David Irving’s Email.

The rather pathetic figure of David Irving has suffered another setback, his e-mail has been hacked.

The contents may be found on wikileaks, slackbastard has a good post on the matter.

Also see the One People’s Project.

If that doesn’t make you smile I don’t know what will

Update 1: [Thanks to entdinglichung for this wonderful piece from SPLC] Neo-fascists fall out, or how Irving upset his Stormfront groupie, read more at SPLC’s blog.

What Freedom For Neo-Fascists Really Means.

News in from the Roma Virtual Network, Hungary:

“In hungary the last weekend in a small town in the North East part of Hungary there were physical conflicts between local Roma people and the members of the extreem right party, the Jobbik.

Later, during the weekend the forbidden Hungaraian Guard came to the settlements, and made the situation worse. For the police took the whole weekend to normalize the situation. The reason of the conflict was, that there was a so called “hearing”, where the members of the “jobbik” were present. Roma people waited outside the street – and while doing that, anger and frustration grew.

When the Hungarian press informs about this, it is not questioning the following basic points:

- what kind of “hearing”, was it, and how is it possible that the inhabitants of the town were not invited, welcome.
- if it was in the city hall, how is it possible that the building of the local government can be used for purposes like this,
- what was the purpose of the hearing, and who were invited? Shortly, who were the people who “heard the hearing”, and what the heard?
- how is it is possible, that the major can refuse to give an interview, – as it happened this morning – (becouse of lack of time:)

As you might remember, this part of Hungary is the same neighbourhood the last year nine Roma people were killed. (A few weeks ago, they catched the murders, the court-case is going on right now)

Presently there are a lot anti-Roma sentiments in the press – as people say – you see, Roma making problems.

Please have attention to this, and as well use any ways possible to question the Hungarian government, the parties, etc, to ask the above mentioned questions.

Please look: http://nol.hu/belfold/romak_es_gardistak_osszetuzese__hajnalra_lett_rend_sajobabonyban

Khazars, The Far Right And Dubious History.

I didn’t want to post for a while, but after reading a truly appalling post at Socialist Unity blog by Ger Francis, I felt I had to comment.

The body of the Francis’ article is about a meeting held by George Galloway in Birmingham, but as I am not terribly interested in him or his views I wasn’t too concerned with that. Rather I was interested in the references within the post and in the comments box to the new book by Shlomo Sand, The Invention of the Jewish People.

Part of Sand’s work retreads a well-trodden path from Arthur Koestler, to any number of dubious Far Right web sites, that push the notion that “Jews aren’t really Jews, they are Khazars”.

Why Sand, as a historian of French history, decided to venture into the complex and contested area of Jewish history I can’t say, perhaps it was for the fame? The money or even notoriety? Whatever reason, it is unimportant and I shall leave it to academics in that field to critique his work.

Anita Shapira has reviewed his book [PDF download] for the Journal of Israeli History and Israel Bartal is highly critical. Simon Schama reviewed it in the FT.

I am more concerned with this very nasty line of reasoning, from an antifascist point of view and where it leads, to the delegitimization of Jews.

I think anyone remotely familiar with the limited range of thoughts and debates found on neo-Nazi and Far Right web sites will recognise that particular “Khazar” argument and understand why it is pushed. I won’t provide any links to those neo-fascist web sites, but readers can find them on Google by using the keywords: Khazars Jews white power or David Duke khazers.

The Far Right is populated by Jew haters and such like, they need, for the sake of their own beliefs, to delegitimize Jews, to denigrate them, to eradicate their very existence, politically, historically, socially, and physically. That is why Holocaust denial is so important to them, it is a form of racial incitement against Jews, and in their on-line web activities that means the Far Right manufacture, use fake quotations and dubious historical sources, and above all push the myth of the Khazars.

All of this is not coincidental, the Far Right view Jews as the ultimate enemy and any opportunity to disparage them is used, so conscious anti-racists and antifascists should be aware of the Far Right’s tactics, and certainly avoid emulating them.

However, as the post at Socialist Unity blog showed a wider problem is evident, which is that many modern political activists in the West seem to erroneously assume that they have to be anti-Israeli or anti-Jew to be pro-Palestinian.

