Root Out All Racism! Celebrating Multiculturalism in North Staffs
Saturday 24th March 2012, 11 am – 3 pm
Assembly Rooms, Merrial Street (Opposite Police Station) Newcastle, ST5 2AD
ROAR: Root Out All Racism! is a multicultural and anti-racism fayre organised by NorSCARF and local community groups. Come along to celebrate the rich diversity of our community and find out more about how we can work together to defend North Staffordshire against racism and fascism.
There will be talks, food, and performances plus stalls from NorSCARF, North Staffs TUC, the LGBT Network and other supporters.We will update this blog as more stallholders and participants confirm.
Local fascist dies
Local fascist, Spencer Cartlidge, died a few days ago after being in a coma for a couple of weeks. Cartlidge stood as a BNP candidate on several occasions, including the high-profile by-election in East Valley a few years ago. He later defected to Craig Pond’s England First Party, and was also active in the EDL.
NorSCARF Members Will Stand With Birgmingham Against Fascist EDL
NorSCARF will be mobilizing members and supporters to stand in solidarity with the people of Birmingham against the racists and the fascists of the English Defence League. After the EDL trashed Stoke-on-Trent city centre, attacked local Black and Asian people, we have learnt that the racism of the EDL must be opposed at all times!
Monday 10 October 2011 Birmingham: stop the EDL racist and fascists, Sat 29 October Antifascists in Birmingham are set to demonstrate against the racists and fascists of the English Defence League on Saturday 29 October. The EDL wants to bring its vicious anti-Muslim racist hatred to the multiracial, multicultural city. Antifascist campaigners and local black and Asian youth mobilised repeatedly to emphatically show the EDL they weren’t welcome in Birmingham in 2009. 
The picture shows an EDL member giving Hitler’s “sieg heil” salute when the police bussed the fascists and racists out of town in 2009. Last year the EDL again announced it would come to the city, but was forced to cancel its planned racist demo. This year, antifascists are determined that the EDL should be forced back again. Details The anti-EDL demo will meet at 12 noon, outside Waterstones on the High Street, Bull Ring, Birmingham on Saturday 29 October.
The Mask Slips: Stoke BNP Leader in Online Racist Rant
The British National Party is always working at hiding their Nazi ideology, hiding the racism and eugenics of Hitler under rhetoric about culture, religion and identity.
Stoke-on-Trent BNP leader Michael Coleman has let the mask slip and allowed people to see the true vicious, racist, Nazi ideology that lies at the centre of the BNP’s politics. On his website, in a post named “Are We All Really The Same Under The Skin?”, Coleman offers an interpretation of the causes of the recent London riots that sounds like it could have been taken straight out of Hitler’s Mein Kampf.
Opening with the bold statement (and almost dictionary definition of racism) “I very much believe that there are profound racial differences between the peoples of the world and that it is these differences that can explain how and why certain races behave, how they achieve things, or don’t achieve things.”
Coleman goes on to explain the cause of the riots, not in terms of inequality, despair or anger, but “the difference in personality, perception and values that exist between the darker races and ourselves… they cant be changed by any of the lame social engineering ‘mind control’ darkie taming programmes that the red Socialists are implementing.” He then goes on to repeatedly use the racist slur darkie several times.
We shouldn’t be too surprised at Coleman’s racism. He was quoted in the Sentinel Newspaper in 2001 saying “I certainly am a racist and I don’t apologise for that.” The comments were his defense at having handed out leaflets outside a school claiming that a “low-intensity race war” was going on.
Coleman also defended Stoke BNP member Steve Batkin after a photo emmerged showing him holding a British flag next to three Nazi friends performing Nazi sieg heil salutes. The Nazism of the BNP even forced their former Stoke BNP leader Alby Walker to leave the party because of their Nazi sympathies and holocaust denial.
This however isn’t a local problem. It is not a case of the Stoke-on-Trent BNP being a “bad bunch of apples”. There is one simple reason that none of these members have been expelled from the BNP for their Nazism. The British National Party is a Nazi Party.
When Nick Griffin was elected the leader of the BNP in 1999 he tried to tone down the racism, eugenics and Hitler worship of the party to try and broaden his appeal. He said “we must present them [the electorate] with an image of moderate reasonableness… Of course we must teach the truth to the hardcore. But when it comes to influencing the public, forget about racial differences, genetics, Zionism, historical revisionism and so on.”
