What would Jesus do? Not vote BNP, for a start

The British National Party has launched an advertising campaign in the run-up to the European parliamentary elections on June 4 that seeks to solicit the votes of Christians.

The campaign, which makes the claim that Jesus Christ would vote for the BNP, aims to build on an effort made over recent years to cultivate support among Christians. This has included selective quoting from the papal encyclical, Rerum Novarum, to make it look supportive of far-right policies

To its credit, the Church of England has passed a resolution at the General Synod banning its clergy from membership of the BNP. Meanwhile, the Roman Catholic Church is also slowly stirring to the uncomfortable truth that there are people in its pews likely to vote BNP. In east London, Father Pat Sammon, the parish priest of Our Lady of Lourdes Church, has decided to confront the threat of the far right directly. Joining with other Christian leaders, he is urging parishioners not to vote for fascists.

Father Sammon points out that Jesus stood with the marginalised. He says: “The BNP seeks to marginalise members of British society, as well as those who come to us seeking asylum – in other words, precisely those for whom Jesus’ care led to his persecution.” Father Sammon argues that: “Jesus has always loved and cared about those whom the BNP appear to treat as of less importance – the refugees and asylum seekers, the homeless and jobless.”

The danger of the BNP making gains is very real. As London Labour MEP Claude Moraes has pointed out, the BNP could win at least one seat due to low turnout and a desire to register a protest vote.

The BNP is currently tapping into the disillusion among traditional Labour Party supporters. These people feel they have been abandoned. They believe the Government cares more about the welfare of big bankers than it does about the ordinary people who have lost their jobs because of the greed and incompetence of those bankers. There has been a growing polarisation of wealth over the past 10 years between a rich elite and the rest. Once Labour existed to try to close this gap. Now it presides over a widening of it.

And this Labour Government has failed to manage immigration policy. While the flow of migrants to Britain has generated wealth, there has been a failure to allocate resources to poorer areas. Migrant workers head for areas of low-cost housing. No extra funding is provided, thereby putting pressure on public services. The BNP then blame migrants for resulting problems.

Gordon Brown’s ill-conceived remarks about “British jobs for British workers” have been adopted as a mantra by the BNP. Where there have been disputes involving migrant workers, the BNP has been spreading its poison picket lines.

The Government has also stoked racial tensions with its treatment of much of the Muslim community on the basis of the terrorist threat. The targeting of this community as “suspect” in some way plays into the hands of the far right. In times of economic hardship, people tend to look for scapegoats.

The response to the fascist threat must involve strenuous efforts to build a united front across progressive and liberal organisations, including trade unions and religious groups. The threat is such that traditional differences must be put aside.

The hierarchies of the various churches need to demonstrate some leadership. Other religious leaders should follow the example of John Sentamu, the Archbishop of York, who declared that voting for the BNP was “like spitting in the face of God”.

All people of faith must vote against the BNP and campaign to resist its electoral advance.

Tribune

Strangers in the night (truth and the BNP re-mix)

Breaking news: Suffolk BNP candidate arrested

The Suffolk farmer who built gallows for export has been arrested just weeks after the British National Party chose him as a candidate for the European elections.

The BNP has confirmed that David Lucas (left), of Mildenhall, was arrested on Thursday and questioned by Suffolk Police and that he had been released on bail.

A spokesman for Suffolk police said: “A 48-year-old man from Lakenheath has been arrested on suspicion of handling stolen goods.

“He has been released on police bail to return to Bury St Edmunds police station on June.11.”

The BNP has said that the alleged incident will not prevent Mr Lucas, who lives at Eldon Farm in Holywell Row, from standing in the European election. He is in fifth place out of seven candidates from the East of England chosen by the party to fight for a seat in Brussels.

A spokesman said: “David woke up to find the police around the house. He was interviewed and then released.

“It follows a big fund raising party held on his property to raise funds for the campaign. We are not worried about the incident and he will remain on the party's election list of candidates.”

Nominations for the June 4 election close on May 7.

Ipswich Evening Star


BBC report: BNP candidate quizzed by police

A candidate for the British National Party (BNP) has been arrested by armed police in Suffolk.

David Lucas, who is standing in the European elections, was questioned on suspicion of handling stolen goods.

The arrest of Mr Lucas on Thursday is in connection with an incident at Halesworth, in Suffolk, last year.

The BNP confirmed that Mr Lucas had been arrested at his farm near Mildenhall and questioned before being released on bail.

BNP leader defends policy on race

British National Party (BNP) chairman Nick Griffin has defended a party leaflet which says that black Britons and Asian Britons "do not exist". The BNP's "Language and Concepts Discipline Manual" says the term used should be "racial foreigners".

In a BBC interview, Mr Griffin said to call such people British was a sort of "bloodless genocide" because it denied indigenous people their own identity.

Mr Griffin is standing in the European Parliament elections in June.

'Politically correct fiction'

The BNP manual, leaked to an anti-fascist group and seen by the BBC, says that "BNP activists and writers should never refer to 'black Britons' or 'Asian Britons' etc, for the simple reason that such persons do not exist".

"These people are 'black residents' of the UK etc, and are no more British than an Englishman living in Hong Kong is Chinese. Collectively, foreign residents of other races should be referred to as 'racial foreigners', a non-pejorative term... The key in such matters is above all to maintain necessary distinctions while avoiding provocation and insult."

The manual describes the BNP's "ultimate aim" as the "lawful, humane and voluntary repatriation of the resident foreigners of the UK".

Commenting on the leaflet's content, Mr Griffin told The Report on Radio 4 that although "in civic terms they are British, British also has a meaning as an ethnic description".

"We don't subscribe to the politically correct fiction that just because they happen to be born in Britain, a Pakistani is a Briton. They're not; they remain of Pakistani stock.

"You can't say that especially large numbers of people can come from the rest of the world and assume an English identity without denying the English their own identity, and I would say that's wrong," he added. "In a very subtle way, it's a sort of bloodless genocide."

