A Brief Sketch:

A controversial figure, now resident in the British Isles, David Myatt was born in 1950 and spent much of his childhood abroad, first in Tanzania, where his father worked for the British Government, and later in the Far East where Myatt began his training in Martial Arts. He returned to England in his mid-teens to complete his education. His political opinions were formed around this time and by his own admission he became involved with "extremist politics".

Despite the assumptions of various journalists, Myatt himself describes his childhood as an "extremely happy one, and I have many, many fond memories of those years."

(Myatt, second from left, c.1964)

He studied Physics at University but dropped-out to take up politics full-time. He described his role as that of a "revolutionary street-activist" and it was during this time - the early 1970's - that he was imprisoned twice for his violent political activism. One of these terms of imprisonment resulted from him leading a skinhead gang in a racial attack. During this period he was involved in many violent confrontations, believing, as he later said, that "violence purifies and makes the man." He  helped found a small, violent, neo-nazi organization - the NDFM - which was active in Leeds, and regularly spoke at Public Meetings, several of which ended in massive brawls. He was then - and possibly still is - the only openly National Socialist since the time of Fascist leader Oswald Mosley to address a crowd at Speaker's Corner, Hyde Park, in London, a meeting which ended in the inevitable brawl, and the arrest of one NDFM steward for possessing an offensive weapon.

Myatt was also, on a number of occasions, the bodyguard of Colin Jordan, one of the founders of the World Union of National Socialists, and original leader of British Movement of which Myatt was a member for many years. In addition, Myatt was recruited by the underground paramilitary group, Column 88 which - it has been alleged - was part of the European Gladio "stay-behind" network, set up, and trained by, Special Forces units (such as the British SAS) to conduct sabotage and assassinations in the event of a Soviet invasion of Western Europe.(2)

It was during his time in Leeds that he gained something of a reputation for being a "Satanist" as a result of an interview he allegedly gave to a reporter regarding his interest in, and youthful curiosity about, the Occult. Myatt then and subsequently claimed that he had been rather naive and trusting, had been "stitched up", and that the published article was sensationalist fiction, consisting of fabricated quotes, with the reporter breaking his pre-interview promise to show Myatt a draft of the article before it was published. The interview was not recorded, and the reporter was to die a year later, following a long illness. Myatt himself has always emphatically denied being or having been a Satanist.

After several years of violent political activity, Myatt became disillusioned with the leadership of the various extreme Right-Wing organisations, and spent some time as a 'Gentleman of the Road' - a homeless wanderer, or vagabond. It was during this period that he wrote his first volume of poetry, which he, rather unsurprisingly, entitled Gentleman of the Roads. These wanderings may also have been prompted, in part, by a series of ultimately unhappy romantic liaisons, one of which led to the young woman in question moving abroad where she gave birth to Myatt's daughter.

Following this period as a vagabond, Myatt then traveled widely, and spent some time studying Buddhism, including a period living in a Buddhist monastery. Some time later he entered the novitiate of a Christian monastery where he stayed for nearly two years. While there, he undertook a serious study of the Western Occult tradition.

After several more years of travel and study, he, in the late 1970's, settled in the rural English county of Shropshire, married for the first time, taught Martial Arts to a few select individuals, began translating ancient Greek literature and published translations of Sappho, Aeschylus and Sophocles. In addition, he was an irregular contributor to John Tyndall's Spearhead magazine, using a variety of names, including his own, wrote several overtly National Socialist works, such as Vindex - The Destiny of the West, and published more poetry including his collection Pagan Poems. He also continued his travels, developing a particular affection for Egypt and its people, returning there on a regular basis. While in Shropshire, he attempted to set up a rural community composed of people who shared his belief in "the ideals of Blood and Soil." This did not succeed, due - according to Myatt - to a lack of commitment from those who had expressed interest in the project.  It was during his time in Shropshire that Myatt was questioned by the Police, and interviewed by several journalists (including reporters from World in Action), about an unsolved murder in the area.

According to someone who knew Myatt for many years, shortly before he became involved with the violent, extremist, neo-nazi group, Combat 18, Myatt destroyed his own copies of his poetry and denounced all his poems as "self-indulgent and decadent. The personal life is dead..." He declared an intention never to write personal poetry again and expressed his own view on Poetry and Art in his essay, written at this time, A New And Numinous Art. This decision to cease writing personal poetry may, or may not, have been the result of the death of his second wife, who died from cancer at the age of 39, his first marriage having failed after his wife ran off with a younger woman (who, incidentally, was the dedicatee of Myatt's translation of Sappho's poetry).
 

He then, in the early years of the 1990's, returned to the political fray "a harder and more determined man" according to one source (the British anti-fascist magazine Searchlight), and became involved with Combat 18.  It was during this period of his life - following his marriage to his third wife - that he wrote and published his voluminous writings about the philosophical, religious and ethical dimensions of National Socialism, and there was a rumor that, at this time, he received financial support from a former Officer of Hitler's SS and met, for the first time, the hero of his youth, Major General Otto Ernst Remer. It was also alleged that he set-up a world-wide underground "Occult-fascist Axis" linking groups in the United States, Europe, New Zealand and elsewhere. He also published several purely scientific works which, in his own words, aimed to create a new "organic science and technology" based on his idea of an acausal universe.

Following the arrest of the leader of Combat 18 - Paul "Charlie" Sargent - for murder, Combat 18 split into two feuding groups, with Myatt taking over the leadership of the loyalist Sargent faction and forming the political group, the National-Socialist Movement. Myatt was also arrested by the British Police following allegations of terrorist activities, racial hatred, and conspiracy to murder. These allegations related, in part, to clandestine groups, one of which was called "The White Wolves". The case against Myatt was later dropped - after a three year international investigation involving Interpol, the FBI and the Canadian Police - due to "insufficient evidence." Myatt was - after the London nail-bombings by David Copeland which killed three people and injured over a hundred, some seriously - also questioned by Police Officers from Scotland Yard's Anti-Terrorism branch, since it was alleged that a pamphlet he wrote, entitled A Practical Guide to Aryan Revolution, described as a "detailed step-by-step guide for terrorist insurrection", was said to have inspired David Copeland, who also happened to be a member of Myatt's National-Socialist Movement. However, no charges were ever brought against Myatt in connection with either this pamphlet or those attacks.

