HOPE not hate blog

Dave Prentis adds his voice to the HOPE not hate campaign

posted by: Nick Lowles | on: Monday, 8 March 2010, 16:40

Unison General Secretary Dave Prentis has just added his voice to our campaign:

"UNISON is proud to mark International Women's Day and add our voice to the Hope not Hate campaign with the Daily Mirror.

The BNP is trying to sow the seeds of hate and division in our society. And yet without the efforts of workers from abroad, the NHS would crumble, our schools couldn’t function and our elderly and vulnerable would be without the care they need.

It is women who rely most on public services who would be hit hardest if services are cut. The election is just round the corner. We know that the BNP doesn't care for democracy or public services and its policies do nothing to help women. Get involved and, together, we can keep them out."

We have now raised over £6,000.

A third of the way there

posted by: Nick Lowles | on: Monday, 8 March 2010, 14:15

Double Your Money

I’m now delighted to say that over £5,000 has been donated towards our Double Your Money appeal. That means we have raised £10,000 already today.

Our target is to raise £15,000 which, with Unison's matching donation, would give us £30,000. So we are a third of the way there

You can donate here: http://action.hopenothate.org.uk/DoubleYourMoney

Double your money 300+

posted by: Nick Lowles | on: Monday, 8 March 2010, 12:39

It is two hours since we launched our Double Your Money campaign and we have already raised over £4,200 from 303 donations. With Unison matching this figure we have already raised £8,400 towards our campaign.

There is still a way to go yet. Our target is £15,000 which, with Unison’s matching-funding, will give us £30,000.

You can donate here: http://action.hopenothate.org.uk/DoubleYourMoney

Double Your Money

posted by: Nick Lowles | on: Monday, 8 March 2010, 11:36

Today is International Women’s day and to mark the occasion I have just launched a Double your Money fundraising drive. In conjunction with the Daily Mirror we are producing a 12-page booklet aimed at women. With articles from Coleen Nolan and Fiona Phillips I think it will be just the job in encouraging women to vote against the BNP.

UNISON is backing the campaign with a double your money offer. Every pound our supporters raise will be matched by a similar donation from UNISON. That means a £10 donation is actually worth £20 to us.

Women are much less likely to vote BNP than men, that’s why it is so important we encourage as many women as possible to vote. We have set ourselves a target of £15,000 – which will be doubled to £30,000 – to produce 300,000 booklets for women in our key wards.

You can donate here: http://action.hopenothate.org.uk/DoubleYourMoney

HOPE not hate campaign on TV

posted by: Nick Lowles | on: Sunday, 7 March 2010, 14:24

The HOPE not hate campaign featured on the BBC’s Politics Show today. In a programme about the BNP threat in Barking & Dagenham one of our team was interviewed in our great new campaign headquarters.

The programme will shortly be available here http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/the_politics_show_london

On the streets our activists are continuing to work hard. Yesterday about 8,000 newspapers were delivered across two wards by just ten people. They were out from 10am until 5.30pm, with hardly a break throughout the whole day.

A great evening of HOPE

posted by: Nick Lowles | on: Sunday, 7 March 2010, 14:00

Still recovering from a fantastic fundraising gig last night. Over 1,000 people packed into ULU to listen to Billy Bragg do a full two hours for the HOPE not hate campaign. Over £9,000 was raised for the campaign and almost 400 new people signed up for activity.

In between songs, Billy Bragg spoke of the serious threat in Barking & Dagenham and called for everyone to join him on the streets on 17 April. On what will be a London-wide Day of Action, we are looking for 300-400 people to deliver 65,000 newspapers, covering every door in the borough.

I’m afraid that I was at our stall, at the back of the hall, so I missed most of the gig. But I’m assured it was really great, with some of his long-time fans even saying that it was his best gig for years. The packed hall, intimate atmosphere and a great cause all contributed to a fantastic evening. More importantly, for me anyway, hundreds of people learnt about our campaign and signed up to get involved.

They really are crap

posted by: Nick Lowles | on: Tuesday, 2 March 2010, 19:55

Sometimes I don't have to think too hard to write copy for our election leaflets. The stupidity and uselessness of the BNP often hands us stories on a plate.

