Katie Hopkins was banned from South Africa “for spreading racial hatred”. She meets with far-right organisations, dehumanises people, and calls for violence. She is due to speak / perform a “comedy show” at The Old Convent on Beeches Green in Stroud on Thursday 7th September.
We are organising an open letter calling on the organisers and venue to withdraw the invitation/hosting. Sign at: tinyurl.com/NoHateyHopkins (or below).
We are also hosting an event featuring representatives from different groups that are making Stroud inclusive and challenging racism and discrimination, while opposing division and hate by protesting the appearance of Katie Hopkins (if it goes ahead). The doors are due to open at 6.30pm and Hopkins is due on stage at 8pm. We invite people to meet us opposite the bus station on Merrywalks at 6pm and leaflet people as they arrive inviting them to change their mind about attending, and from 8pm in making as much noise as possible outside the venue. We will have a microphone and speaker for people from community groups that work to make our town inclusive and welcoming present to speak. If the Katie Hopkins event doesn’t go ahead, we’ll still meet up to discuss these issues.
Why are we opposing this event:
Katie Hopkins is known for rants made up of extreme anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim statements that cost her jobs with mainstream right-wing media outlets. Infamous examples involved comparing to migrants to cockroaches and calling for a “final solution” for Muslims. Hopkins left MailOnline ‘by mutual consent’ in 2017 after giving a speech attacking Muslims to far right groups. She was reported to have told her audience they should ‘arm themselves’ and ‘fight for their country’, against “institutionalised discrimination against whites”.
It seems she’s been invited to speak in Stroud following a sychophantic interview with her in “The Light” – the dodgy paper handed out on Stroud High St and elsewhere around the district. In it, she was presented as a member of the “truth movement” and celebrated for attacking “leftist wokedom”. No mention was made of her history of bigoted comments. She refers to being ‘banned from South Africa’ as a badge of honour, but doesn’t mention that this was “for spreading racial hatred”.
Though infamous as a television personality and controversy-seeking social media troll, Katie Hopkins recently descended into the far-right gutter. After being dropped by mainstream right wing media publications like The Sun and Mail Online, Hopkins spent 10 months at the Canadian far-right media outlet Rebel Media, and also attended the conferences of the islamophobic For Britain party alongside Ingrid Carlqvist – who has engaged in Holocaust denial – and the ‘Traditional Britain Group’ (TBG). The TBG is a meeting point across wider far right movements, run by former Tory fringe figure Gregory Lauder-Frost, who has called for the “assisted voluntary repatriation” of those “not of European stock” from the UK to their “natural” homeland. In January 2019, she publicised a conference in Finland which featured an international roster of antisemites, white nationalists and fascists.
What about free speech?
We’re using our free speech to challenge the hateful things Katie Hopkins says. Her freedom to say them isn’t what’s at stake. What we’re raising as a question is whether she should be saying these things, given their impact on people. We’re also asking why the organisers would want to invite her, and why the venue would want to host her, given her record.
Who are we?
Community Solidarity Stroud District (CSSD) was started in January 2022. We are a group of local residents seeking to build community-led solidarity in the Stroud district to oppose the hatred of minorities and oppressed people arising from false and harmful information.
We have focused our efforts on the distribution of “The Light” paper in Stroud. We are alarmed by The Light’s support for antisemitism, Holocaust denial and racist hate speech – as well as for denial of climate change, promotion of homophobia and transphobia, and patriarchal values. We’ve also opposed previous talks organised by “Stroud Info Hub” featuring antisemitic speakers. You can read more about why at: communitysolidaritystrouddistrict.org
We’ve also opposed previous talks organised by the “Stroud Freedom Group”. In October 2022, we wrote an open letter asking organisers to withdraw their invitation to James Delingpole – a man with a long history not only of denying the science around climate change, but of repeatedly inciting violence against climate scientists and activists. Like Katie Hopkins, Delingpole has recently embraced increasingly extreme conspiracy theories and their politically extreme proponents, including white nationalists.
Before that we’d challenged meetings featuring Jason Liosatos, Mark Devlin, and Sandi Adams, who have each promoted antisemitism – with the latter two also promoting Holocaust denial.
The organisers of these events appear to be becoming bolder in who they will invite to speak locally. We are saying “enough is enough!”
Over 300 people have signed our statement requesting that people stop distributing The Light in Stroud district. This isn’t a petition to an authority asking them to ban distribution of the paper, but a statement of our community coming together to express its opposition clearly. You can sign at: tinyurl.com/TheLightStatement
Don’t let the far-right divide us!
Racism isn’t funny.
Community Solidarity Stroud District 