2011 has been a momentous year across the world and an interesting one in our region. The economic crisis that has afflicted the western world has deepened, whilst in other areas of the world it has been a time of hope.  There have been signs of change in Burma, whilst dictators have been toppled across North Africa and others may yet follow in other parts of the Arab World.  Nearer to home the BNP have spluttered on towards their inevitable demise as a serious poltical party. At the same time the English Defence League have found it ever more difficult to hold demonstrations and frustrations seem to be surfacing more and more, demonstrated by violence and splits in the organisation.

The BNP in North-east England have failed to make any political breakthrough, not winning even a single council seat, is now hopelessly split.

Nick Griffin’s leadership has few remaining supporters here in the region. Former regional organiser Ken Booth and others have turned away from him and left just a handful of devotees, clustered around the troubled Walker brothers in Spennymoor, and around Martin Vaughan and Regional Organiser Chris Thornton in South Tyneside

With little or no hope of political progress, the far-right has returned to its old ways; using violence to intimidate others who are clearly not impressed by their arguments.
But then the path to violence seems to be the only road left for the far-right. With the BNP having failed to convince a sceptical public of Britain or the North East that they are a respectable party, they seem to have nowhere else to go. Which brings us neatly to the EDL. In September 2010 EDL thugs attacked the Tyneside Irish Centre in Newcastle to disrupt what they thought was a meeting of a rival group.  As it happens their rivals weren’t there.  In the event, two staff members were assaulted, leading to a number of EDL supporters being jailed, including EDL organiser Alan Spence.  Spence stood as a BNP parliamentary candidate in 2010.  and his son Steven, who was also jailed, had previously contested a ward in Newcastle for the BNP.

Two more EDL hooligans imprisoned during 2011 were Steven James Vasey, 32, and 24 year-old Anthony Donald Smith, both from County Durham. Both admitted conspiracy to commit racially aggravated criminal damage following attacks on a mosque in Hartlepool and against a shop and home owned by an Asian family in Shotton Coliery, County Durham.

This violence is surely a sign of another far-right organisation going nowhere. With nothing to say to the people of the North East, as they struggle through the recession, the last resort of the far-right is random, unprovoked violence. Clearly both the EDL and the BNP have nothing to offer the people of our region.

Additionally the EDL is as badly split in the region as the BNP is. The split between the EDL and their splinter group, the North East Infidels (NEI) has grown worse over the year.

So, clearly the far-right have nothing to offer anybody in 2012. What of other extremists? May 2011 saw the death of the infamous terrorist leader Osama Bin Laden, hiding away in Pakistan. What seemed most remarkable about this event was just how unimportant it was in some ways.   It had been a number of years since Bin Laden had really held any influence among Muslims. In the same way as people in Britain have seen through the lack of real solutions offered by the BNP so the vast majority of the Arab world and Muslim countries have seen through what Al-Qaeda has to offer them – nothing but hatred and violence.  Ring any bells?

Nowhere was this better demonstrated than in Tahrir Square in Cairo in those heady days of late January and February when thousands of Egyptians gathered to demand democracy, toppling Hosni Mubarak in the process.  As in Tunisia and later in Libya, not to mention Syria and other places where the revolutions are unfinished, what was clear in Tahrir Square was that what most Muslims want is not extremism or Islamic Fundamentalism but pretty much the same as what we all want; a decent health service when they are ill, decent schools for their children, the chance to speak out about what they feel and think and the opportunity to elect their leaders.

So much for the ‘clash of civilisations’.  2012 can surely be the year when all people of good faith can shake off the violence and the nihilism of the extremists in whatever community they come from and work together, celebrating not only our diversity, but also what binds us all together as humans. Most people are not stupid; they can see through extremists who offer only hatred and violence and realise that these people have nothing for them. If there is any lesson to be learnt from the events of 2011 it is that the far-right have no ideas as to how to help people through the economic crisis, whilst Muslims across the Arab world are rejecting the extremism of Islamic Fundamentalists.  That alone will make it even less likely that the far-right will be able to convince anyone that their brand of Muslim-hating is worth following.  The continual demonising of Muslims will begin to look as outdated and irrelevant as Osama Bin Laden did before his demise.

