The HOPE not hate Organising Academy

posted by: Nick Lowles | on: Thursday, 2 July 2009, 11:25

Today I have announced plans for our HOPE not hate Organising Academy. The thought behind it is simple. If we are to prevent the BNP from winning more council or even parliamentary seats over the next 12 months we need to build an organisation capable of defeating them in every election and in every part of the country. That means mobilising activists and distributing leaflets but it also means organisers. To turn the widespread anger at the election of two BNP members to the European Parliament into a positive force we need people willing to step up and playing leading roles in their communities. This campaign will never be won from the centre. The only way we will win is building networks of HOPE in local communities, with local people deciding what the best direction of any campaign is.

Last week we sent out a survey asking for your thoughts about how we should take the campaign forward. Over 4,200 people responded, a truly amazing figure. I’ve spent the last few days shifting through the replies so I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who responded. I was particularly pleased to see that a quarter of the people who returned the survey were interested in becoming local HnH organisers, that’s over 1,000 people. It is as a result of this huge interest that we are planning to establish an Organising Academy.

The Organising Academy will be our way of supporting local HOPE not hate groups and the people who run them. We will shortly be announcing a series of one-day training days in every region of the country at which we will give a simple introduction to the HnH campaign, an outline of the 2010 campaign, the online and offline services which local groups can access and use (including our online events tools and our online phone bank) and some basic training in running an effective local group.

For those who want to go one stage further we will also be holding two weekend schools, one in the south and one in the north. This will allow us to develop leadership and organising skills. We are still putting the finishing touches to these programmes but I’m confident that this will provide potential local organisers with the confidence and skills to run successful local groups.

If you are interested in our Organising Academy then please click on this link:

http://action.hopenothate.org.uk/organise