BNP activist took part in terror campaign

· South Africa bomb past of web expert revealed
· He says now: ‘I was young. I made a mistake’

A white supremacist who planted a bomb at a mixed-race school in South Africa as part of a campaign of terror designed to destabilise the post-apartheid government has become a leading figure in the British National party’s online operation.

Lambertus Nieuwhof, who now lives in Hereford, was given a suspended sentence after he and two other men tried to bomb the Calvary church school in Nelspruit in 1992. The bomb, which was made from 25kg of stolen explosives, failed to go off.

Now it has emerged that Mr Nieuwhof, who moved to the UK in 1994, has helped set up a number of BNP websites through his company Vidronic Online, as well as helping to establish a BNP branch near his home last November.

Researchers at the anti-fascist organisation Searchlight, who uncovered Mr Nieuwhof’s terrorist past, say his appearance is part of a wider trend. “We know that several far right extremists have left South Africa and have put down roots among groups such as the BNP and pose a growing problem,” said Gerry Gable of Searchlight.

At his home this week, Mr Nieuwhof admitted his role in the bomb plot. “I was a young man and impressionable. It was in the evening and we were trying to make a point because it was a mixed-race school, not hurt anybody.” He said he had turned his back on violence and now believed in the “power of the pen and the ballot box”.

“Everyone should be allowed a mistake,” he added. Mr Nieuwhof was an activist in Eugene Terre’ Blanche’s rightwing Afrikaner Resistance Movement [AWB], which in the early 1990s engaged in a terror campaign aimed at provoking a race war. When the bomb he planted failed to go off one of his fellow AWB activists handed himself in, naming Mr Nieuwhof as one of his two accomplices. Mr Nieuwhof says he received a 12-month suspended sentence.

Mr Nieuwhof is not the first far-right South African to turn up on the political scene in the UK. He told the Guardian that he is close friends with another exile, Arthur Kemp, who has played a key role in several BNP campaigns since moving to the UK. Mr Kemp was linked to the murderer of the South African Communist party leader Chris Hani in 1993.

He was one of a number of far-right activists arrested after Hani’s death, but was released without charge. However, information drawn from a list of names produced by Mr Kemp and said to have been passed to the wife of far-right South African MP Clive Derby Lewis was found at the home of Polish-born Janusz Walus, who was convicted of shooting Hani. At the trial Mr Kemp admitted producing a list of names but denied having knowingly supplied a “hitlist”.

“He is a very good friend of mine,” said Mr Neiuwhof yesterday.

Mr Nieuwhof’s company is involved with a number of BNP projects online, including the website for Barking and Dagenham, the party’s most successful branch, where the party has 11 councillors, and he is the administrator for the BNP’s online members’ forum. He is also named as the administration organiser for the Solidarity trade union set up by senior BNP members to protect the rights of “British” workers.

Guardian

Unions’ new fight against racist parties

Trade unionists are campaigning to oust racist political parties from East Lancashire – days after the British National Party announced plans to field a new council candidate.

BNP members met in Hyndburn last week and have agreed to form a branch in the borough, with the intention of possibly putting a candidate up for the next local elections.

The political organisation says it has received help from Accrington residents in the past while canvassing in Burnley. It is now looking to gain further backing in the area through a leafleting campaign.

However, these could be falling through letterboxes at the same time as leaflets being distributed by the Hyndburn and Rossendale Trade Union Council, part of the national Trades Union Congress. The TUC is targeting the BNP during its Anti-Fascist Fortnight, which runs until April 7. TUC leaflets are being delivered in all areas where the BNP are looking to establish political roots.

Peter Billington, Hyndburn and Rossendale secretary, said: “We will be distributing anti-racist leaflets opposing the BNP and other racist and fascist parties to households in any part of the two boroughs where these parties are likely to stand candidates in the local elections in May. It is a coincidence that our leaflet campaign and that of the BNP appear to be happening at the same time, but hopefully this will make our message even stronger.”

Mr Billington added: “Trade union members in Hyndburn and Rossendale want to make sure that these people are exposed for what they are. They are not part of a decent community.”