'Delighted'

Mr Griffin was also candid about the significance the BNP places on the ogan "British jobs for British workers".

The Prime Minister Gordon Brown famously used the phrase in a speech about skills training.

Mr Griffin claimed the prime minister borrowed the rhetoric from his party. "When I heard Gordon Brown use our slogan - British jobs for British workers - I was delighted," he said. "What Mr Brown actually meant when he said British jobs for British workers is of course down to Mr Brown.

"But there's no doubt that it was perceived - and was intended to be perceived - by millions of ordinary Brits as meaning that they would be at the front of the queue in front of economic migrants from anywhere else in the world."

"So having raised our slogan, promised it, we feel that he's legitimised our message."

'Pernicious'

Hazel Blears, secretary of state for Communities and Local Government, said she rejected Mr Griffin's charge that the prime minister's use of the phrase represents an endorsement of BNP policy.

"I certainly regret the fact that the BNP could be using language we've used in order to legitimise what I regard as divisive, pernicious policies which will actually do working class people no good at all," she said.

"What I don't regret is the fact that we need to have a proper discussion in this country about making sure that British people have a chance to get the skills, the education, to be able to get the jobs of the future."

The "British jobs for British workers" slogan was widely repeated during the BNP's recent council by-election campaign in Moston in Manchester, where the party's candidate, local publican Derek Adams, came second.

Moston is in the North West region, where the BNP hopes its supporters will elect Mr Griffin as the party's first MEP in the European Parliamentary elections on 4 June. Nominations close on 7 May.

Under the proportional representation system used in European elections, the BNP would need around 9% of the vote; in the last elections the party won 6.4%.

BBC

BNP says some members are oddballs and liars

The British National party is urging its members not to set up official party blogs in the run-up to this year's European elections because "they can't write proper English" and "get carried away with conspiracy theories", according to a leaked internal guide for senior party activists.

The handbook says that some BNP members are "oddballs", "Walter Mitty characters", "compulsive liars" and "born troublemakers", and advises activists: "If you hear something odd or unpleasant about someone either forget about it or ask them about it to their face."

Polling experts believe that the far-right party, led by Nick Griffin, has a chance of picking up its first seats in the European parliament in the June elections.

The handbook states that "while we cannot stop individuals using the internet ... the BNP does not allow members or units to run websites or blogs which use the BNP logo or party name in their title, or which give the impression of being official BNP operations". Instead, members are advised to "set up political sites which appear to be totally independent of any political party, including ours".

The guide says that these "apparently independent sites exposing the wrongdoings and failings of the old parties and making subtly favourable reference to the BNP, will be much more attractive and convincing to the wider public than sites which are clearly ours".

The document was leaked to the anti-racist group Searchlight, which said: "Everyone knows the BNP is comprised of troublemakers, oddballs and liars, but it's surprising to see them being described like that in their own training manual."

The Guardian

BNP hides its skinheads to woo voters

British National Party (BNP) skinheads are being urged to cover up their shaven scalps as the far-right group seeks to present a new, more respectable image, according to a leaked internal “war book”.

Polling experts believe the antiimmigration party led by Nick Griffin has a chance of picking up its first seats in the European parliament in June by capitalising on recession-fuelled rows over “British jobs for British workers”.

A handbook distributed to activists discloses how the BNP, which has already won a string of council by-elections, plans to soften its extremist reputation and appeal to potential supporters as an “alternative extended family”.

The manual for activists includes: Orders to “make sure your team are tidily dressed and look presentable. No naked torsos in summer, unshaven scruffs or skinhead haircuts (put them in caps or hats)”. Suggestions for the use of internet blogs to attack opponents, including ostensibly independent local blogs that “help us to collect and disseminate material damaging to other parties”. Ideas for reviving St George’s Day traditions to combat the “growing power of Islam”.

The handbook urges activists to rebrand the BNP by always using its full name. “The initials BNP have to an extent been turned into a demonised tag by the media,” it says. “‘British National party’ sounds more reasonable and comfortable.”

It warns members not to “express extreme views or advocate violence of any description. Your e-mails are probably less secure than you think”.

The manual says campaigning events are to be graded, green, amber or red. Red events are in “areas where there are heightened community tensions” and “must include advance consultations . . . [with] the national head of security”.

There is also advice on dealing with the police and Special Branch, described in the manual as “Britain’s secret police”. BNP members are advised to tell them to “get back into their kennels”.

The handbook adds: “Millions of people live very lonely and isolated lives. The decline of the family and the break-up of communities mean there is a big gap in [their] lives. Filling that gap, giving people an ‘alternative extended family’, is the most powerful recruiting tool.”

A spokesman for the campaign group Searchlight said: “This booklet exposes the reality behind the BNP mask of respectability. What other political party feels the need to ask its senior organisers to be careful not to get caught discussing their plans for violent behaviour on the internet?”

Simon Darby, deputy leader of the BNP, defended its tactics: “We switched to recruiting on the net because we do not get a fair crack from the traditional media.”

Sunday Times


BNP cover-up

An official handbook for BNP activists reveals how they plan to cover up the LIES and DECEIT behind their election campaigns.

It shows how the far-right party has drawn up schemes to smear Labour and the Tories in June Euro elections.

And it has advised members how to make sure plots to stir up violence stay secret in an attempt to con voters into thinking they are respectable.

The Activists' & Organisers' Handbook tells them to:

* USE internet blogs to put out damaging stories about rivals.
* NEVER advocate violence in emails-in case they are leaked.
* ENSURE supporters wear hats over their skinhead haircuts when out campaigning.

The guide's advice on using the internet suggests setting up blogs that do not appear to be BNP sites to help them collect information for smear campaigns.

Party thugs are told not to even mention violence in emails in case they get out. The guide says: "Don't use it to express extreme views or advocate violence. Your emails are probably less secure than you think."

Activists are also told to refer to the party as the British National Party not the BNP because it sounds "much more reasonable and comfortable".

