Our friends in Moscow have asked us to pass on their sincere thanks to everyone who supported our recent fundraiser in memory of Ivan Khutorskoy. After costs, we were able to send £300 to Ivan's family. They have been deeply touched by the solidarity shown by anti-fascists around the world who, while maybe not knowing them or Ivan personally, have given them emotional and practical aid when they've most needed it.

We'd also like to pass on our respect to everyone who played, helped out, turned up on the night or donated to the cause. Without you, we wouldn't have been able to do this.

Bristol Radical History Group are holding the following event, and we'd highly recommend it.

Morris Beckman, The 43 Group

Date: Monday, 01 March 2010
Time: 19:30
Venue:The Cube

After World War II a group of demobbed British Jewish servicemen were shocked to find that Oswald Mosley’s British Union of Fascists was operating openly in the streets of Britain. They began to wonder what they had been fighting for and also wondered what they could do to halt the increase in anti-Semitic attacks.

In 1946 a group of ex-servicemen and women met in a room to discuss what course of action should be taken, there were 43 at that this first meeting and so they became known as the 43 Group. In a short time they had recruited about 1000 street fighters ready to beat fascism from the streets of Britain.

Morris Beckman, now 89, is the author of The 43 Group, a thrilling account of the post-war fight against fascism in Britain. Beckman served in the Navy during World War II and was torpedoed twice during the Battle of the Atlantic. He went on to serve on board ships in the Bay of Bengal, the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf. In 1946 Beckman was a founder member of the 43 Group: "The authorities were doing nothing; we were seeing newsreels of Auschwitz. We decided that as trained troops we would 'out-fascist the fascists'".

In association with Bristol Indymedia.

Freedom Of Movement in association with Bristol Antifa and Bristol Anarchist Black Cross are pleased to present an evening of punk and ska featuring

La Fraction (France)
Left For Dead (Kent)
Jakal (London)
Rejected (Bristol / Wales)

at The Croft, 117-119 Stokes Croft, Bristol BS1 3RW. 7-11pm, £6 entry, early arrival definitely recommended.

This event is raising money for the family of Ivan 'Bonecrusher' Khutorskoy, a Russian anti-fascist who was brutally murdered by nazis in November last year.

Ivan was a genuine hero, a committed fighter for the anti-fascist cause who paid the ultimate price for his beliefs. His attitude remains an inspiration to those of us who continue the struggle against the fascist threat. We are proud to hold this event in his memory and hope that you can join us too.

If you are unable to attend the gig, you can still make a donation for Ivan's family via Bristol Antifa (please make sure you state that the donation is for Ivan).

16th March 2003. 26-year-old Italian anti-fascist Davide Cesare is stabbed to death by fascists after leaving a bar in Rome.

13th November 2005. 20-year-old Russian anti-fascist Timur Kacharava is murdered by fascists in St Petersburg after a Food Not Bombs action.

16th April 2006. 19-year-old Russian anti-fascist Alexander Ryuchin is stabbed in the heart by fascists on his way to a concert.

21st July 2007. 21-year-old Russian anti-fascist Ilya Borodaenko is attacked by fascists during the night at a protest camp and dies from head injuries.

12th November 2007. 16-year-old Spanish anti-fascist Carlos Javier Palomino is stabbed in the heart by fascists while on his way to a demonstration in Madrid.

18th January 2008. 18-year-old Czech anti-fascist Jan Kučera is stabbed to death after confronting a knife-wielding fascist.

16th November 2009. 26-year-old Russian anti-fascist Ivan Khutorskoy is shot to death by fascists at the entrance to his home.

Today, on Sunday 17th January 2010, Bristol and Czech anti-fascists gathered beneath the Spanish Civil War memorial in Castle Park to honour these fallen comrades. Like others before them, they have paid the ultimate price for their beliefs. We will never forget the debt we owe to every one of these men and women who gave their lives in defence of freedom.

But we do no justice to these heroes simply with words and monuments. While the cancer of fascism threatens, we will continue to attack and destroy it. And we will not stop until the disease is eradicated.

Even as we remember and mourn our losses, we resolve to fight harder for all of our futures. Our message to the fascists is simple and defiant -

YOU SHALL NOT PASS!

(Report in Czech here)

Clive Courtney (right), one-time darling of local nazis and failed fascist candidate in every election he's ever contested in the South West, appears to have disappeared off of the BNP radar. This seems strange for someone who recently bragged to us that

My position in the BNP is team Leader for the Dept. of Security in the South West. I attend most national and local events – Leeds Trial, RWB, organisers' conferences, election counts, demonstrations and so on. My background in security work, close protection, TA and martial arts – which I teach – serves me well in this role. We have quarterly training camps in all aspects of security and the party now has an Intelligence Dept. which is a separate entity to the DoS, for obvious reasons.

Now we think we've found out why there's been a deafening silence in the BNP's propaganda machine about this nasty drivel-spewing piece of work.

A few months back, we reported the arrest of Courtney for assaulting his partner. We've since discovered on the 'This Is Bath' website (05.08.09) that:

Clive Courtney, 55, of St John's Court, Keynsham, was given a community order for two counts of assault by beating.

This is the same 'man' who told us back in January that

My stepdaughter, by the way, thinks she disagrees with the BNP but that is the result of PC brainwashing from TV and her multi-culti teachers at school (so bear that in mind if you decide to do something heroic like put our windows in while our two babies are sleeping – it will prove me right to her about my reasoning regarding all you cowardly lefty/liberal/self-loathing dupes of the establishment).

We don't need to say any more.

From last Friday's Bristol Evening Post:

A British National Party activist who has run for council and to be an MP was arrested on suspicion of assaulting his deaf wife.

