The BNP's Kay Pollitt - gun-toting pisshead

The BNP's Kay Pollitt - a great ad for the evils of drink

The BNP candidate in the upcoming Eccles by-election (following the death of the incumbent, Labour's John Cullen) seems to be an interesting character. Kay Pollitt, for it is she, has a pretty special way with a phrase. Take this, for instance:

'...we can not bow down to the traitor in power, if they get their way unchallenged they will delete the British people out of our country, and we will become the minority.'

There's so much wrong with that sentence, I can't even be bothered to dissect it. Feel free to do so in the comments.

Ms Pollitt's partner and father to her impending sprog, the BNP's Salford organiser Gary Tumulty, is almost as coherent:

'...every time we have visited Eccles Precinct, there has been scores of support directed to us, we have a first time candidate, and a first time ward times are exciting and changing.'

Times are certainly exciting for Tumulty - he is known to be one of the main contributors to Redwatch, a site set up to supply the violent far-right with names, details and photographs of anyone who opposes the BNP, the EDL or any of the nazi or racist groups that are dotted around all over the damn place.

We should include an image of Tumulty here but he looks like a bulldog chewing a wasp so here's a pic of his arse instead. Believe me, it's a lot better-looking. His is the one in the middle - and the picture was taken at a recent BNP piss-up (or family event, as they describe it). Wouldn't you love to be confronted with that sight while walking around with your family?

Of course, a rather worse sight to see while out with the kids, is a bunch of drunken fuckwits messing around with guns - so you can pretty much guarantee then, that at a BNP family event, that's precisely what you'll bump into. This is a picture of Pollitt and Tumulty playing with guns at the same event as the synchronised arse display (actually a St George's Day event, though what the connection is between St George, rifles and arses is beyond me, thank God). No doubt a council candidate needs to be able to take the odd pot shot from time to time, to stop the campaign from getting boring.

Thinking of voting for Kay Pollitt? You'll get a drunken idiot who likes guns and lives with a guy who encourages violence against those who oppose the far-right. What a star.

Images courtesy of Hope not hate and Manchester AFA

Thanks to Mr Smith for the heads-up

We won’t hold our breath

Paul Prodromou aka Pitt

It seems the EDL may owe us a few words of gratitude, but we won’t hold our breath

Last week we pointed out that the Essex EDL organiser Paul Prodromou aka Paul Pitt had found a new bosom buddy, well known neo Nazi Eddie Stamton.Eddie has become a regular at EDL events and is particularly close to Prodromou and other leading members of the EDL.

Stamton, who has also gone by the names of Stampton and Stanton during a long and positively criminal lifetime, has been involved with far-right politics since he was a teenager. As well as the hard line, Hitler worshipping British Movement and Combat 18, Eddie was also once the National Activities Organiser and London organiser with the miniscule British People’s Party (BPP) which turned out a plethora of paedophiles and wannabe terrorists when they were not updating their “Redwatch” website.

Well thanks to our article it seems the EDL have actually taken some notice and declared Stamton persona non grata.

In a long and tedious posting on the EDL website they explained “On September 11th, a group of EDL supporters went to pay their respects outside the US Embassy, and demonstrate against the presence of a group of Muslim extremists who, within earshot of victims’ families, were mocking those who died in the attack on the World Trade Center. Unfortunately, we have learned that amongst the group was an individual named Eddie Stamton, a relatively well-known neo-Nazi, tied to organisations which, amongst other things, have called for homosexuality to made illegal and have made a point of denying the Holocaust.”

They continued “We do not usually like to name individuals,but given Stamton’s known association with the Redwatch website, we believe that this time it is justified. Eddie Stamton, and any other neo-Nazis, are not welcome at EDL demonstrations, and will be ejected whenever they are identified.”

The EDL have a track record however of not carrying out their threats when it comes to the banning of their own members. The organisation is overflowing with a menagerie of neo Nazis, pub racists and rank and file bigots so it is doubtful that this sentiment which is little more than window dressing will stick.

There are already rumblings within Essex EDL that Stamton is a trusted and loyal friend and that he will be allowed to attend EDL events despite what the EDL leadership say.

The only way is Essex apparently.

Hope not hate

MPs urge crackdown on internet hatred

MPs have urged the European Union to take the lead in cracking down on antisemitic sites from far right and Islamist groups.

At the first major debate on antisemitism last Thursday at Westminster Hall, John Mann, chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group against Antisemitism, said he was frustrated with progress on the issue. He said: "Is it beyond the EU to have some common standards relating to the internet that would greatly enhance what has happened in this country? "

But he warned: "Despite the history of the origins of the EU, the Commission has never, ever seen antisemitism as part of its remit, which must change. Addressing the internet would be a good start."

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport is preparing a ministerial conference on dealing with internet hate. Noting a US initiative to challenge Google and Microsoft over antisemitism online, Mr Mann observed: "I am certain that if our colleagues in the US Congress can organise such meetings, we will in some way be able to get representatives, too."

His call was backed by LibDem MP Sir Alan Beith, who said: "Internet service providers will have to do a lot more to prevent the internet and social networking tools, which are of such immense value to so many people in the world, from becoming a source of terrible evil and a means by which evil is spread."

Mr Mann pointed to the success of prosecuting Simon Sheppard and Stephen Whittle, convicted of inciting racial hatred by posting stories such as"Tales of the Holohoax." It was the first case the Crown Prosecution Service brought involving the diffusion of race hate via the internet.