David Jones, North West BNP spokesman, said: “We have been looking at starting a group in the Accrington area with the potential of putting a candidate forward in the May elections, if we push ourselves. We have had significant support in this area in the past.”

About 20 people attended the meeting and now plan to meet on a monthly basis.

Blackburn Citizen

Maryport will be rocking against racism this Sunday

Anti-racism concert for local bands

Jonathan Wood, 17, and Duncan Money, 18, who set up a group opposed to racism in the town, have organised the concert, which will feature local bands. It is due to start at Grasslot Working Men’s Club just after 5pm.

The concert will be opened by Workington punks Band, Substance, followed by Six String Revolution, who are influenced by protest singers. Next in line is Maryport rock band AWOL, who have appeared at the Maryport Blues Festival and the Silloth Beer Festival.

Ionian is a Maryport and Keswick band who played at the Maryport Blues Festival and Solfest in 2006, and were regional winners for Cumbria and Lancashire in the Rockidol 2006 competition. Next is Speeding Bee, from County Durham.

Duncan, who is studying at Oxford, will talk about the group he and Jonathan set up – Maryport Against Racism – and the reasons behind the gig.

News and Star

Hope not Hate: Luton United Against Mark Collet meeting

Luton United Against Fascism, an organisation supported by both the town’s MPs as well as faith and community groups, trades unions and local residents, is appalled by the prospect of a meeting in the town to be addressed by BNP youth leader Mark Collett. Some of Collett’s more choice comments reveal all we need to know about him.

On Winston Churchill: “Churchill was a f*****g c**t who led us into a pointless war with other whites [i.e.The Nazis] standing up for their race”.

On the Prince of Wales: “He’s a f*****g traitor.”

On the Royal Family: “The Royals have betrayed their people. When we’re in power they’ll be wiped out and we’ll get some Germans to rule properly.”

On whether British-born blacks are British: “Just because a dog is brought up in a stable doesn’t make him a horse.”

On Aids: “A friendly disease because blacks, drug users and gays have it.”

On Jews: “There’s not a European country the Jews haven’t been thrown out of. When it happens that many times, it’s not just persecution. There’s no smoke without fire.”

On Adolf Hitler: “Hitler will live forever; and maybe I will.”

Anyone expressing such appalling views has no place in the political process of this country.

It appears that a secret meeting is planned for later this week in a Luton pub, with the BNP having used an invented name to ensure that the booking has been taken.

The presence of someone of Collett’s background is an insult to the people of Luton. He can only be coming here to whip up racial tension and to peddle lies and racist propaganda to whoever is sad and sorry enough to think about going to hear him. In a town with a proud history of integration it is outrageous that any such meeting could take place.

The BNP is led and supported by individuals with a record of convictions for violence against black people, Muslims and Jews, homosexuals – in fact anyone who does not fit their outdated idea of what constitutes the ‘indigenous people’ of this country. On those occasions when they have gained seats as councillors in other parts of the country, their attendance record has been abysmal and their contribution to debate and discussion non-existent.

If they should decide to stand for office here – and it is difficult to think that anyone living in Luton would wish to do so – then it is up to the voters of the town to show that they support the true representatives of their community who are saying ‘no’ to the BNP

The Luton Unite Statement is produced below.

Luton Unite: Public Statement March 2007

We call, as a matter of the greatest urgency, for the broadest unity against the alarming rise in racism and fascism in Britain today.

We note with concern that in the past 6 months the National Front (NF) have tried, and failed, to march through Bury Park thanks to the strength and unity of local opinion.

The British National Party (BNP) has also attempted to hold secret meetings – only to be exposed in the press through the vigilance and dedication of local activists.

Both the BNP and NF are now trying to present themselves as ‘respectable’ organisations. In fact they are extremist parties seeking to attract votes on the basis of racism, prejudice and the vilification of refugees and asylum seekers.

These groups also stand for the expulsion of Black and Asian people from this country and the elimination of basic democratic rights. This makes it all the more disturbing to find them on the brink of standing candidates in the May council elections.

We value our rich and diverse local community, which draws strength from traditional Luton values of mutual understanding and respect. These values are undermined by the activities of racist groups and we, the undersigned pledge to combine all our forces and unite in a broad and common front against this threat that they pose.

