Britain First: A grown up political party?

In the wake of unprecedented numbers of attacks on ethnic minorities, their persons and their property, representatives of all the major political parties have issued statements of condemnation. Even UKIP, small though the party is has joined the chorus of voices expressing shock and horror as the violence against British minorities escalates. This is the grown up thing to do.

Don’t waste your time waiting for BF to make any similar statements though. That’s not what they’re about at all. Having spent 5 years inciting racial and religious hatred they’re hardly likely to condemn it now. Instead the Biffers’ reaction to these appalling events was to publish this.

On Tuesday the news broke about a petrol bomb attack on a halal butcher in Walsall. It’s important not to misunderstand this attack. The homemade bomb was not just thrown into the premises – it was thrown directly at the butcher himself. Fortunately it bounced off him before smashing on the floor, causing extensive fire damage to the building. Had it smashed against the man it was deliberately thrown at he would have been covered in accelerant and burned alive.

This was attempted murder. Once again the British far right inflicts serious violence on an innocent citizen going about his normal, lawful business.

If ever there was a time for us all to cry “Not in my name”, that time is now!

Not in my name!

Not in our name!

Not in the name of this wonderful country!

Not in the name of human decency!

Not in the name of anything worth having.

Britain First must take some responsibility for inciting the wave of hate crime currently terrorising many British citizens. They deliberately and cynically misled their followers, whipping them up into murderous rage by falsely promising them that all their fears would be assuaged by a vote to leave Europe. It’s no surprise that the sense of frustration those ‘footsoldiers’ now feel is being directed at the people whom Paul and Jayda have been scapegoating for half a decade.

We call upon Britain First to join the proper political parties of UK in condemning these outrageous attacks on innocent citizens…

We’re waiting…

 

Wear a safety pin

This is brilliant!

Yesterday we posted a number of T-shirt suggestions to reassure ethnic minorities that we’re not all racist. But forget that – this is better. It’s easier, it’s more permanent (you don’t need to keep washing it) and it can be distributed around your friends for just pennies.

Wear a safety pin to show that you’re safe. Get it – a SAFETY pin. Let the whole of the country know that you’re not going to abuse ethnic minorities. Let the world know that you’re not racist. Let your neighbours know that you’re safe!

Wear a safety pin!

Time to make a stand

Ever since the UK voted to leave the European Union, racists and nationalists have wrongly assumed that they have a mandate to abuse ethnic Brits. We don’t believe this is true. We don’t think that most Leave voters did so because of racism or aggressive nationalism. But unfortunately ethnic minorities living in Britain have a hard time knowing which Brits accept them as valuable members of our society and which are hostile. This is understandably frightening. When anyone could be a threat everyone is threatening.

So we have a suggestion.

The images below are easy to download. Why not choose one, take it to your local printer and get it transferred onto a T-shirt or sweatshirt? Why not have it printed on a mug to use at work or maybe a cap? Anywhere you like really.

The idea is to show our fellow citizens in clear, uncompromising terms that we are not a threat. Let’s fill Britain with reassurances for those who need them most right now.

It doesn’t matter how you voted in the referendum. We know that was about many issues that seem to have passed the racist minority by completely. This is about reclaiming our society for the tolerant majority of Brits and extending the hand of friendship and acceptance to all.

It’s time to make a stand and show the far right that they cannot win!

 

 

 

 

 

EBF’s statement on Brexit & Britain First

After Brexit – In whose name?

People keep telling us they voted ‘Leave’ but they’re not racist. Yes we know. We actually have a couple of non-racist Brexiters in team EBF. One or two others wavered right up until polling day. We know that lots of people voted to leave the EU for motives that have nothing at all to do with racism.

But we also know that many did vote to leave the EU because of racist views. Others did so because of an aggressive nationalism that, whilst not necessarily rooted in ideas of skin colour or racial origin still devalue the rights and contributions of ethnic Brits. That’s not everyone who voted to leave but it is a sizeable proportion.

So why are we still banging on about race when we know it wasn’t the deciding factor for so many Brexit voters?

