UAF and Unite protesters debated calling UKIP candidates 'coconuts' and 'oreos'.

One of our contributors last night joined the demonstration held by UAF, Hope not Hate, Unite and

HnH/UAF protesters didn't seem to realise that the terms
'oreo' and 'coconut' are racist as they debated whether to
chant them at UKIP candidates.

the SWP outside the Emmanual Centre in Central London.

Wearing a concealed camera, they captured many of the discussions which took place within the rag-tag army of unwashed, unemployed and professionally outraged demonstrators.

Twice during the course of the demonstration, protesters debated whether to call UKIP members from the BME community - that's Black and Minority Ethnic for those who prefer English to buzz words - 'coconuts' and 'oreos', ie to suggest that they were black on the outside and white on the inside.

One of these discussions took place within earshot of a pair of BBC comedians from the television show 'The Revolution will be Televised', who spent some time chatting with the demonstrators. It will be interesting to see whether that makes the show.

Unfortunately, we can not use the video our informant shot - other demonstrators were also filming, and it would be a relatively easy matter to work out who our informant was by comparing the two videos. Understandably, our informant is rather concerned that their safety would be put at risk, given the documented willingness of particularly the SWP to resort to violence.

We have however seen the relevant video. A number of people were involved in the discussion, including a young lad of about 18 wearing a green combat jacket and a woman with strawberry blonde hair carrying a 'Unite' banner. Both thought that using such terms would 'highlight UKIP's racism', and said this apparently unaware of the irony of using racist language to do so. The general consensus was that they were right, but then a woman identifying herself as an organiser stated that while she agreed that's what they were, there 'were TV cameras present' and such phrases should not be used 'on this demo'. Our informant believed that she was from the SWP.

Both of the terms - coconut and oreo - are considered racist. 4 years ago, a Liberal Democrat councillor in Bristol - Shirley Brown - was convicted of racial harassment for calling Tory councillor Jay Jethwa - whose family came from India - a coconut. Cllr Brown - who is black - was given a 12 month conditional discharge and ordered to pay costs of £620.

It comes as no surprise to us to find racism within these supposedly anti-racist organisations. UKIP spokesmen Stephen Woolf and Amjad Bashir were both quoted in today's Daily Express as saying they had been called 'Uncle Toms' in the past by members of the anti-fascism industry.

If any UKIP members have photographs of yesterday evening's demonstration, we would ask them to PM them to our Facebook page - we can use them to shame the 'anti-racist' demonstrators who were willing to hurl racist abuse at Black and Asian UKIP candidates.

A final note of interest. Several of the SWP activists present were actively involved with Hope not Hate, rather giving the lie to Nick Lowles assertions that they are not linked.

Andrew Scott, the man charged with hitting Nigel Farage with a placard: picture

Following the news that a man has been charged with assaulting Nigel Farage at yesterday's meeting in Margate, we had a bit of a dig around to see if we could find out anything about him. A profile in the name of Andrew Michael Scott was rapidly found, although it contained little of interest. His main occupation appeared to be entering contests online and posting the results. There was nothing political on it, and we would have moved on, except..... while we were having a look, the profile disappeared - we can only assume that he got home from court and either removed it or locked it down despite it not being entirely clear whether it was or was not the profile of the correct Andrew Scott.

We were not downhearted. His profile stated that he was in a relationship and gave his partner's name. Her profile was not locked down, and again was full of little apart from online competition entries. The sole clue was a notice for The Mass Sleep Out in Folkestone last August, an anti-austerity protest organised by the People's Alliance. On going to their page and looking at the attendees, there was another 'Andy Scott' listed, and their profile was full of the usual anarchist and SWP slogans, although it listed them as living in London and there were few connections to Margate. But was this Andy Scott the same person as the Andrew Michael Scott whose profile had disappeared?

The answer was in the cats. The Andy Scott profile was quite heavily locked down as well, with no visible photographs except some anodyne cover pictures. One of these featured a picture of two cats sitting on a fence which had been posted to the group "Group for anarchists to post pictures of their cats in" - no, really! Now, where had we seen those cats before? On Andrew Michael Scott's girlfriends profile! We checked back, and there they were, with her explaining how they were her cats.

And so, we give you a picture of Andrew Michael Conway Scott, the man charged with assaulting Nigel Farage in Margate. Although the profile we looked at first is gone, his second, is here although we suspect it won't last for long. We have removed his girlfriend's face from the photograph, as she is charged with nothing, and have not - and will not - release her name.

Interestingly, Scott was a supporter of Councillor Ian Driver's bid for election to Kent County Council - at which he failed - and was one of 79 members of the group Vote Ian Driver for Kent County Council. Driver is the Thanet District Council Green (former Labour) councillor who attended the demonstration. Interestingly, in the group is an article by Driver calling for the UK to leave the European Union. Naturally, when Driver calls for it, it's not racist, only when UKIP does!

*Note - the man charged is the one wearing the black hoodie in the video, not the fat one with the green shirt!

A round-up of Labour activists caught so far

As news breaks in the Guardian that the Labour Party is set to specifically attack UKIP in the upcoming by-election in Sale & Wythenshawe on the 13th February we thought it was worth rounding up the culprits behind the rather more literal attack on UKIP leader Nigel Farage at a meeting in Margate, Kent yesterday.

In the Guardian article, Labour MP John Healey said:

"Ukip's strategy is not just appealing to people from the right of the Tories; they are making the case to traditional Labour voters. Step one for Labour is to take the threat seriously. Step two in selected areas is to step up what we are doing to counter them. Step three, we have to show we understand their concerns and Ed Miliband has made a good start on this with his 'cost of living' campaign"

Another senior Labour MP (un-named in the article) said: "Ukip are eroding our base in coastal towns and the north. It is a judgement whether Labour welcomes Ukip taking Tory votes or worry about what is happening long term to our own vote".

On Planet Thanet however, local Labour activists seem to have taken the message too literally. So far, we have two councillors - one a senior Labour councillor, another a former Labour councillor who now sits as a Green but with continuing close links to Labour - plus a number of Labour activists determined to prevent UKIP holding meetings, by violence if necessary. We are still going through the footage to see if we can identify any others - we believe there are at least 2 more Labour councillors present, plus another high profile Green Party activist. Can assaulting the UKIP leader and shouting obscenities really be their best tactics? You will note that several of these people have been photographed with senior Labour shadow cabinet members, including Yvette Cooper (shadow Home Secretary) and Harriet Harman (Shadow leader of the Commons). We have yet to see any condemnation from Hope not Hate, who of course tacitly approve of such action.

Anyway, here are the pictures - all brought together in the same place for ease of reference. If any readers have further information on the people in the online videos of the incident, please message us and let us know - through Facebook is best.



It looks like Cllr Clark to us




 

 



We have been informed these may not be the same person - we shall
remove it if further investigation proves this to be the case.

 



 

 

 

Is this Labour councillor Douglas Clark in the Margate mob?

Here's another one - are these the same person, Labour councillor Douglas Clark of Thanet District Council?

 

If it is, is this really the behaviour expected of Labour councillors?

More Labour links to the Margate demo....

Here's another few to keep you going. Are they the same people? There's more than a passing resemblance.

 

 

Labour Party involved in Margate anti-UKIP hate mob

A little game of 'spot the difference' - or even spot the similarity - for you this morning.

Do you think that....



Yes? Well, here she is in full size: she's just behind Thanet Labour leader Cllr Clive Hart's shoulder in this picture of the Thanet Labour Party on the day Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper came to visit.

There were several more Labour Party members involved - more details later if we find the time!