Fascists show their faces in Liverpool

The fascist BNP today continued their campaign of intimidation and racism on the streets of Liverpool. At around 2pm Andrew Tierney, again claiming to be a freelance journalist, set up his camera tripod directly in front of the Socialist Workers Party stall. This was a clear attempt to unsettle and intimidate people as they engaged in legitimate political activism. Tierney also filmed a local former Big Issue seller who now works advertising for local companies. This man, who has no association with the SWP, was going about his job and became frightened when the camera was put about a foot from his face.

After the police intervened the BNP made it clear that they were not going to disappear and the four or five of them began to attempt to distribute their leaflets to a less than susceptible public. Anti-Fascists soon rallied around and began to arrive at the street in numbers shouting “Nazi Scum, Off out Streets” and “Sing it loud, Sing it clear, BNP not welcome here.” The timely arrival of some Hope not Hate leaflets meant that the anti-fascists had some literature which they could give out to the public revealing the fascist and violent nature of the BNP. These leaflets were quickly snapped up by passers by and left the fascists looking dejected as they stooped to pick their own leaflets off the floor before people realised the reaction they were receiving. One confused lady, who thought we were the BNP, refused to accept a leaflet off me because she wasn’t a racist. If people refuse my literature because they hate the BNP it is fine with as me the message is already out there.

The growing group of anti-fascists soon began to get even louder in their shouts and the BNP group made their way up Bold street. A few of their supporters, mainly young skin head males, joined them and began to shout back at the group with phrases like “BNP all the Way” and “White Supremacy”. Seeing that they were by now outnumbered and were not getting their message across the BNP, who had filmed anti-fascists throughout the two hour standoff, made their way up Bold Street and home. Not the kind of thing we want to have to do the weekend before Christmas but wherever the Nazis show their faces we will oppose them, even at short notice.

Fascist Failure on Merseyside/ BNP Terrorist

Results from Halewood South.

Carl Robert Cross Conservative 32
Allan Harvey Labour 607
Eric Arthur McIntosh TUSP 52
Tommy Morretta Liberal Democrat 486
Andy Thompson Independent 30
Tony Ward British National Party 113

Turnout: 23.06%

Despite a very poor turnout, the BNP have managed to secure only around 8% of the vote in Halewood South yesterday and were not even in with a chance of winning the seat. Labour won the seat after the previous Lib Dem vote collapsed as voters stayed away in their droves. The BNP had plowed countless resources into the contest, distributing their "Voice of Freedom" propaganda sheet for free to most of the houses and driving around in the local lie lorry emblazzened with BNP insignia. Their effort was in vain however as Labour and the Liberal Democrats dwarfed the party in this area, which, following June's revelation that it has the lowest turnout in the country, appears to having a major crisis of political representation.

Thanks to all those who gave out leaflets which showed the BNP up for the fascists they are.

BNP Terrorist

All those who campaign against the BNP will be shocked to discover that a paid up member of the BNP yesterday admitted stockpiling explosives and guns to commit acts of terrorism. This once again reminds us that the BNP have not changed and remain covertly committed to violence, applying the veneer of democracy when it suits their ends. Terrence Gavin is not a solitary individual within the BNP and there are many previous cases of the BNP resorting to terrorism to achieve their unappealing objectives. Anti-fascists should redouble their efforts in light of this event and ensure the we Stop the BNP.

More intimidation tactics by Peter Tierney and Merseyside BNP « Liverpool Antifascists

 

See the report below from local group Liverpool Anti-fascists.  It gives an insight into the desperate intimidation  tactics the BNP, especially on Merseyside, employ as a first resort in the face of organised opposition.

Today, activists from Liverpool Antifascists delivered leaflets in Halewood. The event was an overall success, but once again Merseyside BNP revealed that they rely more on intimidation tactics than on politics to get their point across.

As we set off from the Summerfield on Hillfoot Avenue, there was a brief encounter with a BNP supporter. Mistaking the antifascists for the BNP, he had joined us and asked whether Peter Tierney would be turning up soon. One activist explained to him that he was in the wrong group, whilst grabbing the opportunity to offer him a leaflet and explain why the BNP were not the party for anybody genuinely concerned with the plight of the working class. Events later in the day suggested that an antifascist making a similar mistake would have gotten more than a leaflet.

Despite the gloomy weather, there was a good turnout of activists, who managed to cover a significant area and deliver 500 leaflets in the surrounding working class estates. The event was extremely succesful and, as with a leafleting session around the shops the previous week, the response from the public was an overwhelmingly positive one.

Peter Tierney, owner of the Quiggins AttiQue in Aigburth and "super activist" for the BNP

On the way back to the original meeting point, however, we encountered Peter and Andrew Tierney. The brothers, along with an unidentified third fascist, had been delivering leaflets of their own and were just about to leave in Peter’s Land Rover. When they recognised several of the antifascists, however, they were quick to grab their cameras and start taking pictures.

Within moments, they were circling around the tired group of leafleters, taking photos as close as they could and chasing around those who tried to turn their face away. Their clear aim was to intimidate and provoke a small group of passers-by (at this point, they had distributed all their material and had nothing on them to identify their allegiances) which included two women, one of them elderly. At one point Peter, still awaiting trial for assaulting an antifascist back in April, referred to one man as a “shithouse” for not rising to the provocation. His brother Andrew, whose photographs and videos have emerged on Redwatch and various other neo-Nazi hate sites, suggested instigating a third-party assault. “Let’s get some local lads in, nothing to do with us, of course,” were his exact words, after feigning gangster-status by declaring that the leafleters should leave because “this is our territory.”

However, Liverpool Antifascists held our ground. If we had left, we risked being followed, which left individuals particularly vulnerable once they had to part ways. And if we had arisen to the provocation, it looked as though more BNP supporters would have emerged from the nearby pub to support the Tierney brothers. Instead, we stayed where we were until the two thugs got bored, seeing they weren’t getting a rise, and scuttled off.

To those familiar with the BNP, or indeed the Tierneys, this incident will come as no surprise. It also serves as a timely reminder that the party remain, despite their propaganda line, violent goons willing to threaten and intimidate anybody who dares oppose their fascist politics.

We must make sure, no matter what, that these thugs are not allowed to gain ground in Liverpool, Knowsley, or elsewhere.

¡No Pasarán!

 

More intimidation tactics by Peter Tierney and Merseyside BNP « Liverpool Antifascists

MCARF leafletting in By-election Ward

A group of around eight made our way to Halewood South, where the BNP are standing in a Knowsley council by-election later this month. Having divided the streets amongst ourselves we bumped into the labour party team who had been canvassing the area. They told us that the BNP had been out in the morning and were pretending to be UKIP candidates, presumably so that they the public did not turn on them. This tactic might have worked if UKIP were actually standing a candidate. The leafleting itself went well and we quickly covered a large part of the ward with Hope not Hate's 'Never Forget' Leaflet for Remembrance Sunday. A number of the houses had just had the BNP’s ‘Voice of Freedom’ newspaper pushed through their letter box. It would appear that the party are either extremely desperate to achieve some kind of foothold or that they simply can’t give their material away.

Two hours later, as the rain which had threatened all day began to fall; a man came out shouting after us. Seeing his shaven head we thought it was a BNP supporter ready to shout some abuse, he was followed by another shaven headed man. It turns out they were members of the former Dockers’ party, The United Socialist Party, and offered us a much needed cup of tea and a biscuit. It just goes to show that you can’t judge people by their appearances. Anyway we have now passed the leafleting baton to them and they will be completing the ward in plenty of time for the election.