And members of the party, led by Nick Griffin, must not dress like thugs when campaigning.

The guide states: "No naked torsos in summer, unshaven scruffs or skinhead haircuts (put them in caps or hats)."

A spokesman for anti-racist group Searchlight, which uncovered the book, said: "This booklet exposes the reality behind the BNP mask of respectability.

Hate

"What other political party feels the need to ask its senior organisers to be careful not to get caught discussing their plans for violent behaviour on the internet?

"This shows they are the same old extremists, with the same agenda of hate and division."

The BNP has revealed it is collecting masses of data on its opponents' sexual orientation ready for character assassination campaigns if they criticise the party.

Its official declaration on the Data Protection Register shows information about "relatives, guardians and associates" of any critics is also being gathered.

News of the World

Ex-BNP member speaks out - "Just tell them to fuck off"

Police launch probe over new BNP threat

Redbridge Police have launched an investigation after an apparently pro-British National Party (BNP) website published threats against a woman who was allegedly the victim of a racist attack.

The news comes after officers arrested a BNP by-election campaigner in Wanstead on Tuesday after she allegedly called the woman a "n****r." The police have not commented on whether the BNP canvasser has been charged.

The website, which claims to be written by an unnamed "proud BNP member", has published full details of the woman and photographs of her Wanstead home along with the threats. The website has been taken down within the past hour.

It said: "I intend to publicise your details on as many web sites as possible. You will wish you had never lied about the BNP; and that's not a lie, that's a promise."

Despite the police action, Wanstead BNP candidate John Evans said he thought the website was a fake. He said: "I think it's an absolute fake. I haven't heard of it. We don't need to resort to this rubbish. I hope they find who did it. If we can take legal action against the person that did this then we may well do so."*

Waltham Forest Guardian

*Oh really?

Norfolk Unity has 76 comments to date in its moderation queue. Some are death threats, some are threats of violence, some are racist, some praise Nazism. All of them come from BNP members.

BNP by-election campaigner arrested over 'racist attack'

Shirlene Tobin with one of the BNP leaflets

A frightened mum-of-two has been left too scared to leave her home after she was allegedly called a ‘nigger’ by a British National Party (BNP) canvasser during a racist tirade in front of her five year old son.

Charleen Tobin, of St Margaret’s Road, Wanstead, has refused to leave her house since the incident - on Tuesday evening - during which she alleges the female BNP activist told her to ‘come to me because I don’t come to niggers’ when she tried to hand back a political leaflet that was posted through her front door.

The 43 year-old - who works as a nurse at Whipps Cross University Hospital - called the police immediately after the alleged attack at about 7.30pm - which she said has left her fearing for her family’s safety.

She said: “I couldn’t believe what this woman said to me in the middle of the street in front of my son. I walked after her to try and give the leaflet back but got a load of racist abuse. She told me to run to her because ‘niggers should be used to running.’ “This is the first time I’ve suffered racist abuse like this. I moved to Wanstead from Stratford because it has a special village community character, and then this happens.

“My neighbour has been brilliant and supported me, but I have been unable to leave the house since this happened. I’m worried about what might happen to me and my children. My husband is Irish, and black and Irish people in our parents generation suffered abuse like this, but I didn’t think this would happen to me today, in a place like Wanstead. My son is on his Easter holidays from school, and we were going to go out and look at the bluebells in the park, but I don’t feel safe to do that now.”

John Evans - who is standing as the BNP candidate in the upcoming Wanstead ward by-election - played down Mrs Tobin’s claims. He said: “I am aware of this incident but knowing the BNP members in this area as I do I am sure none of them would have done this. As our leader Nick Griffin has made clear - anyone found bringing the name of the British National Party into disrepute will be expelled with immediate effect.”

This is Local London

Nazi salute for BNP no.2

This chilling picture shows BNP deputy leader Simon Darby being given a NAZI SALUTE at a fascist rally.

Three extremists flashed the banned Hitler-style sign to the British far-right boss outside the event in Italy.

Our exclusive snap fuels fears of danger ahead as the British National Party gains popularity in the recession.

Darby, leading a drive for seats at the European Parliament elections in June, was following Stratos Karanikolau, from the Greek nationalist Proti Grammi (Front Line) party.

They were joined by MEPs Roberto Fiore, a convicted terrorist, and Holocaust denier Bruno Gollnisch at the 400-strong meeting in Milan.

Last night Labour MP Jon Cruddas said: "This shows the BNP are a gang of thugs parading as politicians."
_________________________________

Beat a bigot in a ballot

Anyone doubting the danger of the BNP should look no further than the straight-arm salutes greeting deputy leader Simon Darby at a meeting in Mussolini's old stamping ground.

Darby is leading his party's drive for votes in June's Euro elections - and they may win up to three seats.

Giving them the right to stick their snouts in a money-trough that could fund yet more of their bile.

Labour's deputy leader Harriet Harman is right to warn that the BNP "are a bigger threat than ever."

And on polling day, they will rely on the apathy of mainstream voters.

So on June 4 remember these salutes. Use your vote wisely.

And keep the BNP out of Brussels.

Source: News of the World

BNP organisers gather for Easter bash

A little bird dropped the notice below in our laps – not one of the birds that Simon Darby, deputy leader of the BNP and the party’s press officer, is forever watching, even when he is in London acting as part-time personal assistant to Richard Barnbrook, the BNP’s solitary London Assembly member.

Darby, as we reported here on 5 April, has just come back from a trip to meet fascists and nazis in Italy. According to the BNP’s website he called for increased cooperation with European nationalist groups at “a conference attended by over 400 people in Rome”, which was rather odd as the fascist Forza Nuova rally Darby attended was in Milan. Darby is the lead BNP candidate in the West Midlands. If he and any of his geographically challenged BNP colleagues in other regions get elected to the European Parliament in June, they may well fail even to find their way to the Parliament’s offices in Strasbourg and Brussels.

