Shut down BNP “call centre”

Socialist Youth member, 23 June 09

THE FAR-RIGHT BNP are running a “call centre” out of a Dundonald business park in Belfast. The operation is seen by the leadership of the BNP as playing a pivotal role in dealing with recruitment, posting out fascist and racist propaganda, fundraising and acting as a distribution warehouse.

The BNP claim that the “call centre”, which is located at Unit 5 Carrowreagh Business Centre, is raising £1,500 per day and employs 12 staff. However, the staff were employed to work for a front company known as Adlorries.com and were unaware that they were actually going to work for the BNP. A former worker at the centre revealed that BNP Fuhrer Nick Griffin recently visited “the administrative hub for the party” and broadcast a video of him speaking about how important the centre is to building the BNP.

Adlorries.com has a registered address in Leicestershire. The sole director is Jim Dowson, who lives in the Ballygowan area. Dowson, originally from Cumbernauld, near Glasgow, is a founder of the right-wing anti-abortion group Precious Life in Scotland. He was kicked out of the Orange Order, which he later described as being full of “atheists and boozers”. He has a long list of criminal convictions including breach of the peace in 1986, possession of a weapon and breach of the peace in 1991 and criminal damage in 1992. He has also produced loyalist flute band tapes containing tributes to sectarian murderer Michael Stone.
Dowson’s son James who works out of the BNP call centre is listed as a director of a company called ultraplumb.com which is based in Unit 130, Thomas House, 47 Botanic Avenue, Belfast.

The BNP represents a real danger to trade unionists, socialists, ethnic minorities and the rights of working class people across the UK. They have attempted to present a respectable face to the public in recent years to hide the fascist core of the party. The lack of a mass workers’ party which can represent the interests of all working class people, regardless of nationality or colour of skin has allowed the BNP in some areas of Britain to tap into a mood of discontent with the entire political establishment. But their agenda is to take away all rights won by working people, such as the right to join a trade union.

The trade union movement needs to take the presence of this fascist "call centre" seriously. The vicious, racist propaganda it distributes leads directly to attacks on ethnic minorities and those campaigning against racism. The unions should boycott all deliveries to and from this call centre and campaign for this centre of race hate to be shut down for good.