STATE OF HATE 2019 PEOPLE VS THE ELITE? STATE OF HATE 2019 Editor: Nick Lowles Deputy editor: Jemma Levene Contributors: Matthew Collins Joe Mulhall Rosie Carter David Lawrence Patrik Hermansson Safya Khan-Ruf Simon Murdoch Robbie Mullen HOPE not hate Ltd PO Box 61382 London N19 9EQ Registered office: Suite 1, 3rd Floor, 11-12 St. James’s Square, London SW1Y 4LB United Kingdom Tel.: +44 (207) 9521181 www.hopenothate.org.uk @hope.n.hate @hopenothate HOPE not hate @hopenothate 2 | HOPE not hate EXECUTIVE SUMMARY EXECUTIVE SUMMARY THE STATE OF BRITAIN TODAY ONLINE HATE n Britain is increasingly divided and that is likely to n Five of the 10 far right activists with the biggest increase whatever the Brexit outcome social media reach in the world are British n The way Parliament has handled the Brexit process n There’s been a continued rising trend in traffic to has deepened the poor attitude many hold towards far-right websites and followers of far-right social our politicians. 68% now say that there is not a media accounts, although increasing moderation political party that speaks for them and 55% think by social media companies seems to have slowed the political system is broken. down, and in individual cases reverted, the explosive increase we saw last year n Anti-Muslim prejudice has replaced immigration as the key driver of far right growth, however after six years of increasingly positive views, ISLAMOPHOBIA attitudes towards immigration in Britain are n The 2017 terrorist attacks have had a lasting negative deteriorating impact on attitudes towards British Muslims n 49% of 2017 Conservative voters think that Islam TERRORISM is incompatible to the British way of life and 47% n think there are no go areas in Britain where sharia While the numbers arrested for terror-related law dominates and non-Muslims cannot enter offences in 2018 was down on the previous year, we are witnessing a growing threat of far right terrorism ANTISEMITISM n n The threat of far right terrorism comes from Left-wing antisemitism is a very real problem. both organised groups, like National Action, While extream antisemitism and Holocaust but also from lone actors who get radicalised via Denial is less common, a larger number engage in the internet conspiratorial antisemitism and use antisemitic tropes, especially in relation to supposed Jewish n Over 25 Al-Muhajiroun activists have been released power and an even larger group are involved in from prison in the last 12 months, including most denying a problem exists and dismissing the issue of its leadership as a right wing and Zionist smear n Labour is still not doing enough to tackle THE FAR RIGHT antisemitism n The extreme far right is getting more extreme and younger INVESTIGATIONS n The far right is successfully tapping into the n We expose the increasing influence of the political rage and discontent that is prevalent in Order of Nine Angles, the world’s most extreme society. nazi-satanist group, on a young generation of n A narrative of ‘betrayal’ and ‘traitors’ increasingly violent nazis including National Action and the dominates the far right’s discourse, with much Sonnenkrieg Division of their anger focused on MPs – and female MPs n We reveal an illegal steroids factory run by Polish in particular. nazis living in London n n Continued decline of the traditional ideological We examine both Loyalist and Republican far-right and the rise of an emotionally driven, paramilitary groups conspiratorial populist message n We investigate the manosphere and the growing anti-feminist movement n UKIP has become a far right party under the leadership of Gerard Batten n Continued increase in internationalisation of ideas, PROSPECTS FOR 2019 tactics, money and collaborative working n We are likely to see a resurgence of a far-right n The adoption of the ‘free speech’ narrative by electoral threat the far right has enabled them to deflect from n A strong far-right vote in the European Elections their own extremism and attract a more will give a boost to the far right and populist right mainstream audience in the UK n Divisions within Britain are likely to increase and this will further split communities and boost the STEPHEN LENNON far right’s populist anti-politics message n 55% of Britons have heard of Tommy Robinson n We are likely to see a continued far right terrorist (real name Stephen Lennon) threat, though possibly more from “lone actors” n Of those, 37% have seen or heard one of his than organisations videos on social media. This rises to 57% of n The Identitarian movement will continue to replace 18-24 year olds the Alt Right as the main international movement n Only 6% of Britons have a positive view of Lennon n Al-Muhajiroun is likely to become