Another HnH campaign descends into farce as Polish AntiFa condemns Morphett article

Chaos is surrounding Hope not Hate's latest campaign against a Polish politician on a speaking tour of the UK.

Robert Winnicki is the President of the Młodzież Wszechpolska, or All Polish Youth Movement, MW. HnH blagger Carl Morphett (aka Simon Cressy) is the author of HnH's piece, which accuses Winnicki of everything short of child sacrifice.

The comments threads are particularly interesting. They start with simply mocking 'retards', the 'mentally handicapped' and the 'brain-damaged': all fairly normal stuff for Hope not Hate supporters so far:

A new touch - even for Hope not Hate - is the implicit racism in this one but of course you can't be racist if you're a Hope not Hate supporter, can you?

However, their already ropey campaign descended further into farce when several Polish supporters of Hope not Hate - including prominent anti-racists - accused Morphett of using discredited media reports and distorting the facts surrounding Winnicki and his MW movement. After initially deleting posts which called into doubt the veracity of the article, they then resorted to simply reposting the same media reports they used as sources, while denying that the broadcasters concerned had apologised for them

A cursory glance at the number of 'likes' under the stories shows what HnH's own supporters thought of such rubbish.
So what was the original comment that Hope not Hate removed? A rather damning critique of their own story which exposed it as being largely rubbish and propaganda put out by Winnicki's political opponents:

To those of us in the UK, Hope not Hate's refusal to correct glaring errors is nothing new for we see them as the propaganda machine they are. That the article smacks of anti-Polish racism is beyond doubt - as a primarily Catholic country it is hated by the hard left for (a) throwing off the shackles of the Communism HnH so adores and (b) daring to have moral values which do not equate to Hope not Hate's own, ie they don't tell enough lies and aren't keen on homosexuals.

The final word must go however to an exchange between London Antifascists and Hope not Hate. The former had asked on behalf of several Polish members for the article to be removed or amended. Hope not Hate showed their usual solidarity:

With friends like Hope not Hate, who needs enemies?

Its not just the BNP which lines allies pockets - HnH do the same

Hope not Hate have gone on the offensive against the BNP this morning with an attack on Nick Griffin. Here at Nope, not Hope, we're not interested in the BNP, and in no way support them. But there was one comment of interest. In the HnH article posted by Matthew Collins - himself a former BNP thug - they say:

"Moving swiftly on, Walker then claimed that after years of far-right activity, Griffin has made "virtually nothing" from his time in the far-right. Some BNP ex-members may wish to remind Adam of the extension on Griffin's home paid for by the BNP and the fact that he managed to get almost his entire family on the party pay roll doing jobs that members used to do voluntarily."

Which we found interesting when compared to the invoices submitted to the Electoral Commission for the 2010 General Election by Hope not Hate. This was of course before HnH split from the Searchlight organisation - at the time, Nick Lowles was the HnH campaign director rather than its owner.

Included in the invoices was one from a company called Taxinform Ltd for £2,300.00, which covered "subediting and checking election newspapers and leaflets, General Election 2010". We were rather more surprised to discover that the company has only 2 shares issued, both to Sonia Gable, while she and her husband Gerry were the director and company secretary respectively. Taxinform is listed as a tax advisory service. We will restrain ourselves from publishing the full details of the company, which are in any case a matter of public record. Sonia and Gerry Gable were the founders of Searchlight, of which in 2010 Hope not Hate was a part, and were also its owners. We assume that checking leaflets was something which used to be done voluntarily, or at least as a part of their jobs before they found themselves awash with money from the Daily Mirror. And speaking of the Daily Mirror......

..... there was Ros Wynne-Jones, who doubled up her salary as a senior leader writer for the Daily Mirror - which funds Hope not Hate - by invoicing Hope not Hate for £6,500.00 with no details of what it was for other than 'Hope not Hate 2010'. Nice work if you can get it. Her day job paid her to write stories about Hope not Hate for the Mirror, while Hope not Hate paid her to write stories about them in the Mirror. Talk about having your cake and eating it!

So, I'm sure as a result of Nick Lowles' largesse, both the Gables and Ms Wynne-Jones could also afford substantial extensions on their houses too. It just seems that the closer you look at Hope not Hate's finances, the more similar to the BNPs they appear. Certainly it would appear that their friends benefit financially for jobs which in the case of both the Gables and Ms Wynne-Jones would seem to form a part of their job in any case. Is this like Griffin, getting friends and relatives "on the party pay roll doing jobs that members used to do voluntarily?". Why is it we are not surprised by the hypocrisy? Why attack Griffin for something which Hope not Hate regularly do themselves?

We have much more to say about HnH's finances including a major funding scandal, so please stay tuned over the next month or so!

No more 'foreigner only' shifts - what will HnH make of such reverse racism?