Margaret Moran, Luton South MP
Kelvin Hopkins, Luton North MP
Cllr Hazel Simmons, Leader of Labour LBC Group
Cllr Joan Bailey, Lewsey Ward
Cllr Robin Harris, Limbury Ward
Cllr Lynda Ireland, South Ward
Cllr Sheila Roden, Leagrave Ward
Paul Moffatt, Eastern Region Secretary Communication Workers Union
Christina Beddows, Branch Secretary LBC Unison
Jon Berry, UCU Campaigns Officer Hertfordshire University
Lord Bill McKenzie
Buton Fazal, Kick Racism Out of Football
Klazina Coleman, Labour candidate Limbury ward
Gillie Sharp, Chair: Luton Action Against Poverty
Reita Clarke MBE, Board of Trustees Luton Law Centre
Mobeen Queshi, Kludmat
Shaid Koyes, Bangladeshi Youth League
Nick Bell, Transforming Luton
Kelly Paul, NUS President, University of Bedfordshire
Srah Allen, Chair, Luton LGBT Steering Group

City gets message as bands sound note against racism

Liverpool’s Victoria monument was the backdrop to an anti-BNP concert yesterday.

The city’s only black woman councillor Anna Rothery was among the speakers at a rally ahead of the free Love Music Hate Racism event, in Derby Square outside the Queen Elizabeth II law courts.

Liverpool youth bands including all-girl R&B trio Miss Africa, Indie five piece We See Foxes, and GK and the Renegades all performed.

The event was organised by the national Hope Not Hate campaign, which aims to send a message that racists should not be elected. It coincided with anti-fascist week, organised by the Merseyside Coalition Against Racism & Fascism.

Spokesman Alec McFadden said: “We are well aware that the BNP is intending to stand candidates in the local elections and we are ‘getting our retaliation in first’ to quote a football saying. Wherever the racist parties stand in elections or distribute leaflets, a rise in racial tension and racist violence takes place.

“We are proud that no fascist has ever been elected to any public office in Merseyside and we intend for Merseyside to remain a fascist free zone.”

The national Hope Not Hate campaign is supported by actor Ricky Tomlinson, the magazine Searchlight, the Trades Union Congress and Trinity Mirror, which owns the Mirror newspapers and the Liverpool Daily Post, and sister title the Liverpool Echo.

Liverpool Daily Post

Stop bigots, voters urged

Voters have been urged by religious leaders to use the ballot box to help tackle racism.

Representatives from the Christian, Muslim, Hindu and Jewish communities signed a declaration asking Greater Manchester people to reject all political parties that advocate racism in May’s local elections.

The document was signed at Trinity United Church in Cheetham Hill Road, Manchester, which is used as drop-in centre for refugees and asylum seekers.

Bishop of Manchester Nigel McCulloch said: “Manchester’s faith community leaders agree strongly on this subject. It is a very important moment and a strict warning against racism.”

The statement reads: “We stand for a society of mutual respect and care where the hearts of all are heard and met through good neighbourliness at every level and in every circumstance. In particular, we regret that the British National Party now has 49 seats on local authorities in this country. Those who advocate racist policies cannot do so in the name of any of our faith communities.”

Statement

The community leaders were inspired by the similarities of their different faiths when they devised the statement.

Dr Muhammad Junejo, Muslim representative for Greater Manchester, said: “We meet fairly regularly to discuss the important issues affecting our communities. One thing our religions all have in common is the commandment to love your neighbour. Racism is strongly at odds with this idea and we need to stand against it.”

The statement was signed by Bishop McCulloch, representing the Christian community, Louis Rapaport, president of the Jewish Representative Council in Greater Manchester, Dr Junejo, for the Muslims, and Mr A. K. Sinha, of the Hindu community.

Mr Rapaport said: “This statement is immensely important, particularly to the Jewish community. Members of extremist parties have changed from being unruly mob-members. They are making themselves look respectable by wearing suits. It is reminiscent of Germany in the 1930s and we need to stop them.”

The statement has already been signed by Dr Ranjit Singh Sumra from Manchester’s Sikh community.

