BNP's Civil Liberty calls for demonstration and picket at school gates

Last March, Mark Walker, a teacher at the Sunnydale Community College for Maths and Computing in County Durham, was suspended from his job on full pay after it was found that he accessed the website of the BNP during a lesson. At the time, his candidature had been announced for the BNP in the local elections and he was also acting as election agent for the Sedgefield ex-BNP candidate Andrew Spence. His suspension was for 'misuse of school computer equipment'.

Sunnydale is a pretty standard school, a mixed comprehensive for 11-16 year olds, and certainly doesn't deserve a teacher who sees fit to wander around a fascist website whenever the fancy takes him, happy in the knowledge that one of the pupils could see what he's looking at any time they get too close to his screen.

Curiously, just a month before this incident, Walker's brother Adam did exactly the same thing but upon being suspended, resigned, to shouts of 'coward' and general abuse from the Stormfront nazi forum.

Attempting to play on the heartstrings of its audience, the press release from BNP front-group Civil Liberty (duplicated word for word on the Solidarity and BNP's own websites, on the Stormfront nazi forum and the even more hardcore nazi Vanguard forum) points out that much of the 'harrowing' period of Mark Walker's suspension coincided with his wife being pregnant. So did his own election in May and that of Andrew Spence in July but there's no mention of either of those as in any way contributing to his stress levels.

Now, rather than let this be a matter to be dealt with solely through the school's disciplinary procedure, all these BNP-related groups have combined to call for a demonstration and picket of the school on the first day of the new term, next Monday and, just to make sure they disrupt the pupils as much as possible, they're calling for the picket to begin at 8am. They also call for supporters to swamp the mail, email, fax and phone lines - let's hope none of the kids has an accident while the BNP and the other scumbags are taking up the lines with unnecessary calls.

Schoolteacher or not, to involve children in any way in this kind of action is despicable. There can be nothing wrong with Walker being present at his hearing with his union representative - even if it is just some buffoon from the fake union Solidarity - but a demo and a picket at the school gates is going too far. If for nothing else, Walker should be sacked just for encouraging this shameful demonstration to take place.

The BNP's Barnbrook asks for £200,000 - to throw in the bin

Two of the most vital lessons learned by the newer and smaller political party is that campaigning costs money - a great deal of money - and that you should never stand where you don't at least have a realistic chance of winning. Unless of course, you have money to throw away.

Even the larger parties aren't stupid enough to spend what amounts to a small fortune if they know damn well that they're not going to win, and simply put up a token resistance by standing and either not campaigning at all or just doing the minimum amount to avoid accusations of indifference.

In politics, as in life itself, these lessons are learned through experience and by observing what is done by others. Although not by everybody.

Julian Leppert, who stood in the London Mayoral Election in 2004, managed to get only a paltry 3% of the vote, being beaten by the Respect candidate and only missing out on being beaten by the Greens too by around a thousand votes, coming sixth out of ten candidates. This time around, the British National Party has put up the leader of the party's disastrous group on Barking and Dagenham Borough Council, pornmeister Richard Barnbrook.

We discussed the possible reasons behind this peculiar choice here, where we also speculated on which address he will be using from which to launch his campaign - his real one in Lewisham or the fake one the BNP use as a storeroom for the many thousands of undelivered leaflets they have laying around.

Dicky, who has Sadie Graham looking over his shoulder whenever she isn't buggering about in Croatia, is obviously under a great deal of pressure. His Dagenham Show disaster and the complete lack of support for his mayoral campaign neatly illustrated by a recent post on Stormfront which stated; ''Most people in the party know that the choice of Richard Barnbrook to take on Red Ken in the London Mayoral election next year is a disaster in the offing...' show both his ineptitude and the level of support he's likely to get from his colleagues in the party, particularly in the Barking and Dagenham group where he's now firmly regarded as a loser.

The most recent revelations about the BNP's troubles make it plain that nothing is working out financially or in any other way for the party. A much-reported fall in membership and the likelihood of having to bail out such disasters as the fast-collapsing Great White Records are causing havoc with the already late accounts and Nick Griffin's casual dismissal of problems with the finances in a recent blog post hasn't apparently inspired the membership with confidence - or not the many BNP members who communicate with us, at any rate.

No surpise then that Barnbrook himself, rather than the Leader of the party, is handing round the begging bowl to raise funds for his campaign. Dressed in his smartest suit though looking a bit ragged around the edges (Barnbrook, not the suit), he clumsily and with apparent difficulty reads off the idiot board the outrageous call for £200,000 to be donated for a campaign that the BNP is clearly and easily going to lose. This video, obviously made by a bunch of third-years at the local comprehensive, is about as bland as it's possible for a video to be, but if you really feel the need to inflict it upon yourself (you masochist) you can download it from here (20MB).

One wonders (again) precisely what the membership fees are meant to pay for. Last year's accounts showed a membership of 6502 - the £200,000 represents membership fees for nearly 6700 and there are still the General and European elections to come - each of which will cost considerably more than a fifth of a million quid. Griffin's ambition to conquer the world and make himself rich in the process may not actually achieve anything except to bankrupt the entire BNP membership. It certainly isn't going to win the London Mayoral Election for the BNP.

[Just to cheer you up in case you're a member of the BNP, here's Mr Fister's presentation of Dicky on a night out. I'm not quite sure how but Dicky looks like he's really enjoying himself]

Rector hits out at BNP campaign

Whitehaven church leader John Bannister has spoken out against the British National Party, which is fielding a candidate in a Copeland Council by-election next month. The Rector of Whitehaven, has urged the electorate of Harbour Ward to “consider carefully and responsibly’’ how they vote.

But the BNP says it has had “a fantastic response’’ in Copeland and thinks the church should “keep out of politics’’. The party unveiled its candidate this week, Bill Pugh, of Melbreak Close, Mirehouse, who was born and raised in the town and was in the Army for 20 years, serving in Northern Ireland, Germany, Hong Kong and Singapore. Since leaving the army he has worked as a driving instructor.

Mr Pugh, 44, a father-of-four with two grandchildren, says he will campaign for a return to weekly refuse collection, is against any plans for a mosque and against pensioners having to sell their homes to pay for care.

As we reported last week, the Labour candidate is Jeanette Williams, 66, of Main Street, Distington, and Brigid Whiteside, 46, of Whitehaven, will stand for the Conservatives.

The deadline for nominations closed at noon on Tuesday. The BNP invoked electoral law to call for a speedy by-election for the vacant seat.

A meeting due to be held by the BNP last night (Wed) at the Crown and Anchor pub in Mirehouse was called off at the 11th hour after pub licensee Lawrence Smith decided to cancel the use of his pub as a venue for the BNP meeting. He told The Whitehaven News: “I heard there was to be some form of protest so decided it would be wisest to cancel the meeting. I had been told it was about the Harbour ward election."

Paul Jenkins, of the South Cumbria Unite Against Fascism organisation, had been lobbying to get the meeting stopped, and if it went ahead had intended to lead protestors outside the pub carrying placards saying “Use Your Vote, Stop The BNP”. He wants to see the town set up a Whitehaven Against Fascism group, similar to those in Carlisle and Maryport.

The Rev John Bannister feels the presence of the BNP in the town “can only produce a destructive impact upon the town’s community life”. He said: “The strengths of the community of Whitehaven and West Cumbria have developed from experiences and values which are totally opposed to those of the BNP. The community of Whitehaven should be aware of the extreme and racist nature of the BNP and their policies. Also, research has shown that, once elected, BNP candidates have failed dismally to serve their electors by failing to fulfil their duties to the communities which have elected them.’’

But Clive Jefferson, BNP organiser, said yesterday: “Allegations of racism are nonsense, that is just scaremongering. I believe the church and state separated a long time ago and it should stay that way and they should keep out of politics.’’

He maintained that Mr Pugh would be an active and committed councillor for the ward.

Mr Bannister said that, while he acknowledges the legal right of the BNP to compete in any process of democratic elections, he is concerned that its campaign information “fails to make clear to the electorate the exact nature of their policies and ideologies”.

“For the sake of all that is good about our community life and for the safekeeping of the future of our young people, I urge the electors of Harbour Ward to consider carefully and responsibly their response to this attempt by the BNP to infiltrate our community with their destructive politics,’’ he said.

Mr Jefferson added: “For the vicar to come out and speak against us when there are so many horrendous things going on in the world to demand his attention...