The answer to that is simple…

Since the decision to leave the EU was announced racist attacks and abusive incidents have increased substantially. Emboldened by the ‘Leave’ result many racists and aggressive nationalists (we know not all nationalists are aggressive, by the way) now mistakenly believe that they have the support of over half the population. They think they have a mandate from the British people to persecute ethnic Brits and some of the incidents over the last few days have been pretty vile.

We have been told of abuse and/or assaults against Poles, Muslims, Jews, Sikhs, Hindus, Italians, Romanians and pretty well anyone who doesn’t fit the white British stereotype. Not that we’re surprised. We suspected that this would happen. Emboldened by a Brexit victory (that actually has little to do with race or religion in practice) the worst of our society has become even more aggressive and hostile.

So to those Brexiters who insist that they’re not racist and that they’re not aggressive the time has come to stand up and be counted. If you disagree with the persecution of minorities. If you don’t support the far right’s call for enforced repatriation of people who may well have been born in this country anyway. If you object to the antics of your fellow citizens who seem to mistake 21^st century UK for early 20^th century Germany then now is the time to stand up and say so. Repeat after us…

“Not in my name!”

We’ll end this post with the famous words of Edmund Burke. We think they’re very applicable to the current situation here in UK.

 “All that is necessary for evil to triumph Is that good men do nothing.”

We need unity now more than ever

The decision is made and the consequences, whatever they may be will be best faced as a united nation. The campaign leading up to yesterday’s referendum has been bitter and in some quarters violent. Commentators on both sides of the debate made exaggerated claims and strove hard to alienate their opposing camp. None of this was ever going to be helpful post-referendum.

As a staunch Remain advocate I won’t pretend that I’m not disappointed. But so what? Who gives a flying f**k about that? Emotions are irrelevant in this situation. The decision is made and Britain faces an uphill task to re-establish our identity as a nation, to re-establish our entire legal framework and to re-establish our relationship with the rest of the world.

Given that we might just have slammed the door on the international cartel that buys almost half our exports it seems certain that greater austerity is ahead. Equally worrying, especially for the low paid or those on zero-hour or casual contracts is the fact that many of their EU derived employment rights will cease to have any legal basis in UK law. Those workers who thought that their rights couldn’t be eroded any more than they already have been over the last few years may well be about to get a very large shock as they lose the protection the EU afforded them in the past.

The temptation for the Remain camp to blame the Brexiters for the sudden drop in the pound’s international value and for Brexiters to find a way to claim it’s all Remain’s fault really over the next few weeks, months and possibly years will be almost irresistible for many. The need for those workers who may soon begin to see their rights eroded to blame each other, whether they voted in or out will be equally strong. But we must avoid that temptation.

I won’t deny that I fear for this nation’s future today. But we must not fight each other. One of the most significant long-term consequences of the decision to leave the EU may well be the loss of the European Convention on Human Rights. Many of our current conservative leaders, including the Home Secretary have expressed their desire to reject both the ECHR and the British Human Rights Act that supports it in UK. This move opens the door for those who would remove those rights, potentially to replace them with an as yet unspecified ‘British Bill of Rights’. Potentially we have lost the framework that has hitherto defended the rights of working people, of religious and ethnic minorities and that has guaranteed us fair recourse to law. It’s too soon to know precisely what will happen next but the risk to our rights, especially to the rights of minority groups, to working people and to those who are out of work for whatever reason has suddenly become much more credible.

Not all Brexiters were far right sympathisers but all the far right sympathisers we interacted with were Brexiters. And there’s a reason for that. The loss of the EU means that far right groups like Britain First have just received a massive legal shot in the arm. As this country extricates itself to a greater or lesser extent from European legislation it will become easier for so-minded politicians to erode minority rights. And the thing that will make it easiest of all for them in this post-referendum Britain is sustained division.

If this nation continues to fight against itself, if we cannot find a way to come together and heal the divisions of the last few months of furious campaigning we will be too distracted in hating each other to notice the wholesale erosion of our protections.

