Author Archives: East Midlands Anti-Fascists

2012/09/18

Tony Curtis leaves the EDL

By East Midlands Anti-Fascists

Nottingham’s Tony Curtis, until very recently “number 3” in the EDL after Tommy’n’Kev, has left the group, and it hasn’t been an amicable split.  His departure has stirred up a very satisfying shitstorm in the EDL, with accusations and counteraccusations being chucked about right left and centre (but mostly right!).  Curtis was a popular figure in the EDL, and was favoured as a potential leader by some discontented members, who seemed to enjoy the paranoid speeches he often made at demos; it seems that muppet-in-chief Mr. Tommy was starting to feel threatened by Curtis’s increasing prominence.

Watching the EDL go down the drain – Tony Curtis

Curtis had been working on building a new far-right grouping, the “New Patriot Alliance” (which must have ruffled Tommy’s feathers a bit)….but then Curtis decided he wouldn’t join the NPA gang because the NF were involved, and they’re too racist for his liking.  So, now he’s without a political home, caught between the far-right and the far-far-right, nursing his hurt pride and trying to work out where he can vent his anti-muslim feelings.

It will be interesting to see how this affects EDL morale in our region.  As mentioned, Curtis has made his mark in EDL circles, and his barney with tin-pot Tommy may push even more disillusioned members to show regional loyalty and abandon the group.  It’s likely that it won’t just be Curtis who’s missing from the East Midlands contingent at the next little EDL demo.

Comments Off on Tony Curtis leaves the EDL   |  tags: , | posted in Nottinghamshire

2012/09/17

Some fascists went to the seaside

By East Midlands Anti-Fascists

The National Front made it to the seaside on Saturday, attracting around 40 assorted fascist dregs from all over the UK to their much-hyped national demo against the reopening of a Skegness slaughterhouse.  They were confined to Tower Gardens by the police, out of the way of the general public or any opposition, where they made speeches to each other.  They are, of course, claiming the event as a great success, with fantasy claims of 150 attendees being made – think of a number lads, any number! – but were disgruntled about being kept out of the town centre and in the park, well away from anywhere most locals were likely to have seen them. They weren’t too happy about the leaking of their redirection point either.

 

Pondlife in the park

 

Although the demo did not bring the NF the outreach opportunities they were hoping for, the abattoir remains a contentious issue in the town.  We must be on the lookout for further attempts (including, certainly, from the BNP) to exploit this issue for their own ends.

 

Comments Off on Some fascists went to the seaside   |  tags: , , | posted in Lincolnshire

2012/09/14

Redirection point for NF Skegness demo – leaked

By East Midlands Anti-Fascists

Some people just can’t be trusted to keep a secret! We have received info on the redirection point for the NF’s demo in Skegness tomorrow (Saturday 15th), which is trying jump on a bandwagon around the proposed reopening of the Heath Road abattoir on halal lines.

The motley crew of fascist losers will be meeting at the large car park between the boating lake and the beach, between 10.30 and 11 on Saturday morning.  They will be redirected from there to a nearby pub (unfortunately we don’t know which, but there are several likely options), and aim to be out of the pub and shuffling off to their demo before midday.

The large car park by the lake can be seen on the following map :

 


View Larger Map

 

We’re grateful that the far right is as full of grasses and gobshites as ever, and we’re happy to share this leaked info with a wider audience!

 

Comments Off on Redirection point for NF Skegness demo – leaked   |  tags: , , , | posted in Lincolnshire

2012/09/12

Look who’s going to Skegness

By East Midlands Anti-Fascists

As the NF work themselves up into a frenzy about the importance of their national demonstration in Skegness, we thought it might be good to let the world know what a bunch of Nazi dregs will be turning up on Saturday.

Kev Watmough

Aging Nazi from West Yorkshire, renowned for grassing up his fellow fascists and running away whenever militant anti-fascists turn up to give them a kicking. Kev is the man behind Nazi hitlist website Redwatch, which posts pictures and the personal details of people who turn up to anti-racist and trade union events in the vain hope that other fascists will do something about them. He has quite a history of involvement with fascist groups in Leeds and Bradford, including the BNP and Combat 18. More recently he was the leader of Nazi groupuscle, the British People’s Party, best know for paedophilia and bomb making. Oh yeah, and opposing hip-hop… no, seriously.