People want real answers to the problems we face today. They want ideas as to how the economy can be fixed, how their job can be made safe or how new jobs can be created for them, they want to know how a decent health service can be maintained and how they can have good schools to send their children to. They want to know how the environment can be protected and how they can feel safe from crime. What have the thugs and criminals of the BNP and the EDL, or on the other side of the same grubby coin, Islamic extremists, got to offer on any of these issues? Nothing. Consequently, one has to wonder where 2012 will lead them. The answer to that is likely to be “nowhere”.

What is needed in these difficult times is more hope and less hate. There is a need for political parties who can carefully analyse what is happening,  decide what needs to be done and then deliver policies which warmly embrace the needs of all our people from whatever background they come.  On that positive note, it just remains for everyone at TWAFA to wish you all the best for 2012.

Hope Not Hate

This autumn saw the 75^th anniversaries of three notable events in 1936.  It was the anniversary of the Battle of Cable Street in East London, when a group of Oswald Mosley’s British Union of Fascists were prevented from marching through the East End of London, intimidating Jews in a similar way to the Nazis in Germany, by a huge crowd of 100 000 anti-fascists. October was also the month that the Brigade of the anti-Franco forces who travelled from Britain to Spain to fight fascism there. In the North-east of England, the 5^th October 2011 marked the 75^th anniversary of the start of the Jarrow Crusade when 200 unemployed men walked all the way to London to show how much they wanted work.

 

Cable Street was a great victory for the decent majority of people in the East End of London, from whichever background they came.  It has been described as an event which came to symbolize the anti-fascist movement more than any others.  The British Union of Fascists (BUF) were determined to march through the East End, but faced with the opposition of 100 000 anti-fascists they were able to make no progress at all.  This was the beginning of the end of the pre-war fascist movement in Britain as the BUF’s questionable funding from Mussolini, the fascist leader of Italy, soon dried up.

 

In the North-east, the fascists were effectively finished by 1934. There was no need for an equivalent of the Battle of Cable Street.  It was noted that the ordinary working people of the region found both the uniforms and antics of Mosley’s motley crew to be totally alien. The idea of such bullying tactics was repulsive to the vast majority of North-east people in 1936, just as it still is.  Bullying of course is the way of the far-right whether it be the Nazis in 1930’s Germany or the BNP and EDL in Britain today.

 

Around the same time as the Battle of Cable Street, other British anti-fascists headed to Spain to fight Franco’s fascist rule, a regime that had the support of Hitler and Mussolini.

 

In October 5^th 1936 saw the first steps being taken by the 200 noble men who made up the Jarrow Crusade.  These were men with real grievances, yet they acted with commendable dignity, in a way which reflected well on their town and their region.

 

When one thinks of the appalling drunken behavior of members of the English Defense League, sadly including many from the North-east, who struggle to march together without shouting vile racist abuse and abusing other passers-by, one can only shake your head and wonder what the Jarrow men would make of it.

See:
Hope Not Hate Lincolnshire Police, halifaxcourier , halifaxcourier

Far-right thugs who mistakenly attacked the Tyneside Irish Centre, thinking that political rivals were there have been jailed.
On 22nd September 2010, up to 20 EDL supporters invaded the Tyneside Irish Centre, attacking a doorman and setting off a fire extinguisher inside.
At Newcastle Crown Court, Judge Rodger Thorn said that, “this was a group attack on the democratic rights of others to have free association and exercise their freedom of speech.

“This behaviour cannot be tolerated, no matter how much you might dislike the views of the socialist party.
“These sentences must ensure a tit-for-tat revenge can be no option. Violence and threats of violence will not be tolerated by the EDL, SWP or indeed any other factions or groups of any kind.�
The proposed meeting held by the SWP had been cancelled and one member of the EDL Peter Duffy was even allowed in to the club to see that there were no SWP members there. That didn’t stop the EDL violence.

The violent nature of the attack was described by Johnathan Devlin for the Prosecution, who noted that; “one witness said around 20 people were outside Rosie’s Bar and they were staring across towards the Irish Centre.

