BBC article on BNP - very sympathetic!

[Zurdito]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7305635.stm

Specifically, this is a BBC website article about the BNP's candidate for London Mayor, Richard Barnbrook. It's really worth a read, just to see the blank cheque the BBC gives him. I was going to highlight the worst quotes from the article, but the whole thing is bad to be honest:

The British National Party candidate for London mayor Richard Barnbrook says he wants to give the "real people of London" a voice.

By "real" Londoners he means the indigenous population first, and the post-war immigrants who came over to rebuild Britain, such as Caribbeans who arrived on the Empire Windrush, second.

He believes immigrants who have arrived in the past 15 years are taking more than they are giving - and says politicians have been too reluctant to tackle the issue.

"It's not immigrants that are at fault here, never has been, it's the establishment, our own governing powers and their greed or their ignorance or their simple gutlessness to do anything about it," he said.
"They feel if they try to look at immigration they will have the finger pointed at them - 'racist'. This is an easy get out clause - this is bullying people."

'Anti-democratic'

Mr Barnbrook says claims the BNP is a racist organisation are "nonsense" and says he is still waiting for a clear definition of what racism is.

"We're not racist at all. We do not perceive one person's religion, identity, culture or way of life as being better or worse than our own, we are simply different."

He is annoyed that members have been suspended from jobs. A former teacher himself, he found his work dried up the first time he stood as a BNP councillor.

He says such action is "anti-democratic": "We are a legal party. We have made no statements that would see us in the courts. (BNP leader) Nick Griffin and (activist) Mark Collett went to the courts over a BBC hatchet job and on two occasions a jury of 12 people acquitted them - a waste of taxpayers' money."

Both men were cleared of inciting racial hatred in November 2006 after a retrial at Leeds Crown Court - the case followed a secretly filmed BBC documentary The Secret Agent.

Mr Barnbrook has been in the headlines for his engagement to English National Ballet star Simone Clarke, who became known as the "BNP ballerina" after admitting being a member of the party.

'Too aggressive'

A painter and graduate of the Royal Academy of Arts, he also did a PGCE (post-graduate teacher training) and spent four years from 1986 lecturing across Europe and America. He was initially a "card carrying Labour activist" in Lewisham, south-east London.

But he became disillusioned with them during the Thatcher years, left the party and returned to his art. He joined the BNP in 1999 after four years of "looking into" the party. He admits he had some concerns it might be similar to the National Front which he said was "way too aggressive".
He said there was no thuggery when he went to meet activists and he was quickly made the party's organiser for Lewisham.
He says he has since been taken by surprise by the rapid rise of the BNP in Barking and Dagenham - where the party is now the official opposition on the council with 12 councillors.

He says he has since been taken by surprise by the rapid rise of the BNP in Barking and Dagenham - where the party is now the official opposition on the council with 12 councillors.


He is certain they can reach out beyond Barking and says the BNP will be delivering one million leaflets to outer London boroughs in the run-up to the mayoral elections - and a further 300,000 to inner London.

They have already annoyed the current mayor Ken Livingstone, by putting out their own leaflet titled "The Londoner" - the name of Mr Livingstone's free paper.

Would he characterise the BNP as a far right party?

"Not at all - not far right, not far left, not too wrong," he replies, saying a lot of the party's London vote comes from former Labour supporters, while in the "shires" they have won over some Conservatives.

Housing allocations

He also thinks his party reaches out across the racial divide and claims black people ring him up "on a daily basis" and had congratulated him after the 2006 local elections.

"They themselves feel dispossessed from the communities they moved into 20 or 30 years ago," he said.
"I have (council) surgeries with black and Asian people who come to me with council tax problems, or the council's stuffed them over on job rights or housing situations."


"As mayor of London I will deal with people on an individual basis and it will be done equally - not with positive discrimination."

By that he means "highlighting the needs of minority groups over the majority".

