Sunday 31 January 2016

Pathetic far-right turnout yesterday still caused trouble

From Exposing Britain First:

The award for the least popular fash group goes to…

Today (Saturday 30th) saw fash from all over UK travelling to support their favourite thugs in Dewsbury and Dover. Folding Golding has spent the last month or so crowing about how popular his bunch of vagabond Biffers has become. He claimed that the newly created dance of division – ‘The Dewsbury shuffle’ would take the UK by storm, attracting hundreds if not ‘faasands’ (sic) of neo-nazis to hassle the good people of West Yorkshire.

Unluckily for him, Britain First wasn’t the only nasty bunch of neo-nazis out annoying people today. The National Front had organised their own antisocial soiree in Dover. Such is the skilful co-ordination of British fascism – they can’t even refrain from competing with each other. Or maybe that’s the point. Maybe today’s events were part of some perverse popularity contest to see which group holds the most sway over our nation’s far-right fringe.


So let’s have a look at what happened. Where did the rest of Britain’s bored bovver-boys choose to spend their time. They could join Britain First in Dewsbury which is actually relatively central (especially given how many of the far-right seem to congregate around Manchester, Newcastle and south Yorkshire) or they could travel to the South coast (a much longer journey for most) to meet up with the National Front. Which journey would you choose?


It seems that several of these disaffected drunken drones chose to go out of their way to join the NF in Dover. Many, such as these members of the imbibing brotherhood had to drive right past Dewsbury on their way South. That’s an extra few hundred miles in a minibus just so they could snub Grassing Golding and his combined force of a few dozen cockwombles.


The actual numbers (according to our spotters’ best estimates) were…

Dover 60

Dewsbury 119

The results are in. And it’s a landslide! The award for the least popular fash group goes to…

The National Front!

Grassing Golding hasn’t got too much gloating room though. Any genuinely popular ‘registered political party’ with 1,300,000 Facebook likes holding a rally in the middle of Britain should get way more than that. The Biffers have been advertising this for months now, urging people to join them and doing everything in their power to encourage a high turnout. Even with ALL their officers and officials in attendance they only just scraped into triple figures. Without all the plastic paramilitary ‘ranking officers’, division leaders, unlicensed bouncers, paramilitary style standard bearers and attention-seeking speakers they would have mustered far fewer.

That’s the real lesson from today’s fascist fiasco. Even combined the two groups (and all the assorted fascist groups who chose between them) couldn’t make it to 200 attendees. With massive advertising from both sides, an entire country to draw people from and enough geographical variation to make at least one of these events accessible for just about everyone they still got an embarrassingly low turnout.

Face it fascists – you’re finished here in UK. Less than 200 people between you. And as for Grassing Golding’s lot. That’s just ridiculous.

Hilarious!





Violence flares in Dover

From Hope not Hate by Sarah Archibald:

Royston: Left his black girlfriend at home

Fascists and antifascists have fought each other in Dover as the far-right National Front and their supporters forced a small march through the town.

The far-right promised violence and they delivered it with rocks, bottles and other objects aimed at the police and members of the public.

Before people had even arrived in Dover, a coach from a London University was ambushed and attacked at a service station, injuring the coach driver.

Shortly after one o'clock, antiracist and antifascist protestors blocked the march route and sung the antifascist anthem '¡No pasarĂ¡n!' which translates as "they shall not pass."

The far-right responded with violence, attacking the police and trying to force their way through police lines to attack people.

Within fifteen minutes the police had lost control as hundreds of protestors traded blows. Antifascists forced the fascists to retreat. The police then used police vans to try and force antifascists away from the fascist march, but large groups broke away to continue confronting each other.

The police did not seem to be prepared for the intensity of the pre-planned violence, despite the far-right going out of their way to promise and boast of the violence they planned to use.

Fascists attack police

One of the consequences of the violence was a number of far-right activists being hit by missiles thrown by their own side. Countless far-right activists were covered in blood as they ran into their own side’s attempts to harm both police and counter protestors.

After an hour long stand off and running battles, police managed to restore some control and marched a small number of fascists to their rally point.

As well as being unprepared for pre-planned violence, one must also ask Kent Police what it is they plan to do about the speeches made at the rally afterwards. As well as congratulating themselves on their violence, a speech by Sunderland fascist Billy Charlton- quite clearly so drunk that he could barely stand- was little more than a bitter, vicious and foul mouthed rant against black people, in particular one black Labour MP that should be actionable by the authorities

One of many threats





Britain First fomenting trouble in Luton

From Patheos by Michael Stone:

Tensions run high as a “Christian Patrol” armed with wooden crosses marches through the streets of a predominantly Muslim area in the U.K.

