This is a part of a series of articles. Read the intro here, part I here, part II here and part III here
In 2015 the Republic of Ireland became the first country in the world to introduce equal marriage for gay and lesbian couples though a referendum of the whole population. In 2020 equal marriage was introduced in Northern Ireland by the United Kingdom Government after legislation was blocked in the Belfast Assembly by the Unionist parties. By this time Pride marches in Dublin and Belfast were attracting 10s of 1000s. A new era had seemingly arrived.
It is difficult now to fully comprehend what went before. As recently as 2007 a worldwide survey of 40 countries demonstrated that Northern Ireland, and Greece, were the most homophobic countries in the ‘Western’ world.[1] “Homosexual acts” were illegal until the 1980s in the North, and the 1990s in the South. The journey to the introduction of equal marriage was foreshadowed by campaigns from the 1970s onwards for the repeal of the odious 1861 Offenses Against the Person Act, and applied in both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland,
The early campaigning groups were small and were not visible on the streets in a significant way. When this began to change in the 1980s, and especially in the 1990s, comrades in Militant intervened. In this article, we explain the activities of comrades in these early days with a special focus on pioneering campaigning work in Ballymena in the late 1980s, the exemplary work of comrades in the Young Socialists and Youth Against Sectarianism who linked up with gay and lesbian activists in the early 1990s, and the physical challenge we mounted to the viciously homophobic and dangerous White Nationalist Party in the years 2003 to 2005.
Campaigning for Changes in the Law
The 1861 Act was repealed by the UK parliament when the Sexual Offences Act was adopted in 1967. The new Act partially decriminalised male homosexuality in England, Scotland and Wales but the Northern Ireland parliament (before it was “prorogued” (closed) by the UK government in 1972) did not adopt the legislation. When “direct rule” (from the UK parliament) was imposed the Northern Ireland Office considered extending partial decriminalisation but backed down in the face of intense opposition.
The Northern Ireland Gay Rights Association (NIGRA) was established in 1975 and focused initially on reform of the law. Gay men faced harassment from the Royal Ulster Constabulary (the armed police force) throughout the 1970s and 1980s, with NIGRA recording multiple instances.[2] NIGRA members themselves underwent arrests, forced medical examinations and house raids. Sometimes these measures were carried out in a supposed search for drugs. Correspondence regarding the decriminalisation campaign was confiscated by the police.[3]
The British Government announced in 1979 that it would not proceed with changes to Northern Ireland’s anti-homosexuality laws.[4] Although the Government promised that the laws would not be enforced, police harassment and arrests continued.[5] The arrest of one activist, NIGRA secretary Jeffrey Dudgeon, lead to an ultimately successful legal challenge.[6] Sex between men was decriminalised in 1982 after Dudgeon, then an activist with the Northern Ireland Labour Party (he stood as a Labour Integrationist candidate for South Belfast in the 1979 General Election), and later an Ulster Unionist councillor, took a case to the European Court of Human Rights. It was a landmark ECHR case as it was the first to be decided in favour of LGBT rights, and it has formed the basis of European law in this area ever since, in particular for new states joining the EU.
The first Gay Pride festival in the South of Ireland was held in March 1983. It was aimed at highlighting violence against gay men and women and was a reaction to the murder of Declan Flynn, a 31-year-old gay man in Fairview Park. A group of men were convicted of killing him but were given suspended sentences for manslaughter.
David Norris, a lecturer in English at Trinity College Dublin lead the Campaign for Homosexual Law Reform which aimed for the decriminalisation of homosexuality in the South. In 1988 Norris won a case in the European Court over the constitutional status of the criminalisation of homosexual acts. His success opened the way for legalisation in 1993 (the Criminal Fraud (Sexual Offences) Bill) which decriminalised homosexuality.