A year after taking over the leadership of the loyalist faction of Combat 18, with Sargent convicted of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment, Myatt handed-over the leadership of this group to concentrate once more on what he then regarded as his "spiritual mission" and his aim of creating a pagan rural community where individuals could live in harmony with Nature. By this time he had created a new National Socialist organization, called Reichsfolk, whose aim was to "uphold and champion the Way of Life of National-Socialism, and so make known the Cause of Adolf Hitler; to champion and make known the unique Aryan Destiny of a Galactic Empire achieved through the exploration and colonization of Outer Space; and seek the creation of a European homeland where Aryan National-Socialists can live in freedom, among their own people, according to the noble principles of the National-Socialism."  He was at that time working on a farm and his writings extolled the virtues of manual labor and what he has called the new "cosmic ethics".

Myatt then confounded both his supporters and critics by converting to Islam, and began - several years before the September 11 attacks - to praise people such as Usama bin Laden. He also began promoting Jihad and Islamic terrorism, and allegedly undertook a series of travels in Islamic countries.

Since this conversion to Islam, Myatt, using his Muslim names of Abdul Aziz, and Abdul-Aziz Ibn Myatt (sometimes spelt Abd al-Aziz ibn Myatt), has written a vast amount of essays and articles about Islam - almost rivaling in quantity his previous voluminous writings on National Socialism - and in particular has penned contentious items concerning and supporting suicide attacks (which he describes as martyrdom operations) as well as attacks on non-combatants. One of these articles, concerning such martyrdom operations, was, for several years, on the Izz al-Din al-Qassam section of the website of Hamas, whose members have killed hundreds of people in such "martyrdom operations".
 

Light and Sinister Peregrinations:
 

What is especially interesting about Myatt's life is that there are two, apparently mutually exclusive, versions. The brief sketch above is taken primarily from the "official" version which Myatt himself has propagated, such as in his Autobiographical Notes (in three parts) with some information - especially about the gaps Myatt omits - supplied by anti-fascist organizations such as Searchlight. In this "official version" Myatt portrays himself - up until his conversion to Islam - as a life-long National Socialist undertaking a spiritual, philosophical and religious quest to find the meaning and purpose of our lives, and as a person committed to creating a revolution, by whatever means necessary, as the prelude to the emergence of Imperium which will create a new type of human society and a new, higher, type of human being. In this version, his Occult researches and involvement - which several authors and journalists have written about - are described as a means, tactics, to aid National Socialism, the destabilization of society, and the revolution which he considered necessary to achieve his National Socialist goals.

Following his conversion to Islam, Myatt described - and still describes - himself as a Muslim, stating that:

"As for my own political views and opinions now, I have none. For I am a Muslim, and so view this world, and its peoples, according to Deen Al-Islam, striving to think according to Deen Al-Islam, and striving to live according to the laws and customs of Islam, as revealed in the Quran and through the words, deeds and example of the noble Prophet Muhammad (salla Allahu 'alayhi wa sallam). My only loyalty and obedience is to Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala."  A Statement for Journalists

The other version of Myatt's life derives from such sources as Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke's book Black Sun: Aryan Cults, Esoteric Nazism, and the Politics of Identity. This version - which does seem to be supported by organizations such as Searchlight - portrays Myatt as primarily a Satanist: the heir to an ancient and sinister tradition which tradition he has extensively added to and indeed transformed. That is, that he is "Anton Long" - the Grand Master of The Order of Nine Angles:

"But there was an even darker side to Myatt, hidden even from most of his close political friends. Myatt was a leading supporter of the Order of Nine Angles (ONA), a hardline Satanic church which he himself established in 1985. Espousing "traditional Satanism" and rituals involving human sacrifice, Myatt and the ONA are considered dangerous even by those within the Satanic fraternity." (Searchlight magazine, July 2000)

"Myatt rejects the quasi-religious organization and ceremonial antics of the Church of Satan, the Temple of Set and other satanic groups. He believes that traditional satanism goes far beyond the gratification of the pleasure-principle and involves the arduous achievement of self-mastery, self-overcoming in a Nietzschean sense, and ultimately cosmic wisdom. His conception of satanism is practical, with an emphasis on individual growth into realms of darkness and danger through practical acts of prowess, endurance and the risk of life." (Black Sun, p.218)

In this Occult version of his life, Myatt is portrayed as the Grand Master - the leader, if not the founder - of the secret, subversive and satanic Order of Nine Angles, and may, or may not, have performed rituals or acts involving human sacrifice, and may or may not have used violence, terrorism, political groups and individuals for sinister, or evil, ends. These sinister ends are said, by various writers and journalists who have written about Myatt, to include the creation - via a neo-nazi revolution - of a Galactic Imperium.

Admittedly, the Satanism of the Order of Nine Angles is very far removed from the current, popular, conception of Satanism, involving instead, as the ONA proclaims, a self-mastery and self-overcoming, and, according to Goodrick-Clarke, "the performance of acts that are generally regarded as forbidden, illegal and evil... Myatt derives the word 'evil' from the Gothic term 'ubils' meaning 'going beyond the due measure'....."

According to this Occult version, Myatt's conversion to Islam was only a public ruse, a sinister tactic, a Satanic rôle, used in further pursuit of his ultimately Occult, and Satanic, goals. These goals are primarily the creation of a new elite - the development of  "a higher, more evolved, human being" - and the destabilization and destruction of Western society, and its replacement by a new type of sinister order "suited to the warriors of this dark elite".

Which version of Myatt's life is correct? The "official, National Socialist, then Muslim, version" propagated by Myatt himself? Or the Occult version, propagated by others, which Occult version - it should be noted - is widely accepted among admirers and supporters of the ONA.