“We have had a fantastic response in Copeland. Every single person we have seen is extremely interested and very open to the BNP because we are just telling the truth and speaking out plainly about the problems that no one else is speaking against.

“I don’t think I have ever come across a council so disliked as Copeland.’’

This is a second local campaign for Brigid Whiteside, of Foxhouses Road, Whitehaven, the wife of Conservative prospective parliamentary candidate Chris Whiteside. She stood at the last Copeland Council elections in May. The chairman of Copeland Conservatives, Coun Yvonne Clarkson, said Mrs Whiteside had a very good understanding of the problems and issues facing the area.

Meanwhile college lecturer Jeanette Williams will be hoping to retain the seat for Labour and join the other two Labour councillors who represent Harbour Ward, Henry Wormstrup and John Kane.

Ms Williams has lived in the area since 1988, moving from Liverpool. She formerly worked in a supermarket before undertaking a degree course at the Carlisle campus of the University of Northumbria in 1995, gaining a teaching qualification.

Copeland elections manager Alan Southward said: “If anyone in Harbour ward has difficulty getting to the poll we can provide a postal vote as long as they contact my office before Thursday, September 6, by telephoning 01946 598531.”

Polling stations will be open from 7am to 10pm on September 20.

Whitehaven News

Sid Williamson aims to thrill

Sid

Click on the image to see Sid do the most interesting thing he's ever done that doesn't involve booze, urine or talking crap about John Tyndall and the BPP

(thanks to Mr Fister for the heads-up)

The latest Ebanks tirade against the BNP - revelations or rubbish?

As we all know (to our cost) Sharon Ebanks, former BNP activist and Griffin-favourite until a major fall-out last October has been posting on our comments sections in increasingly strident tones for the past week or two, claiming to have revelations that will be guaranteed to bring down her Nemesis, Nick Griffin.

Despite offers of space to air her accusations against him, Ebanks refused to pass on the information about Griffin, choosing instead to keep her information to herself until she decides the moment is right. She now seems to have made that decision, having posted a series of badly-written and completely unreferenced statements and accusations against Griffin, the BNP and other BNP-linked operations in the comments section of a 'nationalist' blog. Assuming these to be the revelations, we'll take a quick look at them.

'Griffin certainly has become untouchable since Darby became Deputy Leader and Griffin spoke with Barbara Amiel.'

Strangely, Scott McLean is still listed on the BNP's website as the Deputy-Chairman of the party, despite the fact that everyone knows he's gone and precisely why he's gone. As far as we know, Darby has never been Deputy Leader, though Griffin did designate him as de facto leader should he have been jailed during the trials in 2005/6.

The reference to Barbara Amiel, former director at The Spectator and wife of Conrad Black is presumably a nod towards a Martin Webster allegation of April 2006 that Griffin had been in telephone contact with the Jewish Amiel, this conversation rapidly being followed by a major shift in the public stance of the BNP indicated by a much-criticised article ostensibly written by the party's legal head Lee Barnes (August 2006) in which he stated, 'As a Nationalist I can say that I support Israel 100% in their dispute with Hezbollah. In fact, I hope they wipe Hezbollah off the Lebanese map and bomb them until they leave large greasy craters in the cities where their Islamic extremist cantons of terror once stood.'

Whether the conversation between Amiel and Griffin happened or not is, as far as we're concerned, irrelevant. The shift away from anti-semitism (at least publicly) to anti-Islam has been going on over a number of years and is simply one of Griffin's weak attempts to make his party more appealing to the general public, who he clearly regards as being more likely to fall for his line on Muslims than they are that on Jews. Griffin is a populist, prepared to change his public image in a moment if he feels a change will gain him some power.

The fact that he has apparently shifted his viewpoint has not made him untouchable, or at least more or less untouchable than before. He was done for inciting racial hatred nearly a decade ago and the government tried (twice) to have him done again last year. The fact that he wasn't convicted was due to the jury in the case, not to the allegation that he is 'untouchable'. Presumably, Ebanks is trying to suggest that Griffin's new pro-Israel stance allows him to say or do anything without fear of retaliation but the evidence, such as it is, doesn't really support that statement.

'Why indeed did the press not print Simon Smiths resignation when under any other circumstances they would have leapt at the opportunity for blasting across their front page "BNP COUNCILLOR ACCUSES BNP OF FINANCIAL IMPROPRIETY". Why did the press remain silent on Websters accusations and why has the press, the police and the Electoral Commission and Silvers and Co not done anything about my complaints regarding BNP money?'

There are a lot of questions in that small paragraph but we'll take a look at them one at a time. Regarding Simon Smith's purging from the party, which was turned into yet another resignation, the Birmingham Post reported the party line on the resignation with a report including quotes from Simon Darby but obviously didn't want to drag the story on with Smith's own version of events that appeared in his letter which we reprinted here. Nevertheless, we do agree that the press missed out on an opportunity to generate discussion of Croatia, Solidarity and the BNP's lucrative Trafalgar Club, which were all mentioned in Smith's letter and could have reaped large rewards. Being charitable, we can assume that the potential was either missed by a busy sub-editor or that the general embargo on BNP-related rubbish forced it to hit the bin. In either case, it was an excellent opportunity for good copy that was missed.

The answer to the complex question 'Why did the press remain silent on Websters accusations and why has the press, the police and the Electoral Commission and Silvers and Co not done anything about my complaints regarding BNP money?' is that while many people suspect and there is mounting evidence to support the ever-growing claims of financial impropriety, there is little hard evidence - patently not enough to generate a police enquiry or an enquiry by the Electoral Commission, for the moment at least. Once the BNP's accounts have been submitted, we may find the evidence we already have suddenly becoming far more valuable.

If Ebanks felt she had enough evidence to take to the EC, the BNP's auditors and the police, there must have been something relatively substantial to present to them. If so, Ebanks needs to put this information where it can do some good. At the moment, her only options appear to be to place the evidence before the public via her own New Nationalist Party, which one suspects doesn't want to get involved, to post on a forum like Stormfront, where the BNP-allied moderators will probably delete it instantly or to take us up on our offer to publish it - though that offer has a limited life-span and it's rapidly running out.

'Why does Griffin allow idiots at the top when he claims from a platform on a daily basis that he wants some semblance of Britain back? Why are thieves and cranks promoted through the ranks and decent honest people ignored? These are not the actions of a political party and certainly not the actions of those wishing a winning one.'

We couldn't agree more and we suspect, like Ebanks and many others, that we know why the scum rises to the top in the BNP - simply because they will assist Nick Griffin to achieve what he aims to achieve (the personal enrichment of Nick Griffin) and/or they have something on him. The more we and other observers look into the BNP and the more that is exposed about the internal workings of it, the more we tend to regard it as less a bona fide political party and more of an undernourished Mafia - a low-grade criminal organisation with pretensions of grandeur and less murders (though probably not if Tony Lecomber had his way).

'Why is Griffin ditching local politics in favour of Europe, a place where nothing can be achieved for British people at grassroots level?'

Because Griffin and his pals at the top of the BNP have absolutely no interest in doing anything for anybody except themselves. The European elections are where Griffin sees his opportunity to sneak a seat and rake in the money, incidentally making lots of connections all over Europe via the group of far-right MEPs, which should be handy for Griffin when we wants to buy more land abroad with his ill-gotten gains.

'Where are the BNP accounts? Why is GWR trading without filing accounts for 2yrs when it has made thousands of pounds?'

We've no more idea than Ebanks why the BNP's accounts are so late in being submitted to the Electoral Commission though we suspect it has a lot to do with cooking the books and concealing the drop in membership in some way that it won't cost Griffin and co any money. Regarding Great White Records, the BNP's musical wing - we're told that the idiotic Dave Hannam has less than six months to get it making a profit or he's out on his ear. The lack of accounts simply indicates that financial disaster is pending but being concealed - for now. Griffin is juggling all the BNP's financial cock-ups in the air at the moment but he's rapidly losing control and we firmly expect the whole lot to collapse in the very near future.

'Why does the BNP PayPal line empty into several different numbered accounts instead of remaining static and traceable?'

We have to wonder how Ebanks could possibly know that this is the case? We'd welcome some evidence...

'Why has Griffin hijacked the money and members of Solidarity?'

Presumably because he sees it as yet another potential scam, where he can rip off members of his own party ad nauseum. It's always worth remembering Griffin's own quote from way back in Spring 1999's edition of Patriot magazine; 'In increasingly hard economic times, a group of people the size of the BNP and its support base can provide a significant assured market for a variety of small businesses.' Oh boy, has he taken that to heart.