“Save Sodomy from Ulster”
NIGRA were opposed by the vociferous “Save Ulster from Sodomy” campaign led by Ian Paisley’s Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), and which garnered 70,000 signatures on a petition to maintain the status quo.[7] As part of the campaign, advertisements were placed in newspapers claiming that any change in the law “can only bring God’s curse down upon our people”.[8] The Catholic Church adopted an identical position.[9]
After Dudgeon won his case the National Union of Students organised its annual Gay and Lesbian Conference at Queen’s University Belfast in an act of solidarity. The conference took place on the weekend of June 3rd-4th 1983-the first significant gay and lesbian conference anywhere on the island of Ireland. The DUP organised a “Save Ulster from Sodomy” protest outside the Students Union. One comrade attended the impromptu but energetic counter-protest to the DUP demonstration. Famously some of the counter-protesters emerged from the Students Union to confront the ‘Paisleyites’ (a common name then for extreme Ian Paisley supporters) wearing T-shirts with the slogan “Save Sodomy from Ulster”. The story was headline news the following Monday.[10]
“Out, Proud and Militant”
Later in the 1980s the LBGTQ+ rights movement slowly developed momentum. The movement was limited in scope, and initially our interventions were also limited. In pioneering work in 1987-1988 the vibrant and youthful Ballymena branch of the party engaged in an anti-homophobia campaign over a period of months after a series of homophobic attacks in the area. Comrades produced leaflets challenging homophobia and distributed these not just on the streets, but in the town’s pubs.Ballymena was the heartland of Paisleyism, but his backward positions on social issues were not accepted by many young people in the town. When the DUP won control of the local council in 1977 they moved quickly to “keep the Sabbath special” by closing the swimming pool and the parks every Sunday. They went so far as to chain up the swings so that they could not be used by children. Militant members in the town, nearly all from a Protestant background, were the only organised opposition to these moves and picketed council meetings in protest.[12] A decade later Ballymena Militant and the Young Socialists were still standing up against reactionary ideas.
Comrades in the North often used material produced by comrades in Militant in Britain in campaigning work. In 1988, for example, the “Militant Student Bulletin” contained a substantial article entitled “Fight for Lesbian and Gay Rights” which covered gay rights issues, including the introduction of section 28 (which banned the “promotion” of “gay lifestyles” in Great Britain but did not apply in Northern Ireland) and the HIV/AIDS epidemic, was distributed at Queen’s University and University of Ulster interventions.[13]
The article ended with an evocation of the period of gay liberation which followed the October Revolution:
“In Russia, after the socialist revolution in 1917 full equality under the law was granted to lesbians and gays. This had not happened before, and it has happened at no time since. Even so, with the backwardness of the economy, lesbians and gays were not truly liberated, and with the development of Stalinism, even the legal gains were clawed back. But it was only under socialism, a society of abundance, where mankind will abolish want, that liberation for every oppressed group will be achieved.
In the words of Alexandra Kollontai, ……”we are living in a world of property relationships, a world of sharp class contradictions and of an individualistic morality. Men are apt to cling, in a predatory and unhealthy way, to illusions about finding a ‘soul mate’ from the opposite sex. They see sly Eros as the only means of charming away, if only for a time, the gloom of inescapable loneliness. The sexual crisis cannot be solved unless there is a radical reform of the human psyche, and unless man’s potential for loving is increased and the basic transformation, along its communist lines, is essential If the psyche is to be reformed”.[14]
In June 1992 the “Out Proud and Militant” pamphlet was published by Militant Labour in Britain as part of an increase in activity around these issues across the CWI and this too was used in our work[15] (as was a second longer version published in 1994[16]). A “Charter for Equal Rights” was published by the Militant Labour LGB Group (Britain), also in 1992, and also proved useful.[17]
GLAD: “Gays and Lesbians Against Discrimination”
The first Pride march in Belfast, organised by NIGRA, was held in May 1991. One hundred courageous marchers turned up, including one comrade. The exact route of the march was kept secret to avoid counter-protestors. In the period after the 1991 Pride, contacts were made with a group of young activists in Belfast-the “One in 10 Gay and Lesbian Group”-who were unhappy with what they considered to be the conservative approach of NIGRA’s leadership. Over a period of two years, we worked with this group and formed a joint campaign between the activists and the Young Socialists and Youth Against Sectarianism (YAS). The gay rights activists were given access to the Militant office to use for meetings and to print their material. We assisted them with the writing of their bulletins and organised joint meetings. Together we campaigned for the provision of youth facilities for young gay and lesbian people which would be publicly provided and safe. The “Gays and Lesbians Against Discrimination” (GLAD) newsletter was jointly published by Youth Against Sectarianism and the “One in 10 Gay and Lesbian Youth Club” in 1992. The YAS Bulletin-which was sold in a dozen towns and cities and in many schools-advertised the GLAD newsletter for sale.[18] One of the gay rights activists spoke alongside comrades at our May Day public meeting in 1992.