BNP propagandists upset after their lies are shown up.

If you repeat the same lie enough times it becomes the truth. That was Dr Goebbels mantra as he set about his deceitful stewardship of German media in the 1930s. It seems that despite repeating a number of lies the BNP just can’t make those falsehoods stick.

In the same week that a British Jury throws out Nick Griffins latest lie, news reaches us that than a slightly older lie, which the BNP have used for propaganda purposes has also been shown to be false (Thanks BNP Merseyside blog, you make our job so much easier) . Back in March various news sources reported that a “veteran BNP activist” (lifelong racist) Tony Ward was attacked by a gang of hammer wielding thugs. The news sources including the Sun, BBC and Sky simply repeated the BNP version of events unquestioningly. The British Nazi Party made much of the case, focussing on two claims that the perpetrator was a member of UAF and also that he was black. Nick Griffin even used the case as propaganda referring to the alleged crime in his first speech in the European Parliament,where he called UAF state sponsored thugs.



The BNP faithful were quick to seize on the incident and entered various internet forums claiming they were the victims of violence and seeking to condemn all who oppose them as potential hammer attackers.

At the incident in March one man was arrested and charged for causing actual bodily harm. It appears, however, that there is not enough evidence to take this case to court and all charges have been rejected. Never ones to accept defeat, the broken records at the BNP have used the occasion to claim that there is a conspiracy against them and that the culprit is third world immigrant bent on destroying Britain. As usual the website has pumped out its propaganda claiming that there is a Liberal conspiracy against the BNP and that white people are not treated fairly in court. Merseyside British Nutters Party are currently using the removal of charges to label all who work at the Crown Prosecution Service as scum.

Isn’t it strange that they weren’t claiming that the legal system was prejudiced last week when they reported the case of a white anti-fascist, who had been convicted of a minor public order offence, when he tried to stop the fascists from using their intimidation tactics against anti-fascism? As ever the only double standards appear to be coming from the BNP. I wonder how Tony will received when he tries to woo the electorate of Halewood South. Voters love a handsome candidate.

Merseyside BNP's lies exposed

This is a re-post from the Truth, Reason, Liberty Blog

On April 23rd, Peter Tierney and Steve Greenhalgh of the Merseyside BNP were among the thugs who attacked antifascist leafleters in Liverpool City Centre. Despite their claims of self-defence, assault charges against their chosen anti-fascist fall guy were dropped months ago as utterly untenable. Today, at the antifascist's trial, even the flimst criminal damage charges would not stick.

At the Dale Street Magistrates Court, Steve Greenhalgh and a couple of other fascists were already on site waiting for Peter Tierney when antifascists arrived. Tierney today faced a committal hearing so that his case can go to a jury trial at the Crown Court. More news on that will follow when it is available.

In the meantime, antifascists were not there for Tierney and his ramshackle crew. We were there to show solidarity with one of our own, originally falsely accused by Tierney of assaulting him back in April. According to the lie that appeared on the BNP mailing list in July;

"On St George's Day, Peter was distributing leaflets in Liverpool with an elderly crowd of BNP activists. As they were leaving, a hate-filled mob of Communist UAF thugs turned up and physically attacked Peter and his fellow activists. The police then arrested Peter - for defending himself! Other BNP activists in the group that day were also attacked, including an 80-year-old pensioner."

However, since then the assault charges disappeared, with only a criminal damage charge - against a camera which continued to film after the alleged incident took place - in its stead. Greenhalgh was apparently not aware of this, "taunting" our comrade by saying (in reference to his wearing a suit)
"you didn't look that respectable when you were assaulting someone."

As the antifascist himself pointed out, however,

"last time I saw him, he was trying to attack me with an upturned stall table."

The roadshow of calamity that is organised fascism on Merseyside continued with the appearence of Tierney's brother Andrew, who immediately began taking pictures of those assembled. Of course, with the BNP's new "respectable" image this will have nothing to do with intimidation tactics, one can only wonder why Andrew might need lots of pictures of men.

When one of the crowd objected to having his picture taken and shoved the camera down Andrew, who almost looks like a bruiser, showed his true colours by whining that he had been "touched," "insulted," and "assaulted" by the antifascist in question. The police are, perhaps, lucky that they no longer need to employ fascists as strikebreakers anymore if that's what they're made of.

In court, the criminal damage charge against the accused antifascist was dropped, making all BNP claims to self-defence meaningless. A public order charge was upheld, the crime there being to say "get that fucking camera out of my face" and to cover the lens. In recognition that this was a response to fascist intimidation tactics, the charge of breaching public order under duress came with a small fine and no conditions.

We now await Merseyside BNP's claims of a police conspiracy when a jury trial convicts Peter Tierney of assault. Few beyond the ranks of fascists, I imagine, would see smashing someone's head in with a camera tripod as a justifiable "self-defence" against having your camera lens covered up because you were only filming people as an intimidation tactic.

Against Homophobia

Bulletin from Love Music Hate Racism

CANDLE LIGHT VIGIL AGAINST HOMOPHOBIA Sunday 1st November at 8 pm on Stanley St Liverpool


Everything we said about Nazi Nick Griffin being on Question Time has been proved right in the most horrible way.

Just three days after Griffin ranted about militant homosexuals in schools a gay police officer, James Parkes, is left fighting for his life after a homophobic attack.

We must all stand beside the gay community at this time.

There is a vigil organised this Sunday 1st November at 8pm on Stanley St in Liverpool city centre. We urge all our supporters and friends to attend this event.

BNP membership where you live | News | guardian.co.uk

BNP membership where you live News guardian.co.uk

After the last BNP membership leak Jo Brand provoked a tirade of abuse when she famously said: “Now I know where to send dog shit.” Well it seems that the BNP are not to be trusted with data and cant abide by the Data protection act’s demand that “Appropriate measures should be taken against unauthorised or unlawful processing of the data.” Yes their membership list has been leaked online again. Jo can keep her own list “accurate and up to date” and thus comply with the Data protection act. The Guardian have published a ward-by-ward breakdown of the numbers and it appears that the membership is slightly down. It should be noted, however, that the list is still out of date. It was a snapshot of membership in April 2009, we do not know whether membership has risen or fallen since then, the run up and success at the Euro elections could have caused it to rise. One thing is for sure though, the videos made in the BNP office in the lead up to the election, did not feature people clambering to join the party as they claimed; more likely it was disaffected members ringing up to resign from the party. We wont publish the list here, a quick search on google should provide the list, if you can differentiate between new and old, and are that inquisitive. But please no dog shit!

QT Drinking Game

All at MCARF are deeply disappointed that the BBC has misinterpreted its brief to provide balanced coverage of political parties in election campaigns, to mean that they have to give openly racist parties, such as the BNP, a seat on Question Time. Barring success for Peter Hain’s belated attempt to stop the invite, or a strike by technicians, it looks as though the broadcast is going to go ahead. Some people are suggesting an armchair boycott of the program, to show mass disgust at the BBC for creating a media spectacle by inviting a holocaust denier to spread lies on nationwide TV. Personally I will be sitting back and getting ready to note down every comment he makes. Then the facts he claims to be talking about can be checked and his myth making blown out of the water. Should he use inflammatory language at any point I will be sending a complaint to a number of institutions, contacts below. So join me sit back with a supply of drink and award yourself the following penalties for each occurrence of the following.

