08.02.2012 11:24 AM

Jon Latvis, fascist and liar

A few days ago, Jon Latvis got in a bit of PR trouble. Anti-Racist Canada spotted a photo of Latvis, in full stormtrooper regalia, meeting with Toronto mayor Rob Ford. They sent the picture to me, and Ford and his staff ended up having (another) bad day.

Latvis, too. The guitarist for neo-Nazi band Rahowa was upset about the attention. He wrote me an email suggesting that the swastika tattoo on his arm wasn’t, er, a swastika.

Latvis also called the Sun newsroom, and they assigned a police beat guy to write up Latvis’ complaint. He was threatening to sue, the Sun guy told me. Let him sue, I said. You need a reputation before you can sue for damage to it, I said.

Latvis was delighted by the resulting story, I am told, and I could see why. He was basically permitted to lie his face off, and also claim that he didn’t know what Rahowa was singing about during the many years he performed with them. He denied being an anti-Semite and a white supremacist, too.

So, the good ARC folks got to work. Their posting is found here.

Personally, I still think a picture is worth 1,000 words. In Latvis’ case, the pictures below also eliminate any doubt whatsoever about who Jon Latvis really is, and what he stands for. They also make clear he’s a liar and a creep.

So, sue away, Latvis. I’m bored, at the moment, and need some entertainment. You’ll do.


Latvis’ web site, wherein he says he played with Rahowa, which means “racial holy war.”


Latvis, left, with Nazi skins at Tri-City show in 2001. Look like a fascist salute to you? Me, too.


Latvis onstage in 2001. Blood and Honour is an international neo-Nazi music network.  The Celtic Cross above his shoulder signifies racial separation.  It’s also the logo for Stormfront, the biggest global hate site.

The view of the stage at a gig Latvis performed at in 2005. That’s a swastika on the left, of course.

33 Comments

  1. Michael Behiels says:

    I presume the RCMP and CSIS have files on these groups and organizations.

    If not, they should.

    I gather by your knowledge of these groups that they will be analyzed in your forthcoming book!

    You are getting lots of pre-publication publicity thanks to Latvis.

    Take care!

  2. deb says:

    lol…has he heard of the internet thing…where stuff goes up…but never disappears. Whats sad is something he was soo proud of now…is giving him such embarassment…boy it sucks when your would be credibility is brought down soo easily. Skinheads…they never grow old or fade…they just become anthropologists:P I wonder what his screen name is for this site, im betting its going to make an appearance soon enough.

  3. RDS says:

    Why on earth would the Toronto Sun not attempt to determine whether Latvis was telling the truth about this? I have a pretty dim view of the Sun’s journalistic standards (or lack thereof), but this is surprising even to me.

  4. sj says:

    What I find most disturbing is the lack of balance in the Alex Consiglio story. Since when does a reporter not do at least a little checking before believing someone’s claims? On yea, this was the Sun.

  5. W the K - No, not Warren says:

    Also omitted from the Sun story, this, from the Mayor’s statement on Mr. Latvis:

    “In March 2012, the gentleman met briefly with the Mayor to discuss his concerns which primarily focussed on transit issues.”

    I’d really like to see the minutes of that meeting. And the mayor’s schedule to see what other interesting individuals and groups he’s met with. But this mayor’s schedule is not made public, natch.

  6. DanO says:

    I don’t know what they were singing despite the fact that there is a picture of me singing with the band and you know, I was the one hanging out beside the lead singer.

    What a joker.

    Sue his ass Warren.

  7. deb says:

    I have to admit im enjoying this followup, this story has legs( or fingers:P)…just not in the direction Latvis is giving his nazi salute too…thanks Warren for posting, and thanks ARC for your diligence in posting the truth…too bad sun media didnt hire you for the real story:)

  8. Np says:

    Ugh! In the third photo, I can clearly see that they’re using the same guitar amp as me. (Looks like a Fender Twin-Reverb.) Can’t help but feel a bit dirty.

  9. Jim Hayes says:

    For those of us old enough to remember RAHOWA was a particularly extreme group whose leaders were involved in violence to go alongside their racism and anti-Semitism.

    As I recall it was the Canadian Jewish Congress that went after this group legally and helped shut it down. Warren isn’t there a chapter in your book about the leader of RAOWA, can’t remember his name off hand but I do remember reading about him in “Web of Hate”?

    • Warren says:

      Yep. George Burdi. Have a whole chapter on him. And Latvis was there the night of the Ottawa riot:

      Canadian skinheads charged with selling `pro-white’ music CDs: One was blamed for inciting Ottawa riot four years ago
      The Ottawa Citizen
      Tue Sep 23 1997
      Page: B3
      Section: City
      Byline: Jeremy Mercer
      Source: The Ottawa Citizen

      George Burdi, the prominent white supremacist blamed for helping incite a small riot in downtown Ottawa four years ago, is one of three Canadians charged with promoting hatred after a police investigation into a U.S. music CD company.

      Project Birdcage, a joint operation between Ontario Provincial Police, Windsor police and Canada Customs, focused on Resistance Records, a Detroit, Michigan company that sells “pro-white” music.