It seems, however, that, for the moment at least, we will all have to draw our own conclusions based on the little evidence we have. Personally, I believe this is what Myatt himself would wish, as a test for us and our honor, although I admit that sometimes I cannot quite escape the intuition that I can hear Myatt laughing.(4)

Following his involvement with Combat 18, Myatt converted to Islam and was believed to have begun a new life as a Muslim. Yet his political past was not forgotten by his former enemies.

The following quote is taken from an article, Cyberspace A New Medium for Communication, Command and Control by Extremists, by Michael Whine, and was posted, in April 1999 AD, on an Israeli counter-terrorist web-site.
 

"The Far Right has also used the Internet to post bomb-making manuals which are not otherwise available in Europe. The British neo-Nazi, David Myatt, of the National Socialist Movement posted his 'Practical Guide to Aryan Revolution' at the end of November 1997 at the website of Canadian Bernard Klatt in order to evade police scrutiny. The chapter headings included: Methods of Covert Direct Action, Escape and Evasion, Assassination, Terror Bombing, Sabotage, Racial War, How to Create a Revolutionary Situation, Direct Action Groups, etc. The contents provided a detailed step-by-step guide for terrorist insurrection with advice on assassination targets, rationale for bombing and sabotage campaigns, and rules of engagement. Although he may have committed no indictable offence in Canada, Klatt was forced to close down his site in April 1998. Myatt is currently the subject of a British criminal investigation for incitement to murder and to promote race hatred."

Not long after his conversion to Islam, Myatt allegedly returned to political activity following information published in newspapers and magazines, and broadcast on Television, by Journalists investigating the role he or his writings played in the "London nail bomb" attacks for which NSM member David Copeland was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment.

Information at that time indicated that Myatt re-established The National-Socialist Movement on the basis of what has become known as "leaderless resistance". He was also alleged to be behind the distribution of an updated version of The Practical Guide to Aryan Revolution (renamed A Practical Guide to the Strategy and Tactics of Revolution) as well as other documents extolling the merits of leaderless resistance and calling for armed insurrection.

"David Myatt does not have the appearance of a Nazi ideologue. Now 49, and sporting a long ginger beard, Barbour jacket, cords and a tweed flat cap, he resembles an eccentric country gentleman out for a Sunday ramble. But Myatt is anything but the country squire, for beneath this seemingly innocuous exterior is a man of extreme and calculated hatred. Over the past ten years, Myatt has emerged as the most ideologically driven nazi in Britain, preaching race war and terrorism.

Active since the late 1960s, Myatt has been through the National Front, British Movement and National Democratic Freedom Movement and has even flirted with the British National Party. However, none gave him the racial war that he so desired. "For the Destiny of the Aryan to be fulfilled, there has to be a holy war against all those who oppose National Socialism", he once wrote.

He has long since turned his back on electoral politics, believing his "Aryan society" could only be brought about by force. "The primary duty of all National Socialists is to change the world. National Socialism means revolution: the overthrow of the existing System and its replacement with a National-Socialist society. Revolution means struggle: it means war. It means certain tactics have to be employed, and a great revolutionary movement organised which is primarily composed of those prepared to fight, prepared to get their hands dirty and perhaps spill some blood." (Searchlight magazine, July 2000 AD)

Myatt is believed to have been behind a 15-page document which called for race war, under the imprint White Wolves. While groups such as C18 had regularly advocated race war, the authors of this article seemed far more serious.

Claiming that every nation had the absolute right to defend itself, it argued "our main line of attack must be on the immigrants themselves, the Black and Asian ghettos. If this is done regularly, effectively and brutally, the aliens will respond by attacking Whites at random, forcing them off the fence and into self-defence. This will begin the spiral of violence which will force the Establishment's hand on the race issue.

" The British people will fight, but not if we offer them only the soft voting option. WE must point them in the right direction by taking the necessary action to start the spiral of violence which will ultimately include even the reluctant, forcing them to fight. The victory will come from them once they have no other option, but the initiative must come from us. There are a dozen Belfast's and a hundred Londonderry's in Britain today, they're just waiting for a spark ..."

The document concluded: "We do not believe that we alone can win the Race War, but we can start it!" (Searchlight, July 2000 AD.)

As for his involvement with Islam, Myatt's article Islam and National-Socialism  - written in the early days of his involvement with Islam - raises interesting questions. He seems, even then immediately after, or even before, his conversion to Islam, to have decided that an alliance between National Socialists and Muslims was a good idea.  According to Professor George Michael, in his book The Enemy of My Enemy: The Alarming Convergence of Militant Islam and the Extreme Right (University Press of Kansas, 2006 AD) Myatt "has arguably done more than any other theorist to develop a synthesis of the extreme right and Islam".

Thus, following his conversion, Myatt began to write a series of articles in which he attempted to portray National Socialism in a new, non-racist, way. That is, Myatt created, and assiduously propagated, what one source described as a "revisionist version" of National Socialism and which Myatt himself claimed was "genuine National-Socialism". Myatt's new vision of National Socialism is of an ethical - if not religious - way of life, based upon the ideal of personal honor. In one of these revisionist political articles - entitled Why National-Socialism Is Not Racist - he was critical of the very concept of racism and attempted to portray National Socialists as people who respected other races and their culture. Several other articles, by him, elaborated upon this idea of a tolerant National Socialism, for example his Honour, or Instinct? The Question of Racism and Tolerance.
 

Of especial interest, perhaps, in the context of Myatt's Islam, was his Foreseeing the Future  (notable because it was written some time before his conversion to Islam) in which he stated his belief that Islam could create the Galactic Empire he has always dreamed about:
 

I firmly believe that Islam has the potential to create not only a new civilization, governed according to reason, but also a new Empire which could take on and overthrow the established world-order dedicated as this world-order is to usury, decadence and a god-less materialism... I also believe that a new Islamic Empire could create the Galactic Empire, or at least lay the foundations of it. Perhaps the first human colonies on another world will have as their flag the Islamic crescent, a flag inscribed with the words, in Arabic, In the Name of Allah, The Compassionate, The Merciful.

