An email from nasty Nick

Nick Griffin that is. I guess I'll give it the response it deserves..

And he is as they say, "on one". That is, that he is not a happy bunny.

"I'm sure that you, like me, are absolutely sick of all the lies and PC nonsense that the BBC pump out". I'm a little confused. Is he asking me or telling me?

As it happens, I am though. I can barely watch Question Time since Griffin soiled the show with his presence. Ruddy PC "nonsense" that it was. Why couldn't they just let him burn his cross? All this chit-chat that those liberal lefites insist on ruined it for me.

And, asks Griffin, do I "Remember the last time they tried to destroy us? Panorama used a turncoat branch organiser who was working as a paid informer for the far-left Searchlight operation, and an undercover reporter". Well of course I do. I went for a bloody curry with him the night before the programme went out. Good curry, great programme. Or should that be visa versa?

Anyway, old Nick's not emailed me to catch up. He wants me to cough up. Like bloody kids these BNP types are, they only ever write when they want something.

"They’ve mocked and subverted our Christian religion and British traditions" he writes. Surely he doesn't mean the Queen wasn't taking her Christmas Day speech seriously, again? But mention Christmas and you can bet that a mention of Muslims won't be far behind. And here it comes (verbatim):

"If the BBC and the police had listened to us and investigated our evidence about the Muslim paedophile drug rape gangs, thousands of innocent children and their families wouldn't have had their lives torn apart and ruined".

That's bloody strong stuff. Yep, he even underlined it. But why only "Muslim" paedophiles? Only last year two BNP members from Blackburn were convicted as part of a paedophile gang. Are BNP members allowed to be paedophiles then, Nick?

What about Nigel Hesmondhalgh from Hyndburn, Lancashire? He was in the BNP and put on the sex offenders register only last January. Or perhaps Kevin Alfred Storm? Surely Griffin has not forgotten the time he spent with the man who pleaded guilty to possession of child abuse images in 2008?

Why, only yesterday another BNP candidate pleaded guilty to possession and distribution of child pornography. As you will not have read about it on the BNP's website, here is a brief reminder of what this great defender of "our Christian religion and British traditions" looks like.

http://www.hopenothate.org.uk/news/article/1949/bnp-candidate-guilty-of-child-pornography

Then Nick's email gets a bit strange. "See the tools your generosity has already given us". We know exactly what Clive Jefferson and Adam Walker look like, thanks very much. Isn't that a bit rough, calling them tools though?

The BBC are then accused of being "employers of murderers and child rapists". Hmmm, some may recall that David Copeland, the Nazi nail bomber was a former member of the BNP. But let's not keep dredging that up. How about something more recent?

Ok, how about Darren Francis, described as "every parents worst nightmare" (http://www.hopenothate.org.uk/news/article/1680/bnp-paedophile-jailed) or Roderick Rowley a BNP candidate for law and order in Coventry who was jailed for 15 months after sending obscene images involving children to others.

Still not ring a bell? Oh well, the BNP's "research team" has apparently uncovered all kinds of filth at the BBC, an employer of tens thousands of people compared to the 5396 members that the BNP has.

It takes only a few moments to uncover the perverts in the BNP. "Granny Porn" anyone? This must be part of that huge conspiracy I keep hearing about. The last time the BNP's "research" team put in such an effort, they (seriously) managed to write a full report about how many Jews worked at the BBC. This included a children’s TV presenter who was among the forty or so Jews that the BNP described as "mindbenders".

Griffin's getting all upset of course about an upcoming show by Panorama exposing all kinds of stuff that the naughty nutty neo-Nutzis have been up to with some filthy lucre. "Make no mistake, we're in for a rough half hour when that programme goes out" Griffin continues.

On this point I disagree most strongly. I shall be watching it in the comfort of my living room, while I suspect some other recipients of his begging email will be hot footing it across the country.

So, I guess I'll refuse to donate (there is a link to a donate button no less than three times in his angry missive) and will save my money to buy a large glass of the bubbly stuff for my colleagues. We're proud to have dug that grave the BNP's is falling headfirst into.


Thanks to Matthew Collins at HOPE not Hate

What Motivates Lone Wolves?

Various media are currently reporting that a 'lone wolf' perpetrator of terrorism in Norway, who has so far killed upwards of 90 people (mainly youths), MAY be linked to far right/neo-Nazi/fundamentalist Christian groups, and hold anti-Muslim views. The attacks have left more casualties than 7/7.

I've just published an alleged list of internet posts by the shooter, Anders Behring Breivik. These reveal he was particularly concerned about the impact of immigration, multiculturalism and Muslims/Islam. They also suggest he held a high view of the anti-Islam English Defence League (EDL) and was influenced by a broader narrative across Europe that has been adopted by the far right. Rather than focus on the importance of race and ethnicity, this narrative frames opposition to minority groups such as Muslims along the lines of culture.

Seen from one perspective, the attacks by alone wolf are surprising. In recent years, the attention of security services across Europe has focused heavily on preventing al-Qaeda (or 'AQ') inspired acts of terrorism. In fact, I was told only recently by a member of the security services in Britain that the threat of violence from ultra right-wing groups is only minor when set against their AQ and Northern Irish counterparts. Perhaps for these reasons, many early commentators were quick to associate the Oslo attacks with this form of extremism.

Seen from another perspective, however, for several reasons the attacks in Oslo are not that surprising. First, both Norway and Sweden have had a relatively active neo-Nazi scene for years. Indeed, this is not the first example of right-wing violence in Oslo. Second, recent years have seen growing support across Scandinavia for right-wing movements and their ideas, most noticeably in Sweden where the anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim Sweden Democrats (SD) recently entered the national parliament. Third, this trend of rising support for the right-wing has been taking place across the continent more generally, arguably producing a more receptive climate for right-wing ideas and activists. And fourth, with much attention focusing on alternative forms of extremism, it might well be the case that increased space was created for the lesser studied and understood right-wing groups.

In fact, analysts have long predicted that members of more ultra-violent right-wing groups may resort to 'direct action' methods. In our study of extremism that was published last year, we warned of the dangers of 'cumulative extremism', namely when one form of extremism (e.g. far right) responds violently to the rise of another form of extremism (e.g. violent Islamism). An example might include an activist bombing a Mosque in response to the 'threat' posed by growing Muslim populations, and then AQ-inspired groups retaliating. In Britain, we have not seen this process since Northern Ireland.

I also only recently finished reviewing an academic study of al-Qaeda (AQ) inspired terrorism that predicted how the 'next wave' of terrorism in Europe will come not from Islamists but ultra-violent far right groups, partly as a backlash against immigration, rising ethno-cultural diversity and AQ-inspired terrorism. The attacks in Oslo have a clear political motivation, being directed toward youth representatives of the political mainstream. It may turn out to be the case that the perpetrator did not feel that the main parties were responding adequately to broader threats.

Nor is the threat from lone wolves restricted to Norway and Scandinavia. Two years ago, anti-terrorism officers in Britain warned of the growing threat from lone wolf activists. This was underscored by the case of Robert Cottage who was convicted after being found stockpiling chemical explosives. And before him the attack by David Copeland - 'the London Nailbomber' - who sought to trigger race war by targeting members of Bengali and homosexual communities. The broader threat of lone wolf terror is also underscored by the fact that, prior to 9/11, the most destructive attack on American soil was perpetrated by Timothy McVeigh, a right-wing activist, not Islamists.

What potential motives might be at work?

I spent almost four years interviewing activists on the far right, many of whom had no direct association with violence. However, within the far right there is unquestionably a culture of violence that is reflected in several core narratives: the belief that members of the in-group are embroiled in a 'survivalist struggle' and that their ethnic or religious group is facing threat of extinction because of immigration and rising diversity; the belief in the need to take urgent and radical action to defend the group from these wider threats; and a sense of moral obligation to take this action on behalf of their children and grandchildren. These motives provide followers with compelling reasons not only to join fundamentalist groups, but also to take direct action on their behalf.

Based on this research, I suspect that when Breivik's motivations become clear we will be hearing a lot about threats in Norwegian society: the threat of multiculturalism, the threat posed by the presence and growth of Muslim communities, and the need to take radical action against the inefficacious mainstream parties (particularly the Labour Party). Like the activists who I interviewed, the posts left by Breivik also reveal an obsession with demographic statistics: the growth of minority communities and differential birth rates across different groups. This is often used as a justification for taking urgent, and radical action.

Clearly, other motives might be at work, for example a conspiratorial outlook that traces changes like immigration or the emergence of Islamist terror to mysterious elite groups or 'corrupt' mainstream parties. This might lead perpetrators to target mainstream parties (or their youth wings) and international organizations like the United Nations. Foremost, however, it is a belief that the wider community (whether ethnic, religious, etc.) is under threat that leads some individuals toward the far right. The source of this perceived threat may vary: AQ terror, settled Muslim communities, immigration or supranational organizations (e.g. the EU).

