Patriotic Alternative

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Patriotic Alternative
LeaderMark Collett
Deputy leaderLaura Tyrie[1] (pseudonym Laura Towler)
FoundedSeptember 2019 (2019-09)
HeadquartersLeeds, West Yorkshire
IdeologyWhite nationalism[2][3]
Ethnic nationalism[2]
Anti-immigration[4]
Antisemitism[2]
Anti-LGBT[2]
Fascism[2]
Holocaust denial[2]
Political positionFar-right
Colours  Red   Blue
Website
www.patrioticalternative.org.uk

Patriotic Alternative (PA) is a British far-right white nationalist group which states that it has active branches nationwide.[2][4] Its stance has been variously described as antisemitic, Islamophobic, fascist and racist.[2][5][6]

History[]

Patriotic Alternative was founded in July 2019 by the British neo-Nazi[7] and antisemitic conspiracy theorist[8][2] Mark Collett, the former director of publicity of the British National Party. In September 2019, PA held its first conference, with Edward Dutton and Millennial Woes (Colin Robertson) giving speeches, among others.[2]

In October 2020, counterterrorism experts reported that extremist far-right groups including Patriotic Alternative were using YouTube to try and recruit people, including children "as young as 12".[9] Later that month, Patriotic Alternative members posted leaflets to over 1,000 homes in Hull, England, stating that white British people will be a minority in Britain by the 2060s and that the COVID-19 lockdown was an attempt to "take away our freedom".[10]

In December 2020, it was reported that Patriotic Alternative's London regional organiser was Nicholas Hill, a 50-year-old former Liberal Democrat councillor from Catford in South London, known by the online pseudonym "Cornelius".[11] That month, during an appearance by the Labour Party leader Keir Starmer on LBC, a caller referring to herself as "Gemma from Cambridge", peddled the white supremacist Great Replacement conspiracy theory. Starmer was widely criticised for his failure to challenge the caller, who was revealed by investigative group Red Flare to be Jody Swingler, a yoga teacher and Patriotic Alternative activist.[12]

A group called the Antifascist Research Collective infiltrated Patriotic Alternative Scotland's private Telegram group. Working with The Ferret, the Telegram group of around 60 people was found to contain individuals who have been members of, or expressed support for, the Scottish Defence League, the neo-Nazi group Blood and Honour, the British National Party, New British Union, the British Union of Fascists and the Scottish Nationalist Society.[13]

In February 2021, it was reported that Patriotic Alternative was looking to recruit teenagers through Call of Duty Warzone gaming tournaments.[3]

Tabatha Stirling of Stirling Publishing[14] wrote a series of articles for Patriotic Alternative as "Miss Britannia" describing her son's school as "a hellhole for sensible, secure White boys" and claimed "there is one member of staff who is openly gay, and I mean RuPaul extra gay".[15] On 14 March 2021, Julie Burchill announced that, with Stirling, "I've found someone who's JUST LIKE ME", now publishing her book after Little, Brown Book Group dropped Burchill after she made defamatory statements about the Muslim journalist, Ash Sarkar.[15] However, Burchill dropped Stirling Publishing when she found out that Stirling was associated with Patriotic Alternative.[15]

Patriotic Alternative's social media accounts on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter were suspended in February 2021 but some of its regional pages remain.[4]

In October 2021, Tim Wills, a Conservative Party councillor for Worthing, was suspended from the party over allegations of secret support for Patriotic Alternative after Hope Not Hate published results of an investigation into him.[16] Wills resigned from the council on 15 October.[17] In a district of Borehamwood, the Hertfordshire Constabulary increased patrols after leaflets calling for the banning of kosher and halal food were posted in letterboxes to several Jewish homes. While it was not considered a hate crime it was considered a hate incident and was condemned by local representatives of all three major political parties.[18]

Links to National Action[]

The Times reported in October 2021 that Mark Collett attended combat training with former members of the now-proscribed neo-Nazi organisation National Action.[19] The investigation also revealed that Kris Kearns, who leads Patriotic Alternative's "Fitness Club" initiative, was active in National Action before the group was banned.[19][20] Sam Melia, a regional organiser for PA, has previously been affiliated with National Action.[21]

Beliefs[]

Patriotic Alternative promotes a white nationalist ideology and aims to combat the "replacement and displacement" of white British people by migrants who "have no right to these lands".[2] They support deportation of people of "migrant descent", and would offer financially-incentivised repatriation for "those of immigrant descent who have obtained British passports".[2] Patriotic Alternative opposes all immigration unless one has a shared cultural and ethnic background or who can prove British ancestry.[2]

According to Hope Not Hate, members of Patriotic Alternative have supported Holocaust denial, political violence and the white genocide conspiracy theory.[2][22] They have targeted the LGBT community as being a danger to young children.[2] Patriotic Alternative opposes Black Lives Matter and have displayed White Lives Matter banners around the UK, including on the top of Mam Tor, a hill in Derbyshire.[4]