In a viral video members of the right-wing party Britain First are seen carrying crosses, handing out newspapers, and confronting local Muslims at Bury Park in Luton.

The video description provided by Britain First reads:

Bury Park in Luton is an area notorious for Islamic extremists, ISIS fanatics, hate preachers and terrorists.

It is perhaps the worst hotspot in the whole country for Islamists.

In response to the recent imprisonment of an ISIS supporter (who is from Bury Park) Britain First carried out a “Christian Patrol” along the High Street and encountered ferocious hostility from local Muslims.

What followed was a shocking look into the Islamisation of our beloved country.

Our activists were attacked and pelted with eggs. Verbal abuse was rife. Muslims claimed they have “taken over” Luton and the UK. This is the future of Britain.

Huffington Post reports the tense viral video showing Muslims and Christians clashing has been viewed over 15 million times on the Britain First Facebook page.

At one point in the video the Britain First marchers yell:

Reject the false Prophet Muhammad and follow the true savior of the world, Jesus Christ our Lord!
Other Christians in the area spoke out against the Britain First protest, offering flowers to local Muslims in a show of solidarity.

This is not the first time the far-right group has targeted the Bury Park area. In June 2014 Britain First leader Paul Golding and other members were filmed storming into Luton Central Mosque and Bury Park Mosque to hand out leaflets and bibles, according to Luton Today.

IBT reports Britain First is notorious for aggressively confronting Muslims, patrolling London’s Brick Lane, entering mosques, and even tracking down controversial Muslim preacher Anjem Choudhary to his east London home before confronting him on his doorstep.

Watch the video in previous post -
(Image via Screen Grab)





Britain First's "Christian Patrol" claims "This is OUR country".

 ‘Christian Patrol’ Confronts Muslims In Britain







Saturday 30 January 2016

Condemnation of Britain First's provocative marches

From itv news:

The leader of Luton council has condemned a march by the right-wing Britain First organisation through the town on Saturday.

Hazel Simmons praised the resilience and solidarity shown by Luton’s communities following what was described an 'unannounced and provocative' march.

There was an unplanned march by the Britain First group through Luton on Saturday. 
Credit: ITV News Anglia

A statement from Luton council said that a small number of people from the group showed up unexpectedly and appeared to target local Muslims who were going about their normal weekend business

I’ve said it before and I will say it again, Britain First, or anyone promoting hatred for that matter, is not welcome in Luton.

My heart goes out to the innocent local people who were simply going about their normal lives before becoming victims of a series of cowardly and hate-filled verbal attacks against their faith.

– CLLR HAZEL SIMMONS, LEADER, LUTON BOROUGH COUNCIL

The "Christians in Luton" issued a "Peace Statement"Peace statement
So as the NF marches on Dover today, BF takes its unwanted and unnecessarily provocative message to Dewsbury - where they could be far better employed cleaning up after the floodings.





Friday 29 January 2016

The People's Picnic: Working through the Winter


Volunteer or donate canned goods and warm clothes through Facebook

Or support the greater vision for a hostel at GoFundMe:












Thursday 28 January 2016

More shameless lies from Britain First

From Exposing Britain First:


 
Thanks for the heads up, this is circulating and it is absolute codswallop. Almost £3000 a month for food? Codswallop. £36.95 a week for food and clothing. I couldn't live on that - kit https://www.gov.uk/asylum-support/what-youll-get





Tuesday 26 January 2016

Pegida UK leaders warm up in Copenhagen

From Richard Jordan of Hope not Hate:

Right to Robinson with a cigarette: Lars Grønbæk Larsen, leader of the Danish Defence League.

With the launch of Pegida UK just weeks away the leaders, EDL founder Stephen Lennon, (aka Tommy Robinson), Liberty GB leader Paul Weston, and Sharia Watch UK Director Anne Marie Waters, made their way to a freezing Copenhagen to try and build support for a Danish branch of the anti-Islam group that was originally formed in Dresden, Germany.





British National Party to field London mayoral candidate

From the BBC:

Image captionDavid Furness will be the party's 2016 candidate

The BNP has said it will enter the race to be mayor of London, after acknowledging a "scaling down" at the general election.

The candidate will be David Furness, the party's organiser in west London, who stood in the 2011 Feltham and Heston Parliamentary by-election.

