The death of a Stoke-on-Trent BNP activist in what police are describing as a “dispute between neighbours” has been hyped out of all proportion by the BNP and its adherents, despite the paucity of details so far released.
Keith Brown had apparently been involved in a long-standing dispute with his Muslim neighbours, which resulted in an altercation on July 6th. During the fracas, Mr Brown was stabbed and died. A number of people were arrested and later released on police bail, and Habib Khan charged with murder. Khan appeared before North Staffordshire magistrates and was remanded to appear at Stafford Crown Court on Monday July 16.
Beyond stating that Mr Brown’s death came about as the result of a dispute between neighbours, Staffordshire police have released few other details. How the altercation arose and who instigated it is not known - these are facts that will be established at Mr Khan’s trial, and until then - quite properly - any speculation or apportioning of blame is prohibited by the rules of sub judice.
However, the fact of one of their own having allegedly been murdered, and allegedly by a Muslim, has proved more than the BNP and its fanatical following can bear, and the party set out to capitalise on the tragedy of Mr Brown’s death.
Very quickly the BNP website, ignoring the fact that nobody accused of a criminal offence may be presumed to be guilty until a jury finds them so, was talking of a “gang of Muslim thugs” and detailed a number of (unproven) allegations made by Mr Brown against his neighbours, saying:
The months of anguish continued for Keith, abuse, assaults and smashed windows until finally the inevitable but entirely avoidable happed. Last Friday afternoon witnesses saw Keith and his neighbours in yet another flare up. Keith had just returned from picking up his three youngest children from school when he was confronted by a group of Muslim men outside his house. Whilst Keith was remonstrating with these men another Muslim man crept from behind a car and plunged a large knife in his back.
Clearly, the BNP does not require anything so mundane as a trial to establish guilt - but then, fascists have a track-record of never greatly bothering themselves with such fripperies wherever they have gained power.
Whether the allegations and summation of events as given on the BNP website is true or not is neither here nor there. The fact is that they have no business being aired in public when the guilt or innocence of a man charged with murder depends upon him coming before an unbiased jury. No newspaper would dare to publish the version of events appearing on the BNP website without a heavy degree of qualification - such that the reader would be in no doubt that the newspaper was publishing allegations, and not established facts.
Even before the BNP website had published its version of events, the party’s keyboard army of bloggers and forum trolls were hard at work hyping their dead comrade into some kind of hero who had fallen in an undeclared race war - one even managing to compare his death to those of the British soldiers who fell at the Battle of the Somme. Calls for revenge came thick and fast, and for once the mask of respectability was discarded as the open racism and hatred of the average BNP member spewed on to the Internet.
We have no more idea than the average BNP member of exactly what led to the death of Keith Brown. Whether his death had anything to do with his politics, his neighbours’ religion, or really was simply a dispute between neighbours that - regardless of politics, religion or race - escalated into violence, are matters that will be established in a court, and not on the poisonous blogs of BNP members.
We hope that all right-thinking people will agree with us that anybody committing an act of murder, whatever the circumstances, deserves the appropriate punishment - as do those who wilfully ignore the long established principle that a person is presumed innocent until proved guilty, and that to presume guilt and to make public utterances to that effect is a contempt of court proceedings likewise deserving of the appropriate punishment.
Showing posts with label International Day against Racism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label International Day against Racism. Show all posts
July 14, 2007
July 12, 2007
Top Tory's blog on BNP is cleared
More than 180 complaints against Welsh Conservative leader Nick Bourne's blog criticism of the British National Party (BNP) have been officially rejected. The Mid and West Wales AM was cleared by a Welsh assembly standards committee inquiry after a post in February. More than 180 complaints were registered about the comments.
Mr Bourne, who believed the complaints were politically orchestrated, called it a "victory for common sense and a victory for the right of free speech".
"I stand by every word I made about this organisation and its supporters. I have no intention of apologising for making them. I am delighted that the standards committee rejected these complaints out of hand. To condemn the language I used against this organisation would have sent out totally the wrong message from the National Assembly. I believe the National Assembly has today sent out a strong message that it will not tolerate such prejudice as we seek to build a fair and tolerant society."
During the recent assembly election campaign Mr Bourne joined a cross-party campaign to promote tolerance and diversity in Wales.
AMs and candidates backed the Wales Friends of Searchlight's Hope not Hate campaign against discrimination.
BBC News website
Mr Bourne, who believed the complaints were politically orchestrated, called it a "victory for common sense and a victory for the right of free speech".
"I stand by every word I made about this organisation and its supporters. I have no intention of apologising for making them. I am delighted that the standards committee rejected these complaints out of hand. To condemn the language I used against this organisation would have sent out totally the wrong message from the National Assembly. I believe the National Assembly has today sent out a strong message that it will not tolerate such prejudice as we seek to build a fair and tolerant society."
During the recent assembly election campaign Mr Bourne joined a cross-party campaign to promote tolerance and diversity in Wales.
AMs and candidates backed the Wales Friends of Searchlight's Hope not Hate campaign against discrimination.
BBC News website
May 05, 2007
The BNP's election to nowhere - turmoil to come?
The BNP's march to power turned into a cul-de-sac of indifference yesterday, with the racist party failing to make any impression in the English local elections.
Predicting at least a doubling of their 49 councillors, a devastated BNP finds its tally (at the time of writing) remains 49. Though the BNP did pick up seats it lost the same number, making no net gains. Of the nine BNP councillors up for re-election only one successfully defended his seat. Those ousted included convicted liar and cheat Richard Mulhall, who led the BNP group on Calderdale Council.
Claiming "mixed results" in an attempt to hide an electoral calamity from its shell-shocked members, there was no real disguising of the BNP's utter failure over large swathes of the country. The party's fortunes stalled and went into reverse in areas where its hopes were high, notably Sandwell and Birmingham, where thousands of votes were lost. Votes in cities such as Coventry were barely improved over those obtained thirty years ago by the National Front. In an effort to distract attention from the Birmingham debacle, the BNP is focussing attention on the fact that it gained more votes than the renegade Sharon Ebanks and her tiny number of New Nationalist Party candidates.
It was clear as the first results came in that the BNP would have no reason to uncork the victory champagne. Stormfront's BNP election-watchers passed over the first bad results but became increasingly despondent and at times lapsed into stunned silence, only slightly encouraged by the prospect of better results to come from the BNP's "best areas". They never did come, and the recriminations were quick to begin.
True to form, BNP members bitterly attacked the voting public as "thick" and "stupid", then blamed large-scale electoral fraud, then talked up anti-BNP media conspiracies, then blamed their own splinter groups, and finally got on with doing what they do best - attacking each other.
Scotland and Wales, where elections to the Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly ran concurrently with the English local elections, emphatically rejected the BNP - which imported English candidates already standing for English council seats to make up the numbers. Over most of Scotland so far the BNP's vote stands at less than 2%, while in Wales it has reached 5% only in two regions. No welcome in the hills for the BNP!
The majority of the BNP's local election candidates were make-weight paper-candidates, deployed only to give the public a false impression of BNP strength and growth. Most of them went virtually unsupported but did attract the attentions of anti-racist activists who ensured that the public were made aware of the criminality and corruption endemic to the BNP.
In an election that was as much a test of anti-racism as it was of BNP support, organisations such as the UAF and Searchlight, together with hundreds of concerned individuals produced a series of high-quality leaflets that exposed the dark truth behind the BNP. It is thought that almost half a million leaflets were distributed nationally and that they were a decisive factor in the BNP's defeat.
The fall-out - Goodbye Eddy (and Chris), hello Tony?
Even as the BNP picked through the ruins of its election campaign, news arrived confirming that Chris Jackson is to launch a leadership challenge against Nick Griffin, and throughout the early hours more and more disillusioned BNP members talked up the necessity of ousting Griffin, who they clearly blame for wasting their time and money.
Griffin, however, has a ready-made scapegoat in BNP "elections guru" Eddy Butler.
Voice of Reason previously noted that Butler was one in a long line of victims crossing the path of Griffin's hatchet-man, friend and ally, the thug and would-be bomber Tony Lecomber. Lecomber's attack on Butler, together with accusations of involvement in solicitation to murder, led to his alleged removal from the party. As we reported, there can have been few more amicable partings of the ways than that of Griffin and Lecomber, who was allowed to dictate the terms of his own departure.
