The influencers of Finnish NS music, part 1: Sami Haavisto of Northern Brotherhood and Horror Shop

This article is part of a series about Finland’s national socialist music scene. We offer now an English version of the text due to several requests. The English version has been amended slightly from the original to give some basic details of the events, people and other information described that might not be familiar to people outside Finland. This text was first published in Finnish by Finnish anti-fascist network Varis in 2018. Sami Haavisto is also the producer of the “Antifa – kill’ em all show no mercy” shirt that Nergal of Behemoth recently showed off on his Instagram and caused a scandal, which the “apolitical” singer tried to brush off.

Since this article was published, a few things have happened: the Northern Brotherhood blog was taken offline and Haavisto has been boycotted by some events, such as Saarihelvetti and the Lumous gothic festival in Tampere. This has also shown that many in the black metal community are more than happy to co-operate with Haavisto as long as it doesn´t hurt business: like long time organizer Metallihelvetti ry, the people behind “Turku Saatanalle” black metal festival. We wrote about Metallihelvetti in 2017, when they booked Nazi bands Naer Mataron (GRE) and Sielunvihollinen for their festival and had to cancel them when the venue and media found out. In 2019, Horror Shop was scheduled to sell merchandise at the festival but Turku venue Kåren cancelled the whole festival, and Haavisto was not seen at the replacement venue Logomo due to the bad PR the he had attracted to the festival. However, in the 2020 edition of Turku Saatanalle held at a remote horse race track, Horror Shop was once more welcome to participate:

Sami Haavisto, a long-time subcultural active and the owner of the store “Horror Shop” has recently made headlines due to his neo-fascist blog writings and for sale of Nazi merchandise. Haavisto is the registered owner of S-Art Sami Haavisto Ky. through which has the rights to brands “Horror Shop”, “Northern Brotherhood”, “Blood Ceremony Films” and “Tattoo Dungeon”. Through Horror Shop he also sells products related to European pagan culture under the brand name True Viking Shop. Horror Shop’s physical location is in Konala, Helsinki, in Ristipellontie 14.

The terror-loving Northern Brotherhood

Haavisto’s controversial posts on the “Northern Brotherhood” online clothing store’s blog were published during October to December of 2017. The writings themselves offered nothing new or exceptional – they are simplified neo-fascist propaganda mirroring the current trends in the movement, and are a clear reflection on the thoughts of the neo-fascist movement. The texts are decorated with paramilitary imagery. The aim of the blog seems to be simple: “patriots” must engage in an armed uprising against “the ideology of tolerance” and “traitors”. All the blog posts included themes of resistance and national awakening, right from the first one:

”Wake up Europe, the evening of battle is near. Be prepared to defend your family, people and bloodline! Even if you hate the government in charge, do not despair and surrender, because that is what they want you to do! Love your country, people, relatives and roots. And above all, be ready to fight for them because nobody else will do it for you!

(Excerpt from the Northern Brotherhoodin blog October 1st, 2017, translated from Finnish)

In the blog, Haavisto was “preaching to the choir”, using the self-defined vocabulary and neologisms of the far-right like “Cultural Marxism” and “financial overlords” without further explanation. The reader is expected to understand the terminology and share his values and prejudices, creating an illusion of belonging to a righteous avant-garde and inner circle that cannot be understood nor criticized by outsiders. Jussi Halla-Aho (leader of the Finns Party) uses the same style of writing in his blog Scripta. Furthermore, Haavisto was trying to present the Northern Brotherhood as some sort of nationalist forum and part of a broader movement. The subtitle of the blog was [translated from Finnish]: “Opinions and declarations, thoughts of our brothers!” [“Mielipiteitä ja julistuksia, veljiemme ajatuksia!”] even though it was clear that all the posts were written by Haavisto and not a “brotherhood”. It is also a common neo-fascist idea that only men (“brothers”) are subjects and thinkers while women are rarely or never visible.

The clothing sold at Northern Brotherhood was in line with the propaganda and presented as “revolutionary clothes for uncompromising heralds of a new era”. This goes on in the blog:

”A t-shirt is a declaration, a moving banner with a message. The message is heard throughout Europe and scream: “WE HAVE HAD ENOUGH”

(excerpt from the Northern Brotherhood blog, October 2nd 2017. Translated from Finnish)

In the blog’s very first post (October 1st, 2017) the enemy was declared to be the government, but the list of enemies grew in later posts to include other common fascist conspiracy theories: multi-culturalism, degeneracy and state media (October 30th 2017), European federalism (October 2nd 2017), the ideology of tolerance, immigrants, the left, democracy (October 9th 2017) and “the political police” (November 6th 2017). Haavisto often wrote about his readers as “us” in the blog, generally referring to other “nationalists” and the ethnonationalist right-wing but also National Socialists (October 30th 2017).