1. Griffin is unable to talk due to excessive audience booing = Drink 2 fingers width of beer (or wine)

2. Random audience member shouts out fascist, and it makes the final cut = Shot of spirits

3. Griffin refers to panel members Bonnie Greer and Baroness Warsai as

immigrants or not ethnically British = 3 fingers of Beer

4. Griffin mentions Black Police Association in justification at BNP’s racist

membership criteria = Shot of spirits

5. Claim that “White’s only” policy has nothing to do with race but is simply

protection of ethnic Britons = 2 Fingers of beer

6. Claim that majority of racist attacks are carried against white people = 2 shots of spirits

7. Griffin claims there is a conspiracy against BNP by the liberal/Marxist elites

especially in the media = 4 fingers of beer

8. Angry technicians disrupt the broadcast for a minute or more = Finish whole drink

9. Griffin makes claim that anti-fascists routinely use violence against his party,

who are always the victim of crime = shot of spirits

10. Use of BNP’s favoured euphemism ‘Voluntary repatriation’ instead the more commonly used term ‘Ethnic cleansing’ = 4 fingers of beer

11. Griffin squirms and looks uncomfortable as Dimmbelby reads out verbatim

quote relating to ‘well directed boots and fists…’; ‘orthodox opinion once holding that

the earth was flat…’; ‘huge influence of a certain ethnic minority over the media….’ or

‘non-whites have no place here at all…’ = 2 Shots of spirits

12. Griffin makes outrageous claim which he says is backed up by statistics, the rest of the

panel or Dimmbelby fail to challenge him on his assertion = 3 fingers of beer

13. Griffin claims he doesn’t want to see Britain ruled from Brussels, despite the fact

that his own party is. = 4 fingers of beer

14. Griffin claims that attempt to stop his appearance on QT were an attack British

Freedom of Speech = Shot of Spirits

15. Poorly aimed egg is thrown from the audience, Griffin ducks and the egg

splatters on Jack Straw's face. = Finish current drink

16.Mash up of Griffins statements put over Downfall Hitler clip appears on

Youtube the next morning = 1 hair of dog

If you’re still sober enough at the end of all that watch the extended footage on the website. Remember to note down every instance of him using racist or inflammatory language. The BBC will realise its error and never invite this neo-nazi onto its show again.

Once you have compiled your list of Griffin gaffes follow the BBC complaints procedure here

Phone them through on: 03700 100 222 or write to: BBC Complaints, PO Box 1922 Glasgow.G2 3WT

Please also send your complaints to Ofcom

http://www.ofcom.org.uk/complain/progs/specific/?itemid=286480

You can telephone them 9am -5pm 020 7981 3040 or 0300 123 3333.

Ooops they did it again

Despite their attempt to prove that they are not neo-nazis, the group of defence leagues which have recently sprung up seem to let their actions to the talking. This time it the Welsh branch of the EDL ,who call themselves the WDL.

WDL - Actions speak louder than words

It begs the question, how hard can it be not to do a Nazi salute? Allow one to slip through the net and it is possible to claim it as an isolated incident, but last week in Manchester and at yesterday's Swansea rally these guys have shown their true colours, simply by their inability to keep their arms by their sides. Clearly the cameras can not be on them at all times and I can only imagine that there are many more incidences like this. Actions like the burning of the Swastika in front of TV cameras look increasingly hollow. Mind you does the fact that it was carried out by 10 men who wore masks, not because they want to intimidate people but because they are fear retribution, not give their lie away?

BBC NEWS | Programmes | Newsnight | Under the skin of English Defence League

Just in case you missed this program on Monday catch it here – click link if the videos don’t work on this blog BBC NEWS | Programmes | Newsnight | Under the skin of English Defence League

Under the skin of English Defence League Defenders or threat - who are the EDL? Watch Paraic O'Brien's full report By Paraic O'Brien BBC Newsnight One night in September I was invited along to a large disused warehouse in Luton for an English Defence League (EDL) "press conference". The windows of the warehouse had been boarded up. Fifteen men in balaclavas unfurled a swastika flag and proceeded to try to set it alight for the cameras. The message - look we are not Nazis. On Saturday members of EDL were on the streets of Manchester The flag proved stubbornly, and embarrassingly, incombustible. While we waited for it to catch fire I spoke to the leader of the Luton division, a man calling himself Tommy Robinson - though that is not his real name. The real Tommy Robinson was an infamous football hooligan with the MIGs, the Men In Gear firm associated with Luton Town Football Club. According to this Tommy, EDL's raison d'être is to take a stand against the rise of radical Islam on Britain's streets. When you ask the rank and file though they will tell you they are just anti- Muslim. Over the last five weeks I have got to know some of EDL's main players. So, who are they? Part of the problem with answering that question is they do not quite know themselves. Youth wing The organisation is about seven months old and only started gathering any kind of momentum after 10 Muslim extremists staged an anti-war demo at a Royal Anglian Regiment parade in Luton in March this year. The big divisions are in Luton, Birmingham, Bristol and Cardiff. They are a rag tag group of about 400 self-styled English patriots, loosely affiliated with football hooligan firms. They have a female division and a youth division. The leader of the youth division is Joel, an 18-year-old who lives with his grandparents. His father is Irish, his mother Afro-Caribbean and Joel grew up in multi-cultural Harrow, North London. Police say that EDL members are becoming much more organised He did not worry about Muslim extremism until he happened upon EDL's website in April. Now he organises the youth division and sells EDL merchandise - adapted hoodies with a mask you can pull down over your face for demonstrations. Joel admitted to me that he finds the cut and thrust of street demonstrations "exciting". He also acknowledged that when there is a face-off between EDL and Muslim youths on the street "it plays into our hands". Joel denies that there is any militant undertone behind the balaclavas and black shirts, but as he talks you get the feeling he enjoys the drama of it all. There is, of course, a difference between looking scary and being dangerous and one of the key questions being asked in the wake of recent demonstrations is, are EDL dangerous? Threat of hijack About a fortnight ago I was invited along to a pub near the Barbican in London. The leadership of EDL were meeting some potential sponsors. One of them was an IT consultant working in the City. They were offering technical expertise to EDL. During the conversation it was also let slip that someone purporting to be from the Ulster Defence Association had been in contact, interested in starting a branch in Northern Ireland. This could be just bluster, but it raises a serious question - are EDL becoming a sort of lightning rod for other groups of people that are altogether more clever, and altogether more sinister. Prof Matthew Goodwin is an expert on far right groups and advises the Home Office. According to him the group is at a crossroads. Four hundred people that can be quickly mobilised online and will travel to demonstrations is seen as very useful resource. Within the organisation a debate is under way about whether it should stay as a street based protest movement or something more organised and political. The direction EDL takes next largely depends on who decides to try to hijack it.

Demonstrate at BBC Liverpool Against Griffin on Question Time

As you are probably aware the BBC have, amazingly, invited the fascist leader of the BNP, Nick Griffin to take part in Question Time on THURSDAY 22^nd OCTOBER. 

The BBC says the BNP should be treated as if it were a democratic party, but there is nothing democratic about the BNP. It is a racist and fascist organisation dedicated to kicking every single black and Asian person out of this country .Griffin himself wrote: "When the crunch comes, power is the product of force and will, not of rational debate."  He isn't interested in impressing people with his arguments - he wants to back up the BNP's slogans with "well-directed boots and fists".

