Racism and fascism - in brief (3)
01 January 2005
UK: BNP condemned as member gets 5 years for racist attacks: A member of the British National Party, Terry Collins (27), from Eastbourne in Sussex, was jailed for 5 years at Lewes Crown Court in March. Collins, a former Territorial Army soldier, was found guilty of a string of attacks on the properties of several Asian families in a year-long campaign in the seaside resort where he lived. The court was told that he had put fireworks through the letterboxes of his victims’ homes, smashed their windows and attacked their cars; one family was forced to move away because of his campaign of violence. Collins was eventually caught by police as he threw a concrete block through one family’s front window. In one of the most serious incidents he set fire to a house as its occupants slept. Fortunately, Ali Rostam heard shattering glass and alerted, was able to extinguish the fire before it took hold. In his defence Collins alleged that he was targeted and bullied by “one or two very forceful and extreme” BNP members into carrying out the attacks. He claimed that he had now turned his back on those individuals and the organisation. Sentencing Collins, Judge Guy Anthony, said: “In this country you are entitled to hold whatever views you like, however repugnant they may be. What you are not entitled to do is to turn those views into the actions you did.”. The BNP has also caused anger in West Lothian, Scotland, where it has formed a branch. The BNP presence has caused alarm among the local community and has been met with condemnation. The leader of West Lothian council said: “They are a fascist, racist party that has no place in a tolerant multi-cultural society”. Steve Nimmo, for the Scottish National Party, said: “The BNP is not welcome in West Lothian.”
Germany: Nazi websites hacked on anniversary of Dresden bombing. On time for the Nazi demonstration on 13 February commemorating the bombing of Dresden, an anti-fascist hacker group,
Katjusha - Information Warfare hacked a series of websites belonging to neo-Nazis in and around Saxony. The group declared their action, which replaced several websites' home pages with the group's declaration, was intended to stop the historical revisionism of the far-right. But the hackers also retrieved sensitive information from a password protected web forum, apparently demonstrating collaboration between militant fascists of the
Skinheads Sächsische Schweiz (SSS) and the far-right NPD (
Nationaldemokratische Partei Deutschlands). The SSS is still active despite having been banned. Members have been prosecuted for racist attacks and their collaboration with local far-right politicians is well documented (see
Statewatch Vol 14 no. 3 & 4).
Spiegel online is speculating that this recent disclosure could lead to legal procedures against the regional NPD group in parliament in Dresden. See
www.heimatschutz.net for the hacked site. More information on anti-fascist activities in Germany: aag.antifa.net, venceremos.antifa.net, www.antifa.de, aak.antifa.de, www.left-action.de