Just had a message about the BNP councillors in Sandwell who, as long-time followers of the HOPE not hate campaign will know, are particularly useless. Today was the budget meeting, the most important meeting in the council calendar, but two of the three BNP councillors (well, one was elected as BNP but now sits as an Independent Nationalist) failed to show and the third turned up at the beginning and promptly walked out as the meeting began. He returned half way through the meeting, sat there in silence and then, after the meeting had finished, tried to ask a question.

Luckily the people of Sandwell have a chance to throw out two useless BNP councillors and the Independent Nationalist in May.

The copy just writes itself.

Let your fingers do the talking

posted by: Nick Lowles | on: Tuesday, 2 March 2010, 16:05

I’ve just sent out an email launching a new online canvassing service which will allow our supporters, wherever they live in the country, to play a vital role in defeating the BNP in our key target areas.

And, it has the added benefit that people will be able to campaign from the comfort of their own home.

Canvassing is an integral part of modern political campaigning. It enables parties to identify their supporters, understand key issues and concerns and maintain a dialogue with voters in the chosen areas.

Our goal is simple. To contact potential voters in our key areas (such as Barking & Dagenham and Stoke-on-Trent) and identify those who oppose the BNP. Once identified we will build up a relationship with these voters through a combination of direct mail, human contact and further phone calls in the hope that they will vote on Election Day itself.

So, if you want to make a call for HOPE, you can do so here:

http://action.hopenothate.org.uk/Calls

So it's not March

posted by: Nick Lowles | on: Tuesday, 2 March 2010, 10:29

Ros and I outside No 10 during the 2008 HOPE not hate tour

Yesterday passed off without Gordon Brown rushing to the Palace so there will be no March election. That’s certainly good news from our perspective. Our emergency election plans have been neatly folded up and put back on the shelf and it’s back to the main May warbook.

Yesterday also saw our campaign in Stoke-on-Trent move forward. Sarah, our new worker there, has been building on the success of Saturday’s hugely successful Day of Action. She has had meetings with political parties and trade unions and last night attended a meeting of the local anti-BNP group NorSCARF, with which we want to work closely. Almost 10,000 newspapers were put out on Saturday so Sarah is now drawing up plans to get the remaining 20,000 out before the next edition is produced at the end of this month.

We were also joined yesterday by Ros Wynne-Jones, who has come on board full-time until the election. Ros is our link with the Daily Mirror and she is working on our newspapers and other specials that we are co-producing.

Bit by bit the pieces of the jigsaw are falling into place. Our online telephone canvassing operation began yesterday, with hundreds of calls already made, we are working on the finishing touches to our direct mail campaign and we are just about to take on a couple more interns. The fact that Brown didn’t go to the Palace was a huge relief but whenever the election is called we will be ready.

Decision day

posted by: Nick Lowles | on: Monday, 1 March 2010, 09:01

The HOPE not hate campaign is set to run its biggest and most professional campaign to date in the forthcoming elections. We hope to put thousands of people on the streets, hold hundreds of activities, run telephone canvassing and direct mail operations and conduct a huge media strategy using stories we’ve been building up for several months. At its height we will have over 25 people working on the campaign, with fully operational offices in Dagenham, Yorkshire and Stoke-on-Trent to co-ordinate our activities.

It is a campaign that has taken months to prepare. Buying in data, literally building our Dagenham office, recruiting staff and fundraising has all taken time – often far more than intended. However, there has always been one nagging fear, namely that the general election will be called early, so separating it from the local elections.

We believe that holding the two elections on the same day gives us the best chance to defeat the BNP. While voting will be more volatile than in the past, it is hoped that the increased turnout for the general election will help defeat BNP candidates in the local elections. It will maximise activism and allow us to concentrate our resources where they are most needed. Conversely, separating the two elections will make our task all the harder in the local elections. The turnout will be pitifully low, activists will be tired and perhaps demoralised and we would have to strongly contest far more of our 102 ‘at risk’ wards than we would otherwise have to.

So, I did panic a bit yesterday morning when, after the Sunday Times poll showed the Tory lead down to two points there was increased speculation about a snap election. Today we will know. If Gordon Brown is to call a March election then he has to do it today. My money is he won’t but I’ll be waiting for the clock to strike midnight without an announcement with some anticipation. Of course we’ve built contingency plans in case there is a March election but we would much prefer to take the BNP on in one go on 6 May.