It is clear that the BNP is and has always been a Nazi organization. These recent ramblings by Michael Coleman only serve to remind us that the BNP are a real threat. If the BNP does collapse (which seems increasingly more likely), these insidious fascist worms will just spread to another apple. Whether that be the EDL or the English First Party, they will not go away. That’s why it is important to get involved with the anti-fascist movement nationally.
A good place to start is the conference this Saturday organized by Unite Against Fascism and One Society Many Cultures. There will be speakers from all of the major trade unions along with leading members of UAF. If you want to make the world a better place, and make sure Nazis like Michael Coleman stay on the fringes of society, then come along.
NorSCARF at Tower Hamlets demonstration
NorSCARF delegation against racist EDL @ Tower Hamlets
With help from our friends from West Midlands UAF, a full coach of NorSCARF supporters set off for Tower Hamlets last Saturday for the Unite Against Fascism/United East End demonstration against the Fascist English Defence League.
The EDL’s demonstration, billed as their “Big One”, was intended to bring fear to the multicultural streets of east London, and to intimidate the local Muslim community. Unfortunately the racist’s plans were dealt a huge blow by the Rail, Maritime and Transport unions (RMT).
The EDL had planned to have a mass meet up in Liverpool Street Station before moving on down to Tower Hamlets, however the RMT announced that if the Fascist EDL “appear on any of our stations or trains, then there will be refusals to work on safety grounds of serious and imminent danger and stations will close.
The RMT will not allow staff and the public to be put in danger by these thugs, who assaulted people on their last demo.”
Having seen what the EDL’s thugs could do first-hand when they rioted in Stoke-on-Trent city center, attacking Black and Asian communities, and the more recent arson attack against the Regent Street Mosque in Stoke, NorSCARF responded to the call to defend Tower Hamlets from these sick racists.
Trade Unionists from UNISON, the Communication Workers Union (CWU) and the National Union of Teachers (NUT) were all present, along with students from Staffordshire University and Stoke College.
Spirits were high on the day, after the news of the RMT’s action and that two EDL coaches from Stoke-on-Trent had cancelled. Spirits only raised more as the anti-fascist crowd grew larger and larger.
Unfortunately, despite the states ‘ban’ on the EDL marching, the Police did march the fascists down as far as the border into the borough of Tower Hamlets. However, such was the size of the anti-fascist demonstration, that any thought of the EDL entering the borough were quashed straight away.
The EDL were forced to retreat, tail between their legs, as Tower Hamlets said no to Racism, Fascism and Islamophobia.
- NorSCARF delegation against racist EDL @ Tower Hamlets
England First Party threatens violence
On their website, the England First Party (EFP) are calling for the remnants of the BNP, as well as the NF and the EDL, to “gather together and work together” in order to “disrupt their [Labour] meetings, intimidate their members, egg their councillors, and become much more vocal and militant on the streets.”
As well as threatening Labour, they are also threatening NorSCARF leafleters: “When these soap dodgers come onto our estates with their lies and smears on leaflets paid for by the Labour party, we should take them off them and stuff ‘em down the grid, then tell these ar*eh*les to sling their hook before it gets done for them.” (The allegation that NorSCARF leaflets are paid for the Labour Party is, of course, a complete lie.)
Our local fascists are clearly abandoning their sharp suits and clean-cut image and reverting to type: shaven head and jackboots. This surely shows that NorSCARF is still needed, now more than ever.
BNP wiped out in Stoke-on-Trent
Following yesterday’s elections, the composition of the new
Stoke-on-Trent City Council is:
Labour 34 seats
Independents 7 seats
Conservatives 2 seats
Unaffiliated 1 seat
The BNP (and their fascist friends the EFP) failed to win any seats.
Former BNP councillors standing under other labels (Ellie Walker and Tony Simmonds) also failed
to win.
** The fascists have been completely wiped out of the City Council. **
The full results can be found on the Sentinel website, but in summary, here is how the fascists and former (?) fascists fared. Wards are single member wards unless otherwise stated.