Manchester Evening News

e-petition to ban the BNP

Some of our readers may want to sign the e-petition on the 10 Downing Street site, to ban the BNP.

The petition reads: We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to Ban the British National Party (BNP).

The BNP is a party whose ‘values’ go against the core values of the British People: respect for your fellow humans, equality for all regardless of race, creed, religion etc. This is a party who likes to prey on people’s fears and try to create divisions in society rather than build bridges…so i urge you to sign this petition and make the BNP history!

Never mind the waffle, point me at it!

Hope not Hate blog: Football healing Oldham’s divisions

What a privilege to see Manchester in sunshine! A really beautiful day – great washes of sun across a bright blue sky as we headed up to the Oldham Athletic stadium at Boundary Park early this morning.

We were met by dozens of kids from a local primary school who are taking part in a special Football in the Community project and took a stadium tour with them.

Oldham’s problems with racial tensions have been well covered and don’t need re-hashing here, but these were a group of children from all different ethnic backgrounds, and the guy running the project, James Mwale, explained that football was a brilliant way to get different messages across.

If kids play together in teams they tend to stop noticing each others’ skin colour, and once they get to know young people from other backgrounds they realise what they have in common. It challenges their ideas (or more importantly their parents’ ideas). Their school is in an area where substantial numbers of votes go to the BNP in local elections which is why this work is so important. A couple of the kids said they had experienced racist bullying, but said the project was helping them to integrate with the other kids.

Anyway, the kids loved the stadium tour, and even the Man City and United supporters enjoyed meeting Oldham Athletic Centreback Neil Trottman – an FA cup goalscorer no less…!

It was fascinating to see what a football club looks like behind the scenes, the kitchens and TV rooms and a faint whiff of Eighties’ aftershave lingering in the air.

After Oldham I wanted to go to Bernard Manning’s Embassy Club with the loudhailer, but we were short of time and had to get right across Manchester to Salford by 11.45 to meet champion boxer and Olympic silver medallist Amir Khan at the gym he trains at. It was a much bigger gym than yesterday’s and the air was thick with fresh sweat, deep heat and adrenaline. There’s something good about boxing gyms though, and I think it’s the contrast to posey sort of London healthclubs, which are all lycra bodysuits, blonde wood and hairdryers. These were men and women in ordinary unfancy kit sweating their guts out on battered equipment.

Amir’s workout was phenomenal: the skipping alone deserved an Olympic medal. His concentration was absolute and his feet seemed to bounce in perfect time like a metronome. He has an amazing manner about him, a very direct honesty. He leapt up into the driver’s cab of the bus and signed our Hope not Hate flag and spoke brilliantly to our film crew about why racism made no sense. Even racists must have cheered when he won that silver medal. He’s a one-man pint-sized retort to bigotry.

After Amir, we screeched off (well crawled) to Granada Studios, home of Coronation Street, where the bus was honoured to receive such luminaries as Hayley Cropper (Julie Hesmondhalgh), Kelly Crabtree (Tupele Dorgu) and Jerrry Morton (Michael Starke, or, frankly, Sinbad), household favourites one and all.

Each person spoke movingly and articulately about racism, about standing up for what you believe is right. As Tony the driver said: “Who needs a script if you can talk like that?”

Brilliant end to a top day out – thank you Manchester!

Hero of the day: Amir Khan. Beautiful boy, beautiful soul, astonishing ambassador for Britain.

Observation of the day: Among anti-racists it seems the rule is that every third man must have a beard.

Beard of the day: We’re not sure if it was a beard or a cat.

Revelation of the day: The Corrie stars…. soapstars should get on their soapbox more often instead of those endless bloody clipshows of the world’s 7,000 worst cop shows….

Smell of the day: Deep heat at Amir Khan’s gym in Salford. It was as if the walls were drenched in it.

Tune of the day: Theme from Corrie… altogether now… “duuuh, duh, duh, duh-duh, duuuuur…”

Mirror

Get your May 3rd local election leaflets NOW

Click on images to see them full size

The full range of Hope not Hate leaflets can be obtained from here.

