Despite putting in a lot of work, Nazi BNP candidate Mike Ashburner came 4th out of 4 with only 100 votes for Barrow Central Ward. The results were:
Labour 400 odd
People's Party 265
Conservative 205
Nazi BNP 100
Whereas the turn-out elsewhere in Barrow appears to have been low, the turn-out in Central Ward was up, so the campaign to urge people to get out and use their votes against the Fascists has obviously worked. While there should never be any complacency about any amount of fascist votes, it should be recognised that this is a bad result for the BNP.
We also had a lively and angry protest against the Nazis both when the fascists came in and out of the Town Hall for the Count.
Around 20 anti-fascists turned out with placards, lively chanting etc to show the BNP that they are not welcome and to expose them for the nazis that they are. These protests clearly rattled the fascists - whose usual attempts at bravado quickly slipped.
Candidates and other people attending the Count inside also wore Unite Against Fascism stickers which further unsettled the fascists and showed them that anti-fascists are the majority.
An absolutely brilliant victory in Barrow. A HUGE thank you to everyone who's helped in this campaign - it more than paid off. Well done!
Showing posts with label Ashburner. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ashburner. Show all posts
May 04, 2007
April 06, 2007
Lancaster's fascist BNP fails to impress
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Antifascist
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Click on image for full size
A pdf file of the poster (28k) can be downloaded from here.
For all Chris Hill's waffling on his rubbishy blog about target 'Gold and Silver' wards, Lancaster's contingent of the British National Party could only muster up a single candidate, despite the local party claiming to have fast-growing support in the city. And who is that candidate? Yep, Chris Hill himself. And where is he standing? Yep, Skerton West ward again - obviously ignoring the fact that his proportion of the vote dropped from 16% on the first occasion he gave us the joy of his company to 11% once voters realised he had nothing to offer except the usual BNP lies and bullshit.A pdf file of the poster (28k) can be downloaded from here.
So far, Hill has only been seen on his own while canvassing. No sign of his chum, Bradford BNP councillor, Paul Cromie, under almost constant investigation by the Standards Board for a handful of apparent misdeamours, or ex-Combat 18 thug with a bunch of convictions, Calderdale's Adrian Marsden. In fact, we could say that Hill was remarkably isolated - no-one has even bothered to come over from Blackpool to help him out.
Hill's election agent is not unknown to us though. It's Chris Hill.
This curious isolation grows even more curious when you consider that just up the road in Blackpool, Roy Goodwin, the BNP's North-West regional organiser, claims to run the most successful branch in the country, with regular attendance, he has stated, of up to three hundred people. Yet not one of those three hundred has come over to give Chris Hill a helping hand.
There are two reasons for this. One is that Goodwin, the subject of numerous complaints from his local membership for his bullying and aggressive behaviour, was lying about the numbers. A few weeks ago, he stated to the Blackpool Gazette that the branch saw 'fifty to seventy' attendees - a far cry from three hundred - which might also explain why Blackpool BNP are only standing in seven seats rather than going for a full slate. Too many, of course, but not quite the success story Goodwin would have us believe. Information that we have indicates that the true number is around twenty to twenty-five, which ties in pretty well to the seven candidates. Barrow, which we believe also comes under Roy Goodwin, is an even more disastrous branch (though nowhere near as bad as Lancaster). For weeks, Mike Ashburner, the local BNP mouthpiece has been droning on about how fast the party is growing in the town and how successful they are on the doorstep. How many candidates are standing for the party in Barrow? One. Who is it? Guess. Oh alright, Mike Ashburner.
The BNP always lies about its attendance for some reason. When we have a meeting, we count the people there and that's the number that appears in the records. Anyone involved with the BNP seems to have a problem with counting. According to Chris Hill, there were two hundred and fifty attendees at the BNP 'national' conference in Blackpool and just thirty-five protestors. According to the BBC, us and numerous commentators, there were fifty to sixty at the conference and two hundred of us, give or take half a dozen. An extremely large mistake for engineer Hill to make.
The other reason Blackpool hasn't bothered supporting Hill is that he has the reputation of being foolishly arrogant. Well, he'd have to be, wouldn't he. The one-man-band that Lancaster BNP clearly is, would suit Hill down to the ground. It's only in that way that he can keep himself convinced that everything he says is right. A recent unwanted communication to us proves the point: 'Neither Copeland or Laidlaw were ever BNP members that a facts, live with it!The BNP did not claim Cottage had not been amember, just that he was not a member at the time...' Yes, the mistakes are all his.
Fact: David Copeland (the Soho bomber) was at one point a member of the BNP.
Fact: At the time of his arrest Laidlaw (who shot random people for no apparent reason) claimed to be a BNP member.
Fact: Robert Cottage was definitely a member of the BNP at the time of his arrest for possession of bomb-making materials.
Not that I'd want to get inside the head of anyone who considers the BNP a valid party but one wonders what goes on in there. One of the pledges on Hill's current leaflet states: '...to give the indigenous people of Lancaster a voice on the council'. Just what the hell does that mean? Is that meant to refer to white British people in Lancaster, because they're pretty well represented on the council already. Or is it meant to refer to Lancaster people who have lived here for generations? If that's the case, why should Hill represent them any more than anyone else - he's from Bradford. Not that we care but if that's a central pledge for his campaign, he's on another loser.
Someone asked the other day why Hill keeps sticking his nose into Skerton West and the only answer we heard that made any sense was that he hoped to make capital out of the old and thankfully almost-forgotten problems on Ryelands that involved Mal Hussein. Patently that's not working, hence the pitiful 93 votes he earned at the last by-election, most of which didn't come from Ryelands anyway. But someone speculated on Hill's reception on the estate should it become known that Nick Griffin, the BNP leader, once described people who live on housing estates as scum. Yes, indeed.
We've provided a poster which, in our opinion, should be posted on every council estate in Lancaster and Morecambe, but particularly on Ryelands where Hill is currently trying to spread his filth and lies. Let's see what the locals think of Hill after we start spreading the truth around a bit.
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