'Why is Civil Liberty allowed to commit fraud and nothing is done?'

We reported that the Electoral Commission had launched an investigation into Civil Liberty after the Guardian had provided information to Scotland Yard last April. Since then, no-one has heard anything about either the possible investigation or indeed, Civil Liberty itself.

'Why are decent people resigning only to be rubbished by morons after their personal sacrifices?'

One assumes Ebanks is referring to herself here though one would expect her to be aware that it's an old trick of the far-right to attack those who have left acrimoniously, just to discredit anything they might say about the party before they say it.

'Why is the BNP swiping money from peoples credit cards without them knowing? Once again this is fraud perpetrated against those who have joined online and entrusted them with their details and trusted them full stop.'

If this is the case and if Ebanks has any evidence to support this statement, she should see it as her duty to go straight to the police. Credit card fraud is criminal and if the BNP can be shown to have committed it, heads will roll. This is probably the one line that really means anything in her post. If she has the proof, she has the party by the throat.

'A party cannot exist without intellect and activism but the heads of the BNP do everything in their power to repel such people.'

This is probably a reference to Jonathan Bowden, who seems to be much admired by Ebanks. We don't really care but we'd assume that the last thing Griffin wants around him is someone with intelligence who might see through him and tell the rest of the BNP what a fraud he actually is.

'And last but not least, why was one of Britains most dangerous criminals contacting me 2 weeks ago with the police claiming to know nothing and do nothing but Simon Darby knew everything even the bogus name that the man was using? If the police couldn't figure it out how the hell could he?'

Unless she's referring to Tony Lecomber, Nick Griffin's favourite terrorist, we have absolutely no idea what Ebanks is going on about here. We'd like to know more though so if anyone has more information, feel free to provide.

So there you have it. Sharon Ebanks' most recent attack on the BNP - revelations that could damage the party beyond repair or rubbish that can be shrugged off as the ravings of an embittered former favourite?

Hatewatch for the week of August 29th 2007

Aryan Nations Bank Robber Threatens Judge At Sentencing
A white nationalist who said he robbed banks to fund a "racially pure homeland" told the judge who sentenced him to 20 years that racial holy warriors will "visit revenge to your doorstep."

Klansman Sentenced To Life For 1964 Murder
James Ford Seale, 72, was sentenced to three life terms in prison for his role in kidnapping and killing two black teenagers in 1964...

White Supremacist Gang Member Faces Execution
Prosecutors continue to seek the death penalty for Public Enemy Number One enforcer Michael Allen Lamb, 32, who was convicted of murdering one of the gang's founders for breaking its code of silence...

Police Bill For Racist Rally: $150,000
The cost of providing security at a rally staged by white supremacist radio host Hal Turner outside a Department of Public Safety building included $118,000 to pay 398 police officers...

Idaho Men Charged With Felony Hate Crimes
Steven Leas, 24, and Cody Lindell, 18, allegedly chased, shoved and hurled racial epithets at a black man outside a convenience store...

Neo-Fascist Magyar Garda Is 'Hungary's Shame'

Hungary's image has been tainted by the rise of far-right extremism and anti-Semitism. On Saturday the neo-fascist "Hungarian Guard" held its inaugral ceremony in Budapest, much to the alarm of Jewish groups and left-wing parties.

The founding ceremony for a new Hungarian neo-fascist group attracted a crowd of 3,000 people in Budapest on Saturday. The "Magyar Garda" or "Hungarian Guard" swore in 56 members -- kitted out in uniforms with Nazi-era symbols -- at Buda Castle, the historic seat of the Hungarian monarchy. "The Hungarian Guard has been set up in order to carry out the real change of regime (from communism) and to rescue Hungarians," Gabor Vona, leader of the far-right Jobbik party and co-founder of the guard, said at the event.

Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany, leader of the Socialist Party, condemned the group and asked the country's chief prosecutor to closely monitor the group for any violations of the Hungarian constitution. He also described the founding of the guard as "Hungary's shame." At the ceremony on Saturday Vona was defiant: "Those who try to ban us want to ban all the Hungarian people and those who report us to the chief prosecutor are reporting the Hungarian people."

The Magyar Garda - "Magyar means "Hungarian" - has pledged to train its members in the use of firearms and its members wear a uniform of black pants and vests with white shirts, and a cap emblazoned with a medieval coat of arms, the Arpad Stripes. The striped, red and white symbol is a centuries old Hungarian banner, a version of which was used by the Arrow Cross, a pro-Nazi party that briefly ruled Hungary toward the end of World War II. The party murdered thousands of Jews and deported hundreds of thousands more to Nazi death camps. Jewish groups, including the World Jewish Congress, have condemned the founding of the new "guard" and have called on the government in Budapest to act against it.

The Magyar Guard is closely associated with Jobbik (Movement for a Better Hungary). Although the party has no deputies in parliament it does have representatives on dozens of city councils across the country. Members of the party were involved in anti-government riots last year following the leak of a tape on which Gyurcsany admitted he had lied about the economy.

The failure of the biggest center-right party, Fidesz, to condemn the Hungarian Guard has led to charges that it tacitly supports the extreme-right. Meanwhile, the participation of former Defense Minister Lajos Fur in the ceremony was condemned by his former party, the center-right Hungarian Democratic Forum, which led the country's first post-communist government in the early 1990s.

German papers on Monday voice their concerns about the founding of the Hungarian Guard and the rise of anti-Semitism and neo-fascism in Eastern Europe.

The conservative Die Welt writes:

"The founding of the Hungarian Guard is an alarming sign of sickness in a society, in which barriers to the glorification of violence, racism and intolerance are being torn down, and where there are increasing attempts to undermine the already weak institutions of democracy."

"The Hungarian Guard didn't just fall from the sky. It was founded by the far-right Jobbik ... a party that governs in some regions together with Fidesz, the biggest opposition party. It is no coincidence that a Fidesz representative made a speech at the founding ceremony on Saturday, that the defense minister from the first free government swore an oath, and that flags from associations linked to the Catholic and protestant churches were flown."

"This is the nucleus of a racist paramilitary army. With its declaration that it will train its members to use weapons it is openly challenging the state's monopoly of force."

"The European Union shares some of the blame. It has to have been aware of the developments in Hungary. But it seems that the standards for the democracies in the former Socialist countries are different to those for Western member states. How else can one explain the fact that Franco Frattini, EU Commissioner for justice, freedom and security, criticizes stable democracies like Denmark, France and Germany for the supposed virulent racism there, but doesn't criticize the events in Hungary?"

The left-wing Die Tageszeitung writes:

"The fall of the communist regimes in Central and Eastern Europe left an ideological vacuum ... A seething ideological mix came to the fore in many countries, made up of anti-Semitic and racist stereotypes, nationalist prejudices and elements such as militant anti-communism, revisionist ambitions and a vengeful fundamentalism."

"The founding of the Hungarian Guard ... should be a warning to those who still believe that the danger from right-wing extremism is the invention of sensitive journalists, left-wing politicians and critical intellectuals. Hungary had a good image in the West even before 1990, which was in part due to skilful lobbying. That is why the Western public studiously overlooked the nationalist lapses under the Fidesz government of Viktor Orban just as it overlooks the dangerous spread of racism and anti-Semitism in Hungary."

"The fact that Fidesz is the only party in the democratic spectrum that has so far refused to distance itself from the Hungarian Guard is a cause for concern."

The center-left Süddeutsche Zeitung writes:

"The founding of the Hungarian Guard in Budapest is no isolated phenomenon in the new EU member states. Elsewhere in Eastern Europe new paramilitary and skinhead groups are constantly being formed. It would be a big mistake to dismiss these as neo-fascist marginal groups that can somehow be dealt with. In the background there is a broad social consensus acting as a mobilizing factor."

"After the end of the Cold War the post-communist society was suddenly confronted with the phenomenon that we call globalization. West European companies pushed into the East European market and contributed to the creation of a savage capitalism. The local and underdeveloped interest groups were unable to put up any resistance ... At the same time the preparations for EU integration were pushed through ... It is little wonder that many experienced globalization as an invasion or siege, and integration as dictates, colonization or at best the simple exchange of the East (Soviet Union) for the West (European Union). Many people now see themselves in the role of the victim."

"Much time has been wasted. Since the fall of the Berlin Wall a new generation has grown up that is not really democratically socialized ... Most are captives of ethnically defined national and cultural concepts, feel their ethnic homogeny is being threatened and are now mobilizing for the battle to defend it."

