NEO-NAZI'S HALLOWEEN HORROR
A statement from Football Lads & Lasses Against Fascism :
"On the 31st October a gathering of neo-Nazis in SevenOaks, Kent was confronted and smashed by #FLAF, London Antifascists and others.
During 2020 a new party has emerged on the far-right, Patriotic Alternative. Founded and led by former members of the BNP, its ideology includes the repatriation of non-whites as well as heavy doses of anti Semitic conspiracy. A key part of their strategy for growth is hosting hikes and outings with a view to radicalising and organising fascists and bringing people from online into real life activism.
It was at one of these jolly jaunts in the countryside that a firm of twenty FLAF and a similar number of other like-minded folk decided to throw a spanner in their works. PA’s hapless regional organiser and his pals were left strewn on the floor; battered, outgunned and utterly humiliated. What was supposed to be a scene from Country Living ended up more like Stalingrad (with the Nazis losing again!).
FLAF was formed to counteract attempts by the far-right to hijack our sport for their own ideology and football will always remain our primary focus. However, we remember the BNP and many of us remember the National Front and we’ll be damned if we will allow a bunch of would-be Hipster Hitlers to rebuild a neo-Nazi party in Britain. Not on our watch. We are fully prepared to tackle fascism wherever it tries to gain a foothold.
Today was a warning, Patriotic Alternative and their mates are put on notice. Expect us"
For anyone who hasn't so far encountered Patriotic Alternative, Hope Not Hate have put together a beginners guide :
- PA is a fascist, antisemitic white nationalist organisation launched in Britain in September 2019.
- Its founder is Mark Collett, formerly director of publicity for the British National Party and one of the UK’s most notorious fascist figures.
- The group’s private social media are awash with extreme racism, Holocaust denial and open veneration of fascism.
- While small and too extreme to ever garner mainstream success they have quickly become one of the most important fascist organisations currently active in the UK.
- They have attracted activists previously involved in more ‘moderate’ far right movements, such as previous supporters of Stephen Yaxley-Lennon (AKA Tommy Robinson).
- In a short space of time they have managed to begin to unite elements of the notoriously splintered and fractured UK fascist scene, and even attracted a former activist of the neo-Nazi group National Action, which has since been proscribed under anti-terror legislation.
- They have managed to attract a number of far-right social media influencers from the post-organisational online far-right to become active in a more traditional organisation.
- Despite being very new they have already been hampered by infighting and division.
And according to Freedom News :
"PA’s long term success is uncertain. Since their founding, offline activity has been lacklustre and their actions have generally failed to grab attention.
A recent action coordinated to coincide with Indigenous People’s Day was marred when a small group of anti-fascists ambushed the London group in Trafalgar Square and made off with a banner.
The organisation is, however, indicative of a shift in the UK far right away from civic nationalism, in which belonging to a nation depends on subscribing to a particular culture, and towards a more explicitly racist ethnonationalism, in which belonging to a nation is dependent on being white.
Patriotic Alternative have a motivated set of activists, and more importantly have co-opted an network of far-right content creators.
One thing should be clear. Anti-fascists will continue to monitor, expose and disrupt the far right. In the months ahead the ongoing economic crisis will present opportunities for fascists to organise and we should look towards continued coordinated action and cooperation across the anti-fascist movement."
#anti-fascist #neo-nazi #FLAF #Hope Not Hate #Freedom News #Patriotic Alternative #halloween
