BRIGADE M

BRIGADE M Interviewed by Flavio Goncalves, Portugal

First off, let me just tell you that this is our first “post-mortem” interview, as Brigade M ended in 2005 after 10 years on the road. Are you sure the concerts you will be giving this summer are the final ones? Why keep gigging after you declared that the band had ended?

What a question to start with, ‘hello’ to you and all. Well, Brigade M stopped end of 2005 after archieving everything I intended to do but a planned tour with Fraction and Zetazeroalfa couldn't go through, so when I was asked by Fraction to organise a gig for them in the Netherlands I took my chance and asked the others about a short tour with only national revolutionary bands. As for the last gig .... maybe one final one in Germany, since the gig there was forbidden by the police and had to be moved and never went as planned. But apart from that, no more Brigade M.

Your final statements after a 10-year career seemed quite depressing, or at the very least frustrating, albeit very true. Norberto Ceresole once said there is no change coming soon to Europe, what do you think? Do we have the human material for a Revolution in Europe?

Not in Western-Europe that's for sure. Our saviour must come from the Eastern European peoples, who still have their pride and loyalty. But it has to come soon 'cause their youth is also being poisoned fast by Coca Cola, Mtv and McDonalds.

One of your songs that made us laugh out loud was your version of “Wicky the Wicking” (which, by the way, also airs here in Portugal), how did that come about?

It was actualy also the nickname for our former guitarist Jan and he proposed to play the tune to the great cartoon series, like the German band Störkraft had recorded it for their fist album back in the 90's. So the real credit has to go to them, but it's always a great tune to play live 'cause the crowd goes wild.

Holland is viewed as the most liberal country there is, not just in Europe but almost worldwide, does the band have a stand on drug liberalisation? Do you live in a free, democratic, country?

Well, to me personally as a sXe, everything from heroine to alcohol, coffee and black tea to chocolate is drugs 'cause it can be addictive. Drugs are as dangerous to the common public as alcohol-free sex and democracy. And since most nationalists like to live dangerously I'm happy there's some sort of 'taboo' on drugs 'cause otherwise we'd have even more problems. And no, we do not live in a free land. In the bad old days I used to be secretary of a national democratic party like the NPD in Germany or Vlaams Belang in Belgium, but the party got banned by some stupid so-called ‘anti-racism’ law. Also, it is forbidden to sell a book like Mein Kampf here, as if any sane member of the public would become a nazi terrrorist if they would read the boring stuf that's in there. We are treated like little children by 'Daddy State' and in the meantime they let all kind of idiots vote that only know what others have told them and aren't capable of thinking for themselves. But, then again, these are the ideal citizens for the ruling class.

Even though patriotism in most European countries is linked to right-wing politics you had the courage to issue a t-shirt with Che Guevara on it, how did the other nationalists react to that? And what inspired you to do that?

First things first, the design came from the French 'Jeunesse Resistance' I think. We liked the idea here, which on the one hand took the mickey out of the 'lefties' and on the other hand Guevara was a revolutionary not only with words, but also through deeds and, whereas his former comrades turned 'bourgois', he went to Africa to spread the revolution and that's what I admire about him. Of course, most 'right-wingers' can't take the joke but who cares, humour is a mighty weapon in the hands of those who know how to use it.

Historically, nationalism and even fascism had left-wing roots (Strasser, Mussolini, Peron), why do they insist on calling us right-wingers since the end of World War II?

It's pure propganda; left-wing is fashionable and the commies never occupied Western-Europe or murdered millions of people here, so it’s very easy to slander national-revolutionaries by calling them nazis or reactionary right-wingers.

Can you talk to us a little about Erich Wichmann? He sounds like one of the first National-Anarchists… Did you know that many anarchists and communists joined Mussolini?

Wichmann was a writer, sculptor and well-known anarcho-fascist in the 20's. He was sort of elitist, anti-democratic and pulled some great stunts, such as getting a well-known alcoholic and beggar elected for an anti-Establishment party and disturbing a live socialist radio show by shouting monarchist slogans on the first of May, although, of course, he wasn't monarchist at all. He wrote some great stuff but was tradically killed by a fatal bout of flu after helping out at a flooding.

