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Patriotic Alternative
AbbreviationPA
LeaderMark Collett[1]
Deputy leaderLaura Melia[2]
FoundedJuly 2019 (2019-07)
IdeologyBritish fascism[3]
Neo-Nazism[4]
White nationalism[5]
Political positionFar-right
Colours  Red   Blue
Party flag
Website
www.patrioticalternative.org.uk
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Patriotic Alternative (PA) is a British far-right, fascist, neo-Nazi and white nationalist hate group which states that it has active branches nationwide.[1][6][7][3] The Times described it in 2023 as "Britain's largest far-right white supremacist movement".[8] Its stance has been variously described as Islamophobic, fascist and racist.[9][3]

History

[edit]

Patriotic Alternative was founded in July 2019 by the British neo-Nazi[10] and antisemitic conspiracy theorist[6][11] Mark Collett, the former director of publicity of the British National Party.[1] In September 2019, PA held its first conference, with Edward Dutton and Colin Robertson giving speeches, among others.[6]

In October 2020, counterterrorism experts reported that extremist far-right groups including Patriotic Alternative were using YouTube to try to recruit people, including children "as young as 12".[12] Later that month, Patriotic Alternative members delivered 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".[13]

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".[14] That month, during an appearance by the Labour Party leader Keir Starmer on LBC, a caller referring to herself as "Gemma from Cambridge" put forward the white supremacist Great Replacement conspiracy theory. Starmer was criticised by some for his perceived failure to challenge the caller, who was revealed by investigative group Red Flare to be Jody Swingler, a yoga teacher and Patriotic Alternative activist.[15]

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 include 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, the New British Union, the British Union of Fascists and the Scottish Nationalist Society.[16]

In February 2021, it was reported that Patriotic Alternative was looking to recruit teenagers through Call of Duty: Warzone gaming tournaments.[5]

Tabatha Stirling of Stirling Publishing[17] 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 said "there is one member of staff who is openly gay, and I mean RuPaul extra gay".[18] On 14 March 2021, author Julie Burchill announced that, with Stirling, "I've found someone who's JUST LIKE ME", who were now publishing her book after the Little, Brown Book Group had dropped Burchill. This came after Burchill had made defamatory statements about the Muslim journalist Ash Sarkar.[18] However, Burchill parted with Stirling Publishing when she found out that Stirling was associated with Patriotic Alternative.[18]

Patriotic Alternative's social media accounts on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter were suspended in February 2021, but some of its regional pages remain.[7]

In October 2021, Tim Wills, a councillor in Worthing, was suspended from the Conservative Party over allegations of secret support for Patriotic Alternative, after Hope not Hate published results of an investigation into him.[19] Wills resigned from the council on 15 October.[20] The same month, in a district of Borehamwood, the Hertfordshire Constabulary increased patrols after leaflets calling for the banning of kosher and halal food were posted in the letterboxes of 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.[21]

On 9 August 2022, Patriotic Alternative held its annual White Lives Matter activism day, coinciding with the United Nations designated International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples.[22]

A joint investigation by The Times and the anti-fascist investigative group Red Flare in September 2022 revealed the identity of a Patriotic Alternative supporter and "Britain's most racist YouTuber", known as "The Ayatollah", as James Owens, a 37-year-old journalism graduate from Hixon, a village in Staffordshire.[23]

Patriotic Alternative helped the British Democratic Party during the 2023 local elections.[24]

In February 2023, Patriotic Alternative supporters showed up at riots at hotels in Liverpool and Glasgow.[25]

In March 2023, Patriotic Alternative delivered leaflets to homes in the Welsh town of Llantwit Major, warning about the possibility of migrants moving there, as part of its response to local plans to build a site for asylum seekers. The leaflets used the term "white genocide".[26]

In June 2023, a Patriotic Alternative member, Kristofer Thomas Kearner, who had already pleaded guilty to charges of disseminating terrorist publications on a Telegram account, including the manifestos of Brenton Tarrant and Anders Behring Breivik, was imprisoned for four years and eight months.[27]