Louise Ellman raised concerns that those sites which went unchallenged were generally Islamist, coming from places like Saudi Arabia,, rather than those on the far right. But Denis MacShane said he did not believe antisemitism online was confined to extremist websites, saying: "I could bring to the House cartoons and articles in our main newspapers - our liberal newspapers, our left newspapers and our conservative newspapers - that precisely draw that moral equivalence between Israel and Nazism, which attempt to typecast all Jews as supporters of Israel who thus have a double loyalty."

Tom Watson was greatly concerned by rhetoric in the media, particulary that of TV host Glenn Beck of Fox News, whose shows are available in the UK. Last year, he noted, "Mr Beck and his guests invoked Hitler 147 times. Nazis, an additional 202 times. Fascism or fascists, 193 times. The Holocaust got 76 mentions, and Joseph Goebbels got 24."

A CST spokesman said: "This was an excellent debate that showed cross-party support for tackling antisemitism and a real understanding of our community's concerns. We must not forget or underestimate just how many good friends we have fighting our corner."

Jewish Chronicle

Polish Neo-Nazi web site editors get prison sentences

A District Court in the western city of Wroclaw has sentenced three editors of the neo-Nazi Redwatch web site for propagating racism.

Mariusz T. from the southern city of Bielsko-Biala, Andrzej P. from the coastal city of Swinoujscie and Bartosz B. from the northern town of Slupsk were sentenced to up to one and half year in prison for promoting a totalitarian regime in Poland and encouraging hatred towards people of different ethnic origin, nationality, race and religion.

The Polish Redwatch site included a so-called “death list” containing personal data of people who ‘supported’ homosexuality. In July 2006, Polish police shut down the website after a political activist whose name was on the list was stabbed.

The Redwatch web site belongs to a British fascist organization “Blood and Honour”, which has branches in Germany, the Netherlands and Poland.

Redwatch publishes photographs and personal information of left-wing, anarchist, anti-fascist, gay and feminist activists. It also popularizes racial hatred and incites violence against people called “enemies of the race”.

thenews.pl

NUJ fears job cuts and apathy could prevent 'proper' media scrutiny of BNP

The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) last night launched its campaign to encourage the British media to give greater scrutiny to far-right political parties or risk political apathy letting in the British National Party.

Michelle Stanistreet, deputy general secretary of the NUJ was the main speaker at the EXPOSE event in Sheffield, a city represented in the European Parliament by BNP candidate Andrew Brons.

"Journalism comes with a responsibility. We have to face the reality of what happens when we don't do our job properly. We are encouraging our members to scrutinise people from across the political parties. But at the minute the BNP just isn't being scrutinised properly," Stanistreet said. "We need people to know the difference between what these people are saying on TV and what they actually stand for. This needs to be exposed through the media."

The NUJ has previously spoken out against the BBC's decision to put Nick Griffin on Question Time and has created a guide to journalists for reporting the BNP.

The panel, including the Sheffield Star's Julia Armstrong, also criticised falling standards in reporting for allowing extreme policies to go unchallenged. Armstrong, who has been targetted by the Redwatch site, said that cuts made by Johnston Press were leading directly to "churnalism". She said: "Because of the cuts made over the last two to three years it's tough to do your job."

Referring to the new Atex technology being introduced by the group, which is the subject of tomorrow's strike action by Johnston Press journalists in Scarborough, she said: "Our new content management system is more 'mismanagement'. The Johnston Press slogan is 'life is local', but it doesn't believe that. Life isn't local to them, it's centralised."

On the proposed relocation of sub-editors from Scarborough newspapers to Sheffield, she said: "It basically means job losses. People won't make that journey. They will either take up reporting positions and take a cut in pay or take redundancy."

Dr Rhetta Moran, secretary of Greater Manchester Unite Against Facism and an NUJ member, also featured at the event, which was attended mostly by student journalists.

Moran was arrested at the English Defence League's protest in Bolton on 20 March and the union is working with her to appeal against her arrest. She said: "The difference between the EDL and the BNP is becoming more fluid. The reality is that neither gets the scrutiny it should in the media. Above all we need to raise awareness of the need to vote."

Journalism.co.uk

Lincoln student becomes target on neo-Nazi site

A University of Lincoln student has been put on “Redwatch”, a website used by fascists and other right-wing extremists to locate and target anyone involved in anti-fascist or anti-racist movements.

Tom Myhill is the president of the Socialist Students branch in Lincoln. He regularly attends demonstrations that campaign against racist organisations. He said he was angry but not totally surprised when he found out he had been put on the site, saying: “I didn’t think they’d take too long to track me down.”

He initially found he had been placed on the website when he decided to check his MySpace page and found a message on there from someone he didn’t know, saying he’d been put on the website.

“It just so happened that I decided to check my MySpace for the first time in months, when I saw the message and checked [Redwatch]. I found a little section dedicated to me, it almost looked like a personal fan site.”

The politics student said he was embarrassed, saying Redwatch had deliberately picked certain pictures to depict him in an inappropriate and misleading way. But he joked: “I also found their choice of pictures flattering. They made it look as if they fancied me.”

All of the information and images that have been put on the website have been taken from what is publicly available on social networking sites; in his case, MySpace and Facebook. Myhill is urging students to check what content they store on these sites is accessible by anyone, from images and videos to personal contact details. He also wants to see the Students’ Union raise awareness on the issue. “It’s an important issue. Something has to be done to protect the safety and well-being of students, as well as to preserve their dignity, which is something I don’t have much left of now.”

Myhill has threatened Redwatch with legal action over the use of certain copyrighted pictures, and has contacted Google in an attempt to remove the site from its results.

“If Redwatch could easily be shut down then it should be. I’m not scared of these Nazi scumbags, even if they’re harbouring some sort of physical attraction towards me.”

The Linc

Journalists conflict over whether to keep fascists out of the media

Reporters and broadcast journalists engaged in a fierce debate at the weekend on whether to allow the views of fascist BNP members to appear in print.

