NCJ Number
191741
Journal
Intelligence Report Issue: 103 Dated: Fall 2001 Pages: 14-23
Editor(s)
Mark Potok
Date Published
2001
Length
10 pages
Annotation
This article focuses on the American Friends of the British National Party (AFBNP), an extremist group associated with American hate groups.
Abstract
The AFBNP is operated out of a small apartment in Falls Church, Virginia, by a British expatriate named Mark Cotterill who is uniting a significant number of American extremist factions to raise funds for the neofascist British National Party (BNP). The AFBNP has provided a meeting ground for hate groups such as the neo-Nazi National Alliance and the more mainstream, neo-Confederate League of the South. Frequent gatherings of these groups has helped them see eye-to-eye on certain issues. “Entryism” into the mainstream is an uncommon strategy for American extremists who usually have rejected working within the system. During the last presidential race, the AFBNP nearly succeeded in its strategy to “infiltrate” and “hijack” several state chapters of the Reform Party. The money that Cotterill’s group raised for the BNP, donated in possible violation of both British and American law, contributed to the most successful campaign in the history of Britain’s most dangerous extreme-right party. In all, Cotterill claims to have 100 dues-paying members in 40 states, with 1,000 people receiving his email newsletter – people who are among the most active on the American white supremacist right. Cotterill’s past includes the bitter sectarian conflict of Northern Ireland and the early days of the British neo-Nazi Skinhead movement. His deferential style has been instrumental in smoothing over differences between America’s contentious extremist factions. His style also has been important for putting a new public face on hatred. He has worked patiently to make white nationalism palatable for public consumption.