The former Soviet party in Russia today is one of the most nationalist parties we can think off, a lot of what they do over there in Russia would be labeled “fascist” if they were doing it on this side of the former Iron Curtain. Chavez and Marcos seem more nationalist these days than any right-wingers we know of. Since the collapse of the USSR, can we still view communists as part of the system?

As most leading Antifa are commies, we always have to keep an eye on them. The former USSR and Chavez play the nationalist card just to keep support among their followers and to win the heart of the man in the street. I admire Chavez' struggle with the Bush administration but can he keep his promises and in the meantime be a real revolutionary without becoming a 'fascist' dictator?

Even in Germany the communist party is starting to attack mass immigration laws, hardcore communists like Horst Mahler joined the NPD and Oskar La Fontaine, a mainstream communist, is now labelled as some sort of National-Bolshevik… You work in a factory, so that makes you working class, so doesn’t it piss you off that no matter how poor you are, when you claim you’re a patriot people always charge you with being a right-winger and, by proxy, a capitalist, a bourgeois or an adventurer?

These are the same propaganda tactics used by communists. But even they have to admit that more and more working class families vote for nationalist parties like the Front National, the NPD and Vlaams Belang. They simply feel betrayed by their leaders who give more importance to immigrants and who themselves have never worked with their hands. And let's face it, most workers are very traditional and don't want any part in gay rights, feminism or free drugs - all things that the extreme-left have made a priority above workers rights.

There was a major uproar regarding the G8 meeting in Germany and unsurprisingly one week later no big uproar was made over the Bilderberg meeting in Turkey, which involved the real bosses of G8. How do you interpret this? Are the mainstream anarchist and anti-globalisation people misguided?

When you talk of Bilderberger, do you mean the Zionist conspiracy, 'cause that's what turns people off and gives the capitalists a stick to hit us with? And, of course, Bilderberg conferences are kept pretty secret. The demonstrations around G8 are becoming a powerless tradition that gives the police an opportunity to monitor the strength and personnel of the opposition.

Brigade M is Identitarian, what does that mean in Holland??

This is your trip, right? And yes, apart from NR we would call ourselves identitarian, for our identity is the only bond that we have! ‘Nationalist’ relates too much to a ‘nation’ whereas this word has multiple interpretations. A nation as a ‘people’ or a nation as a ‘country’. Both are dictated by powers who made the borders and I relate more to a group of people who have the same cultural, historical and ethnic identity. There are a lot of people who call themselves ‘identitarian’ and even some nazis say it now to avoid problems with the justice department. The fact that certain (mostly) French identitarians have called for a strong stand against Islam doesn’t make them Euro-Zionists, comrade.

I disagree, but fair enough. In his latest books, the identitarian Guillaume Faye attacks revisionism for being an ally of Islam which is constituted by political imbeciles and claims anti-revisionist laws are bad because they end up promoting revisionism and disturbing our ‘allies’, Jews and Israel. This type of identitarianism promotes an alliance with Zionism.

I haven't read Faye's latest book so I can only comment on what you tell me. Personally, I think revisionism is a very dangerous thing which will mostly lead to convictions and the public condemning otherwise good political ideas on the bais of what the mass media feeds them. On the subject of 'our allies' being the Zionist entity and the chosen few, they are as much an enemy to me as Muslims and Christians. So if Faye really turned down that road he's bound to be regarded as anti-European and therefore no Identitarian.

You visited Lybia in 1995 as a guest of the regime, what did you think of the country?

Back then the country was the pariah of the world. It suffered under economic boycotts and was only able to survive because of its rich oil-reserves. It struck me that there were far less police and army around in Tunisia at that time, which lies west of Libya and which we were travelling through on our way to Tripoli. Furthermore, the women were bare-headed (well, the vast majority) and the people were very friendly. But a lot of young people were complaining about the boycott and the fact there were no parties, no Western TV etc. I think that’s the main reason Gadaffi gave in to the pressure of the US to disband the nuclear programme and become a “good boy”. The ideas of The Green Book have held my interest for years and years and I still think it’s possible to govern a country in the way that the people have the power from the bottom to the top, controlling their representatives in special meetings. But this can only be done in a semi-prosperous society where the people have the strength to overcome their desire for luxury, and where solidarity will win over individuality.

I guess that’s it, thank you for wasting your time attending exotic left-wingers as ourselves, any final words?

Always question the people who claim to represent you! Oderint dum Metuant (Let them hate, so long as they fear).