The result is what it is. Britain, for better or worse has left the European Union. Now the task is to come together in unity.

Most people I know, be they Remain or Leave voters want to see a strong nation, not a divided one.

A house divided against itself cannot stand.

Marcia

Mair and the media

Recent events have brought Britain First into the media spotlight and not in a good way. Tommy Mair shouting “Britain First!” and then spluttering on about death to traitors in court has brought the Biffers and their murderous intentions into the public eye in a way that we at EBF could only have dreamed of. We’re grateful to those national papers who have begun to see them for what they really are.

So it seems ungrateful to ask more of a media that has already done so much but there’s a very real danger here that the real point will be missed.

Yes, it’s true that Britain First have no real membership to speak of. It’s true that their extremist views are not shared openly by much of the British population. But that’s not the whole story.

Even allowing for bought likes and page merging-scams their page does have a significant number of genuine likes. That means that their reach across social media is huge and even though not many people would call themselves neo-Nazis many are taken in by the general tone of their rhetoric. So we’d like to ask two things of mainstream media…

When you report on the joke that is Britain First please also point out the dangers of their evil messages spreading relentlessly across social media. They really do have an influence. That’s why hate crime is on the rise. That’s why our society is becoming ever more intolerant. Britain First isn’t the only group spreading this filth but it is probably the most effective.

Please don’t forget about these neoNazi malcontents when the next story breaks. They aren’t going to stop their relentless assault upon the peace of our nation so please, don’t you let up either. We’ll happily let you know as major stories start to break if you inbox us with a contact. You can message us via our Facebook page or Email the EBF blog at exposingbf@hotmail.com

Who knows – you might get a scoop (do journalists still use that word?).

Now you know what Britain First is capable of, please help us to keep the pressure on. They’re far more dangerous than they first appear.

Thankyou.

Team EBF

 

Jo Cox, Paul Golding and Britain First’s indelible shame

We’ve waited a few days to post this. We wanted to let the dust settle a bit. We wanted to show respect for a grieving family and we didn’t want to join so many others in capitalising on the internet frenzy that always accompanies high profile killings. Jo Cox was many things apparently but she should never become mere clickbait at the height of a media frenzy.

Like the rest of the EBF team I’ve been unsure how to respond to this awful attack, not only on a young mother of two but upon the very nature of British representative democracy. The vigils that were held over the weekend across the country were not for Jo Cox personally. How could they be? Most of the attendees at these events, like me had never heard of her before Thursday. The mood of the nation isn’t grief – it’s outrage.

I won’t pretend to be racked with grief for a woman I never knew. I won’t do a hasty internet search and write a sentimental blog about Jo Cox as though she was an old friend I’ve known all my life. And I won’t be making any pretentious claims to know the precise details of the motivations that drove her killer, allegedly Tommy Mair to murder her in cold blood. I will be making a few observations about the far right and the way that groups like Britain First must acknowledge the blood indelibly staining their own hands.

Much has been said, written, shouted, even screamed about the words ‘Britain First’, apparently shouted by Jo’s murderer as he attacked. Whether he said ‘Put Britain First’, a campaign slogan for many in the nationalist/Brexit camp or whether he said merely ‘Britain First’, referring to the neoNazi group that regularly calls for British politicians to be executed seems to be a moot point. The undisputed fact is that Tommy Mair made clear his white supremacist and nationalist sentiments at the moment he (allegedly) carried out his crime. It is also obvious that this is a crime precisely in keeping with the rhetoric of Britain First.

It’s not clear whether or not Tommy Mair was associated directly with Britain First. He may have been. He certainly had aligned himself with overseas neo-Nazis. It seems unlikely that he’d never come across UK based Britain First as well. It is clear that a fully paid up Britain First ‘footsoldier’ (see the image left – that’s the name they give themselves) couldn’t have followed the party line any more accurately than Mair did last Thursday.

Paul Golding, leader of Britain First was quick to deny any association with Tommy Mair and denounce his crime. His video denial was in part an attempt to deny almost everything that Britain First has said over the last few years and partly an attempt to discredit the witnesses.

