



CALL TO ACTION: The destructive influence of the Northwest Front seems to be in the news constantly lately, from the arrest of would-be mass murderer Christopher Hasson, to recent investigations into the accelerationist neo-Nazi terror network known as The Base. NWF's founder, Harold Covington, died in 2018, but thanks to the efforts of his successor, Joel Flake aka “Andreas Donner,” Covington's extensive writings and online propaganda machine continue to radicalize and shape violent young white supremacists, particularly within the Pacific Northwest.

Help us disrupt Joel Flake aka Andreas Donner's fascist organizing and promotion of violent neo-Nazi propaganda materials by calling or writing in to his employers at Amazon and asking them to stop employing the General Secretary of the Northwest Front, one of the most prominent white supremacist groups in the Pacific Northwest.



Call: 206-266-1000

Write: [email protected]

Tweet: @amazon

Facebook: Amazon

“Andreas Donner,” long-standing and obsequious assistant to recently-deceased novelist and Northwest Front General Secretary Harold Covington has been on the radar of antifascist researchers in the Pacific Northwest for a number of years. Upon Covington's death “Donner” took up “HVAC”‘s erstwhile mantle (“Keeper of the Northwest Imperative") and duties, which mainly consist of managing and maintaining Covington's cherished neo-Nazi media machine–an organizational website, a long-running blog and podcast, Covington's own Northwest-Imperative-themed propaganda novels, plus an archive of NWF graphics and bumper stickers–all intended to spread the NWF's extremely violent and overt brand of niche neo-Nazi ideology.

Thanks to the diligent work of our Seattle, WA antifascist allies WaNaziWatch on this collaborative project, Rose City Antifa is now able to reveal Andreas Donner's true identity as Seattle resident and current Amazon employee Joel Isaac Flake.

Name: Joel Isaac Flake AKA: Andreas Donner; Andy Donner DOB: 05/20/1986 Address: 2415 Western Ave #111, Seattle WA 98121 Employment: Amazon (Dawson building) Email: [email protected] Social Media:

The Butler Plan, The Northwest Territorial Imperative, Harold Covington, and The Northwest Front





In order to understand Joel Flake's neo-Nazi activities, it is important to have some knowledge of the history of the “Northwest Territorial Imperative” white nationalist movement as conceived and promoted by the likes of neo-Nazi terrorist Bob Matthews, Klansman Robert Miles, and Aryan Nations founder Richard Butler in the late 1970's and early 1980's. Covington founded his would-be vanguardist insurrectionary neo-Nazi “Northwest Front” organization on Butler's infamous exhortation for “racially conscious” white people to move to the Pacific Northwest and form their own sovereign nation

"restricted to persons of unmixed European, non-Semitic, Caucasian racial ancestry, and no non-White will be allowed to reside there under any circumstances.”

Butler's vision of a white separatist ethnostate founded on Nazi ideology encompassed 83,574 square miles: all of Oregon, Washington, and Idaho, as well as the western portion of Montana. “The Butler Plan,” as endorsed by Covington's Northwest Front website, also calls for “acts of insurrection and guerrilla warfare,” and states that “actual and serious physical damage must be inflicted on the enemy.”

Butler's formulation of “the enemy” in the larger context of his writing must be interpreted as referring to a.) regional individuals and communities deemed undesirable by the neo-Nazi white separatist movement such as people of color, LGBTQ+ communities, people of Jewish descent or faith, and b.) the U.S. federal government, which is held by many white nationalists to be controlled by Jewish people, a conspiracy theory referenced by the shorthand “Zionist Occupied Government” or “ZOG.”

For all its overtures to strategy and even “optics,” the Northwest Front's Butler Plan is indistinguishable from most other neo-Nazi organizing strategies in that it ultimately calls upon its adherents to commit acts of terror and violence against the same people habitually targeted by far-right and fascist hate.