Abdul-Aziz Ibn Myatt

Islam:

Is there yet another version of Myatt's life waiting to be written? An Islamic version, in addition to the "Occult" and Nazi versions I mentioned above in the section subtitled Light and Sinister Peregrinations?

It was in the Fall of 1998 AD, that David Myatt walked into a Mosque in England and converted to Islam. Only a few months earlier Myatt had been the leader of the political wing of the violent neo-nazi group Combat 18 and had a history of nearly thirty years involvement in racist, extreme "right-wing" and neo-nazi groups. Myatt' s conversion, at that time, went almost unnoticed, and even when - just over a year later - he appeared on a BBC Panorama program about the racist bomber David Copeland, whose bombs killed three people and injured hundreds, Myatt was portrayed as the mentor of Copeland, as the man whose National Socialist and terrorist writings inspired and motivated Copeland. Other sources took up the story, accusing Myatt of being the "evil genius" behind Copeland's brief reign of terror, and explaining how Myatt was "Copeland's idol".

At the time of his conversion to Islam, Myatt himself was still on bail after his arrest, in the early Spring of 1998 AD, by a Special Operations Unit of Scotland Yard, following allegations of conspiracy to murder, terrorist activities, and incitement to racial hatred. His arrest was part of an operation - codenamed Operation Periphery - to investigate the leaders of what became known as the loyalist faction of Combat 18, following the conviction of the founder of Combat 18, Charlie Sargent, for murder. Myatt himself had remained steadfastly loyal to Charlie Sargent, denouncing his trial, conviction and sentence of life imprisonment, and dismissing all allegations against Charlie as "dishonourable rumours and disinformation by ZOG and its lackeys and agents". This detailed investigation by the Police and the Security Services (MI5 and MI6) into Myatt's activities was to last over three years, and involved the FBI, Interpol, the Canadian Police, as well as other international law-enforcement and Security agencies, and, as part of this investigation British agents traveled overseas - to places such as Canada - to interview witnesses and to try to gather evidence. However, even after this intensive years-long investigation the British authorities failed to find sufficient evidence to mount a successful prosecution, and the case against Myatt was dropped.

Following his conversion to Islam, Myatt - for several years - outwardly appeared to live a dual existence, for he was writing articles about Islam and his own conversion, traveling to Muslim countries, attending Mosques, and participating in Islamic meetings with Muslims, while at the same time continuing to write about what he, at this time (1998-2001 AD) called The Numinous Way of Folk Culture, a rather mystical, paganistic philosophy, which he had begun to develop, around 1997 AD, and which he then described as "the essence of my evolutionary National-Socialism...".

More recently (2006 AD), Myatt himself had this to say about such writings:

" I continued to write about National-Socialism and The Numinous Way, with a view to changing the attitude, of those who adhere to them, toward Islam and the Muslims, with a view to co-operation between various anti-Zionist factions, and with a view to making both of those Ways into ethical, honourable, systems so that such co-operation might occur. Also, for the first two years after my reversion I did continue to directly support a few groups which I regarded as honourable, in much the same way, I understand, that the Grand Mufti Muhammed Amin al-Husseini supported Hitler. Muhammed Amin al-Husseini, as a Muslim, was seeking allies in the fight against Zionism, but he never ceased to be a Muslim.

I did such things because I sincerely believed that it was important - and indeed vital - for as many people and groups as possible to fight in any way whatsoever the Zionist-Crusader alliance, and the so-called "New World Order" which this alliance is creating, and that this fight should be taken to the homelands of the West. I did this because I believed - and believe - that this alliance, and its lackeys and supporters, are dishonourable, and arrogant, and represent a profane, imperialist, materialistic, way of life which must be fought, since the adherents and supporters of this profane way of life trample upon and desecrate and are seeking to destroy, the numinous..." Islam, Honour and Duty

Myatt's voluminous writings about Islam - with titles such as Foreign Devils, Infidels, and Al-Islam and In Reply to Sheikh Salman bin Fahd al-Oadah - and his praise of both bin Laden and the Taliban, earned him something of a reputation as a Muslim extremist, and in April 2006 AD the respected newspaper, The Times (of London) published an article about Myatt under the general heading Muslim Extremists in Britain, and Myatt received a not entirely accurate mention at a UNESCO conference in Paris a few years ago which concerned the growth of anti-Semitism:

"David Myatt, the leading hardline Nazi intellectual in Britain since the 1960s and founder of the anti-Jewish and anti-Black terror group Combat 18,  has converted to Islam, praises bin Laden and al Qaeda, calls the 9/11 attacks  'acts of heroism,' and urges the killing of Jews. Myatt, under the name Abdul Aziz Ibn Myatt supports suicide missions and urges young Muslims to take up Jihad. Observers warn that Myatt is a dangerous man..."

 Le leader charismatique du mouvement néo-nazi anglais, David Myatt, devenu Abdul Aziz Ibn Myatt, appelle les nostalgiques de l'Axe et tous les ennemis des sionistes à embrasser comme lui le Djihad, la « vraie religion martiale » celle qui lutte le plus efficacement contre les Juifs et les Américains... Expert en arts martiaux et en actions commando, Myatt est l'auteur de plusieurs manuels de terrorisme...

