Hi John,

It’s been a stressful few months at the HOPE not hate office. Far right thugs Tommy Robinson and Britain First’s Paul Golding are coming after us in a big way.

They’ve made bogus, totally unfounded complaints to the police about us. HOPE not hate staff and supporters were recently ambushed by Britain First yobs while we were leafleting in Salford during the local elections. Even family members who are not involved in our work are being targeted and threatened.

This is a coordinated campaign of harassment and intimidation, and a blatant attempt to stop us investigating both men and exposing their extreme and illegal activities.

Over the last few months we have been working with legal experts to uncover the scale of Tommy Robinson’s sham bankruptcy. We are closing in on the illegal and scandalous behaviour of some of his closest allies. Paul Golding knows that we have been investigating his finances and the many scams he has run over recent years. 

It’s not nice to be targeted in this way, and it’s certainly been a worrying time for the HOPE not hate team and our families. But the fact that Robinson and Golding are going after us so aggressively shows how desperate and worried they are.

If they think they can silence us and scare us into backing off, they are wrong. Their scare tactics show that what we’re doing is working: it’s more important than ever that we ramp up our investigations and campaigns, and roll out extra measures to protect our staff.

We now need to raise the funds to deal with the security threats we are facing as well as scaling up our investigative work - so we’ve launched a new campaign on Crowdfunder.co.uk*

Can you chip in to fund the fightback and send a message that we won’t be stopped by hate-mongering bullies?

This is the most severe threat HOPE not hate has faced for years. In addition to putting more resources into our investigations, we need to deal with the risks we are currently facing. With your help we can: 

• Increase security at the homes of our staff
• Explore legal routes to prevent Robinson and Golding from continuing their campaign of intimidation, and hold them to account for the abuse and threats their actions have provoked amongst their supporters
• Maintain contact with three separate police forces over the harassment and intimidation our staff and supporters are facing and ensure they take the appropriate action
• Expand our research to expose the hate and lies of Robinson, Golding and their supporters

Our team is already stretched thin: dealing with these threats risks diverting us from our core work, which is exactly what Robinson and Golding want. 

We need to raise at least £20,000 to fund these additional efforts, but the more we raise the more we can do. We refuse to be intimidated by these far right thugs - will you stand with us?  

Thank you for everything you do,

Nick

Nick Lowles
CEO, HOPE not hate

*We’re launching this campaign on crowdfunder.co.uk so that we can reach even more people with this campaign than we normally would (in case you’re wondering why this isn’t the usual HOPE not hate fundraising page!)