A Brief History of Harold

Harold Amstead Covington dedicated his life to hateful, racist political organizing, consistently both personally embracing and seeking to spread overt neo-Nazi ideology. He was kicked out of the U.S. Army after less than two years when he was caught distributing propaganda for the National Socialist White People's Party, then traveled to Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) hoping to partake in mercenary violence in support of the then-country's brutal and racist (and now endlessly fetishized) system known as “white rule.” Covington boasted of his valor there, but letters he sent to his parents reveal that he spent his time as a file clerk before being deported for being–somehow–too racist after he mailed threats to a local Jewish congregation.

NSPA: Greensboro Massacre, Frazier Glenn Miller

In the late 70s, Covington became the head of the North Carolina chapter of the National Socialist Party of America, and helped build an alliance between neo-Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan, which took the name “United Racist Front,” and would go on to perpetrate the mass murder known as the Greensboro Massacre. Two (out of sixteen) of the fascists arrested and subsequently acquitted–despite having been filmed murdering five leftists in broad daylight–were from Covington's NSPA. He boasted himself of “greasing communists,” but by all accounts was nowhere near the atrocity when it took place. Decades later, another member of Covington's NSPA, Frazier Glenn Miller would go on to murder three people at Overland Park Jewish Community Center in Overland Park, KS on April 13, 2014.



Neo-Nazi murderer Frazier Glenn Miller.

Combat 18

Covington lived in Europe for much of the 80s, and was subsequently involved in the founding of violent UK-based neo-Nazi organization Combat 18. Covington established a P.O. Box in North Carolina as a U.S. point of contact for the group. Combat 18 has recently been banned in Germany as of late January 2020, after a neo-Nazi affiliated with the organization assassinate German politician Walter Lübcke in front of his home.

The Northwest Front Propaganda Machine

Between 2003 and 2008, an increasingly internet-savvy Covington harnessed his tendency to bloviate and published a series of four Northwest-Imperative-based propaganda novels. Like The Turner Diaries, these novels–banned from Amazon after extensive public pressure in early 2019–were explicitly intended both as tools for political radicalization and as practical examples for active white supremacists seeking inspiration. During those years Covington also began blogging prolifically, often maintaining multiple regularly-updating blogs simultaneously.

His initial blog, “Thoughtcrime,” focused on general neo-Nazi ideology, interspersed with catty email responses and gossip concerning his many internecine squabbles with other prominent white supremacists. A second blog, created early in 2003, was dedicated to discussing all things Northwest Imperative, and by 2009 Covington relocated that blog to his newly-created Northwest Front organizational website. Over a decade later, this website continues to serve as an easy-to-find online repository of the Northwest Front's principles, media and contact information. This includes, but is not limited to:

all of the NWF's foundational writings; the organization's podcast;

their blog, which Donner has continued to occasionally update himself since Covington's death;

the only review of Covington's novels that he approved of, which is of course fawning, verbose, and virulently fascist;

and pages showcasing Northwest Front bumper sticker designs and agitprop imagery, all heavy on Microsoft Office 2007 design aesthetics, overt Nazi imagery, and masked insurrectionary figures posing with automatic weapons.

Covington Dies Alone

Covington was estranged and deeply alienated from his family, at least in part due to their profound disagreement with and disapproval of his neo-Nazi ideology and organizing. While living in Europe, Harold married a woman from Ireland, had children, and bought a home on the Isle of Man almost entirely with money sent by his parents. Around this time, his parents finally tired of the arrangement and advised that Harold find some means of supporting himself. Covington took this apparent provocation as reason to clean out his bank account and abandon his wife and children. His Children would eventually be disgusted upon discovering their father's neo-Nazi writings on the internet. When Covington died in July of 2018, he bequeathed to each of his family members one dollar, leaving the rest of his estate (including the Northwest Publishing Agency LLC) to Joel Isaac Flake aka “Andreas Donner.”



Neo-Nazi Harold Covington's will designates Joel Flake his executor.