We also noted that given the choice, Griffin would have excommunicated Butler, not Lecomber, but with elections pending that was hardly an option. Our belief that with the elections out of the way Griffin would move to return Lecomber to the fold - at Butler's expense - was borne out by Lecomber himself on the Nazi Stormfront website. Responding to a post containing extracts from a Voice of Reason piece questioning exactly how "proscribed" Tony Lecomber really was, Lecomber predicted a "night of the long knives" for the BNP - referencing Hitler's murderous 1934 purge of the Nazi party. As the VoR extract concerned Eddy Butler, there can be little doubt of who is to be purged and who is going to do the purging.
Even an unsuccessful Jackson challenge in the wake of a dismal election showing might be enough to loosen Nick Griffin's grip on the levers of internal power, such is the existing level of disaffection within the BNP. It would certainly set the stage for a future leadership bid that had a greater chance of toppling Griffin.
Nick badly needs two things if he is to keep control - a convenient rubbing-rag to take the heat of the election fall-out away from himself, and a neutralised (or better still, expelled) Chris Jackson.
To accomplish the latter, Griffin needs Lecomber - but he can't have Lecomber while Eddy Butler remains a leading BNP member. So nobody will be very much surprised when the BNP's well-oiled Dirty Tricks Department begins spreading whispers highlighting the failings of the BNP's Elections Department - prop. Eddy Butler.
Close the door on your way out, Eddy.
Predicting at least a doubling of their 49 councillors, a devastated BNP finds its tally (at the time of writing) remains 49. Though the BNP did pick up seats it lost the same number, making no net gains. Of the nine BNP councillors up for re-election only one successfully defended his seat. Those ousted included convicted liar and cheat Richard Mulhall, who led the BNP group on Calderdale Council.
Claiming "mixed results" in an attempt to hide an electoral calamity from its shell-shocked members, there was no real disguising of the BNP's utter failure over large swathes of the country. The party's fortunes stalled and went into reverse in areas where its hopes were high, notably Sandwell and Birmingham, where thousands of votes were lost. Votes in cities such as Coventry were barely improved over those obtained thirty years ago by the National Front. In an effort to distract attention from the Birmingham debacle, the BNP is focussing attention on the fact that it gained more votes than the renegade Sharon Ebanks and her tiny number of New Nationalist Party candidates.
It was clear as the first results came in that the BNP would have no reason to uncork the victory champagne. Stormfront's BNP election-watchers passed over the first bad results but became increasingly despondent and at times lapsed into stunned silence, only slightly encouraged by the prospect of better results to come from the BNP's "best areas". They never did come, and the recriminations were quick to begin.
True to form, BNP members bitterly attacked the voting public as "thick" and "stupid", then blamed large-scale electoral fraud, then talked up anti-BNP media conspiracies, then blamed their own splinter groups, and finally got on with doing what they do best - attacking each other.
Scotland and Wales, where elections to the Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly ran concurrently with the English local elections, emphatically rejected the BNP - which imported English candidates already standing for English council seats to make up the numbers. Over most of Scotland so far the BNP's vote stands at less than 2%, while in Wales it has reached 5% only in two regions. No welcome in the hills for the BNP!
The majority of the BNP's local election candidates were make-weight paper-candidates, deployed only to give the public a false impression of BNP strength and growth. Most of them went virtually unsupported but did attract the attentions of anti-racist activists who ensured that the public were made aware of the criminality and corruption endemic to the BNP.
In an election that was as much a test of anti-racism as it was of BNP support, organisations such as the UAF and Searchlight, together with hundreds of concerned individuals produced a series of high-quality leaflets that exposed the dark truth behind the BNP. It is thought that almost half a million leaflets were distributed nationally and that they were a decisive factor in the BNP's defeat.
The fall-out - Goodbye Eddy (and Chris), hello Tony?
Even as the BNP picked through the ruins of its election campaign, news arrived confirming that Chris Jackson is to launch a leadership challenge against Nick Griffin, and throughout the early hours more and more disillusioned BNP members talked up the necessity of ousting Griffin, who they clearly blame for wasting their time and money.
Griffin, however, has a ready-made scapegoat in BNP "elections guru" Eddy Butler.
Voice of Reason previously noted that Butler was one in a long line of victims crossing the path of Griffin's hatchet-man, friend and ally, the thug and would-be bomber Tony Lecomber. Lecomber's attack on Butler, together with accusations of involvement in solicitation to murder, led to his alleged removal from the party. As we reported, there can have been few more amicable partings of the ways than that of Griffin and Lecomber, who was allowed to dictate the terms of his own departure.
We also noted that given the choice, Griffin would have excommunicated Butler, not Lecomber, but with elections pending that was hardly an option. Our belief that with the elections out of the way Griffin would move to return Lecomber to the fold - at Butler's expense - was borne out by Lecomber himself on the Nazi Stormfront website. Responding to a post containing extracts from a Voice of Reason piece questioning exactly how "proscribed" Tony Lecomber really was, Lecomber predicted a "night of the long knives" for the BNP - referencing Hitler's murderous 1934 purge of the Nazi party. As the VoR extract concerned Eddy Butler, there can be little doubt of who is to be purged and who is going to do the purging.
Even an unsuccessful Jackson challenge in the wake of a dismal election showing might be enough to loosen Nick Griffin's grip on the levers of internal power, such is the existing level of disaffection within the BNP. It would certainly set the stage for a future leadership bid that had a greater chance of toppling Griffin.
Nick badly needs two things if he is to keep control - a convenient rubbing-rag to take the heat of the election fall-out away from himself, and a neutralised (or better still, expelled) Chris Jackson.
To accomplish the latter, Griffin needs Lecomber - but he can't have Lecomber while Eddy Butler remains a leading BNP member. So nobody will be very much surprised when the BNP's well-oiled Dirty Tricks Department begins spreading whispers highlighting the failings of the BNP's Elections Department - prop. Eddy Butler.
Close the door on your way out, Eddy.
May 02, 2007
Vote for democracy
In France, the Front National did badly in the recent elections. But how can we prevent the BNP from gaining seats tomorrow?
By Alexander Goldberg
Jean-Marie Le Pen is in a real strop this week and all because an additional 5.5 million people went out to vote in the first round of the presidential election this year, in comparison to 2002. The leader of the extremist far-right Front National had hoped to repeat his success of five years ago, when he came second in the first round of the elections and went into a run-off with President Chirac.
France has done much soul-searching as a result of the 2002 result. Activists concerned about the state of French democracy were shocked into action and embarked on one of the biggest voter registration campaigns, especially in the large ethnic Arab districts of Paris.
The result? With 3.3 million new voters on the roll and an 85% turnout, Le Pen was relegated to fourth place with his percentage vote cut dramatically. One can only presume that retirement looms for the 78-year-old bigot.
Given France's current economic woes and concerns, the conventional wisdom was that extremist parties would perform better than five years ago. Thankfully, this has not been the case. Instead, France has categorically demonstrated that in modern democracies, a robust voter turnout is critical in stemming the advance of extremist parties, who tend to thrive whenever voter turnout is low.
Back in Britain we have local elections this week. Even the ever-cautious political pundit Andrew Marr stated this week that voter turnout would be below 50%. I fear that Andrew may be right. Time after time the statistics surrounding electoral politics tend to reinforce the same lesson: extremist and racist groups succeed best when voter turnout ranges between 25% and 30% of registered voters. Moreover, the Electoral Commission has suggested that the real extent of voter apathy is hidden by the fact that an estimated 9% of the population do not bother registering in the first place, rising to one-third in some inner city areas.
The British National party (BNP), which has aspirations of turning itself into an electoral success along the lines of Front National, is fielding a record 752 candidates across England and Wales. It hopes to increase on the 53 seats it holds, following significant gains made last year.
And while the BNP has tried to rebrand itself in recent years along the lines of Front National, little, in fact, has changed.
The BNP has its roots in fascist movements (BNP founder John Tyndall proclaimed Hitler's Mein Kampf his Bible). Even its current leader Nick Griffin was convicted of incitement to racial hatred in 1998, while according to the BBC's Panorama investigation other leaders have been arrested for such crimes as sending razor blades in the post, carrying CS gas, assault, theft, burglary and possession. Not exactly your conventional campaign tactics. Watchdogs such as Searchlight highlight time and again that the BNP's core platform has remained one that espouses hate.
