heaven above
August 12th, 2004, 12:25 PM
BNP issues threats to dozens of Companies in Oldham
THE British National Party is trying to blackmail dozens of local companies and is threatening local jobs in a bid to silence the Oldham Evening Chronicle.
In a letter to Oldham businesses, local party leader Mick Treacy says that if they do not do what he demands — stop advertising their businesses in the Chronicle — he will instruct his party’s supporters not to shop or trade with them.
The letter also calls on companies to state, by August 28, that they disagree with comments in the Chronicle about the BNP.
And it threatens: “If any business agrees with the Oldham Chronicle we will refrain from having any dealings with that company and any offshoot.
“The BNP will launch a massive leafleting campaign informing supporters of the details of the companies that consider Williams’s (the Chronicle Editor’s) anti-democratic comments and his policy of printing lies about the British National Party to be acceptable.”
The threat also applies to firms that refuse to respond to the BNP letter and to companies that say that they do not get involved in local politics. All are threatened with a boycott.
But Mr Treacy, when challenged by the Chronicle, refused to say that he signed the letter which bears a dubious squiggle over his printed name.
Only a handful of the 200 letters the BNP claims to have sent out have surfaced so far. Some have been passed on to the police by Chronicle customers.
Chronicle editor Jim Williams, named several times in the letter, which refers to the Chronicle as the “Chronicliar”, said that Mr Treacy’s blackmail and intimidation typified the BNP’s approach to freedom of speech and the freedom to hold a view different to its own views.
“We have never told people how to vote,” said Mr Williams. “What we have done is explain to people why they should not vote for the BNP, but have left it up them to vote how they choose.
“At the same time we have covered the BNP in news columns and printed letters from its supporters and from Mr Treacy.
“Not every newspaper gives the BNP the publicity it gets in the Chronicle.
“If Mr Treacy had any complaints about our coverage of the BNP he could have complained to the Press Complaints Commission, but he hasn’t.
“If he feels that he has been defamed by the Chronicle he could take us to court, but he hasn’t.
“In the 150 years that the Chronicle has been serving the people and advertisers of Oldham, no political party has ever attempted to blackmail its customers in that way, nor has any party tried to stifle free speech by threatening the newspaper’s advertisers.
“We are appalled that the BNP has chosen to hold our customers to ransom, but we should not be surprised.
“The BNP leadership has often shown contempt for freedoms which most of us regard as precious.”
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THE British National Party is trying to blackmail dozens of local companies and is threatening local jobs in a bid to silence the Oldham Evening Chronicle.
In a letter to Oldham businesses, local party leader Mick Treacy says that if they do not do what he demands — stop advertising their businesses in the Chronicle — he will instruct his party’s supporters not to shop or trade with them.
The letter also calls on companies to state, by August 28, that they disagree with comments in the Chronicle about the BNP.
And it threatens: “If any business agrees with the Oldham Chronicle we will refrain from having any dealings with that company and any offshoot.
“The BNP will launch a massive leafleting campaign informing supporters of the details of the companies that consider Williams’s (the Chronicle Editor’s) anti-democratic comments and his policy of printing lies about the British National Party to be acceptable.”
The threat also applies to firms that refuse to respond to the BNP letter and to companies that say that they do not get involved in local politics. All are threatened with a boycott.
But Mr Treacy, when challenged by the Chronicle, refused to say that he signed the letter which bears a dubious squiggle over his printed name.
Only a handful of the 200 letters the BNP claims to have sent out have surfaced so far. Some have been passed on to the police by Chronicle customers.
Chronicle editor Jim Williams, named several times in the letter, which refers to the Chronicle as the “Chronicliar”, said that Mr Treacy’s blackmail and intimidation typified the BNP’s approach to freedom of speech and the freedom to hold a view different to its own views.
“We have never told people how to vote,” said Mr Williams. “What we have done is explain to people why they should not vote for the BNP, but have left it up them to vote how they choose.
“At the same time we have covered the BNP in news columns and printed letters from its supporters and from Mr Treacy.
“Not every newspaper gives the BNP the publicity it gets in the Chronicle.
“If Mr Treacy had any complaints about our coverage of the BNP he could have complained to the Press Complaints Commission, but he hasn’t.
“If he feels that he has been defamed by the Chronicle he could take us to court, but he hasn’t.
“In the 150 years that the Chronicle has been serving the people and advertisers of Oldham, no political party has ever attempted to blackmail its customers in that way, nor has any party tried to stifle free speech by threatening the newspaper’s advertisers.
“We are appalled that the BNP has chosen to hold our customers to ransom, but we should not be surprised.
“The BNP leadership has often shown contempt for freedoms which most of us regard as precious.”
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