“He said they ran towards the centre and when they came out he said there was a real sense of tension on the street and one man was rubbing his knuckles as if he had just punched someone.�

Mr Devlin said: “On September 22 last year several persons thought to be aligned with the EDL met at Rosie’s bar situated on the opposite side of the road.
“They forced themselves into the club foyer, a melee ensued and door staff were attacked.�

Peter Duffy, 44, of Elgin Avenue, Seaham, Colin Bell, 36, of St Oswalds Road, Hebburn, Anthony Burn, 48, of Lecondale Court, Leam Lane, Gateshead, Michael Garriock, 23, of Gibson Street, Wallsend, Barry Keddy, 34, of Deneholm, Wallsend, Alan Spence, 46, of Gerald Street, Benwell, Steven Spence, 27, of Wickham View, Denton Burn, Newcastle, and Paul Starr, 45, of Telford Street, East Howdon, North Tyneside, all admitted affray.
Duffy was jailed for 10 months, while Keddy got eight months, Garriock eight months, Steven Spence eight months, Alan Spence seven months and Burton seven months. Burn and Bell received a sentence of three months imprisonment, suspended for 12 months, with four week curfews. Starr was sentenced to four months imprisonment, suspended for 12 months, with a similar curfew. Mills’ case was adjourned until later this month.

Yet again we have seen what the EDL has to offer the people of North-east England. Nothing – except mindless violence.

See : Hope Not Hate

Evening Chronicle

When it comes to a Christmas party for the BNP in the North East region, things are not looking good. Whilst it was previously infamous for festive boozing and brawling, nobody has remembered to book this year’s bash. Local BNP activists, the few that are left that is, are not happy.

It is normally left to Martin Vaughan to organise the party for the North East BNP but this year he has decided not to not bother, due to “lack of interest”.
Whilst some of the depleted North-east BNP may not be bothered, for others, this has completely ruined their Christmas. Natasha Malley and her mum, for example. According to Natasha’s mum “a disco keeps everybodies (sic) interest in the party going”. Past experience tells us that just by adding alcohol there is often a national newspaper interest in the North-east BNP’s shenanigans. Given the usual complete lack of any worthwhile political initiatives from this dying party, it is no doubt true that a good booze-up is the only reason left be a member.

At the same time we have another example of rank hypocrisy from the North-east BNP. Pete Molloy of the BNP has had himself photographed outside the sitting MP’s office in Spennymoor, County Durham recently (insert hnh link). The reason for this was that Pete was handing in a petition demanding ‘Local jobs for local people’. Molloy, of course must have been born and bred in Spennymoor, you must be thinking.
Er, well no actually. Molloy moved to the area from Liverpool and as he is the prospective BNP candidate for the Tudhoe ward in Spennymoor, this is presumably at the expense of local people who were born and bred there.

But then of course Molloy is not alone in coming to this region. Much of the traditional North-east was made up of people who came from Ireland or Scotland, Cornwall or even the Yemen.  We have traditionally been a welcoming region, so we should not begrudge Mr Molloy’s desire to stand for the council…as long as he doesn’t begrudge other people coming to our region.

See:: Hope Not Hate

November is now over, and Remembrance Sunday barely passed, a time when millions of British people buy poppies to remember all those who fought and died for Britain in wars since 1914, including the hundreds of thousands who died fighting fascism between 1939 and 1945.

It’s also a time that we burn effigies of Guy Fawkes on the bonfire. Unfortunately, this time last year another type of burning took place. A year ago, poppies were being set alight by Muslim extremists and Qur’an’s were being torched on the street by right-wing extremists.70 years on after the horrors of the Nazis, when books by Jewish authors and others they disapproved of were being thrown onto bonfires, it would be nice to think that the days of book burning were behind us.Sadly, recent events have proved that to be untrue.
In September 2010 , we witnessed the revolting and insensitive spectacle of Pastor Terry Jones threatening to burn the Qur’an on 11th September, on the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington.
Jones is Head of the Dove World Outreach Centre in Florida, a grand sounding organisation which in reality has a mere 50 members. He made claims he was burning the Qur’an in response to the development of Park 51, a planned 13-story Muslim community centre to be located two blocks from the World Trade Centre site despite the fact that it had been widely reported that the centre would be open to the general public and would promote interfaith dialogue.Yet its close proximity to Ground Zero was seen as an opportunity for Jones to provoke Muslim opinion around the world. By staging what became a media circus outside his church he threatening to burn a copy of the Qur’an on the anniversary of 9/11.