Nothing could be further from the truth, saddling the cause of the Palestinians with the Far Right’s argumentation and method is the quickest way to discredit it.

Moreover, feeble attempts to try and delegitimize Jews, as a people, as a group with a deep sense of history, a bitter history, does not achieve anything. Quite the contrary and it is rather insulting and degrading.

Not only that, but it shows an almost complete ignorance of the Far Right’s methodology and activities, combined with a monumental lack of sensitivity which in the end only fosters anti-Jewish racism.

Copying the Far Right’s arguments is not something that socialists or antiracists should do, or seek to imitate.

I would hope that authors on Socialist Unity blog would take the time to read, and reread, Andy Newman’s guide to David Duke’s racism, and hopefully they would see their own mistakes in this area and avoid them.

Update 1: The CST blog covers many issues on Sand’s work.

Update 2: Thanks to a pointer at Engage I’ve noticed a good comment at the bottom of that thread. I’ll reproduce it here, just in case it gets deleted as Dave Rich’s comment was:

“47. For those involved in Palestinian solidarity in Birmingham, its university has long felt like some weird Zionist outpost”

I did my MPhil at Birmingham University two years ago and have to disagree with this comment. The UoB has a huge Muslim presence and most activism you see on campus is usually anti-Zionist. There’s a Jewish Society and Jewish students, most of whom (not all) are all very supportive of Israel, but that’s democracy for you. The idea that there’s a sort of Jewish conspiracy stifling debate on Israel is too widespread among many on the left, but it doesn’t stand scrutiny. Most progressive media is vocally anti-Israel, and the I/P conflict receives far more attention than any other in the world. If there’s one debate that hasn’t been stifled is precisely this one.

“the feebleness of the Zionist opposition to [the meeting], is further evidence of the growing hegemony of Palestinian solidarity in all corners of the city”

You’ve just shown me that I’m not that wrong, but then, it’s Birmingham, the British city with one of the largest Muslim communities. If the Palestinian cause didn’t gather support there, where else? The problem the Palestinians face is not their lack of support in the west, but among their Arab brethren. They can’t become citizens of most Arab countries, where they live as third class non-citizens, mostly in refugee camps. Black September Massacre perpetrated by the Jordan Army makes the Operation Cast Lead pale in comparison. So does the constant raids Palestinians suffer under in the refugee camps of Lebanon. The list is huge. Until the Arab leaders stop using the Palestinian people as a pawns in their power games, the Palestinians have a serious problem.

“To those who believed that the Israeli state was the natural and just creation for a Jewish people exiled from their homeland”

Personally, I think that’s irrelevant. I see Israel as the result of a nationalist struggle for self-determination of a people who, tired of being persecuted in Europe, decided that they’d be safer somewhere else. European Jews first started buying land in Palestine and establishing the kibbutzim as socialist experiences. But they were not the only Jews living there. Jerusalem or Hebron have a long history of Jewish population. The territory was under the jurisdiction of the Sultan of Turkey and later Britain. When decolonization took place you already had an important Jewish population in Palestine. Could things have been solved otherwise? Yes they could, but all the parties involved refused to do so: all, Jews, British AND Arabs.

“He reminded the audience that instead of the Zionists following some historic mission to Palestine, they considered Uganda, Scheyelles, and Patagonia as possible locations for a Jewish state”

Yes, that was Theodor Herzl looking for alternatives to emigrate. But people who point this out do it as if sending all the Jews to Uganda would have not created any injustice. Those places were populated too. The problem is that Jews were tired of being pogromed in Europe, and as the Pilgrims of the Mayflower, they decided it was better to try to go somewhere else. The Sultan of Turkey had welcomed them in 1492 after they were expelled from Spain. It’s normal that they thought about a territory that was then under Turkish jurisdiction and which has strong connections to Jewish history (yes, I think that the Bible is all bollocks, but so is Al-Quran, so if you’re going to deny the Jews their claims to Palestine, you should do so with Muslims. There’s no trace of Muhammad ever being outside the Arabian Peninsula, unless you believed that horses fly).

