UAF and Unite protesters debated calling UKIP candidates 'coconuts' and 'oreos'.

One of our contributors last night joined the demonstration held by UAF, Hope not Hate, Unite and

HnH/UAF protesters didn't seem to realise that the terms
'oreo' and 'coconut' are racist as they debated whether to
chant them at UKIP candidates.

the SWP outside the Emmanual Centre in Central London.

Wearing a concealed camera, they captured many of the discussions which took place within the rag-tag army of unwashed, unemployed and professionally outraged demonstrators.

Twice during the course of the demonstration, protesters debated whether to call UKIP members from the BME community - that's Black and Minority Ethnic for those who prefer English to buzz words - 'coconuts' and 'oreos', ie to suggest that they were black on the outside and white on the inside.

One of these discussions took place within earshot of a pair of BBC comedians from the television show 'The Revolution will be Televised', who spent some time chatting with the demonstrators. It will be interesting to see whether that makes the show.

Unfortunately, we can not use the video our informant shot - other demonstrators were also filming, and it would be a relatively easy matter to work out who our informant was by comparing the two videos. Understandably, our informant is rather concerned that their safety would be put at risk, given the documented willingness of particularly the SWP to resort to violence.

We have however seen the relevant video. A number of people were involved in the discussion, including a young lad of about 18 wearing a green combat jacket and a woman with strawberry blonde hair carrying a 'Unite' banner. Both thought that using such terms would 'highlight UKIP's racism', and said this apparently unaware of the irony of using racist language to do so. The general consensus was that they were right, but then a woman identifying herself as an organiser stated that while she agreed that's what they were, there 'were TV cameras present' and such phrases should not be used 'on this demo'. Our informant believed that she was from the SWP.

Both of the terms - coconut and oreo - are considered racist. 4 years ago, a Liberal Democrat councillor in Bristol - Shirley Brown - was convicted of racial harassment for calling Tory councillor Jay Jethwa - whose family came from India - a coconut. Cllr Brown - who is black - was given a 12 month conditional discharge and ordered to pay costs of £620.

It comes as no surprise to us to find racism within these supposedly anti-racist organisations. UKIP spokesmen Stephen Woolf and Amjad Bashir were both quoted in today's Daily Express as saying they had been called 'Uncle Toms' in the past by members of the anti-fascism industry.

If any UKIP members have photographs of yesterday evening's demonstration, we would ask them to PM them to our Facebook page - we can use them to shame the 'anti-racist' demonstrators who were willing to hurl racist abuse at Black and Asian UKIP candidates.

A final note of interest. Several of the SWP activists present were actively involved with Hope not Hate, rather giving the lie to Nick Lowles assertions that they are not linked.