This political dichotomy was further explained by him in the blog post “Nykyajan soturit” (“The warriors of today”):

”This war is not only a war between races and cultures or “the left” and “the right”. It is fundamentally a war between different perceptions of humanity. Democracy, human rights and equality are terms that they wished to make into universal indisputable truths. In reality, we have always had another co-existing worldview, ”Weltanschaung”, in Europe from ancient times all the way from Plato into Maistre, Nietszsche and Evola. According to them, quantity does not equal quality and every “voice” is not equally important. According to this, the weak and unable should not control the strong like in democracies. The existence of this worldview is being obscured today and everything similar to it is called “Nazi” or “fascist”.

(Northern Brotherhood blog, October 9th, 2017. Translated from Finnish)

In the same blog post Haavisto explains the concept of “warrior spirit”, borrowed from the fascist theorist Julius Evola, hoping that the readers would take the role of sort of a national freedom fighter. After this, he continues to write about different forms of resistance, encouraging “nationalists” to reject “honest fighting” and instead perform acts of terror. Finally, Haavisto ends the blog post with threatening visions of “the last battle” and the “survival of our people” which is typical fascist rhetoric used to encourage and justify nationalist acts of terror.

Honest fighting is no longer possible since our opponents no longer put themselves in such situations. Everybody should consider what tactics are available; infiltration among the enemy lines, surprise attacks, “lone wolf tactics” and the creation of “cells” et cetera. This is the age of the final battle because there will no second chances now. The future of our people is depending on us, the warriors of today.

(Northern Brotherhood blog, October 9th, 2017. Translated from Finnish)

In the blog post titled “You can try to silence us but you will not succeed” (October 30th 2017) Haavisto returned to the same theme in an effort to legitimize and justify terrorism. He compared neo-fascist attempts at revolution with the national liberation struggle of the IRA which is another trend among European fascists today. Haavisto describes the ”nationalists” as an oppressed minority in their own country, forced to use terrorist methods against “multiculturalism and degeneracy” when the political police are repressing people of the “wrong opinion”. Haavisto also mentioned a few some examples of repressed Finnish fascists, like Juha Kärkkäinen (owner of the Kärkkäinen store in northern Finland and the antisemitic paper Magneettimedia) and the Nordic Resistance Movement.

There are many historical examples of people and territories that have had to resort to radical actions such as bombings and political assassinations after having been cast away from society. The effect might not be immediate: the public reaction to these have initially been negative, but as the actions continue people will become more understanding with time. The goal is to create conditions necessary for a revolution. As society become more insecure, the more receptive people will be to a new alternative.

(Northern Brotherhood blog October 30th 2017. Translated from Finnish)

In the same blog post, Haavisto encourage “nationalist warriors” to believe in victory in the coming war against “the enemy”. He describe how repression against ”nationalists” increase but that it will fail since it will only increase the spirit of “nationalists” and people will join the resistance. He also describes “nationalism” and National Socialism as similar – which Haavisto probably believe them to be:

The more we are demonized, the more nationalist and national socialist ideology will interest the new generation […] And the more we are repressed, the more dangerous of an enemy we will become.

(Northern Brotherhood blog October 30^th, 2017. Translated)

Similar remarks can surprisingly often be heard from people the are anti-racist in theory. According to them, fascists should not be given attention since it only encourages them. If one does not encounter racism in one´s own life it can be easy to treat reality like the internet, with a “don´t feed the troll” logic. But the National Socialist society that had the most success was actually built since there was a silent minority.

In his blog posts on October 30th and November 6th 2017, Haavisto wrote that society is close to an inevitable collapse and a European civil war. From the ashes of this destruction a new, ethnically pure and like-minded nation (and continent) will rise. This chain of events is described as an organic and cyclic process or a force of nature, and Haavisto is inspired by the pseudo-scientific Social Darwinism and Nazi esotericism that have inspired countless of fascists through the ages. Haavisto´s writings about an ”unnatural, rotten and degenerate” society as opposed to the natural and healthy is a schoolbook example of fascist rhetoric, legitimizing fascist actions and in this context the armed “nationalist resistance”.