One of his main concerns is council housing allocations - the issue that sparked a row in Barking and Dagenham when its Labour MP Margaret Hodge suggested established British families should get priority over economic migrants.

Immigration freeze

He wants a return to the old "points system" which takes into account how long people have been on the waiting list, rather than the current bidding system, which allocates property based on need.

"In Britain it is traditional to queue up, we wait in line. You don't jump the queue," he said.
Where right to buy is used, he says the money raised should go directly towards building more council housing in that borough for people on low wages. He wants at least a third of all new housing built to be council
housing.


He would like to see a freeze on immigration, which he believes influence "all aspects of our existence" - from health and crime to water supplies.

Legal immigrants would stay, illegal immigrants would go - as would those being released from prison.

He advocates tough policies on crime, particularly the "absolutely catastrophic" spate of youth crime: "Handcuffs off the police, on the villains. Not three hits and you're out, one hit and you're out - need more prisons? Build more prisons."

For the elderly he says he would like to help them out more financially with heating bills and, on travel, with a 24-hour freedom pass.

He is happy for school children to get free travel, but he would restrict it to school hours and extra curricular activities.


Britishness

He would look to dismantle the congestion charge and instead "open up trunk roads" and use traffic light "counter flows" to relieve pressure on central London.

Mr Barnbrook would also "plant as many trees as possible in London". Central reservations would become giant planting grounds - so long as they do not interfere with visibility.

He believes the Thatcher government tried to destroy the concept of community and people had been left feeling "dispossessed".

To him Britishness is the "shake of a hand that is a guarantee, the humility, the honesty and the benevolence - all these elements are what make the British people British".

Language, religion, humour and law are "around the periphery".

Asked if you could be a British Muslim he pauses and says: "The answer is yes, but on the grounds that you follow all of the identities being described of living in this country and benefiting this country.

"You may have your religion behind your closed doors but you don't bring it onto the streets. You can be gay behind closed doors, you can be heterosexual behind closed doors, but you don't bring it onto the streets, demanding more rights for it."

Assembly seat

Mr Barnbrook reckons there are "just over" 1,000 BNP members across London. He is first on the list for the BNP's London Assembly list, and says there is "no question" the party will win at least one seat.

Any party which gets 5% of first choice votes for the assembly is seen as likely to qualify for a seat under the voting system used. At the 2004 London elections the BNP got 4.71% of votes on the London-wide list.
Last time round the BNP candidate came sixth in the mayoral race with 3%, or 58,405, first choice votes.

So could he win the mayoral race? "Realistically it's unlikely but who knows?," he said.

Immigration has moved up the political agenda and Mr Barnbrook says the mainstream parties have been adopting issues raised by the BNP.

"Where we lead, they are following," he said.
"If the other parties had done their jobs properly in the first place, this party wouldn't exist. It's as simple as that."

[spartan]

Its quite worrying that these people get to have this much publicity.

I for one cant understand why these people are allowed to spread their filth after all we went through in WW2 because of people like them.

[Unicorn]

Another example of establishment media shilling for the far right.

[Colonello Buendia]

The BNP are nazi's in all but name and for them to be praising the WWII veterans is just ridiculous.

[spartan]

The BNP are nazi's in all but name and for them to be praising the WWII veterans is just ridiculous.

This video shows perfectly the hypocrisy of the BNP on this matter (The black and white images are of John Tyndall, the guy speaking in the video, in Nazi regalia):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJSFfVbNLP8

[Vanguard1917]

I for one cant understand why these people are allowed to spread their filth after all we went through in WW2 because of people like them.

Being against 'the Nazis' has actually been a very prominent theme in post-WW2 mainstream British patriotism and nationalism. So i don't think that there's much positive about comments like 'how can the BNP support those Nazis after all that those Krauts put us through?'.

