After over a year of observing these three ladies proclaim loudly all over the internet that they intend to sue numerous socialists and antifascists for libel (mainly -in my opinion of course- for standing up to the abuse they and their pals have doled out – documented here) it is perhaps a good time to look at what libel actually is and what defences there are to it.
The Oxford English Dictionary advises that the definition of libel is “a published false statement that is damaging to a person’s reputation; a written defamation.“
Not everything that is written about a person is libellous. It is possible to write something extremely unpleasant and savage without breaking any libel laws.
The primary defences to an accusation of libel are:
- truth.
- the allegedly defamatory statement was merely a statement of (honest) opinion.
- consent to the publication of the allegedly defamatory statement.
- retraction of the allegedly defamatory statement.
So, put simply, if I call Gary Glitter a child molesting paedophile I am breaking no libel laws as the law has asserted this is a truth. If I say in my opinion Tommy Robinson is a racist I am breaking no libel laws as that is merely my opinion (with plenty of supporting evidence to suggest my opinion is reasonable). If I ring up a celebrity and say I am publishing an article on their recent plastic surgery and they give me permission to do so then no case of libel can be brought as a result.
Not being a lawyer I am not qualified to state which of the following screenshots would be agreed by a court of law to have broken libel laws. Nor can I tell you which of the many people defamed are planning to take legal action and which are not. What I can do, however, is invite our readers to read the collection of screenshots below and decide for themselves what they believe to be a) True, B) Honest opinion, C) Published with consent or D) Libel.
I can also tell you (once again in my own opinion) that this trio of women who (as evidenced below) call people racists, nonces, ableists and supporters of racists have a bloody nerve to accuse anybody else of libel and abuse!
Tanya Byfield:
Highlights below include:
Calling Resisting Hate racists
Calling well known left wing socialist blogger Rachael Swindon a racist
Calling an account on Twitter a “Misogynist racist prick”
Lying about RCT running a “troll farm”
Accusing respected anti fascist Louise Raw of being “a danger to black people”
Falsely stating that long standing antifascist Saboteur Aesop was in the EDL
Falsely stating that all Socialists are racist enablers
Calling antifascist Nigel Davies transphobic
Jasinya Powell
Highlights below include:
Accusing respected Socialist known as “Wolfie” of sharing racist propaganda
Telling a Twitter handle to change their name to include “nonce”
Telling a Twitter account not to get aroused by a picture of a baby
Falsely accusing RCT and Rachael Swindon of running ‘socks’ of black people
Calling Wolfie a ‘klansman’
Telling a Twitter account “Sex with 14 year olds is not nice Nigel”
Calling respected political activist Catherine a ‘thief’ and a ‘coon’
Calling Twitter account Mimz a ‘fraud’
Calling a Twitter account a ‘lying little nonce’
Judy Gatiss
Highlights below include:
Calling RCT racist and transphobic
Falsely accusing RCT of ‘covering for sexual predators’
Falsely stating there are no black people in Resisting Hate
Falsely stating Rachael Swindon is associated with the far right
Falsely stating Rachael Swindon promotes racists
Falsely accusing author Natalie Rowe of “attacking a black child for applause from racists”
Falsely accusing well known pro Palestian activist Sue of being a “racist hiding behind Palestine”
Falsely accusing Rachael Swindon of being an ableist
(Rather bizarrely accusing all Alsation dogs of being racist)
Falsely accusing well known Socialist account Prole Star of “protecting the backs of racists”
Falsely accusing online publication Byline Times of being “racist enablers”
Falsely accusing lawyer Mohammed Akunjee of “using his privilege to call black victims of racism members of the far right with an agends”
Excerpts from the blog of Judy Gatiss:
“Much a Jude about Nothing”
Highlights below include:
Falsely accusing RCT of running the Twitter account “BegsAli”
Calling Twitter account Miss Brown as “sick and twisted as a chlamydia coated tampon string”
Stating that author Natalie Rowe looks like “Clayton Bigbsy at a Klan meeting taunting me with bananas”
Calling antifascist Saboteur Aesop a “degenerate, unflushable piece of racist turd”
Falsely accusing activist Sarah Wiles of a “long career harassing people”
Referring to people who admire Rachael Swindon as a “bigoted piece of shit”
Falsely accusing antifascist Louise Raw of “inciting hatred”
Referred to journalist Tim Fenton as a “strange putty like creature” and accused him of writing a “fabricated blog”
Friends of the “Gatiss Three”
Highlights below include:
Calling London based lawyer Mohammed Akunjee a “vile pos”
Falsely stating RCT has links with ‘Gnasherjew’
Speculating Mohammed Akunjee is laundering money via his legal practice
Falsely accusing Rachael Swindon of “goading black people with bananas”
Fasley accusing left wing publication Critical Mass of being “allied with racists”
Falsely accusig people associated with Resisting Hate or Rachael Swindon of being racists
Falsely stating a Twitter account is a “disgusting old racist nonce”
Falsely stating that Twitter accounts Nigel and Seth’s days are not complete without “attacking a black woman”
Referring to political activist Catherine Higgins as a “house negro” and a “sell out”
Referring to Black lady and political activist Catherine as “KKKKathy”
We ran a poll to find out if people consider the posts displayed here to be libellous or not. 996 people voted in total and 70% of the voters believe the posts here to be libellous. Thank you to all who voted.
Roanna Carleton Taylor is one of the founder members of Resisting Hate. She is the author of many of our articles, and also writes occasionally for other media publications including Huff Post, Byline Times and Immigration News. Roanna loves German Shepherd Dogs and Oil Painting.
Me again. Nothing to do on a bank holiday but wank and harass women and I’m all out of spunk.