The visions presented by Haavisto have been used by fascists throughout the ages and have a term of their own: palingenesis, the idea that society or humanity must return to an imaginary “golden age” of unity. In general, palingenesis is supposed to be achieved through some kind of (race) war or ethnic cleansing that unity “the people” and expel the “unnationalistic elements” (like ethnic minorities and the political left) from a certain geographic area. The best-known attempt at palingenesis is of course Nazi Germany and their politics inside and outside their borders.

We are inevitably approaching events whose end result might be the total or partial collapse of society. This should not be seen as a negative thing, since the strong will survive insecure times even if they are a minority. Likewise, the people that have degenerated and damaged society will be no longer be a burden to it due to evolution. On the ruins a new and better country can be built and instead of degenerate and superficial democracy it will be ruled by the real representatives of the people, not the creators of the rotten electorate system and organizations formed behind the veils. From the ashes we will build a nation state where the strong protect and not exploit the weak. From the ruins an independent country and people will rise, and we will have power over our own affairs, independent from the EU and other political powers. This land will be safe for our children and coming generations. This is the law of the birth, growth and destruction of civilizations. (Northern Brotherhood blog, October 30^th, 2017. Translated)

The blog posts on the Northern Brotherhood website are a call to action for the militant far-right, and similar messages have been proclaimed by far-right terrorists such as counter-jihadist Anders Behring Breivik (the mass murderer of Utøya, Norway) and white supremacist Timothy McVeigh (the Oklahoma bomber). The point of this propaganda is to encourage people to go from words to action. We wonder if any of the Finnish “brothers will answer the call of Sami Haavisto.

Horror Shop: baseball bats and Nazi clothing 

Haavisto´s fascist activity is not confined to the blog posts at the now defunct Northern Brotherhood site. Haavisto´s main business Horror Shop still sell clothing with Nazi or racist imagery as well as fascist records in the NSBM and RAC genres. Horror Shop also make blog posts and social media (Instagram and Facebook) content promoting neo-Nazi musical subcultures as well as Haavisto´s own political views. Below are some screenshots of Horror Shop products:

It is worth noting that Haavisto have a long history of collaboration with Finlands most known NSBM band Goatmoon as well as an arranger of black metal concerts under the name “Death Cult Club” at the now defunct (and Nazi sympathizing) Club PRKL in Helsinki.

Haavisto is practicing photography, drawing, tattooing, painting and graphic design and have designed several t-shirts and pins for Goatmoon as well as being the photographer for their “Stella Polaris” record. Horror Shop also sell Goatmoon records and merchandize. Several other well-known Finnish black metal bands such as Barathrum and Impaled Nazarene have also collaborated with Haavisto.

Death Club Cult was originally started in 2014 by Haavisto and Helsinki venue PRKL Club (known for having no problems with Nazi bands) as a way to arrange concerts and the second hand market event “El Chopo”. Haavisto also arranged a few black metal concerts at Vantaa venue Rockin´ Corner, including the islamophobic band Sielunvihollinen (featuring Matias Autio of Barathrum) on December 9th 2017, NS friendly bands White Death and Norrhem on February 10th 2018 and Sawhill Sacrifice (featuring Jani Laine, the main organizer of Steelfest) on March 17th 2018. All these bands also have business relationships with Haavisto. Haavisto have designed festival merchandize for Steelfest and defended their NSBM bookings as well as defending Sielunvihollinen against accusations of racism. Horror Shop also sell Norrhem LP:s and Sielunvihollinen merchandize.

In his previous blog “Diary of a Mad Man” and in the Horror Shop blog Haavisto is constantly complaining about the poverty and stressful life as a small business owner, and keeping a merch table at festivals is often mentioned as a good income. Haavisto and Horror Shop is often seen at different Finnish festivals selling merch, but especially at events that interest him personally: black metal and psychobilly concerts, pagan fairs, tattoo events and fringe movie festivals. Horror Shop keep a regular table at several events: Apocalyptic Rites, Steelfest, Turku Saatanalle, Saarihelvetti, Lintta Meet, Lumous Festival, Tavastia Stomp, Dark River, Night Visions and Howls of Winter (Tallinn). Horror Shop also run a well-stocked web store.

But Horror Shop does not only visit public concerts and festivals but also secret Nazi concerts. Haavisto sold merchandize at the “Pimeys yllä pyhän maan” festival in Lappeenranta on October 15^th, 2016. This secret event saw appearances from German NSBM band Leichenzug as well as Goatmoon, islamophobic Sielunvihollinen and local bands White Death and Nekrokrist SS who also have connections to the NS scene. Haavisto wrote a blog post two days later where he defended Sielunvihollinen and call the antifascist opponents “brats”. Haavisto also praised the Goatmoon concert; “During ´Vääräoppisen tuhovärssy´ I noticed many singing along and raising their arms”. The track is openly fascist and anti-Semitic and appear on Goatmoon – “Voitto or Valhalla” (2014). The lyrics are written by Sebastian “Devamitra” Porceddu from the band Dead Reptile Shrine.