I've just noticed an article in the Guardian's online edition. The Labour Party is - to prevent exploitation of migrants - about to announce a policy to prevent employers having 'foreigner only'  factory shifts.

Yes, you did read that right.

"Current practices exploit foreign workers, keep UK nationals out of work and drive wages down," says Yvette Cooper.

I suppose it's one way of not dealing with an immigration system beyond the control of parliament. And since when did Labour believe any of that: can UKIP really have wrought a Damascene conversion on even Mrs Ed Balls?

Not entirely, as one of the proposals is to allow local authorities to enforce the minimum wage. Fine, but whose minimum wage? If they're hired in Portugal on Latvian contracts, and therefore Latvian minimum wage, they'll earn Euro 286.22/month in the UK perfectly legally compared with the UK minimum wage of around £1,000/month. In attempting to evade debate on the mechanics of immigration which they can't control, they have walked into another EU laid minefield. Ms Cooper appears unable to grasp this.

Still, we can't wait to see what Hope not Hate's take on the requirement to hire token 'white, British' workers in order to evade the legislation will be.

A request - Please spread the HnH Googlebomb!

We thought we'd make a quick request to our many regular readers.

Everybody can help with this, whether you've got a blog, a website or just your Facebook page.

Can you post the following link somewhere on it:

Hope not Hate

Just copy the link and paste it somewhere, and please encourage others to do the same. Needless to say, it doesn't go to Hope not Hate, but to this blog. It is known as a 'Googlebomb', as it confuses Google's search ranking system, and will help this blog to appear in Hope not Hate's search results.

Please also don't forget to sign up to Hope not Hate's Facebook page - remembering to ensure they appear in your newsfeed - and then mark their posts as 'Spam' using the pull down arrow next to their postings.

Both of these will help ensure that HnH will have to waste funds promoting their own page that they would otherwise use to attack legitimate, non-racist political parties such as UKIP.

The last time we posted such advice, it prompted a complaint from HnH as it means less money in Nick Lowles' pocket, so it is having some effect. It was, of course, a rather hypocritical complaint, as HnH do this to our Facebook page and have done it since it was founded.

Thanks for your help!

HnH's own supporters agree with Bloom and oppose burning of books

Evidence of the widening gap between Hope not Hate and their own supporters continues to emerge in the comments following HnH's latest articles.

On Friday, Nick Lowles blog featured an article on former UKIP MEP Godfrey Bloom's new book, "A guinea a minute" which was ripped off without attribution from the Huffington Post UK. Entitled 'Godfrey Bloom's best quotes from 'A guinea a minute', HuffPo contributor Asa Bennett had managed to whittle the book down to reveal the very best.

Designed as a piece to elicit mockery of Bloom whose trenchant views are already widely known, the responses from Hope not Hate supporters were revealing when it was posted on their Facebook page. Just 5 people 'liked' the article, while 6 commented upon it. Of the 6 comments, 4 were supportive, including a comment by one of the 'likers'. They said:

 

 

There was yet more disappointment for Lowles and his motley crew as the comments thread also developed on the story we covered a couple of days ago on his enthusiasm for overcoming political opponents by simply burning their books in best National Socialist style. While some agreed with HnH's desire for the censorship of opposing political views no matter how absurd or easily disproved, the vast majority of comments showed that HnH's support is hardly foursquare behind them, while many noted the closeness between Lowles position and that of Goebbels, as we noted in our article: that banning books is just one step away from burning them.

 

 

 

It is worth noting that these are not messages from people who appear to be supporters of the far-right or of holocaust denial. Rather these are people who seem to be waking up to the agenda behind Hope not Hate's words and actions. Increasingly comments are appearing beneath their articles which should give any organisation a reason to pause for thought, although that is unlikely to happen with Hope not Hate. A more likely cause of action will be the disabling of the comments threads, or an even heavier handed censorship of what is posted. They already remove anything which appears to be written by persons whom they consider 'far-right'. It is one thing to remove the comments of political opponents, but could Lowles and Hope not Hate be forced to start removing the comments of their own supporters to hide the growing uneasiness within the ranks? It can not be long coming. After all, no dictatorship can survive for long once it permits internal dissent.

When will HnH point their fingers and call Cllr Hiqab Jama racist?

There was an interesting story on the Bristol 247 news site yesterday - Immigrants ‘can do more to integrate into British culture’

It carried the news that "Bristol’s first Somali councillor has said immigrant families could do more to integrate themselves into British culture to help the battle against racism". The article went on to say:

Cllr Hibaq Jama -
Lucky not to have been called
'racist' by HnH

"Bristol’s first Somali councillor has said immigrant families could do more to integrate themselves into British culture to help the battle against racism.

Cllr Hibaq Jama, who came to Britain with her family when she was two years old as a refugee fleeing civil war in her country, said immigration was a threat to British culture if it was “a threat in the minds of British people”.