In the end he failed to carry out it out, but the damage was done. The idea had gained currency.

Sadly it was on Tyneside in 2010 That a Qur’an was burnt and the event filmed.

As The Guardian reported: “A video of the Gateshead incident, posted on YouTube, shows two men with headscarves covering their faces, wearing tracksuits and trainers, and dousing what appears to be the Qur’an with petrol before setting light to it as several others look on. They utter abuse, and others are heard to shout, “This is for the boys in Afghanistan; September 11 international burn a Qur’an day”, before another book is thrown onto the small fire. At one stage the burning book is kicked.â€?

Provocative actions such as the burning of the Qur’an are known to make it more dangerous for British soldiers in countries such as Afghanistan. And surely this is the rub. Extremists on both sides need each other in a macabre symbiotic relationship.
In November 2010 about 30 extremist Muslims, supporters of Muslims Against Crusades (MAC), exploited Remembrance Day by burning poppies. In a disgracefully move which desecrating the memory of British soldiers, including those who had fought against the menace of Hitler and the Nazis. At the same time, separated by a line of police, were members of the racist, football hooligan organisation, the English Defence League (EDL).

Its bizarre that the EDL could possibly claim to represent White English people in general.

The BNP again showed them selves up as hypocrites again this month as their north east organizer Mark Walker, was dismissed from Sunnydale Comprehensive after being found guilty of an inappropriate e-mail relationship with a 16-year old girl.

The General Teaching Council Committee has ruled that Walker was guilty of unacceptable professional conduct whilst he was employed as a teacher at Sunnydale Community College, County Durham in 2007. During this time he conducted an inappropriate e-mail exchange with a 16 year old former pupil of the school and he used school computers for his own private and business use. It also found that he misused school computers at times when he was supposed to be working.

Whilst on suspension Walker also acted inappropriately by contacting colleagues regarding matters relating to the suspension and publicising facts about his suspension and the investigation. He was also found to have been involved with groups having disruptive demonstrations outside the school to protest the so called “injustice�. A judge had previously found walkers behaviour during that time to be “scandalous�.

The Committee found Walker guilty of all these acts of misconduct. Walkers offences had been so serious that the options to impose lesser sanctions as punishment were disregarded. Walker was given a Prohibition Order and banned indefinitely from teaching from 31^st October 2011.

Mr Walker’s abuse of a position of trust with a vulnerable individual is extremely serious and highly incompatible with continuing to be a registered teacher. The GTC consider this to be a proportionate sanction, which is necessary in order to maintain public confidence in the teaching profession and declaring and upholding proper standards of conduct.

This means that Walker is struck off the Teaching Register indefinitely and cannot teach in maintained schools or non-maintained special schools. He may apply for permission to re-register, but not until 2 years from the date of this order at the earliest. If he does apply, a panel will meet to consider whether his eligibility to register, and teach, should be restored.

So there we have it. Mark Walker, a leading member of the BNP in the North-east and  national figure having worked for MEP Andrew Brons is deemed a threat to vulnerable individuals and not fit to be a teacher.  This is someone who claims to be an upstanding member of the community and working for a party which claims stand for law and order.

The BNP also regularly claim to be the party to hand out harsh justice to paedophiles. Not quite compatible views from someone who has been banned for teaching party because of his inappropriate e-mail relationship with a 16-year old girl.

Mark Walker was also banned of teaching because he cared so little about his pupils that he used teaching time to use school equipment to further his own business interests.This is someone who is the secretary of Durham BNP, the party which claims to put Britain and British people first.

Mark Walkers disgusting behaviour is not a rare occurrence unfortunately. Just months earlier, his brother Adam Walker appeared at Newton Aycliffe court to face charges relating to an incident in which he is accused of driving his car at a group of youngsters before brandishing a knife and threatening a child. The court heard that the incident left an 11 year old and a 12 year old child “terrified”.

With characters like the Walkers trying but yet again failing to represent the North East electorate it is no wonder that the people of the region have been wise enough not to vote a single BNP candidate onto our councils.  The ever underlying racism and vile behaviour that runs right through the BNP goes against the North East’s proud traditions of solidarity and fairness. Once again, the region have seen through the hypocrisy of the BNP and know what they really stand for.

Also see:
Northern Echo

GTCE Decision

Hope Not Hate