Freedom Press, firebombed - donations being accepted

[Fozzie Bear]

Coverage in Vice:
http://www.vice.com/en_uk/read/who-firebombed-londons-oldest-anarchist-bookshop

 

[sihhi]

Coverage in Vice:
http://www.vice.com/en_uk/read/who-firebombed-londons-oldest-anarchist-bookshop

Vice make my skin crawl, but that is a fair piece.

 

[malatesta32]

i like this line though! 'Looking at the horrific mess, I thought the shop would have to close for months, but this morning they’re back open for business.' great response from people.

 

[Brixton Hatter]

Vice make my skin crawl, but that is a fair piece.

I read another piece - I can't remember where now, the link was on Twitter yesterday - where the writer was speculating on who did it. The article basically went: "Was it far right fascists? Erm, don't know. Was it the EDL? Erm, don't know. Was it local Muslim kids? Erm, don't know. Was it scorned former lefties? Erm, don't know. Was it MI5/undercover plod? Erm, don't know....."

 

[Delroy Booth]

Paul Stott's piece? Hang on I'll find you the link

http://paulstott.typepad.com/i_inte...o-was-behind-the-attack-on-freedom-press.html

 

[malatesta32]

bloody hell.

 

[cesare]

Is Paul hinting that Brian Whelan's some kind of secret state hack?

 

[malatesta32]

 

[butchersapron]

Odd piece in the comments, Kebele had a window smashed in a robbery a year or so agonot "all its windows bricked in a couple of weeks ago."

 

[malatesta32]

but the facts aren't as dramatic are they?

 

[Delroy Booth]

Is Paul hinting that Brian Whelan's some kind of secret state hack?

Brian Whelan ‏@brianwhelanhack
@MrPaulStott can you amend the claim that I am linked to hope not hate please, you've got some of my close mates quite confused.

PaulStott ‏@MrPaulStott
@brianwhelanhack Why then did you leap on me last year on Twitter when I pushed Notes From the Borderland's critique of @hopenothate?

Interesting little spat taking place here.

EDIT: I'm not sure if a thread that's about Freedom bookshop is the right place for this to be honest. Should I get rid of it?

 

[Citizen66]

spats make threads run and run thus increasing possible donations.

 

[gawkrodger]

yeh, If Brian Whelan is HNH he has pulled off a deception that MI6 would be most jealous of ha

 

[Brixton Hatter]

Paul Stott's piece? Hang on I'll find you the link

http://paulstott.typepad.com/i_inte...o-was-behind-the-attack-on-freedom-press.html

Yep, that's the one, cheers Del

 

[Spanky Longhorn]

Paul Stott is a top bloke btw

 

[Divisive Cotton]

Paul Stott is a top bloke btw

he is a top bloke but he's wrong about Brian Wheelan and should remove the statement

 

[Spanky Longhorn]

he is a top bloke but he's wrong about Brian Wheelan and should remove the statement

yeah Brian is alright as well

 

[gawkrodger]

They both are good lads, but Paul is wrong on this occasion

 

[Larry O'Hara]

If indeed Mr Whelan cares to distance himself from HNH, then all can be resolved amicably. Until he does...

 

[audiotech]

If indeed Mr Whelan cares to distance himself from HNH, then all can be resolved amicably. Until he does...

Not read his tweets Larry, or am I missing something?

 

[Paul Marsh]

he is a top bloke but he's wrong about Brian Wheelan and should remove the statement

Well lets go through the points in my case:

1. Brian Whelan slagged Notes From the Borderland on twitter for dissing Hope not Hate. I had never heard of him until then. The people who defend HnH from such criticism tend to be either members or supporters of that organisation. Oddly enough I am not snowed under by random Irish Times journalists debating the finer points of HnH's relationship with the Progress faction of the Labour Party.
2. On Twitter on the day of certain EDL demonstrations it has been clear Brian Whelan has been in contact with HnH staff
3. Brian has written for the Hope not Hate website.
4. His journalism in other papers has been used by Hope not Hate

I think its reasonable, given all that, to say Brian has, at some stage, been in HnH's orbit.

I am sorry if this embarrasses him when having a pint down the Anarchist equivalent of the Dog and Duck. If its too much to bear, I am happy to give him space on my website to say what he does think about Hope not Hate and officials like Matthew Collins.

 

[lazyhack]

Hi Paul/Larry

1 - Can you provide a link so we can address what was actually said about Hope Not Hate and notes from the Borderland? (I am not an Irish Times journalist btw)

2 - On Twitter I communicate with scores of people particularly when reporting from violent demos, as a reporter that's what I'm obliged to do. That's the nature of the web.

