The anti-extremist organisation, HOPE not Hate, has marked its 10th anniversary with a new book that tells the inside story of ‘the campaign that helped defeat the BNP’.
Written by founder and driving force Nick Lowles, HOPE describes how the grassroots organisation, set up in 2004 to oppose the growing threat from the far right, has become one of the UK’s largest political campaigns having played a major role in the demise of the British National Party and rallied opposition to the English Defence League, Britain First and Islamist extremism.
“Who would have thought that, back in those early days of 2004, we’d be here today: one of the UK’s largest political campaigns and with the BNP and other far-right movements lying in disarray?” writes Lowles.
“HOPE is simply a chance for us to pause for a second, to look at the past triumphs (and recognise the difficult times, too), before we move to meet the challenges ahead.
“It’s also a chance for us to honour everyone who’s been involved, who’s given so much time and energy to our efforts, and to show how we’ve grown and evolved.”
As well as more than 100,000 words, the 240-age book also includes more than 200 photos and images, a foreword by Eddie Izzard, and dozens of first-hand, inside accounts from people involved in its campaigns.
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HOPE: The story of the campaign that helped defeat the BNP, written by Nick Lowles, is available for £10 plus £2.99 p&p from this special HOPE mini-site.
