News

Pride events worldwide: celebrations and confrontations

Gay Pride events worldwide during the week ending June 29 were marked with violent attacks by right-wing thugs in the Czech Republic and Bulgaria, while in Hungary a gay bar was firebombed; the Cuban government’s break-up of Havana’s first-ever attempt to hold a pride march; the largest-ever pride march in France (left), where 700,000 crowded [...]

News

‘Breach of Peace’ fills in the blanks on the ‘Freedom Riders’

In 1961, they risked life, limb and jail to travel through the South and strike a blow for civil rights. THE STORY was already written: Vividly rendered on those young faces - excited, angry, naive, fearful, idealistic. But it was only the first leg of their journey. That’s what first struck Eric Etheridge when he first [...]

Featured

The Right Goes All In to Stop Marriage Equality in California

As we have noted over the last several weeks, the Religious Right’s response to the California marriage ruling has been noticeably over-the-top, even for them. Throwing out everything from Nazi metaphors and warnings that the end of the world was upon us to hateful language and ridiculous scare-tactics, the Right’s response has consisted almost entirely [...]

Nine years of vision and vermin

In 1999 Griffin claimed to be running an "open and honest" leadership challenge based on "positive ideas for the future", calling himself the candidate with "flair and vision". This certainly struck a chord with the BNP's newer members, and even appealed to some hardline BNP veterans all too aware of Tyndall's advancing years and of the tiredness of his leadership. It did, however, obscure Griffin's woeful record in the National Front, where he spent much of his time engaged in factional activities, seemed to view political positions as expendable commodities, and was even then the subject of much disquiet in the matter of finance.

Points

• Colin Auty's BNP leadership challenge collapses after two months of inertia. Almost two months to the day after announcing that he was to challenge Nick Griffin for the leadership of the British National Party, Colin Auty, councillor for Dewsbury East on Kirklees Council, has finally had to admit defeat after he failed to obtain the required amount of signatures that would enable him to go ahead while conforming with the bizarre rules of the BNP. Full story at Lancaster Unity
• BNP Legal Director Lee Barnes’ June bout of anti-Jewish madness. It’s been a busy month for Lee Barnes, the self-appointed, unemployed and unqualified head of the BNP’s dysfunctional legal department. Whilst he’s not making apocalyptic pronouncements about the impending end of the world, issuing keyboard threats against rivals within the BNP or telling us about his plans for the esoteric revival of pre-Roman indigenous pagan religions to revitalise the White race, Lee Barnes has been indulging in one of his other favourite pastimes: Jew-baiting. Summer is here and Lee Barnes has informed us in his very own plagiaristic and racist style that silly season has indeed begun with three-four June articles tinged with anti-Jewish sentiment. More at Lancaster Unity
• Leading BNP member resigns stating 'the party is corrupt' and undemocratic. Scottish BNP webmaster Paul Johnson has resigned from the BNP, citing the party's corruption and lack of democracy among his reasons for leaving. His resignation statement cane be seen here.
• Lily Allen puts up anti-fascist new song on her website. Lily Allen has posted up a brand new track attacking the British National Party on her official website. Called Guess Who Batman? it's a jaunty singalong that starts with a perky piano riff that brings to mind The Carpenters. Lily then starts singing lyrics which include "Look inside your tiny mind, now look a bit harder, cos we're so uninspired, so sick and tired of all the hatred you harbour. So you say it's not okay to be gay/Well I think you're just evil/ You're just some racist who can't tie my laces" and a catchy chorus that starts "F*** you very much". More at the Mirror
• Auty campaign labels Nick Griffin as ruthless and desperate 'crook' and 'liar'. Whether it's because Colin Auty's leadership campaign is going through its death throes or because Auty is anxious to establish his anti-Griffin credentials for once and for all before any contest takes place is uncertain but his team has clearly decided to state its case unequivocally over on the challenger's blog. In an intriguing insight into the way the BNP is run that should surprise nobody, Auty relates Griffin's standard procedure for dealing with those within the party he perceives to be a threat to his position: 'He would merely isolate the victim by concocting lies about them concerning financial ‘irregularities’ (somewhat ironically), aimed carefully at his victim before unleashing his attack-dogs to finish the job with personal attacks and slanderous gossip. Occasionally the victim would then be pulled apart at an Advisory Council meeting in their absence complete with the customary ‘such a shame’ crocodile tears. Without being afforded the opportunity to defend themselves, the victim would be cast out as a leper from the Party. Those sat around the AC table, however shocked or confused that the ‘evidence’ spewed out regarding one of their comrades is entirely unsubstantiated, would very often sit in silence though fear of becoming the next victim. This is a standard Griffin modus operandi, as many of his decent and hardworking victims have been only too happy to confirm and share with us.' The full article at Lancaster Unity
• Racism rears its ugly head in Cornwall. A disused chapel in a sparsely populated hamlet far from the summer tourist crowds has emerged as a crucial testing ground of Cornwall's reputation as an easy-going haven for those looking to escape the pressures of urban life – whatever their race. For amid green rolling hills just a few miles outside the cathedral city of Truro, the slate-roofed Bible Christian church at Quenchwell, near Carnon Downs, is under sustained assault from racists opposed to a planned community centre for the county's Asians. More at The Independent
• Orkney murder: 'We would call them Pakis, but it didn't mean anything bad'. Despite a host of theories for the murder of Shamsuddin Mahmood – from unpaid gambling debts to a falling out over a local woman – the only explanation advanced during the six-week trial was that he was targeted because of the colour of his skin. A week after the shooting on June 2, 1994, Moina Miah, the restaurant’s owner, said that he feared there was a killer at large who “wants blacks out from the island”. Later that month he claimed that one of his sons had been threatened on his way home from school. At about the same time, police voiced concern after British National Party leaflets were posted through letterboxes on the island. The Times
• BNP Muslim convert 'recruits' inmates. A former British National Party activist who converted to Islam in jail is trying to radicalise young prisoners, the BBC has learned. Inmate Stephen Jones is being held in a segregation unit at Whitemoor Prison, Cambridgeshire, the BBC has been told. The convicted murderer was put there after being suspected of recruiting for groups allied to al-Qaeda. The case has raised concerns that some radical Muslims are using prisons as a recruiting ground. More at the BBC
• Treasurer shifted and more financial chaos as cash disappears into BNP black hole. There's more chaos in the British National Party this weekend as branches reel from the news that once again their accounts have been rifled to prop up an incompetent and extravagant party management. Furious fundholders have been in touch with us to complain that their local accounts have been raided again because head office has disastrously overspent and can no longer manage to balance the books without thieving from the branches. Another fundholder with a direct line to the treasury has revealed that the main BNP account has hit rock-bottom and stood at less than £3000 a few days ago - not a great deal for a so-called 'major' political party. More at Lancaster Unity
• Three men detained after hearings on weapons violations. PITTSBURGH - Five area families have been thrust into a whirlwind finale of a three-year investigation by the Pittsburgh Joint Terrorism Task Force. Last Sunday, federal agents charged four men and one woman with weapons violations. Three of the accused are being detained in the Allegheny County Prison. A fourth man was released on house arrest after a hearing in Johnstown Wednesday. The woman is scheduled to appear before a federal district judge June 26. Special Agent Daniel Yocca of the FBI reported that, in 2005, the task force "began an initiative to target militias and individuals within those militias with a propensity for violence, especially toward our government and elected officials." Undercover agents worked to infiltrate the 91st Warrior and Brookville Tiger militias in northwestern Pennsylvania. Marvin E. Hall, 49, Rimersburg, was detained following proceedings in federal court Wednesday. Courier-Express