We drew our gay and lesbian rights activity together with our other campaigning work at the time, especially after the establishment of YAS in February 1992. YAS consciously combined its activity and material with Youth Against Racism in Europe. As well as campaigning against sectarianism, it raised the issues of racism, antisemitism, and homophobia. The issue of the persecution of gays and lesbians by the Nazis was raised at our meetings on racism and fascism. We successfully sought sponsorship for the October 1993 YRE demonstration in Brussels from the NIGRA and the Association paid for one of its members to attend.[19]
When a YRE Charter was developed for Ireland, it included a section on gay rights[20]:
“Despite the decriminalisation of homosexuality, lesbians and gay men remain a discriminated section of Irish society. Homosexuality is seldom represented in the media or in the schools and when it is it is often in a negative, stereotyped way.
The prevailing silence and ignorance mean lesbians and gay men face the possibility of rejection from family and friends, possible attack-verbal and physical-from bigots, and victimisation in their place of employment.
The Charter explained how “Recently, a Cork woman, Donna McAnallen was sacked from her job for being a lesbian. The gay community faces more than just victimisation. With the threat of AIDS, the totally inadequate funding for safe sex programmes is of particular concern. Also, the lack of social facilities for lesbians and gay men means that gay pubs and clubs that do exist charge exorbitant prices. YRE is totally opposed to discrimination against people because of their sexuality.
The Charter explained that Youth Against Racism and Youth Against Sectarianism stood for:
- Sex education in all schools to include homosexuality
- State funded safe-sex programmes and free availability of condoms
- Anti-discrimination legislation to outlaw and severely penalise any institution or individual who discriminated against people on the basis of their sexuality”.
We made the links between sectarianism and racism and promoted women’s rights and gay and lesbian rights.For example, the Youth Against Sectarianism Bulletin which reported on an autumn and winter of activity in late 1992 (see image above), listed achievements on multiple fronts: seven public meetings against racism with over 130 in attendance; one thousand copies of the previous YAS bulletin sold, often at street stalls, which were taking place regularly in Belfast, Derry, Cookstown, Magherafelt and Omagh; a YAS/YRE press expose which had forced a Belfast clothes shop to stop selling Nazi regalia; YAS mobilisations for the regular counter-protests at the Brook Advisory Centre (the Centre offered advice on sexual health and contraception to young people and was opposed by a coalition of Catholic and Protestant reactionaries). The “Gays and Lesbians Against Discrimination” (GLAD) newsletter was promoted in the YAS Bulletin and was sold widely on activities.[21]
The “Fascists Out Campaign”, 2004-2005
A splinter of the National Front, the White Nationalist Party (WNP) organised in Northern Ireland in the period 2003-2005.[22] It was active in Coleraine, Ballymena, Larne, Ballymoney, Portrush, Portstewart, Lisburn, Lurgan and Portadown. Its key figures were also involved in Combat-18 (C-18), a violent street fighting group which posed a threat to people of colour, minorities and the organised working class. The leader of Combat-18, Charlie Sargent, was jailed for life in 1997 for the murder of another fascist.[23],[24]
Unlike some other fascist groupings, the White Nationalist Party was openly and avowedly homophobic. One of its five “principles” was opposition to so-called “homosexual lifestyles”:
“We believe in the sanctity of the family as the building brick of the healthy nation. Family life is under threat from many directions – record divorce rates, abortion on demand, single parent families and homosexual life styles all threaten the existence of the family. The destruction of the family as the basic building brick of the nation is the source of many of our nation’s ills”.