Demonstrations will take place around the country at BBC Studios, with the biggest taking part  in London.  A demonstration will take place in Liverpool from 5.30.p.m. on the 22^nd outside the offices of the BBC in Hanover Street Liverpool

PLEASE MAKE EVERY EFFORT TO ATTEND

BRING YOUR TRADE UNION & TRADES UNION COUNCIL  BANNER

Events for Black History Month

Please see the National Museums Liverpool website for events in the remainder of Black History Month, which takes places throughout October.

http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/whatsonnet/eventseries.aspx?sid=7

Liverpool’s International Slavery Museum will also host the annual Anthony Walker Memorial Lecture on Friday 23rd October.  The event, sponsored by the NUT, commemorates the brutal murder of Anthony, an a-level student from Huyton, in 2005.  This year the lecture will be delivered by Anthony’s mother, Gee Walker.  Further details and a booking form are available here.

http://www.teachers.org.uk/resources/pdf/Anthony-A5-Flyer%20-%206499.pdf

Freedom of Speech Part 2: EDL are outed

Yesterday this blog reported on the underhand and intimidatory tactics that the BNP resort to in order to prevent the truth about their organisation being revealed in local newspapers. They threatened to boycott small businesses and inundated them with harrasing phone calls demanding that they stop their sponsorship of the South East paper the news shopper which had published an article about the failure of BNP councillor represent his electorate.

Tonight it has been revealed that the BNPs far-right allies the EDL are prepared to go one step further and have launched a campaign of death threats against an anti-fascist activist.

Sky news has broadcast that campaigner Julie Keller has been targetted with death threats after the EDL wrongly accused her of disrupting the two minutes silence they held in Manchester on Saturday. EDL supporters set up a facebook group listing her personal details including her phone number and address. Police have been forced to project Ms Keller because of the very serious threat to her saftey.

The EDL Facebook group threatens Ms Keller

This is further proof that depsite the calls for freedom of speech on the extremist-right they are quick to use intimidation and threats of violence to prevent any criticism of themselves. It also shows that the EDL, who have claimed that their sole aim is to prevent the rise of Islamic extremism, are violent and authoritarian. Many of us already knew this when they rampaged through Luton this summer smashing up Asian owned businesses and homes, and later caused a riot in Luton, leading to 90 arrests for violence.

It seems that the extremist-right, which includes both the BNP and EDL, are only interested in their own right to hold a placard demanding "No More Mosques" or to offer Hitler salutes, as these shots from Saturday's demo show.

EDL Manchester 10th Oct 2009

When it comes to the rest of society intimidation and threats are the language that fascists fall back on. They have no love of freedom, they only want to forward their own message and will go to any length to ensure this happens.

Freedom of Speech? As long as that doesn’t mean criticising the BNP

 

Whether it is demanding an equal footing on Question Time or that a rally, which is likely to aggravate racial tensions and lead to violence goes ahead, people on the far-right are always emphasising their right to freedom of speech. Freedom of speech is one of the most precious rights that a society can offer its population. And whilst the BBC have no legal obligation, despite what they might claim, to air the disgusting and racist views of Nick Griffin, he and his party have the right to express their vile viewpoint. Nobody seeks to deny them this right, campaigns against them involve distributing literature showing the real BNP, which is racist and frequently features poorly disguised admiration for neo-nazism, and organising groups of people to counter demonstrate against them. The BNP on the other hand seek to have it both ways, they demand that their viewpoint is heard, but then encourage intimidation of media, companies and individuals who criticise them for their immoral views.

In late September the London local paper ‘News Shopper’ published a residents damming verdict on their recently elected councillor in Sevenoakes, Paul Golding (pictured).  They claimed that residents said Golding had done nothing for the area, he had not joined any council committees and kept silent at council meetings.  They also mentioned that Golding had published a video in which he tried to cover up the membership of the BNP of Helen Forrester who had been convicted of racist violence. 

Useless liar Paul Golding 

In response to what they see as an unfair attack, despite all the facts being verifiable, the BNP sent an e-mail to their on-line contacts list demanding that they fight back.  In this e-mail they asked:

“Do you want to help the BNP fight back against media lies? If so, then we are calling on you and all our online supporters, numbered at over 40,000 at present, to complain to the advertisers of the lying gutter rag News Shopper. If enough people do this, then they will be cowed into dropping any future attempts to smear our Party”

The e-mail went on to give contact details for three small scale companies who advertised with the News Shopper.  It also admits to a similar campaign being run against the Manchester Evening News in the run up to the 2009 European election.  This amounts to an official attempt by the BNP to prevent the free operation of press in Britain and to stop criticism of the party at a local level.  They actually use the word cowe to describe the intimidation they intend to bring to media outlets and organisations who actively oppose them.

The News Shopper has today followed up the story and reports that all three of the listed advertisers have been inundated with calls threatening to boycott them.  In spite of the economic downturn the party, which time and again has shown that it does not care for the concerns of ordinary Britons, is trying to damage the reputation and threaten the survival of British businesses. This shows that that despite their claim to be sticking up for free speech, the BNP care for nobodies rights but their own.

Racist attacks Must not be tolerated on Merseyside

 

The Liverpool echo and BBC report today that a mother and three children were attacked by Racists in Stockbridge village on Friday night.  The main acts appear to include throwing rocks leading to the breaking of windows in the family’s home.  Racist attacks of any type are to be wholly condemned and it is hoped that Merseyside police swiftly find and charge the perpetrators of this act.

Whilst condemning the violence incident we must also look at the factors which have led people to believe that this behaviour is acceptable.  In recent weeks there has been a renewal of BNP activity on Merseyside, with their party leader and Euro MEP for the North West Nick Griffin appearing in South Liverpool and giving a speech outside the Jaguar plant at Halewood.  Behind their pseudo-legitimate politics lies a web of hatred, as demonstrated by Griffin claiming recently that he would like to see boatloads of immigrants sunk by the navy.  This type of activity and their recent poll success, which was aided by the inertia of much of the electorate, has given racists and violent extremists a feeling of legitimacy.  This is clearly visible in the appearance of the BNP-linked English Defence League who held an anti-Muslin rally in Manchester on Saturday.  Racists feel that their shameful feelings, which they have for a long time kept bottled up, now have an outlet.  When the BNP can visibly be seen campaigning and militant racist groups such as the EDL hold demonstrations on north west streets people are influenced and feel that they are able to get away with such crimes.

We must act as one community and show that such attacks are not acceptable on Merseyside.  We live in an ethnically diverse city region, which boasts many different communities who have lived side by side and together for centuries.  The BNP and their right wing racist allies, such as the paramilitary British Freedom Fighters and the EDL, would love to tear the community apart and set people against each other based on religious belief or skin colour, but we must not let this happen.

Week of Bluder for Dad's Army

This week the BNP seems to have really outdone itself. Leving aside the susspension of their London Assembly member, Richard Barnbrook, for lying about murders which never occured in his borough, it has been a week of catastrophy for the British Nazi Party. On Wednesday Captain Mainwaring, Nick Griffin, took part in the party’s Merseyside re-launch, which saw them confined to isolated areas away from the City centre for fear of organised opposition against them should they venture close to the city. Clearly any BNP activity in the local area is a problem, but at least MCARF are aware of which areas need the heaviest focus in countering the BNP propaganda in the months up to the election. Griffin recorded a video berating the foreign ownership of Jaguar cars and the Halewood plant, which he claims has destroyed local industry, only for the organisation to announce the next day that it is to create 800 new jobs in Merseyside. Of course the loss of manufacturing jobs in the Midlands is a terrible price, paid by workers for the new model being made on Merseyside, but Griffin’s false concern for British Workers (which involves outsourcing the production of t-shirts to Honduras, despite the North-West’s textile industries being in need of the work) seems a little misplaced.