      Police allege the company was producing and distributing hate propaganda in the form of music CDs, says Det. Sgt. Tom Whittaker of the OPP’s hate crime unit in Orillia.

      “We were able to establish that three men who were involved in the record company were Canadians and went from there,” he said yesterday.

      The record company’s web site, boasting the slogan “Resistance Records: Forging a new destiny for White Power music,” sells CDs by groups such as Aryan and Nordic Thunder.

      The advertisement for Nordic Thunder’s Born To Hate album raves “The ultimate in pro-White Hardcore. Nordic Thunder is best known for songs like My Honor, My Pride and True Heroes, which have become Skinhead anthems around the world.”

      Det. Sgt. Whittaker said “we felt the music promotes hatred against various members of various identifiable groups.”

      Sunday, police charged Mr. Burdi, 27, and Joseph Talic, 26, both of Woodbridge, Ont., and Jason Snow, 26, of Toronto, with wilfully promoting hatred and conspiracy to willfully promote hatred.

      The three men are to appear in Windsor court Oct. 10. They face a maximum sentence of two years if convicted.

      In 1995, Mr. Burdi was convicted in Ottawa of assault causing bodily harm for kicking Alicia Reckzin, 24, who was part of an anti-racism group protesting against a white supremacists’ rally in Ottawa in 1993.

      A judge found Mr. Burdi was one of two leaders of the neo-Nazi group and helped incited a mass charge across Confederation Square to attack an opposing group led by Ms. Reckzin.

      Mr. Burdi was sentenced to a year in jail.

      Illustration:
      • Black & White Photo: The Ottawa Citizen / George Burdi was convicted of assault for a 1993 incident in Ottawa.

      Edition: Final
      Story Type: News
      Length: 325 words
      Idnumber: 199709230090

      • Jim Hayes says:

        Thanks Warren, dusted off the book and found the chapter the “George and Wolfie” show…what a heady time that was and where have all the good guys and bad guys gone? Be a great follow up to a time many don’t remember but a lot of folk put themselves in the line of fire and stood their ground. they sould be remembered. I’m thinking primarily of an Aboriginalleader, Rodney Bobiwash also mentioned in your book.

      • ottawacon says:

        A sad reminder of what a mess Reckzin has become. Getting kicked in the face is probably the only worthwhile thing she will ever do.

          • Ottawacon says:

            She is now dating an avowed white supremacist, and has been attacking her erstwhile anti-racist friends on social media.

          • Warren says:

            I know that, believe me. But are you saying a woman deserves to be kicked in the face? Seriously?

          • Ottawacon says:

            No, I am saying that with the way she is spending her life, taking down Burdi is as much as she is going to contribute to humanity. She certainly did not deserve to be kicked in the face then, and I would not support it now.

  10. nosferatu200 says:

    If you go to our website (ARC) you’ll also note the videos of Latvis taking the lead in singing at a concert in honour of Ian Stuart Donaldson (lead singer of the Nazi group Skrewdriver) in Wisconsin back in 1994 and a show with Rahowa in Toronto back in 1996. All while boneheads in the crowd sieg heil towards the stage.

    But he only played a few songs with them in a studio before finding out what they were all about.

    Like we wrote on our blog, it’s like he doesn’t know how the Internet works.

  11. Dennis Hollingsworth says:

    W.K. … I AM LAUGHING SO HARD MY RIBS HURT & MY WHOLE BODY HURTS AT YOUR PASSAGE :

    Personally, I still think a picture is worth 1,000 words … They also make clear he’s a liar and a creep.

    SO, SUE AWAY, LATVIS. I’M BORED, AT THE MOMENT, AND NEED SOME ENTERTAINMENT.

    YOU’LL DO.

  12. Outsider says:

    Since the once-respectable Toronto Sun (far too right for me even back then, but at least its columnists and coverage were not horribly torqued) was bought and ruined by Quebecor, I have come to expect very little of it. But this ridiculous joke of a story still managed to shock me. The only possible explanation for letting this racist skinhead say whatever came to mind is that it can be used in its defence should Latvis actually carry out his bizarre threat and try to sue, and name them in the statement of claim. Otherwise, this article could be used as in any J-school as a shining example of how NOT to present the case of one side in a controversy. All the writer had to do to blow holes in every one of his claims was to work Google for about 45 seconds. And he could have just flipped over to the nutter’s Facebook page, as I did, and then follow the links from his Friends list to examine the company he keeps – a pretty reliable way to judge someone. Nobody will confuse the Latvis Friends corps with members of the NAACP ….

    And what is getting extremely short shrift here so far – not much more than passing mentions – is the fact that Ford actually granted this racist piece of trash a private audience to discuss …. transit?!?!?!?! (By the way, why didn’t the Sun reporter, working as he does for a paper that is often almost fixated on the whole Ford/transit/council revolt issue, not ask the guy for his views/thoughts/input on addressing the city’s transit issues?) Can someone ask Ford for an update on how that went, what facets of transit Herr Latvis was most particularly interested in, what suggestions he made, what Ford had to say …. and can we get a bit of an idea on how many times Ford meets with private citizens in his office to discuss such issues, and why he does, and what he takes from them? It was Ford’s posse that issued this lame defence; it should be called upon to elaborate.

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