Democratic engagement vs Encouraging censorship: what a meeting with no empty chairs looks like, Nick!

Hope not Hate continue to post articles poking fun at the low attendance at assorted rallies and meetings which they deem to be 'far right'. Some of them even are. Low attendances are not a problem for UKIP though, so instead they send along their UAF bully boys, even though officially both HnH and UAF have declared UKIP to be non-racist and non-fascist.



Several rows of empty chairs turned up to hear Nick Lowles
speak in Basildon. They were devastated when he ran away
rather than face democratic argument.

Meanwhile, Hope not Hate's own meetings continue to go from strength to strength. After kicking off with attendances of 5 (Warrington), 20 in Shrewsbury and 70 in Leicester (from a population of almost half a million), the meeting in Basildon was cancelled after the organisers ran away. This was followed by attendances of 9 in Harrow, and then the meeting in Woolwich - the events there being what they are trying to cash in on - was cancelled, apparently through lack of interest. We now hear from another source - although it is unconfirmed - that other Hope not Hate meetings in Ipswich and Hackney drew record attendances of 7 and 3 respectively. No news has reached us yet regarding their meeting in Wimbledon earlier this week, but we can be sure that had there been a decent turnout, it would have been all over their website by now.

Now, we understand how depressing it must be for poor old Nick Lowles to spend hours addressing row upon row of empty chairs. One of the problems is that at a public meeting, people will disagree with the speaker: Nick has attempted to overcome this by holding secret public meetings, with the venues publicised only at the very last minute. And who said there was nothing he could learn from the BNP?

Here at Nope, not Hope, we are concerned that Nick might forget what a roomful of people looks like and so as a public service, we have attached below the video of UKIP MEP Paul Nuttall addressing the Stourbridge branch of UKIP a couple of nights ago. Not only did people buy their own meals, but at the end of the evening, the collection raised more than the scrapings of peoples Giros and some shirt buttons. This is what happens when like UKIP you engage in the democratic process and rely on the power of your ideas rather than encouraging the censorship of the state, Nick.

HnH meetings statement 'simply not true'

News reaches us that Hope not Hate have put out a statement regarding their cancelled and rescheduled meetings, including the one in Basildon which Nick Lowles scarpered from. It reads:

Nick Lowles -
HnH statement is a lie

"Some news : Hope Not Hate meetings are not being rescheduled or cancelled they are taking place at venues known to the people that actually want to participate in democratic discussion. The people like EDL/SEA/NWI etc have been given false information and sent on wild goose chases"

Once again, this is not just stretching the truth, spinning the story a bit or exaggerating the facts. It is an absolute, outright lie.

At the Basildon meeting, a handful of HnH supporters were simply abandoned when HnH called the venue shortly before the meeting was due to start and cancelled it. The police who were present - who had been called by HnH - also confirmed that that was the only meeting, and they knew of no other venue. Even the few HnH supporters there knew of no other venue, and simply went home.

The simple truth is that Lowles does not want democratic discussion. He wants his consultation exercise to deliver the verdict he has already decided on - to attack UKIP - with no dissent, and has realised the best way to achieve this is to have public meetings whose sole attendees are carefully selected representatives of the Labour Party and the large trades unions who also happen to fund his organisation.

If he wants to see how to hold a proper democratic meeting, UKIP Basildon and Thurrock have a public meeting this evening, and you can be certain that the local committee won't up and scarper if people who disagree with them turn up. They'd even welcome Mr Lowles, and give him an opportunity to have his say even if they disagreed with him. That's democracy, not his gerrymandered meetings which are designed to exclude the working class.

Hope not Hate laughably claim Basildon meeting was switched to Thurrock

A supporter on Facebook has just brought to our attention the claim by Nick Lowles that last nights anti-UKIP meeting in Basildon was switched to Thurrock, with Lowles claiming that they were 'smarter than the average bear'.

That might be true for the hand-picked little clique he surrounded himself with to ensure that he got the answer he wanted as part of his 'consultation' exercise.

Luckily, apart from the dozen people who were opposed to Lowles plans, no other members of the general public turned up in Basildon. Like his opponents, they would not have heard of the change of venue either, but had any of the public been interested, Lowles was clearly quite happy to abandon them there while he and the other three people that constitute the 'general public' for the purposes of his farcical exercise in democracy decamped to somewhere safer. With a nice restaurant, some good wine and no ghastly working class people about.

We can't help but feel that nothing demonstrates better the contempt Lowles has for the general public, and what a farce his 'consultation' exercise really is. In fact, it works much better when the working class is excluded, because they only muddy the water by insisting that being worried about immigration is not racist, something which doesn't chime with Lowles and his determinedly middle class gang.

HnH cancel meeting to avoid democratic opposition

Hope not Hate's public meeting in Basildon yesterday evening descended into farce when they failed to turn up for their own party. In fact, such was the willingness of Hope not Hate to indulge in democratic debate that before cancelling they called the police who sent a van along. This is hardly what could be called 'Standing up for HOPE'.

The George Hurd Centre, Basildon

Roughly a dozen people opposed to Lowles views turned up to take part in his public 'consultation' meeting about how to deal with UKIP only to hear from staff at the George Hurd Centre that the meeting had been cancelled. They waited for 30 minutes or so after the meeting was due to start, but no other members of the public turned up. As with the Warrington meeting last week, apathy for Lowles party political stance seemed to be the order of the day amongst the residents of Essex, who stayed away in their droves.

To our knowledge, there was no threat of violence to Lowles or his associates at the meeting. The problem was not the threat of violence, but the threat of opposition to the pre-determined outcome of Lowles consultation exercise which brought about the cancellation.

Just so we are crystal clear on this, we believe that Nick Lowles and Hope not Hate have every right to hold public meetings. They have every right to exercise their right to freedom of speech, without fear for their safety or that of anybody attending, and we have always urged that anyone attending to oppose his organisation should be polite, respectful and calm. Perhaps Lowles could take a lesson from our stance and ask the same of his 'anti-fascist' allies? If there were threats, then we deplore them, just as we deplore the threats of his allies in the UAF and Anti-Fascist Alliance.

The cancellation of the meeting saved Lowles from having to
justify his anti-democratic position in front of a
disapproving audience. So much for having the courage of
his convictions.

With that said, we would also remind Lowles and Hope not Hate that democracy means that people will disagree with you. We would remind them that if they want to involve themselves not in fighting fascism and racism but in playing at party politics at the behest of their Labour paymasters, they can not expect a free ride. They can not expect their usual hand picked audiences who agree politely (but with true revolutionary fervour) to what has already been decided by Lowles, who after all owns Hope not Hate Ltd.

In case the contrast should be missed, Nigel Farage returned to Scotland yesterday ahead of the Aberdeen Donside by-election. There, Hope not Hate allies the 'Anti-Fascist Alliance' ensured the cancellation of UKIP events by telephoned threats of violent protest to police and venues. Despite this, Farage was keen to proceed with his scheduled events, and was more than happy to take on protesters in debate. One protester was arrested for assault on a UKIP official after losing a debate with Farage. Such is the power of their arguments and their belief in democracy.