In recent times the BPP seems to have imploded over the involvement of one of its few remaining members with a Chinese Nazi. Obviously such dangerous race mixing could not be allowed by Kev. Because, like most far right factions these days, the BPP has hardly anyone in it, in recent times Kev has been cosying up to the National Front, North West Infidels, Combined ex-Forces and anyone that’ll have him. Needless to say, his reputation as a grass mean that he has many enemies even within the fascist movement, such as the author of the “White Lies!” blog:

This blog deals with Kevin Richard Watmough who has systematically damaged the movement here in the UK and will expose him for what he is. A Liar, A Cheat, A Rapist and long time Agent Provocateur.

 

Shane “Diddyman” Calvert

Best mates with Llama abuser, John Snowy Shaw, and number 2 in the North West Infidels, Shane Calvert AKA Diddyman, has been getting excited about a weekend in Skeggy. Best known for climbing on a roof in full camo gear to say that paedos should get the noose or something, Blackburn’s Diddyman was also recently arrested for smashing up his ex’s house in Hartlepool. Probably realising the NWI are going nowhere, he has been trying to make links with the NF (also going nowhere) so that they can at least have a bit of company on their pointless journey.

Loyalist fascists

A number of those going to Skegness demonstrate their admiration of loyalist terrorist groups such as “Ulster Volunteer Force”, named after the paramilitaries who carried out bombings on civilian targets in Northern Ireland, and “Johnny Adair” named after the Ulster Defence Association commander also responsible for massacres of civilians. “Johnny Adair” is also a member of Liverpool Irish Fascists.

Miscellaneous Nazis

A number of other openly fascist skinheads have also notified their attendance including Leicester fan of Nazi band, Section 88, Sean Guilford and Ade Brooks, a Manchester NF bonehead and admirer of Hitler-worshipping paramilitaries, the British Movement, and white power gig organisers, Blood & Honour.

As you can see, this bunch are very keen on protecting animals and aren’t racist. Honest.

In good news on Skegness, Bristol Animal Rights have published this excellent statement clearly rejecting the far right’s attempts to use animal rights as a cover for xenophobia and racism:

The focus on halal slaughter is a sign of racial and cultural discrimination. When the U.K homes battery farms and companies like the East Anglian Pig Company (exposed by Animal Equality early in 2012) it cannot be argued that halal is “more cruel” than other practices in the UK. Instead, it gives fire to sentiments spread by far-right organisations such as the British National Party, National Front, English Defence League and others, who disguise racial hatred as patriotism, or in this case, animal rights. They have no interest in genuine animal liberation, only pushing their own political agenda.

They conclude:

We believe that groups struggling for animal liberation should have militant anti-fascism as an intrinsic part of their politics, and wherever and whenever fascism appears it should be met with strong opposition.

There has also been the announcement of a counter-demonstration against the NF’s planned demo.

Comments Off on Look who’s going to Skegness   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , | posted in Lincolnshire

2012/09/08

Skegness slaughterhouse: Not a racist campaign?

By East Midlands Anti-Fascists

We’ve already said quite a bit about the BNP and NF involvement in the anti-halal slaughterhouse campaign. But what about the supposedly mainstream page set up by Tess Turner? The admin of Say No to Halal slaughter in Skegness has said she won’t be demonstrating because she doesn’t “want to be part of something as extreme as the National Front.” However, a quick look at her Facebook page suggests that she does hold islamophobic and racist views.

A recent post complains about how “these barbaric people are all set to take over the world”.  “Our government are letting this happen to our Country,I fear for my children and my grandchildren” she continues. This looks like another reheated counter-jihad conspiracy theory about Muslim takeover of the world, in the mould of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Muslims are a small and widely discriminated against minority in this country and have a tiny influence in rural Lincolnshire. The idea that they are taking over is pure nonsense.