Many thanks to Matthew Goodwin for permission to republish this article

Soho bomber David Copeland loses appeal over sentence

The immediate aftermath of the bomb blast at the Admiral Duncan pub in Soho

David Copeland, the Soho nailbomber who killed three people in 1999, has lost an appeal to have his sentence cut.

The 35-year-old, from Hampshire, set off three bombs over the course of two weeks designed to kill and seriously injure London’s gay, Asian and black communities.

Sixty-three people were injured by bombs he set off in Brick Lane and Brixton, but the final and most devastating incident took place in Soho, the heart of London’s gay scene.bIn that attack, three people, including a pregnant woman, were killed and 79 were injured.

The bomber, who told police he was a neo-Nazi when arrested, was found guilty the following year of three murders and three offences of planting bombs. He was handed six life sentences for the attacks. Originally, Copeland was told that he must serve a minimum of 30 years before he can be considered for parole.

In 2007, a judge increased that sentence to a minimum of 50 years.

Copeland attempted to appeal the decision but the Court of Appeal ruled this week to uphold it.

Lord Chief Justice, Lord Judge said: “It is difficult to exaggerate the horror of these appalling crimes, which stemmed, as far as we can see, from the appellant’s abhorrent beliefs. Having reflected on this awful case, we have come to the conclusion that the appeal should be dismissed.”

Pink News

No-holds-barred racism as Griffin gets desperate

“A Third World slum colonised by millions of African and Asian immigrants, facing the growing certainty of eventual civil war between an ever-growing Muslim community and everybody else”.

This is how Nick Griffin, the leader of the British National Party, which claims to be not racist, described Britain in an email to supporters on 23 June appealing for money to help him fight the continuing action by the Equality and Human Rights Commission over the BNP’s racist constitution.

In the email, which also described Trevor Phillips, the chair of the EHRC, as an “immigrant Marxist” and a “black Marxist”, Griffin said he was “ready to go to prison” for his beliefs. Outrageously he invoked Winston Churchill, the “heroes of D-Day” and “Spitfire pilots” in a blatant attempt to win sympathy and persuade supporters to open their wallets yet again for him.

Griffin has often referred to an impending civil war in Britain, especially after electoral failure such as in last month’s elections. After the BNP failed to win any MEPs in the 2004 European election despite gaining 800,000 votes, Griffin said the party might have to consider alternatives to the ballot box. The following year the BNP’s general election manifesto called for adults who have completed a period of military service to be “required to keep in a safe locker in their homes a standard-issue military assault rifle and ammunition”, a policy the party has never renounced.

A number of BNP members have tried to turn Griffin’s talk about civil war into action. They include David Copeland, the London bomber, and Robert Cottage, who was convicted for possession of explosives.

In raising the prospect of imprisonment Griffin no doubt also has his eye on Eddy Butler’s challenge to his leadership of the BNP, announced on 18 June. Griffin may hope that party members would hardly desert a man who was prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice for them.

However most BNP members are likely to see through this ploy. Growing numbers want a new party leader because of Griffin’s incompetence in producing electoral results, dubious financial dealings and his insistence on handing over administrative and financial control of the party to the “consultant” Jim Dowson, a militant anti-abortion campaigner with criminal convictions for violence.

Butler, the BNP’s national elections officer until he was peremptorily sacked at the end of March, is now trying to collect the signatures of 20% of BNP members with at least two years’ membership, which he needs to force a leadership election. Several party branch organisers are calling local meetings so that members can sign the forms.

BNP activists all over the country are beginning to support Butler’s challenge. One of them is Danny Lake, former leader of the Young BNP. Echoing the views of many party members, he describes Griffin as “a man who has brought the party far but remains stunted by a damaged reputation”. Griffin is standing “with a set of disastrous election results behind him”, Lake points out, before expressing the view that Griffin will not allow a clean fight.

For more detailed analysis of the challenge to Griffin’s leadership, see the July issue of Searchlight.

Hope not hate

The BNP and terrorism

This article was submitted by one of our readers, Roddy Newman. We welcome any contributions from our supporters (as long as those contributions conform to the law and are in reasonably good taste). Please send your articles to us via email.

After 9/11, BNP leader Nick Griffin started moralising about Islamist terrorism, and pretended that the BNP was a mainstream political party like the big 3 parties, UKIP, and the Greens, but as I will explain in this article, the BNP has had links to fascist terrorists, while the five other parties have not. Moreover, as I will also explain in this article, Nick Griffin supported Iranian dictator Ayatollah Khomeini's terrorist regime during his period in the International Third Position group, who saw Khomeini's Iran, and Libyan dictator Colonel Gadaffi's terrorist regime, as a "Third Way" which was not "Jewish-controlled capitalism", or "Jewish-controlled communism".

The most notorious BNP linked former terrorist, is of course the London nail bomber, David Copeland, whose 3 bombs killed 3 and injured 139. Copeland had been a member of the BNP before he carried out his bombings, and he openly said that his bombs were designed to create a race war which would encourage white British people to vote BNP (one bomb went off in the primarily African-Caribbean Brixton area, and one in the primarily Asian Brick Lane area). The third went off in a Soho gay bar. See the June 30, 2000 BBC News online article, "Profile: Copeland the killer", to learn more about Copeland and his bombings.

Another BBC News online article, "Ex-BNP man jailed over chemicals" (July 31, 2007), discussed a second BNP former terrorist, Robert Cottage [pictured left], who stored bomb-making chemicals at his home, because he expected that immigration would lead to a civil war. A YouTube film, "BNP terrorist Robert Cottage", which is a clip from a Sky News report about his bomb-making hoard, mentions his involvement with the BNP, for whom he stood as a local election candidate 3 times.

A third BNP former terrorist, former BNP Propaganda Officer and Group Development Officer Tony Lecomber, who was taking a nail bomb to the headquarters of a left wing group when it went off in his car, was discussed in an article in "Searchlight", which is Britain's leading anti-fascist magazine, "Sacked terrorist ran BNP election campaign" (September 2006), and in a YouTube film, "BNP nail-bomber Tony Lecomber", which is a clip from a BBC "Panorama" documentary, "Under the Skin", which was originally broadcast on November 25, 2000.

The "Searchlight" magazine, which all 3 of the big political parties have asked for advice on how to defeat BNP candidates in elections, have discussed a number of other BNP former terrorists in their articles. In their November 2005 article, "Right-wing terrorism still alive and plotting", you can read about David Tovey, a BNP member who was caught with military plastic explosive, and remote control devices to set it off, and in March 2007's "AWB terrorist finds home in the BNP", you can read about Lambertus Nieuwhof, a white South African former terrorist who has joined the BNP, and who has created a number of its websites - for example, the website of the BNP's Barking and Dagenham branch, and the website of its Solidarity trades union.

As a March 31, 2007 article in "The Guardian" ("BNP activist took part in terror campaign") revealed, Nieuwhof planted a 25 kg bomb in a South African multiracial school, which thankfully failed to explode.

If Nieuwhof was a non-white, South African Islamist former terrorist, rather than a white South African former terrorist, there would no doubt have been critical stories in various national newspapers about his presence in Britain, but so far, only "The Guardian", and "The Independent" ("Johann Hari: The looming threat of terror that comes from the far right", October 14, 2009) have written about him.

Johann Hari's article, which was reprinted in "The Belfast Telegraph" under a slightly different title ("Johann Hari: UK faces looming threat of terror from 'neo-Nazis' out to kill black people, Jews and gays"), perhaps because that city is much more concerned about white terrorists than the mainland UK is, for obvious reasons, discusses several British fascist former terrorists, including David Copeland and Tony Lecomber.

The YouTube video "Lambertus Nieuwhof and the Afrikaner Resistance Movement", is a short clip from "His Big White Self", a 2006 Nick Broomfield TV documentary about the Afrikaaner Resistance Movement white South African terrorist group, who, as the film explains, set off about 120 bombs in the 1992 to 1994 period, to try to stop the transition to black majority rule. Broomfield made another TV documentary about the same terrorist group in 1991, "The Leader, His Driver, and the Driver's Wife". Both of the documentaries have now been released on DVD.

On a "Searchlight" HOPE not hate webpage, "The real BNP: The terrorist links", you can read about yet another BNP related former terrorist, BNP supporter Allen Boyce, who was given a 2 year suspended jail sentence after he passed bomb making instructions to a BNP activist, Terry Collins.

As I will now explain, even Nick Griffin himself has past terrorist links, as he is linked to an Italian fascist former terrorist who was convicted in absentia for being a member of an Italian fascist terrorist group. As I will now explain as well, Griffin also once backed 2 regimes which funded terrorist groups, and was allegedly once a "close ally" of a pro-terrorism American fascist party leader.