Abbey Hulton & Townsend (2 member ward)
Melanie Baddeley (BNP) 3rd
Ellie Walker (CV) 4th
Baddeley, Milton & Norton (3 member ward)
Michael White (BNP) 9th
Bentilee & Ubberley (2 member ward)
Steve Batkin (BNP) 3rd
Boothen & Oakhill
Stephen Issard (BNP) 5th
Bradeley & Chell Heath
Lynne Pond (EFP) 4th
Broadway & Longton East
Tony Simmonds (Ind) 2nd
Nicholas McVeigh (EFP) 3rd
Dresden & Florence
Spencer Cartlidge (EFP) 4th
Fenton West & Mount Pleasant
Paula Roberts (BNP) 5th
Ford Green & Smallthorne
Andrew Jones (BNP) 4th
Goldenhill & Sandyford
Craig Pond (EFP) 3rd
Great Chell & Packmoor (2 member ward)
David Leese (BNP) 6th
Hanford & Trentham (2 member ward)
Philip Sandland (BNP) 11th
Meir Hay
John Barnett (EFP) 3rd
Meir North
Michael Coleman (BNP) 2nd
Meir South
John Burgess (BNP) 3rd
Sandford Hill
Mark Leat (EFP) 2nd
After their humiliation, BNP leader Michael Coleman said: “We are not going to fall over and die”.
There is no doubt that the fascists will continue organising and campaigning, so it is important that NorSCARF continues its work of exposing the BNP and EFP.
The results in Abbey Hulton & Townsend, Bentilee & Ubberley, Meir North and Sandford Hill remain a cause for concern, and it is essential that we continue campaigning in these communities in
particular.
Anti-BNP work earns award
He has been presented with the inaugural Blair Peach award, named after a National Union of Teachers (NUT) member who died during an anti-racist demonstration in London on April 23, 1979.
Jason organised a vigil against an English Defence League demo in the Potteries last year and also campaigned to stop the BNP gaining a Parliamentary seat locally. He is the president of both the Stoke-on-Trent division of the NUT and of North Staffordshire TUC.
Jason, who used to teach visually impaired pupils, was presented with the award at the NUT’s annual conference in Harrogate.
NUT general secretary Christine Blower said: “It is right and proper that the NUT should pay tribute to the vital contribution being made by our members in combating prejudice and discrimination. We are proud of the work our members do and delighted that Jason Hill has won this year’s award.”
Your Royal Wedding invite lost in the post? Come to Stoke instead to kick out the Fascist Five!
If you did a last minute check and your doormat was sadly devoid of any royal invites, or if, like myself, you have a bank holiday to celebrate something you’re not at all interested in, come join activists from NorSCARF and Unite Against Fascism in Stoke-on-Trent this Friday.
We will be having one of our Joint NorSCARF / UAF days of action in the south of the city, spreading the word to the people of Stoke-on-Trent that on 5th May we have the chance to kick out the Fascist Five from Stoke City Council.
If we succeed in beating the Fascist BNP locally in Stoke-on-Trent, it would certainly be the biggest blow to Nazi Nick Griffin’s boot boys since they were embarrassed in court by Marmite!
So come along and join us! Grab some leaflets, and join NorSCARF and UAF to make Stoke Fascist free, forever!
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To get involved either contact us via the website or call 07817,688,835
DON’T VOTE FOR TWISTED NATIONISTS
TheEnglandFirst Party – people who think the BNP is too soft!
If you’re reading this blog, you probably already know a bit about the BNP (if not, I suggest http://www.hopenothate.org.uk/hate-groups/bnp/ as a good place to start). But there is another fascist party putting up candidates inStoke-on-Trent this year. As if one bunch of Nazis seeking election in this city isn’t already too many!
The England First Party is a dissident faction of the BNP, with members who think Nick Griffin’s Nazis aren’t hard-line enough. Their founder, Mark Cotterill was chairman of American Friends of the BNP and established links with violent white supremacist extremists in theUS.
While that might make them sound pretty scary, they only have 10 local election candidates across the whole of England. But Stoke-on-Trent has 6 of these; it’s a sad sign of the damage having BNP councillors has already done to our city’s reputation that these extreme Nazis have chosen to make their stand here.
And the EFP truly are Nazis. In articles on their website they refer to WWII as “the second European civil war of 1939-45” and link to sites that promote Hitler’s Mein Kampf and Oswald Mosley’s biography, Holocaust denial and eugenics. Another link is to a site proposing relocating the entire Jewish population ofIsrael to Birobidjan inRussia. They positively hero-worship National Front founder A K Chesterton and BNP Founder John Tyndall.