"It is often said that democracy cannot be imported. The current need for harmony in the EU is preventing democratization and only benefits those who want to sweep the problems under the carpet."

Spiegel

Tyndallites attack 'drunks' and 'gays' of the BPP

There's nothing like a bit of political necrophilia. Indeed it's common among Nutzis to prove who loves dead Nutzis more. The 'Northwest Nationalists' are a particular group dedicated to remembering Nutzi cross-dresser John Tyndall, the manic egotist who founded the BNP in 1982.

For quite a while they've been having a bit of a competition with the BPP as to who loved JT more. In the BPP's corner is Eddy Morrison, who declares (seriously!) that JT is the BPP's 'spiritual leader', despite the fact that Tyndall often threw Morrison out of BNP meetings for being drunk. Pic: Morrison and 'friend.'

Backing up Morrison is the village idiot Peter (Sid) 'I urinate on sofas' Williamson. Between the two groups this long weekend, there has been an avalanche of homophobic material. The reasons for the BPP's Williamson to be over the top on the issue has been written about here.

Now, the NWN Nutzis on their own blog have begun to cotton on to Williamson's modus operandi. The fat lump too poor to live in Brighton, but not too far away to enjoy a bit of (secret) bum-fun has been accused of being a homosexual by fellow Nutzis. (Took your time, lads.) Of course, this is the worst a Nutzi can be accused of, although they all seem to enjoy a bit of it themselves. So it's a case of getting the digs in first.

Writing about the BPP and homosexuality, the blogger behind the blog Northwest Nationalists (believed to be Peter Rushton,) writes:

'IMHO Peter Williamson is gay. That is not to say he(Pete Williamson) should ever be a major nationalist player. He should not. Sid is a berk, he has no talent whatsoever !'

Also commenting, another Nutzi writes: 'The very fact that Pete Williamson is at the top of the BPP shows the dearth of intelligence and talent of drunken Eddy Morrisons failing dream........the BPP.'

'I am glad to see that this site welcomes all nationalists except the BPP. Morrison is a drunk too far !'

Let us hope when Peter 'Sid' Williamson gets back from enjoying the Gay Pride parade in Manchester this weekend, he does not take his handbag to Rushton. If he does, it could be very heavy. It'll be full of the pennies he's been collecting from returning Morrison's cheap bottles of cider to the shop.

On the edge: a brief look at the lunatic fringe of the far-right

NF no longer official

The National Front failed to register itself with the Electoral Commission this year so they are no longer a registered party. Tess Culnane, who was standing for the NF in the Lewisham by-election on September 13th is now apparently standing for nobody at all. Ah, the superb efficiency of the far-right - the BNP can't get its accounts in on time, the NF can't even register itself, the BPP is packed with glue-sniffers and drunks, N9S/BFP is in the closet and the NNP is just a bad joke. Dontcha love 'em.

BPP attempts to grab fall-out from constant BNP disasters

Just prior to the May local government elections, Unsteady Eddy Morrison, National Inspector of the miniscule bunch of fruitcakes, drunks and glue-sniffing nazis who call themselves the British People's Party, was calling for unity in the 'nationalist' movement and demanding that everyone in it gave their support to the British National Party.

Now, after watching the BNP and its ex-bankrupt leader Nick Griffin lurch through a swathe of crises including the recent disastrous leadership challenge, Morrison appears to have completely reversed his position and, being the opportunist he always has been and sensing instability in the BNP ranks, he's attempting to get disaffected BNP members to get out of it and join the BPP.

Much to our surprise, we found ourselves in agreement with Morrison over a number of points he makes in his current article on his party's website. The excellent appellation Nick 'Fingers' Griffin for one, which I think we might well pinch for our own use, and his description of Griffin-loyalist and Hitlerite Mark Collett as 'odious' was another. A knowledge of basic mathematics not being one of Morrison's well-hidden talents though, we have to pull him up over one figure at least, when he refers to 'the 53% of BNP members who did NOT vote for Griffin in the latest leadership challenge'. The figure was actually 57% who couldn't be bothered to vote and if you include the number of people in the party who voted for Chris Jackson and against Griffin, that figure goes up to 61%.

Figures aside, how is Morrison seeking to take the BNP residue? Partly by claiming a growth in the BPP membership that simply hasn't happened, thus encouraging the ignorant to feel that the BPP is a going and growing concern when it is in fact moribund. Membership has only increased because the BPP will sign up people who are already members of other parties - indeed the leader of the almost-dead England First Party, convicted electoral-fraudster Steve Smith, is a member of both parties. Morrison actually makes a point of saying that 'BNP members are especially welcome into the BPP' in the full and certain knowledge that if they join and are found out, the ever-paranoid Griffin will have them out of the BNP faster than he could start up a new fake company - and that, let me tell you, is very fast indeed.

Sharon Ebanks nearly takes to the law

Sharon Ebanks, former doyen of the BNP and now leader of the tiny and pointless New Nationalist Party, has threatened to go the law with the information she has on Nick Griffin's dodgy doings on numerous occasions but, up until now, has never done so. Finally though, something seems to have annoyed her so much that she has stated that she is off to Birmingham's Economic Crime Unit to inform them of 'certain information'.

Ebanks is a regular contributor to the comments section of the North-West Nationalist blog and had this to say a few days ago;

'...it should also be known that Steve Edwards told me personally that the worst days work he ever did was voting for Griffin and that he bitterly regretted it. The lengths that Griffin/Darby will go to, to destroy a persons reputation knows no bounds but this time it has seriously backfired and I will be attending the Economic Crime Unit in Birmingham to inform them of certain information tomorrow. Nick Griffin may well have successfully pocketed close to £100,000 in a libel action in the High Court last year but he sure as hell won't be doing it to me.'

We looked forward to reading of the charges being made against Griffin - though we don't seriously believe that any ever will be (for a number of reasons) and in fact, according to comments posted on our own blog, she got nowhere with the police. However, in the spirit of being kind to those less fortunate than ourselves, we offered her a space to get her accusations on screen here at Lancaster UAF - a site that we'd guess is a rather better read than her own NNP site. Her response? No thanks. We've come to the conclusion that, as much as she may continue to fantasise about revenge for the way the BNP treated her, she's actually got nothing on them that's worth having.

Nazi? Not the BFP.

Meanwhile, over at the website of the November 9th Society (N9S), they don't mess about. Not only are we treated to several images of Hitler, our ears are also assailed by the music (!) of the Third Reich. Strangely, all this is missing from its sister-site, that of the British First Party.

We mention the BFP not because it's done anything worth reporting - in fact it doesn't seem to have done anything at all since May - but because it has quite a nice little piss-take of the ads for the BNP's Trafalgar Club. Regular readers will know that one of the huge advantages of joining the BNP's Trafalgar Club at £180 per year is that you get a free tie at the end of the year to remind you of what you wasted your £180 on. The BFP's Britannia Club is a real bargain at just £150 per year and - wait for it - you get your tie AND cufflinks at the START of the year. It's almost worth being a nazi just for the gimmicks and giveaways.

The BNP - defending the indefensible

This appalling rubbish appeared on the BNP's Regional Voices page a few days back.

'A group of local funsters in the Cornish village of St. Columb Major decided to dress as Muslims in order to participate in the local carnival. With joke names such as “Miss Hairyarmpitsbad”, “Miss Slackistan”, “Miss Notbadinbedbad” and “Miss Reallyamanistan” the group of 17 men and women paraded through the village in burkas – stopping ever so often to face east to “pray” to Mecca. The local onlookers loved it and the group were about to be awarded the “best entry” prize – when police intervened. Apparently there had been a “complaint” – no names – no packdrill – just an anonymous complaint! The 17 strong group were told to go by police or, presumably, face arrest “for inciting racial hatred” or some other ludicrous politically correct nonsense!'

And the BNP claims it isn't racist. Bloody hilarious.

Ex-KKK man jailed for life in US

A US court has sentenced a 72-year-old former member of the Ku Klux Klan, a white supremacist group, to three life prison terms for his role in the 1964 killings of two black men.

James Seale was sentenced on Friday in Jackson, Mississippi after being convicted in June of kidnapping and conspiracy in the killings of Henry Dee and Charles Moore.

"This case is an outstanding example of our ongoing, vigilant efforts to prosecute racially-motivated crimes to the fullest extent of the law, regardless of how many years have passed," Alberto Gonzalez, US attorney general, said. Seale's lawyer said he will appeal against the convictions.

