PATRIOTIC ALTERNATIVE UNITING THE FASCIST RIGHT? Simon Murdoch Additional Research: Joe Mulhall PATRIOTIC ALTERNATIVE: UNITING THE FASCIST RIGHT? EXECUTIVE SUMMARY n Patriotic Alternative is a fascist, antisemitic white nationalist organisation launched in Britain in September 2019. n Its founder is Mark Collett, formerly director of publicity for the British National Party and one of the UK’s most notorious fascist figures. n The group’s private social media are awash with extreme racism, Holocaust denial and open veneration of fascism. n 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. n They have attracted activists previously involved in more ‘moderate’ far right movements, such as previous supporters of Stephen Yaxley-Lennon (AKA Tommy Robinson). n 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. n 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. n Despite being very new they have already been hampered by infighting and division. WHAT’S IN THIS REPORT? n What is Patriotic Alternative? n What do Patriotic Alternative believe? n Overview of Patriotic Alternative’s Extremism n Patriotic Alternative: Welcoming Extremists n Profile: Mark Collett n Profile: Laura Tyrie (AKA Laura Towler) n Where next for Patriotic Alternative? n Not all Unity: Infighting already PAGE 2 PATRIOTIC ALTERNATIVE: UNITING THE FASCIST RIGHT? WHAT IS PATRIOTIC ALTERNATIVE? On 9 August 2020, International Indigenous People’s Day, images were uploaded of activists displaying the phrase ‘White Lives Matter’ from across the UK and some from abroad. The campaign was organised by Patriotic Alternative (PA), a white nationalist group created in 2019 by Mark Collett, former Head of Publicity for the British National Party. Designed to bait opposition into covering the actions in outrage so to gain free publicity, PA hoped to get the phrase trending on social media and have their images picked-up by the mainstream media. Though achieving neither of these, the group managed to exaggerate their size and support to the wider likes of pseudoscientific ‘race scientist’ Edward fascist scene, boosting the morale and partially Dutton and vlogger Colin Robertson (AKA unifying this long splintered, ageing and ailing Millennial Woes), the latter known for being pro- extreme faction of the British far right. slavery and for stating that when it comes to PA has plans beyond just social media refugees crossing the Mediterranean we ought to campaigns, however. According to Deputy “bomb them, we need to just torpedo them.” Director Laura Tyrie, PA has two aims: politics In March 2020 they held their second conference, and community-building. On the podcast put again featuring speeches from the likes of out by far-right US publisher Counter-Currents Robertson. Notably, attendees included many Publishing, Tyrie noted that PA “Can’t promise previously associated with the (relatively we can fix things from the political side but speaking) more mainstream far-right activist we can promise to build community” through Stephen Yaxley-Lennon (AKA Tommy Robinson). efforts such as camping trips for like-minded supporters and conferences. Though interested This included James Goddard, known for also in forming a political party, at the time harassing an MP and racially abusing a police of writing they have been unable to register officer, and Chris Mitchell (AKA Patriotic Chris), (Companies House shows PA was registered as who previously ran one of the largest Lennon a limited company on 21 July 2020, giving the supporters groups online. In this respect, and as organisation some formality, however). Active is further evidenced by PA members in private mainly in the South East, London, Yorkshire online discussions, the organisation appears to and South West, their numbers in each branch be soaking up some disorganised elements of are small. Yet, the ability of a group to provide the British far right, including those disillusioned leadership particularly to the young, politically with the anti-Muslim focus of the likes of Lennon homeless far right at present is all the more who want to move towards a racial nationalist important given the acute social tensions that agenda. On 19 September PA have an autumn have arisen during COVID-19, and the far-right conference that will be held in the Manchester backlash to the surge of support for the Black area, which will again feature speakers from the Lives Matter movement following the killing of racial nationalist far right. George Floyd. PA forwards extreme policies, such as PA have mainly focused on building their online repatriation, and its members voice highly presence through their active blog, and offline extreme views, including expressing Holocaust through a variety of efforts. This included a