Unrest Productions, Hate Speech or Art?
Unrest Productions is a Hampshire based record label run by Martin Wilford. The type of records the label specialises in distributing and creating is a genre called power electronics, occasionally noise music and its many sub genres. As a genre Power Electronics is no stranger to offensive and extreme imagery. Early pioneers of the genre used serial killers and Nazi images as a means to shock and provoke questions to the audience in an artistic and academic sense. Over the years power electronics has changed in a way that is common amongst underground scenes.
One example is the ‘Blood and Honour’ movement started by Ian Stuart Donaldson of ‘Skrewdriver’ infamy. In this case punk music was used a vehicle to spreading a message of hate and prejudice against foreign minorities in the British Isles and Europe. The supporting festivals that took place were called ‘Rock against Communism’ but this is a cover for the real message of hate speech. Is a festival of this nature taking place in two events in London in 2014? Recently members of the public who were outraged by this ‘United Forces Of Industrial Festival’ premise, were able to have the event shut down.
The Dalston Victoria was unaware of Unrest Productions ideology and stood firm in their decision to not proceed with hosting the event. Now the event is taking place at the Apiary(See festival flyer), a second gig is taking place at Ryan’s Bar(See flyer), while both of these flyers seem harmless the venues seem totally unaware/oblivious of the background history of Unrest Productions.
One such release from the label is by an artist called ‘Pogrom’. The Artist ‘Pogrom’ is one man band Levas, residing in Sweden, not to be confused with the Greek neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn’s favourite band also called ‘Pogrom’. Just so we're clear, a Pogrom is a reference to a riot aimed at massacre or persecution of an ethnic or religious group. Significant pogroms in the Russian Empire included the Odessa pogroms, Warsaw pogrom (1881), Kishinev pogrom (1903), Kiev Pogrom (1905), and Białystok pogrom (1906), and, after the 1917 Russian Revolution, the Lwów pogrom (1918) and Kiev Pogroms (1919). The most significant pogrom of modern times took place in Nazi Germany and was called the Kristallnacht of 1938 in which 91 Jews were killed, a further 30,000 arrested and subsequently incarcerated in concentration camps 1,000 synagogues burned, and over 7,000 Jewish businesses destroyed or damaged. Pogroms album cover is reminiscent of not only WWII anti-Semitic propaganda, as popularised in Julian Streicher’s Nationalist magazine of the forties, but in modern Anti-Islamic literature also. The inscribed message can be seen on the Unrest Facebook page for all to see. The message itself sounds very close to the current ‘Intellectual’ diatribe promoted by the far right movement known as ‘Generation Identity’. The image is of a naked burka adorned female with various parts of her body referencing countries that appear to have been ‘taken over’. The message makes this reference all clear and how highly racist its intent. This is the type of music being sold from this country by this record label. Also playing the festival is the Birmingham based power electronics artist, ‘Iron Fist Of The Sun’. Frontman Lee Howard had plenty to say on the subject of race and pro-heritage in a recent edition of Special Interest magazine.
“My political views are extremely right winged. I have respect for other cultures and races but not at the cost of my own land. My views on my homeland and race pertain to a ‘Pro-heritage’ stance.’ The wording is very carefully used without paraphrasing the usual Nationalist terminology. Homeland and Heritage crop up again and again in Nationalist literature.
Unrest Productions currently have this item for sale in their online store(See image). Streicher, Ulex Xane is a well-known power electronics artist from Australia who has adopted the skinhead culture and lifestyle in his work.
You can see the image used here and the reference to ‘White Power Electronics’ here. Streicher has a release called 'Juda Verrecke,' The Nazi slogan was 'Juda verrecke,' 'perish Judah,' not 'emigrate Judah.' The full meaning of 'Juda Verrecke' is lost in English translation. It is akin to perishing like a 'lice-ridden cur'. Nazi leaders, among them Josef Goebbels, Julius Streicher, and Hans Frank, frequently described Jews as vermin in need of extermination. The questions remain, how long can Unrest Productions carry on producing this type of merchandise in the United Kingdom? How long can these types of festivals take place?
‘Rock Against Communism’ is totally underground, whereby ‘United Forces Of Industrial’ seems to flaunt this ideology freely. Art or Hate speech?
Actually a stupid article but someone who obviously doesn't do their research and makes assumptions.
One of the fliers on there is of my band, BLJ. We are a band about the gay leather scene. Yeah, that really fits in with the subject of the article. PLEASE!!! RESEARCH!!!!