Cross-post from Hope Not Hate
Six upcoming events by the conspiracy group Keep Talking have been cancelled following intervention by HOPE not hate
Keep Talking, run by Ian Fantom, is an obscure London-based group for conspiracy theorists of all types, ranging from Holocaust deniers, climate change deniers and 9/11 ‘Truthers’. The group had organised a series of six events at Conway Hall on Red Lion Square in London.
The first event in a run of six – due to take place tonight – was to feature contributions from the infamous Holocaust denier Nick Kollerstrom, who takes organising duties at the meetings. Kollerstom has called the 9/11 attack in New York ‘a constructed, fabricated event’ and argues that the 7/7 attacks in London were a ‘false flag’ terror attack.
However, he is best known for his denial of the Holocaust, after the publication of an article titled ‘The Auschwitz Gas Chamber Illusion’ on the website of the infamous denial organisation the Committee for Open Debate on the Holocaust. In it he claimed that there was “never a centrally-coordinated Nazi program of exterminating Jews in Germany. Lethal gas chambers did not function in German labour-camps, that’s just an illusion.”
On the teaching of the Holocaust Kollerstrom has said:
“Let us hope the schoolchildren visitors are properly taught about the elegant swimming pool at Auschwitz, built by the inmates, who would sunbathe there on Saturday and Sunday afternoons while watching the water polo matches,” and, “Let’s hope they are shown postcards written from Auschwitz, where the postman would collect the mail twice weekly.”
In 2017 the group held meetings on a variety of topics, including conspiracies around the murder of Labour MP Jo Cox and 9/11. Speakers included Kollerstrom, Danish conspiracist Ole Dammegård and antisemitic jazz musician Gilad Atzmon.
At past Keep Talking events Holocaust denial literature has been readily available, and attendees have included the leadership of the far-right London Forum and extremists such as James Thring, who has links to former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard David Duke.
When HOPE not hate discovered the event was due to take place we contacted the venue directly, who were unaware of the true nature of Keep Talking. Named after the anti-slavery advocate Moncure Daniel Conway and run by the Ethical Society, Conway Hall were unaware a Holocaust denier was due to speak at the event and promptly cancelled all six booking once we informed them.