Most ironic of all from the leader of a party which thrives on misrepresentation, half-truths and downright fabrication was his appeal for people to wait for the whole truth without jumping to conclusions.

Ok then Paul. We thought we’d help people uncover the whole truth, not about Jo Cox’s death, that’s for the courts but about the fact that this is exactly the sort of murderous, anti-democratic, neoNazi atrocity that you, personally, have been doing your damnedest to incite for the last five years. Team EBF has already published a number of PDF’s on your neoNazi approach to politics and society as a whole. But on this occasion I thought it might be a good idea to focus specifically on your bloodthirsty attitude to British politicians, your support for violent uprising and the way you incite others to murder them exactly as Jo Cox was murdered (perhaps I should say ‘assassinated’).

For those readers who don’t yet understand how Britain First operates or why responsibility for Jo Cox’s brutal murder can be laid so squarely at your door I’m going to spell it out. Please stop me if I’ve misunderstood anything. I’ll be using direct quotes from you, from Jayda and from uncle Jim together with screenshots of your own public pronouncements and internet memes to illustrate my points. You may not like what I have to say here but you’ll know it’s all true (which is more than can be said for your usual social media offerings).

Britain first and violence

Britain First has a long record of inciting violence. Founder Jim Dowson is well known for his desire to incite Holy War against Muslims. Britain first leader, Paul Golding is a former member of the ultra-violent National Front and the British National Party. His violent, white supremacist attitudes are obvious. Equally obvious is his tendency to lie and deceive in order to achieve his aims. Britain First’s Deputy Leader, Jayda Fransen is a former EDL ‘Angel’, another white-supremacist organisation which is equally well known for its violent assaults on British Muslims and non-whites.

It’s hardly surprising that Britain First supporters are violent. They are spoon-fed violence at every turn. If it’s not fictitious threats from Islamic terrorists it’s frightening fantasies about perverted immigrants out to rape our children. The reality is completely different, of course but what do you and your buddies care about that, Paul? You know that refugees aren’t rapists and terrorists. You know that they’re just desperate people trying to escape a war they didn’t start or want. But they’re not the right colour so you use every dirty trick you can to slander them and all those who support their right to exist. And that’s why you hated Jo Cox. She saw through your lies, your slanders and your cheap, mean-spirited rhetoric and she had the courage to stand up against you.

Jo Cox represented everything that you could never even hope to be. She was courageous, she was compassionate and she was dedicated to decency, truth and the joy of living a life free from petty prejudice and hatred. That’s why she opposed you. That’s ultimately why she died. You may or may not have given the order but your hands are soaked in her blood either way. You and Jayda have spent so long encouraging your followers to kill all who oppose you, including and especially our elected representatives that it’s impossible for you to distance yourselves from this barbarous murder. As Shakespeare’s Macbeth bewailed…

“Will all great Neptune’s oceans e’er wash this blood clean from my hands?

Or will this, my hand the multitudinous seas incarnadine, making the green one red?”

No amount of washing will clean your hands of the blood of Jo Cox – and we at EBF will do all we possibly can to see you and Fransen stand trial for the incitement that led to her vicious, politically motivated murder.

Britain First’s vicious leadership

Steve Lewis used to be Britain First’s Deputy Leader until the party realised that Jayda Fransen’s sex appeal was more useful in signing up a following of disaffected young men. Now he’s one of their quasi-military ‘Regional Commanding Officers’, regularly to be seen throwing punches at ‘lefties’ during their marches.

This is what this ‘high-ranking’ member of Britain First had to say about left wing politicians, among other people…

In case you have any doubt about just what RCO Lewis means by ‘eradicated’, the words of the current Britain First Deputy Leader, Jayda Fransen below should make it quite clear.

Britain First has long called for the execution of left wing politicians whom they define as traitors. The extract above actually threatens labour politicians (among others) with execution. It’s part of a longer Email announcing leader, Paul Golding’s hopeless bid for the office of London Mayor. You can read the whole text of this murderous, racist and Islamophobic rant by clicking here.