But back to the regional council meeting, held the day before Easter Sunday, when even BNP organisers might prefer to spend the time with their families. Perhaps they need an extra incentive to attend. Possible Darby, keen to repay Butler, the BNP’s national organiser and elections expert, for all his hard work, brought back some Italian Easter eggs to give to the first arrivals at the redirection point at Birchanger Green services on the M11.

Here is the letter from Eddy Butler, complete with grammatical errors:

Dear All

We are holding a vital regional council meeting on saturday 11th april.

Meet at 12.30 at birchanger green services on the M11 (the stanstead airport and bishops stortford turnoff)

This is short notice but we have vital things to discuss before the elections get under way in earnest and this is the only free date. Every unit must be represented.

Eddy butler

Eastern regional organiser

HOPE not hate

BNP rattled and with good reason

From Nick Lowles' blog:

When our opponents sent out a fake email from Real AFA yesterday they were simply acknowledging what is clear for everyone to see – we are doing something right. The BNP is scared of the growing HOPE not hate campaign and rightly so. Across the country new HOPE not hate groups are springing up and other organisations are wanting to join our activities.

There will be over 200 HOPE not hate activities across the country during May. This now includes over 70 events organised by students on Student Sunday and many in areas where we have had no activity before. In the South West, where our activities map was previously blank, we are now looking at events in Bristol, Bournemouth, Plymouth, Exeter, Bridgewater and Newquay. In the South East, where again we had nothing, events are now being planned with student unions in Sussex, Kent, Surrey and Buckinghamshire.

And this number of 200 doesn’t even include Union Friday events. This could well see several hundreds more activities taking place around the country as we plan events with trade unions. Local Trades Councils in Shropshire contacted us at the end of last week to say that they had voted to cover railway stations on Union Friday. Last night Matthew spoke to an Aslef branch in Bletchley and received support from them as well. Blackpool Trades Council are joining with Labour Party activists and trade unions to set up a Blackpool HOPE not hate group and Stockport Trades Council have delivered the thousands of leaflets they have already received from us and have just ordered another 5,000.

No wonder our opponents are scared. When our Preston and Chorley HOPE not hate organiser puts in an order for 65,000 newspapers and Pendle UAF order 30,000 you can tell the campaign will be big. And this is in addition to the 45,000 ordered by Blackburn, 30,000 by Burnley, 20,000 by Ribble Valley and 10,000 each for Hyndburn and Rossendale.

The abusive and silly email that went out yesterday is the sign of desperate people. As our campaign really cranks into gear I’m sure we’ll be inundated by more black propaganda. I take it as a compliment as it confirms to me that we are doing something right.

HOPE not hate

NB: Details of Norfolk HOPE not hate activities supported by Great Yarmouth and Norwich Trade Councils will appear here shortly.

Squirrel's nuts cracked

One of the joys of operating a blog such as this is that our deep suspicion that the BNP is little more than an association of the intellectually enfeebled is confirmed whenever we log in to moderate visitor comments, for there awaiting our perusal will be a cosy nest of misspelled, carelessly cased and otherwise ungrammatical messages laboriously tapped out by persons who clearly found their schooldays an insuperable challenge.

The messages left by our large army of BNP fans are, as you might expect, not exactly complimentary of ourselves or of our stated purpose - though on occasion we are mystified as to what precisely our fascist fan base is saying, as so many of the messages they leave have the appearance of having been bashed out by a five year-old who had worked his way to the bottom of one whisky bottle and was half way through the next.

However that may be, we have a familiarity with the syntax of written BNP-ese that is second to none, and - mentally stepping back a few rungs on the evolutionary ladder so as to facilitate ease of understanding - have become completely conversant with the monosyllabic word stock (mercifully limited) of this distant pidgin relative of our own beloved English language.

A characteristic of BNP-ese is the repeated use of a small number of easily spelled words, from which sentence constructions such as "f*ck you" and "f*ck off" are lovingly burnished and tendered for our edification. Those better versed in the intricacies of BNP-ese (intellectual heavyweights in BNP terms, as we have no doubt) are even more adventurous, and quite capable of such complicated word arrangements as "ur goner f*cking Dye" and "yor lampost is waiting".

I kid you not. The comments are real, and the word "waiting" really was spelled exactly as we English speakers would spell it.

True greatness for the writer of BNP-ese comes when the author is possessed of some small ability to translate his or her otherwise impenetrable rantings into something approaching Standard Modern British English - though you will understand that the vocabulary remains strictly limited and that four letter verbs (well, one, as it happens) abound, thus:

You Evil bastards have had your chips. HA HA HA
And that CREEP Gable.
DIE. YOU ARE TRAITORS AND SOON EVERONE WILL KNOW ABOUT YOU AND YOUR BACKERS.
This is the best Christmas present ever. So Shut the Fuck Up you Nazi Stalinist terrorist loving scumbags!
I never thought that I could hate anyone. But I despise you!

This example is a comment left at Norfolk Unity by that amusing collection of hatreds known as Red Squirrel. Other examples, culled from our extensive Red Squirrel collection include:

yOU ARE A STUPID FUCKING BITCH and a slag!

and, best and most eloquent of all:

You are just an anti white hate group.
why dont you fuck off to Saudi Denis[e]sic.
I am anonymous owing to your nasty little habit of sending fire bombers around ( i.e. the goon squad Antifa)
You are the real fascists, but that won't save you from your 'friends' the Islamic's. They would kill you first LOL.
If I ever find out where YOU live bitch, I will publish it EVERYWHERE because of your crap about Green Arrow,you fucking piece of shit!

As you can see, Red Squirrel has made an outstanding - nay, heroic - effort with this last example, such that its similarity to our own language is remarkable.

On one splendid occasion, however, Red Squirrel surpassed all previous attempts at placing one word after another in an intelligible manner, and managed to do it without the inclusion of four letter verbs:

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to Arrest and charge with incitement to hatred any person issuing death threats against another person or group.