The Italian fascist former terrorist who Griffin is linked to, is Roberto Fiore, who fled Italy and made his home in Britain after the August 2, 1980 Bologna train station bombing (which killed 85, and injured more than 200), because his fascist terrorist group, the Armed Revolutionary Nuclei, were responsible for what is known in Italy as "The Bologna massacre". See 3 online articles, "Italy:Terror on the Right" ("New York Review of Books", January 22, 1981, Volume 27, Numbers 21 and 22), "Roberto Fiore: from terrorist to entrepreneur...and back again" ("Searchlight", July 1998), and the "Searchlight" HOPE not hate website's "Nick Griffin, BNP leader" (December 2008) to learn more about Fiore, the Armed Revoloutionary Nuclei, and the Bologna massacre.

Most people would no doubt assume that Nick Griffin, who moralises about Islamist terrorism, would have had nothing to do with a former terrorist like Fiore when he fled to Britain, but of course if you did assume that, you would be wrong, because Griffin has in the past said one thing to the general public, and a different thing to his own people. Griffin tells the general public that the BNP is now a moderate mainstream political party, but in a YouTube film of a Griffin speech, which has been posted under the title "BNP MEP Nick Griffin + KKK Terrorist", Griffin tells an American far right audience that he is merely repackaging his unchanged far right ideas to make them more acceptable to the British general public.

It is thus not surprising that Fiore is the political mentor and friend of Griffin, as a "Searchlight" article, "Nick Griffin political extremist and veteran splitter" (February 2008) pointed out, and that Fiore has financially supported Griffin, as a second "Searchlight" article, "BNP deputy leader addresses international fascist rally" (April 5, 2009) explained. It is thus also not surprising that Griffin used to be Fiore's business partner, as a third "Searchlight" article, "No beer, no bands, no fun" (September 2009) revealed, that Griffin and Fiore once shared a flat together, as a February 29, 2008 article in "The Guardian" ("Language school run by Italian fascist leader") stated, and that Fiore spoke at the BNP's Red, White and Blue Festival in August 2009, as an August 16 story in "The Times", "Convicted Italian fascist Roberto Fiore addresses BNP followers in Derbyshire" noted. Nor is it surprising that in a YouTube video which has been posted under the title "Nick Griffin and Christianity (BNP)", you can hear Griffin praising Fiore as "charismatic" and "magnetic".

If you know about the dirty secrets of the Italian fascist scene which the "charismatic" and "magnetic" Fiore emerged from, then you will also know that those dirty secrets make it extremely hypocritical for the BNP to moralise about terrorism. The Bologna bombing was initially blamed on an accident or the communist Red Brigades terrorist group, but it soon became clear that the fascist Armed Revoloutionary Nuclei had carried out the bombing, which was presumably designed to weaken support for the large Italian Communist Party, as Bologna was one of its strongholds.

The Italian Parliament's 13 year Slaughter Commission, which was investigating the Bologna massacre, and a series of other murderous "communist" and "anarchist" bombings in Italy in the 1960's, 1970's, and 1980's (hence its 'Slaughter Commission' name), concluded that the American CIA, and the Italian elite Masonic lodge P2, which included senior figures in the Italian Parliament, armed forces, secret services, and police forces, were responsible for the bombings, which it is now known were carried out by fascists to create public support for a fascist military coup.

On page 110 of David Yallop's book, "In God's Name: An Investigation into the Murder of Pope John Paul I" (Constable and Robinson, London, 2007), which has sold over 6 million copies around the world, and which is about the theory that P2 poisoned and murdered Pope John Paul I, because he was about to throw Freemasons out of the Vatican, Yallop mentions the fact that Italian former fascist terrorist Elio Ciolini, who had allegedly been a follower of P2's fascist Grand Master, Licio Gelli, had alleged that the Bologna bombing was planned at a P2 meeting in Monte Carlo on April 11, 1980.

Bologna was a well known stronghold of the Communist Party, so why would a communist terrorist group bomb the second class passengers' waiting room at its Central Station? Communists have historically got most of their support from working class people, who were probably the majority of the people in the second class waiting room on the morning of August 2, 1980. It is equally unlikely that anarchists, who have historically got most of their support from peasant and working class people, should have perpetrated the bombings which they were initially accused of in Italy, as those terrorist atrocities killed or injured many working class people.

Italian judge Guido Salvini indicted US Navy officer David Carrett as a suspect in a December 12, 1969 "anarchist" bombing of Milan's Piazza Fontana (Fontana Square), which killed 16, and injured 90, and which an Italian former fascist terrorist, Vincenzo Vinciguerra, has said was the work of fascist terrorists, and, although it should be pointed out that Carrett has never even been tried, never mind convicted for carrying out that bombing, it should also be pointed out if Salvini was indicting a US Navy officer as a Piazza Fontana suspect, it is hardly likely that anarchists were responsible for the atrocity.

The Piazza Fontana bombing also led to another death, that of Giuseppe Pinelli, an entirely innocent Italian anarchist railway worker, who "fell" to his death from the fourth floor of a Milan police station while he was being interrogated about his non-existent role in the bombing. Pinelli's death inspired Dario Fo's famous 1970 play, "Accidental Death of an Anarchist", which was broadcast on Channel 4 in 1983, and which has been performed in various British theatres in London, Birmingham, and other places.

Fiore's friend, political pupil, and former financial benefactor and business partner Nick Griffin, was also once a fan of 2 regimes which fund, or did fund terrorism (Colonel Gadaffi's Libya, and Iran's Islamist theocracy). A BBC News webpage, "Nick Griffin: Right wing chameleon" (June 29, 2001), explains how Griffin went to Libya to ask Colonel Gadaffi for funds for the National Front, which Griffin was then a member of. That visit is also discussed in a YouTube video, "Nick Griffin supports Muslim Extremism", which is a clip from an already mentioned BBC "Panorama" documentary, "Under the Skin". The "Panorama" documentary clip includes a photograph of Griffin in Libya, whose regime paid for his trip to Tripoli, as a "Searchlight" anti-BNP webpage which also includes that photo explains.

That webpage also mentions the fact that the "political soldier" wing of the NF, which Griffin created, as an already mentioned "Searchlight" article, "Nick Griffin political extremist and veteran splitter" (February 2008) pointed out, had been paying visits to the "Libyan People's Bureau" (the Libyan Embassy) in London, and had been expressing support for Colonel Gadaffi's Libya, so it is not surprising that the Libyan regime arranged an all expenses paid trip to Tripoli for Griffin. Colonel Gadaffi's Libya used to fund a number of terrorist groups of course, including the IRA.

The just mentioned "Searchlight" Stop the BNP webpage, and the previously mentioned "Searchlight" article, also refer to Nick Griffin's past support for Iran's Islamist theocracy, which has long funded Islamist terrorism (for example, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad, and Hamas), so Griffin's past support for that regime is as hypocritical as his links to Fiore, and as his past links to Colonel Gadaffi's Libya.

Whether you believe the original theory that Ayatollah Khomeini's Iran paid Ahmed Jibril's Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine to carry out the Lockerbie bombing, to avenge the deaths of 290 Iranian pilgrims returning from Mecca, whose Iran Air Flight 655 airliner had been shot out of the sky by accident by the US Navy warship the USS Vincennes, or whether you believe the post 1991 Gulf War theory that Colonel Gadaffi's Libya was responsible (when Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in 1990, Iran was needed for the anti-Iraq coalition, so some writers, like the late Paul Foot of "Private Eye", have alleged that American and British intelligence agencies started to point the finger at Libya so Iran could become part of the anti-Iraq coalition), Nick Griffin backed the regime which was responsible for the worst terrorist atrocity in British history.

That atrocity killed all of the 243 passengers and 16 crew on board Pan Am Flight 103, as well as 11 people in the village of Lockerbie, because the plane's nearly full fuel tanks (and wings) fell on their homes and exploded.

9/11 created a "Who should we hate now?" moment for Europe's far-right, as a "Searchlight" article, "International far-right reactions to the terrorist attacks on the USA" (October 2001) showed, because some of Europe's far-right continued to primarily hate Jewish people, and what they saw as the USA's "Zionist Occupation Government", which led to them applauding the 9/11 attacks, while the rest of Europe's far-right, including Nick Griffin, switched to primarily hating Muslim people, which is why Griffin used the attacks as an excuse to begin hypocritically moralising about Islamist terrorism.

Griffin was also allegedly a "close ally" of a pro-terrorism American fascist party (National Alliance) leader, the late William Pierce, who openly advocated killing all of the world's non-white and Jewish people with nuclear weapons, and the use of terrorist violence to kill such people. See my September 13th Lancaster Unity article, "Do the BNP and EFP leadership still believe in the mass slaughter of billions?", to learn more about Pierce's pro-global genocide views, and about Griffin allegedly being a "close ally" of his.