According to Searchlight magazine, in 2023 Alek Yerbury left Patriotic Alternative and formed a new militant group named the National Support Detachment.[28] Within a month, PA national administration officer Kenny Smith had also left and formed a new organisation called Homeland, attracting many members of Patriotic Alternative to join. The organisation's inaugural meeting was held on Adolf Hitler's birthday.[29][30]

On 14 March 2024, Michael Gove, the secretary of state for levelling up, housing and communities, speaking in Parliament, named the organisation as one of several regarded as "a cause for concern" under a newly introduced official UK government definition of extremism.[31]

For the 2024 United Kingdom general election, Patriotic Alternative supported candidates from the English Democrats in Dover and Deal, Leigh and Atherton, Newark, Bolton West and Makerfield.[citation needed]

A prominent member of the group was reported to have taken part in the 2024 Southport riot, while another member helped to promote the event.[32][33]

[edit]

The Times reported in October 2021 that Mark Collett had attended combat training with former members of the now-proscribed neo-Nazi organisation National Action.[34] 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.[34][35] In August 2022, it was reported that Kearns faces extradition from Spain to the UK, and up to 15 years in prison on terrorism charges relating to the sharing of far-right terrorist manifestos on the encrypted messaging app Telegram.[36] Sam Melia, a regional organiser for PA, has previously been affiliated with National Action.[37] Alex Davies, the jailed co-founder of National Action, had been active within Patriotic Alternative for more than two years.[38]

Political views

[edit]

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". They support the deportation of people of "migrant descent" and would offer financially incentivised repatriation for "those of immigrant descent who have obtained British passports". Patriotic Alternative opposes all immigration unless immigrants have a shared cultural and ethnic background or can prove British ancestry.[6]