This was an unsuccessful attempt by Red Squirrel to start an online petition at the No.10 website.

Ignoring the hypocrisy (given Red Squirrel's "DIE" advice) and the wayward capitalisation of a verb, we feel that the reason the petition was rejected was because, with so many other matters on his plate, the Prime Minister simply does not have the time to go around arresting everybody who makes a death threat. He is, we are told, busy saving the world.

The name affixed to the failed petition was not actually that of Red Squirrel, but of alter-ego Epona Walton (used when it's not Epona Vals).

Now, like so many BNP members who set to mangling our ancient language in the comments section of this blog, Red Squirrel displays a touching faith in the supposed anonymity of the Internet - "I am anonymous" says the endangered rodent - never imagining that anonymity is a meaningless concept when the person supposing him or herself anonymous is unutterably stupid - as the Red Squirrel's friend Paul Morris, aka Green Arrow, discovered.

And Red Squirrel has been unutterably stupid.

For some time we have known the real-world identity and location of Red Squirrel, being Mrs Elizabeth Walton, who lives in what appears to be a council flat in the Park North area of Swindon.

As well as running her own bonkers Red Squirrel blog (Nut Cracking Nationalism), Odinist Mrs Walton, styling herself "Epona", also co-edits the hysterical (and hysterically funny) Swindon Patriots BNP blog, wherein the fascist faithful are urged to hate Muslims, support Geert Wilders, and stop paying their TV licences.

Most of you will be familiar with the Red Squirrel blog, in which Mrs Walton (below) waxes lyrical - well, you know, as best she can - about nature.


This love of nature is plainly inexplicable, given what nature did to her, and it really is enough to turn a gay woman straight.

Going back to Mrs Walton's statement of intent that: "If I ever find out where YOU live bitch, I will publish it EVERYWHERE", you might think I would be delighted to return the sentiment, but curiously enough I'm not (and any anti-fascist would have little trouble discovering the whereabouts of the odious Odinist in any case).

I wonder how she feels though, knowing that the boot has always been on the other foot, and if she might attempt a phrase or two vaguely related to English in which to express it - nut cracking anti-fascism, perhaps?

The Nasty Party

On the morning of 25 February the Conservative Party announced the tragic news that Ivan Cameron, the six-year-old son of Conservative Party leader David Cameron and his wife Samantha, who suffered from cerebral palsy and epilepsy, had died. In a rare show of unity figures from across the political spectrum united to send their condolences and best wishes to the heartbroken family.

Not so the British National Party. True, the BNP website carried a brief statement from Nick Griffin expressing his sympathy in an attempt to portray himself as a statesman and the BNP as a “normal” political party.

This ruse failed to disguise the fact that the Camerons had not even had the chance to bury their “beautiful boy” before certain BNP members were displaying their true colours.

In a cruel and warped outburst against those who had expressed their condolences at the death of Ivan Cameron, Jeff Marshall (pictured), the central London BNP organiser, who lives in Whitechapel, wrote: “We live in a country today which is unhealthily dominated by an excess of sentimentality towards the weak and unproductive. No good will come of it.”

Not content with attacking those mourning the death of a severely disabled child who brought “joy and love to those around him”, Marshall continued in his sick tirade, stating that although it would be “a kindness” to kill children with disabilities, this was not the same as advocating such a measure as compulsory state policy. “But so what if it is,” he asked. “At least we would all know where we stand. There is actually not a great deal of point in keeping these sort of people alive, after all.”

Marshall’s disturbing and repellent views recall those of Tony Lecomber, who was, until 2008, one of Griffin’s right-hand men. Lecomber proposed a racist eugenics programme, echoing that of the Nazi murderer Dr Josef Mengele, which advocated a “racially purer” Britain through the sterilisation of the poor, the sick and the disabled. Lecomber believed, and presumably still does, that the rich are “genetically superior” to ordinary people and that poor people should not be allowed to have their own children.

Marshall, who was seventh on the BNP’s London Assembly list in May 2008, is a racist who wants to raise tension between white and Muslim communities.

His own views make it perfectly clear that he wishes to foment the sort of “civil war” that Nick Griffin constantly harps on about and from which only the BNP can gain. “The Muslims must be wound up as much as possible – so they will make the maximum amount of trouble. Then it will be clearer to the public what immigration has done to this country.”

Could the BNP make its views or strategy any clearer?

Searchlight

BNP deputy leader addresses international fascist rally

Speakers enter the hotel greeted by fascist salutes

The deputy leader of the British National Party has spoken at an international fascist rally alongside a man convicted of a terrorism offence and a convicted Holocaust denier.

Simon Darby claims he addressed a 400-strong audience in Milan today (5 April). Representatives of extreme-right parties in Germany, France, Romania, Hungary and Cyprus were expected to take part in the meeting.

Darby, who flew out to Italy this morning, heads the BNP’s European election candidates’ list for the West Midlands, a region in which the party could win a seat. He has a “Mr Clean” reputation in a party in which many leading activists have criminal convictions, a nazi past or both.

The rally was titled: “Our Europe; Peoples and Traditions Against Banks and Big Powers”, a change from the original, “Our Europe; Peoples and Traditions Against Banks and Usury”. The term “usury” is traditionally used by Nazis against Jews and it may have been altered to avoid accusations of antisemitism.

It had been booked at a major conference centre in Milan, but widespread protests from MEPs and Italian partisan veterans, as well as a 20,000-strong petition forced its move to a private hotel.

Simon Darby (right) with Bruno Gollnisch MEP (left) and Roberto Fiore MEP (second from left)

The meeting was organised by Forza Nuova, whose leader Roberto Fiore, was convicted in Italy in 1985 for “subversive association” for his involvement in the Armed Revolutionary Nuclei. Two members of that organisation were convicted for the Bologna railway station bombing in August 1980 which killed 85 people, including two British tourists, Catherine Mitchell and John Kolpinski, and left over 200 wounded. It was the biggest postwar terrorist attack in Europe.