Sorron ja hävityksen Jumalat

Saapukaa aroilta ja kankahilta

Henget ja haltiat epäluomat

Mellastakaa kuin riivatut hullut

Kun Taivas kalpenee

Ali-ihminen kuolee

Sataa ukon vasamia

Aurinko ja kotka

Maksuna väkivalta

Sorainen tie

Sotainen taival

Kohti siionia marssimme

Vannomme veristä satoa niittää

Kohti idän heimoja mittelöön

Luopiosta voittoa riemuitkaa jo

Sotasaappaan kärki halkoo viljaa

Kun veri ja sonta värjää maan

Kivääri leiskuu, tanner laulaa

Katseemme nousee

Kohti auringonpyörää

The lyrics about “sub-humans”, “tribes from the east” and Zion in this context refer to Jews (and partly to Muslims). The “sun wheel” and “eagle” (especially when mentioned together) are well-known Nazi symbols. The sun might refer directly to the “sun wheel” or in a more general sense since sun worship was common in many European pagan beliefs.

The violence and extinction mentioned is directed at the “sub-humans of Zion” – Zion is a common synonym for Israel and Jews while “sub-humans” (Untermensch) is a dehumanizing anti-Semitic term used already in the Third Reich. The reference to ”tribes from the east” often include all the Abrahamic religions (Jews, Muslims and to some extent Christians). In the European and American pagan fascist scenes these religions are enemies of a perceived Western culture and spirituality. The Abrahamic religions are also considered to be pre-Marxist humanist beliefs and opponents of the (anti-humanist) pagan fascist beliefs.

The subject position in these lyrics, the attacker, is constructed as a hybrid between a Nazi soldier and a pagan warrior, destroying sub-humans with modern warfare and divine assistance. The ”hammer of Thor” (Ukon vasama) is a reference to Thor, the god of thunder in Scandinavian mythology. The sun and sun wheel was mentioned earlier, and the eagle as a symbol of Nazi Germany where it was an official symbol of the state and party. The Third Reich eagle sitting atop a Swastika is one of the most popular symbols among neo-Nazis.

Haavisto also were present at a secret neo-Nazi concert in Turku called “Horst Wessel 110 years” on October 14^th, 2017. The lineup included RAC bands Civic Duty, Marder, Pylvanainen and Genocide Wolvews, all of which have members from the Nordic Resistance Movement (PVL). It is possible that Haavisto was invited to the concert by his good friend Jaakko Lähde (Goatmoon) who play drums in Marder. Haavisto published an Instagram post the day after with the hashtags #secretgig #skinhead #nsbm #goodfriends #fac (probably meant to be #rac). The picture show Haavisto posing with a skull scarf from Horror Shop. In the background several Nazi t-shirt and a Horst Wessel shirt with a line from “Horst Wessel Lied” and a swastika flag. Horst Wessel was the leader of the SA troops and was made a martyr for Nazi Germany shortly after being murdered in 1930. The song “Horst Wessel Lied” was made into the national anthem of Nazi Germany in 1933. In the back a few caps with the text “100% white”. 100% and 100% white are popular terms among neo-Nazis meaning that the wearer is a “pure Aryan”. Horror Shop does not sell these or the Horst Wessel shirt through the web shop, so it is possible that they are only for Nazi events or sold “under the counter”.

Horror Shop is also regular at the “Apocalyptic Rites” NSBM festival, arranged in Kuopio since 2015. The festival is arranged by Henri Hirvonen (Circle of Dawn) and others. In 2016, Horror Shop and the Finnish NSBM bands Goatmoon and Circle of Dawn were joined by US veterans Grand Belial´s Key. Haavisto wrote at the Horror Shop blog on August 29^th, 2016 that “the face masks and aluminum baseball bats sold out immediately”. The bats and skull masks were probably not bought for baseball but rather to pose in the style of American militant Nazis. Haavisto also published Instagram photos from the Apocalyptic Rites III festival on August 19th, 2017 with the hashtags #apocalypticrites #nsbm #normipäiväduunissa (“just another day at work”). In 2017 the festival included Goatmoon, Circle of Dawn, RAC band Vapaudenristi and fascist neofolk group Pyhä Kuolema.

