New Zealand National Front

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The current National Front logo is the same as the British National Front's logo from the early 1970s.

The New Zealand National Front is a small far-right political party in New Zealand.

1 History
2 Policies
3 Support
4 Activities
5 Website
6 Criticism & opposition
7 See also
8 External links

[edit] History

Members of the NZNF giving the Hitler salute.

The New Zealand National Front was founded by Brian Thompson of Ashburton (who had earlier been the New Zealand secretary of an organisation calling itself the League of Empire Loyalists) in 1968, although its operation was erratic. As Paul Spoonley and others have noted, there have been intermittent periods of individual neo-fascist activism in New Zealand, as the cases of Edward Lionel Terry and A.N.Field demonstrate. Many pre-NZNF neo-fascists gravitated toward the New Zealand League of Rights.

In 1989, an organisation called the Conservative Front, led by Anton Foljambe, took over the name. Foljambe resigned as leader in 1997, establishing a new organisation called the National Democrats. Later, Kyle Chapman became leader and Foljambe returned. Since then, the NF has achieved considerably greater public recognition.

The National Front describes itself as "the leading organisation in New Zealand concerned with the preservation and advancement of unique New Zealand European culture." and considers itself to be "patriotic and nationalistic". The party's policy platform is primarily based around militarist and anti-immigrant themes, and often incorporates elements of survivalism.

For many years the leader of the New Zealand National Front was Kyle Chapman, who announced his resignation in May 2005. [1] Kyle has a record of violence, and in 1995 confessed to a string of racially-motivated arson attacks between 1987 and 1992, including the arson of a marae. Chapman has previously been involved with racist skinhead gangs, and still maintains links with them today, most notably the Hammerskins. In 2004, Kyle Chapman unsuccessfully contested the mayoralty of Christchurch, placing fifth out of 10 candidates with 1.9 percent of the public vote.

In July 2005, Sid Wilson became leader of the NZNF. An abrasive and unpopular figure with many in the NZNF, Wilson has failed to maintain the loyalty of many key activists. Membership has declined dramatically. Moderate members, led by Anton Foljambe, have re-established the "non-racist" National Democrats party.

The secretary of the NZNF was, until 2005, Kerry Bolton. Bolton is known for his leadership in the occult, including satanic groups such as the Temple of Set, the Black Order, and the Order of the Left Hand Path. He is also active as a writer, as the owner of the Renaissance Press, and as publisher of The Nexus and other periodicals.[2][3][4][5] Mr Bolton was also "national spokesman" for the political party called the Fascist Union back in the early 90's.

In 2004, the NZNF began the process of registering as an official political party, (see political parties in New Zealand for more information). On April 18, 2005, the National Front was allocated $10,000 by the NZ electoral commission to fund election campaigning. The National Front was also allocated 30 seconds of primetime TV advertising. This funding was allocated on the condition that the National Front register as a political party. To register, a party must have 500 paid members who are eligible to vote. On June 1, 2005, the deadline for late registration passed and the NZNF failed to register. The Front did not stand candidates in the 2005 general election but national director Sid Wilson encouraged Front members to vote for New Zealand First or the Direct Democracy Party (for whom 5 National Front members, including Chapman and Foljambe stood), describing National and Labour as "Tweedledum and Tweedledee". [6]

[edit] Policies

Policies of the National Front include:

Picture of a National Front publication produced by Kerry Bolton based on an image used by the Nazi Party in a 1930s election poster.

Preservation of NZ-European heritage.
Tightening of immigration laws.
Rejection of immigrants or refugees who are not ethnically and culturally European.
Distancing New Zealand from the United Nations and the World Trade Organization.
Abolition of the Treaty of Waitangi.
Reintroduction of capital punishment, and harsher penalties for offenders.
Reintroduction of conscription.
Relaxation of gun control, thereby allowing "men to defend their families".
Elimination of policies it describes as political correctness
Creation of a National Bank
Withdrawal from international trade
Return to farm-based economy
Opposition to abortion, but support for state-supported child care
Re-constitution of the "White Commonwealth of Nations".
Keeping the current flag of New Zealand

[edit] Support

The National Front has received some public support, with 1.9% voting in favour of Kyle Chapman in the 2005 Christchurch mayoral election.