Fiore became an MEP after Alessandra Mussolini, granddaughter of the Italian fascist dictator, resigned her seat to take up a post in the Italian government. He has been a friend, financial supporter and political mentor to BNP leader Nick Griffin since 1980, when Fiore arrived in Britain on the run from justice in Italy.

Fiore helped Griffin run the National Front “political soldiers”, described at the time as a “proto-terrorist organisation”. When the political soldiers collapsed, they went on to found a new fascist group, the International Third Position.

Alongside his political activities Fiore amassed a huge fortune through business interests in London and later around the world. They included operating as a slum landlord and exploiting people brought in from eastern Europe, Italy and Spain, whom he passed on to gang masters to work on the land and in food processing plants.

Fiore was also one of the founders of the extremely violent Hammerskins skinhead movement, part of the nazi music and football hooligan gangs responsible for violence on the terraces. They have strong links with one of the most vicious fascist football hooligan gangs in Europe, the Roma Ultras, who recently attacked English football fans, stabbing one. Their most infamous episode was when they unfurled a banner down one side of their home stadium with the words “Jews to Auschwitz”.

Father Giulio Tam raises his hand in support of fascism

Hammerskins members recently marched through Bergamo in northern Italy armed with sticks and metal bars and with helmets on their heads. At their head were Fiore and Father Giulio Tam, a priest revered by Spanish falangistas and Italian fascists, who blessed the FN’s new headquarters in the town. Father Tam was in the audience at the Milan rally.

Fiore is closely associated with the Catholic Society of St Pius X, in which Bishop Richard Williamson was a leading light. In January 2009 in a television interview Bishop Williamson denied the existence of the Nazi gas chambers, a statement that caused a scandal when the Pope lifted his longstanding excommunication a week later.

Also in prime position on the platform with Darby was Bruno Gollnisch. An MEP for the French National Front, Gollnisch was given a three-month suspended prison sentence in January 2007 for denying the Holocaust. He was also fined €5,000.

The court, in Lyon, found he had “disputed a crime against humanity” in remarks he made during a news conference in the city in October 2004. Gollnisch, who was chair of the Identity Tradition and Sovereignty far-right official group in the European Parliament, had questioned the number of Jews who died in the Holocaust and said the “existence of the gas chambers is for historians to discuss”.

Security for the fascist rally - almost as ugly as Martin Reynolds

In April last year, just three days before polling day in the London Assembly election, in which the BNP won one seat, Griffin brought Gollnisch and other European extremists to a private meeting in a South Kensington hotel.

The meeting took place at a time when Griffin, a long-time Jew-hater who has a conviction for race hate, had approached the Jewish community in a bid to form a united front against Muslims, an invitation that the Jewish community firmly rejected.

Despite the BNP’s anti-EU stance, Griffin is keen to build links with European far-right parties, hoping that if he is elected as an MEP, he will be able to join a far-right bloc. If enough far-right MEPs can put aside their nationalist rivalries and form an official group in the European Parliament, they will benefit from a further €1 million a year on top of their salaries and staffing and expenses allowances. They would also be entitled to committee positions and enhanced speaking rights.

In October Griffin addressed an open-air rally of the Hungarian hardline fascist Jobbik party and its private army heavy mob, the Hungarian Guard, in Budapest. Griffin has been flirting with the Hungarian fascists since May when he met the Jobbik representatives Bela Kovacs and Zoltan Fuzessy in London.

Jobbik, also known as the Movement for a Better Hungary, is strongly anti-Jewish. Although the BNP has courted the Jewish community and denies it is antisemitic, Darby said recently on a radio broadcast that BNP MEPs would welcome cooperation with Jobbik.

A few days after his return from Hungary Griffin was cementing his relationship with the tiny anti-immigration, anti-Muslim and anti-Romani Czech National Party (NS) by addressing its rally to celebrate Czech independence. Griffin’s trip, accompanied by several BNP activists, followed the visit by the NS leader, Petra Edelmannová, to the BNP’s Red White and Blue festival last August.

That Darby has now joined Griffin in linking up with these far-right extremists in Europe shows that the BNP is still an out-and-out fascist and antisemitic party, despite the fine words and smart suits of its leaders.

Searchlight

An open letter from Nick Lowles - Give one hour to stop the BNP!

Dear reader,

I am writing this open letter to you because I need your help. With the European election only a few weeks away it is absolutely vital that we all do what we can to stop the BNP from winning seats in the European Parliament. A significant BNP victory would herald the era of four-party politics and the BNP, with its leaders who peddle race hate, division and fear, would become a lasting national threat, and one that will play out in the ballot box and in our communities.

But they need not win. This election is being contested under proportional representation and so every vote counts. It is also a turnout election so we need everyone who opposes the BNP’s politics of hate to vote and convince others around them to vote.

This month Searchlight is launching its “Donate an hour” initiative. We are asking all our readers and supporters to give us a minimum of one hour to help us stop the BNP. Towards the end of this letter I will give you five ways you can help stop the BNP.

We are facing the biggest political challenge to date but if everyone who opposes the BNP’s message of hate does something then we can stop them.

The BNP threat

The threat from the British National Party in the forthcoming European election is very real. With just a small increase in the share of the vote the party secured at the last European election in 2004, the BNP could win three or more seats. Let there be no misunderstanding, a substantial breakthrough in the European election would change the British political landscape for years to come.

And it would change for the worse.

Each MEP is entitled to around £250,000 a year for staff and office support. Rather than benefiting voters in the region, the BNP would employ organisers to push its racist agenda in local and national elections.

That’s exactly what it has done in London, where its representative on the London Assembly employs two people, the party’s deputy leader, Simon Darby, who lives in Wales, and its Essex organiser Emma Colgate, who lives in Thurrock.