“Israel ‘is just another European settle state, similar to apartheid South Africa and Rhodesia’”

This is dishonest. Israel has 20% of non-Jewish citizens and their rights are in general respected. There’s discrimination, but there’re also Arabs in the Knesset, the Supreme Court, the Army, the diplomatic service, etc. Within the borders of Israel, you can’t define it as an apartheid state. The WB is something different, but I don’t regard the WB as Israel. Officially, Israel doesn’t either, and they apply Jordanian law over there. The example George was looking for is Texas, which got its independence 100 years before Israel. A lot of US citizens migrated to Texas, then under Mexican jurisdiction, and then decided to split from Mexico. They were independent for a year and after a war, they decided to join the US. A bloody episode, but all Texans are US citizens, even those of Mexican descent who are born there or naturalise themselves as US citizens.

Besides, what’s wrong with settlers states? My country of birth (Argentina) is a settler state. The US, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, are settler states. Algeria is an Arab settler state in most of its territory (and the Ber Ber are not very happy about it). Morocco is a similar case to the south of Marrakesh. Settlers are the Arabs and Turks who live in Kurdistan and the Chinese Han who live beyond the two rivers. The problem is whether those settler states grant equal rights to their citizens (none of the examples I gave do). In my view Israel does within their borders, but not in the occupied territories, which is the reason why I think they should abandon them or declare the Palestinian citizens of Israel.

“Is it any wonder, George asked the audience, that more suicide bombers come from the living hell that is Jenin refugee camp”

No, it’s no wonder, but it’s sickening that anyone would rationalize suicide bombing. As I wrote somewhere else, suicide bombing is not the natural result of oppression, but a tactic chosen by psychopaths who have nothing by contempt for their ranks and files and who wouldn’t do it themselves. The Kurds are much more oppressed than the Palestinians. So are the Sharawis. Repression in El Salvador would make the Gaza look like a picnic (OK, OK, I’m trying to make a point here, not to denigrate Palestinian suffering, but rationalizing suicide bombing is a step too far) … None of those people ever did suicide bombing. Their leaders are socialists and secular, and unlike other men in robes, they care for their people.

http://juampylewis.wordpress.com/2009/07/10/suicide-bombing/

“Oslo had been a disaster for the Palestinians”

Really? Before Oslo the Palestinians didn’t have any representation or authorities of their own. The IDF occupied the whole of the territory and the Likud party believed strongly in Greater Israel. Things are more nuanced today, and the IDF has abandoned most of Palestinian cities and great parts of B areas (not all unfortunately). There’s a lot of work to be done and I wish they retreated to the Green Line, but to say that after Oslo the Palestinians have not achieved anything can only be justified from a maximalist point of view. Fair enough, and I’ve no problems with people who define themselves as maximalists, but they should say so. Because most of the times, maximalism is lethal… and people know it.

“The only solution was now a single state”

A pity most Israelis and most Palestinians don’t agree with George.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/22/most-israelis-palestinian_n_189596.html

“George Galloway is simply the most eloquent advocate of the Palestinian cause in the English speaking world”

If that’s the best the English speaking left can do… I’m disappointed.

Sorry for the long post. I hope it stirs some debate at least. For the record. I’m Argentinean. I’m a socialist and I’ve been a member of the Left since I’m 14 (more than twenty years now). I’m not a Zionist troll and post this with respect and critical spirit, in the belief that you can only strengthen your position if you allow opposite views to be discussed. My experience since I moved to Europe six years ago is that discussing the I/P conflict in the left is very difficult without people resorting to name calling. I find that self-defeating, and that’s not what I want for the left.

Comment by Juan — 15 November, 2009 @ 12:08 am”

No Platform And The Need For Thought.

I didn’t want to post for a couple of days, but after reading a discussion on Socialist Unity blog I thought that it might be worthwhile to ponder the No Platform for fascists position whilst the ideas are still in my mind.

There’s quite a lot of debate going on there so I won’t rehearse the same arguments, but it strikes me that we need to look at it in a slightly more subtle fashion.

I think No Platform is a good idea, however it mustn’t be just a mechanical reaction, rather it needs to be expanded out and made the point of discussion in the public discourse

What we should be arguing about is a complete opposition to the normalisation and acceptance of neofascist parties, such as the BNP.