Last night it emerged that, despite their insistence that the ‘belt and braces’ image is a thing of the past, the BNP’s candidate for the forthcoming Heath Hayes East and Wimblebury ward council by-election is in fact an open member of the National Front, a supporter of the English Defence Leage and the British Freedom Fighters. Shaun Grimsley is an unreformed neo-nazi with links to the Blood and Honour organisation who can be seen in the picture as a supporter of Screwdriver (an openly Nazi band.) On his Facebook site he left the message “Hail The British Freedom Fighters, I am a Nazi HAHAHAHAHAHA 88 red scum”. (88 of course being the neo-nazi code for ‘Heil Hitler’) Grimsley is also close to Liam Pinkham, the thug who recently pleaded guilty to threatening to burn down the Women’s co-operative bookshop, News from Nowhere, in Liverpool City Centre. Pinkham is an active member of the BFF and was arrested at the BNP’s conference in Blackpool this summer after giving Hitler salutes. In a further connection to the Merseyside BNP Grimsley’s Midlands cell regularly plays host to a BFF activist (pictured below, more details tofollow), who the Merseyside BNP branch recently invited along to their poorly thought out decision to protest against Worker’s political representation at the 2009 TUC. No matter how much the BNP’s leadership try to distance themselves from fascists it appears that their grass roots openly engage with them, especially the Merseyside branch.


This is not surprising because it appears that the leadership also cannot avoid slipping Dr Stranglove style into thier repressed Nazism. In a poor attempt to distance themselves from the street thuggery of the English Defence league, which has BNP activists throughout its ranks (Chris Renton, for example, who set up the EDL’s website) Nick Griffin and his deputy, Simon Darby, recorded an audio message about the group. Initially the pair had claimed that the group was a state conspiracy to smear the BNP. Following the Daily Stars disgusting support for the hooligan organisation, whose members parade in paramilitary style ski masks, Griffin and Darby have, however, reverted to their favoured position of outright anti-semitism. Griffin states:

“Spelling it out in simple terms – you look at the owners at the Daily Express, the Daily Star and their interests. [...] This is a Zionist false flag operation, designed to create a real clash of civilisations right here on our streets between Islam and the rest of us.”

He concludes that the aim of these “Zionist” organisations is to create a race war in Britain and to have Israel Nuke Middle Eastern Muslim countries. Here we see Griffin relaxing into his comfort zone of traditional anti-Semitism. Any doubts that lingered about the failure of the BNP to reform should be completely discarded now. Griffin has shown that he is not in touch with issues relating to the working class and that they do not support the workers with their actions. They are openly racist, openly anti-Semitic and openly fascist.

BNP activity in Merseyside

A re-post from Truth Reason Liberty about Griffins ill-timed appearence on Merseyside.

Immediatly after writing my last article on the situation facing workers at Jaguar Land Rover, I had my attention drawn to the British National Party website. There, you can find footage of party leader and MEP Nick Griffin, speaking outside the Halewood plant on Tuesday.





In the video he points out, quite rightly, that the government's refusal to bail out productive industry after it has spent billions of pounds bailing out the banks is a scandal. He also, again correctly, draws attention the loss of jobs in the British car industry being down to many companies outsourcing production to factories in the third-world in order to save money. It is fair to say, then, that in this respect his analysis is right on the mark.

However, it is not uncommon for nationalists such as Griffin to make such insightful analyses of the current economic system, whilst twisting them to support their own agenda. When Griffin says that the government should "put British workers first," it is important to look closer into what he is saying and debunk the notion that the BNP in any way speak for the working class.

Despite what their rhetoric may suggest on the surface, the BNP are not in favour of a better deal for workers - even by the reformist and concilliatory standards of the main trade unions. No, what the party wants is for an exploitative international capitalist system to be replaced by a national capitalist system, which would in its turn be as exploitative. The difference, of course, is that the benefit will not be one for international capital, but for the British state. This state, under the BNP, would operate the same corporatist economic system envisioned by Mussolini in The Doctrine of Fascism, whereby "Fascism recognises the real needs which gave rise to socialism and trade-unionism, giving them due weight in the guild or corporative system in which diverent interests are coordinated and harmonised in the unity of the State."

This statement quite eloquently sums up the economics of the BNP, which hold to the far-right "third-position" between capitalism and communism. Third positionists in Britain, notably Griffin, were heavily influenced by Italian neo-fascist Roberto Fiore, as well as by the Catholic ideology of distributism. This is why an article in January for the BNP website absurdly tried to claim the worker cooperative as the vision of "British nationalists building on British distributists before them." In fact, the "third-position" is little more than state-capitalism with the occasional concept ripped off from libertarian socialism to appeal to the working class.

But the contempt shown by Griffin and the BNP for the people of the working class is everywhere. In May last year, Lancaster Unity compiled some choice examples;

The BNP is increasingly trying to orient itself as the sole representative of the white working-class. Whether or not it succeeds in doing this is another thing. But, deep down the BNP is riddled with anti-working class sentiment.

Like many racist/fascist parties, the BNP ideologically makes a connection between class and 'race': that that the white race is not just threatened externally by Jews, non-whites, and whites who marry non-whites but, that it is internally threatened by whites who 'genetically' don't make the grade. In other words, the white working-class due to their genetic inferiority (the reason why they cannot progress economically and culturally) threaten to bring the white race down from inside.

I was prompted to write this piece after I was incensed by a recent comment made by the Lee Barnes, the self-appointed 'Director' of the BNP's legal department, about how he sees the trials and tribulations of modern working class life in Britain as a source of amusement and personal entertainment. This is what Lee Barnes wrote:

"The other night when I was laying in bed all I heard at first was the screams from my neighbours having another drunken fight, then the sounds of a baseball bat smashing car windows in the car park. This happens most friday and saturday nights. To be honest its more entertaining than the TV, so I just lay back and listen to the chaos of modern working class lives"

'The Song of the Star Lark'

This sideswipe at the working-class is a recurring theme in BNP utterances. Thus, we read BNP councillor Simon Smith saying:

"White working class scum will be swept away by a future BNP government."

"I'm no apologist for white working class scum"

Also, we shouldn't forget BNP leader Nick Griffin's argument that people who live on housing estates are "scum". So, according to Nick Griffin working-class people are scum. Unfortunately, unlike Nick Griffin, we can't all be born with a silver-spoon in our mouths, raised on Suffolk farms, with a six-figure inheritance from granddaddy and a private-school education rounded off with a third-class degree from Cambridge.

Nick Griffin's former mentor, John Tyndall, the founder of the BNP, went further, stating that inherited wealth "increases the probability that assets come into the hands of those best fitted to use them by virtue of genetic advantage". John Tyndall, like Nick Griffin, also had the benefit of a six-figure inheritance. From John Tyndall's perspective the working-class are both undeserving of financial inheritance and incapable of leaving an inheritance. Tony Lecomber, then a senior BNP officer, articulated this reasoning when he said: "The rich are genetically superior to the poor" i.e. the upper classes are genetically superior to the working classes.

