(Start with White Vanguard Part 1)
As we mentioned before, Youth Alliance had close connections to Tommy Robinson’s team through the group Patriots of Britain.
They had made links with the South East Division; a football core coming out of the Democratic Football Lads Alliance (DFLA) protests.
South East Divsion was created with the intent to disrupt and target left wing events and activists. The South East Division took Youth Alliance activists on their outings, and both groups would actively engage in violence.
Youth Alliance was also close to Turning Point UK, and their activists attended events at the London Cenotoph and in Portsmouth.
Through Turning Point UK, Youth Alliance were able to link up to far right groups like Rushmoor People First in Aldershot, and the various Patriot groups along the South Coast – many of which Turning Point had a helping hand in creating.
Youth Alliance expanded into the north when it combined its activists with those of the “North East Frontline”, a small far right youth group of football lads primarily based around Newcastle.
Before its radicalisation and decline, Youth Alliance had a large base of support and strong connections, and this could’ve seen the group grow quickly.
White Vanguard, despite the potential drawbacks of being associated with Youth Alliance and their various connections and controversies, did manage to make some connections in more hardcore ethnonationalist spaces that we can discuss.
As Hope Not Hate have written, the group was connected to the National Socialist Network. This was a Neo-nazi group operating out of Australia; a by-product of the Iron March forum.
Founding members of White Vanguard had been establishing communication with the group’s leadership – mainly Jacob Hersant – and were trying to learn from their tactics.
Alongside this, White Vanguard members had also tried to join Vanguard Britannica, and appeared to have former Vanguard Britannica members among their ranks.
Another group mentioned recently was the Creativity Movement, founded by Ben Klasson who was accused of molesting young boys. One of White Vanguard’s members was part of this “religion”, and would often push others to get involved.
One of the most significant relations White Vanguard developed was with the British Movement – White Vanguard did one of its first actions with them. They posed for photos together at a event in London that saw both groups come together. A couple of White Vanguard members also held joint membership.
However, within White Vanguard, the British Movement were criticised for not becoming paramilitary. With recruiting from the armed forces, and attempts to collect and stockpile weapons, White Vanguard definitely seems to have set out on a path towards violent terror.
So White Vanguard held a lot of contempt towards the British Movement. They were criticised for being an unorganized mess of drunk skinheads, which is not exactly untrue, but it is a bit rich coming from a group of teenagers who only a year ago were attending Zionist rallies.
We then have the off and on situation with the National Rebirth Party. While it was the Youth Alliance, relations were quite close. The group saw the party as one of the best chances of getting a nationalist party into Parliament, with their interests at heart.
Things soon soured, however, with accusations being made towards National Rebirth party leader Alek Yerbury for his ineffectiveness, while Yerbury in turn accused Kai Cunningham of being a “Walter Mitty”.
There were many members of National Rebirth Party (NRP) within the group, including 2 members of the London branch, as well as the son of an NRP branch organiser.
Despite this, White Vanguard began to focus in on two individuals within the NRP that were not affiliated with White Vanguard. One we previously mentioned became subject to what can only be described as sexual harassment and online stalking.
The other was a member of the London branch that White Vanguard took great pleasure in bullying and targeting over a period of months. No action appears to have been taken by the National Rebirth Party, or White Vanguard, to target or criticise the members that sit within both organisations so far.
After these connections, linking up with active terror groups wasn’t far behind. A friend of one of the White Vanguard activists joined the Radikalewaffen Division. Though not yet a proscribed group, the group takes from the tendency that The Base and the Atomwaffen Division spawned.
Soon, White Vanguard found itself in space alongside multiple accelerationist groups. Warnings were given, and even though White Vanguard seems to be following the same trajectory, they attempted, and still attempt, to try and avoid the same fate such groups will often encounter.
A couple of White Vanguard members are also part of the Scottish White Front. They are a small nazi accelerationist group primarily made up of young skinheads mainly based around Glasgow.
Not very much information exists about this group except of a small group “looking for reds”, and some nationalist graffiti. The Scottish White Front organizer inside White Vanguard gave us a small insight into the group, including its size and organizing platform.
One of the organizers of scottish White Front was later removed from White Vanguard for apparent “dodgy behaviour”.
Finally we get to the other Youth Alliance split, “Football Lads Protecting Britain”. Similar to the National Rebirth Party, White Vanguard members just couldn’t leave their petty hates alone and trolled the group long after the split.
With Archi Redding as a part of White Vanguard, he tricked the Football Lads members into thinking he was with them during the split. He then deliberately caused the group to descend into infighting, removing people he claimed were infiltrating the group.
All the while, he was sending screenshots of the chat to White Vanguard, which led to hours of ridicule. At one point a member called Lew was blamed for the leaks, and subsequently removed by Archi himself.
This was then screenrecorded and sent to White Vanguard. In what can only be described as a massive L on their part, through the trolling we ended up with the identities and phone numbers of 11 members without even stepping foot inside their chat.
So great work White Vanguard – your work has so far helped us research more groups than we could’ve ever hoped for! We were just hoping to get to you, but you gave us so much more.
Tomorrow our next thread will finally begin to detail some of the members, as well as those attempting to join that we were able to identify.
If you have any information on White Vanguard or on some of their members feel free to email us at antifascistresearchcollective161@riseup.net