Clive Courtney, 55, was yesterday being questioned by Avon and Somerset police for alleged violence against his spouse, Julie, at their home in Pensford.

Mr Courtney has been a local organiser of the right-wing party for Bristol and has been active during the current local election campaigns.

A police spokesman told the Bristol Evening Post: "I can confirm that last night, at about 11.25pm, we were called to a disturbance at a Hillcrest address in Pensford.

"Subsequently, a 55-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of assault and is being questioned at Bath police station."

It is thought construction engineer Mr Courtney's teenage step-daughter was also at home during the alleged assault on Wednesday night. As of yesterday evening, he had not been charged with any offence.

The BNP are normally extremely quick to publicly counter what they perceive to be 'media bias' against them, particularly when it involves senior figures like Courtney. To the best of our knowledge, they have not yet responded to this article.

We sincerely hope that Courtney has not assaulted his wife. We unconditionally condemn domestic violence, in any form. But, if he has assaulted his partner, and his stepdaughter witnessed it, then it makes the email we recently received from him all the more despicable.

After confirming that it was, indeed, him in the photos we took in Bedminster a few months back, he went on to say:

My stepdaughter, by the way, thinks she disagrees with the BNP but that is the result of PC brainwashing from TV and her multi-culti teachers at school (so bear that in mind if you decide to do something heroic like put our windows in while our two babies are sleeping – it will prove me right to her about my reasoning regarding all you cowardly lefty/liberal/self-loathing dupes of the establishment).

Courtney's stepdaughter has nothing to fear from anti-fascists. She is obviously an intelligent young person who understands perfectly what the BNP stands for and rejects it wholeheartedly, which comes as no surprise seeing as she's living under Courtney's roof.

Bristol Antifa aren't in the habit of harming innocent people. That's why we fight fascism.

We've received this report from Hereford Solidarity League, publishers of the excellent 'Hereford Heckler', on fascist activity in their area. They've also adapted our anti-BNP election leaflet for mass distribution around the town, and are busy countering the fascists' lies on the street and in the media. Good work!

Christopher Gower (Supreme Leader of Hereford BNP) and his ragtag bunch of numpties

Hereford Solidarity League (HSL) has been busy organising against and exposing racism and fascism in rural Herefordshire for almost two years. Through their bimonthly news sheet the Hereford Heckler, they have been making life very uncomfortable for the local British National Party.

The recent behaviour of the Hereford BNP numpties has been particularly sickening. The murder of a local teenager in March was seized on in an attempt to stir up anti-eastern European feelings. The two men arrested for the murder are Lithuanian nationals, but that didn’t stop the BNP from calling on all Polish people to be kicked out of Hereford!

Unfortunately for the clueless fash, Hereford is a small town and word gets around. People immediately contacted HSL to let them know what was going on and where the BNP were organising. A quick phone call to the Hereford Farmers Club (right, tel: 01432 272247) confirmed that the venue was being used by the aforementioned numpties. An article followed in the Heckler calling for members to boycott the club. The chairman of the Farmers Club was interviewed by BBC local radio where he predictably claimed that they had no idea that the BNP were meeting there. He went on to say that they are a non-political club and there is nothing stopping the BNP meeting there in future. A spokesperson for HSL, also speaking on BBC Hereford & Worcester, warned that everything will be done to stop fascist groups organising in Hereford and hoped that the Farmers Club would see sense and stop allowing the BNP to use their premises.

At present the Farmers Club haven’t commented further, but HSL are determined to stop the BNP meeting anywhere in the city.

We have produced a new leaflet for the upcoming local and European elections.

You can download the leaflet here.

Please print or copy as many as you can and distribute them as widely as possible – in your workplace, the pub, the library, the community centre, the local health centre or surgery, and anywhere else you can think of. Even if you can only do your own street, it all counts. Or get together with friends, family and neighbours and spread them across your local area.

Our message is simple:

Given his eagerness to proclaim even the smallest fart from Nick Griffin's arse as some kind of huge success, we're surprised that the local BNP nutjob, Clive 'Pie Face' Courtney, has been less than forthcoming about the recent Keynsham council elections, where he stood for the Keynsham East ward.

Could this be something to do with the fact that, despite bragging about their occasional brief forays into the town and the 'support' they've received from locals, Pie Face polled a misearable 5.49% (73 votes) of the total votes cast, putting him and his mob firmly in last place?

Still, Pie Face should be used to this kind of public humiliation – he scored an underwhelming 6.09% in Keynsham South in May 2007, last place again.

It seems that the more the good burghers of Keynsham get to know about Pie Face and his unsavoury organisation, the less inclined they are to fall for the BNP's lies. No surprise there then.

We have it on good authority that Nazi Nick Griffin, lardbucket leader of the BNP, is due to attend a 'fundraising dinner' in South Gloucestershire on Sunday night.

Party members have been told to meet in the car park of the Huntsman Pub in Falfield (just off junction 14 of the M5) at 6.45pm. They'll then drive the mile or so to the Park Hotel, which is south of the Huntsman, along the A38 and down a single track road on the left. The BNP has booked a function room at the Park Hotel under a false name.

You may want to inform the owners or managers of these establishments of your opposition to having nazi scum in our midst, and ask them to take the necessary steps to prevent this gathering taking place on their premises. The phone numbers are:

Huntsman Inn 01454 260 239
Park Hotel 01454 260 550

Please remember that whoever answers the phone may not have any sympathy with the BNP. And they certainly shouldn't have to endure the sight and sound of fascist pigs stuffing their overfed faces and spewing out nazi crap.