In this Islamic version of his life, Myatt may have used subterfuge, deception, and mis-information to divert attention from himself and his activities, to possibly "confuse the enemy" and the authorities. This would explain many things about the writings - for instance, regarding The Numinous Way (of Folk Culture) - attributed to him during the years he, as a Muslim, was striving for an alliance between radical Muslims and National Socialists; writings written in pursuit of such an alliance, in order to create the ideological foundations necessary; and writings which, most significantly, some people have claimed "prove" that Myatt's conversion to Islam is fraudulent. It is certainly possible that these many essays, about Folk Culture and National Socialism, allegedly written after his conversion to Islam, were just one part of Myatt's overall and long term strategy to establish some ethical foundations for National Socialism, thus enabling practical co-operation between them, Muslims, and others opposed to the current governments of the West.(6)

But is this new Islamic version of Myatt's life the correct one? My own initial personal view - which I have explained elsewhere in essays such as David Myatt: A Sinister Life? - is that Myatt was using radical Islam as a sinister tactic in order to further his hidden sinister aims of causing chaos and disruption, of inciting violence and terrorism, and of championing, in a practical way, the heretical. Why? Because such things aid what The Order of Nine Angles call The Sinister Dialectic:

"The sinister dialectic (often called the sinister dialectic of history) is the name given to Satanic strategy - which is to further our evolution in a sinister way by, for example, (a) the use of Black Magick/sinister presencings to change individuals/events on a significant scale over long periods of causal Time; (b) to gain control and influence; (c) the use of Satanic forms and magickal presencings to produce/provoke large scale changes over periods of causal Time; (d) to bring-into-being a New Aeon; (e) to cause and sow disruption and Chaos as a prelude to any or all or none of the foregoing." A Brief Order of Nine Angles Glossary, Version 1.07

 I find it particularly interesting, in respect of championing heresy, that, according to the ONA:

"What is not well understood even among some sinister Initiates, is that the promotion of radical Islam - against the Magian/New World Order/Nazarene ethos that now pervades and which is distorting evolution and ushering in a new tyranny - is akin to a sinister rite which presences certain acausal energies.

Thus, such promotion of and support for things and people considered by the neo-cons to be "evil" - such as bin Laden - is a new Black Mass appropriate to these times of ours. It is now a heresy in "the West".

The practical participation and encouragement of such things - directly contrary to the current status quo - is thus one valid personal Insight Role (for the really satanic, not the role-players) and a means of presencing genuine sinister energies: one aspect of a new five-dimensional presencing (or act of magick in Old Aeon speak) and thus an act of sinister magick appropriate to these causal times." Vindex, NS, Islam, Chaos and Magick: Toward A New Heresy  (A presentation given at an ONA Sunedrion in Oxford, around the time of the Spring Solstice 117 yf)

We Shall Not Cease From Exploration...

Did Myatt really convert to Islam? Was it - in the beginning, at least - a Satanic "Insight Role" of the kind described by the ONA? Part of a decades-long sinister strategy by a Master of The Left Hand Path? Or was it - as I myself now incline to believe - just one more part of Myatt's life long, and Promethean, quest to experience and try to understand life, and to find "life's ultimate meaning and purpose"?

Most of Myatt's critics continue to propagate their assumption that underlying all of his activities these past thirty or more years is a sinister agenda - for, according to them, Myatt's life does seem inwardly consistent, since he has fanatically pursued his early stated goal of undermining and destroying, by any means possible, including revolution, terrorism, subversion, and political and religious fanaticism, what he called and still calls "The System" and the "New World Order" in order to further his dream of creating the foundations for a "Galactic Empire".

The people at the Searchlight organization have, in recent years, some things to say about Myatt:

"Myatt is an ethereal character. He is a dangerous man who has twice been jailed for his violent right-wing activities and who openly asked for blood to be spilled in the quest for white Aryan domination. We believe that despite his claims to be a devout Muslim he remains a deeply subversive intellectual and is still one of the most hardline Nazi intellectuals in Britain today. Myatt believes in the disruption of existing societies as a prelude to the creation of a new more warrior-like Aryan society which he calls the Galactic Empire." (Gerry Gable)

"Myatt has a long history of involvement with Nazi activity and anti-semitism. The fact that he has converted to Islam and allied himself with its extremist fringe is in line with the opportunist politics that have seen him dabble in Buddhism and Chinese Taoism in the past....I would advise all Muslims to have nothing to do with this man." (Michael Whine, Chairman of the Board of Deputies of British Jews.)

Other opponents of Myatt have been even more strident, one even directly accusing him of being "a fake Muslim" on a Muslim Internet forum where Myatt regularly posted. Interestingly, perhaps, several Muslims came to Myatt's defense, publicly accepting Myatt's conversion, and refuting the "fake Muslim" claim.(7)

Recent rumors, however, seemed to indicate that Myatt had returned to his much revised Numinous Way philosophy, which revised philosophy is, it is now asserted, based on the ethical virtues of empathy, compassion and honor, and which thus rejects both racism and nationalism:

Myatt, however, issued a statement - dated 16 Shaban 1430 - in which he refuted these rumors of him abandoning Islam.

Thus, we are left, yet again, to draw our own conclusions about this particular matter of his conversion.

The Sinister Influence of David Myatt:

Myatt certainly has achieved a significant influence over the past two decades, and this seems to belie the journalistic claims of him being some kind of self-publicist who has a "delusional fantasy life". It is quite obvious that Myatt's influence extends into many realms including National Socialism, paganism (or "heathenism" as many of its proponents write), Black Metal music, Occultism (especially Satanism(8)), and, of course, Islam. Myatt - in one or more of his diverse personae - has influenced many individuals and groups. For instance, of his Combat 18 days a journalist wrote:

"[Myatt was the] mentor of the nail-bomber David Copeland. As former leader of the NSM David Myatt is the man who shaped the minds of at least 80 young men like Copeland, who was convicted of three nail bomb attacks in Brixton, Brick Lane and Soho in which three people died and over a hundred were injured. Myatt has been at the fore-front of extreme right-wing activity in Britain since the 1960s..."

Myatt has certainly changed the lives of thousands of individuals, often quite dramatically, through his writings, his quest, his example, and possibly by his promotion of, and recruitment for, terrorism.

Myatt's influence is still keenly felt within the world of radical "Right-Wing" and National Socialist politics. It is generally acknowledged, even by his enemies, that Myatt's political and religious writings about National Socialism have been, and still are, very influential, even given Myatt's recent Islamist articles denouncing racial separation (9). His "Right-Wing" articles have been translated into Swedish, Russian, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, German, Norwegian, Polish, Finnish, Serbo-Croat, and other languages. Indeed, some people involved in the Right-Wing "movement" regard Myatt as one of the foremost writers for the cause of "white nationalism."