A motion at media union NUJ conference, calling for "no platform" for fascists attempting to pose as respectable politicians, sparked claims of "censorship" from some journalists, but other delegates urged the union to back "any journalist who refuses to work with the BNP." The NUJ's press and public relations workers' branch collectively demanded that conference especially supports "black union members who refuse to allow BNP members to use their publication or TV or radio channel as a platform."

The sharp exchanges took place as a photograph of delegates arriving at the conference was revealed to have been posted on the Redwatch internet site, which fascists have used to target union and anti-nazi activists. As some delegates urged an immediate ban on all photography at the conference, student journalist Elizabeth Houghton insisted that the union should not be cowed by the fascists.

"If you say that photography must be banned because nazis may use any photo to intimidate journalists, photographers might as well grab their cameras now and throw them on the funeral pyre of freedom of expression," she declared.

Although a motion calling on the union to work to protect reporters and their families from BNP threats because of their coverage was passed, conference voted against the "no platform" call and, instead, "advised journalists to report the BNP responsibly." But Norfolk delegate David Peel insisted that the decision should not stop journalists standing up to the fascist party.

"I fought the National Front in the 1970s and it breaks my heart that I'm still in this fight, but I will refuse to work with the BNP," he asserted.

Conference also responded to the "deliberate media distortions" of the construction strikes earlier this year, when a fight over national union agreements was portrayed in the press as demands for "British jobs for British workers." Delegates urged the union to campaign "to remind journalists covering industrial disputes of the importance of reporting fairly all sides."

Morning Star

Death threats for journalists covering far right demos

Tough and urgent action is needed in response to violence, intimidation and death threats targeting journalists covering far right demonstrations.

The call by NUJ General Secretary Jeremy Dear comes in the wake of specific email threats against photojournalist and investigative reporter Marc Vallée, and video journalist Jason N. Parkinson. The emails follow verbal threats and intimidation aimed at photographers covering a march by the English Defence League in Leeds at the weekend and other EDL protests this year.
Professional journalists covering the events have filed reports with the NUJ detailing physical violence, including one being punched in the head, verbal threats, and attempts to seize cameras and smash equipment. The union is to file complaints to the police.

Jeremy Dear said: "In a week when yet more photographers have been targeted by right-wing hate website Redwatch, when out on the streets professional photographers are subjected to violence and intimidation by right-wing thugs, there must be tough and urgent action in response to these latest death threats. These are not idle threats made by kids - these are direct, named threats made by individuals who can be traced - in one case an individual already convicted of stabbing someone. They are designed to silence the media and stop photographers showing the true nature of the protests and protestors. The police must act now before a journalist is killed or seriously injured".

Jason N. Parkinson said: "It is ironic the English Defence League claim they are protesting 'peacefully' against Muslim extremism. Then late Saturday night, after returning from covering the Leeds protest, I receive a threatening email from one of their Welsh and English division organisers entitled 'Fatwa'. This is exactly the behaviour and tactics of extremism the EDL claim they are against. Someone should remind the EDL that the fundamental root of all democratic society, including in the UK, is press freedom. Intimidation, violence, Fatwas and death threats are not.”

Marc Vallée said: “I find it intriguing that only four weeks after attending a BNP press conference - at London’s City Hall - I’m targeted by Redwatch in this way. We should be free to go about our lawful and necessary work without such intimidation. I’m determined that when journalists are targeted in this way the only effective response is a collective one as well as journalistic one.”

NUJ

Thanks to NewsHound for the heads-up.

Peter Tierney arraigned for assaulting anti-fascist

As Peter Tierney of Liverpool BNP was arraigned for smashing an anti-fascists head in with a camera tripod, protesters organised by the magistrates court in opposition to fascist violence. But much more can be done.

Today, BNP "super-activist" Peter Tierney was arraigned at the Liverpool Magistrates Court on assault charges. On St George's Day, he split open a man's head with a camera tripod during an attack perpetrated by him and Steve Greenhalgh on anti-fascists who had managed to organise opposition to the party's city-centre leafleting on a moment's notice. Despite accusing another anti-fascist of attacking him, Tierney was eventually arrested and charged by Merseyside police.

In response, the BNP claimed that it was in fact they, "including women and elderly folk," who were "suddenly physically attacked" by "a mob of violent Tory and Labour-supported UAF thugs." These "thugs," of course, being local anti-fascists who were not "harassing" Tierney and his fellow fascists but leafleting against them and their lies.

In the run up to the court-date, the BNP mailing list urged armchair fascists to "email or phone the Crown Prosecution service," in an attempt to subvert the course of justice with a flood of crank calls. Merseyside BNP also called on "all democratic, peace loving Nationalists" to show "support" for Tierney by protesting outside the court.

Today, however, after Merseyside antifascists organised an opposition rally to "show the BNP that we won’t tolerate their racism and violence in Liverpool or anywhere else," the story was somewhat different. Around fifty anti-fascists turned up at the Magistrates Court to protest both the fascist gathering and Tierney's violence, but the BNP were nowhere to be seen.

On the other side of the road from the antifascist gathering, however, four known local fascists - believed to be of the British Freedom Fighters (BFF) rather than the BNP - gathered to jeer at the protesters and take pictures. In response, many in the crowd produced their phones to photograph the snoops whilst a chant of "I'm on Redwatch and I don't care" started up. Eventually, the four slipped away to massive jeering, though not before skulking under the nearby motorway bridge to take a few more photographs.

Inside the court, meanwhile, Tierney was decidedly the worse for wear, looking as though he was "off his face on some or other substance" and being unable to remember his own address. His bail conditions, namely a ban from Liverpool city centre, were reimposed, and he will stand trial on September 3rd. It is vital that anti-fascists come out to demonstrate their opposition to Tierney's violent thuggery once again.