A former police officer, Seale was arrested in 1964 but was released after police said they lacked sufficient evidence to prosecute him. Seale was believed dead for years until Thomas Moore, brother of Charles Moore, located him in southern Mississippi while investigating his brother's murder.

Men drowned

Dee and Moore, both 19, were kidnapped in 1964 while hitch-hiking in Mississippi and taken to a forest, where Seale aimed a shotgun towards the men while his companions attacked them. The teenagers were driven to a tributary of the Mississippi river, attached to heavy weights and thrown alive into the water from a boat, prosecutors said. Their bodies were recovered during a search for three other civil rights activists later that year.

Mississippi lies at the heart of the so-called "deep South" that was long associated with hangings and other violent attacks on blacks by the KKK and other white supremacist groups.

The main prosecution witness in the case against Seale was Charles Marcus Edward, another former Klansman who was involved in the attack on Dee and Moore. Edward, who was granted immunity from prosecution in exchange for his testimony, told the court that Seale admitted he killed the men.

Lenard Wolf, a former agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) said during the trial that Seale was unmoved by the investigators' belief that he was involved in the killings.

"We know you did it, you know you did it, the Lord above knows you did it," Wolf told Seale, according to the testimony. "Yes, but I'm not going to admit it; you are going to have to prove it," Seale answered.

Violent campaign

While Seale was not charged with murder, the indictment claimed the abductions resulted in the deaths of Dee and Moore.

"While this sentence can never repair the suffering and loss brought by these heinous acts of racial violence, it will hopefully bring some closure to the families of Henry Dee and Charlie Moore who have waited decades for justice," said Wan Kim, US assistant attorney general for the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice.

A string of federal prosecutions across the US has attempted to address crimes during the 1950s and 1960s by white supremacists. The KKK waged a violent campaign against the black community and against the struggle for civil rights for African-Americans in the southern US, where racial segregation was in place. In many cases, such groups were supported by local law enforcement and judicial authorities, while black Americans had few legal protections.

Aljazeera

Merkel under pressure to ban neo-Nazi party

Chancellor Angela Merkel is coming under mounting pressure to ban Germany's main neo-Nazi party following a brutal attack on eight Indian traders who were chased and beaten by a mob screaming racist abuse.

A leader of the far-right National Democratic Party (NPD) was charged with inciting racial hatred yesterday after he proposed Adolf Hitler's former deputy, Rudolf Hess, for the Nobel Peace Prize. Hours after Udo Voigt made the remarks in a speech in Jena marking the 20th anniversary of Hess's death last Saturday night, the Indian men were chased through the nearby town of Mügeln.

Kurt Beck, the leader of Ms Merkel's Social Democrat coalition partners, said that in light of the attacks he was preparing a new legal initiative aimed at outlawing the NPD. But Ms Merkel said she remained sceptical about such a move.

"I found the previous experience we had with this highly disagreeable," she said. "I definitely don't want a repeat of last time." An effort to ban the NPD failed in 2003 when judges at the country's highest court rejected the government's case after it emerged that some of the testimony was from government informants within the party.

The calls for a ban on Germany's largest neo-Nazi party - which has won parliamentary seats in two eastern states in recent regional elections - were the latest response to last weekend's disturbing outbreak of xenophobic violence.

Local people in the small town in the east German state of Saxony were enjoying the final hours of an annual street party on Saturday night when a drunken mob of 50 youths rampaged through a market and started harassing eight Indian stall holders who were selling textiles.

Shouting, "Get out of Germany" and chanting the far right slogan "Long live the national resistance" the gang chased the terrified Indians, who took refuge in a pizzeria and tried to barricade themselves in with the restaurant's tables. However, the mob smashed their way into the building, kicking and punching the Indians and attacking them with bottles. More than 70 heavily armed riot police rescued them. Gurminder Singh, one of the injured men, appeared on German television with a six-inch long head wound.

Amal, one of the main anti-Nazi groups in the region, said there had been 137 neo-Nazi attacks on individuals in Saxony during the first half of 2007, but believes the unofficial figure is much higher.

A recent survey conducted by the Forsa research group showed that every second east German youth between the age of 14 and 25 believed that National Socialism had " good sides".

The NPD won seats in Saxony in the state's last elections, and also captured seats in Ms Merkel's home state of Mecklenburg-Pomerania last year, when violent crimes by far-right extremists reached their highest level since the country's reunification in 1990. Rising far-right violence prompted Ms Merkel's predecessor, Gerhard Schröder to launch an attempt to ban the NPD in 2003, but the result was a legal fiasco. A ban was rejected by Germany's Karlsruhe constitutional court after it established that most of the evidence against the far-right party was inadmissible as it had been collected by government intelligence agents who had infiltrated the organisation.

Independent

Poll result and new poll

So who is going to be kicked out of the BNP next? According to our readers, Sadie Graham, much to our surprise - though we'll assume our readers know more than we do because we would have put our money on Mike Easter. We think the last vote that pushed Sadie in front was cast by Nick Griffin.

The poll missed off a few names that maybe should have been on there and may well have taken the majority vote - Steve Blake and Dave Hannam for example - but what the hell. Hannam would almost certainly have scored high!

The new poll is just to give us an idea of where we should be going with the blog. We're pretty happy with it the way it is and the rising number of both hits and comments show us that our readers tend to agree - but there's always room for improvement and while we could just carry on doing what we do, where we can make the blog better/more useful we're happy to try.

If you have positive ides that we haven't listed but you feel are worth a mention, just make a comment and it'll be noted. :-)

Fascists off Our Streets - Anti National Front Rally Saturday 25th August

The National Front are planning a picket of Manchester Pride this Saturday.

Manchester UAF have organised an anti-NF Protest, meet 10am Great Northern Sq, junction of Deansgate and Peter Street.

The Pride parade this Saturday (25th Aug) is Manchester's annual celebration of equality for gays and lesbians - a festival of fun for everyone who supports the right to live in peace and dignity, whatever our sexual orientation.

Unite Against Fascism is asking you to join our counter-protest against the politics of hate - meet 10am at Great Northern Square, junction of Deansgate and Peter St. More details from Mike on 07903 586 191.

Face of Hate: Curtis Allgier explained

When neo-Nazi Curtis Allgier allegedly shot and killed a corrections officer who was transporting Allgier to a hospital in Salt Lake City June 25, media accounts of the murder invariably focused on the 27-year-old skinhead’s most recent mug shot, showing Allgier’s totally tattoo-covered face. As his wife put it, Allgier had the “courage to put his beliefs on his entire body.”

Here’s an explanation of the meaning behind some the arcane symbols inked on the alleged cop-killer’s visage:

Crucified Skinhead (right temple) – The image of a skinhead on a cross symbolizes the persecution of working-class skinheads by the upper class.

Three Intersecting Triangles (left jaw) – This symbol is known as a valknut or volknut. Among non-racist pagans, it’s a sign of the afterlife and a binding of the soul to Odin, chief among the Norse gods. Among racist pagans, it signifies “that one is ready to be taken into the ranks of Odin’s chosen warriors.”

5150 (under the right eye) – A likely reference to the California statute that allows people to be involuntarily committed to a mental hospital if they are deemed to be a danger to themselves or others, according to Mark Pitcavage of the Anti-Defamation League.

Hatebreed (upper lip) – Hatebreed is a hardcore punk band popular among racist skinheads.

Iron Crosses (forehead temples) – A German military decoration dating to the early 19th century that was made famous by the Nazis.

SS Lightning Bolts (cheekbones) – A symbol of the Schutzstaffel (“Protective Squadron”), or SS, the Nazi police force that administered the death camps and staffed the mobile killing units known as Einsatzgruppen. After the war, the entire SS was declared a criminal organization by the Nuremburg judges.

Blood, Honor, and Loyalty (collarbone) – A phrase used heavily by racist skinheads and other neo-Nazis in rock lyrics, clothing and tattoos.

Hatewatch

BNP's green disguise

Opponents of asylum and immigration once talked about "rivers of blood". Now they talk about "tidal waves of concrete". Enoch Powell and other early advocates of shutting Britain's borders argued that too many immigrants would shred our social cohesion. Today's anti-immigrant lobby is more likely to complain about immigrants' carbon footprint and their noxious impact on our green and pleasant land. The close-the-borders brigade has co-opted environmentalist arguments, and it is using them to demand tougher restrictions on the right to asylum in the UK.