Haavisto is also active on Vkontakte, a Russian platform similar to Facebook and popular among the Finnish far right since it does not sensor their “freedom of speech” like what Haavisto call “Jewbook” in anti-Semitic fashion. Haavisto´s writing on Vkontakte on June 27^th, 2017 (a few weeks before he started blogging at the Northern Brotherhood site) echo his later blog posts. Haavisto write that Europe “need a lot of cleansing/expulsion” and that “heads will roll and the streets bathe in blood”.

On Vkontakte he also praised far right musician Paddy Tarleton (one of Patrick Corcoran´s aliases) and the song “Charlottesville”. The track is full of the usual neo-Fascist propaganda about how “the Jewish elite”, police, mainstream media, sexual minorities and leftist conspire against “patriots” to commit “white genocide”. In the video for the song there is footage of the Charlottesville demonstration were neo-Fascist James Alex Fields Jr. drive his car into the anti-fascist demonstrators, killing Heather Heyer and wounding 35 anti-fascists. Haavisto call it a “Great song”.

The Jews’ Talmudic army swung toward us

And in the face of death, we had watched our old world sweat

Away and now our war is coming swiftly

Oh how you faggots screamed when you gathered on live-stream

Surrounding cars as they fled while you bragged

Till one of our wagoners drove his black Dodge Challenger

Straight through the horde and killed one of you scumbags

[chorus]

Come out you antifash, come out and get your faces smashed

Show the world how you take refuge in the system

Show ‘em how you cowards hide

Advocate white genocide

Cops and feds are all in bed with the reds

Despite Haavisto repeatedly expressing fascist views and having close personal connections to the fascist musical subculture he often tries to deny these facts. When accused of being a fascist he demands freedom of speech for his own views as well as the metapolitical level of the musical subcultures while he simultaneously accuse his opponents of being “sensitive” and “cultural fascists”. This is a typical far-right and alt-right tactic in debates with the intent to confuse, ignore or distort the arguments of opponents.

Since he has no arguments against it, it is no surprise that Haavisto have never once answered any of the accusations even though he is a busy blogger. Instead he always presents himself as a strong and confident “nationalist warrior” oppressed by the mainstream media and “cultural fascists”. This is a tactical choice as well; if he declared himself to be a fascist and racist, he would most likely get into trouble with the larger events and festivals Horror Shop is frequenting. The bigger events are important sources of income for the business owner, and a slightly improved reputation in Nazi circles would not make up for all the lost income. By walking the fence between the fascist and non-fascist subcultures, Haavisto is trying to maximize his number of customers without losing his credibility as a radical political figure.

An example of this is Haavisto´s blog post about the Nazi concert at Bar Rock Bear (then located in Vantaa, now in Korso) on the Independence Day in 2017, when Haavisto arranged the evening event together with (fascist web paper) Sarastus and their publishing house Kiuas, who arranged shuttle buses from the march in central Helsinki. We have written about the far-right “612” torch march and concerts in English here and here. In his blog post, Haavisto mocked the media (papers Helsingin Sanomat and Vantaan Sanomat) and wrote that their critical articles about the march were good advertising and that “heads will roll”.

Our numbers grow from year to year even if traitors slander us. What else can be expected from the forces that sell the independence of our country and use mainstream media in their propaganda warfare. But these methods also reveal the panic and fear among them, the fear that the people have awakened and notice what is going on. They see that it is no longer a small popular movement. No, people have awakened and our numbers grow every month! The voice of the people cannot we silenced and the rage cannot be subdued – heads are going to roll!” (Northern Brotherhood blog, December 13^th, 2017. Translated from Finnish)

Sami Haavisto and his peers spread fascist ideology in the subcultures and are metapolitical influencers. Their actions should not be defended as ”free speech” or ignorance. Contact event organizers and tell them that the spreading of fascist ideology and acceptance should never be tolerated. Let´s stop fascism together!

Do you have information about the Finnish NS music scene? Contact us at varistoimitus [at] riseup.net

Read more:

• The influencers of the Finnish NS music scene, part 6: Henri Hirvonen of Circle of Dawn and Apocalyptic Rites.
• The influencers of the Finnish NS music scene part 5: Pasi Markkula of Bizarre Uproar, Xenophobic Ejaculation & Filth and Violence
• The influencers of the Finnish NS music scene, part 4: Sami Tenetz of KVLT Shop
• The influencers of the Finnish NS music scene part 3: Mikko Aspa of Northern Heritage, Clandestine Blaze, Vapaudenristi & Sarvilevyt
• The influencers of the Finnish NS music scene part 2: Joakim Kuotesaho of Goatmoon and Stormheit.