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Anne Marie Waters
—Anne Marie Waters |
Anne Marie Waters (1977–) is a far-right[2][3][4] Islamophobic[5] activist who has orchestrated such failed ventures as Sharia Watch UK, Pegida UK, and the For Britain Movement, and, during an equally failed bid to be leader of the UK Independence Party, was described by Nigel Farage as a racist.[6]
It's just a jump to the left. And then a step to the right.[edit]
Waters was born in Dublin, but later became a British citizen. Before her time in UKIP, she was a member of the Labour Party, standing as a councillor in 2010 and attempting to become a candidate for Parliament.[7]
Waters stood as an anti-Islam candidate in the 2017 UK Independence Party leadership election promising to change UKIP into a party like the Party For Freedom in the Netherlands and campaign against Muslim immigration and ban the Burqa; she came in second, with 21.3% of the vote share.
After failing to win the leadership, she set up her own party, the For Britain Movement, taking with her a small, but sizable, amount of Islamophobic UKIP members.
For Britain Movement[edit]
The For Britain Movement was a minor Eurosceptic, far-right, Islamophobic political party[8] founded by Anne Marie Waters as a UKIP splinter following her failure in the 2017 party leadership election Considering Islam incompatible with "British culture," For Britain's stated policies included banning the burqa, reducing Muslim immigration into the UK to near zero, and implementing a public awareness campaign to inform the British public "of the true teachings and practice of the Islamic religion." Aside from this its main political interest seems to be fervent support of the most extreme possible version of Brexit.[9]
For Britain claimed to be campaigning for the votes of the working-class, and said it would rely on individual donations rather than UKIP's rich benefactors.[9] However, despite receiving a boost in white nationalists and neo-Nazi members from the dissolution of Liberty GB and the perpetual decline of the BNP, as well as celebrity support from the likes of EDL thug Tommy Robinson, formerly of the English Defence League,[10] conspiracy theorist and internet troll Michael Coombs,[11] and singer-turned-crank Morrissey,[12] For Britain failed to achieve any significant electoral success beyond the district council level.
The party was mercifully deregistered on Remembrance Day, 2022, as Waters rejoined the increasingly radicalised UKIP with the intention of running once again for its leadership.
Fascist? Far-right?[edit]
Waters is a lesbian and is pro-LGBT; she is sympathetic to feminism and generally holds liberal political views, with the exception of Islam. In this sense, she is similar to Geert Wilders. Waters says that her being described as "fascist" or "far-right" is a smear. However, these are accurate descriptions in regard to her extremely intolerant and bigoted views about Islam that are not compatible with liberal democracy.
She has attempted to contrast Islam with Roman Catholicism, saying "We didn't import Catholicism from abroad", which is obviously untrue.[7] She claims that while the Christian Bible says many deeply unpleasant things, that doesn't matter because Christians can choose to ignore bits they don't like.[7] So not much difference between Islam and Catholicism then.
Waters has also supported the alt-right troll It's Okay To Be White poster campaign, and spread white genocide conspiracy theories.
See also[edit]
External link[edit]
References[edit]
- ↑ Twitter. 29 May 2017.
- ↑ Former UKIP leadership candidate to launch new far-right party
- ↑ Morrissey praised by far-right party leader for 'support' after wearing badge at New York gig
- ↑ Ukip reject Anne Marie Waters founds own far-right party
- ↑ ‘FOR BRITAIN’, AGAINST ISLAM
- ↑ Racists nearly killed Ukip this week, but we live to fight our most important battle.
- ↑ Jump up to: 7.0 7.1 7.2 ‘We didn’t import Catholicism from abroad’: We meet Anne-Marie Waters, leader of For Britain, MK Citizen, 14 March 2018
- ↑ The For Britain Movement The Electoral Comission
- ↑ Jump up to: 9.0 9.1 For Britain: The new political party launched by Ukip 'islamophobe' Anne-Marie Waters, Talk Radio (UK), Oct 12, 2017
- ↑ Ukip reject Anne Marie Waters founds own far-right party, The Times, 10 October 2017
- ↑ Michael Coombs has retweeted his support for Waters and For Britain.
- ↑ Morrissey denounces halal meat as 'evil', and attacks May, Khan, Abbott and more, The Guardian, 17 April 2018