However, although today's protest served its stated purpose well, I can't help thinking that it could have been better done. Although local Liverpool anti-fascists were the first to call a demonstration, it was Unite Against Fascism (UAF) who quickly dominated the event, with UAF and trade union "leaders" there as speakers. One major problem I have with the UAF and similar organisations is that theirs is an opposition to the extreme right centred on hierarchy and authority, with a lot of neglect as regards grassroots organisation.

In Liverpool we do not simply need a band of people who will come out to hold banners at protests in "safe" areas pre-arranged with the police. What we need is solid, grassroots organisation of activists who will not just come out to shout "scum" at fascists but also mobilise their community, engage with ordinary people, and combat the ideology as much as the physical presence of fascism. We need to be there in great numbers when fascists come out, and to present genuine opposition - not to simply negotiate with police to sell the Socialist Worker in an area of their choosing. Most importantly, we need a movement that is tied into class-struggle, not one that tries to turn people off the BNP by directing them towards a government enacting their worst policies.

Successful anti-fascist movements recognise that real power lies with the people, not with "leaders" and "spokespersons." Moreover, they organise with the aim of taking back the streets from fascists wherever and whenever they may be, and they realise that asking police permission to occupy a small corner for a short time does not even come close to this goal. Tierney and his fellow thugs must be opposed, not by bureaucrats with a permit but by ordinary people with cries of "¡No Parasan!"

Truth, Reason and Liberty

Pictures of public figures posted on neo-Nazi website

Redwatch: run by police informer and glue-sniffer Kevin Watmough

The PSNI has been urged to investigate a neo-Nazi website with links to Combat 18 after it posted pictures of high profile politicians, journalists and trade unionists with a sinister plea for information on them.

The police were asked to look at the vile far-right racist site Redwatch after Belfast councillor Niall Kelly discovered several pictures of himself along with dozens of images of members of the public attending rallies in Belfast city centre. A caption above the SDLP man’s picture, taken at last month’s anti-racism rally in support of the Romanian families who were intimidated out of south Belfast, read: “Fenian reds, causing trouble in South Belfast attempting to win support for Gypsy parasites turning the Protestant Village area into a slum.”

In England, a number of MPs and Mersyside trade union leader Alec McFadden received death threats from right wing violent extremists after their details appeared on Redwatch. It is now feared that some people in Northern Ireland could now be targeted.

Pictures of Health Minister Michael McGimpsey, former Belfast Lord Mayor Tom Ekin, north Belfast SDLP councillor Pat Convery and prominent UDA figure Jackie McDonald attending various rallies, including anti-racism and anti-war protests, also appear on the sickening site. It is understood some of the photographs were lifted from Mr Kelly’s Flickr site.

“Obviously I am concerned to see pictures of myself and party colleagues appear on this sinister website,” Mr Kelly told the Belfast Telegraph.

“Since this matter has been brought to my attention I have alerted the police who have informed me that they have been monitoring this website for a while now as this organisation appears to be engaged in hi-tech fascism. However, neither I nor my party will be deterred from standing for the rights of others. The SDLP has faced down threats before and we will continue to do what is right as we strive to fight against racism, sectarianism and bigotry.”

Redwatch was originally published in paper form by the far right racist group Combat 18 in March 1992. Among the Redwatch targets are journalist Eamonn McCann, Irish Trade Union Congress leader Claire Moore and Patrick Yu, executive director of Northern Ireland Council for Ethnic Minorities whose contact details including telephone number and address have been posted alongside his picture.

Crowd shots showing members of the public attending at rallies in Belfast dating back as far as 2004 are also posted and in a worrying development appeal for information on those in the picture.

A caption read: “Send us details of your local red scumbags — we want their names, addresses, phone numbers, photographs, work details — anything and everything about them to publish here in the same way as they are doing to our people. We are going to give them exactly the same treatment as they are. Fight back. Any further info on the freaks below will be gratefully received.”

However journalist Eamon McCann said he would not be intimidated.

“I am not in the least bit intimidated. I would be almost insulted if these people had been making a list of their enemies in Northern Ireland and I was not on it.”

A spokeswoman for the PSNI said: “We do not comment on the security of individuals. The police service does not monitor internet sites on a day-to-day basis. However it will take appropriate action when complaints are received of criminal offences that occur within its jurisdiction.”

Belfast Telegraph

Casuals United: the next generation of British fascists

Recently, on my Facebook account, I received some rather bizarre threats. This in itself is nothing new, as I receive rambling threats from neo-Nazi goons on a semi-regular basis, usually threatening to put me on Redwatch or some similar action. That putting my face on an internet site won't be too daunting a prospect for somebody who uses Facebook in the first place is a concept that seems utterly lost on some people.

However, the threats I'm referring to here were of a somewhat different flavour. After a brief exchange on a Facebook discussion board for the activist group No Borders, wherein I suggested that somebody claiming that the UK was 20% too overcrowded had "pulled the figures out your arse," I received the following message;

you've insulted a member of Hur al'Ayn
Between You and Sakinah Malik




Sakinah Malik
17 July at 00:19
Report message
please take it back, on the board. you have to speak to us as you would if were speaking in person.
yours sincerely
Sakinah

Although bemused, I thought nothing of it until I received a similar response on the No Borders group, to which I responded that "I'll speak to anyone however I please, that's one of the beauties of free speech, so please don't fucking PM me about this trifling shit again cause I'll ignore it." To which I received the following reply from a like-minded Facebook troll;

OK here's another PM
Between You and Lady Terror




Lady Terror
17 July at 16:44
Report message
I'm not a troll, I'm a member of the Hur al-Ayn and you should show people a bit more respect. you're only being rude coz ur 200 miles away behind a keyboard. Apaologise to Charlotte or face the consequences.