My guess is that most voters are attracted to the BNP less for ideological reasons than as a protest against mainstream parties and failing town halls. In addition, the BNP gains from voters who decide not to absent themselves from local elections and tends to do better with a low turnout. Meanwhile, it abandons wards where it is resoundingly beaten.
We need to learn from last week's election in France and apply it here. In the long run we need to work on voter registration, but this week we need to get out and vote on May 3. It is not just local services and recycling schemes that are at stake, but the future of democracy.
Edmund Burke, himself an observer of French politics, perhaps said it best: "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."
The Guardian's Comment Is Free
By Alexander Goldberg
Jean-Marie Le Pen is in a real strop this week and all because an additional 5.5 million people went out to vote in the first round of the presidential election this year, in comparison to 2002. The leader of the extremist far-right Front National had hoped to repeat his success of five years ago, when he came second in the first round of the elections and went into a run-off with President Chirac.
France has done much soul-searching as a result of the 2002 result. Activists concerned about the state of French democracy were shocked into action and embarked on one of the biggest voter registration campaigns, especially in the large ethnic Arab districts of Paris.
The result? With 3.3 million new voters on the roll and an 85% turnout, Le Pen was relegated to fourth place with his percentage vote cut dramatically. One can only presume that retirement looms for the 78-year-old bigot.
Given France's current economic woes and concerns, the conventional wisdom was that extremist parties would perform better than five years ago. Thankfully, this has not been the case. Instead, France has categorically demonstrated that in modern democracies, a robust voter turnout is critical in stemming the advance of extremist parties, who tend to thrive whenever voter turnout is low.
Back in Britain we have local elections this week. Even the ever-cautious political pundit Andrew Marr stated this week that voter turnout would be below 50%. I fear that Andrew may be right. Time after time the statistics surrounding electoral politics tend to reinforce the same lesson: extremist and racist groups succeed best when voter turnout ranges between 25% and 30% of registered voters. Moreover, the Electoral Commission has suggested that the real extent of voter apathy is hidden by the fact that an estimated 9% of the population do not bother registering in the first place, rising to one-third in some inner city areas.
The British National party (BNP), which has aspirations of turning itself into an electoral success along the lines of Front National, is fielding a record 752 candidates across England and Wales. It hopes to increase on the 53 seats it holds, following significant gains made last year.
And while the BNP has tried to rebrand itself in recent years along the lines of Front National, little, in fact, has changed.
The BNP has its roots in fascist movements (BNP founder John Tyndall proclaimed Hitler's Mein Kampf his Bible). Even its current leader Nick Griffin was convicted of incitement to racial hatred in 1998, while according to the BBC's Panorama investigation other leaders have been arrested for such crimes as sending razor blades in the post, carrying CS gas, assault, theft, burglary and possession. Not exactly your conventional campaign tactics. Watchdogs such as Searchlight highlight time and again that the BNP's core platform has remained one that espouses hate.
My guess is that most voters are attracted to the BNP less for ideological reasons than as a protest against mainstream parties and failing town halls. In addition, the BNP gains from voters who decide not to absent themselves from local elections and tends to do better with a low turnout. Meanwhile, it abandons wards where it is resoundingly beaten.
We need to learn from last week's election in France and apply it here. In the long run we need to work on voter registration, but this week we need to get out and vote on May 3. It is not just local services and recycling schemes that are at stake, but the future of democracy.
Edmund Burke, himself an observer of French politics, perhaps said it best: "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."
The Guardian's Comment Is Free
April 28, 2007
Stars unite in anti-BNP campaign
Falklands hero Simon Weston has added his voice to a campaign against the BNP in the Assembly elections. He has been joined by Twin Town star Rhys Ifans.The pair have added their support to the campaign by Unite Against Fascism.
The group claims that in English towns where the controversial party has been successful, racist attacks have increased. Unite wants to stop the BNP securing any seats in the Assembly next Thursday.
Simon Weston said: "I am against bigotry of all forms and I hate people using race to whip up fear and intimidation. I urge people not to propagate that kind of rhetoric."
Notting Hill star Ifans added: "To Nick Griffin and the BNP - the ethnic communities you dare to vilify in Wales are speaking Welsh, feeling Welsh and will forever be welcome in Wales."
South Wales Evening Post
The group claims that in English towns where the controversial party has been successful, racist attacks have increased. Unite wants to stop the BNP securing any seats in the Assembly next Thursday.
Simon Weston said: "I am against bigotry of all forms and I hate people using race to whip up fear and intimidation. I urge people not to propagate that kind of rhetoric."
Notting Hill star Ifans added: "To Nick Griffin and the BNP - the ethnic communities you dare to vilify in Wales are speaking Welsh, feeling Welsh and will forever be welcome in Wales."
South Wales Evening Post
April 26, 2007
Still alive and kicking
This year's local elections fall near the seventh anniversary of the Oldham race riots - and the BNP is trying to make headway in new territory.
By David Ward
Watch it: the British National party has not gone away. Nick Griffin and his crew are hard at work canvassing across the north-west of England as they seek to woo the voters. In previous years, they have not grabbed a vast number of seats - but they have won a worrying number of votes.
This year's local elections fall almost on the seventh anniversary of the race riots that erupted in Oldham, Greater Manchester, in May 2001. The BNP has tried to exploit the situation and has campaigned to seduce the Oldham electorate every year since. But, faced with tough campaigning by both Labour and the Liberal Democrats (parties with a long history of mutual antipathy in these parts), it has made no headway and never topped a poll. Not even Griffin could win a seat, although he did pick up more than a quarter of the votes in Chadderton North ward in 2003.
This year the BNP appears to be going through the motions by fielding just four candidates in Oldham. But it hasn't given up in Burnley, the east Lancashire town also hit by disturbances in the summer of 2001. The BNP, which won its first seats the following year and now has seven councillors, is fielding 10 candidates this year (including councillors seeking re-election), the largest group in any council in the north-west of England.
The Burnley BNP has gone through several leaders, shed a councillor who struck Griffin's minder in a brawl and lost another who decided that, far from being a racist, she was a fan of Nelson Mandela. It has made little impact in the council chamber.
But local activists have cleverly exploited the fears of more prosperous white people, who live in the nice parts of town and have voted for the party to keep members of the Asian community out of their districts. The party could engineer new victories this year, which could give new concern on a council on which no party has a majority.
Significantly, the BNP is also trying to make headway in parts of Greater Manchester other than Oldham, and is putting up a total of 44 candidates in the region's nine metropolitan boroughs, with eight each in Bury, Wigan and Tameside and seven in Stockport. This is a serious onslaught and it remains to be seen whether the onward march of the far right can be halted.
The party has only one candidate in Tory-controlled Trafford and just two in Manchester, where the BNP has never done well. But Griffin and co are making a determined assault on Liverpool, where they are fielding candidates in nine wards, and on Blackpool (seven candidates), where it staged its conference this year. Where the party stands on the loss of the supercasino to Manchester remains to be seen.
Not content with major centres, the party continues to flirt with the greener parts of Lancashire in Pendle and Ribble Valley - it has several times held its Red, White and Blue festivals in fields near Clitheroe. The BNP also has its eyes on Cumbria: six party candidates are standing in Carlisle and two in the rock-solid Labour stronghold of Maryport on the Cumbrian coast, where members of ethnic minorities are thin on the ground. Will local mainstream party activists be able to keep this lot at bay?
Additional research by Rumeana Jahangir
David Ward
By David Ward
Watch it: the British National party has not gone away. Nick Griffin and his crew are hard at work canvassing across the north-west of England as they seek to woo the voters. In previous years, they have not grabbed a vast number of seats - but they have won a worrying number of votes.
This year's local elections fall almost on the seventh anniversary of the race riots that erupted in Oldham, Greater Manchester, in May 2001. The BNP has tried to exploit the situation and has campaigned to seduce the Oldham electorate every year since. But, faced with tough campaigning by both Labour and the Liberal Democrats (parties with a long history of mutual antipathy in these parts), it has made no headway and never topped a poll. Not even Griffin could win a seat, although he did pick up more than a quarter of the votes in Chadderton North ward in 2003.
