On October 26th, far right followers of Tommy Robinson will be back in London to exploit tensions over migration. Drive 2 Survive co-chair Jake Bowers argues why Gypsies and Travellers should also be there - to oppose rather than support him.
There’s an old Gypsy saying that explains why it is important to be careful with the company we keep. "If you lie down with dogs, you’ll get up with fleas.” On October 26th, supporters of Tommy Robinson will be back in London to exploit tensions over immigration. I can clearly see from friends and family on social media that there are British Gypsies and Travellers who may be thinking of joining him. I think as many of us as possible should be in London on October 26th, not to join him but to oppose him. Here’s why:
As victims of racism and fascism, Gypsies and Travellers are often targeted by far-right activists like Tommy Robinson (whose real name is actually Stephen Yaxley-Lennon). From the murders of Romany youth in Hungary to the racist denial of planning permission to Gypsy and Traveller sites in Britain, far right activists hate Gypsies, Roma and Travellers as much as they hate refugees. These people are not only your natural enemy, but many are also convicted sex offenders (see below).
As the misinformation that led to the riots across Britain proved, the far right doesn’t care whether something is true and they don't care about children, they simply wish to exploit fears over migration to spread hatred. That hatred, once whipped up, can and will be directed towards us. For that reason alone, it makes no sense to support Tommy Robinson, no matter what you may feel about migration. An ethnic group that is subjected to racism cannot expect any support if it in turn is racist.
Gypsies, Roma and Travellers were probably also targeted in the wave of anti-migrant riots over the summer. On August 3rd, for example, a racist mob attacked a BMW that contained three “Romanians” that were probably Roma. In a BBC report about the attack, a man only identified as ‘Marius’ by the BBC described how he and his cousins were attacked. “They jumped on my car and punched it with metal things - everything they have in their hand," he recalled. "They broke my windows. We were very scared." Even though he says he was punched, Marius feels fortunate to have dodged "one guy who tried to punch me with [a] metal bar". "When I see his face he's furious and they wanna kill me," said Marius.
Jerry Cash (from Gypsies and Travellers Essex) and Scarlett Smith at the Dikh he na Bister (Look and do not forget) commemorations of the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz concentration camp.
One day before this happened, Drive 2 Survive was at the Auschwitz concentration camp as part of the Dikh he na Bister (https://2august.eu/ commemorations. On August 2nd we joined Romanies from across Europe in remembering the thousands of Romanies who died in the death camp 80 years ago. We also remembered that it was Romany British servicemen who helped to liberate the concentration camp in the second world war. Romanies, you see, have a proud history of defeating fascists rather than supporting them.
Tommy Robinson claims that Gypsies and Travellers will be supporting him on October 26th, and we have no idea whether he is lying about this just as he was lying about who attacked those poor children in Stockport earlier this year.
But we know one thing to be true, as victims of racism and fascism, Gypsies and Travellers will be there to oppose the poison that led to riots in Britain this summer and we’d very much like you to join us.
If you cannot join us, at least be very wary of joining him. There are many convicted child abusers within the far right. As this list of alleged convicted far right sex offenders shows, we must still be extremely careful with the company we keep.
A-Z OF 70 ALLEGED FAR RIGHT SEX OFFENDERS
1. Kristopher Allan: Scottish Defence League. Sexual contact with a 13-year-old girl.
2. Bradley Alford : EDL. Possession of indecent photos of children, attempting to meet a child, inciting a child to send sexual images, inciting a child to engage in sexual intercourse.
3. Alan Boulter: Britain First supporter- attempting to meet a 13 year old child following sexual grooming. Jailed for 20 months.
4. John Broomfield: EDL. 20 counts of making indecent images of children.
5. Dean Chambers: BNP, Britain First, EDL. Found guilty of two counts of sexual assault against vulnerable adults. Jailed for 5 years.