According to Hope not Hate, members of Patriotic Alternative have supported political violence, the white genocide conspiracy theory, and Holocaust denial.[6][39] They have targeted the LGBT community as being a danger to young children.[6] Patriotic Alternative opposes Black Lives Matter and has displayed White Lives Matter banners around the UK, including on the top of Mam Tor, a hill in Derbyshire.[7] Hope not Hate say that the group generally admires Vladimir Putin's Russia for its "illiberalism, anti-Westernism and authoritarianism".[40] The group also includes a "cohort of anti-vaxxers".[3]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c Allchorn, William (22 February 2021). "Turning Back to Biologised Racism: A Content Analysis of Patriotic Alternative UK's Online Discourse". Global Network on Extremism & Technology. Archived from the original on 14 April 2021. Retrieved 14 April 2021.
  2. ^ "PATRIOTIC ALTERNATIVE LTD Company number 12759841". Companies House. Archived from the original on 11 April 2022. Retrieved 8 January 2021.
  3. ^ a b c d McGivern, Mark (10 October 2022). "Far-right hate group Patriotic Alternative host event at Scots hotel leaving guests disgusted". Daily Record. Archived from the original on 26 March 2023. Retrieved 26 March 2023.
  4. ^ Townsend, Mark (3 July 2022). "Royal Navy promoted sailor despite joining neo-Nazi group". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 1 April 2023. Retrieved 1 April 2023.
  5. ^ a b Townsend, Mark (22 March 2021). "How far right uses video games and tech to lure and radicalise teenage recruits". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 March 2021. Archived 22 March 2021 at the Wayback Machine
  6. ^ a b c d e f Murdoch, Simon (August 2020). "PATRIOTIC ALTERNATIVE – UNITING THE FASCIST RIGHT?" (PDF). HOPE not hate. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2 March 2021. Retrieved 18 March 2021.
  7. ^ a b c "State of Hate 2021" (PDF). HOPE not hate. Retrieved 13 April 2021. Archived 22 March 2021 at the Wayback Machine
  8. ^ Mitib, Ali; Ledwith, Mario; Parker, Charlie (10 November 2023). "What are the Pro-Palestinian protests about and who is organising them?". The Times & The Sunday Times. Archived from the original on 10 November 2023. Retrieved 5 December 2023.
  9. ^ "Anti-fascists warn of new antisemitic group with neo-Nazi adherents". Jewish News. 17 August 2020. Archived from the original on 23 August 2020. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
    - Tsagkroni, Vasiliki (20 January 2021). "The British Far Right Has a New Voice of Unity". Fair Observer. Archived from the original on 19 March 2021. Retrieved 18 March 2021.
    - Suter, Ruth (5 February 2023). "Man reported for 'hate crime' as far right hate group Patriotic Alternative protest outside Scots 'asylum seeker hotel'". The Daily Record. Archived from the original on 13 February 2023. Retrieved 13 February 2023.
    - Hayward, Will (27 April 2022). "Far right recruiting propaganda is being posted into Cardiff homes". Wales Online. Archived from the original on 13 February 2023. Retrieved 13 February 2023.
    - Moore, Sam (17 January 2022). "Right Said Fred statement says duo 'got it wrong' with neo-Nazi livestream". The Independent. Archived from the original on 13 February 2023. Retrieved 13 February 2023.
  10. ^ "YouTube cashes in on neo-Nazi's hate videos". The Sunday Times. 11 August 2019. Archived from the original on 22 December 2021. Retrieved 12 November 2019.
  11. ^ Cohen, Nick (18 October 2009). "How the BNP's far-right journey ends up on primetime TV". The Observer. Archived from the original on 4 August 2018. 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" Archived 15 November 2020 at the Wayback Machine, ABC News, 24 April 2019, "retweeting Mark Collett, a neo-Nazi..."
  12. ^ "Far right recruiting children on YouTube". The Times. 6 October 2020. Archived from the original on 1 December 2020. Retrieved 1 December 2020.
  13. ^ Mutch, Michael (27 October 2020). "'Utterly insane' far right group bombards Hull homes with leaflets". Hull Live. Archived from the original on 2 January 2021. Retrieved 21 December 2020.
  14. ^ Simon Childs (16 December 2020). "He Stood for Election for a Mainstream Political Party. Now He's a Far-Right Organiser". Vice. Archived from the original on 20 March 2023. 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. Archived from the original on 27 August 2021. Retrieved 27 August 2021.
  15. ^ "Red Flare". Twitter. 14 December 2020. Archived from the original on 27 August 2021. Retrieved 27 August 2021.
    - Damien Gayle (14 December 2020). "Keir Starmer under fire for failing to challenge radio caller's racism". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 28 August 2021. Retrieved 28 August 2021.
    - "Keir Starmer Fails To Challenge Far-Right Conspiracies On LBC Radio". YouTube. Archived from the original on 27 August 2021. 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. Archived from the original on 28 August 2021. Retrieved 28 August 2021 – via Free Library.