This year the BNP appears to be going through the motions by fielding just four candidates in Oldham. But it hasn't given up in Burnley, the east Lancashire town also hit by disturbances in the summer of 2001. The BNP, which won its first seats the following year and now has seven councillors, is fielding 10 candidates this year (including councillors seeking re-election), the largest group in any council in the north-west of England.
The Burnley BNP has gone through several leaders, shed a councillor who struck Griffin's minder in a brawl and lost another who decided that, far from being a racist, she was a fan of Nelson Mandela. It has made little impact in the council chamber.
But local activists have cleverly exploited the fears of more prosperous white people, who live in the nice parts of town and have voted for the party to keep members of the Asian community out of their districts. The party could engineer new victories this year, which could give new concern on a council on which no party has a majority.
Significantly, the BNP is also trying to make headway in parts of Greater Manchester other than Oldham, and is putting up a total of 44 candidates in the region's nine metropolitan boroughs, with eight each in Bury, Wigan and Tameside and seven in Stockport. This is a serious onslaught and it remains to be seen whether the onward march of the far right can be halted.
The party has only one candidate in Tory-controlled Trafford and just two in Manchester, where the BNP has never done well. But Griffin and co are making a determined assault on Liverpool, where they are fielding candidates in nine wards, and on Blackpool (seven candidates), where it staged its conference this year. Where the party stands on the loss of the supercasino to Manchester remains to be seen.
Not content with major centres, the party continues to flirt with the greener parts of Lancashire in Pendle and Ribble Valley - it has several times held its Red, White and Blue festivals in fields near Clitheroe. The BNP also has its eyes on Cumbria: six party candidates are standing in Carlisle and two in the rock-solid Labour stronghold of Maryport on the Cumbrian coast, where members of ethnic minorities are thin on the ground. Will local mainstream party activists be able to keep this lot at bay?
Additional research by Rumeana Jahangir
David Ward
April 25, 2007
BNP - the stupid and the sinister
Betraying in every respect the low calibre of this year's crop of BNP local election candidates, it was with a good deal of merriment that we read of Windsor candidate Matt Tait's assertion to his local newspaper that: "We should not allow mass immigration, especially in the Thames area, because the more immigrants there are, the less drinking water there will be." .
Immigrant-induced droughts aside, the fact that the likes of Matt Tait (who was too coy to be photographed by his local paper) are being touted as credible election candidates by the BNP shows just how deeply the racist party is scraping the barrel.
Did I say "racist"? Not according to Hastings BNP's Nick Prince: "We are not a far-right party and we are not racist."
Mr Prince is either delightfully deluded, or telling porkies. He might like to have a word with former colleague Sharon Ebanks to find out what the BNP thinks of people who aren't quite "white" enough, especially when it finds them in its own ranks. It's not a pretty story.
The BNP can always be relied upon to produce far more than its fair share of jokers - which is just as well, because it can also be relied upon to produce far more than its fair share of characters who definitely aren't jokers.
One such is Simon Charles Smith, sitting BNP councillor for Great Bridge ward of Sandwell council.
Councillor Smith is more like your true BNP man - one thing in public, and quite another in private.
In his election campaign Smith perhaps neglected to tell his prospective voters of his obsession with Holocaust Denial, or, for their delectation, to compare Adolf Hitler with Jesus Christ, and was still less likely to admit, "I want White Denmark to beat the mongrel 'England' [football] team…" We won't mention his apparent belief in UFOs or suggestions of starting a new religion.
Smith posted all this and more on the Nazi Stormfront website, hiding behind the nom-de-plume "Steve Freedom". Not being quite as bright as he believes himself to be, "Steve Freedom" left so many clues as to his true identity on Stormfront that it was only a matter of time before he was outed as Cllr. Simon Smith, and the people at Ministry of Truth were happy to perform that service.
Cllr. Simon Smith could never tell his constituents - that's Joe and Josephine Public to him-: "The reason why Blacks disproportionately don’t vote is that the frontal part of the brain associated with postponing immediate gratification is not so well developed as in other races."
But "Steve Freedom" could and did say that. Which isn't so very far on the stupidity scale from saying that hordes of immigrants are about to drink the Thames Valley dry or a failure to notice that there aren't many black people in the BNP.
Thus far Cllr. Smith comes over as something of a chump, but behind the standard-issue idiocy lies something more sinister.
On Stormfront Smith posts:
I’d certainly agree with the notion that "holocaust denial"... should be avoided amongst Joseph and Josephine Public.. but then again anything that challenges the average attention span should be as well… One idea forming in my mind lately is think and study deeply but communicate superficially, touching on what sales people call the "hot spots"…
Which suggests, as Ministry of Truth notes, no very great admiration on the part of Smith for the people ("sheeple") who voted for him.
He also maintains: "The 'Holocaust' is the biggest lie of all time…." (a stock phrase amongst neo-Nazis) put about by "The Globalist Elite" - Jews, to you and me.
Cllr. Smith is never explicit in telling us what his real ideology is, unless we can read something into his remark: "As you say we are 'Nazis' whatever…." But maybe Cllr. Smith is merely communicating superficially with his like-minded comrades on Stormfront, where admissions of swastika admiration aren't really necessary.
So there we are - from the stupid to the sinister in one easy lesson: a racist BNP candidate presumably hoarding all the bottled water he can lay his hands on, a BNP organiser who apparently doesn't believe his racist party is racist, and a Holocaust-denying racist BNP councillor who seems to have made a study of the brains of black people relative to ethnic voting patterns.
Anybody for a big blue pill?
(The full exposure of Simon Smith is at the Ministry of Truth.)
Immigrant-induced droughts aside, the fact that the likes of Matt Tait (who was too coy to be photographed by his local paper) are being touted as credible election candidates by the BNP shows just how deeply the racist party is scraping the barrel.
Did I say "racist"? Not according to Hastings BNP's Nick Prince: "We are not a far-right party and we are not racist."
Mr Prince is either delightfully deluded, or telling porkies. He might like to have a word with former colleague Sharon Ebanks to find out what the BNP thinks of people who aren't quite "white" enough, especially when it finds them in its own ranks. It's not a pretty story.
The BNP can always be relied upon to produce far more than its fair share of jokers - which is just as well, because it can also be relied upon to produce far more than its fair share of characters who definitely aren't jokers.
One such is Simon Charles Smith, sitting BNP councillor for Great Bridge ward of Sandwell council.
Councillor Smith is more like your true BNP man - one thing in public, and quite another in private.
In his election campaign Smith perhaps neglected to tell his prospective voters of his obsession with Holocaust Denial, or, for their delectation, to compare Adolf Hitler with Jesus Christ, and was still less likely to admit, "I want White Denmark to beat the mongrel 'England' [football] team…" We won't mention his apparent belief in UFOs or suggestions of starting a new religion.
Smith posted all this and more on the Nazi Stormfront website, hiding behind the nom-de-plume "Steve Freedom". Not being quite as bright as he believes himself to be, "Steve Freedom" left so many clues as to his true identity on Stormfront that it was only a matter of time before he was outed as Cllr. Simon Smith, and the people at Ministry of Truth were happy to perform that service.
Cllr. Simon Smith could never tell his constituents - that's Joe and Josephine Public to him-: "The reason why Blacks disproportionately don’t vote is that the frontal part of the brain associated with postponing immediate gratification is not so well developed as in other races."
But "Steve Freedom" could and did say that. Which isn't so very far on the stupidity scale from saying that hordes of immigrants are about to drink the Thames Valley dry or a failure to notice that there aren't many black people in the BNP.
Thus far Cllr. Smith comes over as something of a chump, but behind the standard-issue idiocy lies something more sinister.
On Stormfront Smith posts:
I’d certainly agree with the notion that "holocaust denial"... should be avoided amongst Joseph and Josephine Public.. but then again anything that challenges the average attention span should be as well… One idea forming in my mind lately is think and study deeply but communicate superficially, touching on what sales people call the "hot spots"…
Which suggests, as Ministry of Truth notes, no very great admiration on the part of Smith for the people ("sheeple") who voted for him.
He also maintains: "The 'Holocaust' is the biggest lie of all time…." (a stock phrase amongst neo-Nazis) put about by "The Globalist Elite" - Jews, to you and me.