There’s a complete list of UAF resources here. Leaflets can be ordered by contacting national UAF.

Email unite@ucu.org.uk
Phone 020 7833 4916 or 020 7837 4522
Write UAF, PO Box 36871, London WC1X 9XT

Spinning the truth – the BPP and the ‘White Nationalist’ (nazi) Forum

The British People’s Party (BPP) made much of the proposed White Nationalist Forum that was long-planned for Saturday March 24th. It was to be a get-together of senior nazis to discuss how they could work together to achieve whatever insane plans they have at the moment. It was to be, we were told, an example to everyone in how groups with similar aims but disparate methods could work in unison.

The BPP took the leading role in this forum, planning it and advertising it everywhere they could. They even persuaded Gunter Deckart, the Holocaust-denier, to fly over from Germany especially for the meeting.

As expected, the BPP reported on its website that the forum was ‘a resounding success’, attended by people from the National Alliance (NA), the BPP and the England First Party’s only remaining member, its leader Steve Smith (about to stand in the local elections on May 3rd in the Cliviger with Worsthorne ward on Burnley Borough Council). Steve Smith of course is famous for being uncle to Luke Smith, ex-BNP councillor, football hooligan and violent thug, and for being the former organiser for Burnley BNP and doing six months for electoral fraud as a result.

Gunter Deckart must have been disappointed (like we care), having flown from Germany expecting to speak at a ‘conference’ only to find himself stuck in the back room of a pub with seventeen idiots, at least one of whom was drunk and abusive. According to a report we’ve seen, Sid Williamson (pictured), for it was he, was ‘pissed out of his head’ and caused havoc at several points in the meeting, apparently yelling that he was second in command of the BPP on several occasions, much to the irritation of all there.

Sid, you might remember, used to be a moderator on the appalling VNN nazi forum but was forced out last year when he unaccountably joined the BNP. His dalliance with Nick Griffin only lasted a couple of months. Although Griffin was prepared to ignore Williamson’s racist rants against blacks, Asians and Jews on the swastika-strewn VNN, he drew the line at an attack on the Irish and was promptly thrown out of the squeaky-clean British National Party.

The forum was rather more interesting for who wasn’t there – Kevin Watmough, the leader of the BPP and the nazi creep who runs Redwatch, Unsteady Eddy Morrison, the alcoholic ‘National Political Advisor’ of the BPP (who had apparently been on a bender all week and was unable to attend because he was still sloshed), just one from the Nationalist Alliance (but none of its leadership), no-one from the British First Party/N9S, no-one from the Wolf’s Hook White Brotherhood and no-one from the British Movement (or whatever’s left of it).

In fact, despite the BPP’s claim that the forum was a ‘resounding success’, it seems to have been a complete washout, the only bright moment being when Sid nearly fell off his chair, then suddenly jumped up and demanded to speak.

Sadly, this laughable event has only been reported on the BPP’s main website, Nobody has posted about it on the BPP’s forum, which hasn’t seen a new post in over a month, and no-one has bothered to send a report in to Stormfront. You can’t blame them really.

Hatewatch: for the week of March 28th 2007

Gay man’s murder spurs campaign to update laws
Detroit Free Press
March 21, 2007
Prompted by the beating death of 72-year-old Andrew Athos, state and federal lawmakers introduced legislation to expand the definition of hate crimes to include attacks on gays and lesbians.
Read more

Fort Bragg skinhead killer dies in prison
The Fayetteville Observer
March 22, 2007
James Burmeister, 31, one of two racist skinheads convicted in 1997 of randomly murdering a black couple while serving in the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division, died of natural causes in prison, ten years into a life sentence.
Read more

National Vanguard organizes ‘White Pride’ rally
East Valley Tribune
March 21, 2007
Several members of the neo-Nazi group National Vanguard’s Arizona chapter held “White Pride Worldwide” banners at a busy intersection in observance of a United Nations-designated “Harmony Day.”
Read more

White supremacists arrested for murder
Inland Valley Daily Bulletin
March 24, 2007
Two members of the Riverside Skins allegedly shot to death a drug dealer they feared would become an informant.
Read more

Neo-Nazi march cost city $32,000
Columbia Tribune
March 20, 2007
City agencies spent more than $32,000 on security for a 45-minute march by two-dozen members of the National Socialist Movement near the University of Missouri-Columbia on March 10.
Read more

SPLC

Jewish leader pushes on nazi archive

A Jewish leader who survived the Holocaust as a boy by hiding in basements and attics urged countries on Wednesday to speed the opening of millions of files on Nazi concentration camps and their victims.