One is then not surprised to learn that BNP members posted on the website of the youth wing of the BNP jokes making fun of working-class people or 'chavs' as they call them. Similarly, I recently came across the Bebo profile of a BNP member/supporter called John Smith (his nickname is the enamouring 'The Michelin Man') who states under the section 'Pure Hatred for':

"I cannot stand chavs or gypsies or sluts and hoes as they fuck me off big time acting like hot shit"


The BNP hierarchy have even deployed the sub-text of class to dismiss any internal dissent. Currently, we are seeing BNP councillor Colin Auty from Kirklees attempt to challenge Nick Griffin for the leadership of the BNP. Some BNP members on the neo-nazi chat forum Stormfront dismiss Colin Auty's leadership challenge by contrasting Nick Griffin's 'education' against Colin Auty's lack of an 'education'. Therefore, we see the juxtaposition between "university-educated Nick Griffin" and "painter and decorator Colin Auty"; and, "capable and competent Nick Griffin" and "not so capable and perhaps incompetent Colin Auty". The sub-textual reading is obvious: how dare a working-class person, stupid and uneducated, challenge an 'educated' man.

The BNP's conception of the 'nation' is both oppositional and hierarchical. Oppositional because externally the BNP defines Britain in opposition to non-Whites and Jews i.e. its vision of Britain is exclusionary. Hierarchical because internally the BNP defines Britain in terms of a hierarchy of class with the white working-class at the bottom as an internal threat who can diminish the purity and strength of the white race from within i.e. its vision of Britain is again exclusionary because it comes from an upper/middle-class vision of Britain which is out of touch with and hostile to working-class life and culture.
More recently, I noted that the Merseyside branch of the BNP's farcical protest against what they see as a gathering of "Anti British Communists [sic]" displayed their true attitude towards working people. Their constant attacks on the unions, on the sole basis that they refuse to divide the working class along racial lines, underline this point.

But what of "putting British workers first," as Griffin demanded outside the JLR factory in Halewood? Well, even that idea (on which the BNP claim a monopoly) goes up in smoke with the recent revelation that the t-shirts sold on the party's merchandise website Excalibur, are made in third-world sweatshops.



A spokesman for Excalibur said, "unfortunately we have been unable to change Britain’s climate and start our own cotton plantations. Hence cotton T-shirt come from where cotton can be grown." However, such an excuse is facile. The T-shirts were manufactured in Honduras, which hasn't grown cotton since the 1800s, and it should not need stating that garments do not require manufacture at the point where the cotton was grown. With Griffin's own North West constituency the home of 1,000 textile firms which employ 38,000 workers, it is clear that the BNP did not lack the ability to live up to their stated concern for the working class, just the will.

The BNP is, demonstrably, a fascist organisation with utter contempt for the working class. Though their leadership are able to polemicise quite eloquently about issues facing real people, the party has no will to live up to their words or to do anything but promote their own agenda and self-aggrandisement. The working class need to reject the distorted arguments and false promises of fascists in order to organise and fight for real change.

BNP Skulk as Trade Unions try to help the poor

This Sunday saw a trickle of the BNP on the streets of Liverpool, as they tried to make their presence felt at a demonstration made by trade unionists against the policies of new labour. If they are, as they claim, a growing party why could they only attract six people? Surely at such an event they would want to make their voices heard? Their cry, as touted on their website, is that the TUC means Traitors Under Communism

How ironic that the BNP, who claim to be the party of the real British people, should choose to attack an organisation which has included the Trade Union Co-ordinating group, a coalition of eight Unions who are determined to tackle the issue of poverty, which has been ignored by the major parties. Pay freezes and public spending cuts will harm the poorest in society and especially low earners, any activity, such as that by the TUC, which seeks to find a better way, must be applauded. The BNP have proven that they are against both working class political representation and the allayment of poverty in Britain. Whilst some of us try to come up with a solution they simply add to the problem.

The TUC in Liverpool has addressed many of the issues which the country faces, including stemming the tide of racism, which the BNP seek to propagate. Gee Walker, whose son Anthony was murdered in a racist attack in Huyton, made a speech following a five minute silent vigil against racism and the BNPs election to the European parliament:

"My son and what happened to him is the result of extreme racism. I know that if
he was white he would still be alive today. When hate destroyed my son's dream,
our community in Liverpool, in the UK and indeed the world was outraged and
shocked. We were left devastated and we still are. The positives are that, at
that time, we all embraced cohesion and diversity in all its forms. It was a
time when race, religion and class and even our own football teams, Everton and
Liverpool, sat side by side comforting each other at Anthony's funeral.
Unfortunately, that was short-lived and already a lot seems to have forgotten my
Anthony already and they have resorted back to their own comfort zones."

The policies and actions of the BNP and their aligned groups the English Defence League, who contain BNP members and supporters, and the British Freedom Fighters, contributed to the atmosphere in which the brutal murder of Anthony could occur. They are currently trying to encourage violence and racial tensions in several areas of the UK through their marches and will be stopped by the British public who are begining to show outrage at these far-right extremists.

Right-wing Rally brings Violence to Birmingham

The events of Yesterday afternoon will do little to bring credibility to the British National Party. An association of football hooligans, known as the English Defence League, with very close ties to BNP, chose the evening of England’s football match with Slovenia to bring their motley crew of riled up thugs onto the streets of Birmingham. Police have made 90 arrests.

Angry thugs of the, BNP allingned, EDL

On the day it is estimated that around 250 people were involved in violence around Birmingham city centre which included bottle and brick throwing and racist chants of “No more Muslims.” Members of the rally have been filmed giving Nazi salutes, aping the salutes given by BNP members at the recent Red White and Blue festival. They also chanted the BNP slogan "We want our Country Back." Police herded groups of the EDL onto busses, where a number were arrested for throwing seats out of the Window and trying to set fire to one of the vehicles. Most the 90 arrests occurred on these buses.

EDL hooligan shows true colours

A number of groups including Hope not Hate had lobbied police and the council in order to get the event banned. Over 2,500 letters were sent to Birmingham constabulary and the home secretary in order to have the fascist rally banned. Strangely DCI Sue Southern of West Midlands Police is claiming today that the violence took them by surprise. The authorities knew in advance that this group was intent on stirring up tensions in the city and did not act to stop it.


Over the coming days fascists and anti-fascists will no doubt throw allegations of blame at each other for causing the violence. There are, however, two points which cannot be disputed. Firstly wherever the EDL parades violent activity inevitably follows. Secondly the group has close ties to the BNP and seeks to whip up racial tensions in Britain. There have been recent demos in Luton and Birmingham in which the group has caused violence. At these events, wherever arrests are made, the EDL/Casuals arrested always vastly outnumber the anti-fascists. In the case of Luton, groups of their masked thugs headed into predominantly Asian neighbourhood attacking people and properties. Hope not Hate recently organised a campaign to prevent the organisation from marching in the town for three months. A searchlight investigation recently revealed that the EDL’s leadership contained prominent BNP members who had been extremely active in a number of local branches. The website of the associated group, Casuals United, was started by Chris Renton, a BNP member. The number of people on the EDL marches who choose to wear masks and balaclavas no doubt hides the identity of a number of members and supporters of the BNP. With further extremist right-wing protests planned in London on Friday we must all be on guard.

It is clear that the EDL and Casuals United are little more than a bunch of racists thugs who are intent on bringing violence to the streets of Britain, which the BNP in turn hope to capitalise on. The success of similar groups of BNP associated thugs in bringing violence to the streets of Oldham in 2001 should be a warning to communities that it is only by standing together and not allowing their divisive tactics to cause tensions that these yobs can be stopped.

See Birmingham Posts video

Liverpool Daily Post.co.uk - News - Liverpool News - BNP member Peter Tierney denies assaulting anti-fascist demonstrator

BNP member Peter Tierney denies assaulting anti-fascist demonstrator


A WELL-KNOWN member of the British National Party has denied assaulting an anti-facist demonstrator on St George's Day.
Peter Tierney, 52, is charged with assaulting a protestor in St John's Lane near St George's Hall on April 23 this year.
He pleaded not guilty to the attack which allegedly left a man with a cut on the back of his head.
The protestors were said to have been handing out leaflets protesting against the BNP earlier that day.