Aside from the obvious irony of somebody calling themselves "Lady Terror" and claiming to be of the "Hur al-Ayn" (Maidens of Paradise, the Islamic "72 virgins") whilst simultaneously insisting that they are not a troll, there is also somehing sinister in the phrase "or face the consequences." Sure enough, a member of Lancaster Unity who was also a member of the No Borders group alerted me to a group titled "Uk[sic] Casuals United;"

On which I have my own particular claim to fame;

The "Charlie Wadia" in question is the one whom "Sakinah Malik" and "Lady Terror" were "defending" by sending me personal messages and weak threats.

This group was set up after a similar group, "Hooligan Central," was hijacked. I wrote about this earlier incarnation in the article "Riots in Luton and media apologism for fascist violence," about the fascist ties and thuggish antics of the groups who marched through Luton in opposition to earlier Muslim demonstrations at an armed forces homecoming parade. The Casuals United homepage confirms that "Casuals from around the UK started coming together in protest at these hatemongers, and the way the police arrested two people who were rightly outraged by their disgusting protest" but insist that they are "non political, non racist, non violent protest groups."

However, the fact that their stated purpose is to "stop the enemy within," namely "these people, whos [sic] agenda is to dominate Britain, and make it an Islamic State," and the "politically correct traitors ... who have brought us to this terrible state of affairs," says otherwise. Such rhetoric is transparently fascist in origin, as are the doctrinal precepts which underlie it. This is not to mention, of course, that posting up the details of opponents - I am not the only one to receive such treatment on that particular group - has obvious echoes of sites such as Redwatch.

Groups such as Casuals United, and the affiliated English Defence League, represent a new strain of fascism. They are as virulent as traditional groups such as the BNP, the National Front, or the Orange Lodge, and antifascists need to organise physical resistance to them as they try to bring fascist violence back to our streets.

Truth, Reason and Liberty

BNP's Bob Bailey claims candidate's criminal past and death threats will win votes

Bailey and Lewis - as mad as each other

The hypocrisy of the British National Party is legendary, as is the blatant insanity of many of its more prominent members, though we're finding it difficult to decide if Bob Bailey, the party's London organiser, is hypocritical, insane or just plain stupid. Or possibly a combination of the three.

Bailey was in the news a couple of days ago, referring to the BNP's candidate in the Waddon by-election next week and trying to boost her chances by taking the 'insanity' approach to politics. That is, to talk bollocks loudly enough to drown out the stupidity of what you're actually saying.

Bob Bailey is a curious and unstable character. It was he who berated a vicar who dared to have 2,000 anti-BNP leaflets printed and delivered ahead of a local by-election, claiming that the clergyman was a fascist for getting involved with politics. He also had a go at a Labour councillor who dared to take issue with him at a Barking and Dagenham council meeting, calling him a Nazi, presumably for being so disagreeable.

Bailey also had a well-publicised go at the principal of Barking College Ted Parker, just hours before the college held a Love Music Hate Racism (LMHR) event at its Dagenham Road, Dagenham campus, ordering him to stop hosting such events or there would be 'problems' from BNP members.

Even more publicised was his foul-mouthed telephone tirade against the Barking and Dagenham Recorder news editor Sally Lowe, who he again branded a Nazi after seeing the Recorder's coverage of the London Assembly elections. After slamming the phone down, Bailey turned up outside the Recorder's offices with a group of BNP members, shouting garbled messages through a megaphone until they were moved on by the police.

Bailey has also lied on his profile on the BNP London website, claiming that the party had secured 5,000 new homes in his borough. Of course, it had done no such thing and never will.

Unstable, abusive,foul-mouthed, a liar and stupid. No surprise then, that Bailey should do more than simply endorse the candidacy of Charlotte Lewis, who is contesting Waddon ward, Croydon for the BNP, a former animal rights activist who was jailed for six months in 2001 for a campaign of harassment against employees of Huntingdon Life Sciences, a Cambridgeshire laboratory that carries out product testing on animals.

Regular readers will recall the fuss the BNP made about the membership list being leaked and how it would place the lives of every one of the party's members in jeopardy, how it raved about claims that members had received abusive phone calls and letters (unverified by the police) and how anti-fascists were unprincipled bastards for daring to have a go at the racists and fascists living in their midst (though the party had studiously ignored Redwatch for years, which has details of thousands of those who oppose such organisations as the BNP, many supplied by known BNP members and even BNP councillors).

When it was revealed that Charlotte Lewis, in her animal rights days, had sent death threats to employees of HLS, Bailey's response was peculiar, bearing in mind the response from the party over the leaked list.

'She only sent some letters...we didn't think that it should hold her back from standing as a candidate.'

One of the letters she sent had this little gem in it.

'This is a warning. Your life is in grave danger if you don't stop working at HLS. You will find yourself having a gun aimed at your stupid ugly head.'

Lewis even managed to send letters to people who had left HLS two years before, leaving one woman 'hysterical and very scared'.

The ethics of animal rights activism are hotly debated, particularly when it comes to confronting individuals either at home or work but this is not the place for such a discussion. The fact is that Lewis sent a number of frightening and threatening letters, was convicted of a number of counts of harassment and was jailed for six months. And what is Bob Bailey's considered response to an action that is likely to earn little sympathy from a public that has heard many horror stories about animal rights activists over the past couple of years?

'It's free advertising. There's no such thing as bad publicity. It's extra publicity for us and it will increase our share of the vote. It was ages ago. I honestly don't feel it's worth commenting on. I'm not going to make a big deal out of it.'

