Jocke Karlsson, who was previously lead singer of Pitbull Farm, and Squadron, who reformed last year after a 20-year absence from the scene.
Last year, the Bound for Glory gig, due to to be the biggest ever gig to be held in Scotland, was called off with a few days to go after 17,000 people signed a HOPE not hate petition calling for the American band to be refused entry and the Scottish Justice Minister wrote to the Home Secretary to add his voice to the opposition.
In another attempt to throw us off their scent, the ISD gig is being held a week earlier than normal and is being kept off Facebook and other social media sites in the hope that we do not remember it is happening.
Given the importance of the ISD gig to the Blood and Honour movement, the amount of money it brings in – though mainly into Rob Talland’s personal pocket – and the violent nature of Légitime Violence, we are calling on the authorities to act.
We are writing to the Home Secretary, Amber Rudd, to prevent both the Canadian and Swedish bands from entering the UK and we demand a proper investigation into the financial dealings of Blood and Honour and Rob Talland.
Right-wing comic Kearse saves the worst material for his anonymous Telegram account HOPE not hate has identified an anonymised Telegram account belonging to the GB…