The WNP frequently linked gay men to paedophilia in their leaflets and posters. It encouraged or organised violence against all minorities. Over 2003 and 2004, a spate of attacks against members of ethnic minority communities received international media attention: in an article in January 2003, The Guardian newspaper labelled Northern Ireland as “the race-hate capital of Europe”. [25] There were 226 racially motivated attacks reported between April 2002 and April 2003, up from 185 the previous year. The Equality Commission reported that racial attacks were higher in NI-at 16.4 per 1,000 of the population-compared to the 12.6 in England and Wales. In July 2003 we reported in “The Socialist” that in “one of the most vicious recent attacks….on the home of a Muslim family in Craigavon a gang of up to ten men armed with baseball bats threatened to burn the family out and they left soon afterwards”.[26] Organised attacks were also taking place in Belfast. The home of a South African family in south Belfast was attacked by a pipe bomb (a home-made grenade) but luckily nobody was injured. Racist attacks were especially frequent in towns were the WNP claimed to be active.
The Belfast Telegraph reported a recruiting drive in Ballymoney where “……an extreme right-wing group…. the White Nationalist Party, has erected stickers and signs on lampposts in Ballymoney telling people to call them on a mobile phone number for further details. The group, which claims it has plans to become a registered political party in the province and stand in elections in the near future, has placed signs around the town stating: “Ulster is forever British. Hang IRA scum.” A spokesperson for the White Nationalist Party confirmed that they were interested in recruiting new members within the Ballymoney area and were planning a leaflet drop within the next few months”. [27] A month later the press reported attempts to “…recruit children….the group has put up stickers and signs on lampposts in Ballymoney, Coleraine, Antrim and Ballymena”[28]
In July racist flags were erected in Ballymena. “A White Nationalist Party flag was erected on a street lamp beside Twickenham House, at Mount Street in the town. Others were also erected in the nearby Clonavon district, which had previously been the scene of racist attacks on homes. …,”.[29] In Craigavon the WNP distributed leaflets opposing the building of a mosque declaring that this is ’Ulster not Islamabad’.There were attacks on the homes of people from minority groups in the area: “WNP members were blamed for a spate of racially-motivated attacks in Co Armagh, where a Muslim family were forced to leave their home after attacks by baton-wielding thugs. Asian families from Craigavon have been intimidated, and an African man, who has lived in the province for 13 years, was also attacked”.[30]
The WNP sought publicity through the press and in a Belfast Telegraph article in September 2003 claimed to be growing fast: “A neo-Nazi group – believed to have carried out a series of violent racist attacks – has claimed its support in Ulster is getting stronger…..the group has claimed in its literature that “Ulster WNP is still the fastest-growing section of the party”.[31]
We condemned “…..a brutal campaign of racist violence [which] is aimed at intimidating ethnic minorities from their homes…..it would be dangerous not to point to the attempts of small neo-fascist groups like the White Nationalist Party, the British National Party and Combat 18 to build a base of support, as a major cause for the dramatic rise in racist attacks…… Orchestrated attacks have been taking place in areas like Craigavon, Ballymena and Coleraine where far-right leaflets have been circulated”.
We drew attention to the deprivation and alienation which sustains the far right: “the far-right are playing up fears about housing costs, the lack of social housing, lack of jobs, low wages and deprivation of working-class estates in an effort to scapegoat immigrants for the many problems faced by working class people……The poverty conditions which exist in working class estates across the North….are a breeding ground for sectarianism and racism…..Racism is a by-product of class division in society. The fight against racism and the far-right needs to be a fight for a better future for all, where the needs of people come before profit – a socialist fight. Without addressing racism on a class basis, the roots of racism cannot be tackled”.[32]
Challenging Fascism on the streets
We sought to take a targeted approach to the WNP. There was no question of this fascist group trying to march or openly organise. They used social media to mobilise their members and afterwards publicising their activities in the press. From their own publicity we knew that leafletting of parked cars was their modus operandi: “WNP activists recently distributed hundreds of anti-asylum seeker, and anti-IRA leaflets, in Portrush” in “the second Day of Action organised by Ulster WNP, since the 16 August activity in Coleraine”. The WNP boasted that “more activities are planned in north Ulster for the near future.” [33]
We received intelligence that they were planning to leaflet in Portrush (a seaside town) on Saturday April 3rd, 2004, and mobilised for action. We met with activists from Organise, an anarcho-syndicalist group[34] and together established the “Fascists Out Campaign”.