Tierney, wearing a black suit, wore his long brown hair in a ponytail and his six-inch beard in a plait as he stood in the dock at Liverpool magistrates' court yesterday.
He pleaded not guilty to one charge of committing assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
Demonstrators protesting against his party gathered outside the court building in Dale Street before the hearing.
Several police officers stood outside the court.
Tierney, of High Street, Hale Village, opted to have the matter dealt with at the crown court.The case will be committed to the crown court on October 29

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BNP Truth-benders.

When 12,000 names on the BNP contact list were leaked onto the internet in 2008, the party took no time to blame the leak on “leftists” in numerous pieces of propaganda. The party’s chairman Nick Griffin took also called in the police and investigations ensued. It soon came to light that the leak of the notoriously out of date list was not caused by BNP opponents at all. Rather it was leaked by disgruntled fascists who disagreed with their demagogue leader, Nick Griffin. Mathew Single and his wife Sadie Graham-Single were charged under the data protection and appeared in court this week. The two former members of the Fascist organisation rapidly split from the party. This week Mr Single was found guilty of the leak and fined £200, whilst his wife was acquitted.

The BNP’s handling of the leak shows that their propaganda seizes on what might be bad news stories and twists them to promote a culture of victimisation. Aside from the regular outright falsities which emanate from the BNP website this is a clever variety of propaganda which we should all be aware of. Recently BNP London Assembly member Richard Barnbrook has faced charges and suspension from the organisation because he falsely produced a youtube video claiming that White Londoners had been stabbed to death by Black and Asian youths. The claims were completely untrue and Barnbrook has attempted to avoid his fate by feigning illness. Last month Lancaster Unity published a story which showed that BNP had published outright lies about an Asian shopkeeper banning a woman from his store simply because her son was a soldier. This type of propaganda is differs because it takes actual events and uses them to create a portrayal in, which the BNP are made to look like victims or to attack the establishment with claims of a witch-hunt. Very often in such cases the BNP are found to have made much of the story up, but one thing is for sure – They are not to be trusted.

Nazi Salutes

Long time BNP member, John Jones, pleaded guilty this week of making a Nazi salute at protesters at the BNP’s ill-fated Red White and Blue festival in Condor, Derbyshire. Saville Davies, 25 and an un-named 17 year old youth were also charged but have pleaded not guilty. Jones was fined £71, with £60 costs and a £15 Government surcharge, the other two will appear in court in December. This incident shows, yet again, that the BNP have not changed. New and Old members alike remain racist to core. They have always been a neo-nazi party and they are incapable of reform because their ideology remains the same. The violence might be better hidden, but they will never represent the best interests of the people of Britain.

Local BNP links to the Online Fascist network.

Last Month the neo-conservative think tank, Centre for Social Cohesion, published a report in which they investigated the online network of BNP members and their links to more overtly fascist organisations. Despite repeated warnings from their leadership to ensure that they hide their real image, by not using racist language and by severing ties with overt fascists, it seems that the BNP cannot help but let the mask slip.

The report shows extensive links between the BNP and members of openly fascist and racist organisations. Many of the people connected to the BNP use the neo-nazi codes “14” & “88”. 14 refers to the 14 words of, American neo-nazi terrorist, David Lane; 88 is an alphabetical code and refers to HH or Heil Hitler. Page 12 of the report is particularly interesting; it introduces the account of a youtube user “PeterBNP”. This account features the postal address of the Liverpool branch of the BNP and encourages people to join, the users avatar is the BNP logo. There are local BNP promotional videos.”.

It also features videos of local BNP members Peter Tierney & Pete Molloy, (is one of these the originator of the account? one wonders) as well as a video of local BNP members having a conversation with police, which claims to be “armed harassment” from the local constabulary.
So far this account appears quite innocent, you might imagine nothing more than might be expected of a political organisation. Yet a closer look shows that this particular local member appears to have forgotten his central orders. Amongst his most recent friends are the user “Derfinalsolution88" it shows that despite the report being made public over a month ago this member is still openly associating with neo-nazis and extending his network.

Other open neo-nazis on his friends are “ArrowEagle88” and “diablo1010” who has a White Pride World-Wide logo as his avatar also on his friends list are AfricanCorpse, nfskinbitch, 14LoneWolf88, skinheadf88, StormOverEurope14, headhunter500, and SCREWDRIVER88UK.. Page three of the list shows that Liverpool BNP in particular are happy to associate with this user.



The user has an online friendship with the official BNP Liverpool Youtube Account. As with the member this account associates with many similar neo-nazi’s and racist individuals. It features many of the same videos as “PeterBNP” Including Peters Tierney and Molloy giving their propagandistic speeches to the camera.
Bizarrely for the branch account of an organisation which claims not to be racist its friends list shows several members who have the White Pride logo, and in one case the National Front logo. A quick look at the name on the list and we see “Bloodhonour7”, “headhunter 500” and “14Don88”. These are just a few of the openly racist and neo-nazi organisations which the local BNP are more than happy to list as online "friends."

The report shows the association of BNP rank and file with other neo-nazi groups on a nationwide scale. Despite the insistence of Griffin and the rest of the leadership to the contrary, BNP members continue to express racist views and are happy to be friends with people who hold Hitler in acclaim. Merseyside BNP have no qualms about their members associating with overt neo-Nazi organisations and this user account, which is used by local members to forward their viewpoints openly does so.

Another BNP Myth - Busted

Originally posted on Lancaster Unity

It's been a vintage summer of lies and deceit for the British National Party.

To pick out just a few highlights, there was the DDoS attack that never was, the Helen Forster/Colclough affair, a second DDoS attack that never was, and umpteen promises to sue Searchlight, the Mirror and Uncle Tom Cobley and all.

The BNP is very good at lying to the public, but even better at lying to its own members - which seems to be the sole intention behind half the tall tales which appear on its website. That, and, of course, the self-manufactured opportunities to scam yet more cash from the pockets of an all too credulous membership, which has even been got to believe that Nick Griffin cannot use part of his Euro salary (his personal income) to help fund the BNP.

No fool, that Nick Griffin.

No fools either are we, so when the screaming words Muslim Post Office Manager Bans Woman from Sending Parcel Because Her Son Serves in Afghanistan headlined an article from Welsh regional organiser Brian Mahoney on the BNP's interminably slow website, we could be fairly certain that a Muslim Post Office Manager Did Not Ban Woman from Sending Parcel Because Her Son Serves in Afghanistan.

Now had the headline appeared in the Daily Mail there might just have been a kernel of truth to the story, twisted and sensationalised out of all proportion to be sure, but distantly predicated on a fact nevertheless. But this story originated with the BNP, a party which considers facts to be an optional extra.

The gist of the story is quickly told: the mother of a soldier serving in Afghanistan took a parcel addressed to the said son to a Muslim-owned Post Office, and was told in no uncertain terms that she could not send it due to the fact of her son serving in Afghanistan.

As Mahoney puts it: "A Muslim post office manager in Cardiff has refused to serve a British soldier’s mother — because her son serves in Afghanistan."

You would have thought that something like that would - rightly - create something of a stir. Wouldn't the local press have got on the case? Wouldn't the Daily Mail have stopped the presses? Wouldn't local councillors and MPs have got involved?