She said she had found real fears over immigration while campaigning in her Lawrence Hill ward, one of the poorest areas in the South West and with a large, white, working class community.

The debate over immigration needed to be broader, she added, to ask how immigrants and refugees could accommodate themselves more into the communities they enter."

This was just the day after Hope not Hate featured UKIP Croydon leader Peter Staveley in an article reprinted from the Croydon Advertiser which could barely contain its contempt in reporting Mr Staveley as saying:

UKIP's Peter Staveley - not allowed
to say what Cllr Jama does

""I'm not particularly uncomfortable but what I am uncomfortable about is when immigrants come into the country and do not properly integrate themselves into the community....

"By definition those people who have come to this country to better themselves are not integrating properly with the community because they can't speak the language.

"If too many people come from the same country too quickly then quite naturally they would tend to live and work with their colleagues rather than getting to know the people who were there before.


Now, I don't know about you, but to us, it would appear that Mr Staveley and Cllr Jama are saying exactly the same thing, particularly when you read Cllr Jama's full comments in the article linked above.

Meanwhile, in Croydon,

"Nero Ughwujabo, chief executive of Croydon Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) Forum, accused him of "talking rubbish""

What is doubly remarkable is that Councillor Jama was speaking at an event in Bristol commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Bristol Bus Boycott, where the general public boycotted Bristol's buses in protest at the bus company's refusal to hire black or Asian crews. It is revealing that not only did Hope not Hate fail to even mention such a landmark event in race relations on their web- or Facebook pages, but they were also conspicuously not invited to attend the event and had no official presence there. Is there any clearer proof of their slide into irrelevancy? Or will they, in the interests of anti-racism, point there fingers at Cllr Jama tomorrow and demand she apologise for her racism?

When Goebbels' words fit Hope not Hate's actions, you know they've abandoned argument for suppression

Hope not Hate are publicising an article by 'The Kernel' online magazine concerning their investigation into books sold by Amazon (and others) entitled "New Amazon Shame: Holocaust Denial".

Much could be written about The Kernel and its publisher Milo Yiannopoulos (formerly known as Milo Wagner), although beyond the unpaid bills, legal actions, poor humour and public misogynistic comments the basic facts of the article appear correct, even if the title gives the impression that it is

Milo Wagner - like HnH, supports the
freedom so say what he agrees with only.

just Amazon, and just holocaust denial.

In fact, it transpires the Amazon and Barnes & Noble amongst others sell books which cover such topics as holocaust denial but extend further into the realms of anti-Semitism. Written in an appropriate tone of outraged self-righteousness, the article draws as its penultimate conclusion,

"Anti-semitism is also being more widely observed in mainstream commentators and Left-wing public intellectuals. Against this backdrop, it is appallingly lax of Amazon to stock material that gives succour to extremists, agitators and fantasists and which promotes anti-semitic pseudo-history."

We assume by the presence of the article on Hope not Hate's website and FB page that these are sentiments with which they agree: that they wish to shut down rather than defeat by debate any opposing views is hardly fresh news. What it represents is further proof of how HnH are simply abandoning the main purpose of their existence: the education of people about racism and how it is wrong. When they say on their website that "We try to build relationships, give confidence to those who dislike racism and empower communities to provide a more positive alternative to the politics of despair. We both challenge the myths and lies put out by the BNP and their ilk and also positively mobilise those people who are opposed to racism.", they neglect to mention that they hope to achieve this not by education or argument, but by banning anything which opposes their view, and damn the consequences for free speech.

This has of course been tried once before, when it was said,

" It is to this end that we want to educate you. As a young person, to already have the courage to face the pitiless glare..... this is the task of this young generation. And thus you do well in this midnight hour to commit to the flames the evil spirit of the past."

Which I think it is fair to say sums up their view pretty well. That is hardly surprising, as it comes from a speech by Josef Goebbels to students in Berlin ahead of the Nazi book burnings of May 1933.

One of the delicious ironies of free speech is that if you believe in it, you find yourself arguing in favour of the rights of some pretty unpleasant causes to have their views heard. However, we do so confident that they can be defeated not by banning them and making their proponents martyrs, but by logical argument and the simple truths of reality.

There is an absurdity here which appears to be in Hope not Hate's blind-spot. In this instance, we are talking about a handful of books out of the 600,000+ titles carried by Amazon. In addition to the thousands of books available from the same source which disprove the content of this handful, we also have contemporaneous newsreel footage, millions of pages of testimony from hundreds of war crimes trials, and the recorded memories of tens of thousands of survivors, witnesses and participants. It is not difficult to prove the factual errors in the work of holocaust deniers, so why should we seek to ban their books in the face of overwhelming contrary evidence?

There is of course a supreme irony in this which the hypocrites at Hope not Hate can not see - at the same time they applaud the Kernel for advocating Goebbels like censorship, they are also running a campaign complaining that the government's new lobbying legislation would gag them on the front of their website.