"It is my view that David Myatt is the most important thinker, and writer, for our Cause - for both National Socialism, and "White Nationalism" in general. His Cosmic Vision, his ethic of honour, his evolution of National Socialism, his clear and unequalled exposition of our Aryan values and Aryan Way of Life, and his The Numinous Way of Folk Culture, are in my view of vital importance for our people, our culture, our future. He has explained, in a rational way - using his concept of the acausal - the nature of the folk, and of folk homelands, as he has written at great length about the need for a practical revolution to create the free and Aryan societies we need. He has also written several practical guides to how such a revolution can be achieved. In addition, he has posited a new, ethical, rational, and evolutionary "religion" (or more correctly, a Way of Life) based on his concept of The Cosmic Being. The sheer depth and breadth of Myatt's work inspires admiration, for this work has been both theoretical, and practical." (The Radical Genius of David Myatt)

In the past few years - and particularly since the article about Myatt and his views concerning Islam in The Times - many neo-nazis, and "White nationalists" (as they style themselves), have taken to calling Myatt a traitor, or mad, or both, as many of these people have taken it upon themselves to reproduce the unproven Searchlight allegations of involvement with Satanism, perhaps hoping thereby to discredit the man, or, perhaps, casting around for anything to discredit a convert to that religion.

In the strange milieu of Black Metal music, and avant-garde electronic music, individuals and bands from across Europe, Russia and America play and record music inspired by the ONA's sinister philosophy, with the "cover notes" for their CD's - and their lyrics - often containing quotes from ONA literature. These bands include Voidloss, Bestia Centauri, Vendetta Blitz and Umbral Presence. More recently, the influence of the ONA - with its emphasis on dark, sinister, vampire-like female acausal entities such as Baphomet - is also beginning to be felt in underground parts of the urban Goth sub-culture, with a fine-art Polish book publisher, specializing in esoteric books, recently (2009 AD) releasing a collection of essays about this ONA "Baphomet".

Certainly Myatt's greatest influence, at least to date, seems to be within the world of Satanism, and "The Left Hand Path" in general. The ONA - which many people have assumed Myatt created (or at least inherited) and leads or led - has profoundly changed, with its rational, practical approach - and its concept of Internal and Aeonic Magick, of sinister tribes - the perception of Satanism and the Left Hand Path, and its influence is now world-wide. At the time of writing the ONA is especially flourishing in Russia and America, and has groups, and individuals associated with it, in Canada, Europe, Russia, America, Australia, and New Zealand. Many of its works - mostly attributed to a certain "Anton Long" - have been translated into Russian, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Polish, and other languages.

Indeed, a California based Satanic group - the White Star Acception, with origins in American urban gang culture and apparently led by two young women, one of Khmer origin, and another a Latino - have published several articles praising Myatt and "his ONA", in one of which they write:

" With his Faustian Spirit, Myatt came and quietly set the proverbial cog wheel of progression in motion. It is too early for the rest of the species to recognize his genius, but as time passes and changes things, he will one day take his place among the great thinkers of our species. Whether it was for National-Socialism, his Numinous Way, or his Order of Nine Angles; he imbued the same Myattian ethos, concepts and vision into all his writings and institutions he fathered. Calling our eyes up towards the Cosmos to awaken us to our galactic destiny and providing us a means for striving for that distant dream." Toward the Numinous Dark, (Kayla, WSA352, dated May 21, 2009)

Furthermore, at an academic conference at a Norwegian University scheduled to be held in November, 2009 AD, and devoted to the topic of Satanism in the modern world, the ONA is to be the subject of two lectures, and will be mentioned in several others.

Thus, it could well be that Myatt's ultimate legacy will be an Occult one, with all his many and various peregrinations, experiences, involvements and roles, being understood in this light. This, in my considered view, may well be a correct assessment of Myatt's life, especially as, in a recent (2009 AD) interview - with WSA352 - a certain Anton Long states:

Furthermore, according to one of Myatt's supporters:

How do you think he will be - or should be - regarded in a hundred years time?

As a genuine Mage - a Grand Master of the Left Hand Path - who has dared to genuinely defy and who has dared to undertake genuine diverse practical experiences and roles, lasting many years. He makes the charlatans - the Laveys, the Aquinos, the Crowleys - look like charlatans.

In respect of how others view Myatt, the following quotes about Myatt - culled from the Internet - are typical:

"I'm sure you've heard of other cases of "infiltrators" who external observers can't figure out what their aim is. David Myatt in Britain is famous for that--the "neo-Nazi" who set up a "Satanist" group known as the Order of Nine Angles, which espouses anti-NWO and racialist doctrines. Then he left all that behind and converted to Islam and praises bin Laden. Some say he really means it and is now a true Muslim. Others say this is all part of his right-wing, anti-NWO strategy. And yet others still claim that both Myatt's "neo-Nazi" incarnation as well as his Muslim incarnation are "insight roles" that help him probe the limits of darkness in the human experience as a Satanist. So which of the three is he really? Who knows?"

"Myatt is indeed a difficult one to fathom..."

" [Myatt's] a lunatic...His conversion to Islam was embarrassing too. Myatt now spends his time in mosques bowing to an Alien god... He's obviously lost it..."

" [Myatt] is mentally unbalanced, formally a Christian, Buddist.. now a Mudslum! lt people like him who will forever divorce the rest of us from the masses..."

"He [Myatt] is still a Muslim, and is a very dangerous individual. He posts under the name ibnmyatt on poisonous Islamic website[s]..."

"Lavey was a manipulator no doubt, and he did move many away from Christianity, but the darkness is lacking, Lavey himself can top Myatt in no way from what I read of them both. Lets see - circus trainer, photographer, and producer of a BS satanic group, vs the creator of the Sevenfold path, star-game, political evil genius, man of many roles and faces, who continues to this day to push the evolutionary limits and tread unknown territory. Lavey fooled no one, he was easy to read, showed his cards, and is know for what he was. Myatt still has the bored trying to figure out who he was, and probably will for some time." (From a debate comparing La Vey and Myatt.)