Of course, other British fascist groups have terrorist links, which is why "The Guardian" of December 13, 2008 featured a story called "Racist who had bomb kit jailed for campaign against couple", which discussed Nathan Worrell, a British People's Party, Ku Klux Klan, and November 9 Society terrorist, and which is why another article in the same newspaper, "Neo-Nazi convicted of planning terrorist bombing campaign" (July 15, 2009), discussed Neil Lewington, who was found by police to have 2 home made bombs, and fascist (Ku Klux Klan and Combat 18) literature, as well a video about the ex-BNP nail bomber David Copeland. A YouTube video, "BNP + Nazi terrorist Nathan Worrell", includes film of the BNP stickers which were found at Worrell's home. Another YouTube video, "Nazi terrorist Neil Lewington", is a BBC News clip about that fascist would-be bomber.

A third non-BNP fascist terrorist, Martyn Gilleard, was the subject of a BBC News online article, "Man jailed over nail bombs plot" (June 25, 2008). Police found 4 home-made nail bombs at his home, as well as bullets, swords, and axes (and 39,000 child pornography images). A second BBC News online article, "Neo-Nazi had child abuse images" (June 25, 2008), states that: "At the time of his arrest he [Gilleard] was a paid-up member of the National Front, the White Nationalist Party, and the British People's Party...".

Andrew Wells and Ian Hindle

Gilleard's British People's Party membership is also mentioned in a YouTube film, "BNP and NF Pedos Martyn Gilleard, Roderick Rowley, Ian Hindle + Andrew Wells", which is a clip from a Channel 4 News report. The report only discusses Gilleard, but the "more info" information on the right hand side of the page when the video is playing, mentions former BNP election candidate Roderick Rowley's child pornography conviction, and the child sexual abuse convictions of BNP members Ian Hindle and Andrew Wells, which were exposed after the BNP's membership list was posted online in 2008.

Despite the existence of non-BNP British fascist former terrorists, the BNP are the largest British fascist party, so it is no surprise that they seem to attract the most terrorists, and it is also no surprise that even the non-BNP terrorists Nathan Worrell and Neil Lewington had BNP stickers, or a video about an ex-BNP former terrorist at their homes.

The BNP may even attract more terrorists than other countries' fascist parties, because "Searchlight" has foreign readers who write articles for them about fascism in other countries, but that magazine has primarily featured BNP-linked terrorists in its articles, which have included: "Belgium: Arrested nazi terrorists included soldiers" (October 2006); "Italy - An endless cycle of terror" (May 2002); "Portrait of a bomber" (February 2001), which was about a terrorist bombing that was carried out by a member of the New Force party (whose leader is a certain Roberto Fiore, who, in 1999, was allowed to return to Italy, where he became a fascist MEP); and "Unmasking the Anti Anti-Fa" (May 2000), which mentions German fascist terrorism.

See Martin Lee's book, "The Beast Reawakens: The Chilling Story of the Rise of the Neo-Nazi Movement" (Warner Books, London, 1998), to learn more about modern fascist terrorism in Italy, Germany, and Belgium.

Perhaps not even an American fascist party has attracted as many terrorists as the BNP, despite that country's size. See my already mentioned September 13th Lancaster Unity article, "Do the BNP and EFP leadership still believe in the mass slaughter of billions?", to read about various American fascist terrorists, who, like the ex-BNP London nail bomber David Copeland, were inspired by the genocidal ideas of the late National Alliance leader William Pierce.

A YouTube video, "BNP + Nazi Terrorism", which is a clip from a BBC documentary, "Panorama Special - The Nailbomber", which was originally broadcast on June 30, 2000, discusses David Copeland's [pictured left] involvement with the BNP, and his admission that his bombings were inspired by "The Turner Diaries", which the documentary said was "sold through BNP magazines". So much for the supposedly mainstream BNP. Do the big 3 parties, UKIP, or the Greens sell novels through their party magazines in which billions of people are exterminated with nuclear weapons?

In reality, like other totalitarian organisations, the BNP is a haven for psychopaths and other dangerous individuals, and has nothing to do with mainstream politics.

Another BNP type fascist group which is a haven for psychopaths and other dangerous individuals, the even more extreme National Socialist Movement, has a tiny past and present membership which includes 3 men who are serving life sentences for murders, London nail bomber David Copeland, Charlie Sargent, and Martin Cross, so it is no surprise that the BNP has had to ban convicted criminals from standing in elections, because anti-fascists had been able to use their leaflets to point to the numerous BNP candidates with convictions for terrorist offences, racist violence, gang rape, child sexual abuse, football hooliganism, and other violent crimes.

The NSM were profiled in an already-mentioned BBC documentary, "Panorama Special: The Nailbomber". They are not to be confused with a different National Socialist Movement of the past, whose members included a certain Andrew Brons, who is now the BNP MEP for Yorkshire and Humberside. While the previous NSM did not spawn any terrorists, it did spawn some arsonists, as a "Searchlight" HOPE not hate webpage, "The real BNP: Andrew Brons" explains. It states: "NSM members were responsible for an arson campaign against Jewish property and synagogues in the 1960's."

"Brons appears to have approved. In a [garbled] letter to [hardline fascist Colin] Jordan's wife, Brons reported meeting an NSM member who "mentioned such activities as bombing synagogues." He declared: "On this subject I have a dual view, in that I realise that he is well intentioned, I feel that our public image may suffer considerable damage as a result of these activities. I am however open to correction on this point.""

Like BNP founder John Tyndall, Colin Jordan was a disciple of the pre-World War Two Imperial Fascist League leader Arnold Leese, who advocated gassing Jews before the Nazis (in 1936).

Because British fascists are at least partly responsible for far more racist violence than fascists in any other Western European country, as an official European Union report which you can download here shows (in England and Wales, there are several times more racist crimes each year than in Germany, which has a roughly 30% bigger population than England and Wales), it is hardly surprising that the BNP appear to attract more terrorists than any other fascist party on the planet. As an April 22, 2009 EU Business article which you can read here explains, a survey has revealed that the true level of racist violence in the EU, is far higher than the level in official government statistics, which makes it even less surprising that the BNP attracts so many terrorists.

The looming threat of terror that comes from the far right

The threat comes not from jihadis but 'neo-Nazis' out to kill black people, Jews and gays

Britain is facing the real risk today of a bombing campaign that targets random civilians for death - but it is being virtually ignored. When its supporters step closer every day to mass murder, nobody notices. When its perpetrators are caught, there is (at best) a little flick of information in News in Brief, before everyone goes back to talking about the Strictly Come Dancing race row. This silence suggests something dark about us - and requires us to change our behaviour, fast.

The campaign I am talking about is not being planned by jihadis or fringe Irish nationalists but by white "neo-Nazis" who want to murder Asians, black people, Jews and gays in the bizarre belief it will trigger a "race war".

They have struck before. Exactly a decade ago, a 22-year-old member of the British National Party called David Copeland planted bombs in Brixton, Brick Lane (where I live), and a gay pub in Old Compton Street. He managed to lodge a nail deep in a baby's skull, and to murder a pregnant woman, her gay best friend, and his partner. He bragged: "My aim was political. It was to cause a racial war in this country. There'd be a backlash from the ethnic minorities, then all the white people would go out and vote BNP."

The police are warning ever-more urgently that similar attacks seem to be coming today. The West Yorkshire Police recently launched a huge series of raids against far-right groups and found them in possession of 80 bombs - considerably more even than any jihadi group has been caught with in British history.

Last year, a 43-year-old man called Neil Lewington was arrested "on the cusp" of waging a "terror campaign", it emerged at his trial. He had built a bomb factory in his parents' house which he planned to use to launch attacks against people he considered to be "non-British". He was only caught by chance: he picked a panicked fight with a train conductor, and the police who turned up found he was laden with explosives.

The list of far right-wingers who have been busted for planning violence has spiked up in the past few years. In the home of a BNP election candidate called Robert Cottage in 2008, the police discovered "the largest amount of chemical explosives ever found in this country", they said.

The same year, a thug called Martyn Gilleard was caught with a huge stash of nail bombs, and rage-filled letters in which he declared: "I am so sick of hearing nationalists talk of killing Muslims, of blowing up mosques, of fighting back, only to see these acts of resistance fail to appear. The time has come to stop the talk and start to act." He was only caught by fluke: the police busted him for distributing child porn.

It's not hard to get in on this act. There are dozens of far-right websites that explain - with handy video links - how to make bombs, and then urge you to head to the nearest mosque, synagogue or gay club.

But as the New Statesman's Mehdi Hassan has pointed out, as far as public debate goes, it's as if these crimes never happened. While planned attacks by jihadis (rightly) dominate the news agenda for days, these remarkably similar plans pass unmentioned and unnoticed.