I notice that all of the page’s anger is directed at halal and Muslims rather than kosher and Jews, perhaps because Muslims seem like an easier target and fewer people are willing to defend them.

Further evidence that the page is motivated by xenophobia rather than a principled concern for animal welfare can be found in the fact that, like the BNP and NF, the campaign only focuses on halal slaughter and does not generalise at all to factory farming and cruel practices more widely. In the early days, a number of animal rights activists and vegans joined the group but they were kicked out for “having a go” at the meat eaters who dominate the group.

Turner justified this with some rather tortured logic. “i could quite easily become vegetarian it wouldn’t bother me”, which begs the question of why she doesn’t if she cares about animal cruelty so much? What is her agenda? “but” she continues ,”if a million people turned veggie tomorrow, no less animals would be killed”. That’s just rubbish. In 2011 the average meat eater ate 26.1 animals. If 1m of those went veggie 26.1m fewer animals would have to be killed each year. That sounds like quite a big deal for the level of animal suffering in farming if you ask me.

“If an animal is going to be bred to feed us, the least we can do is give it a good life … and a humane and pain free death” Turner concludes. That’s all well and good in principle but begs the question of why the campaign doesn’t tackle our “indigenous” factory farming practices and production line slaughterhousing? Is it because, in the logic of the National Front, these practices aren’t “alien”? Because they involve British cruelty for British animals? Until these questions can be answered, the “mainstream” Skegness campaign looks rather suspect.

Comments Off on Skegness slaughterhouse: Not a racist campaign?   |  tags: , , , | posted in Lincolnshire

2012/09/05

National Front announces Skegness demo

By East Midlands Anti-Fascists

Not to be outdone by fascist rivals, the BNP, the National Front have said that they will be demonstrating against the halal slaughterhouse in Skegness. The explicitly racist party announced that it will be holding a demonstration in Skegness town centre, “possibly just off Lumley Road”, on Sat 15th September.

Apparently “ALL THIS EVIL” that the slaughterhouse generates is “FOR THE BLOODY IMMIGRANTS”, “FOR THE SAKE OF A PERVERTED SICK RELIGEON AND A BACKWARD CULTURE”. Whichever caps lock-deficient Nazi typed this left us in no doubt that xenophobia rather than animal welfare is the dominant issue.

The move has split the existing campaign against the Heath Road slaughterhouse. Tess Turner, who is admin of a number of Facebook pages and groups against the slaughterhouse has said she will not support any “political” march on the issue. She told the East Coast Target that “The reason I started the campaign page was nothing to do with politics and race, it’s just an animal welfare point of view.” She’s obviously realised that standing alongside a bunch of unreconstructed Hitler worshippers will be a bad PR move.

The National Front represent the white supremacist politics that the BNP have spent the past few decades pretending they don’t support any more in an attempt to be more “credible”. The NF’s constitution supports the halt of non-white immigration into the UK, the forced repatriation of non-whites already here, bringing back the death penalty and birching, the outlawing of abortion and discrimination against homosexuals. A typical post on their Facebook page supports “WHITE PRIDE NATION WIDE” with a very Nazi-like NF logo and quotes white supremacist David Lane’s 14 word phrase. Asylum seekers are referred to as “THIRD WORLD FILTH” and they state that anyone who opposes them is “RED FILTH” and “UNCLEAN SCUM”.

These wannabe “master race” members are probably still smarting from their humiliation at the hands of anti-fascists in Derbyshire a couple of years ago. An East Midlands NF “Day of Action” was brought to an abrupt end by the “reds” who took the NF’s flag and leaflets while the handful of Aryan warriors meekly surrendered. This time it’s a national demo so they may get as many as 20 to turn up and hide behind police lines. We hope the people of Lincolnshire give these Nazi chancers the boot.

1 comment   |  tags: , , | posted in Lincolnshire

2012/09/02

EDL march blocked in Walthamstow

By East Midlands Anti-Fascists

It sounds like the EDL had a very bad day indeed yesterday. Less than 300 of them bothered to turn up for their national demo in Walthamstow and attacked their own stewards before their march was blocked by over 1000 anti-fascists. Tommy Robinson had to set up his gazebo in a backstreet somewhere and get pelted with missiles before the Met decided to nick all of his followers and kettle them for 7 hours before dispersing them throughout London. Facebook is now full of whingeing fascists threatening to get revenge on the OB, calling for Tommy and Kev to resign and saying that the EDL is a “laughing stock”.