More importantly, a significant BNP breakthrough would fundamentally change the BNP’s fortunes and our ability to stop them. They would achieve a respectability and credibility that they can now only dream of. They would become regular fixtures on news programmes and we would no longer be able to pressurise the authorities to stop their activities.

As MEPs, they would be able to intervene on any issue and in any community they wish. We only have to look back to Oldham a few years ago to see how this can play out on the streets, winding up communities and pitting neighbour against neighbour. Increased tensions, fears and violence will likely follow.

Nick Griffin, leader of the BNP, needs to increase his 2004 vote in the North West from 6.4% to just 8.5%. Simon Darby only has to increase the BNP’s 7.5% vote in 2004 to 10.5% to take a seat in the West Midlands. And Andrew Brons requires his share of the vote to grow from 8% to 10.5% to take a seat in Yorkshire and The Humber.

The BNP even pose a threat in the East Midlands and London. They need to double their 6.5% vote in the East Midlands but with 26% of the electorate having voted for the UK Independence Party in 2004, which is now a mere shadow of its former self, this is not unfeasible. The BNP might only have polled 5.3% in London in last year’s London Assembly election but this could easily rise to the necessary 8.5% if inner London, which came out strongly for Ken Livingstone and Labour 12 months ago, remains at home this time.

Turnout will be a major factor.

Few people appear interested in the European election. A poll taken towards the end of last year found only 3% even knew that there was an election this year at all. Most people who are interested probably dislike the EU all the same.

In 2004 the BNP was prevented from winning through a high turnout, caused largely by all-out elections in the Metropolitan authorities in the North and West Midlands on the same day, and a huge vote for the UKIP. Neither of these factors are likely to benefit us this time. With no local elections in the urban areas of the North West, Yorkshire and The Humber and the West Midlands, turnout is likely to plummet.

In 1999, when the European elections was held without other elections at the same time, turnout nationally was just 23%. It was even worse in the North West, where the biggest BNP risk is. Twelve of the 20 local authorities with the lowest turnout were in Greater Manchester and Merseyside, with just 13% of people voting in Liverpool.

If there is anything like a repeat of this turnout then we have little hope of stopping the BNP. One trade unionist in Burnley put it very succinctly at a recent meeting. If only one million of the five million registered voters in the North West bother to vote then Nick Griffin will only need 90,000 votes to get elected. And they will certainly get this.

If two million people bother to vote, achieving a 40% turnout, then the BNP will need 180,000 votes. Suddenly it becomes more difficult for them. If there is a 50% turnout then the BNP will need 225,000, which surely is beyond their reach.

Turnout is absolutely crucial. In a short election campaign we will try to depress the BNP vote but that is far more difficult, and time consuming, than turning out our anti-BNP vote. And this has to be our crucial task. A turnout of less than 30% and it will be virtually impossible to stop the BNP from winning seats.

Mobilising

It is against this backdrop that the HOPE not hate campaign is being organised. It will be our biggest and most sophisticated campaign to date. During May we are organising days of action and mass leafleting all across the country. So far we have activities organised in over 70 local authority areas, with more to be confirmed. Some will be small events, with just a handful of people, but others will mobilise hundreds. There is now a competition between Manchester and Liverpool for who can put more people on the street on 16 May. Wigan has set itself a target of delivering 50,000 newspapers and Barking and Dagenham is aiming for more than 250 people to take part in its day of action.

However, we also recognise that we alone cannot defeat the BNP. The HOPE not hate campaign is working with a number of partners who have their own networks, among them trade unions and faith groups. If the trade unions can increase polling day turnout among their 750,000 members in the North West they can really influence the outcome. If these trade unionists can persuade their partners to vote, that will push up the turnout even further.

We are working with all the main trade unions, often customising specific literature with messages that are pertinent to their members.

Faith groups will be crucial. They have a credibility and authority in many of the communities where local politicians have disengaged. In Greater Manchester alone, the Anglican Church has over 500 full-time employees and a similar number of part-time workers, and the church as a whole has the largest community outreach project in the country. Give these people the arguments and tools to take the message to their congregations and we are really beginning to motor.

The Jewish community is already organising. In parts of north London turnout among Jewish voters in 2008 was almost 80%, largely mobilised based on the desire to defeat the BNP. A similar campaign in Manchester and Leeds is being organised and will obviously boost our vote.

High stakes

The stakes have never been higher. I’m presuming that you, as a reader of Searchlight, share my opposition to the BNP and its politics of hate. But now I must ask you to do a little bit more. If we are to defeat the BNP then we must all play a role, and we must do it now.

We have to say to ourselves, and our friends: If not me, who? If not now, when?

This is why I am asking you to donate a minimum one hour to fight the BNP. That’s my ask to you and I hope it will be your ask to your friends and family.

Many of you could probably donate far more than an hour to the campaign, but even if it is only one hour it can make a difference.

One hour is enough time to deliver 150-200 leaflets or newspapers. It is enough time to address a union branch meeting or send an email to all your friends and family explaining why you are voting in this election and to urge them to do the same.

If we all gave just one hour then we can do an enormous amount. If every Searchlight reader delivered at least 150-200 leaflets then over a million could be distributed. This could be doubled if we all found one other person to do it as well. This would be multiplied several times over if the 22,000 on our growing HOPE not hate email list also committed an hour.

And if everyone donated just two hours during May then really anything is possible.

We are building something very special this year at the HOPE not hate campaign. We are combining traditional anti-fascist campaigning with community organising. We are using new technology to bring in tens of thousands of new activists into the campaign in a way that the political parties cannot. We are doing all this because the threat is so real.

I hope you will give me the hour and in the process play your part in the HOPE not hate campaign. Please don’t wake up on 5 June thinking there was one more thing you could have done.

Yours in solidarity

Nick Lowles

Please get involved by visiting http://www.hopenothate.org.uk

Searchlight

Former BNP member warns party is focusing on Wales

A former British National Party insider who is now a campaigner with anti-fascist group Searchlight has warned that the party is intent on making Wales one of its strongest areas.