The BNP as an entity doesn't feel anything is a big deal if it comes from their side (though one can easily imagine the cries of outrage if a Charlotte Lewis were to stand for the Labour Party). One of its more important members is Lambertus Nieuwhof, a South African IT specialist who oversees the party's internet operations. Nieuwhof is an interesting character - in January 1992, he was one of three men who planted a home-made bomb at the Calvary Church School in protest against the school's decision to become racially mixed. The bomb, thankfully, failed to go off and he received a derisory 12-month prison sentence for his role in this act of terrorism. He's still in the party though and remains one of its increasingly important South African members.

Bailey's point about there being no such thing as bad publicity makes one wonder where he's been living for the last six months. Was the revelation last November that a couple of its members were child abusers good publicity? Will it still be good publicity when a couple of its senior officers are finally done for attempting to have sex with a couple of underage girls, should that ever actually happen?

Bailey is clearly the worst type of modern BNP organiser. Completely blinkered, unstable and prone to at least verbal violence, and utterly incapable of seeing reality even if it comes up and headbutts him on the bridge of the nose. Charlotte Lewis has been jailed for several acts of violence by proxy - there's no getting away from that. Any amount of bullshit from Bob Bailey will make no difference - her record will lose her votes and the stupidity of a party that stands a woman described as having 'a history of psychological problems' that appear to have manifested themselves in such a manner will do nothing for its credibility with the electorate.

BNP candidate is jailed animal rights extremist

A British National Party candidate in a Croydon, south London, by-election this month was an animal rights activist who served a prison sentence for a campaign of terror against an animal research laboratory.

Charlotte Lewis, who is contesting Waddon ward, Croydon, on 12 February, was jailed for six months in 2001 after being found guilty of four charges of harassment as part of a concerted campaign against the staff of Huntingdon Life Sciences, whom she called “animal abusing scum”.

Lewis, who was a member of Stop Animal Rights Cruelty, wrote a series of anonymous threatening letters to people working at the Cambridgeshire laboratory. One warned the recipient: “If you don’t quit HLS then your life will not be worth living. You will always have to be looking over your shoulder.” Another threatened: “This is a warning. Your life is in grave danger if you don’t stop working at HLS. You will find yourself having a gun aimed at your stupid ugly head.”

One family received over 50 such letters from animal rights activists before a brick was thrown through their window. Shortly afterwards Lewis wrote to them saying: “I was there when a brick was put through your window. If you don't quit HLS you can expect more of the same.”

Peterborough Crown Court heard that Lewis, who today is the London BNP regional treasurer, had “a history of psychological problems and suffers depression”. She was arrested after forensic scientists matched her saliva with DNA found on the back of the stamps used to post the letters.

Judge Richard Pollard imposed four concurrent six-month prison sentences on Lewis, saying that her letters had had such an impact upon their recipients that a custodial sentence was necessary. He also imposing a restraining order to prevent Lewis from harassing HLS staff further.

Whatever one’s views on animal testing there can be little doubt that the campaign against HLS was long, violent and, for those on the receiving end, terrifying. Lewis was sentenced in 2001 amid a terrorist campaign in which deadly nail bombs were sent to organisations and individuals, some only marginally connected with animal research.

On 21 January 2009 seven “fanatical” leaders of Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty (SHAC) were jailed for between four and eleven years on charges of conspiracy to blackmail during the course of a campaign described by the judge as “urban terrorism”.

Having joined the BNP in 2003, Lewis was in trouble with the law again in 2006 while standing as a BNP candidate in the May council elections in St Helier, Sutton. Lewis put a false Sutton address on her nomination form to make her eligible to stand and was questioned by the police over possible election fraud. However despite her clear breach of electoral law she was not charged.

Asked about the incident by the local paper during her current campaign, Lewis lied again, blaming a party organiser “who has since left the organisation”. If she is referring to the former Croydon and Sutton BNP organiser, this might be news to him. Far from leaving the BNP Bob Gertner was recently promoted to south London organiser. His replacement in the Croydon and Sutton role: Lewis herself.

Lewis’s Croydon campaign was slow to take off, with London activists prioritising the East Wickham by-election on 22 January, but BNP efforts on her behalf are set to intensify in the final three weeks before polling day.

Not content to wait for the cavalry, the long-term unemployed candidate decided to shoot her own campaign video. It was not a great success. Filming without permission outside a local school quickly landed her in hot water as teachers came out to remonstrate, causing her to skulk off with her tail between her legs.

At one point her speech to camera is interrupted by what sounds like an aeroplane flying overhead. Rather than re-shoot the scene, Lewis left it in. Could her decision have anything to do with her penchant for telling all and sundry that she is going to become an airline pilot? Good luck to her, but her ambition might prove a little hard to realise without a pilot’s licence or, as her recent internet posts make clear, any intention of returning to college to get the necessary qualifications to gain one.

Searchlight

BNP stands accused over leaflet drops

Far-right activists have been accused of “political intimidation” after encouraging neighbours to confront a prominent anti-racist campaigner in his own home.

About 20 members of the newly-formed far right group Wirral British National Party dropped 2,500 leaflets in Wallasey close to Merseyside Trade Union Congress leader Alec McFadden’s home. The leaflets urge people to confront Mr McFadden [left] at his home and the maildrop coincided with him being in Liverpool at the front of an anti-racism rally. The only people at home were Mr McFadden’s two teenage daughters, who have been brought up in the Jewish faith.

Mr McFadden said: “They knew that I was leading the march, so they chose the moment to give these leaflets out, also knowing I’m a single parent with two teenage daughters.”