One reason why anti-immigrants are wrapping themselves in a pseudo-green cloak is that their old arguments - about Britain being invaded by swan-eating asylum-seekers and migrants - are transparent tosh. On 21 August the Home Office published its Asylum Statistics for the second quarter of 2007. These showed that applications for asylum have fallen. Between April and June this year, there were 4,950 applications, a 13 per cent drop from the first quarter of the year.

There were 10 per cent fewer applications in the second quarter of 2007 than there were in the second quarter of 2006, when 5,495 people applied for asylum. What's more, 2,980 asylum-seekers were deported in the second quarter of 2007. This means that the net number of asylum-seekers added to the population between April and June was a measly 1,970. If this quarterly figure was averaged out over a year, it would add up to roughly 8,000 asylum-seekers - enough to fill eight streets in your average big-city suburb. Britain swamped by asylum-seekers? Get a grip.

Asylum applications have fallen steadily over the past decade. In 2006, 23,520 people applied for asylum in the UK, the lowest number since 1997. In the same year, 18,235 failed asylum-seekers were removed from the UK. We are no "soft touch": 80 per cent of applications are refused.

The number of immigrants (rather than asylum-seekers) from eastern Europe continues to rise - but not nearly by as much as the scaremongers predicted. In the first quarter of this year, after Bulgaria and Romania acceded to the European Union, 7,935 of their nationals were granted permission to come to the UK; in the second quarter 9,335 arrived and a further 3,980 were accepted under the seasonal agricultural workers' scheme. It's a far cry from the "flood" of 300,000 predicted by some tabloid (and broadsheet) writers. One reason why the Bulgarian and Romanian numbers remain low is that the government imposed stringent restrictions on who can come from those countries - skilled workers, maybe; low-skilled workers, not so much.

The number of eastern Europeans who have come to the UK since the A8 countries (the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia) joined the EU in May 2004 has reached 683,000 - the figure that most frightens the anti-immigration lobby. Yet as Philippe Legrain, author of Immigrants: Your Country Needs Them, has written, "most have already left again, and many are, in effect, international commuters who spend only part of the year here". Legrain points out that in 2005, the first big year of eastern immigration into the UK, 565,000 migrants in total came to Britain - but 380,000 people left these shores. That made a net inflow of 185,000 people, or an increase to Britain's population of 0.31 per cent.

Since the idea that Britain is being "swamped" is pure poppycock, so those who oppose immigration have had to change tack. The British National Party argues that "our countryside is vanishing beneath a tidal wave of concrete" as more and more houses are built. Apparently "the biggest reason all these new houses are needed is immigration. One-third of all new homes are for immigrants and asylum-seekers." The BNP claims that "immigration is creating an environmental disaster", and worries that if we let in more migrants Britain will become "a tarmac desert".

The think tank Migration Watch claims that immigration has "significant costs" for the environment. And the right-wing Campaign for National Democracy says: "[Our population] is expected to grow by over five million during the next 20 years, chiefly as a result of immigration. This will put pressure on housing and roads, which will mean the loss of more of our countryside, the destruction of greenbelt area and worsening traffic and pollution in our cities."

Unfortunately, green-leaning groups sometimes hand these right-wingers their arguments on a plate. The Optimum Population Trust, which counts Jonathon Porritt among its patrons, argues that mass immigration is a route to environmental collapse. It has called for the balancing out of immigration with emigration, so that net immigration into Britain always remains at zero: an inhumane policy proposal that would mean saying "no", even to desperate arrivals, on the basis that they would cause our population to rise by a tiny amount.

It is worth noting that, according to 2002 figures, 45.96 per cent of Britain's land is used for intensive agriculture, 29.78 per cent of it is semi-natural, 11.91 per cent of it is woodland, and only 7.65 per cent of it is "settled" - that is, built environment. In the new pseudo-green arguments for raising the drawbridge, immigrants are once again being blamed for what are in fact social and political failures. It is underinvestment in infrastructure that leads to scarcity of good-quality housing or decent roads, not the arrival of people from overseas who simply want a better life. They should have as much right to live and work here as any of the rest of us - and if that means building more homes and roads to accommodate them, so be it.

New Statesman

BNP's Advisory Council to be shut down - the disasters continue...

The BNP's Advisory Council, which is in place ostensibly to oversee Griffin and the running of the party, is to be completely dismantled to make way for the new membership tier known as the 'Voting Membership'. As we reported here, Griffin regards the new VMs as an 'activist elite', by which he presumably means they do as they're told and they would support him whenever he embarks on yet another one of his lunatic schemes.

According to information we've received, the unelected VMs will include organisers and active councillors at branch level as a matter of course, regional organisers, those officers of the party that remain after the coming reshuffle (or bloodbath, as one of our correspondents put it) but curiously (or perhaps not) not fundholders/treasurers - or certainly not those at branch level.

Considering that Griffin made a point in his blog post of August 11th of specifically mentioning 'effective powers of scrutiny over all central party finances', we're surprised that he intends to keep local financial managers out of the loop - but maybe we shouldn't be all that surprised at all. BNP branches from all over the country have been griping for the last couple of years that money gushes eternally into the black hole that is BNP HQ, and is rarely returned in any way, even, it is frequently said, in the form of election leaflets that have been bought and paid for. The last thing Griffin would want is someone demanding financial accountability all the time, which is why he will effectively keep the financial side of things directly under the control of the party's treasurer (currently John Walker though not, we suspect, for very much longer).

One sign that clearly indicates the diminishing role of the Advisory Council is that though it is intended that it should meet 'no less than three times each year' according to the BNP's website, it has in fact not met since last September - very nearly a year. And this is the body currently charged with a number of crucial tasks:

'The purpose of the Advisory Council is to inspect the party's accounts, ensuring proper conduct of the party's finances, and to act as a forum for the party's leadership to discuss vital issues and carve out the party's agenda, without hindering the Chairman's ability to make the final decision on all matters.'

The lack of Advisory Council meetings might then go some way towards explaining why the party accounts are so late.

Problems seem to be rife for the BNP's Advisory Council at the moment, despite the usually politically-somnolent summer period. Jonathan Bowden left both the Advisory Council and the BNP itself in a fury after Griffin's attack-dogs at Covert were set on him at the end of July, Scott McLean has resigned the Advisory Council and his post as Deputy Chairman over the Andrew Spence debacle and Steve Blake now appears to be directly in the firing line over a constant stream of criticism of the BNP website, which is about as bland as a political site can possibly get without anasthetic, and far worse, having signed Chris Jackson's nomination papers in the recent leadership election. It looks like he's a strong candidate for the bloodbath, probably alongside his pal Eddie Butler, the former BNP election guru (attacked by fruitcake Tony Lecomber a while back) who, after the lacklustre results for the party in the May elections is now apparently frequently described by Griffin as a twat (and worse). We confidently expect to be waving goodbye to both Butler and Blake in the very near future.

Thus the Advisory Council dissolves around Griffin's ears, ready to rise again in the form of a loose body of activists, the Voting Membership, and Griffin will only have to suffer the ignominy of answering to it once a year at the party's annual conference. This will effectively hand dictatorial powers to the leader of this already far from democratic party, giving him carte blanche to do as he pleases when he pleases with nobody to answer to except his unelected hardcore activists who he has himself placed into their positions of authority. Who in their right minds would give any party leader that kind of complete power over his party - especially someone as notoriously untrustworthy as Nick Griffin? And who would want to be a member of a party where the ordinary membership is regarded as of no value at all except for the price of their membership card?

We hear Jackie Griffin is swanning around showing off her nice new Peugeot sports car - a snip at around six and a half grand. The election results for the BNP might be crap, the executive of the party might be collapsing, the fake businesses dying off as fast as they are formed and the membership figures stagnating but the money still appears to be fast-flowing into the Griffin household. If I were a party member, I'd be worrying about that.

Jewish leader sounds alarm after racist attack

· Brutal assault on Indians sparks call to curb far-right
· East German xenophobia 'scaring off foreign firms'

A leading member of Germany's Jewish community has accused the government of failing to control rightwing extremism following an attack on a group of Indian men in an eastern town. Stephan Kramer, the general secretary of the Central Council of Jews said that until a nationwide action plan was launched to tackle the problem, attacks on minorities would only get worse.