On the 3rd of April thirty anti-fascists were placed strategically in the area when four fascists turned up and began their leafleting. Within seconds, we had appeared, confronted the fascists and seized their leaflets and flags. The fascists ran, and we returned home. Leaflets and other fascist material including a WNP flag were seized. This material (see photographs) from the WNP and Combat 18, with swastikas prominent, shows the real nature of these groups.
In a public statement afterwards the Fascists Out Campaign commented: “For some time we have been monitoring the activities of the White Nazi Party in the Coleraine, Ballymoney, Bushmills and Ballymena areas. These people are spreading racist filth and encouraging the cowardly attacks, including the petrol bomb attacks, against members of minority communities. Hitler scapegoated the Jews and these modern Hitlerites are trying to scapegoat racial minorities”.[35]
We exposed the ideas of the White Nationalist Party/Combat 18 as “straight out of Mein Kampf. Their aim is to take away democratic rights including the right to vote and the right to belong to trade unions”. We explained that the WNP programme states: “We believe that democracy is a fraud and a sham. We wish to establish a new type of State based on leadership, authority and discipline.””
The statement continued “People in North Antrim and across Northern Ireland respect democratic rights and will oppose any group whose aim is to take away these rights and establish a Hitlerite dictatorship. We are organising against them because we know it is dangerous to be complacent in face of the threat of fascism. The lesson of the rise of Hitler is that the German fascists should have been taken on when they were small. The White Nationalist Party/Combat 18 have no support. This is the time to defeat them so that we make sure they never get any bigger”.
Fascist Infighting and Threats Against Anti-Fascists
The fascists began infighting in the aftermath of the confrontation, as we discovered from a posting on the WNP website Guest book. Reporting on what had happened in Portrush,
“ghost/ulster” (on the night of April 3rd), complained bitterly about lack of support:
“four members of Ulster WNP were attacked in Portrush today by a group of up to forty reds whilst leafletting, a bag containing leaflets and posters was stolen by force. my question is where the fuck were all you armchair ulster nationalists who spend all their time posting about how great it is to be in ulster on this guest book and yet leave all the groundwork to real activists it’s about time you lightweight fuckers got out from behind your PC and did something to help”. [36]
We monitored WNP forums and learned that it was seeking to defend itself by stating that the leaflets they were distributing on the day of the confrontation were anti-paedophilia and anti-gay. We knew that WNP and Combat 18 websites were carrying threats against the people they presumed had organised the activity against them in Portrush.,
The wave of racist attacks continued and “claimed its first life. Worryingly, the recent murder in Moneymore may have had a racist motive or at least racist undertones”.[37],[38][39] Despite the threats we pursued the WNP relentlessly. In the following weeks, we postered the towns of Ballymena, Ballymoney, Colerain, Portrush, Portstewart and Larne with anti-Nazi posters.
We worked to prevent a so-called ‘Blood and Honour’ gig….” Anti-Fascist activists in Ulster are urging venues in the north Antrim area not to host a “neo Nazi” rock concert. White Nationalist Party supporters are planning to hold a “Blood & Honour” gig in the area to boost support for their ongoing campaign of organisation in Northern Ireland, according to opponents”. [40]
The Campaign declared “These thugs have announced that they intend to bring a fascist “Blood & Honour” band over from England to play in the North Antrim area. This concert should not go ahead. The Fascist Out Campaign are asking every venue in the area to refuse to let fascists use their facilities. Make sure every door in the area is closed to these Hitlerites.”
We monitored the activities of the WNP where we could and whenever we had any indication that a bar was prepared to host a ‘Blood and Honour’ event, we contacted the owners and made it clear that their venue would be exposed. As far as we are aware no gig ever took place.
On August 26th, 2005, the Fascists Out Campaign succeeded in closing down a mailbox used by the Ulster Nationalist Alliance, the new name for the WNP (it changed its name to the Nationalist Alliance in order to stand in elections across the UK. The group’s organisation in Northern Ireland began operating under the title Ulster Nationalist Alliance). They were using the private mailbox in Belfast as a point of contact as well as to distribute race hate and homophobic material.
