John Abberley: Raging against the BNP will serve to strengthen support (AUDIO)
SOMETIMES I wonder if the vehemence levelled at the British National Party serves only to add new recruits to its cause.
I say this in light of the near-hysterical reaction in some quarters to the BBC's invitation to BNP leader Nick Griffin to join the panel on the TV show Question Time.
An organisation called Unite Against Fascism claims that the BNP is not a democratic political party, calls Griffin a neo-Nazi and urges the BBC to stop "rolling out the red carpet" for fascist bigots.
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Such intemperate language does nothing, I feel, except leave a nasty taste. It also demonstrates that these hate-mongers have no idea what democracy is about.
I would never vote for the BNP in a hundred years, but I think a legal political party which attracted 1.3 million votes in the European elections has the right to appear on a public platform like Question Time.
Griffin's views may well be wholly objectionable to many, including myself, but that's not the point. In a democracy he has a right to express them, provided he stays within the law.
In a supposedly free society you can't ban people from speaking because you don't like what they say. That's how they operate in a totalitarian dictatorship.
So I think the Labour Party will be denying its own democratic principles if it persists in refusing to put up a representative to sit on the TV panel with the BNP.
It will raise doubts that the Government has no stomach for a public confrontation, particularly as the subject of immigration would inevitably be raised.
Yet one would have thought this would be an ideal setting, before an audience of many millions, for Labour to force Griffin to defend his extremist views and, if possible, make him look a fool.
I can't think of any better way to expose the worst aspects of the party. Winning the argument, in fact, is the only way.
If you ban the BNP or refuse to sit with them, they will be the winners. The more you ignore them, the more they will grow.
It reminds of that time when the former Stoke South MP George Stevenson called for a ban on BNP election posters in his constituency.
George was clearly worried that the party might find support if the electors got to know about them. He was right.
However, thousands of Potteries people didn't vote BNP to support racist policies, but as a protest against the Government's refusal to listen.
Indeed, I believe that the Government's head-in-the-sand attitude on immigration has played a major role in the rise of the BNP.
Perhaps that's another reason why Labour is nervous about joining a panel alongside Nick Griffin. Anyway, does the Government have anyone capable of doing a hatchet job?
I believe the BNP's onward march could still be halted if one of the major political parties committed itself to cutting down mass immigration as a Number One priority.
Yet I've heard nothing from David Cameron which suggests that this will happen if the Tories are elected.
He should know that millions of ordinary British people are concerned about the growing numbers of Muslims and the fact that they are imposing their own culture on the host nation rather than integrating into society.
I'm sure these worries have been heightened by the news that Mohammed is now one of the most popular names for baby boys born in Britain.
All this is meat and drink to BNP extremists, who have exploited such fears to the hilt. And their support will continue to grow while those in power take no action.
When Nick Griffin appears on that panel I think Question Time will get a record audience. We can all have our say. It almost makes me believe that we still live in a democracy.







3 Comments
by Flowerybackside, Hairytrollville
Friday, September 11 2009, 1:22PM
“However, I do strongly disagree with this idea that British muslims are trying to impose their way on the rest of us.
Yes, a small minority do, but they are just that, a small minority. The rest just want to live their lives their way without interference, like the rest of us do. And, they are far less intrusive on the rest of us than, lets say, a group of lads who have had too much beer on a night out.
Integration is a two way process. Yes, they have to want to integrate into our society but if we stick two fingers up at that them and tell them to go away we then make it impossible for that integration.
Why is there is worry about Muslims in this country? Is it because the papers are always going on about how extreme they all are? Is it when a very small minority of them protest against British troops and the papers try and make out they're all like that? Is it the hijabs and jilbabs that the women generally only started wearing in a response to the media's rampant Islamophobia? Yes, prior to constant "yellow journalism" against Muslims in the wake of 9/11 hardly any Muslim women dressed that way, most I know dressed in western clothes before then.
Isn't the growing Muslim population partly due to conversion anyway? How many white muslims do we see in S-o-T these days, both male and female? These are people born and bred in the UK, who have chosen this as their way life, so it's not simply about new arrivals integrating.”
by Flowerybackside, Hairytrollville
Friday, September 11 2009, 1:08PM
“The UAF are without doubt the BNPs greatest asset, the way the make them look the victim all the time.
If the UAF wants these people to be confined to the political wilderness then they need to be a little more intelligent about how they go about it.
The simplest way would be to discredit both the hysterical stories put out by the tabloids and the claims made by the BNP themselves with regard immigrants, housing, and benefits because most of these stories are either inflated or downright porky pies.
The other thing they need to do is pull the BNP manifesto to pieces. Point out to people in mixed race relationships that this would illegal under a BNP govt, point out that everyone is going to get a military issue assault rifle in the house etc...
At the moment the rage and placard waving against the BNP just gives them an air of respectibility. The best way to defeat them is surprise and using what they see as their own strengths against them (as you would in war - just without any violence).”
by Craig, Stoke-on-Trent
Friday, September 11 2009, 10:22AM
“True that.
Put George Galloway on the panel too. He can run verbal rings around the US Senate, never mind Nick Griffin.”