BNP councillor joins antifascist movement!!!!

[Triple A]

'Why I have left the BNP' - Burnley councillor

By Kevin Ovenden
Socialist Worker

"I COULD never understand why all those people were calling the BNP fascists. Well I do now," says Maureen Stowe. She has broken all links with the British National Party and is now backing the fight against the fascists.

Maureen, age 65, has a message in the run-up to nationwide elections in June: "Don't vote for them. They are not what they seem and, like me, you'll regret it." And Maureen should know. She was elected as one of eight BNP councillors in Burnley, Lancashire, last May.

Last week she severed all contact with the BNP to sit as an independent councillor.

That Wednesday-at the same time as 2,000 people gathered for the London launch of Unite Against Fascism (see here)-she was due to make public her break from the BNP at the council meeting. But the BNP's regional organiser-a white South African-turned up at her house with three others and tried to pressure her into signing a form pledging to stick with the party. "It was intimidation," says Maureen. "I was frightened. I eventually said I would sign the paper so long as they left," she says.

"When they did, I thought, 'No, I won't be scared into this. I'm having nothing to do with them and I'm going to make my resignation public. This is the best thing I could have done. I've got a chance to do a lot of good. The following day I went as part of the council road show to the Daneshouse ward. The audience there was largely Asian. They were understandably puzzled why a BNP councillor would turn up. When the council leader announced I was a former BNP councillor who would now be sitting as an independent the cheers just went up. People put their arms around me. An older Asian man came up and said, 'You've made my night.' Now I think we can pull all the people of Burnley together to improve things for everybody. I keep asking myself how I could have been so stupid as to have anything to do with them. What's frightening is that I got elected last May without campaigning and on a BNP ticket when I had no idea what they really stand for. I worry now about the elections in June and them conning more voters."

It's clear that much of the support Maureen got last May came from people who know her locally. She works in a local charity shop and has lived in the area all her life.

"I now think the BNP thought they could hide behind me, use me," says Maureen. "Everyone was so disillusioned by the council and the political parties," she says. "That's still true. So there's a danger the BNP can make gains. That's why I'm determined to speak out."

[Sam_b]

This is from 2004. Close this thread.

[Bronco]

Perhaps "ex-BNP councillor..." would be a more appropiate title

[redSHARP]

wait! dont close just yet.

Why did she break her ties? She was going to break ties with the BNP before the goon squad came in, but why was she going to in the first place?. I think what is important is how to show fascists that they are wrong and how to "rehabilitate" them.

some might opt for a good kicking, but obviously knowing why members leave, getting a general trend, and implementing catalysts to trigger "breaking events", could be part of a multifaceted strategy against groups like the BNP or NSM.