Local Zeroes
The EFP candidates inStoke-on-Trent are a strangely indecisive lot. Mark Leat was elected as a BNP councillor in Longton North in 2007 but only a week after his election left the party and declared himself a non-aligned Independent, before standing as an EFP candidate last year.
Spencer Cartlidge clearly hasn’t checked out his new party properly as he told the Sentinel last year “Obviously I stood for the BNP in the past, but in the end it was a little too extreme for me.” I think the technical term for this is jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire!
The EFP’s most notorious candidate, foul-mouthed Craig Pond, has also done the political hokey-cokey a few times. Having been Stoke-on-Trent BNP branch secretary, in March 2009 he was ejected from the party, when Alby Walker was still leader and was trying to give the party a respectable veneer. Pond set up the inocuous-sounding Potteries Communities Federation – which consisted of himself and two supporters running an offensive blog – and claimed “We will be looking to stand councillors beneath a PCF banner, and will be working towards having representatives in every area.”
But none appeared, and within a year he was back in the BNP fold courting favour with new local leader Michael Coleman, and even writing a fawning letter to the Sentinel claiming Coleman was the best councillor in the city. But it seems the honeymoon didn’t last.
Pond Lies
Craig Pond and his wife Lynne gained a reputation for dishonesty and exaggeration over several years making regular comments on the “Pits n Pots” bloodspot, and were ultimately banned from it. Pond continued to spread his poison via his PCF blog and now via the EFP. We’d need a leaflet the size of a Sunday broadsheet to tackle all his lies in detail, but here are a few that may get recycled by him in this election:
- Pond says illegal immigrants and refugees living in Britainget £250 per week in benefits, plus £225 more for a spouse and a £100 weekly hardship allowance and so says they get more than UKpensioners. These figures are completely untrue. The truth is, illegal immigrants are entitled to no benefits at all and asylum seekers get a home office payment of about £50 per week, but no social security benefits. People who have fully legally accepted as refugees have exactly the same benefit rights as UK citizens, and no more.
- Pond says there are hidden numbers of immigrants living in council housing because Turkish, Albanian, Romanian, Polish, Lithuanian tenants all class themselves as white British – the truth is that there is a clear “white other” category which counts white immigrants, and they make up fewer than 150 households in local authority housing across the whole city.
- Pond says Stoke-on-Trent Citizens Advice Bureau has special “immigrant days” – this has never been the case, and still is completely untrue. Pond made the claim as part of a rant in which he wanted major cuts across the whole voluntary sector in Stoke-on-Trent, organisations who are providing vital services across the city.
- Pond says Tunstall library is to be turned into a mosque. No such plans exist, but it is a common tactic of fascist parties to lie about things like proposed new mosques and sites for gypsies and travellers.
- Pond says US President Barack Obama is a Muslim. This is a myth put about by the American extremists the EFP call their friends. Barack Obama himself clearly states that he is a Christian.
- Pond says “Not all Muslims are terrorists, but all terrorists are Muslims”. Perhaps he should discuss that view with the people of Omagh?
Pond’s racist hysteria really knows no bounds – after the arson attack on Hanley mosque he posted a comment “bloody good on ‘em!” on the PCF blog, and has recently called Mohammed Pervez, leader of Stoke-on-Trent City Council “a brown Adolf Hitler”.
He’s also disappointed that the EDL aren’t more extreme, writing: “The English Defence League? More like the League of Nations! The irony seems to have by-passed those EDL leaders who front an organisation called the English Defence League, but which includes afro-caribbeans, jews, hindus. These may well be upstanding guys, but they’re not bloody English!” and “…the inclusion into the ranks by the EDL’s leadership of blacks, hindu’s, sikhs, Jews, and even a handful of muslims, proves the point that this is nothing to do with defending England, but introducing multiculturalism to nationalism!”
But Pond obviously admires the thugs who trashed Hanley in 2010, writing “this country has need of a street army, and that’s exactly what it has in the EDL’s footsoldiers.”
Stoke-on-Trent doesn’t need councillors like this. Vote for the best your city can be – not the worst.