The Campaign issued a statement and claimed that its action was a blow to the ability of fascists to grow in Northern Ireland. “The Nationalist Alliance advertised on their sick website their mail-box in Belfast. We immediately approached the manager of Mail Boxes Etc on Botanic Avenue in person to explain that a Nazi group was using it’s mail-box facilities. We provided proof and urged the shop to close it down. After repeated warnings to the shop, we were forced to picket Mail Boxes Etc”.
The statement continued: “Our campaign will not allow fascists to organise here. They are responsible for attacking ethnic minorities across the North. Fascists do not offer any solutions to the problems faced by working-class people. Their agenda is to destroy all democratic rights, trade union rights and establish a totalitarian regime of terror. They use racist ideas to blame ethnic minorities for unemployment, lack of housing and other problems facing working class communities. The Fascists Out! Campaign believes working class people should unite and fight for our common interests. Today’s successful picket is a warning to all businesses not to facilitate any neo-Nazi groups in future.”
Pride Interventions
We knew that the WNP saw Pride events as potential targets for their hatred and violence. The Fascists Out Campaign banner was carried on the 2004 Pride demonstration in Belfast, as a signal that fascist homophobia would be shown no toleration.
The last visible activity of the WNP, by then renamed, was when a handful of members turned up to the 2005 Pride with the intention of protesting and distributing homophobic leaflets, or disrupted events. Campaign activists were alert to their presence very quickly. When they realised that they had been spotted and that we were taking their photographs they disappeared into the back streets.
The WNP were racist, homophobic and violent. They had contact with dangerous elements in Combat-18 England, but also with loyalist paramilitaries in Northern Ireland. Our approach was different from that in Coleraine in 1984, but the result was the same. Comrades, in alliance with other activists, prepared and took on violent fascists and ran them off the streets, and specifically sought to challenge their homophobic activities.
This article provides an overview of the Fascists Out Campaign and our earlier interventions in struggles for gay and lesbian rights. Parts1-3 in this series provide an overview of our anti-fascist, anti-racist and women’s rights work. Understanding our history is an essential starting point for a sober analysis of our long-term orientation to issues of oppression. In the next article we will provide a critical commentary on our political analysis, our programme, and our interventions on issues of special oppression, including racism, women’s rights, and LBGTQI+ rights in the years from the 1970s to the 2010s. We will further comment on the subsequent trajectory of the Socialist Party and analyse where its political journey has taken it to in 2025.
[1] North most hostile to gays and foreigners, according to study. Irish Independent, February 7th, 2007. https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/north-most-hostile-to-gays-and-foreigners-according-to-study/26274738.html
[2] Marian Duggan (2013). Queering Conflict: Examining Lesbian and Gay Experiences of Homophobia in Northern Ireland. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. pp. 53–54.
[3] Ibid
[4] Ibid.
[5] Ibid.
[6] Ibid.
[7] Ian Paisley (1926-2014) and the ‘Save Ulster From Sodomy!’ Campaign. https://notchesblog.com/2014/09/16/ian-paisley-1926-2014-and-the-save-ulster-from-sodomy-campaign/
[8] Duggan (2013).
[9] Ibid.
[10] News Letter, June 5th, 1983.
[11] See obituary: Tarlach Macniallais, Lifelong campaigner for LBGT and disability rights. Irish Times, May 9th, 2020. https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/people/tarlach-macniallais-obituary-life-long-campaigner-for-lgbt-and-disability-rights-1.4247556
[12] [12] See Obituary Benny Adams, A fighter for socialism. https://againstthestream.blog/obituary-benny-adams-1949-2014/ “The DUP moved to impose fundamentalist ideas on everyone else, by, for example, closing the swimming pool and chaining up the park swings on Sundays. Benny and his comrades lead the opposition in this largely Protestant town, protesting against the Sunday closure policy outside council meetings, collecting over 6000 signatures on a petition, and challenging the DUP in two council by-elections in 1977 and 1978, when Eric Johnston stood as a Labour and Trade Union Co-Ordinating Group (LTUCG) candidate (gaining a credible 6% of the vote on the first occasion)”.