Harold Covington's will bequeathes each of his family members a single dollar, while leaving the rest to Joel Isaac Flake

A Legacy of Fascist Violence

Covington and his “Northwest Front” organization are regarded with a certain level of suspicion and ridicule among certain sectors of white nationalist and neo-Nazi movements. Despite this, Covington's efforts to promote the Butler Plan to a new generation of white nationalists via his organization's propaganda materials, and his unfaltering support of extremist, lone-wolf violence have exerted a clear influence on a new wave of violent white supremacists within and beyond the Pacific Northwest.

Dylann Roof



Neo-Nazi murderer Dylann Roof pictured with a Rhodesian flag patch on his jacket.

25-year-old neo-Nazi and Daily Stormer user Dylann Roof murdered nine people at Mother Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, SC on June 17, 2015. In his manifesto, Roof snidely mentioned his familiarity with Covington's Northwest Front organization. Covington, in turn, fantasized publicly and graphically that more young neo-Nazis like Roof might commit mass murders against liberals.

Christopher Hasson





Christopher Hasson is a U.S. Coast Guard Lieutenant who was arrested in Maryland on drug and gun charges, but who was also discovered to be a neo-Nazi who had compiled a kill-list including Maxine Waters, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Nancy Pelosi, and other various people he considered to be “Leftists”. Hasson was also found to have written a letter to Harold Covington endorsing his call for a white ethnostate, lamenting the “n###erization” of the Northwest, and expressing his desire to “make change with a little focused violence.”

Atomwaffen Division





Atomwaffen Division is a neo-Nazi organization with aspirations toward explicit terrorism and mass murder. The organization is responsible for a number of murders since the Trump presidency began, and has occasionally signaled mutual warmth toward the Northwest Front and Andreas Donner aka Joel Isaac Flake.



The Atomwaffen Division twitter account retweets advice on operational security offered by Joel Flake aka Andreas Donner



Joel Flake shares an antisemitic tweet from an Atomwaffen Division adherent, while referencing the also-antisemitic “Cultural Marxism” conspiracy theory.



Joel Flake shares a post by Atomwaffen member Matthew James Carroll aka Matt Maci

The Base





The Base presents itself as an insurrectionary neo-Nazi militia formulated on the model of cellular terrorist organizations like The Order, and with similar accelerationist goals to Atomwaffen Division. The organization was founded by a Northwest Front member who until January 2020 was known as “Norman Spear” or “Roman Wolf.”

Rinaldo Nazzaro aka Norman Spear





In January of 2020, “Norman Spear's” identity was unmasked as Rinaldo Nazzaro. Nazzaro, who founded The Base, was a member of the Northwest Front, and was reportedly an acquaintance of Harold Covington. Nazzaro has also used the alias “Roman Wolf”.



Joel Flake aka Andreas Donner shares Norman Spear's recruitment advice.



Rinaldo Nazzaro aka Norman Spear shares Northwest Front propaganda on twitter



Rinaldo Nazzaro aka Norman Spear retweets Joel Flake and Harold Covington



A video purporting to be narrated by Rinaldo Nazzaro aka Norman Spear links to materials by The Base and the Northwest Front.

Brian Mark Lemley Jr.





Brian Mark Lemley Jr. is a member of The Base neo-Nazi organization who was arrested in January 2020 in Delaware. Lemley had been a member of a neo-Confederate fascist organization, as well as an affiliate of the Northwest Front (having listened to Covington's podcast for two years) before joining The Base in February of 2019. Lemley and Covington corresponded frequently until the latter's death. Operating as a member of The Base, Lemley was quoted in the FBI's affidavit as having said:

“I literally need, I need to claim my first victim”.



Brian Mark Lemley appears in a propaganda photo-shoot for The Base



Court records detail Brian Mark Lemley's correspondence with Harold Covington.

Matt Blais





Rose City Antifa has written before about Vancouver, WA neo-Nazi Matt Blais, who is also a member of the local chapter of the Daily Stormer Book Club called “PDX Stormers.” Blais is a prolific internet poster, and has shared propaganda from Northwest Front and The Base across multiple social media platforms. Blais, along with many other neo-Nazis and fascists, participated in a number of Joey Gibson‘s Patriot Prayer events,



Matt Blais shares NWF propaganda.