The NZNF is an affiliate of the Patriotic Youth League, and the Australia First Party (AFP), and also of the openly neo-nazi White Pride Coalition Australia.[7] Beginning in late 2004, the NZNF and Kyle Chapman, working with two Sydney youths (Members of the PYL and WPCA), helped to organise a now-defunct Australian National Front (ANF). With NZNF administrative and propaganda support, the ANF has also attempted to established a branch in Melbourne. [8]

[edit] Activities

In 2004 the NZNF conducted a protest against Asian influence and immigration in Christchurch city, with other public meetings and pickets nationwide. At a planned "Anti-ZOG" (Zionist Occupied Government) event in the nation's capital on August 14, 2004 the Front organised ten picketers to protest an anti-racism meeting. [9]

Recent demonstrations by the National Front include:

Waitangi Day: Wellington and Auckland held demonstrations against the Treaty of Waitangi and the alleged privileges Māori enjoy relative to Pākehā. Māori and Pacific Islanders suffer from below average wages, housing, and health.
Protests against Free Trade Agreement with China
Protest Against Parliamentarians for Global Action World Law Conference.

On October 23, 2004, the National Front held a protest in Wellington in support of retaining the current New Zealand Flag, which was attended by an estimated 45 persons. A 3000-strong demonstration was organised by the MultiCultural Aotearoa coalition to expose the Nazi sympathies of the National Front. Over 200 demonstrators from the anti-fascist march chased and cornered National Front members, injuring one.(pictured right) was hurt. [10] [11] One National Front member said "The white revolution starts here and now," but, according to the "New Zealand Herald", Kyle Chapman complained the following day of "insufficient police protection". [12]. Kyle Chapman also complained that the police had not arrested more of the anti-racists.

In mid 2004, a number of attacks on immigrants and attacks on Jewish property and grave stones were blamed on racist skinheads associated with the Front. The NZNF denied involvement, and although one arrest was made, charges were later dropped due to lack of evidence. British World War Two historian and Nazi sympathizer David Irving offered a US$5,000 reward for information leading to an arrest, claiming that the vandal was most likely a deranged Jew. [13]

The National Front claims to have benefitted from favourable media coverage, with Kyle Chapman telling the Dominion newspaper that "the media is our best recruiter". National Radio host Linda Clark, claiming the need to "give a voice to all New Zealanders", has interviewed both Chapman and Irving, as well as Australian One Nation founder Pauline Hanson. It was on Clark's show that Irving accused local Jews of desecrating their own cemetery.

In July 2005, two members of the NZNF were arrested for allegedly unlawfully possessing a firearm and presenting a firearm [14]. The same two people were arrested a few weeks earlier for allegedly vandalising Auckland mosques following the 7 July 2005 London bombings [15].

[edit] Website

The NZNF operates a website to promote the party. It lists party policies, and has downloadable member application forms. The website had previously offered a few free downloads of flyers, and had links to an affilited forum and other affiliated groups. NZNF's website also previously offered for sale T-shirts, hats, and books on topics of interest to NZNF members, some written by Kerry Bolton. Among the flyers for sale were those titled: "Abortion is genocide", "Zionism is Racist", "NZ Workers sacrificed to coolie labour", and "Family – Folk – Nation". The list of books that were for sale included: The Kosher Connection: Drugs, Israel, Gangsters & Zionism; Protocols of the Elders of Zion; We of the white Race – the Coming New Reformation; Madison Grant's The Passing of the Great Race; Lothrop Stoddard's Rising Tide of Colour; and Adam: the First white Man.

[edit] Criticism & opposition

The National Front is seen by many as a fascist or neo-Nazi group, and has previously had problems with police. One member was videotaped in 2004 declaring, "I'm a Nazi and I'm fucking proud of it too."

The NZNF website and an affiliated web forum, NZpolitics, have been hacked repeatedly. Perhaps the first attack was made in late 2004 by a hacker claiming affiliation with the BlackMask Collective. The hackers do so as the National Front is a fascist, racist organisation. [16], [17]

The National Front has also been the subject of attention from the weblog community. Australian blogger Matt Henderson-Hau's coverage of NZNF activities led to the formation of FightDemBack (FDB), a group which specifically focuses on the NZNF and related organisations.