[13] Militant (Britain) Student Bulletin Issue Number 1, October 1988.
[14] Militant (Britain) Student Bulletin Issue Number 1, October 1988. From Selected Works Alexandra Kollontai, quoted by “A Newcastle Polytechnic Student”.
[15] Out, Proud and Militant. The fight for lesbian and gay rights and the fight for socialism. Marc Vallee, Helen Redwood and Mark Evenden. Militant (Britain), June 1992.
[16] Out, Proud and Militant: socialism and the fight for lesbian, gay and bisexual rights. Militant Labour Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual group (Britain), June 1994. ‘
[17] Charter for Equal Rights Militant Labour (Britain) Lesbian and Gay Bisexual Group, 1994.
[18] Youth Against Sectarianism Bulletin Number 3 January 1993.
[19] Militant (Ireland), May 1993.
[20] Youth Against Racism in Europe Ireland Charter, 1994.
[21] Youth Against Sectarianism Bulletin Number 3, January 1993.
[22] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Nationalist_Party
[23] White riot: the violent rise and fall of Combat 18. Nick Lowles. 2001, Milo; London: Turnaround.
[24] Combat-18 members were implicated in the killing of solicitor Rosemary Nelson in Portadown-she was killed when a bomb was placed under her car in 1999. The attack was claimed by the Red Had Defenders, a cover name for the Loyalist Volunteer Force. See The Guardian April 2nd, 2000: LVF link to neo-Nazis unearthed: “The names, addresses and telephone numbers of members of the neo-Nazi group Combat-18 have been passed to detectives investigating the murder of the Northern Ireland solicitor Rosemary Nelson” and The Guardian, A Death Foretold, May 19th, 2001: “Royal Irish Regiment (RIR) soldier, Ian Thompson…. played host to Combat 18 comrades when they arrived for the Drumcree siege….. In March this year, he appeared in a Belfast court charged with possessing weapons – he had an Uzi machine gun, explosives and a sawn-off shotgun. At the trial, Mr Justice McLaughlin was confronted by loyalist and neo-Nazi documents among Thompson’s possessions, including frightening references to Nelson. McLaughlin said there was “some material in these depositions that would make the blood run cold”.
[25] The Guardian, January 10th, 2003.
[26] The Socialist, July 2003.
[27] “Right-wing group targets Ballymoney”. Belfast Telegraph May 16th, 2003.
[28] “Racists’ campaign ‘must be stopped.’ Drive for recruits sparks concern”. Belfast Telegraph June 6th, 2003.
[29] Racist fears heighten as Nazi flags flown. The News Letter July 24th, 2003.
[30] Belfast Telegraph September 27th, 2003.
[31] Belfast Telegraph September 27th, 2003.
[32] The Socialist, July 2003.
[33] Belfast Telegraph September 27th, 2003.
[34] “Organise” originated in the Ballymena and Antrim Anarchist Groups, and was formed in 1985. In the early 1980s Marxists in Militant and the Ballymena Anarchist Group were active together in a large Young Socialist branch in the town. Organise has a proud history of defending gay and lesbian rights, and of defending the unity of working-class people against sectarian division (see website https://organiseanarchistsireland.com/).
[35] Indymedia Ireland: April 12th, 2004, Fascists Out! Campaign WNP/Combat 18 fascists driven out of Portrush,
[36] Indymedia Ireland: April 12th, 2004, Fascists Out! Campaign statement (and comments)-WNP/Combat 18 fascists driven out of Portrush.
[37] Fighting racism. Ciaran Mulholland & Peter Hadden Socialist Voice (Dublin), May 2004.
[38] This isn’t justice for our brother. Belfast Telegraph, December 15th, 2005. “The family of an Indian man who died when he hit his head after being felled by a single punch were today left distraught when his attacker was sentenced to 17 months in jail. The family of father-of-two Brij Sharma, who ran a newsagents in north Belfast, have attacked the justice system for not treating his death as a racist crime”.
[39] Courts failed Indian shopkeeper. BBC News. April 27th, 2009.http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/8020624.stm
[40] Northern Ireland: Opposition to ‘fascist’ rock gig growing. Indymedia UK.
