Brilliant guest post from Benjamin today on the subject of Hope Not Hate’s Matthew Collins. In this article Benjamin discusses Collins alleged former loyalty to the far right before his conversion to Leftism and how his group, which seems to work hand in hand with the violent thugs of Antifa, are a mirror image of the authoritarianism of groups like the BNP. Like Benjamin, when I look at the black hooded thugs of Antifa I see a lot in common with the far right Blackshirts and Brownshirts of old.

From Brownshirts to Black Hoodies

Matthew Collins is the ‘head of research’ at Hope Not Hate. He has a history of being part of violent and extreme far-right groups, groups much worse than the media has ever portrayed the EDL as being. He was a member of the National Front and Combat 18 (18 is the numerical equation for the initials of Adolf Hitler – A = 1, H = 8). Matthew Collins, by his own admission, was a violent neo-nazi. His own personal capacity for violence is questionable, or, rather, his ability to DO violence that would injure another person is questionable. In his book HATE he recalls storming a library that was hosting a meeting for ‘Asian’ women and punching a man in the face. The punch did nothing, however, and his mates had to take the man out for him: “I hit him square on the jaw. IT HARDLY KNOCKED HIM OVER, but before he could respond, Blackham gave him a haymaker and the rest piled in.” Matthew’s friends from his past all attest to his alcoholism and addiction to fast-food and his inability to throw a punch. He appears more of an agitator to me rather than a ‘hard man’, a coward who is only capable of violence if he is surrounded by alpha males, men more manly than he himself is. Without having met the man, I would surmise that deep-rooted insecurities plague him judging from what I’ve read about him and the stories I’ve been told about him from his past associates.

Matthew also fetishizes violence. In his book he describes the atmosphere in the BNP kitchen prior to him and his nazi mates going along to the library in order to beat up a bunch of women. His scrotum, he says, tightened with anticipation” (as scrotums generally do prior to orgasm). He goes on to tell us that the testosterone in the room was palpable, ‘thick as smoke’ while one of his friends was licking his lips (but not at Matthew’s scrotum, he hastens to add). The whole thing reads like some tawdry, closeted and gay romance novel with the love-sick Moron chasing after his unattainable lover, Mayhem. This sets the scene for Matthew and his fellow nazis who then went along to a library and battered and stamped on a bunch of ‘Asian’ women. The cleaner was beaten so badly that he or she has never worked again (while Hope Not Hate threw their arms open to Matthew who is described as being alcohol and junk-food addicted). One pregnant woman had to lock herself in the toilet or else she would have been beaten, too, and would more than likely have lost her baby.

“It had taken only a few minutes to leave seventeen people needing hospital treatment; mainly women, mostly Asian, most definitely beaten.”

The above quote is sickening, and Matthew goes on to tell us that he was given a ‘special mention’ at the next BNP branch meeting because of the part he played in the attack. He contradicts himself, however, because he also tells us that he and a mate left the scene after just a couple of minutes. It leaves me wondering why he would be given special mention for apparently having been a coward or for suddenly sprouting a conscience at a crime scene.

Recently at Sevenoaks in Kent, Generation Identity were hosting a meeting in a theatre and Hope Not Hate put out a gloating article saying that they knew where the meeting was being held but “Not wishing to ruin their fun too soon, HOPE not hate did not reveal the venue prior to the day.” Why would an organisation called Hope Not Hate send out a message to antifa to turn up at a theatre and riot? Have Hope Not Hate hired Matthew Collins because they are of the same violent mindset? Has Matthew Collins changed his violent ways or has he just found a new platform from which to unleash his hatred and incite others on to violence from the safety of his computer screen? One past associate of Matthew’s says that his online abuse of others verges on being illegal. Once a bully, always a bully it would seem. It would appear that Hope Not Hate are very happy to indulge Matthew in his desires. I suspect that he writes articles for Hope Not Hate under the pseudonym of Sarah Archibald (who has just released a story about the new leader of FLA which is not grounded in reality and which will possibly put a women’s personal safety and career security at risk). I suspect this because I recognize his writing style in Sarah’s articles. It is a suspicion and not a statement of fact.

Matthew has gone from ‘paki bashing’ (his words) to attempting to alert the UK of the dangers of the ‘far-right’. A recent article he wrote for the Guardian sees him worried that ‘snowflakes’ are in danger of being attacked. He cites three mentally-ill men as being prime examples of the far-right and what they are capable of. In all instances, these men were truly lone wolves and were all mentally unstable, at least two had very long histories of being medicated and liaising with mental health experts. Matthew’s deep concerns today are in relation to what will be the cause of the next terror attack: “Will it be anti-Muslim; antisemitic; or against snowflakes. Or will it be killing for the sake of hate killing?” Notice that he has absolutely no clue as to how to use a hyphen.

Matthew makes no mention of any Islamic atrocities that have been committed in the UK. He fears not for a repeat of the Manchester bombing or the London bridge car jihad. I’m assuming these are ‘one-offs’ in his mind. He makes no mention of the Islamic rape and grooming gangs that spring up in every Islamic community that is formed in the UK. No, Matthew is more concerned with the truly mentally ill and what they might be capable of and then finding a way to spin it into being a terrorist attack. He is not at all concerned, it would appear, with the evil intentions of sane people who kill for religious and ideological reasons. And neither are Hope Not Hate. Their focus is on incitement to violence and shutting down other people’s speech and opinions (remember they put out a petition seeking to ban Robert Spencer and Pamela Geller from the UK).

This, too, perplexes me. For an organization that promotes and incites violence, why are they named Hope Not Hate? Why are they so afraid of other people’s opinions? Why do they feel so much fear? Hope Not Hate and Matthew Collins still promote Nazism, IN MY OPINION. Nazism shuts down dissenting voices. The Nazi youth (brown-shirts) burned books and stormed meetings in order to forbid other people from speaking. Antifa do the same thing today, turning up at public rallies with horns and drums and causing as much noise pollution as possible. Nazism is the blueprint for today’s antifa. The only thing that has changed is the colour of the clothing – from brown-shirts to black hoodies – and Hope Not Hate are assisting with all of this. Hope Not Hate have just recently put out another petition, asking people to demand that major high-street booksellers STOP selling books by people who they perceive as being nazis or far-right. Hope Not Hate are not promoting hope for a better future, they are peddling an authoritarian regime where themselves and the left get to dictate the terms of everyone else’s speech. This, to me, is true nazism. Seems like Matthew Collins hasn’t left the side of the nazis after all, and Hope Not Hate are on a par with Combat 18.