People from Leicester, Nottingham and Derbyshire divisions were there again, as evidenced by the now familiar sight of a GH Watts coach and a coach from Glovers of Ashbourne, Derbyshire:

Glovers Coaches,
Moor Farm Road East,
Airfield Industrial Estate,
Ashbourne,
Derbyshire,
DE6 1HD
Tel: 01335 300043
Email: gloverscoaches@btconnect.com

GH Watts coach parked at Walthamstow EDL demo yesterday

It is important to note the the much greater strength of anti-fascist forces when mosques and Muslim leaders actively encourage people to protest against the EDL rather than complying with the police and telling people to stay at home. Mr Rashid, the secretary of the Lea Bridge Road Masjid, is quotes as having said “We’ve been publicising the anti-EDL demonstration at every prayer and event we’ve held—and we’ve received a positive response each time.”

Hopefully this massive failure will mean another round of infighting within the already beleagured EDL and a further boost for the anti-fascist movement.

Comments Off on EDL march blocked in Walthamstow   |  tags: , , | posted in Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire

2012/09/02

English Democrats announce Corby candidate

By East Midlands Anti-Fascists

The “fash-lite” English Democrats have announced that David Wickham will be their candidate for the parliamentary by-election for the Corby seat, to be held in November.  Wickham’s main concern will be to scrap with the BNP and UKIP for votes, as the ED is attempting to carve itself a niche in the grubby world of nationalist politics.   Expect a fair measure of further right-wing infighting as the election gets closer.

Comments Off on English Democrats announce Corby candidate   |  tags: , , | posted in Northamptonshire

2012/08/31

Gone with the wind

By East Midlands Anti-Fascists

As an illustration of how the local BNP has been decimated over the past few years, check out this photo of local activists taken in the run up to the 2010 elections. All of these party activists have since fallen by the wayside.

From left: Edward Holmes, Hilda Holmes, William “Chris” Bell, Lewis Allsebrook, Michael Clarke, Janina “Nina” Brown

Edward Holmes is probably the only Ashfield candidate to have featured in the local paper after being sent a blood-stained “hate effigy”. His other claim to fame was getting into a row with BBC presenter, Des Coleman, who was filming a documentary about the fascist party. Both Holmes and his wife Hilda were last seen standing as “independent nationalists” in Selston, at the end of last year, but there hasn’t been a peep out of them since and Holmes’ Ashfield Matters website, along with the Ashfield Patriot site, is defunct. Meanwhile, the Ashfield BNP which struggled to find candidates in last year’s local elections, has collapsed.

William Christopher “Chris” Bell, was the organiser of the always fairly weak Nottingham BNP until last year when he threw in the towel and left fascist nut, Bob Brindley, in control. Brindley was last spotted handing out leaflets on his own. Presumably Bell has gone back to running shit financial advice websites and being a dodgy student landlord.

Lewis Allsebrook had been falling out with just about the whole of the East Midlands BNP for a while before he finally quit the party in February this year claiming that the BNP only had a “shallow pool of members” in Amber Valley. He was backed by Mick Clarke, the party’s parliamentary candidate for Amber Valley in 2010 who also seems to have left the party. Allsebrook’s prediction proved to be correct as the BNP slumped at the polls and lost both its councillors in Heanor this May. Allsebrook maintained his Amber Valley Matters website for a while but it hasn’t been updated for months now. He seems to have given up hope on joining another nationalist party.

Nina Brown has been in and out of the BNP more times than we’ve been able to keep track of over the past 5 years. She was the person who famously let the BNP’s security team into Sadie Graham’s house to ransack it looking for evidence of treachery. Following this she and husband Dave were part of the group that resigned forming a major split in the BNP. When that didn’t work out the Browns came back to the fold, tails between their legs and were running the Broxtowe Nationalist website up until 2010. They were spotted representing the BNP at a neo-Nazi rally in Germany at the end of 2009. Broxtowe BNP has since collapsed and a recent attempt by David Wright to revive it seems doomed to failure.

