A couple of weeks ago, several hit-and-run one-post smear blogs were created to – once again – spread the idea that I’m a far-leftist who collaborates with Islamic extremists while hating religion.
The author of these blogs wants to give the impression that he is associated with a neo-Pentecostal church in Nigeria; I have criticised this church for spreading the idea that children can be witches, and as a result the church has created a website attacking me (along with some other people) in crude and abusive terms – this includes the claim that I am a rapist . The new author has also created a Twitter feed linking both to the church’s website and to the new attack blogs, and he has generated a fake Facebook profile with a Nigerian name, which he has used to advertise the Twitter feed on the church’s Facebook page.
However, it is no great surprise that the new blogs in fact consist exclusively of accusations which have been made by the cyber-bully Charlie Flowers on his “NiceOnesUK” Facebook group (see here), including the bizarre claim (which Flowers made back in February) that I am in correspondence with Dominic Wightman. There are also side-swipes at some of Flowers’ other pet hates: these are a Facebook page called “Exposing Racism” (where I occasionally leave comments) and the blogger Tim Ireland. It is highly unlikely that someone associated with the Nigerian church would have seen the NiceOnesUK Facebook page, or that had they done so they would have picked out the points raised on the new attack sites.
On the other hand, Flowers has in the past set up anonymous blogs attacking me, including one which pasted material from the Nigerian church’s website. One of his cronies (someone else hiding behind a fake name) has also linked to the church’s website on the NOUK page, adding a “LOL” by way of commentary.
I raised the issue on the Exposing Racism page on Saturday, which I know Flowers monitors – sure enough, goading references were made to my post the next day on the new Twitter feed, and one of Flowers’ thuggish associates followed up with a typically abusive threat:
Without labouring the issue, this is of course further evidence that Flowers’ supposed anti-extremist activism is a sham: he and his NOUK cronies promote and hide behind the most distasteful smears spread by religious extremists, and this is all because I dared to stand up and be counted when he was harassing Tim Ireland with threats of violence and the release of his home address to hostile parties.
NOTE: Incidentally, if anyone is troubled by the accusations, I dealt with my supposed support of Islamic extremism on behalf of the far-left here back in November. As for my association with Tim Ireland, I’ve written numerous blog posts on the subject, so there’s nothing to explain.
It’s also certainly the case that I’ve written to people associated with Flowers’ “Cheerleaders” and NOUK vigilantes – when Flowers was harassing Tim Ireland, he implicated various associates by using their names or pictures. I wrote to some of these people for clarification, and in some cases I received replies telling me that they didn’t know anything about it. I know that at least one person severed their connection with Flowers as a result, and it may have played a role in members leaving his “Fighting Cocks” music band. Obviously he’s sore about that, and it has to be someone else’s fault.
UPDATE: Flowers has responded to the above by using the Twitter feed he’s hiding behind to spam various people who read my Twitter page. He’s also included an abusive attack on Sunny Hundal, a journalist who humiliated him a few months ago by asking him some difficult questions at a public event (Flowers made his excuses, and then characteristically followed up with a threatening email). Apparently he’s under the impression that his actions will “expose” me in some way, and that this self-debasing way of conducting himself is some sort of political activism.
UPDATE 2 (27 March): Late last night saw several new posts on the Twitter feed; Flowers gives the impression of being the worse for wear from alcohol while typing, and this is a past Saturday-night pattern with him on the NOUK Facebook page.
The new posts include further crudely abusive comments about Tim Ireland and Sunny Hundal, and he’s spammed some more people, including @guidofawkes (Paul Staines) – this is someone I’d don’t follow on Twitter, although Tim and I have both written critically about him. A while ago, Flowers also spammed the Twitter feed of Bedfordshire on Sunday, a newspaper which Tim and I have criticised for its softball coverage of Nadine Dorries MP.
Again, it makes no sense that any of this would be connected to a Nigerian Pentecostal. However, as I’ve blogged previously, Flowers has retrospectively justified his online harassment of Tim Ireland by claiming that Tim deserved it because of his disputes with Staines and Dorries (in fact, Flowers was manipulated into doing it by someone else, but won’t admit it – this is perhaps because he persuaded some of his friends to join in).
UPDATE 3 (30 March): More of the same with yet another attack blog. This time, though, he’s deleted references to Wightman, Expose, and to my supposed “attitude” to religion – all signatures that point to Flowers. Cunning.
UPDATE 4 (5 April): Flowers is still at it – he’s now up to eight blogs, all containing the same abusive material, but with minor variations. He now also claims that I’ve been “reported to the Metropolitan Police”, which fits a pattern of projection – Flowers was himself arrested, for reasons that remain unknown, in December (in the same way, Flowers accuses me of being a “bully” and a “stalker”).