Specifically, this is a BBC website article about the BNP's candidate for London Mayor, Richard Barnbrook. It's really worth a read, just to see the blank cheque the BBC gives him. I was going to highlight the worst quotes from the article, but the whole thing is bad to be honest:

The article seems to be endorsing a view widely held in mainstream political and media circles: if the 'respectable' parties of government were 'in control' of immigration levels, we would not have 'thugs' like the BNP winning support. This is not so much about the BBC being 'sympathetic' towards the BNP - it's about the endorsement of anti-immigration policies.

Almost everyone in mainstream British politics and media - from 'left' to 'right' - supports immigration controls. They're the ones who are responsible for anti-immigrant sentiment in Britain - not marginal groups like the BNP.

[Y Chwyldro Comiwnyddol Cymraeg]

What is he on about...its OK to be gay behind closed doors...so longs as you dont take to the streets and demand more rights.

WTF. I hate the way the BBC give them publicity, NIck Griffen was on Newsnights the other week

[RedAnarchist]

The BBC must be getting something out of it, because like all capitalists, principles go out of the window when someone dangles a treat in front of them.

[Zurdito]

Being against 'the Nazis' has actually been a very prominent theme in post-WW2 mainstream British patriotism and nationalism. So i don't think that there's much positive about comments like 'how can the BNP support those Nazis after all that those Krauts put us through?'.

Good point.

The article seems to be endorsing a view widely held in mainstream political and media circles: if the 'respectable' parties of government were 'in control' of immigration levels, we would not have 'thugs' like the BNP winning support. This is not so much about the BBC being 'sympathetic' towards the BNP - it's about the endorsement of anti-immigration policies.

Almost everyone in mainstream British politics and media - from 'left' to 'right' - supports immigration controls. They're the ones who are responsible for anti-immigrant sentiment in Britain - not marginal groups like the BNP.

Yes I agree that the success of the BNP is a result of the media and poltical frenzy about immigration, and that capitalism inevitably causes racism.

Still, when the BBC treats fascist groups as no qualitatively different to mainstream political groups, it's a development worth noting.

The BNP are qualitatively different to non-fascist parties in that they stand for the crushing of the working class movement by whatever means, and for sectarian war between "indigenous" communties, and immigrants, regardless of how they may demagogically shift those definitions.

[Vanguard1917]

Still, when the BBC treats fascist groups as no qualitatively different to mainstream political groups, it's a development worth noting.

I don't think tha the media does this. In reality, it has a pretty hysterical and irrational attitude towards the BNP. The BNP is a 'monster', they're 'vile', 'thugs', etc. By taking the moral highground against the BNP, and turning it into public enemy number one, the state, along with the mainstream media, tries to give itself greater legitimacy in society.

In reality, the BNP is a marginal and largely irrelevant force in British society. It has no real dynamic of its own. It relies on public alienation from the mainstream parties of government. Because of the elite's hysterical aversion to the BNP, and due to the working class's disengagement from the mainstream parties of government, the BNP manages to win some support from sections of the working class, who vote BNP as a protest vote - as a way of sticking two fingers up at the elite.

The BNP is also mainly a single-issue party. Its 'brand' is based around its strong stance on immigration. For this brand to appeal to the electorate, the BNP again relies on mainstream political and media forces. It depends heavily on public opposition to immigration - something which is created by mainstream forces.

Having said that, we should not fall into the trap - a trap set up, unconsciously, by the ruling elites - of overestimating the threat of the BNP. We shouldn't forget that the BNP is a miniscule organisation with, at best, extremely limited support in society.

We have to win the argument against immigration controls. For that, we would do well to use our energies against main enemies.

[Zurdito]

I don't think tha the media does this. In reality, it has a pretty hysterical and irrational attitude towards the BNP. The BNP is a 'monster', they're 'vile', 'thugs', etc. By taking the moral highground against the BNP, and turning it into public enemy number one, the state, along with the mainstream media, tries to give itself greater legitimacy in society.