Britain First and the political process

Britain First has always treated democracy with contempt. Ever since they first began in 2010 they have threatened, intimidated, harrassed and slandered political opponents at every turn. We know of several formerly outspoken ctitics of Britain First who found themselves needing police protection because of death threats issued by Britain First or their supporters. A number of left wing bloggers and activists have had their details published online by Britain First to intimidate them into silence.

Below we see a video still of Britain First’s ‘RCO’ Steve Lewis and ‘Armed Forces Offcier’, Robin Lomax intimidating a theatre group who dared to criticise Britain First and UKIP. Democracy means nothing to these people. Violence is the only change process they understand.

Given the tragic events of last week it’s not hard to see why Britain First’s intimidatory tactics are so often effective. Few people are courageous enough to put their families at risk from fanatical neoNazis with a grudge. We at Exposing Britain First understand this only too well. That’s why we protect our anonymity so seriously. We have seen and heard what happens when Britain First locates those who oppose them and it’s not pretty. The chilling tweet below from Britain First’s leader, Paul Golding illustrates precisely what lies in store for any Britain First critic who dares to reveal their identity.

Britain First does not respect democracy. It is an organisation dedicated to silencing all opposition by any means at its disposal.

 

And that includes executing opposition politicians…

We at Exposing Britain First have been saying for years now that it’s only a matter of time before Britain First’s propoganda leads to the death of a labour politician. We believe that they have already managed to incite their ‘footsoldiers’ to commit at least one murder of an innocent Muslim. We called for the British government to proscribe this violent group of neoNazis then and we continue that same demand today.

Proscribe Britain First for the hate-filled, murderous, fascist, extremist, terrorist organisation that it really is.

We have deliberately delayed publishing this article out of respect for Jo Cox and her family. We have no wish to make political capital out of this tragedy but equally we couldn’t just remain silent. The balance between smugly shouting

“We told you so”

and trying to demonstrate the truth about Britain First to the population at large is a fine one.

That’s why we waited until today to spell out our thoughts. We did so out of respect. But now it’s time to speak out.

The tragic assassination of Jo Cox may or may not have been committed by a fully paid up member of Britain First. Either way there can be no doubt that their endless deceit and incitement has played a part in influencing her killer. Tommy Mair certainly knew of Britain First. There’s good reason to suspect that he may even have accompanied Britain First on marches and demonstrations when they came to Yorkshire. The person in this widely circulated photograph may or may not be Mr. Mair. We genuinely don’t know. So far Britain First have refused to identify this BF activist who demonstrated with them in Dewsbury in 2015.

Whether Tommy Mair is the mysterious Dewsbury activist or not, his comments both at the scene and subsequently in court are unmistakeably ‘Biffer’.  Not for the first time, Fransen and Golding seem to have been instrumental in persuading a British citizen to commit an act of terrorism on British soil.

Proscribe Britain First now!

 

An open letter to Britain First by Kit

I can completely understand why there is so much anger directed towards you, Britain First at the suggestion your party could be implicated in such a brutal murder. It is a perfectly reasonable assumption for most people that your poisonous ideology could have consumed a person to such an extent, it’s led to loss of life. But whether you are indirectly involved or not, you need to take a look at WHY people have made assumptions about you.

Britain First, this should be a wake up call for you. The reason so many people jumped to conclusions is because of the hate and lies you swamp social media with every single day. You use vile and threatening language towards your opposition. You have threatened to hang people you label ‘traitors’. You have described MP’s as ‘creatures’ and you have threatened some of them with ‘direct action’. You post up publicity stunts where you deliberately provoke communities and start the camera rolling when you get a reaction.

You deliberately mislead your followers by posting videos without source, context or dates and you delete comments pointing out the facts. You have created an echo chamber by deleting dissent but leave up disgusting, hateful and often threatening comments. You use military terms such as “foot soldiers” to describe members of your political party and wear uniform. You’ve videoed yourselves attending an “activist training camp” and you have begged for donations to set up fight clubs. You use terms such as “rise up”, “fight back” and post hundreds of images relating to war. You are encouraging violence!

