So we hear today that the plans to convert the former South Eastern Tavern into a home for the Ashford Muslim Centre were approved last night. This is great news and shows quite clearly that the islamophobic opposition to the development by a minority of local people failed utterly. What a relief.
One problem lingers however – we have also heard that one of the organisers of opposition to the centre is a BNP member. This man is one of the (at least) 20 members of the BNP in Ashford, as well as 2 ex-National Front organisers. This is a significant number of fascists for small urban area like Ashford and, although this planning decision is clearly a defeat for their racist ideas, it is worrying that they have been emboldened enough by local support to admit their role in this fake protest that claimed ‘parking concerns’ were the problem with this development. If you click on the map below, you can see how BNP membership has grown in the UK since 2007.
BNP membership across the UK
You can view a summary spreadsheet of BNP membership, by electoral constituency, by clicking here. You can find the detailed breakdown of all members by searching on google or having a look through a site like wikileaks.
If that seems like a lot of work, you can go to our favourite fascist finding tool, which allows you to search by your postcode and view your (un)friendly neighborhood Nazis, by clicking here.
The Ashford Resistance 