more active HOPE not hate | 3 STATE OF HATE 2019 CONTENTS Section 1 – OVERVIEW P6 Section 3 – FAR RIGHT P29 “The People” Versus: Populism on the Streets of London 29 The fall of National Action 36 Societal Misogyny and the Manosphere 38 The Rise and Rise of Tommy Robinson 42 Group review: Nazi groups 48 Group review: Nazis – B&H 51 Group review: Britain First 52 Overview article 6 Group review: For Britain Movement 53 Growing anti-politics mood 9 Group review: BNP/NF 54 Understanding & countering extremism 10 Group review: Far right – Undatables 55 Extremism – a Sikh perspective 12 Group review: UKIP 56 Coming face to face with hate 13 Group review: Street-based groups 58 State of the Nation: 2018 14 Map of demos 61 Group review: Leave.EU 62 Section 2 – HATE CRIMES P19 Group review: ‘Counter-Jihad’ 63 Hate crime in the UK 19 Group review: Discussion Groups 64 Security and terrorism in numbers 20 Right-Wing Alternative Media 66 Attitudes towards Muslims in Britain 22 Group review: Alt-Right 68 Politically Correct Islamophobia 24 Group review: Alt-Light 70 The State of Anti-LGBT+ Hate 26 Polish nazi runs steroid factory 73 Group review: Publishers 74 Group review: Holocaust Deniers 76 Group review: Conspiracy Theorists 77 Group review: Turning Point UK 78 Ignorance and Hypocrisy: The Far-Right and the Free Speech Debate 79 The Nazi Satanists 80 David Myatt: the nazi Satanist 84 4 | HOPE not hate CONTENTS Section 4 – ParamilitARIES p86 At war and peace: the UVF 86 East Belfast UVF 88 New IRA (NIRA) 89 London Ulster Defence Association 90 Section 5 – ANTISEMITISM p92 Left Wing Antisemitism on Social Media 92 Antisemitism in numbers 95 Antisemitism in the Labour Party 96 Conspiracy theories 97 Section 6 – ISLAMIST EXTREMISM p98 The return of the terrorist ringmaster 98 Back on the streets 100 Islamic Human Rights Commission 101 Hizb-ut-Tahir 102 CAGE 103 HOPE not hate | 5 STATE OF HATE 2019 THE STATE OF HATE BY NICK LOWLES One of the lasting memories of 2018 was the first Free Tommy demonstration held in London last June. Men, some in their 40s and 50s, clambering up the gates at the entrance of Downing Street throwing beer cans and screaming “traitors” at the armed police watching on. Up the road, a group of least 500 demonstrators were clashing with police, even chasing them out of Trafalgar Square. Ostensibly there to protest against the imprisonment of Stephen Lennon (aka Tommy Robinson), the people marching down Whitehall said a lot about the state of far right extremism in the UK today. With possibly over 10,000 people on the demonstration, it was the largest far right demonstration since the 1970s. It tapped into the growing anti-elite feeling within society, which resonates much wider than ideological fascism or specific forms of prejudiced politics. It embodied a free speech narrative, which is increasingly being adopted by the far right and used as a cover for its extremist views. It brought together a wide range of people – from Trump supporters to particular. Over the past year numerous female MPs hardline nazis, UKIP members to football hooligans. have been targeted by far right activists or generally And the mood of the crowd was angry, bordering by angry men. on violent. Helen Goodman was amongst several North East MPs To understand the attraction of today’s far right, one to have pickets and protests outside their surgeries has to appreciate the growing sense of disconnect or party offices. Tory MP Anna Soubry has been very between large swathes of people in society and the publicly confronted and abused outside Parliament structures of power. Polling from HOPE not hate by James Goddard, and earlier this year Cat Smith, over the last few months has found widespread MP for Lancaster and Fleetwood, cancelled a meeting dissatisfaction with the political system and the main about Brexit after receiving threats from far right political parties. A YouGov poll taken at Christmas extremists shortly before it was due to take place. found that 68% of people felt that there wasn’t a More depressingly, even Tracy Brabin, the MP for Batley political party that spoke for them. This was up from & Spen, the seat previously held by Jo Cox, has faced 61% when we asked the same question last July. abuse from angry men in her constituency. A more recent HOPE not hate poll, taken earlier this Last year saw the continuing rise of the anti-feminist month, found that 55% of people thought our political movement. Growing gender equality has long caused system was broken. Only 34% thought it was working, a male backlash in society and this has been reflected even if not perfectly. in virulent anti-women views and policies of the far Three quarters of people (76%) think politicians put right.