This disjunction exposes a rash of hypocrisy. The parts of the right that gleefully blame all Muslims for the actions of a tiny minority are mysteriously reluctant to apply the same arguments to themselves. If Martin Amis was consistent, he should now declare: "The white community will have to suffer until it gets its house in order. What sort of suffering? Not letting them travel. Deportation. Strip-searching people who look like they're from Hampshire or from Surrey ... Discriminatory stuff, until it hurts the whole community and they start getting tough with their children."

But of course he won't. It shows the bigotry at the core of these make-all-Muslims-pay arguments: they see brown-skinned people as a homogenous mass who can be collectively punished, while they see white people as discrete units who should only be punished individually.

But these white bomb-makers also blast holes in the arguments put by some small parts of the left, who claim "terrorism" is only a response to "legitimate grievances". We can see that somebody like David Copeland simply had an insane hatred of black, Asian and gay people. It's a form of soft racism to fail to see that the same lunacy can happen to non-white people. The vile Islamist gang who wanted to blow up the Ministry of Sound really did say the women there were "slags" who deserved to die for wearing miniskirts. Sometimes (but not always), the grievances that drive violence are simply deranged and have to be resisted.

While the threat of far-right violence is rising, the BNP leader, Nick Griffin, is going to appear on Question Time next week. It would be easy, and emotionally satisfying, for me to join the many well-intentioned protesters who are saying he shouldn't be there, but I can't do it. There are two reasons - one moral, and one pragmatic.

Freedom of speech includes the freedom to say abhorrent and repulsive things, or it isn't worth having. Why is our Britain vastly morally superior to the fantasy island that the BNP dream of building? Because we do not silence them - even though they would silence so many of us.

Then there's the pragmatic reason. The BNP is doing increasingly well in elections because there is a huge gap between the reality of the BNP and how their voters see them. I see this on the run-down estates where many of my relatives live: most of the BNP's voters believe they are a patriotic party who will peacefully defend the rights of the white working class, just as other organisations peacefully defend the rights of other ethnic groups.

When they find out the BNP leaders have in fact praised Britain's greatest enemy, Adolf Hitler, derided the Holocaust as "the Holohoax", had violent maniacs in their senior ranks, and want to deport many of our national heroes like Ashley Cole and Trevor McDonald, they are disgusted, and withdraw their support. There is only a very, very small constituency in Britain for Holocaust denial, mass "repatriations", and the mongering of "race wars".

So how do we close this perception gap? Shutting the BNP out of debate hasn't worked. They have been shut out and they have grown. In the darkness, the fungus can spread. The greatest disinfectant is sunlight, shone straight into Griffin's face. The only people who should fear free speech are the BNP, because when the British people hear what they have to say, and their lack of answers to basic factual questions, they are repelled.

One of the areas where everyone should see Griffin being challenged is over this question of far-right violence. He claims he is "strongly" opposed to these freelance attacks - yet he has kept violent attackers in his senior team.

His chief lieutenant for years was a man called Tony Lecomber, who was jailed for three years in the 1980s for plotting to blow up the offices of a left-wing political party. After he was released, he and a gang then beat a Jewish teacher unconscious. When he was freed after another three years inside, he was swiftly promoted through the BNP ranks. He was only ditched after he approached a Liverpool hitman to discuss how they could "take out" a cabinet minister.

One of the leading figures in the BNP's online operation, Lambertus Nieuwhof, tried to blow up a mixed-race school in South Africa in 1992. The BNP is happy to have him nonetheless. Nieuwhof says: "Everybody should be allowed to make a mistake."

The BNP is not directly organising violence, but it has tolerated violent madmen in its midst, and its arguments have encouraged violence. Griffin has demanded "rights for whites with well-directed boots and fists". He reacted to the Soho nail-bomb by one of his own party's members by attacking the victims, saying they were "flaunting their perversion in front of the world's journalists, [and had] showed just why so many ordinary people find these creatures disgusting".

Let Griffin speak his filth to the nation, and sweat under David Dimbleby's forensic questioning. He will only discredit himself.

But the country also needs to start acknowledging the danger of bombs thrown from the far right. David Copeland came from within the ranks of the BNP; so might the next one. The police need to monitor neo-Nazis as closely as jihadis, and the Government projects to prevent violent extremism should be working with white kids as well as Muslim children. We need to prepare ourselves now: the next person to bomb Britain might not look like Mohammed Sidiq Khan - he might look like me.

Independent

Is the BNP a "normal" political party?

I worry about the BBC's attitude towards the far-right

Yesterday I took part in a Radio 4 discussion about the BBC's coverage of the BNP with the corporation's chief adviser on politics, Ric Bailey. You can listen to it here.

Bailey seemed to me to be a decent and intelligent man performing a delicate and difficult balancing act in a high-pressure job. But I was alarmed to hear him repeat, again and again, in response to my question ("Does the BBC consider the BNP to be a normal party?"), that the BNP is a "legal, elected party".

So? Hitler was elected.

It's my contention that the BBC, and various other media organisations, are contributing to the "normalisation" of the BNP through soft, context-free, fact-free interviews and through the corporate and ediotiral repetition of this nauseating mantra: "The BBC is a legal, elected party".

But it's not a NORMAL party, is it?

I mean, which other political party has racist, neo-fascist and neo-Nazi roots? Which other political party can be legitimately described as a "Nazi" party, as the Standard Boards of England ruled in 2005 - it is, the Board said, "within the normal and acceptable limits of political debate"? Which other political party has a leader who is a convicted criminal and a Holocaust denier? Which other political party includes local organizers who have convictions for gang rape or racist assaults? Which other political party has, among its former members, a terrorist and convicted murder and a man convicted under the Explosives Act? Which other political party has, as its MEP, a man who began his political career in England's National Socialist party? Which other political party believes that Islam is a "cancer" and that Jews run the media?

Does it really breach the BBC's impartiality guidelines to simply point this out to the viewers, listeners and readers of the corporation's output? Or do we instead have to be treated to a fawning interview with a man, Mark Collett of the BNP, who has said, "Hitler will live forever, and maybe I will."

Thankfully, as a colleague has pointed out to me, the BNP's electoral triumphs remain limited - check out this result at a recent council by-election in Hertfordshire.

New Statesman

Bond of hate: The BNP and the British Freedom Fighters

What’s on under the suit? Two faces of Shaun Grimsley.

(Skrewdriver was a leading Nazi bonehead band.)

The BNP has shunned the old image of the “boots and braces” skinhead, instead favouring cheap suits, old school shoes and tacky gold jewellery. Simon Cressy proves that the neo-nazi bootboys in the BNP haven’t gone away.

When John Tyndall formed the British National Party in 1982 it inherited a large number of skinhead followers from both the National Front and the British Movement. Tyndall was quite happy with this as he saw the skinheads as the natural foot soldiers of his racist ideology.

After Nick Griffin took over the party leadership in 1999 the attitude towards skinheads cooled. Griffin realised that skinheads did not equate to votes (or membership fees) and publicly shunned them.

However the reality is somewhat different. Last month Searchlight revealed that Eliots Bistro, the Nuneaton pub run by the BNP’s new West Midlands organiser, Alwyn Deacon, hosted a nazi shindig.

Embarrassingly for the BNP, which holds meetings in the pub, and for Deacon, photographs were taken of the drunken event which show skinhead members of the nazi British Freedom Fighters (BFF) along with members of the violent Racial Volunteer Force giving Nazi salutes outside the premises. The incident caused some anger among BNP organisers in the West Midlands and at least one, Chris Turner of Coventry, resigned his position because of it.

But the links between the BFF and the BNP do not stop there. Also pictured with the BFF at Eliots Bistro is Shaun Grimsley, who claims to be the West Midlands commander of the BFF.

Grimsley is the BNP candidate for a Cannock Chase District Council by-election in Heath Hayes East and Wimblebury ward on 15 October 2009. He also admits to being a member of the NF and associated with Blood and Honour, the nazi skinhead organisation.

He says he attended the English Defence League protest in Birmingham on 8 August, which ended in violence, and intends to be present if the EDL marches in Manchester as planned in October.

Grimsley is an unabashed National Socialist. One statement on his Facebook site reads “Hail The British Freedom Fighters, I am a Nazi HAHAHAHAHAHA 88 red scum”. The number 88 is code for HH – Heil Hitler”. Commenting about Rudolf Hess, Hitler’s deputy, Grimsley wrote: “The man I most admire ever”.

When one of his friends made a lengthy posting about the London nail bomber David Copeland, who killed three innocent people including a pregnant woman and injured 129 others, Grimsley left the chilling note “Hero 88”.

Another BFF nazi from the photographs taken outside Eliots Bistro was part of a contingent of Liverpool BNP activists who handed out leaflets outside the TUC Congress in Liverpool last month.

He is believed to be close to Liam Pinkham from Wirral, yet another BFF activist who visited Deacon’s pub. Pinkham was arrested with three others at the BNP’s European election victory rally in Blackpool in June and was charged with racially aggravated intentional harassment.

