Harold Covington

Harold Covington
Born (1953-09-14)September 14, 1953
Burlington, North Carolina, U.S.
Died July 14, 2018 (aged 64)
Bremerton, Washington, U.S.
Occupation Blogger
Known for Neo-Nazi political advocacy
Military career
Allegiance  United States of America
Years of service 1971–1973

Harold Armstead Covington (September 14, 1953 – July 14, 2018)[1][2] was an American neo-Nazi[3] activist and writer. He was active in white nationalism in the United States and United Kingdom since the 1970s. Covington advocated the creation of an "Aryan homeland" in the Pacific Northwest (known as the Northwest Territorial Imperative),[4] and was the founder of the Northwest Front, a website which seeks to promote white separatism.[5]

Early life (1953-1971)

Harold Covington was born in Burlington, North Carolina in 1953. He was the oldest of 3 children. In 1968, at age 15, he was sent to Chapel Hill high school.[6]

In 1971, he graduated high school and joined the United States Army.[1]

Early political activities and life in Rhodesia and South Africa (1971-1976)

In 1971, Harold Covington joined the National Socialist White People’s Party, the political successor to the American Nazi Party.[1] He moved to South Africa in December 1973,[7] after his discharge from the US Army, and later to Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe).[8] Covington was a founding member of the Rhodesian White People's Party, and later claimed to have served in the Rhodesian Army.[8] He was deported from Rhodesia in 1976, after sending threatening letters to a Jewish congregation.[8]

In 1974, he worked for a construction company in Johannesburg, South Africa for about six months, and then went to Rhodesia and joined the Rhodesian Army. According to Covington, he was deported from Rhodesia in 1976 for his activities with the proto-NS Rhodesia White People's Party.[6]

Political activities after returning from Rhodesia

In 1980, while leader of the NSWPP, he lost a primary election for the Republican nomination for candidates for attorney general of North Carolina.[9] Covington resigned as president of the Nazi Party in 1981.[10] That same year, Covington alleged a connection between the Nazi Party and would-be presidential assassin John W. Hinckley. However, law enforcement authorities were never able to corroborate Hinckley's alleged connection to Nazism.[11]

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.[12]

In 1994, Covington restarted the National Socialist White People's Party (NSWPP) in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. He launched a website in 1996, and used the nickname "Winston Smith" (taken from the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four), becoming one of the first neo-Nazi presences on the Internet.[13][14]

Using the pseudonym Winston Smith, Covington published Holocaust denial material.[15] Beginning in 2005, Covington maintained a political blog titled "Thoughtcrime".[16] Covington also wrote several occult-themed novels.[17][18]

Covington was mentioned in the media in connection with the Charleston church 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 supporting organized revolution).[19]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Lenz, Ryan (July 25, 2018). "Harold Covington, founder of white separatist group, dies at 64". Southern Poverty Law Center. Retrieved 26 July 2018.
  2. ↑ Donner, Andreas (24 July 2018). "On the death of Harold Covington". Retrieved 24 July 2018.
  3. ↑ Murhpy, Dan (18 June 2015). "Why would an American white supremacist be fond of Rhodesia?". Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved 27 March 2016.
  4. ↑ 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.
  5. ↑ NorthwestFront.org. Retrieved June 6, 2012.
  6. 1 2 Johnson, Greg. "Interview with Harold Covington". Counter-Currents Publishing. Retrieved 26 July 2018.
  7. ↑
  8. 1 2 3 Codename Greenkil: The 1979 Greensboro Killings – p.46. Elizabeth Wheaton via Google books. Retrieved July 23, 2011.
  9. ↑ "Nazi Loses in Republican Primary". Reading Eagle via Google News. May 7, 1980. Retrieved February 18, 2013.
  10. ↑ "N.C.Nazi Chief Quits". The Sumter Daily via Google News. March 27, 1981. Retrieved July 23, 2011.
  11. ↑ "Doubts grow over Hinkley's nazi ties". Hendersonville Times-News via Google News. April 2, 1981. Retrieved July 23, 2011.
  12. ↑ "antisem/archive". Institute for Jewish Policy Research. September 1998. Archived from the original on July 13, 2015. Retrieved July 23, 2011.
  13. ↑ "Hate on the Internet: The Anti-Defamation League Perspective – Statement of Anti-Defamation League before the Senate Judiciary Committee". Hatemonitor.csusb.edu via Waybackmachine. September 14, 1999. Archived from the original on January 3, 2008. Retrieved July 23, 2011.
  14. ↑ 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.
  15. ↑ Gardell, Mattias (2003). Gods of the blood : the pagan revival and white separatism. Durham: Duke university press. p. 106. ISBN 9780822330714. Retrieved 26 July 2018.
  16. ↑ Tsai, Robert (2014). America's Forgotten Constitutions: Defiant Visions of Power and Community. Harvard University Press. p. 338. ISBN 978-0674059955.
  17. ↑ "Internet Archive Search: Harold Covington". Retrieved February 18, 2013.
  18. ↑ "Neo-Nazi Harold Covington Authors Cheesy Occult Novels". Southern Poverty Law Center. Summer 2003. Retrieved July 23, 2011.
  19. ↑ "White supremacist calls Charleston 'a preview of coming attractions'".

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