HOPE not hate blog: We did it!

We did it!

posted by: Nick Lowles | on: Saturday, 8 May 2010, 11:11

We did it, we did it, we did it. I've woken up this morning and I still quite believe it. Not just in Barking & Dagenham but all across the country. All but two of the 28 BNP councillors up for re-election have gone.

But it was in Barking & Dagenham were we had our biggest battle and the HOPE not hate campaign responded. Our campaign was phenomenal but it would not have been possible without our fantastic group of young volunteers who worked tirelessly, often seven days a week and 16 hours a day, over the last four months. And it could not have been possible without our supporters who turned out in their hundreds to help deliver our literature. On 17 April an astonishing 541 helped deliver 92,000 tabloid newspapers. Two weeks later 385 people put 55,000 ‘Apology' leaflets. And then, on election day itself, 176 people knocked up 6,000 anti-BNP voters.

Nationally, 3,773 people have donated to our campaign online, with another 500-700 sending in cheques. Without this financial support we could not have run the campaign we did.

And finally, our biggest thanks must go to the people of Barking & Dagenham who came out in their thousands and voted against the BNP. The BNP supporters were sometimes the most vociferous and often attracted the attention of the media, but the vast majority of local people simply did not want to be run by fascists. They turned out in huge numbers and gave a big rejection to the politics of HATE.

The BNP have been defeated in Barking & Dagenham but they haven't gone away. We owe it to the people of Barking & Dagenham that we will not simply walk away and their concerns are dealt with. The BNP still pose a serious threat in many areas of our country and over the coming months we will roll out our campaign nationally.

But that is for another day. For now, let us reflect on our biggest triumph and saviour the victory of HOPE over hate.

Posted: 8 May 2010 | There are 6 comments

Comments

Comment 1 | From: Nigel Baldwin | Date: 8 May 2010, 17:19

It was in 1933 that the famous writer J B Priestley, in his famous work "English Journey" described the England of his day as '...the country of the free and generous temper'. In showing Griffin and his crowd the door, the good people of Barking and Dagenham have shown us that, despite the radical changes that there have been, the country that Priestley wrote about is still in rude health today.

Comment 2 | From: Sai Lee | Date: 8 May 2010, 17:32

Great effort by all of the campaigners in Barking and Dagenham. Thankfully, the local electorate were able to see the light and vote the 'B'NP out of their local authority. The 'B'NP need to see that their ideology is unfathomable and unacceptable for the majority of people in this country so they should no longer consider themselves as British. Lets 'Keep Britain Tidy' and replicate the efforts of the campaign in Barking and Dagenham throughout the country. I, for one, will count myself in alongside other like-minded Hope not Hate campaigners in the South West.

Comment 3 | From: eddie | Date: 8 May 2010, 20:34

Well done to you all! Have you noticed that the bnp twitter site seems to have disappeared? I wanted to see their trashy tweets in response to their humiliation, but........no bnp twitter site......gone! Too good to be true?....well, we'll see wont we?

Comment 4 | From: Colin Newman | Date: 9 May 2010, 08:20

Thank you for all your hard work achieving the fantastic results in B&D

Comment 5 | From: Nasir Noor | Date: 9 May 2010, 20:15

I's like to igve a very heartfelt massive thanks to HOpe Not Hate for all the good work they did in defeating the bnp and making parts of britain a so much safer and nicer place tol ive in and for our children to grow up in the bnp had been worrying me, so it is a great relief to see them eradicated for the scum that they are! Thank you once again HOPE Not Hate and to all who have voted against and campained against the vile bnp

Comment 6 | From: Roger Payne | Date: 10 May 2010, 08:08

Good effort, keep up the great work to protect the open society

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