Cllr. Smith is never explicit in telling us what his real ideology is, unless we can read something into his remark: "As you say we are 'Nazis' whatever…." But maybe Cllr. Smith is merely communicating superficially with his like-minded comrades on Stormfront, where admissions of swastika admiration aren't really necessary.
So there we are - from the stupid to the sinister in one easy lesson: a racist BNP candidate presumably hoarding all the bottled water he can lay his hands on, a BNP organiser who apparently doesn't believe his racist party is racist, and a Holocaust-denying racist BNP councillor who seems to have made a study of the brains of black people relative to ethnic voting patterns.
Anybody for a big blue pill?
(The full exposure of Simon Smith is at the Ministry of Truth.)
BNP Mosque leaflet dismissed as "rubbish"
A plea for racial tolerance has been made after a British National Party (BNP) leaflet claimed people in a West town had been denied the chance to comment before a 'mosque' was given planning approval.
Plans for an Islamic centre above and behind a kebab shop in Yeovil was given planning permission in 2003 after an application was made for a change of use from office to religious meeting rooms.
The BNP leaflet claimed the public should have been told the use was specifically for an Islamic centre or mosque, and that failure to do so showed a "culture of institutionalised silence and deceit" by officials and councillors. The leaflet, promoted by Robert Baehr, a BNP candidate in South Somerset district council elections, has already been delivered to hundreds of homes in Yeovil.
Candidates from other parties yesterday dismissed the BNP's claim as "rubbish".
John Grana, one of 12 candidates standing under the banner of the Central Committee, Local Residents Working Together, said: "This sort of leaflet is laughable and divisive.
"We stand for religious tolerance and freedom of thought. Yeovil welcomes people from everywhere. If I trace my own ancestry, I find Italian, Irish, Scottish and English blood. There is a richness in the mix we have."
Simon Gale, the council's head of development and building control, said: "In planning terms there is no requirement to state the distinctive religious use."
A BNP candidate has sparked a row by seeking jobs in two constituencies - 450 miles apart.
Michaela Mackenzie, 55, is chasing election as a Scottish MP for the seat of Mid-Scotland and Fife, which covers an area north of Edinburgh. But she is also standing for election to South Gloucestershire Council in the South West.
Western Daily Press
Plans for an Islamic centre above and behind a kebab shop in Yeovil was given planning permission in 2003 after an application was made for a change of use from office to religious meeting rooms.
The BNP leaflet claimed the public should have been told the use was specifically for an Islamic centre or mosque, and that failure to do so showed a "culture of institutionalised silence and deceit" by officials and councillors. The leaflet, promoted by Robert Baehr, a BNP candidate in South Somerset district council elections, has already been delivered to hundreds of homes in Yeovil.
Candidates from other parties yesterday dismissed the BNP's claim as "rubbish".
John Grana, one of 12 candidates standing under the banner of the Central Committee, Local Residents Working Together, said: "This sort of leaflet is laughable and divisive.
"We stand for religious tolerance and freedom of thought. Yeovil welcomes people from everywhere. If I trace my own ancestry, I find Italian, Irish, Scottish and English blood. There is a richness in the mix we have."
Simon Gale, the council's head of development and building control, said: "In planning terms there is no requirement to state the distinctive religious use."
A BNP candidate has sparked a row by seeking jobs in two constituencies - 450 miles apart.
Michaela Mackenzie, 55, is chasing election as a Scottish MP for the seat of Mid-Scotland and Fife, which covers an area north of Edinburgh. But she is also standing for election to South Gloucestershire Council in the South West.
Western Daily Press
Labels:
BNP,
fascism,
International Day against Racism,
intolerance,
mosque,
tolerance
April 23, 2007
Something "not very nice" about the BNP says former organiser
British Nationalism "sleazy at the highest level"
Grudges die hard on the ever fractious far-right, where factional in-fighting and petty personal squabbles are a way of life.
Long after his departure from the BNP, former Humberside and Lincolnshire organiser Dr. David Michael continues to nurse grievances first aired at the time of his resignation. Michael has since washed up on the shores of the eccentric Sharon Ebanks's tiny New Nationalist Party, and supplies The Thunderbolt column to its website.
The latest Thunderbolt column, Five easy lessons for British Nationalists, begins with the easiest lesson of all - don't trust Nick Griffin!
We probably don't need a long-standing supporter of various racist organisations to tell us that, but there is something endearingly honest about David Michael - a kind of bemused outrage normally found in very young children just told there is no Father Christmas. Michael seems never to have got over his discovery that Nick Griffin and the BNP top brass work in decidedly mysterious ways.
Michael's 2002 resignation letter was addressed to "BNP national and regional leaders, key BNP activists in Hull and Grimsby" and made not a jot of difference to the BNP, despite containing numerous allegations against leading members of the organisation, including the ubiquitous Tony Lecomber (recently proscribed, as we report elsewhere).
Detailing how he found Humberside and Lincolnshire BNP "a tragic mess", Michael's resignation letter also speaks of "bitter feuding" between leading members Tony Braithwaite and John Brayshaw, then tells of how he (Michael) and others resurrected the unit into something like effectiveness - "Organized nationalism was flourishing in Hull for the first time in 60 years".
But this is the British National Party, and things are never so simple.
Michael claims that "Special Branch and its fellow travellers launched a two-pronged attack on us". The details given by Michael suggest nothing more than a routine information gathering exercise on the part of the Branch such as all small political groups - left and right - are subjected to. That, apparently, constitutes the first prong of the "attack". The second prong seems to have come from within the BNP itself.
According to Michael: "Mr John Brayshaw was undertaking a serious programme of destabilization against our resurgent unit. This consisted at first of petty actions, such as the refusal to release our local funds to East Midlands branch to help in their general election campaign, and petty gossip and tittle tattle, some of which got back to us by various means."
Michael recognises this "as an attempt by the Establishment to cause trouble".
Brayshaw is accused of "working on [Tony] Lecomber", who "was going to go into 'dirty tricks' mode" (no surprise there, then), and as a result Michael stepped down to save Lecomber the bother of forcing him out.
All of this was wrapped up in the tale of David Hannam and (yet again) missing BNP cash, which forms the first part of David Michael's "Five easy lessons..." Thunderbolt essay.
"A few years ago I had the dubious honour of being the Humberside and Lincolnshire organizer of the BNP," writes Michael. "In due course I handed over the job to a young fellow, one David Hannam, giving him my full support. I did not know him particularly well but he appeared keen and very active; ‘it seemed like a good idea at the time’ as the saying goes. Hannam subsequently went to live with the then local treasurer, Diane Bridgeman, who is now his wife. The relevance of this will soon become apparent."
Michael relates how he was told that money put aside for the payment of leaflets had not been paid to an aggrieved printer by Hannam and Bridgeman, and asks: "So what had happened to the money? To the hard-working members’ money?" Apparently, Michael was told, the dubious duo had used it to pay their telephone bill.
Incensed, Michael attempted to contact Nick Griffin. Unable to do so, "I telephoned Hannam. He confirmed that he had not paid for the leaflets. He had no coherent explanation. I told him that unless he returned the money to the party and resigned as organizer then I would complain to the police. I gave him a short deadline.... Hannam duly returned the loot and resigned from the position of local organizer. I subsequently received an email from Tony Lecomber, then BNP branch liaison officer, thanking me for my good offices in getting the money back."
But - again - this is, as we so often note, the British National Party, because then "strange things started to happen."
"The gentleman who was the regional organizer for the area at the time made it very clear that he was not happy with my line against Hannam and that he wanted him reinstated. He felt that Hannam had just made ‘a mistake’. I sent Nick Griffin an account of what had happened. It eventually became very clear that Griffin also wanted to accept Hannam’s account of the incident as ‘a mistake’.
"Now, consider this. Hannam had apparently used money intended for leaflets to pay a telephone account – nobody denied this to me when I pointed it out. It is rather difficult to see how this could be done by mistake. When threatened with police action if he didn’t resign as local organizer, Hannam resigned. If he had simply made an innocent mistake (rather than committing a crime) why would he do this? Surely he would only resign in response to such a threat if he knew that prosecution and a possible prison sentence for theft awaited him . . ."
Hannam and Bridgeman's story then changed: "They started putting it about that Hannam had decided that leaflets were a bad idea and a waste of money. The problem with that story, of course, is that not only does it conflict with the earlier version of the incident as ‘a mistake’ but it spectacularly fails to account for why the decision was taken AFTER the leaflets had been ordered and printed, or how the money for the leaflets ended up in Hannam’s personal account!"