Pinkham also pleaded guilty to intentionally causing harassment to bookshop staff in July after he took part in a BNP rally in Liverpool city centre. Staff said he burst into the News From Nowhere bookshop and threatened to burn it down.

Griffin claims he does not want nazis in the BNP. We await news of the expulsion of these BFF activists.

Hope Not Hate

Do the BNP act as “conveyor belt” to violent extremism?

See Nick Griffin defend neo-Nazi terrorists

Does rising electoral support for racist parties like the BNP lead to more racial violence?

The conviction [last] week of Neil Lewington, a neo-Nazi who planned a terror campaign in Britain, certainly raises that question.

Lewington is one of the nastiest (if crack-pot) potential neo-Nazi terrorists in recent history. In his summing up, the Judge said Lewington’s terrorist actions were “designed to intimidate non-white people … for the purpose of pursuing the ideological cause of white supremacy and neo-fascism, albeit in a rather unsophisticated way.” In Lewington’s bedroom police found a nail bomb factory and a notebook entitled “Waffen SS UK Members’ Handbook”.

During the trial the court heard about one of Lewington’s inspirations, David Copeland, the Soho nail bomber and former member of the BNP. (Another was Timothy McVeigh, the Oklahoma bomber).

Despite there being no evidence of Lewington’s involvement with the BNP (he appears to have been a lone wolf), his attempt to emulate the likes of Copeland raises the question: does the electoral success of the BNP lead to violent extremism?

The BNP is legitimate political party operating within the law. For that we should be thankful.

It does, however, hold many white supremacist and neo-fascist views which have direct lineage to Oswald Mosley, the German Nazi Party, the American KKK, Roberto Fiore and modern East European extremists like Jobbik. This is particularly true of leadership figures like Nick Griffin MEP, Andrew Brons MEP, Lee Barnes (Legal Director) and Mark Collett (Head of Publicity).

Whilst all parties have their rotten eggs, the BNP has more than its fair share of violent racists. Some like Robert Cottage (who stood as a BNP candidate three times) and Tony Lecomber were BNP activists. Others like Copeland and Mark Bullman (who used a BNP leaflet to light his firebomb) were on the fringe. (More details here).

Certainly the pool of candidates is likely to grow. The election and consequent media promotion of Nick Griffin and Andrew Brons gives a certain level of legitimacy to the BNP and its ideals. This means disaffected people trying to find answers to their worries are more likely to turn to the politics of racism, segregation and intolerance and follow the examples set by the BNP’s high profile leaders and violent members.

And the temperature is likely to increase, particularly if politicians refuse to debate the issues that leave some of the population feeling angry, frustrated and dispossessed. Those issues include immigration, Britishness and joblessness.

Experts on Irish Republicanism and Islamism call this the “conveyor belt” to violence. It is too early for any clear evidence either way. But we fear that the election of a small number of weird, nutty and inadequate politicians legitimises the politics of racism and that, in turn, introduces an element of violence and intimidation to British society that changes the way we do politics forever.

Nothing British

Do the BNP and EFP leadership still believe in the mass slaughter of billions?

This article was submitted by one of our readers, Roddy Newman. We welcome any contributions from our supporters (as long as those contributions conform to the law and are in reasonably good taste). Please send your articles to us via email.

In November 1995, the guest speaker at the BNP's annual rally in London, was the most extreme fascist party leader that the world has ever produced since Hitler, the late William Pierce (1933-2002), who led the National Alliance splinter group from the American Nazi Party. In Pierce's 1978 novel, "The Turner Diaries", which he wrote under the pseudonym Andrew MacDonald, fascists use nuclear weapons, terrorist bombings, and other methods to wipe out all of the world's Jews and non-white people, or, in other words, billions of people. The novel can be read online though if you want to read it, you'll have to find it yourself because we're not linking to it.

Not surprisingly, when the then Home Secretary, Michael Howard, found out about Pierce's 1995 visit to London, he banned him from visiting the UK for life. See an obituary of Pierce here, which was written by the late John Tyndall (1934-2005), the BNP leader who invited him to London, to read about Howard's lifetime ban.

Pierce also wanted to kill many white people. In his July 26, 2002 obituary in "The Independent" newspaper, you can read:

When writing The Turner Diaries, he recounted in a radio broadcast in 1997,

"I wanted to take all of the feminist agitators and propagandists and all of the race-mixing fanatics and all of the mass media bosses and all of the bureaucrats and politicians who were collaborating with them, and I wanted to put them up against a wall, in batches of a thousand or so at a time, and machine-gun them."

Pierce's novel, which is very well known in international far right circles, has sold nearly 500,000 copies, which is why the FBI has described it as "the bible of the racist right" (see an April 3, 2000 article on the website of "The Guardian", "Gospels of hate that slip through the net", to see how many copies the novel has sold, and the FBI quote), and which is why a prominent American Jewish anti-fascist group, the Anti-Defamation League, has described the novel as,

"One of the most widely read and cited books on the far-right".

So, is it conceivable that John Tyndall did not know about Pierce's pro-murdering billions of people views when he asked him to be the guest speaker at the BNP's November 1995 annual rally, seventeen years after Pierce's novel had been published, and did Tyndall also secretly wish that he could kill billions of Jews and non-white people?

Pierce's National Alliance does not stand in elections like the BNP, so Pierce did not have to worry about his insane ideas putting voters off his party, but the BNP does stand in elections, which may explain why Tyndall never openly said that he shared Pierce's views.

The British anti-fascist magazine "Searchlight" has said of the popularity of "The Turner Diaries" in Tyndall era BNP circles:

"The growing influence of US nazi ideas was illustrated in November 1995 when William Pierce, leader of the National Alliance, addressed the BNP annual rally. Pierce was also the author of The Turner Diaries, a fictional account of a race war which, it has been claimed, inspired Timothy McVeigh to carry out the Oklahoma bombing. By the mid-1990s The Turner Diaries was better known on the British right than Mein Kampf."

(Searchlight feature, "A century of British fascism", "1990 to 1999: Ballot box to bomb - fighting on all fronts").

In the earler mentioned "Independent" obituary of Pierce, you can read:

"His influence on Britain was incendiary: after reading another novel of his called Hunter [in which the hero travels around killing various types of people who fascists do not like, for example, interracial couples, journalists, and politicians]...[Tyndall era] British National Party members began a sticker campaign against "mongrelisation", and attacked a mixed-race couple in a London pub."

"Hunter" was dedicated to an American racist serial killer, Joseph Paul Franklin, a former American Nazi Party and Ku Klux Klan member who has been accused of 20 racist murders. Franklin also confessed to shooting the American pornographer Larry Flynt, plotted to assassinate the African American politician Jesse Jackson, and threatened to assassinate US President Jimmy Carter because of his pro-black civil rights views.

Nick Griffin, who was famously convicted for inciting racial hatred after he denied the Holocaust in a 1998 article for the BNP magazine "The Rune", claims that the BNP has become a respectable democratic political party since he took over its leadership from its hardline pro-Nazi founder, John "Mein Kampf is my bible" Tyndall, who led the BNP from when he founded it in 1982 until 1999, but I will show in a moment that respectable Holocaust-denier Nick Griffin's claim may be as incorrect as his view of the Holocaust.

See the Conservative Party blog webpage here to see a picture of Tyndall in a Nazi uniform, and to see the "Mein Kampf is my bible" quote.

Tyndall stayed at Pierce's home in 1979 when he was in the US, and put Pierce up at his home when he visited Britain in 1995, as Tyndall admitted in his 2002 Pierce obituary, "A Great Man Passes On", so personally I really do not have much doubt that Tyndall secretly shared William "Great Man" Pierce's wish to kill billions of people.

If Holocaust denier Nick Griffin's claim that the BNP has become respectable since the Tyndall era is correct, he must have at least distanced himself from Pierce, because of his murderous views, but a "Searchlight" webpage has alleged that Griffin was close to Pierce: "Dr. William Pierce, who before his recent death was one of the world's foremost neo-Nazis and [allegedly] a close ally of Nick Griffin."

That webpage, which is here, also states that Griffin's pamphlet, "Who Are the Mindbenders?", which listed Jews in the British media, was inspired by a Pierce article and pamphlet about Jews in the American media, "Who Runs America?"

A Northamptonshire Racial Equality online article, also alleges that Griffin based his pamphlet on Pierce's article and pamphlet: "Mindbenders is [allegedly] based on Who Rules America?, a similar pamphlet written by Dr. William Pierce, one of the world's foremost neo-Nazis and a self-confessed ally of Nick Griffin."

The same article also said: "The BNP has a long relationship with William Pierce...In August 1999, Pierce addressed an American Friends of the BNP meeting in Arlington, Virginia...Pierce's articles regularly appeared in Spearhead when it was the official BNP magazine, and in 1995 he addressed a BNP rally in London."

