Hope Still Stands
BSD London started working with the HOPE not Hate campaign in mid-January, with the goal of stopping the fascist British National Party (BNP) from winning a breakthrough in the European elections - and building an organic grassroots campaign.
Hope not Hate was faced with the perfect political storm - a public disillusioned with politics, an economy in turmoil and a naturally low turnout in European elections. The BNP could win a seat with just 8% of the vote.
Everything was against us - and everything was supporting the BNP.
Hope not Hate fought back with the most sophisticated New Media campaign in British politics. Starting with a small email list of just 6,000, BSD tools and strategy increased Hope not Hate's active constituent base by 700% in just four and a half months. The campaign's online fundraising increased by 1000% and we mobilised more activists than all of Britain's major political parties combined.
By opening up the organisation Blue State Digital and Hope not Hate bought thousands of new people into the campaign. Through email and on the website, Hope Not Hate shared campaign briefings, poll results and even made videos starring, and about, the rapidly increasing HOPE not Hate movement.
My favourite moment of the campaign came after we launched the events tool. Before BSD's involvement turnout at HOPE not Hate campaign events was often as low as 5-6 activists per event. After a series of personalised and localised emails promoting the events we hoped we could increase this turnout to 20.
67 people attended the first event. Most had no history of political activism. All had heard about the event through our email campaign.
This story was repeated across the country - thousands of people turning up at hundreds and hundreds of events. And at the end of the day this is what BSD is about - mobilising and organising people to take real world, vote winning action.
Supporters were given engaging, action oriented content.
And they gave real, tangible results.
We built local networks throughout the country and - through BSD's grassroot events tool - organised events and campaigns in the areas where HOPE not Hate had never organised before.
As well as turning out record numbers of activists Hope not Hate also used our online networks to cause carnage within the BNP's internal ranks. By organising and directing public pressure BNP rallies, fundraisers and campaign events were stopped. In one week alone Hope not Hate activists landed over 7,000 complaints to Clear Channel - a billboard company actively profiting from spreading the BNP's message of hate.
When BSD teamed up with Hope not Hate, the general consensus was that under the present political climate the BNP would win 5,6 or 7 seats in the European Parliament. When the MP expenses scandal exploded, the BNP began briefing that they expected to win 12 seats.
Ultimately the BNP won two seats - a terrible result for Britain.
But in both of these seats the BNP's vote actually dropped - hope had beaten hate. The BNP won seats because the major political parties failed to turnout their vote.
On election night Hope not Hate had a range of campaigns prepped and ready to deploy as soon as the results were announced - no matter what they were. 15 minutes after the first BNP win was declared the campaign launched a "Not in my name" petition. 72 hours later well over 50,000 people have signed up.
And you can add your name here: http://action.hopenothate.org.uk/notinmyname
While the result was disappointing - Hope not Hate stopped a BNP breakthrough.
This campaign proved that this form of campaigning is as effective in the UK as it is in the US. By opening up an organisation, by treating supporters with genuine respect and giving them a stake in the campaign, any membership or supporter based organisation can make real and tangible gains; whether they be a book club, a political campaign or an NGO.
Hope not Hate didn't rely on gimmicks. They didn't rely on Facebook or Twitter. They used email and BSD tools as their sole method of mobilsation and tapped into the genuine contempt the British people hold towards the BNP.
Now the fight against fascism continues - Hope not Hate and Blue State Digital will take on the BNP wherever they turn.
And now Hope not Hate has about 90,000 friends to back them up.