British Far Right Assisting Extremism in Ireland

British Far Right leaders Jim Dowson and Nick Griffin talking about organsing during the coming economic crash

Over the course of the pandemic we have observed some other developments which are of a different, but perhaps a more worrying concern, than conspiracy theories. A Donegal based far right activist, Niall McConnell, has been cementing links with international far right organisers. It seems that material support has been offered in terms of building up infrastructure required for building another far right political organisation, named Síol na hÉireann.

In a video broadcast on April 5th, McConnell was joined by two British far right organisers Jim Dowson and Nick Griffin.



Jim Dowson is a white supremacist of the Christian far right who argues for a white only nationalism and sees it as the work of God. A life long loyalist from Scotland now living in County Down, Dowson was responsible for bringing the British National Party significant electoral success in the UK, and raising four million pounds for the organisation. Nick Griffin is a former BNP leader and MEP. Dowson also founded the far extremists anti-Muslim organisation Britain First.

Dowson pictured in 2016 with paramilitary group Shipka Bulgarian National Movement, set up to hunt down people seeking asylum. Dowson was providing them with military equipment

Both are heavily involved in the radicalisation of ultra-nationalist Christian movements across eastern Europe, providing training in marketing, fundraising and online growth, as well as providing shipments of military equipment to armed groups in Serbia and Hungary. This was carried out through Knights Templar International (KTI), an organisation formed by Dowson, with Griffin at his side. They are quite open about their preparations for an imminent war between Islam and Christianity by building an international network of ultra nationalist groups — who will become militias when a war starts.

Dowson (right) with a Serbian volunteer during a BNO Shipka “patrol” in Bulgaria targeting people seeking asylum

Dowson, a fanatical anti-abortion campaigner, explained his plans and vision in an interview with James Kelso for the right-wing radio programme ‘The Trump Phenomenon’ in January 2018. Prior to that Dowson had travelled to the Turkey-Bulgaria border in 2016 to join armed paramilitary group Shipka Bulgarian National Movement (BNO Shipka) to hunt down people seeking asylum. You can find more on his links here and here

Screenshot from footage filmed by Dowson with paramilitary BNO Shipka he was equipping

Dowson and Griffin were also significant, if hidden, figures in the 2016 election campaign of Donald Trump in the United States. Dowson ran a sophisticated propaganda and misinformation project called The Patriot News Agency, from July 2016 from Belgrade in Hungary involving a constellation of fake websites and Facebook groups pretending to real US based pages and groups. The modus operado was pushing out fake news and misinformation about Trump’s competitor Hillary Clinton.



There is reason to believe that Dowson, who has appeared several times in video streams with Irish far right actors, has already assisted Niall McConnell with support with his online presence and fundraising. Over the course of last year over €15,000 in attempted fundraising got pulled through the actions of grassroots anti racists and anti-fascists contacting platforms like GoFundMe. This was a significant impediment to McConnell’s ability to organise.



However in the months preceding the last general election, McConnell launched a new online platform to promote ultra nationalist. and raised €20,000 for his unsuccessful election campaign. The online platform used by McConnell is the same Dowson has used on multiple sites as part of fundraising and building out online reach via email marketing, and it would appear this is a result of direct support from Dowson and the British far right.



During the livestream of the discussion on19 Dowson stated that he thinks the COVID19 pandemic is overplayed, but that it also provides an opportunity for organising extremism.



“Its all rubbish nonsense, this is rubbish. I don't know if its an economic reset or if its to get rid of China, or trade. I don't know what its about, but I know one thing for sure. This corona thing is like a nasty flu. Its no more than that and the figures are telling us that now. Go and look at the figures. But the good news for you Mr McConnell and for you Mr Griffin, because I know my marketing and I know my psychology, the right wing soars in times of great economic depression. So if you keep to a right wing path, you two guys are going to do very well”



Nick Griffin sets out that he think the pandemic is started deliberately while proceeding to outline how the coming recession will be key to the future growth of far right nationalism



“The two great things about the financial crisis we are about to see is it will hit the middle classes. And if there is a target, it is the middle classes, that’s who you want. Because they are going to be squished by accident or design those people are going to lose their shirts. So you are going to have middle class people with nothing to lose and they are the people who tend to be the organisers, the really efficient ones, the ones with business experience, the ones who can get up and hold an audience, the ones with all sorts of skills. So that's really good.”





Over the past few months, McConnell, himself a Christian fundementalist has launched Síol na hÉireann. At this stage it is unclear if this is anything other than a name but for reference has over 10,000 YouTube subscribers and just over 453,000 video views. However we do know that with Jim Dowson’s assistance, McConnell has been involved in building up a significant database of email contacts and with the help of Dowson marketing, is outstripping another far right political organisation, the National Party, in terms of fundraising capacity. This has lead to significant infighting in Irish far right networks, with the Irish Freedom Party and the National Party accusing McConnell of lining his own pockets.



Whatever the squabbles between the far right, it should be a significant concern to many communities that the likes of Jim Dowson and Nick Griffin are involved in providing advice, and material support around the development of far right networks, be they street movements or political organisations. These men have set out a world view which sees militant, and when needed, military conflict as part of their strategies of building white only Christian fundamentalist states. Their involvement with armed organisations elsewhere in Europe should serve as a wake up call that far right movements are movements of violence and organised hate.