So, does Nick Griffin secretly wish that he could also kill billions? He became the BNP leader in September 1999, the month after Pierce spoke to the AFBNP meeting, but he was allegedly a "close ally" of Pierce, and allegedly based his pamphlet on an article and pamphlet which was written by Pierce.

Does Nick Griffin also have the same kind of kill mass media owners fantasies that Pierce had, because on August 11, 1996, Griffin was quoted in the "Wales on Sunday" newspaper as having said: "The politicians, those in charge of the mass media, police chiefs and others responsible for creating this multi-racial hell hole must face trial and pay the ultimate penalty."? That quote is also in the just cited Nothamptonshire Racial Equality Council online article noted above.

What about Mark Cotterill, the founder, and original leader of the England First Party splinter group from the BNP, who was an EFP councillor in Blackburn from 2006 to 2007, and an EFP candidate for Preston City Council in 2009? He went to see William Pierce, and said that he spent three of the most enjoyable and interesting days of his life talking to him, so does Cotterill secretly wish that he too could kill billions of people?

In "Hands Across the Water", an article about the American Friends of the BNP group which was published in the Fall 2001 issue of "Intelligence Report", the quarterly magazine of the American civil rights law firm the Southern Poverty Law Center, you can read:

"His [Cotterill's] networking in the United States began in 1993, when he visited neo-Nazi William Pierce at his National Alliance headquarters in West Virginia.

"'I managed to talk to Dr. Pierce in depth", he wrote later. 'I had three of the most interesting and enjoyable days of my life there, and I hope to make a return visit in the near future.'

"In 1995, Cotterill moved to the United States. He was the U.S. distributor of the British far right publication Right Now! and corresponded with future BNP leader Nick Griffin."

Go here to read the full article about the AFBNP, which was founded by Cotterill. As the article points out, Pierce's "The Turner Diaries" was sold at AFBNP meetings.

According to an Anti-Defamation League webpage in 1999, Pierce gave a speech in Thessaloniki, Greece to members of far right parties from Greece, Portugal, Romania, Belgium, Denmark, Holland, Germany, Austria, and South Africa, and given how well known "The Turner Diaries" is in far right circles, is it conceivable that the leaders of those parties also did not know about Pierce advocating multiple genocides, 21 years after his "bible of the racist right" novel had been published? Do the leaders of those far right parties secretly wish that they too could kill billions of people?

Pierce's novel is not simply a far right fantasy which will never inspire violence, because it is no secret that a number of fascist terrorists were inspired by it (Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh, London nail bomber David Copeland, and three American terrorist groups, the Order, the New Order, and the Aryan Republican Army). See the already cited "Guardian" and "Independent" articles, a webpage of the already mentioned and highly respected American civil rights law firm, the Southern Poverty Law Center, and especially the already cited Anti-Defamation League webpage, to read about "The Turner Diaries" inspiring those terrorists.

The SPLC is highly respected because of its tolerance education, because of its informative quarterly magazine about hate groups, "Intelligence Report", which is widely read in American law enforcement circles, and because its compensation for racist violence lawsuits have bankrupted a number of American fascist organisations and leaders in recent decades.

For example, after the White Aryan Resistance skinhead gang killed an Ethiopian student, an SPLC lawsuit against the group and its leader, forced it to pay over $12 million compensation to the student's son, which led to the seizure of all of the assets of the group and its leader.

Another SPLC lawsuit bankrupted the Aryan Nations group by forcing it to pay over $6 milion to a woman and her son who AN members had shot at and beaten up. AN was forced to sell its famous compound to pay the compensation award.

It would be a good idea if European lawyers began using SPLC type lawsuits to bankrupt the BNP, Nick Griffin, and other European fascist organisations and leaders. No doubt the SPLC would be happy to tell European lawyers how to sue fascist groups and leaders, who could also be sued after homophobic violence, or after other types of violence. This SPLC webpage which discusses some of their lawsuits might be helpful.

It is also no secret that "The Turner Diaries" inspired the most notorious American racist murderers of modern times, John William King, Shawn Allen Berry, and Lawrence Russell Brewer, who battered a black man, James Byrd, Jr., and then shackled him to a truck and drove off. When he was shackling Byrd to the truck, King allegedly said: "We're starting "The Turner Diaries" early." See the ADL webpage to read more about Byrd's murder.

David Copeland said that he planted his three nail bombs in London to spark off a race war which would make white Britons vote BNP, and more "Turner Diaries" inspired fascist terrorism could be round the corner, because if you go to the website of the "Searchlight" magazine, and put the word "terrorism" into its search engine, you will find articles which discuss a number of British would-be terrorists who were members of the BNP, or other British far right groups.

See a HOPE not hate anti-fascist group webpage at to read more about former BNP member David Copeland and his attempt to create a race war to make white Britons vote BNP. The HOPE not hate page has a link to a BBC News profile of Copeland which discusses his BNP membership, and his involvement with them.

Police fear far-right terror attack

Scotland Yard's counter-terrorism command fears the extreme right will stage a deadly terrorist attack in Britain to try to stoke racial tensions, the Guardian has learned.

Senior officers fear the attack will be a "spectacular" that is designed to kill people. The counter-terrorism unit has moved officers to beef up its monitoring of the extreme right's potential to stage attacks.

Commander Shaun Sawyer told a meeting of British Muslims concerned about the danger posed to their communities that police were responding to the growing threat.

Sawyer said of the far right: "I fear that they will have a spectacular ... They will carry out an attack that will lead to a loss of life or injury to a community somewhere. They're not choosy about which community."

He said the aim of any attack would be to cause a "breakdown in community cohesion".

Sawyer revealed that the Met commissioner, Sir Paul Stephenson, had asked the counter-terrorism command, SO15, to examine what the economic downturn would mean for far-right violence. The assessment concluded that it would increase the possibility.

Sawyer told the meeting last Wednesday that more of his officers needed to be deployed to try to thwart neo-Nazi-inspired violence. He said the terrorist threat posed by al-Qaida remained the unit's priority, but said of its far-right section: "It is a small desk ... we need to grow that unit."

Sources have told the Guardian that while they believe the neo-Nazi terrorist threat has grown, they have no specific intelligence of an attack.

"There is an increased possibility of violence from the far right. There is a trend," said one senior source, adding that the ideology of the violent right was driven by "people who don't like immigration, people who don't like Islam. We're seeing a resurgence of anti-semitism as well."

Similar warnings about the terror threat of the far right have been issued in America recently. In April, an internal report drawn up by the US department of homeland security warned of a possible rise in violent rightwing extremist groups fuelled by the recession and hostility over the election of the first black president. The report said threats from white supremacist and violent anti-government groups had been largely rhetorical so far, but a prolonged economic downturn could create a fertile recruiting environment for rightwing extremists.

It is a decade since an extreme rightwing terrorist used bombs to claim lives in Britain. In 1999, David Copeland bombed three targets in London in a fortnight. His strike against a gay pub in Soho, London, killed three people and left scores injured. It followed attacks against the Muslim community in Brick Lane, east London, and the bombing of a market in Brixton, south London.

The senior source said since Copeland's bombing campaign, community tensions had worsened between British Muslims and other groups. "When Copeland attacked we did not have the religious tensions with the Muslim community. What kind of schism would a Copeland-type event cause now?"

British Muslims have been a particular target of neo-Nazi propaganda, and groups representing them say they have felt increasingly vulnerable after the al-Qaida attacks on London in July 2005.

The threat the far right poses to Britain's Jewish communities is monitored by the Community Security Trust, which says attempted terrorist violence by neo-Nazis in Britain has increased in the past few years. The CST says nine white men have been "convicted of offences involving explosives, terrorist plots, violent campaigns or threats to carry them out". One of them, Martyn Gilleard, was convicted last year of three terrorism offences and jailed for 16 years. The self-confessed fan of Nazi Germany had kept nail bombs under a bed at his home in Goole, east Yorkshire.

David Rich, of the CST, said: "The violent fringes of the far right have shown a desire and intention to carry out terrorist violence against minorities in the UK. The last five years has seen an increase in terrorist cases involving the far right, more than before David Copeland."

Most of those convicted are believed not to have been part of a group. Opinion among those tracking the violent far right differs. Some believe neo-Nazi terrorists are acting outside networks, making it harder for them to be caught and investigated.

Rich said: "There's no one directing people, it's a mindset" – a reference to the easy availability of extremist rightwing material and information about making homemade bombs.

The veteran anti-fascist campaigner Gerry Gable, of the group Searchlight, praised police efforts to tackle neo-Nazi terrorism but warned the threat remained: "They believe that violence begets violence. They hope it will cause a backlash."