Matt Blais shares propaganda from The Base.

“Andreas Donner” Inherits The Northwest Front



Joel Flake on his way to work at Amazon in Seattle, WA

Neo-Nazi Joel Isaac Flake aka Andreas Donner “migrated” to the Pacific Northwest in 2011 from Kansas City, MO, where he had been working as a software engineer. Prior to Kansas City, Flake attended University of Minnesota from 2003 - 2007 where he acquired a BS in computer science and was a member of a right wing student group called Students For Family Values. Flake eventually got a job at Amazon (Dawson building) in Seattle, WA, but his transition to the area was not entirely smooth, as relayed in the introduction to a series of tips for “northwest migration” apparently co-authored by Flake and Covington before subsequently being copied to multiple white nationalist message boards:

“… one of the Northwest Front's top officials, known by the pseudonym of Andy Donner (who posts as Andreas Donner in Talkshoe chat), has decided to address migration procedures once and for all. Donner himself migrated to the Northwest from the Kansas City metro area, and despite the fact that he had sufficient funds and a highly marketable skill, it took him a year to complete the migration process. This illustrates that Northwest migration needs to be a deliberate decision requiring planning and preparation – it should not be an impulsive act.”



Flake discusses the route he drove when he moved to Seattle in terms of his neo-Nazi hero's fantasy novel.



Joel Flake pays a backhanded compliment to both Brad Griffin aka Hunter Wallace and Richard Spencer, while communicating to his audience that he is not “controlled opposition”.



Neo-Nazis Joel Flake aka Andreas Donner and Harold Covington aka Cody Brock demonstrate in wordy facebook posts that they are not mad about Covington's detractors.



Neo-Nazi Joel Flake communicates his disgust for white nationalist website Counter Currents, who are not homophobic enough for his tastes.



Joel Flake shares a post by Seattle area white nationalist and holocaust denier Charles Krafft.



Joel Flake loves Hitler.

Shortly before Covington's death, Joel Flake participated as Andy Donner in a blogged exchange with Evan McLaren, a fellow neo-Nazi who participated in the deadly “Unite The Right” rally and briefly took the helm of Richard Spencer's white nationalist National Policy Institute. During their correspondence, Flake openly advocated for the violent establishment of a white separatist territory by “physically removing elements which cannot be present in an ethnostate,” and also invoked the anti-semitic “ZOG” conspiracy theory.



Evan McLaren and Joel Flake discuss their predilections for racist violence and antisemitism.

Flake inherited the title of “General Secretary” and– according to comments by Flake on a recent broadcast of his Radio Free Northwest podcast– “Keeper of the Northwest Imperative” from Harold Covington, both of which seem essentially to combine as a propagandist role. Flake's ascent to power was not entirely uncontroversial.



A fellow neo-Nazi complains that Joel Flake is not as clever or interesting as the still-warm corpse of fascist coward Harold Amstead Covington.



Joel Flake aka Andreas Donner implies that cool Nazis are busting down his door now that “Weird Harold” is out of the picture.

Flake also took over the production and management of the Radio Free Northwest podcast, as well as Northwest Publishing Agency LLC, both of which he operates out of his apartment at 2415 Western Ave #111, Seattle WA 98121. As mentioned before, after Northwest Front adherent Christopher Hasson's arrest on terror charges, Joel Flake's employer Amazon.com stopped offering Covington's “Northwest Quartet” race war fantasy novels for sale.



A banner on the Northwest Front's website advertises Harold Covington's Turner Diaries fan-fic as “Purged in 2019 by amazon.com”

Through his assumption of the Northwest Front, Flake has taken up a legacy which spans decades of disgraceful racist atrocities. Neo-Nazi ideologues, propagandists, and organizers like Harold Covington and Joel Flake will always cause fascist violence to be visited upon our communities and loved ones.

If you have further information on Joel Flake, the Northwest Front, or any other fascist organizing, please contact Rose City Antifa at ‘[email protected]’ or (971) 533-7832.