It was noticeable how quickly the conventional politicians capitulated on this issue, with the notable exception of Peter Hain and a few others.

That a once long-held view that neofascists should denied the oxygen of publicity has now been disregarded, thrown aside in a few seconds in reaction to the BNP’s appearance on BBC Question Time.

My approach is, that if BBC producers, their management and even craven politicians wish to accept or welcome into their bosom the BNP, that’s their choice, I won’t accept it and certainly others do not have to follow the precedence set by them like sheep. I would argue there is no good reason to concede any ground to these neofascists.

Normalising the BNP makes it fairly certain that they will grow exponentially, rather we should aim to stigmatise membership of this neofascist group.

We should aim to remind people of the origin of these cranks, their lust for power, their incompetence, their violence and stupidity, and along the way make it very clear that their arguments are a tissue of lies.

Above all we should remind people that the BNP are an inherently racial grouping, whose policies would lead to an ethnic minorities being placed in camps or murdered along the way.

We need to remind people that the BNP would violently dispatch any of their opponents, if they could get away with it. Any society or institution which becomes dominated by the BNP will lead to increased racial violence, strife, worse poverty and despair.

We need to remind people of the history of fascism, the tactics and lies used by modern day neofascists and where those policies have lead, to war and mass murder.

No ethnic or social minority will be safe with the BNP around, further, they would destroy the NHS, trade unions and the remaining social fabric of society, if they could.

Opposition to the BNP must be total, but it must be thoughtful as well.

The BNP will aim to use their Question Time exposure to gain more media attention, so opponents of the BNP must provide a counterbalance not only in opposition but also in the form of ridicule and argumentation.

Recent examples suggests that the British media would not give the BNP a particularly hard time, so it is up to antifascists to do that job.

All the natural opponents of neofascism and the BNP need to find common ground, put aside previous differences and take a longer term view of the situation, finding all and any sensible methods to impede the BNP’s growth. That’s what needs to be done, block the BNP at every turn.

We need to argue for, No Platform, no to normalisation and certainly no acceptance of neofascists.

Leaking Neo-fascists.

It seems that another discontent neofascist has leaked a newer BNP membership list, according to the Guardian:

“The BNP is bracing itself for potentially fresh embarrassment tomorrow when details of the party’s rank and file UK membership are expected to be posted on the internet.

The list, which purports to be a snapshot of the party’s support in April this year, includes the names, addresses, postcodes and telephone numbers of people who have signed up to the far-right group, including the grade of membership assigned by the party – standard, family, family plus, gold, OAP, and unwaged.

This list was leaked to a website, which insisted today that it was genuine, and that it intended to publish the information tomorrow. Today the BNP seemed unaware of the potential disclosure and said it appeared to have been timed to undermine the party ahead of the appearance of its leader, Nick Griffin, on Question Time on Thursday.”

…what the BNP list says about its members.

Update 1: Wikileaks has a copy!

It can be found elsewhere too.

Update 2: Wikileaks is, understandably, overloaded and rather slow but here’s the direct link to the BNP page related page.

EDL Causes More Trouble.

Anti-Muslim bigots, skinheads, the odd neo-Nazi and assorted football hooligans in the form of the EDL caused more trouble, this time in Harrow, the Guardian reports:

“Riot police were struggling to contain protests by anti-fascist demonstrators and rightwing organisations outside a mosque in north-west London tonight.

Officers were hit by bricks and bottles as they tried to keep about 1,000 rival demonstrators apart outside the partially completed mosque near the tube station in Harrow.

Seven people had been arrested and weapons, including bottles of bleach, a hammer and a chisel, were seized, a Metropolitan police spokeswoman said.”

Update 1: Watch the idiotic organizer, Stephen Gash, when he’s asked if organising a demo outside a mosque, after Ramadan on September 11th, is inflammatory, bottom of the page at BBC News.

Update 2: Gash it seems was connected to the English Democrats years back. The Torygraph have granted him a blog. Not sure if Gash is just naive, stupid or on the way to Far Right membership, could be a combination of all of them?

The EDL’s American Friends.