These points were put to Griffin, says, Michael, but to no avail. It was then put to Michael that Griffin wanted the local elections contested in Hull, and Diane Bridgeman being the candidate, any action taken against Hannam might scotch that plan.
Michael wasted no time: "My response was swift and sure. It seemed obvious that Hannam had stolen money from the local party – from good, decent, fellow nationalists. Griffin was trying to cover up for him. I was not prepared to go along with such sleaze. How could I criticize the other parties, the Establishment, the system, for being rotten to the core when the leader of the BNP was behaving in a manner that was every bit as damnable? I promptly resigned from the BNP."
The words "sleaze", "Griffin" and "BNP" frequently being found in close proximity, usually in the same sentence, we can only wonder why it took so long for the penny to drop. But more surprises were to follow for David Michael:
"After several months had passed I was saddened to see that Hannam was reinstated as organizer of the local BNP. However, my sadness turned to amazement when I later learned that Hannam had been promoted to the position of deputy treasurer of the BNP. I could only assume that Griffin had permitted this because he wanted a loyal crook in the treasury – perhaps someone who could be trusted to keep dirty secrets."
"Am I telling the truth?" Michael plaintively asks. "I have made very serious allegations against the leader of a political party and against its deputy treasurer. I have accused the deputy treasurer of the BNP of apparently attempting to steal money – of apparently knowingly and deliberately misappropriating party funds for his own personal use. I have accused the chairman of the BNP of knowingly appointing someone who apparently attempted to steal money from his fellow nationalists to the position of deputy treasurer. If those allegations are false then let Mr Griffin or Mr Hannam sue me. In fact, I dare them to do so. Not only that but if they do not do so I assert that the electorate is entitled to wonder why not! (In fact I can tell the electorate what Griffin’s problem is. He knows that numerous emails and other documents were flying around any one of which could prove damning should it surface in court.)"
"How can one be loyal to men who steal from their comrades or who conspire to hide such treachery?" Michael demands. "Let the truth be told and let it be heard far and wide!"
And Sharon Ebanks is one person Michael can rely upon to ensure that the "truth" is indeed heard far and wide - she could barely wait to get the link to Michael's article up on Stormfront.
Michael notes Griffin's credentials as an alleged "moderate" (in far-right terms), but immediately returns to the attack: "But now here’s something strange. As various enemies ranging from the BBC to the Anti-Nazi League have pointed out, Mr Hannam served a prison sentence for putting out some politically incorrect leaflets in June 1999. Normally putting out politically incorrect leaflets would be praiseworthy. The problem is that in this case, the leaflets were so rabid that they made Heinrich Himmler look like the Pink Tooth Fairy in comparison. They tell us, inter alia: ‘Jews are in England unlawfully since the Edict of Expulsion of 1290 has never been repealed.’ (How Pat Richardson, the Jewish BNP councillor for Epping, would love that one if she knew about it! And what would Griffin’s poor little legal beagle, Lee Barnes, think?) It goes on to tell us ‘Now these illegal immigrants completely control our news and TV . . .’ and it continues in similar vein."
Michael is generous enough to pass this off as a "mistake" on Hannam's part, but "...it was the sort of ‘mistake’ that only a complete idiot would make. And only a complete idiot would appoint someone who makes that sort of ‘mistake’ to the position of deputy treasurer of something purporting to be a serious political party.
"Unless, of course, there is some reason why a thief and an idiot might come in handy occupying such a position . . ."
Well, we can only speculate, but this might be the time to draw your attention to certain "unsettling accounts" as provided by the BNP to the Electoral Commission, and dissected here by a disgruntled BNP member (unformatted text document). It makes for extremely interesting reading, and has certainly given many BNP members pause for thought before putting their hands in their pockets.
Tales of dodgy accounting are hardly new to the BNP. Elsewhere we note the case of Sharon Edwards, one-time deputy to Nick Griffin, who, along with husband Steve (West Midlands organiser) and - perhaps more importantly - BNP National Treasurer Mike Newlands, left in disgust after clashing with Griffin over financial irregularities.
Since their departure, Griffin (described by Sharon Ebanks as "a corrupt thief") has greatly strengthened his hold over the party, and there's no room in it for anybody who asks difficult questions - such as why did a "thief and an idiot" come to be Deputy Treasurer of the British National Party?
As David Michael is left to conclude: "British nationalism and white nationalism have become sleazy. Horribly sleazy. And they have become sleazy at the highest level."
Footnote: Ebanks's Stormfront thread linking to David Michael's article has been pulled. Now who would want to do that?
Grudges die hard on the ever fractious far-right, where factional in-fighting and petty personal squabbles are a way of life.
Long after his departure from the BNP, former Humberside and Lincolnshire organiser Dr. David Michael continues to nurse grievances first aired at the time of his resignation. Michael has since washed up on the shores of the eccentric Sharon Ebanks's tiny New Nationalist Party, and supplies The Thunderbolt column to its website.
The latest Thunderbolt column, Five easy lessons for British Nationalists, begins with the easiest lesson of all - don't trust Nick Griffin!
We probably don't need a long-standing supporter of various racist organisations to tell us that, but there is something endearingly honest about David Michael - a kind of bemused outrage normally found in very young children just told there is no Father Christmas. Michael seems never to have got over his discovery that Nick Griffin and the BNP top brass work in decidedly mysterious ways.
Michael's 2002 resignation letter was addressed to "BNP national and regional leaders, key BNP activists in Hull and Grimsby" and made not a jot of difference to the BNP, despite containing numerous allegations against leading members of the organisation, including the ubiquitous Tony Lecomber (recently proscribed, as we report elsewhere).
Detailing how he found Humberside and Lincolnshire BNP "a tragic mess", Michael's resignation letter also speaks of "bitter feuding" between leading members Tony Braithwaite and John Brayshaw, then tells of how he (Michael) and others resurrected the unit into something like effectiveness - "Organized nationalism was flourishing in Hull for the first time in 60 years".
But this is the British National Party, and things are never so simple.
Michael claims that "Special Branch and its fellow travellers launched a two-pronged attack on us". The details given by Michael suggest nothing more than a routine information gathering exercise on the part of the Branch such as all small political groups - left and right - are subjected to. That, apparently, constitutes the first prong of the "attack". The second prong seems to have come from within the BNP itself.
According to Michael: "Mr John Brayshaw was undertaking a serious programme of destabilization against our resurgent unit. This consisted at first of petty actions, such as the refusal to release our local funds to East Midlands branch to help in their general election campaign, and petty gossip and tittle tattle, some of which got back to us by various means."
Michael recognises this "as an attempt by the Establishment to cause trouble".
Brayshaw is accused of "working on [Tony] Lecomber", who "was going to go into 'dirty tricks' mode" (no surprise there, then), and as a result Michael stepped down to save Lecomber the bother of forcing him out.
All of this was wrapped up in the tale of David Hannam and (yet again) missing BNP cash, which forms the first part of David Michael's "Five easy lessons..." Thunderbolt essay.
"A few years ago I had the dubious honour of being the Humberside and Lincolnshire organizer of the BNP," writes Michael. "In due course I handed over the job to a young fellow, one David Hannam, giving him my full support. I did not know him particularly well but he appeared keen and very active; ‘it seemed like a good idea at the time’ as the saying goes. Hannam subsequently went to live with the then local treasurer, Diane Bridgeman, who is now his wife. The relevance of this will soon become apparent."
Michael relates how he was told that money put aside for the payment of leaflets had not been paid to an aggrieved printer by Hannam and Bridgeman, and asks: "So what had happened to the money? To the hard-working members’ money?" Apparently, Michael was told, the dubious duo had used it to pay their telephone bill.
Incensed, Michael attempted to contact Nick Griffin. Unable to do so, "I telephoned Hannam. He confirmed that he had not paid for the leaflets. He had no coherent explanation. I told him that unless he returned the money to the party and resigned as organizer then I would complain to the police. I gave him a short deadline.... Hannam duly returned the loot and resigned from the position of local organizer. I subsequently received an email from Tony Lecomber, then BNP branch liaison officer, thanking me for my good offices in getting the money back."
But - again - this is, as we so often note, the British National Party, because then "strange things started to happen."