Mr McFadden was repeatedly stabbed to the face and torso in front of his now 16-year-old daughter, on the doorstep of his home in May, 2006. He believes the assailant was a fascist sympathiser and has had to alter his day-to-day life to ward off future attacks by such “radical thugs”.

Police have had to intervene after a neo-Nazi website featured pictures of Mr McFadden and he received death threats.

This weekend, Chief Supt Steve Ashley said the force was aware that leaflets were distributed in an area of Wallasey on Saturday. He said: “The content is being reviewed to determine if any criminal offence has been committed, and police patrols have been stepped up in the area.”

The latest pressure being applied on the trade union leader comes as the issue of “jobs from British workers” dominates many of the national papers.

Wirral BNP literature says: “Instead of defending British Workers, McFadden was holding an anti-racism/anti-BNP march in Liverpool while workers were being made redundant.”

They accuse him of being unpatriotic and allowing jobs to fall into the hand of immigrants while British people lose out in the current economic downturn. But Mr McFadden emphatically denies this. He said: “In January and February, 2008, I did the first case in Britain for young men when Polish workers were brought in on half the wages of British workers. I won the case, earning them thousands of pounds.

“I stand up for the fair treatment of workers, whoever they are. There is no excuse for what has been going on. My children shouldn’t have to face intimidation for any reason. My daughters were very upset when they heard about this.”

A neighbour and the National Union of Journalists leader in Merseyside, Mike Studley, said the incident was “an appalling act of political intimidation.”

Liverpool Daily Post

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

Death threats to councillor

Police are investigating death threats made against a Tameside councillor.

 The threats were made after Councillor John Taylor’s details appeared on a violent far right website, Redwatch. The site, which includes pictures of political activists including anti-British National Party demonstrators, anti-deportation marches and Socialist Worker volunteers, lists home addresses and contact details of people featured online.

 The 60-year-old Dukinfield councillor, who has been a Labour Party member for 36 years and trade unionist for 40 years, is known for his criticism of the BNP. Since featuring on Redwatch, Councillor Taylor — who is a grandfather — has received countless emails saying that he will be shot in the head.

 "Since I was a teenager I’ve been involved in anti-fascist campaigning, so I’ve put up with day-to-day political jibes. I’ve been on marches and had things shouted at me but never anything as serious as this," said Councillor Taylor. "I’ve obviously had to take it very seriously because of my family. They said they were going to shoot me and have identified what gun they’re going to use, so it shows they know what they’re talking about. For people who know Redwatch, when they do identify you, you usually become a victim of violence."

 Councillor Taylor was also alerted to a video on the YouTube website, which accused him of being a communist. Fellow Dukinfield councillor, Brian Wild, also had his picture placed on the Redwatch website along with his address and the comment that he is an ‘anti-BNP associate of Councillor John Taylor’.

 Inspector Tony Alogba, of Stalybridge police, said: "We are investigating a threat to kill recently made on a website. We are following a number of inquiries and working closely with the victim to trace the person or people responsible. If anyone has any information about the threat please contact us on 856 9255."

Tameside Advertiser

Clive Jefferson, YouTube, and incitement to violence

This article was submitted by our mates, Lancaster Antifa. 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.

With the infamous case of Sheppard and Whittle in the news it doesn't seem like anti-fascists have to dig very deep to find links to organised far right groups and violent threats and intimidation. Redwatch is obviously the jewel in the crown for the far-right as far as this tactic is concerned. The BNP have, in public at least, recently tried to distance themselves from Redwatch but we know only too well that BNP members have supplied photos for the Redwatch site which promotes violence against dinner ladies, union activists, and anti-fascists.

It seems like the tactic of posting internet picture of your enemies has inspired the BNP's Cumbrian press officer, Clive Jefferson. He now regularly posts videos of anti-fascists on YouTube under the profile name "CumbrianPatriot". You can hear Jefferson's pathetic comments on these video clips as he attempts to mock and deride those who protest against the BNP.

In one video clip Jefferson complains about pictures of the Nazi Holocaust on an anti BNP leaflet. The woman he is talking to complains "that's going back to the 1940s"., as Jefferson adds "disgusting.... they're putting that out against us." What is Jefferson's problem? He is happy to belong to an organisation whose leader, Nick Griffin, says;

"The "extermination" tale is a mixture of Allied wartime propaganda, extremely profitable lie and latter witch hysteria."

"It's well known that the chimneys from the gas chambers at Auschwitz are fake, built after the war ended."

So he should expect a response from people who are sickened and disgusted by these claims. The Nazi Holocaust was not a mere "detail of history" but a stain on mankind.

Jefferson recently led a sorry band of out of towners into Lancaster to attempt, in their own words, to "breach the citadel". Of course as readers of this blog know their attempts to set up a stall in the town centre met with a swift response and Jefferson, Ashburner, and a couple of friends had to make a demoralised retreat with their tales between their legs.

Their "stall" (a wallpaper paste table!) was surrounded by anti-fascists and they were unable to peddle their filthy racist bile. They packed up to shouts of “no racism in Lancaster!” from locals, and to make matters worse Jefferson was issued with a fixed penalty notice for his illegal number plate!

Fascists are often noted for their historical revisionism and it wasn't long before Jefferson was boasting on his blog about what “potential” Lancaster had for far-right campaigning! He obviously hasn't learnt anything from the miserable failure of Chris Hill, and the fact that the BNP has now completely folded in Lancaster, rejected by the voters, and split by internal wrangling.

Jefferson also boasted about his YouTube video of the protesters who turned out to send the BNP packing. The video titled “Lancaster UAFs finest” was another attempt to bring Redwatch tactics to YouTube. Jefferson whose nose was dribbling as he packed up the stall makes pathetic comments about protesters shaking like leaves. The video though had the desired effect and it wasn't long before threats were being made to anti fascist activists who had been mistakenly identified.