Robert Spencer and his posse of anti-Muslim bigots were touring bits of the UK recently, but their planned dinner date with some Far Right EDLers didn’t take place as planned, Richard Bartholomew has the details:

“However, Spencer’s British contacts were not pleased to discover at the restaurant that they were about to share a table with the EDL, and, as Adrian Morgan delicately put it, “Tensions between some of the anti-jihadist factions who had all been kindly invited by Jason to a meal caused splitting of the groups and confusion”. Extrication was eased, though, because, according to Spencer, the restaurant management had asked the party to leave anyway just before the EDL showed up , on account of the subject matter of their conversation.”

If you look at Jihad Watch’s version of event you’ll see a difference, painting themselves as innocent victims:

“In fact, when I returned to the George the next night with the producers of the film, we were not allowed entry because the previous night we had been discussing jihad and Islamic supremacism. “

And make their obligatory dig:

“We also went by the Masjid-e-Ilyas near the site of the 2012 Olympics — where Muslims want to build the largest mosque in Europe, capable of holding 70,000 people. But we were not allowed in.”

Frankly, I would have kicked them out too.

Richard Bartholomew has more on these weird Americans and the EDL.

Update 1: LoonWatch on The Blog Wars: Charles Johnson Takes on Robert Spencer for Associating with Extremists.

Update 2: The Spittoon on Anti-Muslim Bigotry, Plain and Nasty.

El Mundo and David Irving

Looking at the story of El Mundo’s terrible decision to interview David Irving I can’t help wondering if Deborah Lipstadt’s book, Denying the Holocaust, should be compulsory reading for politicians, journalists, lawyers and those in the media.

Compulsory is perhaps too strong a word, but necessary?

Obligatory is probably better, as it is very apparent that many in these professions don’t actually understand what Holocaust denial really is. Or where it is leading to.

Of course, a lot of these individuals could have a stab at defining it crudely, but I suspect if you asked for a detailed breakdown of the why, the where and the how’s of Holocaust denial then the answer might not be too satisfactory.

Which is where Deborah Lipstadt’s work comes in, it explains what precisely is Holocaust denial in its many forms, who does it and why. There is a lot more to it than the title suggests, she covers the nature of the Far Right, their methods and why they push these ideas, essentially to sanitize and legitimize fascism. That’s their goal.

More importantly, which this relates to El Mundo’s and Irving, why Holocaust deniers, neo-Nazis and their fascist follow travellers, such as Irving, should not be treated as if they are somehow part of the legitimate debate within society.

From memory, rather Lipstadt argues that no one should confer any legitimacy on these irrational cranks, as if their ideas demand some audience, which they clearly don’t.

El Mundo’s decision is wrong, it promotes Irving and indirectly it promotes neo-fascism.

It is an all too common problem in society nowadays, a lack of understanding when it comes to the Far Right, their methods and objectives. The professional classes, including many journalists as evidenced by the Guardian’s behaviour, simply don’t grasp why it is so important not to give these Far Right propagandists any free publicity.

Underestimating Neo-Fascism.

I think in Europe and Britain we often underestimate the growth and, more importantly, the potential impact of neo-fascism on wider society, not just in the realm of politics.

The events unfolding in Hungary and the growth of the neo-fascists should be salutary lessons for the rest of us, but I suspect that won’t be the case.

Update: In the Ukraine more antisemitism.

Far Right And Placards.

Over at Demotix there is a peculiar placard being held by someone who I can only suppose is from the Far Right, as he seems to believe in the Offal Libel, that Israelis harvest the organs from dead Palestinians. Unbelievable.

Far Right crank and demented placard.

(HT: HP)

Casual United, Far Right Proxy.

The transparent tactic of the Far Right, to use football hooligans as a political proxy is exposed in this Times’ article:

“The members of Casuals United are largely former football hooligans drawn from the terraces and, according to their critics, are essentially the BNP and National Front repackaged. The groupings have attracted the support of BNP activists including Chris Renton, who created the English Defence League website.
…
The new beast on the far Right came to prominence when its members clashed with anti-fascist protesters in Birmingham on Saturday. Police made 30 arrests and are still studying closed-circuit television footage.