3 - I have never written for Hope Not Hate or their website, they have copied articles I wrote elsewhere to their site, I was never contacted about this, neither do I care of anyone republished my work.

4 - see above.

I am not a supporter of HNH or Seachlight nor have I ever been. Furthermore, I was at Freedom as a former contributor interviewing people for Vice magazine. I have clarified all this on your blog.

What exactly is the implication here?

 

[quimcunx]

*opens deckchair and popcorn concession*

 

[stuff_it]

*opens deckchair and popcorn concession*

Timing, you're doing it right.



*cracks bottle*

*buys popcorn*

 

[Paul Marsh]

What I can't get my head around is how Brian Whelan reached the political position he did, on Notes From the Borderland's criticism of Searchlight/Hope not Hate.

Either he had not read what we wrote, and just repeated something the likes of Matthew Collins or Joe Mulhall said about us, or he had, and decided Hope Not Hate deserved to be defended from our criticism?

As for the link lazyhack, go into your tweets for 20 June 2012. If that does not come up, give me your email address as I have the automated email twitter sent me of your comment at the time.

 

[lazyhack]

I've never met Matt Collins or Joe Mulhall, in fact I have no idea who the latter is. Any opinions I might have expressed on NfTB were almost certainly second hand from Libcom.org

I'm sorry if I insulted NFTB, twitter can be rough sometimes but to extrapolate from that that I was acting as some secret agent at Freedom for people I have no contact with is bizarre.

There are people in the anarchist scene who know me since my teenage years and can vouch for me.

 

[lazyhack]

The Tweet which supposedly places me as a HNH supporter - https://mobile.twitter.com/brianwhelanhack/status/215350590526599168

Personally, I don't see it.

This comes down to the use of the term "closely associated" and you haven't shown anything but superficial contact, the same amount of contact I'd have with any number of groups I have no political support for.

 

[gawkrodger]

From the BTF thread

On another thread: "If you ask Freedom they can confirm that when threatened with legal action by a certain NUJ activist to reveal the names of the authors of Beating The Fascists (I had interviewed them to promote the book) I chose to pay out of my own pocket rather than compromise the authors. I also offered support to Freedom and the authors when my situation was resolved." Brian Whelan

The NUJ activist in question was Hoffman who offered to waive the £400 if Whelan cooperated. Not dissimilar /threats/offers were made FP staff individually and collectively. Their refusal to play ball cost them £4000.

Oh, did I forget to mention that Hoffman is a Searchlight photographer?

 

[lazyhack]

When you add 2 + 2 to get 5, then rush to publish and refuse to listen to any evidence provided to the contrary, well you get toxic nonsense like this, from Indymedia this morning:

Brian Whelan has been exposed as "closely associated with Searchlight splinter Hope Not Hate" (1), while Sam Fanto notes "Brian Whelan, whose article on the riots is no longer available on the internet and whose unpleasant and vapidly cynical comments over the years on libcom have now also been disappeared" (2). Who is covering up Brian Whelan's ties to the state? Libcom.

Libcom are deffo state themselves. Libcom founder member Jack 'Captain Anarchy' Upton has close links with the last labour government. He worked for his dad's pr company on state defined projects. His dad btw was a close aide of tony blair's while he was running the country and was one of his inner circle of spin doctors (3). Libcom admin Steven openly admits to working with the screws union, POA (4).

According to 325.nostate "British civil anarchist group ‘Libcom’ and bourgeois communists ‘Aufheben’, are confirmed to fraternise/defend/collaborate with police consultants John Drury and Clifford Stott, academic parasites who work on improving police techniques and social control." (5) And above, we learn that Freedom is the headquarters of libcom (6). Rob 'Too posh for Eton' Ray, the quickest to defend cop collaborator John Drury, as well as being Whelan's fellow journalist, has close ties to both Freedom and Libcom.

And where did Brian Whelan show up and start sniffing around? Freedom. Freedom is the missing link between "Aufheben and Libcom’s partnership with police consultants" (7) and Brian Whelan's ties to the secret state, exposed by Paul Stott and Larry O'Hara. It is clear that if Freedom wasn't firebombed by the state, it was probably for its naked ties to state collaborators Brian Whelan and John Drury. Sam Fanto, 325, Contra-Info, Paul Stott and Larry O'Hara have done the movement a great service by piecing together this puzzle. This is about as clear as the secret state ever gets, otherwise it wouldn't be secret!

Moronic.

 

[Delroy Booth]

Matthew Collins follows me on twitter. Does that mean I'm "in the orbit" of HnH (and by extension, a fully paid up state grass?)