6. Billy Charlton EDL: associate of Tommy Robinson. Shared illegal image of child forced to perform sex act with animal.
7. Michael Coates: EDL. Pleaded guilty to 8 charges of indecent assault & 2 of attempted rape of a teenage girl.
8. Bruce Cordwell: EDL. Jailed for grooming vulnerable 15 year old girl.
9. Michael Cowen: NF member. Tens of thousands of indecent images of children.
10. Kyle Davies: Member of System Resistance Network. Jailed for planning a mass murder, and possession of indecent child abuse images. Jailed for 16 years.
11. Gareth Dewhurst: EDL. Convicted of helping Robert Ewing dispose of the body of Paige Chivers
12. Edgar Didzulas – 2024 Southport rioter. Previous convictions for sexual assault, battery, intentional strangulation
13. Alan Thomas Ellis. 18-month community order for sending indecent texts to a teenage girl.
14. Robert Ewing: EDL member. Convicted of the murder of Paige Chivers, 15, who he had been sexually abusing, & other sexual crimes against children.
15. Darren Francis. Jailed for multiple sex offences and degrading physical abuse of his then partner.
16. Ryan Fleming: member of National Action. Jailed for sexual assault of 14 year old. 2nd sexual conviction. Jailed again in Feb 2021 for breaching sexual harm prevention order
17. Christopher Gamlin: Britain First. Jailed for 21 months for attempting to meet a child after grooming and attempting to incite a child to engage in sexual activity.
18. Martyn Gilleard: member of National Front, White Nationalist Party and British People’s Party. Possessed nail bombs, knives and firearms and hoped to start ‘race war’/ Pleaded guilty to 10 child pornography offences
19. Peter Gillett: EDL. Multiple rapes of teenager, along with indecent assault, & assault that caused ABH. Child cruelty and gross indecency towards a boy between 8-15, & indecent assault against a girl aged between 13 and 15. Jailed for 18 years.
20. Warren Gilchrist: Britain First 2024 rioter who chanted ‘save our kids’, which the judge called ‘rank hypocrisy’, given his 35 convictions for child sex abuse against under-13s.
21. Jordan Goodwin/ Hagan Photographed with Tommy Robinson; publicised & attended Robinson’s Telford ‘Save the Children’ demos. Indefinite hospital order 2011 for serious sexual offence
22. Jasper Gough: Britain First. Admitted sexual assault; jailed for 3 years.
23. Daniel Grant EDL supporter; history of sexual offences, indefinite sentence for other violent crimes.
24. Ben Hannam : Serving police officer, found guilty of membership of National Action, possession of terrorist documents and an indecent image of a child.
25. Nigel Hesmondalgh. BNP member jailed for possessing child porn.
26. Dale Hewitt EDL: Jailed for a decade for sexually abusing and drugging underage girls.
27. Ian Hindle. BNP member jailed for sexual activity with 14-year-old girls.
28. Kane Hutchison EDL: jailed for sexual assaults on teenage boys.
29. Kevin Jenkins EDL supporter convicted of sexually assaulting a 14 year old school girl.
30. Ryan Johnson : EDL. Jailed for three years and 10 months behind bars for four counts of sexual activity with a child.
31. Elliot Jones A member of the EDL’s “Paedophile Squad”. Convicted of trying to blackmail a child into sexual activity.
32. Shaun Jones: Liverpool ‘Scouse Nationalists’. Grooming and raping a 12 year old girl.
33. Merfyn Jones. North Wales Alliance/Combined Ex-Forces. Jailed for rape, attempted rape, and indecent assault.
34. Gerard Kendrick Far-right supporter, Islamophobe. Raped 2 young boys and sexually abused 4 other children. Jailed for 18 years
35. Michael Kinnear Detained and sexually abused 13 year old in his home
36. Wayne Kirby EDL/ Tommy Robinson supporting convicted rapist –climbed in through a window and raped a woman in bed next to her baby.
37. Daniel Lainchbury, EDL. Jailed for sexual assault of two women in Leicester town centre.
38. Gavin Leist. BNP political candidate. Jailed for possessing and distributed child pornography
39. of boys under the age of 13.