Leo Rechter, president of the U.S.-based National Association of Jewish Child Holocaust Survivors, told Congress that Nazi war records stored in Bad Arolsen, Germany, should be opened urgently for a dying generation of survivors.

‘Of all the public archives in the world, what possible justification can there be to prevent us from learning the truth about what happened to our families during the Holocaust?’ he asked, according to testimony prepared for delivery to the House Foreign Affairs Committee’s Europe subcommittee.

Rechter, an Austrian Jew whose family fled to Belgium and survived the Nazi occupation after his father was deported and murdered in Auschwitz, spoke at a hearing aimed at stepping up pressure on an 11-nation body that oversees the secret Nazi archive. Wednesday’s hearing follows the approval by a House panel Tuesday of a resolution urging the countries to speed up ratification of plans to open the archive to researchers.

This month, the nations overseeing the archive set procedures in motion to open the records by the end of the year. Before the material can be accessed, all member countries must ratify an agreement adopted last year to end the 60-year ban on using the files for research.

The Associated Press, which has been granted extensive access to the archive in recent months on condition that victims are not fully identified, has drawn attention to the importance of the documents.

Witnesses testifying Wednesday expressed frustration that the commission has waited so long to release the files.

‘We survivors cannot understand why the world powers would have made a conscious decision to withhold all of the facts about our history from us,’ said David Schaecter, president of the Holocaust Survivors Foundation.

Some expressed incredulity that the release still faces diplomatic negotiations for final ratification.

‘The timetable for this project is not a diplomatic timetable,” said Paul Shapiro, director of the Washington Museum’s Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies. “Every month of additional delay means more survivors gone – an irreversible benchmark of the consequence of delay.’

The State Department said Wednesday that Britain recently joined the U.S., Israel, Poland and the Netherlands in completing ratification. Germany and Luxembourg have said they would ratify before the commission meets again in May. The positions of France, Belgium, Italy and Greece were unclear.

National Association of Jewish Child Holocaust Survivors

Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies

Guardian

18 race crimes every 24 hours in Scotland

Shocking figures have revealed a rising tide of racist crime in Scotland. Police recorded 6439 racist crimes last year – that’s 18 a day. The figure was up sharply from 5732 the previous year and 4556 in 2004. More than half of all the victims were of Asian origin.

Offences ranged from “racially aggravated conduct” – usually verbal abuse – to vandalism, fire-raising and serious assault.

The figures were set out in the first Scotland-wide report into racist crime, published by the Executive. Justice Minister Cathy Jamieson admitted that more action was needed to tackle the “sickening” trend. She said: “Crime in Scotland is falling but there remain key issues we need to tackle. Today’s figures show that racist crime is one of them.

“All crimes are an affront to the values we hold dear, but crimes committed against someone because of the colour of their skin or their country of origin are particularly sickening.”

The main target was Scotland’s 32,000 Pakistanis, the biggest ethnic minority. There were more than 1500 racist crimes against Pakistani Scots last year. But there were also more than 1000 racist crimes committed against “white British” people.

Most incidents took place in the street or in a shop. But more than 800 people suffered abuse or attack in their own homes.

There were also 451 incidents in takeaways, 185 in pubs, 71 in schools and colleges, 61 in hospitals or surgeries and 29 at places of worship.

Incidents peaked on Friday and Saturday nights, suggesting some were fuelled by alcohol. The racists were usually male and more than half were under 20. The rising trend did not indicate an “explosion” in racism in Scotland, officials said.

Police have become more rigorous in recording racist crime since new laws came in in 2004. Ethnic minorities have also become more confident about reporting incidents.