Analysis of the leaked BNP membership list in 2008 suggested that NG16 in Broxtowe was the country’s “most racist postcode” with more members than any other. Leicester, Nottingham and Derby were the cities ranked as having the 2nd, 3rd and 8th most members, with Leicester and Nottingham both having more than London. Since those days the BNP has had a near total collapse across the region. Although the dregs still remain, the endless splits, exposures and infighting have destroyed the party and many local activists have left in disgust, been purged, or have just given up. Long may it continue!

Comments Off on Gone with the wind   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , , | posted in Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire

2012/08/30

Skegness abattoir controversy attracts fascists

By East Midlands Anti-Fascists

Recent proposals to reopen an abattoir in Skegness have attracted local opposition, with a facebook group and online petition set up.  The Heath Road abattoir closed down in January after it ran into financial difficulties , and the proposed re-opening has generated opposition because slaughter methods used there would be halal.  Although the initial opposition was not overly linked to the far-right, fascists have been quick to take an interest in the issue, with the BNP’s Lincolnshire Coastal branch adopting it as their main campaigning theme.  Other groups have been sniffing around the issue as well, and it’s certain that none would have criticised the abattoir reopening if it were to be staffed by “indigenous” knifemen.

Ritual slaughter for halal is becoming an important focus for the far-right, with the BNP in particular targeting it; they recently held a (piss-poorly attended) national picket of a branch of Subway in Sunderland which sells halal meat.  They aim to portray their opposition to halal on the grounds of animal welfare, but unsurprisingly this rings rather hollow on investigation; there is no opposition from the fascists to factory farming in general, nor is there any indication of what they consider acceptable practice in a slaughterhouse might look like – the latest fundraising dinner of the Lincolnshire Coastal BNP featured Lincolnshire sausage, presumably obtained from consenting pigs who died quietly in their sleep, or something…..

The halal meat issue is (of course!) more complex than it is painted by the BNP.  It is often argued by muslims that slaughter without pre-stunning (which is the central issue giving grounds to accusations of cruelty) is actually less distressful for the poor animal than the conventional methods of stunning – although  almost every animal welfare organisation disagrees, and what scientific evidence there is suggests that stunning is less traumatic.  For what it’s worth, this writer would guess that pre-stunning is indeed “less cruel”, but hopefully I’ll never know for sure.

However, it is important to note that, contrary to general impression, halal rules do permit the pre-stunning of animals, as long as the stunning itself does not kill the animal.  It is also important to note that there are several interpretations of halal rules in practice – for example, there are differences about which methods of stunning are acceptable. The RSPCA cites an estimate, from the Meat Hygiene Service, that around 90% of UK halal-slaughtered animals are in fact pre-stunned – in other words, from a welfare standpoint, they are treated much the same as the majority of animals killed in non-ritual abattoirs. (The majority killed for kosher consumption are also pre-stunned, incidentally).

The BNP are yet again displaying their opportunism in portraying halal as “truly barbaric” and “un-British”, whilst showing no analysis of its complexities, nor any campaign on factory farming in general.  Their failure to mention kosher slaughter, which is very similar to halal in most practical aspects, also shows their expediency – it’s not considered strategic to be overtly anti-semitic at the moment.  A more progressive strategy for ensuring animal welfare in halal and kosher is not hard to imagine, perhaps involving campaigning for universal application of stunning to all ritual slaughter, for example.  Of course many would argue that a slaughterhouse can never be “humane”….and non-halal abattoirs are certainly not exempt from shocking breaches of welfare standards.

The key point here is that any worthwhile campaign on animal welfare must be careful to deprive the far-right of another opportunity to demonise British muslims.  The BNP and other fascist hangers-on will be unable to make political capital out of the Skegness abattoir controversy if they are opposed, and we hope that – yet again – they will be shown for the two-faced opportunists that they are.

2 comments   |  tags: , , , , | posted in Lincolnshire