40. Michael McQueenie EDL: jailed for the rape of a 14- girl w learning difficulties.
41. Terry Maughan.EDL. Drugged and raped a 17 year old girl. Jailed for 7 years.
42. Leigh McMillan Well known EDL member, jailed for 17 years for grooming & child sexual abuse.
43. Thomas Medler: 2024 Bristol rioter, previous convictions for sexual activity and sexual assault of two girls under 16. Plus breach of sexual harm prevention order
44. John Merritt: Reform UK supporter. Jailed for 8 years for historic rapes of two young boys. aged 8 and 9
45. Gareth Metcalfe 2024 Southport rioter and Tommy Robinson supporter, previous convictions for sexual assault
46. Peter Moore. A neo-Nazi serial killer who received a whole life term in 1996 for four brutal murders and a sting of other attacks.
47. Brett Moses. Pleaded guilty to sexual grooming.
48. Paul O’Brien Blood & Honour and NF supporting rapist. He admitted offences of rape, sexual assault and assault by penetration. Jailed for 9 years
49. Stephen Payne. Groomed a 13-year-old girl.
50. Richard Price. Founder member of the EDL and close friend of Tommy Robinson, who claimed the police had ‘stitched Pricey up’ after obscene images of child abuse were found on his computer. Even after Price was placed on the sex offenders register for downloading indecent images of children, the EDL called him a ‘hero’
51. Jack Renshaw Well-known former BNP member and National Action activist jailed for grooming two teenage boys. He also received 20 years for the plot to murder a Labour MP.
52. Andrew Rogers DFLA member who pleaded guilty to sexual communication with a child.
53. Michael Roles : Britain First. Jailed for 18 years for the rape of a girl under the age of 13, the attempted rape of a girl under the age of 13, indecent assault and twelve other similar offences against children.
54. Roderick Rowley. BNP Candidate jailed for 15 months after sending obscene images involving children.
55. Mark Ryley. Britain First .Jailed for 13 years after being found guilty of six counts of indecent assault, seven of sexual activity with a child, one of assault by penetration and two of attempted rape.
56. Ryan Schofield. Guilty of various sexual assault charges against women.
57. James Shand Patriotic Alternative member, arranged to meet a 13 year old girl for sex
58. Ian Siree. BNP Organiser. Pleaded guilty to possessing 138 illegal images child sex abuse
59. Simon Sheppard BNP. Far-right antisemite and Holocaust denier jailed for trying to trick girls into sex
60. Mark ‘Archie’ Sleman. EDL member: kidnap and attempted rape of 10-year-old girl.
61. James Andrew Swindlehurst. South Yorkshire Casuals, EDL. Jailed for 20 years for counts of rape and indecent assault of a child.
62. Arthur ‘Misty’ Thackeray The former chairman of UKIP in Scotland pled guilty to nine charges of intentionally sending, or directing “sexual verbal communication”
63. Carl Tofts EDL supporter from Luton; downloaded thousands of images of children being abused.
64. Jacek Tchorzewski. A far-right terrorist also jailed for downloading videos, photos and animations depicting child rape, incest and “sexual interference with a corpse”.
65. Unnamed 17 year old Found guilty of five counts of sexually touching a girl under the age of 13. Also guilty of terrorism offences.
66. Harry Vaughan. National Action. Posted on far-right website ‘Fascist Forge’, leading to terrorism investigation, during which child porn was found.
67. Trevor Vinson: Britain First supporter . Filmed himself sexually assaulting a 3 year old. Jailed for 21 years
68. Andrew Wells. BNP member jailed for sexual activity with 14-year-old girls.
69. Paul Whiteside An EDL organiser who admitted a charge of child abduction.
70. Matthew Woodward. EDL member and activist. Pled guilty to 16 offences of indecent images of children.
(One of our youngest activists challenging racism and oppression).
Sources: Malatesta and @pob1975 (twitter), Far Right Criminals, Unite against Fascism, Searchlight Magazine, Hope not Hate, local and national media reports.
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