A spokesman for the BNP told BBC London the party had been "rebuilding and modernising" since May.

The BNP fielded eight candidates at the general election.

Steve Squire, the London regional organiser for the BNP, said the party was not worried about lack of resources: "We didn't bankrupt ourselves by standing in too many seats in May, unlike UKIP."

Reports to the Electoral Commission show it had a total income of more than £600,000 in 2013, the latest year for which complete figures are available, down from more than £1.2m in 2010.

He said the party had been "rebuilding and modernising through the support of our members after a recent scaling-down in activity".

In 2012, BNP candidate Carlos Cortiglia finished last in the mayoral contest, with 28,751 votes or 1.3% of those cast.

This represented a sharp decline on its 2008 result, when its candidate Richard Barnbrook finished fifth and polled 69,710 votes, ahead of UKIP and Respect.

Mr Barnbrook was at one time a member of the London Assembly for the BNP, later sitting as an independent before retiring.

Other party candidates announced so far include:
Conservatives - Zac Goldsmith
Green Party - Sian Berry
Labour - Sadiq Khan
Lib Dems - Caroline Pidgeon
Respect - George Galloway
UKIP - Peter Whittle





Tuesday 19 January 2016

For a Hate Free Norfolk

Report Hate Incidents

If you witness a hate incident or are a victim always call 999 in an emergency. If it is not an emergency call 101.

Report It

Don't let it pass -







Monday 18 January 2016

So what happened to the EDL, Britain's "largest street movement"?

From the Croydon Advertiser by Gareth_Davies

Man strips naked during immigration protest outside Croydon Home Office building
Picture by Jacob Scott-Pederson


The man took all his clothes off while shouting about immigration and the EDL


A MAN stripped naked while shouting 'no more immigrants' during a bizarre protest outside a Home Office building in Croydon.

Security guards intervened when the man started hurling abuse at people waiting in line outside the asylum screening unit in Wellesley Road at 2pm on Thursday.

After chanting the name of far-right group English Defence League (EDL) he then took off all his clothes and continued to rant about the state of modern Britain.

The incident was caught on camera by student Jacob Scott-Pederson, who is working part-time in a building nearby.




Sunday 17 January 2016

Norfolk's Hidden History

Discover more at this most interesting website


This website is part of an exciting new project managed by the Norwich & Norfolk Racial Equality Council in partnership with Norfolk Records Office and the Norfolk Museums & Archaeology Service. To find out more about what we’ve been up to check out the About page.

On 25 March 1807, the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act was passed in the UK, 2007 marks the bicentenary of this important date. You may be surprised to know that Norfolk played an important role in all parts of the Slave Trade. People from Norfolk owned plantations in the West Indies, slave ships left from Norfolk ports and many people from Norfolk fought against slavery and were at the forefront of the abolitionist campaign.


This website displays newly uncovered information about Norfolk’s links to the transatlantic Slave Trade.

The project sought to uncover the little-known stories of Norfolk's connection to slavery and its subsequent abolition. People from Norfolk were involved in slavery in two significant ways.

Firstly, several families owned plantations in places like Jamaica and benefited financially, in fact many of the stately homes around our county were built on the proceeds of slavery. 


But more importantly, many of the leading members of the abolitionist movement were from Norfolk. The likes of Thomas Buxton, Elizabeth Fry and the Norwich Quakers all fought for the abolition of slavery and continued to fight until it was abolished completely.


-  Use the interactive timeline to trace Norfolk’s Hidden Heritage from 1670 to today.
-  Use the database to search for important people, places and dates.
-  And you can listen to the NHH Podcast hosted by Sean Whyte and Richard Maguire!





Saturday 16 January 2016

Spotted off Waggon and Horses Lane

But according to Secret Norwich this is not a Banksy, it is too crude.  Crude in the sense of stencil technique rather than subject matter:

 B. Suzuki





Wednesday 13 January 2016

What killed the BNP?

It's not extinct, but it might as well be.

From New Statesman by Tim Wigmore:

GETTY
The British National Party is not quite dead yet. On Friday,the Electoral Commission announced that the BNP had failed to confirm its registration details, and so had been removed from the official register of political parties. Within hours the party posted the necessary paperwork to the Electoral Commission, and expects to be re-registered by the end of this week.