You can no longer try to distance yourselves from assumptions people make about your organisation. You cannot escape the depth of feeling people have towards you. You cannot blame anyone other than yourselves for the assumptions people are making. You may or may not have blood on your hands this time but it’s only a matter a time before you do.

Stop the propaganda, stop the lies and stop the hate. Most importantly, you need to accept responsibility for your actions and change now.

Scouting’s for boys – not for Biffers

Baden Powell was a true patriot. He was an accomplished soldier and founder of the Boy Scout movement. The Boy scout idea sprang from observing the boys of the Mafeking Cadet Force, children too young to fight who supported military operations as part of their own, separate organisation.

On his return to England Baden Powell was delighted to learn that his ideas gained some traction and he organised the first ever scout camp in 1907. The event was a success and the rest is history.

Baden Powell, founder of the Scouting movement had a dream. He wanted to help turn boys into men. He did so by teaching discipline, respect and ‘scout craft’ – a set of ideas based loosely around the Native American practices of ‘wood craft’. Then as now, countless boys and girls across the world learn the skills that will help fit them to take their place in the adult world. The Boy Scout movement, aliong with its sister movement, the Girl Guides is the domain for children with big dreams. It is not the domain of adults with low aspirations and hate-filled hearts. In short, it’s not for Biffers!

Last weekend a sorry bunch of wannabe soldiers tried their hand at camping out in Wales. They want us to believe that these hardened survivalists were there honing their skills in preparation for some imaginary resistance operation. They want us to think that they are the last best hope for the survival of Britain. Well, if that’s true, God help us all.

The truth is that this rather sad, sorry, bedraggled collection of middle-aged Walter Mitties is nothing more than a stain on the fine Welsh countryside. They’d be tragic if they weren’t so funny. Dressed in combat fatigues adorned with undeserved regalia they cut a comical sight, playing about with knives and pretending to know how to pitch the tent they bought in the Halfords sale the previous Thursday afternoon.

My youngest son is 10 years old. He’s been a cub for a few years now and is looking forward to graduating to the scouts soon. He’s been on camping trips and summer barbecues. He’s learned discipline and respect. He’s had fun running around the Cotswolds with his little friends and he’s earned more badges than I’d care to remember. I get to sew them on his increasingly theadbare sweater with depressing regularity.

I showed him the pictures of the Biffers’ survivalist weekend, out of context, of course. He’s too young to have his head filled with that sort of irrational hatred. I just downloaded the shots and asked him what he thought. He was confused at first. He didn’t recognise a single scout leader uniform. Then he decided they must be venture scouts. But no – that couldn’t be right either – they were making too many mistakes. Refreshingly for his poor old Mum he also wondered where all the girls had got to. Cubs and Scouts have moved on in the last one hundred years and the sexism of the past century has definitely been consigned to the history books – unless you’re a Biffer, of course.

The smallest member of our household then went on to explain at great length why the fire was wrong, why the tents were facing in the wrong direction, how rubbish the camp site itself was, why he wouldn’t expect these no-hopers to survive a week and how physically unfit they all seemed to his naïve little 10 year old eye.

He almost wet himself laughing when I informed him that these brave men were going to keep us safe when England is invaded. He took one look at the survival rations, explained how the nutrition balance was all wrong (I’ll take his word for it) and assured me that his Akela would never be so silly as to go camping with so much carbohydrate and so little protein. I’ve no idea if what he said makes nutritional sense because that’s not my strong suit but he seemed very sure of his ground.

I’d trust the word of my honest, respectful and kind-hearted little boy long before I’d rely on the lies of Biffers who really are old enough to know better. Maybe if Golding and Lomax had been Scouts they’d have learned something about integrity. Maybe they’d know how to make a half-decent job of camping out as well.

So that’s settled then. Scouting for boys is great for… well… erm… boys. Grown men playing soldiers – that’s a completely different matter!

Perhaps someone should give their heads a woggle!