According to the anti-fascist group Searchlight, Casuals United was created after the trouble in March when Islamists demonstrated against troops returning from Afghanistan to Luton. Two months later, members of Casuals United marched through the town and last month they picketed an Islamic roadshow in North London.

Mr Marsh, 44, whose book The Trouble with Taffies is an account of football violence in South Wales, confirmed that the Luton parade had been the catalyst. He said that a generation of former football hooligans were stirred to action by the sight of Muslim extremists abusing the men of the Royal Anglian Regiment.

After the group was outnumbered by United Against Fascism in Birmingham on Saturday, Mr Marsh pledged that it would return to the city on August 30. The group is also planning a protest in Manchester in October.

The Casuals make full use of modern communications, using social networking websites, notably Facebook, where there are about 40 branches, many of which declare allegiance to various football clubs. The Arsenal branch sums up the group’s manifesto, saying that it was formed to “protest peacefully against the Government allowing Islamic Hatemongers to live in our country while raising money for terror abroad, cursing our soldiers and trying to force Sharia law on us”.

Gerry Gable, of Searchlight, said: “We predicted real trouble in Birmingham. They are not a non-violent group. They have been involved in trouble in Luton. There are connections between people who run far-right websites and we know the BNP were actively offering to find them people for both Birmingham and for [a demonstration] in Luton on August Bank Holiday”. “

Far Right In Brum.

I probably should have covered this issue earlier on, but to be honest it passed me by.

Yesterday, in Birmingham a bunch of thugs, cleverly named Casuals United, along with some hanger-ons from the English Defense League and their friends in the Welsh Defense League decided to make a provocative march, with no particular aim in mind other than to stir up hatred and cause conflict.

Richard Bartholomew has written extensively on the subject and the characters involved. He has a keen mind and the posts are most informative.

Lancaster UAF has more.

News From Over The Pond.

Two stories which show a nastier side to the American political scene, one from SPLC:

“Providing yet another sign that major elements of the Minuteman anti-immigration movement are broadening their agenda to become part of a resurgent antigovernment “Patriot” movement, a top official of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps (MCDC) has announced that he resigned Aug. 1. Al Garza, who was vice president of the largest and richest Minuteman organization in the country, will now head the newly formed Patriots Coalition, a conspiracy-mongering Patriot group whose website contains jokes about assassinating President Obama.”

Another from the Washington Post, it seems that the rabid Right are attacking Obama over the prospect of universal healthcare in the United States of America. Vested interests, disgruntled conservatives along with deranged radio talk show host’s are invoking Nazi symbolism as a way to attack the moderate measures proposed by Obama.

Naturally many Americans think that approach is wrong but the rabid Right is keen to heighten tensions in American society and prepared to go to any lengths to defend the status quo, read on:

“A handful of protesters and speakers who have disrupted town halls hosted by Democratic members of Congress over the past week have sought to compare Obama administration policies to those of the Nazis by waving placards featuring swastikas or by making the connection during speeches. During a meeting in Denver co-hosted by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Thursday, for example, a toddler in a stroller was photographed holding a sign featuring a crossed-out swastika and the slogan: “Say No to Fascism!”

The comparisons appear to stem in part from erroneous claims by opponents, including some Republican lawmakers, that a House health-care reform bill would lead to euthanasia for the elderly. The bill includes a proposal to allow Medicare to reimburse physicians who counsel elderly or terminally-ill patients about what medical interventions they would prefer near the end of life and how to prepare instructions such as living wills.

Limbaugh has made numerous Nazi comparisons during his critiques of Democratic health-care proposals, arguing that there are numerous “similarities between the Democratic Party of today and the Nazis in Germany” and saying: “Adolf Hitler, like Barack Obama, also ruled by dictate.” Fox News television host Glenn Beck also accused the Obama administration of being “in love with eugenics,” the discredited racial theory embraced by the Nazis.
…”

Tories Sucking Up to Jew Haters.

The British Tories’ desire for new allies in the EU meant they had to line up with some rather unsavory characters and bigots, and even the Torygraph is shocked:

“David Cameron has evidently forged some unfortunate connections with Europe’s neo-fascists through his Conservative MEPs. In this week’s New Statesman, out tomorrow, the excellent James Macintyre blows the lid on the Tory MEPs’ careless connection with the disgusting, neo-Nazi National Revival of Poland party (NOP) and its former big-wig, Michal Kaminski.”

