In amongst the complete fucking nonsense of MPs expenses (already well dealt with by Drew and Simon, amongst others no doubt) one of the miserable conclusions is that, with elections in a few weeks (for local authorities and for the European Parliament) the electorate will demonstrate their mistrust and disdain for Westminster by going to the minor parties and most obviously to the BNP. One of the great unreported things of the last week or so (from what I’ve seen – I don’t read every paper or watch every news bulletin but I keep up on line fairly thoroughly) is the massive extent of the grassroots campaign against the fascists that is going on. At the end of last week every station I went through was flooded by Hope Not Hate activists leafletting and giving out papers, posters, badges and more – and everyone was going up and talking to them and taking the material they had to offer. They were all around town on Saturday, with t-shirts and posters to back up all of their other material. Nature has even stepped in around here and made a tree fall on the banner in the BNP candidates back garden. There are good things going on out there, even if the media are completely ignoring them and concentrating on the shits in Westminster.
That doesn’t mean that I feel anymore confident about what will happen on June 4th. These elections are held on a PR system that I kind of understandish, and looking back at the last elections the lowest vote that actually got somebody elected was just under 8%, for the Green Party in London and in the South East (which elect the largest number of MEPs and so it makes sense that this is where a smaller vote would get you in). In the other regions the lowest winning vote was around 12%. This is an awful lot more than the BNP were polling anywhere at the time. At the same time, though, the contempt that Westminster has put itself in means that there does feel like there is a big protest vote looking for somewhere to go.
And this is where the media has a duty to step in and talk about what the BNP actually support, because their leaflets and broadcasts make a big attempt to sound reasonable – and I have started to hear people, osentsibly normal looking ordinary people, out and about around the place start to say that you know, they do make a certain amount of sense.
* Rape can’t be thought of as a crime. Women like sex, in the same way that women like chocolate. Forcing sex on them should be thought of like forcing chocolate on them.
* Mixed race marriages mongrelise the white race and should be outlawed.
* If you’re black you’re not British. Just because a dog is brought up in a stable it doesn’t make him a horse.
* AIDs is a friendly disease because blacks, gays and drug users have it.
There is an awful lot more where that came from – this party who are concerned with ordinary people, who are not corrupt like other politicians, who are simple and honest and tell it like it is. I think the mainstream press won’t tell it like it actually is becuase, on the one hand, they’re busy stage managing the expenses case so that it appears to be something the Labour party have done and on the other they’d rather like the BNP to do well as another stick to beat the Labour government with. (Just so we’re clear, I’m not a fan of either MPs drawing insulting and absurd expenses or of the Labour party, but I can still call a press conspiracy when I see one).
So speak up about the BNP, please, as you go abour your business. Challenge anyone, even a complete stranger, who you overhear talking about them in anything other than a challenging way. Publicise your views – posters, badges… and don’t let them get away with this nonsense.
May 20, 2009 at 4:24 pm
A BNP leaflet was mixed in with my mail on the doormat this morning. My first instinct was to wash my hands, after I realised what I’d just picked up!
May 20, 2009 at 7:36 pm
There was a union leader on PM the other night saying that the Royal Mail shouldn’t deliver BNP leaflets because they are offensive. Can’t stand the bastards but they need to be given the same treatment as all the other parties or else they will be bleating on about not getting the same rights and representation. The extreme policies of these fascists need to be highlighted at every opportunity and they need to be scrutinized and ridiculed daily.
Up here North of the border they were never really taken seriously but now they are getting a foothold and I fear that they may make inroads due to the disaffection here with Labour.
May 22, 2009 at 5:16 am
We should never ever drive them underground again. I want to know who these people are. We need to know who these people are, so we can stop them getting into positions where they can be influential.
Great post mate.
May 23, 2009 at 8:04 pm
Interesting post. I’ve been having trouble finding work in my usual field so last September I took ‘temporary’ job as a postman and I’m still there. This is the main reason I haven’t been blogging much because I’m so knackered. Anyway, last week I was faced with having to deliver BNP leaflets as described by Kippers. I went straight to the top guy in our office and told him I couldn’t do this and to be fair he handled it very well. He said he had read the leaflet and there was nothing explicitly racist in it. I told him that the BNP only show their ‘civilised’ side in the media but we all know what they stand for, which he understood. He took advice and was told that we had to deliver them because they are a ‘legitimate’ party. However, he said he didn’t care who delivered them so if the float person who covered my rest day was willing to deliver them there was no problem. Since the float doesn’t usually get to deliver leaflets and these were worth about £18 he was happy to do it. I wasn’t the only person to have reservations. I overheard another manager telling others that they were just doing their job and it didn’t mean they agreed with the leaflets (after all we deliver Tory leaflets) but that sounded to me a bit too much like “I was only following orders.” I understand what Drew says about giving these people the same treatment as other parties (because they are of course legitimate) but I couldn’t be part of that process, especially knowing there are black and asian families on my walk. One of my sons beat friends is from an asian family. How could I look them in the eye if I delivered this filth?
June 2, 2009 at 11:00 am
wow. it boggles the mind that groups like the bnp get any legitimate press at all or have any followers. it’s kind of like when the ku klux klan holds a march in a town near where i live. you almost can’t wrap your head around the fact that they persist in their beliefs and your first urge is to totally ignore them because you don’t want to lend any credence to them at all, but then again if you don’t go and stand up to them and tell them how utterly full of shit they are, then you are almost de facto acknowledging their legitimacy.
@ mick–good for you for standing up for your beliefs.