"I genuinely like Myatt. I see him in the same mold as Manson: a prophet of the Kali Yuga; a nihilistic visionary -- but with a grander vision than Manson's, and far more ruthless, fanatical and determined to see it come to fruition..."

"David Myatt - Nazi Satanist or Military intelligence?  Is David Myatt one of many ultra patriotic stooges creating politically useful armies for the global terror network?"

"I feel that Myatt designed this quasi-occult system in order to draw certain kinds of strong-Willed individuals to The Cause, much the same as W[hite] P[ower] music has greatly bolstered the ranks over the years. Myatt has been a "do-er" instead of a talker, and I believe he intends to get the job done by whatever means at his disposal. His gift is not so much his profound thinking (although some of his output is [that] indeed) but rather the emotional quality of his words, and the explosive personalities he is breeding."

"David Myatt is...an important person to mention as an example of the strange alignment of worldviews that permeates many of the the extremist ideologies of our day, whether it’s fascism, religious zealotry... David Myatt’s strange, violent hate-filled philosophy and path in life helps give us additional insight and perspective into the mind of someone like Osama bin Laden."

The Machinations of Journalists:

Myatt has been mentioned and described, often at length, in at least seven books, and many newspapers articles, as well as regularly featuring in the anti-fascist magazine Searchlight. He was also interviewed for the BBC's Panorama TV program, and has refused many requests for interviews, including one, two years ago, from an Arabic TV station. Many if not most of the journalists who have written about him - with the notable exception of a full-page article about him which appeared in The Times, of London, newspaper, two years ago (April 2006 AD) - have repeated the allegations made against him by Searchlight - that he is a Satanist, and founded and leads the Order of Nine Angles. Several years ago, the people at Searchlight were consistent in describing Myatt as a "dangerous man", a "fanatical neo-nazi". For example, Gerry Gable, of Searchlight, was quoted in the Sunday Mercury (Birmingham, England) on 9 July 2000 AD as saying:

"Myatt is an ethereal character. He is a dangerous man who has twice been jailed for his violent right-wing activities and who openly asked for blood to be spilled in the quest for white Aryan domination. We believe that despite his claims to be a devout Muslim he remains a deeply subversive intellectual and is still one of the most hardline Nazi intellectuals in Britain today. Myatt believes in the disruption of existing societies as a prelude to the creation of a new more warrior-like Aryan society which he calls the Galactic Empire."

It does appear to be the case that many journalists reproduce the opinions of Searchlight regarding Myatt without doing any research for themselves or without taking the trouble to ask for Myatt's side of the story. Thus, they reproduce the claims about involvement with Satanism - and sometimes embellish them, as some journalists do, in a sensational way - without mentioning the repeated denials Myatt has made over the decades. Indeed, Myatt has challenged Searchlight, and several others journalists, to provide any evidence of their assumptions and accusations, which they have singularly failed to do - and he had even, before his conversion to Islam, taken the radical step of challenging two journalists (Nick Ryan and Nick Lowles) to a duel with deadly weapons. According to Myatt:

"I challenged these individuals to a duel with deadly weapons, according to the etiquette of duelling, because of the dishonourable accusations they made against me in books and articles written by them and because of the rumours they had spread about me. I sent them a personal challenge, and also made my challenge public. I did this because I believe in the concept of personal honour - thus, this is the honourable thing to do when such accusations are made. I do not regard the so-called "Courts of Law" in this or any Western land as honourable or as allowing for personal honour, and therefore cannot in all honour have recourse to them in such matters...

Both of these individuals refused my challenge and thus I considered my honour vindicated, in public just as I considered that by refusing this challenge they have shown themselves to be dishonourable and cowardly. Accordingly, whatever they have written about me can be dismissed - it is the product of dishonourable cowards.  Furthermore, anyone of any honour has a duty to dismiss the writings, the rumours, the ramblings, the opinions, of such people..."  Private Letter from Myatt to JR Wright, dated  JD2453512.71997  (May 22nd, 2005)

It is interesting that Searchlight - several years after Myatt's conversion to Islam - changed its tactics in respect of Myatt, attempting to dismiss him as a self-publicist. Thus, according to the more recent opinion of Gerry Gable:

"Myatt is a self-publicist who has claimed to have taken up many guises, including being a monk. Satanism is probably his overriding inspiration. He still supports neo-Nazi groups and contributes to their websites."

Some journalists have even gone so far as to claim that Myatt has a "delusional fantasy life". This is certainly a shift in the tactics of his anti-fascist political opponents - Myatt has gone from being ignored (perhaps they hoped he would go away) to being portrayed as a hardened fanatic who is a "dangerous man", to now being portrayed as someone who has a "delusional fantasy life". In fact, Myatt has such a "delusional fantasy life" that one journalist (from Searchlight) would only meet him with a former SAS soldier for a bodyguard; that the BBC film crew took along a pair of heavyweight "minders" when they interviewed him; and such a "fantasy life" that another journalist - a fit, young, well-built and active man - was so fearful of Myatt's reputation as a man of violence who "always carries a weapon" that he refused to meet Myatt on a not very isolated hill-top above an English town. Perhaps this journalist was aware that Myatt had served two terms of imprisonment for violence, and that the elite S012 unit from Britain's Scotland Yard took along seven Police Officers (one of whom was armed) when they went to arrest Myatt early one morning at his home in 1998.

This change in journalistic tactics appeared to be part of a deliberate and probably politically motivated campaign to discredit Myatt, possibly because of his growing influence and the continuing popularity of his writings, including those relating to National Socialism (notwithstanding his alleged conversion to Islam), and those relating to what Myatt calls The Numinous Way of Folk Culture. This campaign to try and debunk Myatt has been greatly in evidence on the Internet in recent years, and Myatt's opponents have taken, are are taking, every opportunity, on forums, blogs, and newsgroups - and in newspaper and other articles - to put forward what are in most instances their own negative and often dismissive opinions regarding Myatt and his work, more often than not calling into question the facts of his life, or the originality of his work, and even his sanity, as well as repeating - and sometimes adding to - the unproven rumors and allegations concerning Satanism and other things.