The Guardian

Remembering the Admiral Duncan bombing

The scene outside the Admiral Duncan minutes after the bomb went off

Today marks the tenth anniversary of the Admiral Duncan nail bomb attack on April 30th 1999 in Soho.

It was one of three nail bomb attacks and killed three people, while 80 were injured. While the incidents in Brixton and Brick Lane were targeted directly towards ethnic minorities, the Admiral Duncan bombing was a vicious attack intended to kill gay people. The bomb detonated in the busy pub at 6.37pm. The location was an obvious choice for bomber David Copeland due to its location in Old Compton Street, at the heart of London's gay community. Allegedly, it was the first gay pub chosen from an alphabetical list.

One witness described the scene as "absolute carnage", with several people blown out of the pub into the street. What made the situation even more frightening, was that no warning was given and many were anxious that another explosion was set to go off, causing panic in the streets. Many injured were treated on the roadside, while others fled the area.

At the time, many gay people had seen the area of Old Compton Street as a safe haven where they could socialise without fear of homophobic attacks. The explosion inevitably changed all this and highlighted the prejudice inherent in society that many had forgotten existed. Peter Tatchell summed this view up after the attack, saying: "This outrage has destroyed that cosy assumption."

Deputy Assistant Commissioner, Alan Fry, head of the Metropolitan Police's anti-terrorist branch, said that when officers arrived at the scene they were confronted by utter devastation. He said: "It was an horrendous scene. It was a complete wreck."

The device exploded at the start of a bank holiday weekend so the Old Compton Street area had been heaving with people. It was a pre-mediated attack in which the aim was to hurt and kill as many gay people as possible.

Copeland, a former BNP member and neo-Nazi, was so fuelled by hate that he did not consider integration in any of his attacks. In this, where he thought he would be attacking specific groups because the areas he targeted were known to be either gay areas, or ethnic areas, he faltered. In all three attacks, he injured whites and straight people.

One of these was Andrea Dykes, 27, who was four months pregnant. She was was instantly killed while enjoying pre-theatre drinks at the Admiral Pub and her husband was one of those seriously injured. Their friend, Nik Moorem, 31, was also killed and the best man at their wedding, John Light, 32, later died in hospital.

There is now a memorial and a plaque in the pub to commemorate those injured and killed in the blast.

The explosions were set off by David Copeland, then 22, whose objective was to wage a war against ethnic minorities and gay people in Britain. He was arrested at his flat in Sunnybank Road, Farnborough, where police found Nazi flags and a poster of Adolf Hitler in the middle of a collage of photos of bomb victims. He is currently serving six life sentences in Broadmoor Hospital at Crowthorne.

In March 2007, the High Court ruled Copeland could not be released before 2049, when he will be 73. The initial sentence ordered him to spend at least 30 years behind bars but this was extended due to what the High Court judge described as the case’s “exceptional gravity”.

One year on from the tragedy, in 2000, a memorial service was held at St Anne's church nearby to mark the anniversary of the bomb, an event which has been carried out ever since. A trio of cherry trees were planted on the church grounds in dedication to Andrea Dykes, John Light and Nik Moorem. The trees symbolised the three local London communities: Soho, Brick Lane, and Brixton, which were left in chaos by the three nail bombings. Today, the Admiral Duncan will remember the tenth anniversary of the bombing.

There will be a two-minute silence at 6.37 pm at St Anne's Gardens, which will stay open until 7.30pm for those wishing to pay their respects. The Rector of St Anne's Chruch will also say a few words for families and friends.

Pink News

Homegrown British Terrorists: The Extreme Face of Nationalism

It appeared to be a routine operation. Intelligence had suggested that a 31-year-old forklift driver from Goole, Yorkshire, had downloaded child pornography. But when officers of Humberside police raided the home of Martyn Gilleard in October 2007 they found more than they bargained for.

In his free time Gilleard had not only been downloading 39,000 indecent images of sadistic child abuse onto his computer, he was arming himself for an impending race war.

Police discovered knives, guns, machetes, swords, axes, bullets and nail bombs in his flat, as well as “significant” amounts of literature from far right parties including the National Front, the British People’s Party (BPP), Blood and Honour, and the British National Party.

Prior to being arrested, he was the BPP’s Goole branch organiser, making him a senior member of what is alleged to be a neo-Nazi organisation.

Gilleard had a five-year-old son who he described as “the most perfect thing in my life”. However in an interview with a tabloid newspaper, the mother of his child claimed that he had stored nail bombs under his son’s bed.

He was sentenced in June for 16 years after being found guilty for, among other charges, preparing terrorism acts with the intent of carrying them out.

It is clear from his diary that Gilleard was preparing to wage a race war. “Be under no illusion we are at war,” he wrote. “It is a war that we are losing badly. Unless we, the British right, stop talking of racial war and take steps to make it happen we will never get back that which has been stolen from us.

“I’m so sick and tired of hearing Nationalists talk of killing Muslims, or blowing up mosques, of fighting back. Only to see these acts of resistance fail to appear. The time has come to stop the talk and start to act.”

It is easy to regard Martyn Gilleard as an isolated agent. A maladjusted young man who externalised the demons that plagued him. But the reality is that he is but one of many far right extremists who have plotted to or actually carried out terrorism attacks across Britain over the last 50 years.

On online forums Gilleard advised other far right activists in bomb making manuals and encouraged others to take up arms.

One poster wrote: “I’ve seen the nail bombs spoke about by the police along with some more of his artillery. It’s a sad day when comrades get nicked but for every one that does there must be three more that don’t get caught. It’s a pity he couldn’t have just blown up the local mosque before he was arrested.”

Following his arrest he was offered “full support” by the BPP and was described on the Guestbook page of Nazi terror group Combat 18 as a “hero to the cause”.

However after Gilleard admitted to charges of possessing images of child pornography, the BPP issued a statement of “total abhorrence and repugnance” and claimed that had his criminal activities been known he would’ve been expelled from the Party.

His conviction was highly embarrassing for the organisation, which runs the Noncewatch website – an “integral” part of the campaign which advocates the death penalty for paedophiles.

Another campaign run by the BPP is Redwatch, which campaigners describe as a “hit list” carrying the personal details of anti racist activists, including photographs and in some cases, addresses and phone numbers.

The website has been used as a tool of political intimidation and critics of racist groups have been actively targeted. Manchester-based local councillor John Taylor, received an email on July 5 which read: “Congratulations, you’re on Redwatch. I am going to take you out. Six .22 rounds in the back of your head should do the trick. I would bring my special .38 but it makes one hell of a mess. I’ll be seeing you.”

Far right terrorism in Britain is nothing new but has failed to garner the same recognition as the relatively more recent phenomenon of Islamic extremism.

Britain’s first suicide bombing was not in fact carried out by a Muslim, but rather a Birmingham National Front member.

In the early 1980s Richard Barnes carried out an orgy of violence, which began when he fired a crossbow bolt at an Asian man and ran down two black women. Following this he kidnapped another woman, dumped her in the boot of his car and ram-raided a left-wing bookshop. The car burst into flames and the trapped woman died in the blaze. Barnes was pulled from the fire and was sentenced to life imprisonment.

Another right wing terrorist was member Tony Lecomber, who in 1985 injured himself with a nail bomb while trying to blow up the offices of a British left-wing political party. Police found ten grenades, seven petrol bombs and two detonators at his home. He was imprisoned for just three years and after his release was promoted to a senior position in the BNP.

In 1999, over three successive weekends, David Copeland placed homemade nail bombs in three locations across London with the intention of killing Asians, Blacks and homosexuals. The bombs killed three, including a pregnant woman, and injured 129, four of whom lost limbs.

He was a member of the National Socialist Movement, a small neo Nazi group run by Tony Williams, a former school chum of BNP chief Nick Griffin. Editor of anti-facist Searchlight magazine Gerry Gable, who compiled many of the examples used in this article to back up his case, wrote in an editorial: “Copeland was treated as an isolated madman rather than as part of a long history of involvement by the extreme right in terrorism.

“The public deserve a response from the police and intelligence agencies that takes far-right terrorism as seriously as the Islamist variety and not only fights this threat on the domestic front but looks at the wider international implications.”

In March this year, a police community support officer from south London escaped jail despite being found to have lied about his BNP membership. Police found in his flat a vast collection of racist literature, as well as illegal weapons including a CS spray, eight combat knives, a replica AK-47, a crossbow and a stun gun. He also had in his possession T-shirts bearing the logo of violent neo Nazi organization Combat 18.

In Glasgow, BNP activists were accused of using the murder of white teenager Kriss Donald to stir up hatred against the Asian community, from which the killers came.

Later that year, Allan Burnett, the incoming counter terrorism coordinator for the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland said that right-wing extremism was as dangerous as the threat posed by al-Qaeda.

“There’s no point promoting positive race relations, if in claiming to be everyone’s coordinator of counter terrorism, you take your eye off the far right,” Burnett said.

The Epoch Times