One such threat came from someone with the YouTube profile name “destroyblackvermin” (that says it all really!). “destroyblackvermin”, as you can see from checking his profile and favourites, is rather fond of the BNP. He is also openly racist in public. You don't have to dig very far to find comments like these posted on YouTube by this sewer dweller;

“hey black twat you can but try ..told you i eat pakis filth and inbred cunts like you for supper..just fire me your house number and street let me drip your black aids riddled blood on your doorstep you vermin..and by the way dickhead im not in bradford im in salford manchester a 99% white area...now less of the chat give us your adress or keep your black mouth shut ..and dont get your little race traitor girls doing your dirty work. destroyblackvermin”

Well I wonder if Jefferson is pleased with himself knowing what sort of filth he is inspiring on the internet? “destroyblackvermin” went on to post a direct threat, on an anti-fascist YouTube profile, against someone who he thought had been identified on Jefferson's video. It read “********** has been identified – watch your back”. The incident was reported, and, despite all the other vile racist hatred that remains on YouTube, Jefferson's video proven to inspire racists and threats of violence was removed for “terms of use violation by user”. Of course there are still a number Jefferson's videos on the net, but at least we have had another small victory against this man and his rather unsuccessful attempts to organise the BNP in Cumbria and north Lancashire.

Lancaster Antifa

Martyn Gilleard – Searchlight press release

Martyn Gilleard, an organiser in the neo-Nazi British People’s Party has been found guilty of three offences under the Terrorism Act.

Upon raiding his flat police discovered a small arsenal consisting of several nail bombs, dozens of bullets, swords, axes and knives, which a jury found him guilty of possessing for the preparation of terrorist acts. Gilleard also pleaded guilty to a number of child pornography offences after police discovered 39,000 indecent images of children on his computer ranging from category one to five. Five is the most serious.

Throughout his detention Kevin Watmough the leader of the BPP who also runs the Redwatch website gave Gilleard his unreserved support and only expelled him from the party once the trial was underway presumably after discovering he had also pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography.

Given Gilleard’s pronounced neo-Nazi views and his desire to put them into practice the case has chilling similarities to that of London “nail bomber” David Copeland, a former BNP member whose rampage in 1999 left three people dead, including a pregnant mother, and hundreds injured.

The August issue of Searchlight will feature a special report on Gilleard and a full account of his far right affiliations.

Stop the BNP

Anti-BNP campaigners' personal details put on website

Redwatch boss, the moronic nazi Kevin Watmough

Community leaders who took part in an anti-BNP rally have reacted with defiance after many had their personal details posted on a fascist website.

Redwatch posts details of what it says are Marxists and Communists, including home addresses and telephone numbers, stating they should 'pay for their crimes'.

Following an anti-BNP rally in Wrexham town centre on April 12, photos and personal information about a number of local people, including MPs, councillors and anti-fascist campaigners, were put up on the website. But a number of those targeted, including Wrexham Council's Liberal Democrat leader, say they are unperturbed by the move.

Wrexham's Lib Dem leader, Aled Roberts, who took part in the demonstration, said: "As far as I'm concerned I've got no problem with anyone knowing my details – my phone number is in the directory. If a right wing organisation puts my details up as some kind of quasi-Communist I'm happy with that. It's a free country and I've got a right to express my views."

County councillor David Bithell added: "If they have got me on the website as far as I'm concerned it is a badge of honour. I'm delighted I'm on there."

A slogan, which appears on Redwatch's homepage, reads: "Remember places, traitors' faces, they'll all pay for their crimes."

Evening Leader

Note: To join Searchlight's campaign to shut down Redwatch, go here.

The BNP and Redwatch working together

The picture above shows a group of protestors at the demonstration against the Nick Griffin/David Irving debate at the Oxford Union earlier this week and is taken from the BNP website, where it printed (naturally) a scathing report criticising those who dared to demonstrate against it.

Curiously (or perhaps not) it also appeared on the day after the demonstration on the Redwatch site. Redwatch, run by the moronic nazi Kevin Watmough, is famed for encouraging violence against anti-fascists, trades unionists and anyone it perceives as being to the left of Genghis Khan, and shows images and, where they are available, names, addresses, phone numbers and any other contact details it can muster up.

Many of those who have found themselves on Redwatch have been targets of hardcore nazis - many of them suffering firebombs in their houses and cars, general abuse either face to face or by phone, and violent attacks.

Naturally, the BNP has always stated that it has nothing at all to do with Redwatch, despite the fact that its members have been repeatedly observed taking pictures which have subsequently appeared on the site. On this occasion though, they may have tripped themselves up in their desperate attempt to convince the party members that the demo wasn't an own goal that linked the party leader irrevocably with the Holocaust-denier David Irving. In its haste to put up its photo's of the demonstrators, it used the image above which, up until then, had only appeared on the Redwatch site - suggesting that either the BNP photographer is supplying both the party and Redwatch or that the BNP trawls Redwatch for images it can use.

Either way, it shows a connection between Redwatch and the BNP that the latter has been lyingly denying for years. More evidence, as if any were needed, that the BNP is still concealing a hardcore nazi element under the sharp suits and bad ties, and that the implicit violence of Redwatch is never really far below the surface of this racist party.

[Thanks to Duncan for the heads-up]

Redwatch on BBC Yorkshire

Redwatch-as-viewed-by-the-BBC---31st-Oct-2007 - Get Video Code

For those who missed it - here's the Redwatch programme that was on BBC Yorkshire last night. If you are unable to view the embedded file, go here.