denial and supporting those who call for campaign in the summer of 2019, as part of PA’s political violence. This should be unsurprising, launch, when Collett and Tyrie coordinated a given Collett’s history in the BNP, a fascist survey and, alongside fellow activists, polled party that likewise attempted to present a people on the street in several locations across more mainstream face in the 2000s. Collett the country on questions related to immigration. is a longstanding antisemite who has spoken To date, they have also held two conferences sympathetically of Nazi Germany, described the that have brought together very extreme figures Holocaust as the “alleged extermination of six from across the British far right. Their first in million Jews”, and has regularly collaborated with September 2019 included speeches from the David Duke, a former leader in the Ku Klux Klan. PAGE 3 PATRIOTIC ALTERNATIVE: UNITING THE FASCIST RIGHT? WHAT DO PATRIOTIC ALTERNATIVE BELIEVE? PA is a racist far-right organisation with Though not yet a political party, PA’s response antisemitism at its very core. They aim to to this is to call for racist expulsion policies of combat the “replacement and displacement” various kinds. They call for the deportation of of white Britons by people who “have no right “those of migrant descent”, and would offer to these lands”. In this regard PA follows the financially-incentivised repatriation for “those broader trend in recent years amongst many of immigrant descent who have obtained in the far right of rebranding white nationalist British passports”. They also call for a range of ideology as a defense of ‘indigenous’ Europeans measures which encourage what is known as against their ‘Great Replacement’ from non- ‘self-deportation’, i.e. making living conditions Europeans. This idea was popularised by the of immigrants and the non-white community so identitarian movement and, in a similar fashion, bad that people are forced to emigrate. They also the earlier ‘counter-jihad’ movement with its call for a “complete halt to all immigration unless ‘Eurabia’ conspiracy theory. However, PA are under exceptional circumstances”, which include ideologically aligned with and have emerged out “people from other parts of the world [...] who of the traditional, fascist far right and so these have a shared ethnic and cultural background or conspiracy theories go further and hold that it is who can prove British ancestry”. Jewish elites, particularly, who are orchestrating Whilst not explicitly referring to Judaism or the ‘replacement’ of white Britons. Jewish people other than calling for the ban of PAGE 4 PATRIOTIC ALTERNATIVE: UNITING THE FASCIST RIGHT? Patriotic Alternative conference speakers March 2020 (Halal and) Kosher slaughter in their manifesto, carried out in 2019, and was the subject of it is replete with antisemitic tropes. In a nod to Collett’s speech at PA’s inaugural conference. In conspiratorial ideas of Jewish control, they state his speech, Collett claimed that it was essential that: “Never should a foreign power be allowed for PA’s success that members avoid getting to unduly influence the way that the British state caught saying things which could embarrass the conducts its affairs. Equally, no minority should organisation, using the youth group Generation ever be allowed to wield disproportionate power Identity UK and Ireland (GI) as an example. over the British people or hold disproportionate Collett described how a HOPE not hate exposé influence over or within the government.” of GI members shortly after their conference was Similarly, evoking age-old ideas linking Jews to exactly what PA ought to avoid, and to this end money, they warn of threats from “unscrupulous they had to appear respectable, ensuring that lenders or predatory providers of financial the kinds of people that had “always blighted our services” and state that the British people movement” would not do so by behaving in off- “must be free of the chains of usury”. Likewise, putting ways. As Collett told the audience, “we discussing the military, they state that Britain are here to start packaging what we do in a way “should never be used as pawns for foreign that will make it saleable”. powers”, and in a nod to both antisemitic and Islamophobic ideas of foreign influence, they call for a “complete halt to the construction or establishment of any places of worship that are funded by foreign sources”. They also target the LGBT+ community with traditional far- right tropes of members of these groups being a danger to young people, stating they would ban “the promotion or exposure” of “LGBT propaganda” to children. PA attempts to present a more ‘respectable’ public face that belies the extremeness of its actual politics.