His remarks followed a brutal attack on eight Indians in the town of Mügeln, near Leipzig, at the weekend. During a town festival the men were chased through the streets by around 50 young Germans, who hurled abuse at them, including the taunt "foreigners out". All of the men were beaten up, one of them seriously. "Yesterday it was coloured people, today it's foreigners, tomorrow it'll be homosexuals and lesbians and maybe Jews," Mr Kramer told the German daily newspaper Taz.

Prior to the Mügeln incident, police had been braced for trouble in certain east German towns as rightwing extremists commemorated the anniversary of the death of Adolf Hitler's deputy, Rudolf Hess.

Mr Kramer said that parts of former communist eastern Germany were "no-go" areas, which people who looked foreign should be warned against visiting. He accused the government of "delivering the same sentiments" every time there was an attack, but failing to produce results with its anti-extremist strategy. "This isn't hysteria," he said. "This is the bitter truth."

The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, condemned the attacks and pledged to put the issue high on the agenda at a strategy meeting of her grand coalition taking place today and tomorrow. "It is not acceptable for people in German cities to be chased through the streets and beaten," she said through her spokesman, Thomas Steg.

There is increasing evidence to suggest that the frequency of far-right attacks is having a detrimental effect on the ability of parts of eastern Germany to attract foreign investment and tourism. "These no-go areas - so-called foreigner-free zones - really exist and non-Aryans know why they don't go there," an expert on rightwing extremism, Anetta Kahane, said. "The fact is that many American or Asian firms that have a mix of employees don't come to east Germany."

The Mügeln incident came almost exactly 15 years after a far-right attack on a home for asylum seekers near Rostock, in which 120 people narrowly escaped death. That attack led to a political outcry and closer monitoring of far-right activities.

Yesterday prosecutors said they were investigating two men from Mügeln, aged 21 and 23, for being behind the recent attack and were looking at charging them for breaching the peace. The town's mayor, Gotthard Deuse, drew criticism after insisting that those who assaulted the Indians were not locals and that the area did not have a far-right problem.

Guardian

BNP resorts to lies in desperate attempt to conceal business links

Regular readers will recall that we posted an item about the BNP's latest business venture, Avocado Mortgages, back on June 27th. In the article, we made it clear that Avocado is directly linked to the British National Party, that the registrant of the site is Steve Blake, the BNP's webmaster and also the registrant of the BNP's own site, Avocado Finance, Albion Life, the Skip Hire Registry, the Christian Council of Britain and Brightahomes (double-glazing) - all of which are run solely by and for the BNP.

The only difference between Avocado and, for instance, the Christian Council of Britain, is that the former is clearly intended to be a money-making venture as opposed to the latter which is simply an organisation to jump on an available bandwagon for short-term political gain.

The links between the BNP and Avocado Mortgages have been confirmed time and time again by our many correspondents in the BNP itself. So why do we mention it? Because there has been an attempt to stifle discussion of Avocado via Voice of Reason's web host Streamline.net.

Some mysterious person has written to Streamline claiming not only that Avocado has nothing to do with the BNP but that the claim that it is connected is 'an outright lie' and that it could seriously damage the 'business venture', and asks that the relevant article (the same as the one above) be removed from the site. Freedom of speech the BNP way, huh?

Let's go through this clearly just in case Streamline are looking in - the BNP is a fascist organisation. Okay, that should be enough for them to tell the complainant to get lost but probably won't be. Maybe if that hasn't convinced them, the fact that Avocado is sprinkled with the trademarked images of legitimate building societies without the permission of any of the companies (we have email evidence to support that fact) might change their mind and stop them picking on a legitimate news source rather than a fascist money-making scam.

Look at the BNP's Project Iona art page. On every single page bar the PI home page itself there is a link to Avocado Mortgages (incidentally, the only place Avocado advertises is on BNP sites). That link used to be to a company named Brightahomes, that was an advertising scam to reap commission on sales of double-glazing. The Brightahomes page, run by the BNP, carries an ad for Avocado. As does Horse Matters, another BNP page which just happens to carry 'sponsored' ads for both Avocado and Brightahomes.

The BNP's own Regional Voices page has a single advertising link - to Brightahomes. Click on the Brightahomes link and there you are immediately faced with an advert by Avocado!

The British National Party - or whatever idiot (possibly David Boulton, its business-partner in so many of these crap online businesses) it got to make the complaint on its behalf - is lying. And it claims to be the most democratic, honest, freedom-loving, freedom of speech-loving party that exists.

Yeah, sure.

BNP man's election clash

A BNP supporter arrested after an election day clash with police was exercising his political rights, a court was told.

Father-of-two Shaun Jones, 27, claimed he had earlier been told by two officers he was free to stand by the side of the road at Penparcau, wave a BNP pamphlet and shout support for the far-right party - provided he was more than 30 yards from the village polling station.

But he was later approached by a police community support officer, told repeatedly to move on and was eventually arrested by police for an alleged public order offence.

Jones admitted arguing with the community support officer, but denied threatening behaviour, and was acquitted. Prosecuting, Lesley Harbon said Jones had been aggressive. Sergeant Huw Jones said Jones was agitated and sweating, and he ordered his arrest on the basis of what he had been told about Jones’ behaviour towards the support officer, Russell Farley.

But defence solicitor Colin Taylor told Aberystwyth magistrates:

“There is nothing to suggest he was doing anything untoward 30 yards down the road. He was exercising his political rights, and God forbid we reach the day when we’re hassled by the police for doing that. There’s nothing to stop Mr Jones standing on the side of the road canvassing for the BNP 24 hours a day, providing he doesn’t commit a public order offence. Being angry and being upset in this country is not a public order offence.”

Jones, of 102 Heol Tynyfron, Penparcau, also denied threatening behaviour towards an election official during an earlier incident, but was found guilty.

He said he had been impressed by the BNP’s election leaflet and had decided to vote for the first time. But at the polling-station at Penparcau’s Neuadd Goffa he was told he was not registered, so could not vote.

He told the court:

“I was angry at the whole situation, but not at anyone in particular.”

But Lesley Harbon, prosecuting, said Jones “ranted and raved” at election officials, waving a piece of wood to which he had attached the BNP leaflet, brandishing it in people’s faces, and as a result putting other people off voting.

Rachel Davies, the polling-station’s presiding officer at the 3 May Assembly election, said:

“Jones wasn’t on the electoral register. He became quite agitated, saying I wasn’t allowing him to vote. He had a stick in his hand and was waving it. He was raising his voice. We constantly repeated to him the process and that unfortunately I couldn’t help him. At the second or third time of asking, he did leave the voting area. I was getting a bit concerned about my own safety.”

Cross-examined, she added:

“He started raising his voice, saying we were stopping the BNP having any votes, and said he was going to report me to the police for not allowing him to vote. There was a lot of swearing going on.”

Officials gave Jones the number of the electoral registration officer in Aberaeron in an effort to resolve the problem, the court heard, and a policeman at the polling-station let him use his telephone. Jones said he later left the Neuadd Goffa and stood by the side of the road holding up the BNP leaflet and urging passers-by to vote for the party.

Aberysrwyth Today

Hatewatch for the week of August 22th 2007

Neo-Nazi Murders Police Officer
Michael Phillips, 24, was killed by police snipers in a gunfight after Phillips shot and killed a county sheriff's office sergeant...

Ayran Nations Members Sought in Hate Crime Attack
Police plan to arrest between six and 10 self-proclaimed Aryan Nations members for attempting to murder a Hispanic man they'd never met before...

Klan Leader Denies Role in Beating
Imperial Klans of America founder Ron Edwards denied allegations that IKA members convicted of attacking a teenager of Central American Indian descent were acting with Edwards' approval and knowledge...

Shooting Linked to White Supremacist Group
A SWAT team arrested Joshua E. Truesdale, 26, for allegedly shooting three men involved in a dispute between members of the Aryan Circle, a white supremacist organization formed within Texas prisons...

SPLC

What the hell is that thing? Oh, it's the BNP's Nick Cass...

Enough serious stuff for a moment. Let's have a few captions to this strange image - the sillier/funnier, the better. There are no prizes, so don't ask. ;-)

One of Griffin's 'vermin' begins the fightback against BNP corruption

According to a comment over at the North-West Nationalist blog, this was sent in to the Sandwell Express Star. Our thanks to Kirklees Unity for the heads-up.

Dear Sir

In response to Simon Darby's comments about me resigning from British National Party. I would like to thank him for acknowledging the hard work done myself in the party. With the exception of a particular Judas, most of the Black Country BNP are first class folk.