UPDATE 5 (8 April): Flowers now making direct threats of violence
“ob” refers to “Old Bill”; Flowers is currently boasting that he is helping the police with identifying the Islamist extremists behind the anti-gay stickers in East London, and that various persons who suspected an EDL “false flag” operation have been exposed as dishonest; he includes me in that category, despite the fact I treated sceptically the suggestion of EDL involvement.
As ever, his allegations are lies, either the fruit of self-delusion or a blustering strategy to justify his way of carrying on to his giggling cronies: I haven’t harassed anyone (and neither has Tim), although I have asked various associates of Flowers implicated in his activities to explain themselves. In more than one case, it transpired that Flowers had used an associate’s name or picture without their permission.
UPDATE 6 (9 April): Tinfoil hat time:
Here we see the bad faith self-righteousness of the vigilante. Flowers is on a crusade against Islamic extremists, so by definition anyone who criticises him when he messes up by going after the wrong target (as he did with Tim Ireland) or acts irresponsibly (publicising where people live to intimidate) must be part of a political conspiracy against him. Such fantasies doubtless make up for some personal inadequacies; while Flowers wants this to be about politics, it’s actually a sorry tale of psychological dysfunction.
UPDATE 7 (26 June) : Flowers has advertised the attack blogs through his “Blackeyedgirls” Twitter feed, in the same manner as the fake Nigerian Pentecostal. That removes any lingering doubts as to his authorship. He removed them a few hours later, which suggests to me that he had mixed up his various accounts and decided to delete evidence of his mistake the morning after.
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[…] Bartholomew, an excellent blogger who chronicles religious extremism, has been smeared by his enemies after his extensive exposing of vicious attacks on child ‘witches’ in Nigeria by […]
Mr Bartholomew, various people on NOUK may have a personal problem with you, but NOUK do not. Neither Charlie Flowers or Shooter Hadchiti are administrators or policy directors for NOUK.
Kindly refrain from including us in your blog when taking personal attacks. Our page is open so please feel free to refute these claims on the wall.
NOUK
Google cache, you dumb bigot.
Sorry, I do not understand this post..
So it’s OK for you to have a laugh with Flowers on the NOUK page that I’m a “wanker”, or to join all my Facebook “Likes” for no good reason, but it’s not fair if any of that reflects back on you.
I’ve explained to you what Flowers is like and why I’m not the person Flowers wants you to think I am. Your response has been first to say that I’ve been making it up, and then to say it’s doesn’t matter and I must be obsessed. Why would I want to go on the NOUK page to get more of the same?
The sad thing is that I support the aims of BMSD and indeed much of what NOUK purports to stand for – but in NOUK’s case it’s a sham, because of Flowers and his cronies.
And one more thing: back in November I received a taunt from Flowers that “Feds are after all your friends” – see here. Isn’t it odd that one of the Islamic extremists you’ve been arguing with also uses the word “feds” ?
As I say Mr Bartholomew, neither Mr Flowers or any of his ‘cronies’ are Admin on the Newly Restructured NOUK. You may harp to the past, and indeed at times with good reason, but that may not apply to today or tomorrow. All we ask is for you to watch and react accordingly.
I would also suggest that you look at the excellent work of AoBM.
Regards
NOUK
You may harp to the past…
By “the past” you mean a threat posted two days ago.
If you want NOUK to be something worthwhile rather than a liability to anti-extremist activism, you need to deal with what Flowers has done – not simply ask him to post under an alternative name.
“you need to deal with what Flowers has done”
May I ask what he has done? The post you mentioned in your opening article was removed. We did put up a post asking that people ‘remain on target’, what else should we do?
Our wall is as open to the ELM as it is you or Mr. Flowers. We only ban people for being ‘boring’ and Mr Flowers has never been that. Your personal spats are nothing to do with us, if you must make such accusations then make them about Groups he has Admin status on, not Ours. The claims will only come back and bite your bum.
NOUK
[…] By “my boss”, Flowers is making a goading Tim Ireland, a blogger whom Flowers had attempted to intimidate into silence. When Flowers realised he’d been manipulated into doing this by someone else (and – worse – had got his friends to join in under a false premise), Flowers retroactively turned to the stalker smear to explain himself. I’ve been critical of Flowers ever since, and he’d rather believe that it’s because I’m either working for someone or because I’m a secret communist, rather than because I’m not prepared to look the other way. Flowers has been generally abusive my direction ever since, both in his own name and while cowering behind fake identities (most recently here). […]
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Whats wrong with being on the far left anyway?
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