Lancaster UAF covered it last week:

“Under the direction of David Cameron, the Tories quit the centre-right European People’s Party to form a new, Eurosceptic coalition, the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR). Their main partner is Poland’s socially conservative Law and Justice party, which has a well-documented record of anti-gay rhetoric. Its leader in the European Parliament, Michal Kaminski, was a member of the far-right, anti-Semitic National Revival of Poland in the late 1980s. In 2001, the US-based Anti-Defamation League accused him of having attempted to stop the commemoration of a wartime pogrom against Jewish people in the Polish town of Jedwabne. Despite this, the Tory MEP Daniel Hannan this month described Kaminski on his blog for the Daily Telegraph as “a Thatcherite: a sturdy Polish patriot who is nonetheless, in outlook, almost a British Tory”.”

NOP are a nasty pile of jew hating racists and how the new flanged Tory Party missed that, with the aid of the Internet, is beyond me. Still, the Nasty Party?

Update 1: More on the NOP from wiki:

“NOP front organization National-Radical Institute (Instytut Narodowo-Radykalny, INR) was involved in publishing Western and Polish Holocaust denial literature. In 1997, INR published a volume of translated works of Western Holocaust deniers under the title The Myth of the Holocaust[1]. The same year, INR announced that there were no exterminations in gas chambers at Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp.[1][24]

In 2006, the NOP was involved in campaigning to free convicted British Holocaust denier David Irving from prison in Austria, and produced a poster containing the slogan “David Irving – Uwolnić prawdę” (“David Irving – Free the truth”.[25])”

Update 2: “The Narodowe Odrodzenie Polski (NOP, National Rebirth of Poland), led by Adam Gmurczyk, was officially registered in 1999, and is part of the International Third Position (ITP) movement. The NOP publishes the blatantly antisemitic and xenophobic magazine Szczerbiec (The Sabre), available at newsstands and large bookshops, which has an estimated circulation of 15,000 and which is apparently co-published by ITP leaders Derek Holland (UK) and Roberto Fiore (Italy). NOP members or supporters—some 30 per cent of whom are thought to be young skinheads—are often responsible for antisemitic and racist graffiti or other acts of vandalism: for example, the graffiti found in July 1999 in the town centre of Legnica—including ‘Zydzi precz!’ (Jews out!) and Stars of David hanging from gallows—was signed ‘NOP’.

NOP members regularly take part in nationalist demonstrations—on such occasions as Constitution Day (3 May) and Independence Day (11 November)—and are also known for aggressive behaviour at football matches. In Lodz, the organization has published special recruitment leaflets aimed at supporters of the top division side LKS. One of the leading participants in NOP rallies in Warsaw, Damian Mikulski, was one of the leaders of the White Legion gang of Legia Warszawa supporters. (In 1998 Mikulski was arrested and is now serving a twenty-five-year jail sentence for the brutally murder of a teenage boy wearing a rival football strip.)

In October 1998 the Jewish biweekly Slowo Zydowskie reported that members of NOP were distributing pamphlets in a schools in Oswiecim that called for a ‘holy war’ against Judaism and the Jews. A governor of the Bielsko Biala district reported the incident to the public prosecutor’s office. Shortly before this occurred, NOP members were seen at the Auschwitz gravel pit, amongst other nationalists involved in the controversy over the Auschwitz crosses.”

Update 3: A report on “Radical movements in Poland – a brief analysis of radical organisations in contemporary Poland (1989 – 2008)”

Update 4: ERRC also reported:

“According to articles appearing in the Polish and international press, as well as information provided by the organisation itself, the offices of the Roma Information and Counseling Center in the Polish city of Łódź were broken into and vandalised on July 3, 1998. Along with racist graffiti and swastikas sprayed on the office walls, the perpetrators left behind their signature as NOP – Narodowe Odrodzenie Polski, a right-wing extremist organisation in Poland. The same group reportedly vandalised the Łódź premises of the Jehovah’s Witnesses religious group during the same night. “