But Bashir Mann, president of the Muslim Council in Scotland, said: “I think racism is on the increase in this country and in the UK as a whole. There has been a rise in Islamophobia and this has been aggravated by the anti-terrorism legislation introduced by the Government. There is not much the Muslim community can do about it because we do not have the resources.”

Daily Record

Unions and the far right

This is part of a briefing document for members of the Public and Commercial Services Union

Unions and the far right

‘(Trade Union members are) fixated on nonsensical Marxist dogma about equality and anti-racism something that makes these time-servers a menace not just to their members but to the whole of our society’: Quote from BNP website

Why unions oppose the far right

Far right political parties may attempt to project themselves as ‘respectable’ politicians but they are fundamentally opposed to democratic politics and the values and objectives of both PCS and the trade union movement as a whole.

Despite the diametric opposition between union values and those of the far right, there are fascists who want to join unions and who are already members of unions.

It is crucial that unions are welcoming, safe and inclusive organisations. The involvement of the far right inevitably puts this proud ethos in considerable jeopardy.

Members of far right organisations within trade unions present problems. Even though they carefully attempt to distinguish between their overt out-of-work activities and what they do in the workplace, some have access to personal information on civil servants, local authority workers and the public. Members of far right organisations can capitalise on their positions within trade unions, with the chance that they will abuse positions of authority and discriminate against certain social groups. This not only has a likely effect on the prospects of promotion, training, and so on for black and ethnic minority members, but a more general negative effect on the climate of the workplace by creating cultures of fear and intimidation.

The far right try to join unions

Research by anti fascist organisations has shown that there are increasing numbers of people belonging to far right organisations joining trade unions. Searchlight magazine in April 2003 revealed that the British National Party (BNP) is actively encouraging its members to join trade unions.

The far right are urging their supporters to join trade unions to win large damages when they are expelled. PCS believes that the far right think that once trade unions realise they are going to be pursued for compensation they will stop criticising the far right and cease expelling them, thereby clearing the way for fascists to organise unimpeded within the trade union movement.

PCS policy

PCS has the constitutional and legal capacity to deal with members who are found to exhibit behaviour or ideas that are incompatible with our values of equality and social justice.

PCS rule 3.17 states:

‘Any person who is, or becomes, a member of an organization which the NEC considers to be a fascist or racist organization, or who supports, or speaks or circulates material on behalf of, any organization concerned with disseminating racists beliefs, attitudes and ideas, or who undertakes actions against others (whether or not members) designed to discriminate on the grounds of colour, race, ethnic or national origin, nationality, creed, religion, gender, sexual orientation, marital status, age, disability, shall be subject to the disciplinary procedures under these Rules and may be expelled from the Union.’

In order to strengthen the above rule, the following motion to enable a rule change is being submitted by the NEC to the 2004 PCS Annual Delegate Conference:

‘That this conference agrees that in order to adopt the recommendations of the TUC Stephen Lawrence Task Group and to bring the PCS Rule book in line with TUC Congress policy, the following changes to the PCS Rule Book should be made:

1. Delete rule PR1(f) and replace with new rule PR1(f):

To promote equality for all:

Through collective bargaining, publicity material and campaigning, representation, union organisation, and structures, education and training, organising and recruitment, the provision of all other services and benefits and all other activities including the union’s employment practices; and

By opposing actively, all forms of harassment, prejudice and unfair treatment whether on the grounds of sex, race, ethnic or national origin, religion, colour, class, caring responsibilities, marital status, sexuality, disability, age or other status or personal characteristic.

2. Delete rule 3.17 and replace with new rule 3.17:

Any person who is, or becomes a member of an organisation which the NEC considers to be a fascist or racist organisation, or who supports, or speaks or circulates material on behalf of any organisation concerned with disseminating racist beliefs, attitudes and ideas or who undertakes actions against others (whether members or non members) designed to discriminate on the grounds of sex, race, ethnic or national origin, religion, colour, class, caring responsibilities, marital status, sexuality, disability, age or other status or personal characteristic, shall be subject to disciplinary procedures under these Rules and may be expelled from the Union.’