References[]

  1. ^ "PATRIOTIC ALTERNATIVE LTD Company number 12759841". Companies House. Retrieved 8 January 2021.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Murdoch, Simon (August 2020). "PATRIOTIC ALTERNATIVE - UNITING THE FASCIST RIGHT?" (PDF). HOPE not hate. Retrieved 18 March 2021.
  3. ^ a b Townsend, Mark (2021). "How far right uses video games and tech to lure and radicalise teenage recruits". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 March 2021.
  4. ^ a b c d "State of Hate 2021". HOPE not hate. Retrieved 13 April 2021.
  5. ^ "Anti-fascists warn of new antisemitic group with neo-Nazi adherents". Jewish News. 17 August 2020. Archived from the original on 17 August 2020. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
  6. ^ Tsagkroni, Vasiliki (20 January 2021). "The British Far Right Has a New Voice of Unity". Fair Observer. Retrieved 18 March 2021.
  7. ^ "YouTube cashes in on neo-Nazi's hate videos". The Sunday Times. 11 August 2019. Retrieved 12 November 2019.
  8. ^ Cohen, Nick (18 October 2009). "How the BNP's far-right journey ends up on primetime TV". The Observer. Retrieved 3 August 2018. Earlier this month, Radio 1's Newsbeat cutely allowed "Mark and Joey, two young guys who are members of the BNP", to imply that Chelsea and England footballer Ashley Cole was not really British. It did not reveal that "Mark" was Mark Collett, the BNP's press officer and an admirer of Nazism, and "Joey" was Joey Smith, who runs the BNP's record label.
    - Laura Spitalniak, "Rep. Steve King compares backlash over white supremacy comments to Jesus' suffering", ABC News, 24 April 2019, "retweeting Mark Collett, a neo-Nazi..."
  9. ^ "Far right recruiting children on YouTube". The Times. 6 October 2020. Retrieved 1 December 2020.
  10. ^ Mutch, Michael (27 October 2020). "'Utterly insane' far right group bombards Hull homes with leaflets". Hull Live. Retrieved 21 December 2020.
  11. ^ Simon Childs (16 December 2020). "He Stood for Election for a Mainstream Political Party. Now He's a Far-Right Organiser". Vice. Retrieved 27 August 2021.
    - Euan O'Byrne Mulligan (22 January 2021). "Ex-Lib Dem candidate now far-right organiser living in 'whites-only' Catford base". News Shopper. Retrieved 27 August 2021.
  12. ^ "Red Flare". Twitter. 14 December 2020. Retrieved 27 August 2021.
    - Damien Gayle (14 December 2020). "Keir Starmer under fire for failing to challenge radio caller's racism". The Guardian. Retrieved 28 August 2021.
    - "Keir Starmer Fails To Challenge Far-Right Conspiracies On LBC Radio". YouTube. Retrieved 27 August 2021.
    - "Radio Shock". Private Eye. No. 1539. 22 January 2021.
    - Sharpe, Amy (11 April 2021). "Extremist yoga: Guru who soothed TV Amanda spouts race bile in web rants". The Sunday Mirror. Retrieved 28 August 2021 – via Free Library.
  13. ^ Billy Briggs; Jamie Mann (28 February 2021). "Exposed: Inside far right group Patriotic Alternative". The Ferret. Retrieved 12 March 2021.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  14. ^ Cain, Sian. (2021). "Julie Burchill fires new publisher identified as a white nationalist". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 March 2021.
  15. ^ a b c Robbie Smith (16 March 2021). "Far-Right link of Julie Burchill's new publisher". Evening Standard. Retrieved 16 March 2021.
  16. ^ Ben Quinn (7 October 2021). "Tory councillor in Worthing suspended over alleged support of far right". The Guardian. Retrieved 10 October 2021.
  17. ^ Fuller, Christian (19 October 2021). "Conservative councillor resigns amid investigation into far-right links". The Argus. Retrieved 2 December 2021.
  18. ^ Salisbury, Josh (28 October 2021). "Police step up Borehamwood patrols after 'far-right group leaflets Jewish homes'". Jewish News. Retrieved 30 October 2021.
  19. ^ a b Kennedy, Dominic (9 October 2021). "At the gym, in the hills, the far-right fight clubs where men train to make Britain white". The Times. Retrieved 13 October 2021.
  20. ^ "Patriotic Alternative Official". Telegram. Retrieved 13 October 2021 – via Archive Today.
  21. ^ Judah, Jacob (11 August 2020). "British fascist behind secretive far-right propaganda network unmasked". The Jewish Chronicle. Retrieved 23 May 2021.
  22. ^ "Turning Back to Biologised Racism: A Content Analysis of Patriotic Alternative UK’s Online Discourse". Global Network on Extremism & Technology. Retrieved 14 April 2021.

External links[]


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