Perhaps it is the many such comments as the following (taken from a now defunct Internet site put on-line several years ago by some of Myatt's Swedish supporters) that upset Myatt's detractors:

"David Myatt... has taken many forms, and I will give no further introduction to this man of changes, I will leave the judgment to you, the judgment of a man with visions and dreams, the judgment of a man that acted according to his will, and manifested his words in action, a man of progress. One of the few truly interesting men alive today, and one of the few who has a vision of the change needed to bring this world back on it's feet... Many things can be said about Mr. Myatt, but one thing is for sure, he is an utterly interesting and fascinating man."

"David is in ways like a modern day fairy tale himself (not only his life), but with more heart and less talking animals. It's hard not to be fascinated, to some extent inspired or at least affected in some way. Perhaps not always to the better. He's simply one of those men (As in mankind..) that stands out from the rest."

Or perhaps it is such recent comments as the following, from one of Myatt's many young fans in America:

But the malicious gossip spread about Myatt by his detractors, and the on-going campaign to discredit him, are - given human nature as it exists at present - not unexpected, for the more a person of creativity becomes known, and respected, by some individuals, for whatever reason, the more it seems some other individuals begin to criticize this person. For one certainty about Myatt is that he is a creative individual, a prodigious writer of political, even religious, tracts, and essays; a writer of interesting, if somewhat neglected, mystical letters and personal poetry, whose ethical philosophy of The Numinous Way and his explanation of such things as "Aryan law", based on the concept of honor, represents - it has been claimed - a significant contribution to "Right-Wing" thought. In addition, his more radical Islamist writings seem to be highly regarded within certain clandestine Muslim circles, with some translated into Italian, French, and other languages, and re-published on, or linked to from, Al Qaeda supporting Internet forums and blogs.

It is also of interest that opinion about him - among supporters of National Socialism and what is called "White Nationalism" - seems to be still divided, with some regarding Myatt as a traitor for his defense of, and involvement with, Islam, and some suggesting that he is merely using radical Islam as a tactic to fight what they call ZOG (the Zionist Occupation Government). A minority - accepting his conversion as genuine - even applaud his decision, claiming, among other things, that:

"I do not care if Myatt is or is not a Muslim, his path, his goal is the same is mine, the destruction of this ignoble and tyrannical NWO/Zio-Alliance. He may inspire that war to my shores, so be it."

"Interesting chap, that David Myatt. Interesting to see that he recognizes Islam as a stronghold of warrior values, which it is. It is also true that these warrior values are lacking among Western populations."

In my own case, my views regarding Myatt are based upon personal knowledge of the man; upon a study, over a period of more than fifteen years, of his varied writings, and upon a personal correspondence with him going back nine years. My conclusions - some of which Myatt himself disputes - are thus based upon at least some solid foundations, and while I disagree profoundly with many things Myatt has written, I do take cognizance of the fact that his varied life is interesting, that his writings and letters and poetry do merit serious consideration, and that his various and much maligned and much misunderstood "changes of direction" are the result of, or seem to be the result of, a genuine, sincere search by someone exploring life in a practical and Promethean manner. This is a considered view of Myatt, derived from personal knowledge and personal research, and a study of those peregrinations, and writings, of his, which most others neglect: that is, his poetry, his fiction, his mystical letters concerning Nature and the numen and the cessation of suffering, and his extensive writings about what he calls The Numinous Way where he extols the virtues of empathy and compassion.

However, such a rational and complete consideration of Myatt's life and works does not seem to be the case with the majority - if not all - of those who so regularly give their simplistic opinion, regarding Myatt's life and political or religious writings, mostly on the Internet, but sometimes in print, and it certainly does appear to be the case that the criticisms, and attempted debunking of Myatt, have more to do with the political or religious views of his opponents - or their own prejudices - than with any attempt to seriously and rationally consiider all of work (including his letters, mystical writings, fiction, and poetry) and all aspects of his varied life. That is, most if not all commentators pick only those works of his or those aspects of his life which they assume might fit some preconceived theory of theirs regarding Myatt himself or which seem to somehow validate their own assumptions and prejudices about the man. It is also possibly the Promethean-type mythos that has begun to surround Myatt that motivates some of these commentators and some of Myatt's political opponents, and this mythos that they seek to debunk, knowing how powerful such a mythos, unchallenged, can be or become.

For instance, we have the spectacle of some individuals claiming - without any evidence it should be noted - that Myatt has plagiarized his Greek translations, or does not know Greek, or similar things, when it is so evident from what these individuals write that they have rushed forth to criticize Myatt for reasons of their own, without taking the trouble to read his work, compare it with others, or, quite often, without doing the most fundamental of research, thus committing the most elementary of blunders. If someone takes them to task, or supplies evidence to rebut their claims, they more often than ignore shift their ground, ignore the evidence, and began a new attack, as if they have some vested interest, personal or otherwise, in continuing such attacks.

As for Myatt himself, I am quite certain that he is once again laughing - this time at such journalistic machinations, and the on-going attempts to discredit and debunk him. For I am sure that he, just as much as I, know that such attempts, and such machinations, only serve to arouse more interest in his life and works, and will also, in time, surely add to the mythos surrounding him, which may be exactly what Myatt himself had planned, all along.

Concluding Remarks:

As I wrote in David Myatt, A Sinister Life:

"The final conclusion as to Myatt's intentions and nature, at this moment in time, can only realistically be that each one of us will have to draw our own conclusions based on what little we know and - more interestingly - on what we assume or believe. Our conclusion may say more about us, and our society, than it might say about Myatt himself."

From all his peregrinations, adventures and involvements, he has distilled some beautiful, some haunting, some pagan, some sad, some romantic - and many unusual - poems, and if he is to be remembered, it will, in my view, hopefully be for this poetry, his Greek translations, his new Numinous Way philosophy, and for his now neglected and underrated mystical letters, rather than for his political and religious exploits, or his political, philosophical, Occult, or Islamist, writings.
 

JR Wright
Oxford
August 2008 AD
(Updated October, 2009 AD)

David Myatt: A Sinister Life?