An influential activist group advised Britain’s incoming Labour government to deal with “hateful attitudes” in schools starting with anonymous reports from children, according to reports.
It remains unclear whether the proposal has made its way into policy, although pupils as young as four are now being excluded from school for ‘racism’ in record numbers.
The notion of using a network of children as political informants has sinister historical connotations, to which HOPE not hate (HNH) seems oblivious. Instead, it suggests that
Young progressives could also be encouraged to be “champions” of particular causes in their schools and more widely, being trained to understand and report signs of hatred in fellow pupils and support those who are affected.
Amid growing concerns about a UK-wide ‘free speech crisis,’ HNH is also lobbying for state regulatory bodies and tech companies to have access to individuals’ private messages, scouring them for evidence of racism.
On the landing page of its website, the group claims it is engaged n campaign and reasearch to “oppose far-right extremism,” and calls for people to join them to “stop Reform UK’s rise.”
Despite its bid for the moral high ground, HOPE not hate itself is far from squeaky clean. Among other embarrassments, it has been criticised for relying on police escorts to stage pro-migrant counterprotests, spreading rumours of ‘far-right’ activity in order to mobilise support, and being a “self-appointed anti-extremist NGO” which ignores the obvious hatred (of Jews) spewed out by Islamist groups in Britain.