  16. ^ Billy Briggs; Jamie Mann (28 February 2021). "Exposed: Inside far right group Patriotic Alternative". The Ferret. Archived from the original on 3 March 2021. Retrieved 12 March 2021.
  17. ^ Cain, Sian (20 March 2021). "Julie Burchill fires new publisher identified as a white nationalist". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 March 2021. Archived 20 March 2021 at the Wayback Machine
  18. ^ a b c Robbie Smith (16 March 2021). "Far-Right link of Julie Burchill's new publisher". Evening Standard. Archived from the original on 17 March 2021. Retrieved 16 March 2021.
  19. ^ Ben Quinn (7 October 2021). "Tory councillor in Worthing suspended over alleged support of far right". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 9 October 2021. Retrieved 10 October 2021.
  20. ^ Fuller, Christian (19 October 2021). "Conservative councillor resigns amid investigation into far-right links". The Argus. Archived from the original on 1 December 2021. Retrieved 2 December 2021.
  21. ^ Salisbury, Josh (28 October 2021). "Police step up Borehamwood patrols after 'far-right group leaflets Jewish homes'". Jewish News. Archived from the original on 30 October 2021. Retrieved 30 October 2021.
  22. ^ "Far-Right Hijacks Global Indigenous Peoples Day With Racist Stunts". Vice. 9 August 2022. Archived from the original on 9 August 2022. Retrieved 9 August 2022.
  23. ^ Dominic Kennedy (31 August 2022). "Neo-Nazi uses codewords to spread hate on YouTube". The Times. Archived from the original on 31 August 2022. Retrieved 1 September 2022.
    - Dan Milmo (1 September 2022). "'Britain's most racist YouTuber' has channel terminated". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 1 September 2022. Retrieved 1 September 2022.
  24. ^ "Fascist and far right candidates in local elections". Searchlight. 28 April 2023. Archived from the original on 22 May 2023. Retrieved 22 May 2023.
  25. ^ Taylor, Diane (11 February 2023). "Far-right protesters clash with police at Merseyside hotel housing asylum seekers". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 November 2023.
    - Gilmour, Lauren; Duffy, Amy Duffy (20 February 2023). "Protestors clash at Renfrew hotel for third week over asylum seeker accommodation plans". Glasgow Live. Retrieved 12 November 2023.
  26. ^ Nagesh, Ashitha (25 March 2023). "Patriotic Alternative: The town fighting the far-right with Welsh cakes". BBC News. Retrieved 3 November 2023.
  27. ^ Elliards, Xander (23 June 2023). "Patriotic Alternative member jailed for sharing terrorist manifestos". The National. Retrieved 12 November 2023.
  28. ^ "Breaking news – Patriotic Alternative split". Searchlight. 20 April 2023. Retrieved 14 June 2023.
  29. ^ Mackay, Neil (7 May 2023). "How UK far right extremists have been shattered by a Scottish-led rebellion". The Herald. Archived from the original on 27 May 2023. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
  30. ^ Briggs, Billy (25 April 2023). "New far right group formed after Patriotic Alternative splits". The Ferret. Retrieved 14 June 2023.
  31. ^ "Gove names groups as he outlines new extremism definition in Commons". BBC News. 14 March 2024. Retrieved 14 March 2024.
  32. ^ Kennedy, Dominic (2 August 2024). "Who are the far-right groups organising the Southport stabbing protests?". The Times. Archived from the original on 2 August 2024. Retrieved 2 August 2024.
  33. ^ Wallis, William; Stacey, Stephanie (2 August 2024). "Who is behind the UK's far-right riots?". Financial Times. Retrieved 2 August 2024.
  34. ^ 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. Archived from the original on 9 October 2021. Retrieved 13 October 2021.
  35. ^ "Patriotic Alternative Official". Telegram. Archived from the original on 13 October 2021. Retrieved 13 October 2021 – via Archive Today.
  36. ^ Kennedy, Dominic (27 August 2022). "Far-right activist Kris Kearns faces extradition to Britain on terror charges". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Archived from the original on 27 August 2022. Retrieved 27 August 2022.
  37. ^ Judah, Jacob (11 August 2020). "British fascist behind secretive far-right propaganda network unmasked". The Jewish Chronicle. Archived from the original on 10 May 2021. Retrieved 23 May 2021.
  38. ^ "Revealed: How Patriotic Alternative recruited the founder of a banned terror group". Hope not Hate. 8 October 2022. Archived from the original on 8 October 2022. Retrieved 8 October 2022.
  39. ^ "Turning Back to Biologised Racism: A Content Analysis of Patriotic Alternative UK's Online Discourse". Global Network on Extremism & Technology. Retrieved 14 April 2021. Archived 14 April 2021 at the Wayback Machine
  40. ^ "Patriotic Alternative: Putin's Fascist Sympathisers". Hope not Hate. 25 March 2022. Retrieved 26 October 2024.
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