Matthew Collins, who was in Cardiff to address a fringe meeting at the Plaid Cymru conference, said leading figures in the party were convinced the would drive disenchanted working class communities into the BNP’s arms.

The far-right party has recently increased its activity in several parts of Wales, notably in Carmarthenshire, where it now has a community councillor.

Mr Collins, 37, became involved with the BNP in South London when he was 15. He was quickly promoted within the inner circle of activists and became privy to many of the party’s secrets. After a violent attack by BNP sympathisers on a group of protesters, Mr Collins became disillusioned and decided to contact Searchlight. For three years he passed information to Searchlight, including details of planned activities by BNP members and the breakaway group Combat 18, whose founder and former leader Charlie Sargent is serving a life sentence for murder. Two TV exposes were made based on his disclosures.

When he came under suspicion, Mr Collins fled to Australia for 10 years. He kept up his campaigning, exposing financial irregularities that led to far-right politician Pauline Hanson being jailed. He returned to Britain in 2003.

Yesterday he said: “The BNP has a great interest in Wales. Nick Griffin, the leader, and Simon Darby [leading member and spokesman] live here. It’s something to do with the Welsh history of dissent, which they think they can tap into, and the fact there are a lot of poor working class communities where they hope to increase support in the recession.

“I get the feeling people in Wales are a bit complacent about the BNP. While I don’t think they have a chance of winning a seat in Wales at the European Parliament election in June or at the general election, they will definitely challenge for a regional seat at the next Assembly election.”

Wales Online

BNP man jailed for attack on woman

The Wakefield Express reported today that a Mapplewell man has been sent to prison for attacking his ex-partner. What was not mentioned in both the newspaper and the courtroom was that the convicted man was none other than John Aveyard, former organiser of the BNP's Wakefield branch.

Aveyard, who has stood for the BNP in the general and European elections and has also been a BNP council election candidate on three occasions including last year when he stood in Wakefield South, was sent to prison for 22 weeks for assault and harassment. This is not the first time Aveyard has had a brush with the law. In 2005 he received a £100 fine with £75 costs for failing to maintain proper records at his Wakefield taxi firm, which is a condition of his private hire licence. You can read full details about his latest conviction in the following article taken from the Wakefield Express.

Kirklees Unity

Jailed for attack on ex-partner

A man who sneaked into his ex partner's car, attacked her and said he was going to 'do her in' has been jailed. John Aveyard opened the passenger door of Jane Skeet’s car and climbed in city magistrates were told. Prosecutor Joseph Spencer said "She asked what he was doing, and he grabbed her by the hair and punched her in the face".

He grabbed her mobile phone, told her he was going to drive her away and 'do her in' Aveyard punched her repeatedly, trapped her in the footwell and got into the drivers seat, but Ms Skeet managed to escape.

The police officer investigating said in six years of service, he had never seen anybody as frightened or as upset as Ms Skeet. Aveyard was on bail for harassment when be attacked Ms Skeet on October 17. He had been harassing her for months, turning up at her home in the middle of the night and confronting her new partner before the attack. They had been together for 12 years and lived in Woolley before they split in April last year. Ms Skeet moved out and began a new relationship with Ian Tippett.

The court heard Aveyard, 47. had been stalking Ms Skeet and making threatening phone calls. He turned up at Ms Skeet's partner’s home in York, demanding to speak to her. Ms Skeet reported it to police the next day and Aveyard called her as she spoke to an officer.

Mr Spencer said: "The police officer heard the defendant admitting turning up to the address in York. He stated 'There are lots of ways to find out where someone lives, it's not difficult,'"

Police found an envelope at Aveyard's house with Mr Tippen's car registration number written on it and diary entries about the couple. Matthew Standbury. mitigating, said Aveyard had admitted the offences at the earliest opportunity.

Aveyard, of Towngate, Mapplewell, was jailed for 22 weeks for assault and 11 'weeks concurrent for harassment. A restraining order was made banning him from contacting Ms Skeet and Mr Tippett.

Wakefield Express

Asylum seeker gallery protest

A man heckled from the public gallery at a Town Hall meeting as Sheffield councillors pledged to support a family of asylum seekers facing deportation.

The man, thought to be a member of the British National Party, shouted repeatedly that Priviledge Thulambo (above, centre) and her two daughters, who fled Zimbabwe, had "no right to be here". The unexpected outbursts interrupted Council Leader Paul Scriven who looked stunned before continuing his speech. And Labour councillor Gill Furniss said afterwards that she was "outraged" at the man's comments.

The shouting came as church leaders urged the council to help Priviledge, 39, and her daughters Lorraine, aged 18, and 20-year-old Valerie. Priviledge says she was tortured and raped in Zimbabwe by President Robert Mugabe's men and her husband killed. She arrived in the UK in 2000, her daughters followed in 2004, and they settled in Heavygate Road, Walkley.

But the Home Office has refused to grant the family asylum because their documents said they were from Malawi, a country to which it is safe to return. The Thulmabos insist they are Zimbabwean – and that their Malawian passports were fakes used only as a desperate means of escape.

Jane Padgett, on behalf of 400 campaigners supporting the family, told the meeting: "In 2007, Sheffield declared itself a City of Sanctuary and we are calling on the council to make urgent representations to the Home Secretary. This family were arrested at 7am one morning last December and taken to an immigration centre. They have lived here for several years and made an enormous contribution to our community."

Coun Scriven said: "I personally know Priviledge, after dancing with her at an evening at St Mark's church a few years ago, and hers is a story of horror. Her husband was murdered for being a politician and opposing people in power. That was his only so-called crime. Priviledge has deep strength and compassion for social justice and a belief in Britain's democratic system which is now failing her and her family.

"They are a hard-working family who stood up against the evils in Zimbabwe and they deserve our protection. It will be a national disgrace if the Home Secretary exports them to possible death."

Councillors of all parties agree to write again to Home Secretary Jacqui Smith urging her to stop the deportation.

The Star