But none of that happened.

The first, and only news of this putative cause celebre appeared on the BNP website - the BNP had scooped the world!

To quote from the BNP's version of events:

“Mrs [Maria] Davies’ 21-year-old son is a soldier in a Welsh regiment who recently began an eight month tour of duty in Afghanistan,” Mr Brian Mahoney, BNP leader in Wales, said.

...

“Imagine, then, Mrs Davies’ shock when the owner of her local post office in Wilson Road, Ely, Cardiff, a certain Mr Khan, asked her where her son was serving.

“When she told him Afghanistan, he informed her that she was not welcome to send him anything from her post office, either packages or money,” Mr Mahoney said. He also instructed his staff not to serve her.

“All this took place publicly in the shop in front of witnesses,” he continued. “It left Mrs Davies astonished, frustrated and upset.”

Even a neighbour who later offered to post her parcel was refused service because they had identified from whom the parcel was being sent.
Accompanying the article was a video interview with Mrs Davies, in which Mrs Davies confirmed to Mahoney that Mr Khan had told her she was banned from the Post Office "because my son was in Afghan" (sic).

The video left a number of us unconvinced that this was the whole truth, mostly because of Mrs Davies' uncomfortable demeanour throughout, but more tellingly her assertion that "I know he [Mr Khan] can do bad things", which suggests that Mrs Davies and Mr Khan have a history.

And so, it turns out, they do.

Mr Anjum Alam Khan owns or manages a number of shops in the same road as his Post Office in Wilson Road, one of them being a Nisa convenience store, at which Mrs Davies was a customer. Earlier this year a technical fault with the store's electronic payment system led to several Nisa customers being repeatedly debited for items they had previously purchased, and among their number was Maria Davies, who lost £200.

Mrs Davies, who is unemployed and lives on benefits, was rightly aggrieved, particularly when her bank charged her for going overdrawn. “I can’t buy any food or anything,” she told her local paper. “This has taken my child support money, my tax credit, my child benefit, my income support and a portion of my next child support payment.”

Nisa promised to repay its serially charged customers, and to refund any bank charges incurred. There was no suggestion of impropreity on the part of Mr Khan.

We cannot help but to believe that the bad blood between Mr Khan and Mrs Davies might have something to do with this, and is the fount of Mrs Davies' statement that "I know he can do bad things", and that whatever passed between them is perhaps the reason Mrs Davies is banned from all of Mr Khan's premises.

Whatever did pass between them we'll probably never know, but we do know that Mr Khan felt provoked enough to impose a ban, and that the ban has nothing to do with Mrs Davies's son serving in Afghanistan.

In fact Mr Khan supports the British operation in Afghanistan, and his Post Office has collected on behalf of British troops. He is considered a hard-working member of the community.

But, as an Asian Muslim, he is everything the BNP hates, and naturally the party has maliciously published his contact details, which can be for one purpose only.

For their part, Mr Khan, and Post Office Manageress Mrs Thomas, have issued the following statement:

“There is absolutely no truth in the allegation made to the British National Party that the Post Office in Wilson Road, Ely, Cardiff will not accept parcels for British troops in Afghanistan.

It should not be repeated and we reserve the right to pursue legal action against any person or body repeating the allegation and call for its removal from any website or other publication.

The Wilson Road Post Office has always accepted and continues to accept such parcels. Indeed the Wilson Road shops including the Post Office recently held a ‘Heroes Collection’ for British troops.

The allegation is false and malicious and related to a separate dispute with a customer.

As a result that customer is not welcome at these premises but our services can be accessed by someone else on their behalf if they so wish.”
And so there we have it.

Another BNP lie squarely nailed - but don't blink, another one will be along very soon now.

Rightwing march ban over fear of violence

Guardian


Rightwing groups have been banned from holding marches in Luton for three months in an attempt to prevent a repeat of the violence that has marred similar demonstrations across the country.

The English Defence League, which has been involved in violent clashes in Birmingham and Luton this year, had planned to hold a series of demonstrations against "Islamic extremism" over the coming weeks.

Anti-racism campaigners said the events were intended to whip up tension and more than 14,000 people had written to Alan Johnson, the home secretary, demanding action. Today police confirmed the Home Office had granted a banning order.

Nick Lowles of the Hope not Hate campaign said: "Our voices have been heard. Luton is a safer place because of it. This is just further proof of what we can achieve when we get organised."

Luton has seen a number of violent protests this year. In March a small group of Muslims staged a demonstration during a homecoming parade for soldiers from the Royal Anglian Regiment. Tonight Bedfordshire police charged seven men in connection with the incident. They will appear at Luton magistrates court on 16 September.

The March demonstration was followed by counter-demonstrations which led to Asian businesses and residents being attacked.

In Birmingham this month members of the English Defence League and linked group Casuals United clashed with anti-racism campaigners, resulting in 34 arrests and one injury.

Bedfordshire police today said there had been growing concern about planned demonstrations by rightwing groups that had prompted a "robust unified response" by the police and the council.

Chief Superintendent Andy Frost, divisional commander for Luton police, said: "The risk the proposed marches pose to public safety has left us with no alternative but to apply for a banning order."

Weyman Bennett, the joint secretary of Unite Against Fascism, welcomed the ban. "What we have proved is that where we, as a multiracial group, organise and stand up the EDL can be defeated."

The league denies it is racist, claiming it would march "alongside Muslims and Jews who are against militant Islam".

The announcement of the ban came as a man and a woman were charged under the Data Protection Act after a British National party (BNP) membership list was leaked on to the internet. Dyfed-Powys police said the man, aged 27, and woman, 30, were due to appear at Nottingham magistrates court on 1 September.

The BNP called for a police investigation last November after the details of 10,000 of its members were published online.

Stop BNP connected thugs causing riots on British Streets

Please see e-mail from Hope not Hate

There are moments that our movement of hope is made for. This is one of them.In a few weeks time, football hooligans, far right extremists and Islamophobes are planning to descend on Luton, with a simple goal - to whip up fear, religious tension and violence. And you won't be surprised to hear that the BNP are involved.The last time the anti-Islam protesters marched in Luton, gangs of thugs stormed the predominantly Muslim area of the town, smashing up cars and shopfronts along the way - and forcing law abiding men and women to flea or fight to safeguard their homes and families. Riot police had to be deployed and 35 people were arrested.

We can't let this happen again. I've set up a tool on the Hope not Hate website that lets you contact the people who can stop this violent gathering - the Home Secretary Alan Johnson and Bedfordshire's Chief Constable Gillian Parker. It will take you less than a minute to send a message - all you need to do is click here: http://action.hopenothate.org.uk/page/speakout/luton

We only have to remember how BNP supporters triggered the Oldham riot in 2001 to realise the consequences of these actions. We must stop this - we can't let these thugs take control of our streets even for a single moment. The BNP are actively involved in this protest because they know that whipping up violence and inter-community tension can only benefit them. Chris Renton, a BNP super activist, has helped the hooligans with their website. Marlene Guest, who stood as a BNP Euro candidate in June, will be attending and recently spoke at a local anti Islam gathering. And Martyn Page, treasurer of the BNP's Broxtowe group, has boosted about bringing "hundreds" of people to the anti-Islamic event. The key organiser of the protest has also admitted to attending BNP meetings.Our society is based on rights and responsibilities - and we have a duty to protect our communities from these organised, violent thugs. If you agree, please take a moment to help us stop this dangerous, hateful event:

http://action.hopenothate.org.uk/page/speakout/luton