TUC policy

The 2002 Trades Union Congress sent out an unequivocal message that it would stand shoulder to shoulder with unions who expel fascists. The motion passed by Congress reads:

‘Congress deplores the policies of the BNP and all racist and fascist organisations which are incompatible with the principles of the trade union movement. Congress commits to support affiliates who deny membership to, or expel from membership, members of the BNP or other fascist organisations.’

Legislation to stop the far right infiltrating unions

Currently the Employment Relations Bill is going through the House of Commons and the House of Lords. PCS and the TUC welcome the clause which was introduced at Committee stage and which will amend the laws on exclusion and expulsion of workers from unions so that where they are members of far right political organisations the union can choose not to allow them to join, or to expel them from membership.

This amendment is needed to change outdated Conservative laws. It will also remove the current provision of a minimum award of £5,900 where an expelled or excluded person wins a case against the union.

Currently the provision applies where the member has behaved in a way which was contrary to union rules. Many unions have preambles or statements in their Rule Books about promoting diversity and tackling discrimination, rather than actual rules. The TUC is seeking an amendment which would broaden the scope of the clause to include union’s objectives. The TUC has discussed this with the Government and is hoping that the following could be included: in Clause 32, in section 4(1B) the phrase ‘contrary to the rules of the union’ should be replaced with ‘inconsistent with the rules and objectives of the union’.

Advice and Support

Where individuals are found to be union members and exhibit values that are contrary to the above, members should report individuals to their branch officers and seek advice from their PCS Headquarters official or the Equality Health and Safety Department. In order not to fall foul of the law, it is important the individuals acting against the Union’s equality values are properly dealt with in line with the union’s rules and procedures.

The Prison Service as a public service employer has introduced as part of its terms of employment rules that allow them to dismiss anyone who is found to be a member of a racist organisation. Departmental Trade Union Sides in areas such as the DWP and Customs & Excise have also engaged in negotiations to adopt similar provisions in contracts of employment.

Get involved in campaigning against the far right.

If you are interested in getting involved in campaigning against the far right, PCS, together with many other trade unions, supports the broad and inclusive ‘Unite Against Fascism’ campaign.

Mark Serwotka, General Secretary
Janice Godrich, President

For further information, please contact:

Unite Against Fascism
PO Box 36871
London, WC1X 9XT
Tel: 020 7833 4916

PCS

Racism row over BNP song

A BNP councillor has been accused of attempting to incite racial hatred in a song he wrote for his Irish band. Dewsbury East councillor Colin Auty wrote the song Savile Town, Where’s It Gone? in reference to a mainly-Asian community in the town he serves.

Now Labour MP for Dewsbury Shahid Malik has said Coun Auty is guilty of deplorable behaviour and he has made a complaint to the local authority watchdog, the Standards Board for England.

Coun Auty plays in an Irish band called Red Claire with Bradford BNP councillor Paul Cromie and other BNP members. The song snipes at the perceived loss of British ideals. It also berates the community as a place rife with “smack” and even hints at paedophilia within the town.

Mr Malik, who claimed the councillor’s choice of song was akin to that of a preacher of hate, said: “The straightforward message behind the lyrics is that Savile Town is populated by foreigners who do not speak English. That it is a place where residents openly sell heroin and that these people are paedophiles.”

He added: “As an elected member, Auty is in a position of responsibility, trust and authority and by writing and performing lyrics such as these he is bringing his position and suitability into disrepute and question. Coun Auty has fallen so far beneath the required mark that I felt it was my duty to refer the matter to the Standards Board to investigate.”

But BNP spokesman Nick Cass defended the song.

He said: “It has come to our attention that Dewsbury MP Shahid Malik has contacted the Standards Board and submitted a Press release to newspapers and radio stations about a song which was printed in the BNP’s newspaper the Voice of Freedom, written and produced by BNP Coun Colin Auty. The song is a generalisation of what has happened to Dewsbury and the rest of Britain in the wake of mass immigration. It points out how British culture and the British way of life has been replaced in certain areas by another culture from another country. It is about how mass immigration creates a country within our country and replaces our ideals and heritage. We make no apologies for this song as every word in it is true, and can back up with argument any of the points raised within the song. If Mr Malik would like to contact us we will even sing it to him.”

Yorkshire Post