What is the HOPE not hate campaign
HOPE not hate mobilises everyone opposed to the BNP’s politics of hate. It was formed in 2005 as a positive antidote to the BNP and has the support of the Daily Mirror, trade unions, celebrities and community groups across the country.
We are not aligned to any political party but we will work with everyone wherever possible.
We believe in localised campaigning, working within the communities where the BNP is attracting its support. We try to build relationships, give confidence to those who dislike racism and empower communities to provide a more positive alternative to the politics of despair. We challenge the myths and lies put out by the BNP but also positively mobilise those people who are opposed to the BNP.
If you reject the politics of hate then please get involved.
Whatever the time you can give, there is something for you to do. Together we can make sure that HOPE triumphs over hate.
Campaigning Victories - HOPE not hate in action
Sandwell
In May 2006 the BNP averaged 33% in the nine wards it contested in Sandwell, in the heart of the Black Country. What followed was a model campaign that not only blocked the BNP but halved its vote over the next two years.
The HOPE not hate campaign sat down with the local Labour Party, which was the main challenger to the BNP in all but one ward, and the trade unions. We devised a strategy that involved each component group upping its game and talking to its immediate constituents. The Labour Party put minimum demands on councillors and candidates and the unions began targeting their members.
Five weeks before the election the HOPE not hate campaign organised what was to be its biggest ever Day of Action, when 221 people helped deliver 45,000 customised newspapers. The day changed the nature of the campaign.
“Hundreds of people came out,” remembers local MP Tom Watson. “We went back into areas which we had abandoned to the BNP and it created a massive feel good factor that lasted throughout the campaign.”
Simultaneously, the HOPE not hate campaign undertook some telephone canvassing to identify anti-BNP voters in the key wards and ran a direct mail operation to mobilise the non-white vote.
The BNP was defeated and by 2008 its average vote had slumped to 17%.
Bradford
The HOPE not hate campaign believes it is vital to address the issues that give rise to the BNP locally – however difficult this may sometimes be. In Bradford the BNP gained four councillors in 2004 on the back of a campaign linking “grooming” with the Muslim community in Keighley.
At first everyone ignored the issue but that approach failed because “grooming” existed and local people knew it.
The following year we confronted the issue head on. The mother of one of the abused girls spoke out against the BNP. Together we distributed material arguing that this was a case of criminality not race and we exposed the BNP’s distortions.
The results were startling. The BNP was roundly defeated and now the party does not even stand in Keighley.
Oldham
The BNP believed that local election success would follow the Oldham riots in 2001. That it did not was largely down to intelligence-led campaigning and the hard work of local activists.
We knew that the Oldham BNP branch was full of local hooligans and criminals, some of whom had directly “triggered” the riots by attacking Asians in their homes. Now we set about proving it.
The HOPE not hate campaign infiltrated the local BNP and over the next six months gathered evidence on the thugs behind the violence. Our major coup was to expose the party’s leafleting organiser as a convicted gang rapist and armed robber.
We used this information with dynamite effect and the BNP never recovered.