"The gentleman who was the regional organizer for the area at the time made it very clear that he was not happy with my line against Hannam and that he wanted him reinstated. He felt that Hannam had just made ‘a mistake’. I sent Nick Griffin an account of what had happened. It eventually became very clear that Griffin also wanted to accept Hannam’s account of the incident as ‘a mistake’.
"Now, consider this. Hannam had apparently used money intended for leaflets to pay a telephone account – nobody denied this to me when I pointed it out. It is rather difficult to see how this could be done by mistake. When threatened with police action if he didn’t resign as local organizer, Hannam resigned. If he had simply made an innocent mistake (rather than committing a crime) why would he do this? Surely he would only resign in response to such a threat if he knew that prosecution and a possible prison sentence for theft awaited him . . ."
Hannam and Bridgeman's story then changed: "They started putting it about that Hannam had decided that leaflets were a bad idea and a waste of money. The problem with that story, of course, is that not only does it conflict with the earlier version of the incident as ‘a mistake’ but it spectacularly fails to account for why the decision was taken AFTER the leaflets had been ordered and printed, or how the money for the leaflets ended up in Hannam’s personal account!"
These points were put to Griffin, says, Michael, but to no avail. It was then put to Michael that Griffin wanted the local elections contested in Hull, and Diane Bridgeman being the candidate, any action taken against Hannam might scotch that plan.
Michael wasted no time: "My response was swift and sure. It seemed obvious that Hannam had stolen money from the local party – from good, decent, fellow nationalists. Griffin was trying to cover up for him. I was not prepared to go along with such sleaze. How could I criticize the other parties, the Establishment, the system, for being rotten to the core when the leader of the BNP was behaving in a manner that was every bit as damnable? I promptly resigned from the BNP."
The words "sleaze", "Griffin" and "BNP" frequently being found in close proximity, usually in the same sentence, we can only wonder why it took so long for the penny to drop. But more surprises were to follow for David Michael:
"After several months had passed I was saddened to see that Hannam was reinstated as organizer of the local BNP. However, my sadness turned to amazement when I later learned that Hannam had been promoted to the position of deputy treasurer of the BNP. I could only assume that Griffin had permitted this because he wanted a loyal crook in the treasury – perhaps someone who could be trusted to keep dirty secrets."
"Am I telling the truth?" Michael plaintively asks. "I have made very serious allegations against the leader of a political party and against its deputy treasurer. I have accused the deputy treasurer of the BNP of apparently attempting to steal money – of apparently knowingly and deliberately misappropriating party funds for his own personal use. I have accused the chairman of the BNP of knowingly appointing someone who apparently attempted to steal money from his fellow nationalists to the position of deputy treasurer. If those allegations are false then let Mr Griffin or Mr Hannam sue me. In fact, I dare them to do so. Not only that but if they do not do so I assert that the electorate is entitled to wonder why not! (In fact I can tell the electorate what Griffin’s problem is. He knows that numerous emails and other documents were flying around any one of which could prove damning should it surface in court.)"
"How can one be loyal to men who steal from their comrades or who conspire to hide such treachery?" Michael demands. "Let the truth be told and let it be heard far and wide!"
And Sharon Ebanks is one person Michael can rely upon to ensure that the "truth" is indeed heard far and wide - she could barely wait to get the link to Michael's article up on Stormfront.
Michael notes Griffin's credentials as an alleged "moderate" (in far-right terms), but immediately returns to the attack: "But now here’s something strange. As various enemies ranging from the BBC to the Anti-Nazi League have pointed out, Mr Hannam served a prison sentence for putting out some politically incorrect leaflets in June 1999. Normally putting out politically incorrect leaflets would be praiseworthy. The problem is that in this case, the leaflets were so rabid that they made Heinrich Himmler look like the Pink Tooth Fairy in comparison. They tell us, inter alia: ‘Jews are in England unlawfully since the Edict of Expulsion of 1290 has never been repealed.’ (How Pat Richardson, the Jewish BNP councillor for Epping, would love that one if she knew about it! And what would Griffin’s poor little legal beagle, Lee Barnes, think?) It goes on to tell us ‘Now these illegal immigrants completely control our news and TV . . .’ and it continues in similar vein."
Michael is generous enough to pass this off as a "mistake" on Hannam's part, but "...it was the sort of ‘mistake’ that only a complete idiot would make. And only a complete idiot would appoint someone who makes that sort of ‘mistake’ to the position of deputy treasurer of something purporting to be a serious political party.
"Unless, of course, there is some reason why a thief and an idiot might come in handy occupying such a position . . ."
Well, we can only speculate, but this might be the time to draw your attention to certain "unsettling accounts" as provided by the BNP to the Electoral Commission, and dissected here by a disgruntled BNP member (unformatted text document). It makes for extremely interesting reading, and has certainly given many BNP members pause for thought before putting their hands in their pockets.
Tales of dodgy accounting are hardly new to the BNP. Elsewhere we note the case of Sharon Edwards, one-time deputy to Nick Griffin, who, along with husband Steve (West Midlands organiser) and - perhaps more importantly - BNP National Treasurer Mike Newlands, left in disgust after clashing with Griffin over financial irregularities.
Since their departure, Griffin (described by Sharon Ebanks as "a corrupt thief") has greatly strengthened his hold over the party, and there's no room in it for anybody who asks difficult questions - such as why did a "thief and an idiot" come to be Deputy Treasurer of the British National Party?
As David Michael is left to conclude: "British nationalism and white nationalism have become sleazy. Horribly sleazy. And they have become sleazy at the highest level."
Footnote: Ebanks's Stormfront thread linking to David Michael's article has been pulled. Now who would want to do that?
April 21, 2007
Families refute BNP "help" claims
FAMILIES fighting to save their central Barrow homes are refuting the British National Party’s claim to have helped them out.
The far right organisation said it was the only party to support North Central residents in their battle against Barrow Borough Council’s home demolition plan.
It wants to win its first seat on the council on May 3.
But residents in Arthur Street — one of the streets threatened by the council’s clearance proposal — say they have had no help from the BNP.
Jason Bentley, 49, said: “I don’t recall them helping us out at all.
“The only person that has stood by us is Jim (Hamezeian, Peoples Party councillor).
“He has helped us out quite a lot, has Jim, speaking up for us at meetings and everything.”
Mr Bentley says he has no time for the BNP.
“They’re a bunch of racists,” he said. “Anything I get from them goes straight in the bin.”
Daisy Potter also said she had no help from the BNP. And Ann Hillman, 47, said: “They haven’t helped at all. I haven’t even seen any BNP.” Mrs Hillman said Cllr Hamezeian had helped them the most.
“He has steered us in the right direction,” she said. I don’t think we’d have known what to do if we hadn’t had his help.”
Cllr Hamezeian’s wife, Rosemarie Hamezeian, 54, is standing for the Peoples Party. Mrs Hamezeian said that, to her knowledge, from knocking on doors, the BNP had done nothing for the people of Central.
She said: “The Peoples Party has been working for the people of Central for a long time now on various issues but certainly on the regeneration of their homes.
“If elected, I’ll do everything I can to make sure their houses are not pulled down.”
But BNP candidate Mike Ashburner says the BNP does not regard the Peoples Party as a proper political party.
“They’re merely a mob of Marxist misfits,” he said.
And, Mr Ashburner maintains, neither he nor the party are racist.
Labour election agent Dave Pidduck said: “The Labour party has always been prepared to work with and listen to the residents and the residents’ associations.
“Unfortunately, opportunities to do that are being restricted by other groups who are working for their own ends.”
Cllr Pidduck described Labour’s Central ward candidate, Ann Thomson, as an excellent candidate and councillor who works hard to represent her residents.
Ollie Flitcroft, election campaign manager for the Tories, described their Central ward candidate Lucy Pearson, 22, as a bright young girl with lots of skills.
And on the homes issue, Cllr Flitcroft said: “The Conservative administration took time and effort to go and speak directly to the residents, to listen to their concerns, to what they had to say. And after long periods of discussion, the Conservative administration backed the residents in their wishes and I’m pleased to say we’re fully square behind them in what they want.”
North-west Evening Mail
The far right organisation said it was the only party to support North Central residents in their battle against Barrow Borough Council’s home demolition plan.
It wants to win its first seat on the council on May 3.