There has been a rumour I resigned because of the party's failure to allow me to promote the idea that 911 was an inside job. This isn't actually the case.

My resignation followed the disclosure of a private email to a supposed friend and colleague Ken Griffiths. The substance of the email was that based on events surrounding an article about Nick Griffin's wheeler dealing in Croatia, his meddling in the affairs of the independent trade union Solidarity and such items as £63,000 being spent on "travel and entertainment" (see 2005 BNP accounts at the electoral commission), it was about time we started educating the membership about what I believed we mutually recognised as serious financial mismanagement of the party. In fact it was Ken Griffiths along with a few others two years ago that encouraged me to examine Nick Griffin's history and therefore his leadership of the party.

I've worked for the party as a volunteer for over five years. Three years as the Black Country organiser. This work was unpaid. I may have claimed £60 at most in petrol in that time and of course have suffered in my employment. Famously being sacked as a teacher in 2004. The party's support was pathetic. The so called party legal eagle failed to advise me that I had three months to appeal to an industrial tribunal. I am currently investigating a sickening allegation that a substantial donation from a member of the public was made to myself following my sacking but didn't quite find its way to me.

At national level huge amounts are raised. The "Trafalgar Club " rakes in £72,000 a year according to other ex BNP figures that were close to Griffin [we've been told at least £90,000 but there you go]. Financial transparency , other than what has to be provided for the electoral commission is non existent. There are other large donations that are rumoured to have been made but not declared. This is the tip of the iceberg in my opinion.

So how is the British National Party being run ? There is a genuine need for a Nationalist Party in Britain. In my opinion Nick Griffin who is a fantastic (self) publicist and orator, runs the party as a private family business - in doing so it is also necessary to appoint dubiously moral lieutenants to keep it like that . It is a money based not ideologically based operation . As such it is necessary to periodically purge the party of thinkers and those who are capable of critical thought to keep it like that.

Cllr Simon Smith

For more information, see Purged! British National Party councillor Simon Smith forced out and Nick Griffin's most recent Chairman's Blog post deconstructed...

Czech watchdog to monitor hate speech

Grant to go toward scanning Web sites for racist online activity

The Czech Helsinki Committee, a human rights watchdog, is calling on Internet host companies here and in the United States to remove Czech neo-Nazi Web sites that promote racist views.

A growing number of Czech-language Internet pages promote discrimination and racism, according to the nonprofit group, which recently received a 50,000 euro ($69,000/1.4 million Kč) grant from the European Economic Association to monitor such sites for discriminatory content.

In addition, Czech Helsinki Committee workers will ask Internet host companies to develop a common code of conduct to govern such sites, said František Valeš, a lawyer with the group.

One apparent neo-Nazi site calls for a den rasy, or “day of race.” A blog on the National Idea Web site rallies against feminism, calling it a “dead-end street.” An article on the Národní čest, or “national honor,” site claims that “nothing but the nation” has a “right to exist.”

Valeš said the sites are disturbing, but not illegal.

“They do not openly say that only white Czechs have a right to exist,” Valeš said. “It’s hidden between the lines.”

Unregulated Web

People found guilty of racially motivated crimes can be sentenced up to two years in jail, said Zuzana Kuncová, a spokeswoman for the Justice Ministry. Such crimes include speaking, writing or behaving in such a way as to degrade, intimidate or incite violence or prejudice against a person or a group of people based on their nationality, language, race, religion or class, Kuncová said.

The law mentions groups using TV, press, movies and radio — but not the Internet — to spread their messages.

And since corporations don’t have the same legal liability as individuals do under the national law on hate crimes, Internet host companies would be prosecuted administratively, meaning they would probably receive a fine if found guilty, she said. Kuncová did not specify a fine amount.

Miroslav Novotný, who works on the Autonomní nacionalisté Web site, said his group is aware of the laws and “we try to provoke as little as possible.” The Autonomní nacionalisté site name was provided by the Czech Helsinki Committee as one being monitored.

“No nationalistic or fascist ideologies are promoted on the site. You won’t find any oaths to the Third Reich or similar material, but only reports and remarks about the current situation,” Novotný said. “Everything is simply uncensored information, which no one might like, but censorship and the breaching of freedom of speech are unacceptable.”

At Národní korporativismus, another site being monitored by the rights group, there is discussion about “minorities,” although no particular group is mentioned.

“We respect the laws of our nation,” said Jiří Petřivalský, who is affiliated with the site. “We have never been accused of any [racist] statements, whether it be the spoken word or those published on our Web site.”

An estimated 7,000 right- and left-wing extremists belong to hate groups across the country, according to Petr Vorlíček, an Interior Ministry spokesman. While the numbers are constantly changing, officials believe about 600 people are involved in neo-Nazi activity.

Some Czech neo-Nazi sites are posted with U.S. Web providers. Since people who work at U.S. Internet service providers do not usually speak Czech, they may not be aware of inflammatory content, Valeš said.

Free speech issues

In general, Web content in the United States is protected as free speech under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. However, large Internet companies such as eBay and Google have in the past taken steps to remove offensive sites, including ones that sold Nazi memorabilia.

Steadfast Networks, an Internet provider in Chicago that hosts a site being monitored by the Czech Helsinki Committee, said it does not make judgments about content.

“If you can find any content that is illegal or in violation of trademark or copyright, you can submit appropriate paperwork to have it removed,” Kevin Stange, a spokesman for the site, said in an e-mail response to a question about monitoring such sites.

If Czech Web providers don’t comply with the committee’s requests, the watchdog group is ready to take cases to court, Valeš said, even though it is often hard to pin down a site’s creator or creators.

“Once charges are pressed, the sites do a disappearing act and their content is moved onto a new domain,” Valeš said.

In April, 27 European Union countries agreed to proposed new rules to combat racism and hate crimes, after six years of negotiation. The rules include jail sentences of up to three years for those who deny or trivialize genocides such as the mass killing of Jews during World War II.

Individual parliaments must still vet the rules, however. Countries such as the United Kingdom, Italy and Denmark were reluctant to agree to such EU laws, feeling they could supersede their own laws that guarantee freedom of expression.

Prague Post

Anti-Semitic leader rebuked by Catholic Bishop

A man who has run a virulently anti-Semitic “Catholic” group for 14 years has been told to clean up his act by church officials contacted by the Intelligence Report.

Robert Sungenis, who founded and heads Catholic Apologetics International (CAI), was profiled in the magazine edition released in January, along with other anti-Semitic individuals and institutions involved in the “radical traditionalist Catholic” movement, whose precepts are rejected by the Vatican. The Report later sent a letter to Sungenis’ bishop in Harrisburg, Pa., detailing Sungenis’ anti-Semitic activities.

The church responded with alacrity. According to a July 31 essay he posted on CAI’s website entitled “Catholic Apologetics International and its Teachings on the Jews”, Sungenis was contacted by Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades and later met with Rhoades’ vicar general, the Very Rev. William J. King, and the Rev. James Massa, executive director for ecumenical and inter-religious affairs for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. Afterward, Sungenis wrote that CAI’s “hard-line positions regarding the Jews” had been “often expressed in an ill-advised manner” and promised to change.

“CAI is in the process of removing all the content on its website concerning the Jews in order to make the initial adjustments in complying with my bishop’s directive,” he wrote. “If in the future we write any new material on the Jews, it will always be with the required due diligence, as if the bishop were present with us.”

Sungenis, based in State Line, Pa., is one of the hardest-line figures of the radical traditionalist Catholic movement, which generally has rejected the Vatican’s efforts to reconcile with Jews and other faiths. Among other things, Sungenis in 2002 wrote a 33,000-word screed attacking the Jews that led to him being thrown off Eternal Word Television Network, a Catholic cable station. Elsewhere, he has written of “Jews, Judaism and Israel” are conspiring to make Satan the ruler of the earth.

Despite the rebuke, Sungenis did not back down all the way. He wrote that the “Jews, as a race, are no longer the ‘chosen people’ of God,” and added that they “have been blinded to the Gospel of Jesus Christ by their own doing.” Still, he promised to adopt the “more conciliatory approach” that is today “in vogue.”

Hatewatch

2008 Searchlight Calendar

The 2008 Searchlight Calendar

Available here

Back by popular demand the 2008 Searchlight calendar - a year of protest pictures with a large dash of HOPE

With special thanks to David Hoffman, Mike Cohen, John Ferguson, Billy Bragg, Nick Lowles and the hundreds of other photographers that have donated their time and efforts in the fight against hate.