Not that it matters much. The BNP might not be officially extinct, but the party has already descended into irrelevance. From 563,743 votes in 2010, the party won only 1,667 votes in the general election last year. It has collapsed from 338 councillors to just two, and lost both its European Parliament seats to boot. Only a few hundred members remain. The party’s offices in Wigton, in Cumbria, appear abandoned, with party work taking place at the home of one of the BNP’s admin staff instead, according to Matthew Collins, director of research for Hope not Hate.

The BNP’s collapse is partly a classic tale of factionalism and vicious infighting destroying a political party. Many BNP members came to loathe Nick Griffin, who hoarded power during his 15 years as BNP chairman from 1999, almost as much as those outside the party.

For years, an ugly war simmered between Griffin and Andrew Brons, the two men elected as BNP MEPs in 2009. Brons came within nine votes of ousting Griffin as leader in 2011, and then quit the party in 2012, railing against how Griffin had “destroyed the party”. A year before Brons left to join the British Democratic Party, 400 BNP members moved to the English Democrats with Eddy Butler, a senior BNP figure, in 2011. Griffin was eventually expelled from the BNP in October 2014 for "trying to cause disunity".

The BNP’s strategy was also flawed. After successes in 2008 and 2009, the BNP “gambled everything” in the 2010 general election, Collins says. The party stood in 339 seats at the general election, and won over half a million votes: 1.9 per cent of UK voters. Yet the election “nearly bankrupted us,” admits Stephen Squire, a party spokesman and London BNP organiser. Two hundred and sixty-seven candidates got under five per cent, leaving the BNP to foot the bill for £133,500 in lost deposits.

But even the best-organised party in the world could not have overcome the British public’s contempt for crude racism. Every generation in Britain is becoming less racist than the last: while almost half of those born before 1950 oppose marriage between black and white people, only 14 per cent of those born since 1980 do. This was reflected in the BNP’s poor performance among young people: 18-24-year-olds provided only 11 per cent of the BNP’s support, compared with 40 per cent for the National Front in the 1970s. Unlike the most successful far-right parties, the BNP failed to link immigration to a wider political narrative, allowing the party to be depicted as racist thugs: BNP policies were far less popular when associated with the party.

The BNP also suffered from being confronted head-on by the anti-extremist group Hope not Hate. In 2010, Griffin expected to be elected MP for Barking, where the BNP had won 41 per cent of the wards they contested during the previous local elections. Hope not Hate mobilised 1,500 volunteers and handed out 350,000 newspapers, leaflets and letters across the borough before the elections; not only did Griffin lose, but the BNP’s vote share actually decreased from 2005.

Collins said:
We organised a massive voter drive and hammered the BNP on the ground. Everywhere the BNP got a foothold, our activists worked hard in each local community to expose and undermine their message of division. We ran very localised campaigns in each area. Our campaigners were backed up by our research team, who continually found dirt on BNP councillors and candidates. Only a handful of BNP councillors held on to their seats in subsequent elections after 2010.
Yet perhaps most important to the BNP’s collapse was the rise of Ukip. “Ukip are stealing our policies,” Squire says. He haspreviously called Ukip “an establishment safety valve”, while Griffin attacked Ukip as “plastic nationalists”.

“No one has done more to damage the BNP than me,” Nigel Farage has said, claiming that Ukip has absorbed a third of the BNP vote. Farage has described Ukip’s message for BNP supporters thus: “If you are voting BNP because you are frustrated, upset, with the change in your community but you are holding your nose because you don’t agree with their racist agenda, then come and vote for us.”

There is a significant overlap between BNP and Ukip voters – both are older, poorer, whiter and more male-dominated than the population as a whole – and Ukip has wooed thousands of former BNP supporters. “There is a clear relationship between the rise of Ukip in local elections and the disintegration of the BNP," says Matthew Goodwin, the author of UKIP: Inside the Campaign to Redraw the Map of British Politics. “The same social groups are underpinning both parties, as they are radical right parties across Europe.”

Ukip’s rise is a reminder that, while the British public has rejected the BNP’s crude racism, the population is still deeply dissatisfied with the political elite. Only 15 per cent of voters today feel close to the main six parties (the Conservatives, Labour, the SNP, the Lib Dems, the Greens and Ukip).

The loathing of mainstream politicians has not gone away, even if the BNP is no longer a beneficiary. “Resignations and expulsions are a regular, almost daily occurrence, now,” Collins says. “There are now no longer enough people in the party for factions and splits.”


Tim Wigmore is a contributing writer to the New Statesman and the author of Second XI: Cricket In Its Outposts.