But residents in Arthur Street — one of the streets threatened by the council’s clearance proposal — say they have had no help from the BNP.
Jason Bentley, 49, said: “I don’t recall them helping us out at all.
“The only person that has stood by us is Jim (Hamezeian, Peoples Party councillor).
“He has helped us out quite a lot, has Jim, speaking up for us at meetings and everything.”
Mr Bentley says he has no time for the BNP.
“They’re a bunch of racists,” he said. “Anything I get from them goes straight in the bin.”
Daisy Potter also said she had no help from the BNP. And Ann Hillman, 47, said: “They haven’t helped at all. I haven’t even seen any BNP.” Mrs Hillman said Cllr Hamezeian had helped them the most.
“He has steered us in the right direction,” she said. I don’t think we’d have known what to do if we hadn’t had his help.”
Cllr Hamezeian’s wife, Rosemarie Hamezeian, 54, is standing for the Peoples Party. Mrs Hamezeian said that, to her knowledge, from knocking on doors, the BNP had done nothing for the people of Central.
She said: “The Peoples Party has been working for the people of Central for a long time now on various issues but certainly on the regeneration of their homes.
“If elected, I’ll do everything I can to make sure their houses are not pulled down.”
But BNP candidate Mike Ashburner says the BNP does not regard the Peoples Party as a proper political party.
“They’re merely a mob of Marxist misfits,” he said.
And, Mr Ashburner maintains, neither he nor the party are racist.
Labour election agent Dave Pidduck said: “The Labour party has always been prepared to work with and listen to the residents and the residents’ associations.
“Unfortunately, opportunities to do that are being restricted by other groups who are working for their own ends.”
Cllr Pidduck described Labour’s Central ward candidate, Ann Thomson, as an excellent candidate and councillor who works hard to represent her residents.
Ollie Flitcroft, election campaign manager for the Tories, described their Central ward candidate Lucy Pearson, 22, as a bright young girl with lots of skills.
And on the homes issue, Cllr Flitcroft said: “The Conservative administration took time and effort to go and speak directly to the residents, to listen to their concerns, to what they had to say. And after long periods of discussion, the Conservative administration backed the residents in their wishes and I’m pleased to say we’re fully square behind them in what they want.”
North-west Evening Mail
April 20, 2007
Rappers take anti-racism message into BNP heartland
Urban music crew Roll Deep will visit an East London school in the heart of British National Party territory today as part of an initiative to tackle racism and fascism. The group will perform and talk about race relations with pupils at the Robert Clack School in Dagenham.
The event has been organised by musicians' action group Love Music Hate Racism (LMHR), which accuses far-right organisations such as the British National Party (BNP) of stirring up racial tensions. In Barking and Dagenham, where the BNP has 12 council members, LMHR is working with schools in the borough to arrange events and activities that will bring young people together to fight all forms of racism and fascism.
Speaking ahead of their performance, Roll Deep said: "As a group made up of mixed races and cultures we cannot accept in this day and age racial prejudice in any way, shape or form. We feel strongly that the UK should and will be a place for people of all colours, races, shapes and sizes to live side by side in harmony."
David Moody, head of six form at Robert Clack School, said: "We were the first school to run Black History Month a decade ago and it's fantastic to widen the provision even further with events like these. The students are extremely excited and it will be a day to remember for all of them."
Alison Philcock, of Love Music Hate Racism. said: "We are proud to be working with schools in Barking and Dagenham to send out a positive message of unity and celebration of multiculturalism, in opposition to the BNP's message of division and hate. It's not hard to win the hearts and minds of the young people of Barking and Dagenham to ideas of respect and tolerance. We are very pleased that Roll Deep are continuing to work with LMHR by visiting Robert Clack School."
Weyman Bennett, joint national secretary of Unite Against Fascism, added: "We need to do everything we can to keep the nazi BNP out of Dagenham. Events like this can help us defeat the fascists. They bring together everybody who opposes the fascists. We are proud to be working with Barking and Dagenham Schools and Barking and Dagenham National Union of Teachers."
24dash
The event has been organised by musicians' action group Love Music Hate Racism (LMHR), which accuses far-right organisations such as the British National Party (BNP) of stirring up racial tensions. In Barking and Dagenham, where the BNP has 12 council members, LMHR is working with schools in the borough to arrange events and activities that will bring young people together to fight all forms of racism and fascism.
Speaking ahead of their performance, Roll Deep said: "As a group made up of mixed races and cultures we cannot accept in this day and age racial prejudice in any way, shape or form. We feel strongly that the UK should and will be a place for people of all colours, races, shapes and sizes to live side by side in harmony."
David Moody, head of six form at Robert Clack School, said: "We were the first school to run Black History Month a decade ago and it's fantastic to widen the provision even further with events like these. The students are extremely excited and it will be a day to remember for all of them."
Alison Philcock, of Love Music Hate Racism. said: "We are proud to be working with schools in Barking and Dagenham to send out a positive message of unity and celebration of multiculturalism, in opposition to the BNP's message of division and hate. It's not hard to win the hearts and minds of the young people of Barking and Dagenham to ideas of respect and tolerance. We are very pleased that Roll Deep are continuing to work with LMHR by visiting Robert Clack School."
Weyman Bennett, joint national secretary of Unite Against Fascism, added: "We need to do everything we can to keep the nazi BNP out of Dagenham. Events like this can help us defeat the fascists. They bring together everybody who opposes the fascists. We are proud to be working with Barking and Dagenham Schools and Barking and Dagenham National Union of Teachers."
24dash
March 22, 2007
Belgians brave rainstorm for anti-racism weddings
Braving rain and hail, hundreds of Belgians took part in a symbolic ceremony yesterday in a town where three couples refused to be married by a black official.
In an impressive show of solidarity against those who have given the term "white wedding" a bad name, the couples exchanged or renewed their marriage vows in the Flemish town of St-Niklaas.
The demonstration was in support of Wouter Van Bellingen, who was born in Rwanda but adopted by a Flemish family at birth and was elected a councillor in the town last October. In February, when the three couples refused to be married by him, Mr Van Bellingen, the town's deputy mayor, described the incident as "the most primitive form of racism", because it was motivated by "nothing but the colour of my skin".
Yesterday he appeared to have made the most of his adversity, as the mass wedding he organised attracted the attention of the international media. At least 2,000 letters and emails have poured in since the incident.
By early evening, couples had gathered in the town's market square in their finery before an event held in a marquee. Chosen to coincide with the International Day against Racism the ceremony began with a group hug before the assembled couples exchanged or renewed vows in a ceremony overseen by Mr Van Bellingen. Couples then took part in a mass wedding photo, before tucking into a "multicultural dessert buffet" and taking part in a wedding dance.
The row has focused attention on attitudes towards race in a part of Belgium renowned for its sympathy with the far right. In last year's elections the anti-immigration, Flemish separatist party, the Vlaams Belang won 26 per cent of the vote.
The group has accused Mr Van Bellingen of using the mass wedding to further his own political ambitions.
Independent
In an impressive show of solidarity against those who have given the term "white wedding" a bad name, the couples exchanged or renewed their marriage vows in the Flemish town of St-Niklaas.
The demonstration was in support of Wouter Van Bellingen, who was born in Rwanda but adopted by a Flemish family at birth and was elected a councillor in the town last October. In February, when the three couples refused to be married by him, Mr Van Bellingen, the town's deputy mayor, described the incident as "the most primitive form of racism", because it was motivated by "nothing but the colour of my skin".
Yesterday he appeared to have made the most of his adversity, as the mass wedding he organised attracted the attention of the international media. At least 2,000 letters and emails have poured in since the incident.
By early evening, couples had gathered in the town's market square in their finery before an event held in a marquee. Chosen to coincide with the International Day against Racism the ceremony began with a group hug before the assembled couples exchanged or renewed vows in a ceremony overseen by Mr Van Bellingen. Couples then took part in a mass wedding photo, before tucking into a "multicultural dessert buffet" and taking part in a wedding dance.
The row has focused attention on attitudes towards race in a part of Belgium renowned for its sympathy with the far right. In last year's elections the anti-immigration, Flemish separatist party, the Vlaams Belang won 26 per cent of the vote.
The group has accused Mr Van Bellingen of using the mass wedding to further his own political ambitions.
Independent
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