Firstly, I think the BBC is recently changing that approach; they have been inviting Nick Griffin on Newsnight, giving this Mayoral candidate a voice along with the other parties etc. This is worrying considering hte BNP is a fascist organisation and qualitatively different to all non-fascist parties. They stand for the crushing of the labour movement by any means and for sectarian wars along communal lines amongst workers. Therefore when the BBC treats fascists like normal politicians - i.e. giving them a profile page on the BBC to promote thier politics - this is a worrying development marking a rightward shift of our establishment.

The media and establishments reaction to the BNP is irrational in the sense that the BNP's politics are the logical development of bourgeois racism, and in the sense that all the anti-immigrant rhetoric of the bourgeoisie and media alongside their devastating social policies all create the conditions for the BNP to exist, and that this is the inevitable development of bourgeois rule to a greater or lesser extent.

Their reaction is not irrational hwoever in the sense that the words are icnorrect. The BNP are in fact much much worse than the media portray.

In reality, the BNP is a marginal and largely irrelevant force in British society.

Actually the BNP is bigger than the whole of the left combined. They've been growing in prominence in areas like West Yorkshire (which could be threatened by in-fighting) and East London, and could well be set to make considerable gains in the upcoming recession. The extent to which they don't will in part rest on the extent to which Labour and the Tories copy their policies - in itself a victory for fascism which long term can only perpetuate the movement’s growth.

So yes while the BNP is marginal perhaps if you are middle class, in working class areas sympathy with the BNP or a large part of their politics is quite a strong feature on the political scene, which trade unionists, ethnic minorities and progressive workers are all threatened by. And if it's like this in a time of economic growth we can expect it to be considerably more serious in a time of recession.

Now I don't think the BNP is likely to have mass electoral success, maybe they won't even come close to winning an MP, who knows. But they are primarily important to the extent that they can get inside the workers movement, demagogically win white workers away from class struggle, divide them from non-wite workers and immigrants, and act as a battering ram against organised labour. So whilst I wouldn't elevate "anti-fascism" to some of apolitical cause which would cause us to unite with Tories, I would say we have to be very careful not to et our guard down against a movement whose primary goal in life is to destroy us.

It has no real dynamic of its own. It relies on public alienation from the mainstream parties of government. Because of the elite's hysterical aversion to the BNP, and due to the working class's disengagement from the mainstream parties of government, the BNP manages to win some support from sections of the working class, who vote BNP as a protest vote - as a way of sticking two fingers up at the elite.

This suggests that if the elite were to be more accommodating to fascism, then it would have less attraction to the masses. Yet history doesn't back you up. This is certainly not a Trotskyist position. I am sure that fascism emerges as a protest, but it is by definition demagogy and therefore it's status as a class statement doesn't rest on any real differentiation between the BNP - led by a public school son of a Norfolk aristocrat - and the elite. Rather it simply rests on rhetoric. The more the mass media endorses the rhetoric of the BNP as the voice of "ordinary people" - which the BBC has done, both here and with its "white series", - the more we can expect the BNP to grow.

The BNP is also mainly a single-issue party. Its 'brand' is based around its strong stance on immigration. For this brand to appeal to the electorate, the BNP again relies on mainstream political and media forces. It depends heavily on public opposition to immigration - something which is created by mainstream forces.

In which case, why would we not be worried when the mainstream media gives them more legitimacy?

And no they are not simply based on opposition to immigration. They are based in British nationalism, which aggressively and explicitly imperialist and anti-working class. This is a whole movement which he BNP aims to build not simply a single issue electoral front - if that were the case they'd be different to UKIP.

Having said that, we should not fall into the trap - a trap set up, unconsciously, by the ruling elites - of overestimating the threat of the BNP. We shouldn't forget that the BNP is a miniscule organisation with, at best, extremely limited support in society.

Well, I might agree, it's hard to know in the abstract. I oppose the policies of UAF of admitting Tories etc. I also oppose "apolitical anti-fascism" which divorces fascism from its role as battering ram against the working class. However, I would however call for a vote for Labour above the BNP.

[FONT=Times New Roman][/FONT]