Here is a profile of the really appalling man who has been elected in Yorkshire and Humberside to be a MEP (hat-tip to Harry’s Place).
http://www.hopenothate.org.uk/the-real-bnp/Andrew-Brons.php
It is astonishing to me that some ten per cent of any British electorate could vote for this. It makes me truly, terribly sad. It is certainly true that New Labour neglected the interests of ordinary people they took for granted, and were seen to spend more public resources on immigrant communities. That is not an entirely false perception. But the answer is to enfranchise ignored estates and help bring them into the wider community, not to turn towards fascism.
Education is also a major part of the problem, with appalling standards in failed communities and an excessively dictated curriculum that has abandoned much of the traditional liberal curriculum.
New Labour has also overseen the fruition of effectively racially segregated state schools throughout Northern England.
I have not heard even one mention of that appalling fact in all the analysis of why the BNP is making progress. Separate Catholic and Protestant schools in Northern Ireland were a main cause of bonding apart separate communities and inculcating hatred of the “other”. Forcible racial mixing in education – “bussing” – was absolutely key to the eventual success of the civil rights movements in the US. This must be tackled here.
A note on Harry’s Place, through which I found the excellent article linked above. In the post below about the EDP, the proprietor of Harry’s Place posted unpleasant personal comments about my being a manic depressive and my wife an “ex sex-worker”, which description he then justifies by saying it includes belly dancers.
Harry’s Place is a website which has an openly avowed purpose of defending the interests of the State of Israel and of US policy in the Middle East. They have every right to do that, as I have a right to disagree.
But I would make a plea to them, faced with the real problem of this rise in support for the BNP. Concentrate your fire on people who are actual racists and anti-semites. This is really not the time to attack people like me – liberals who believe that Israel has cruelly mistreated the Palestinians. We need to fight the racists together.
Depressing though it is, it’s not quite as depressing as you imply. The ‘electorate’ is all those entitled to vote. The BNP received much less than 10% of that, which demonstrates the importance of ensuring a decent turn-out at elections.
1 tosser does not a Highland games make
Well said. But Harry’s Place has had loads of anti-BNP coverage in recent months, ten times more than you. Faith schools are one of the causes and I hope a Tory government will stop them. Your description of HP is misleading – one of their key missions is to expose and attack far left groups and individuals who support extremist positions, a noble cause in my view, particularly as it is these positions that are helping to drive people towards the BNP. An example: the protest against returning British troops in Luton and its response.
Our position is firmly two states, and anti-settlement building. We are strong opponents of the current Israeli Government and its policies. We regard Liberman as a fascist, in its truest sense – his (recently rejected) “loyalty oath” legislation illustrates that perfectly.
I agree that we should fight the racists together.
However, I have been on rallies organised by the SWP/CPB/Socialist Action led Left, at which I have heard chants which translate as “Kill the Jews”. I have seen Labour MPs and SWP CC leaders stand on a platform and introduce the likes of Abou Djah Djah whose party organised a cartoon competition in which this entry won. I have seen crowds led in chants of We Are All Hamas Now – knowing full well what the Hamas Covenant says.
So, how can the same far Left that promotes this sort of racist and genocidal vilification of Jews possibly hope to oppose domestic fascism?
This Andrew Glans character is – unlike you – not loveable, and very far from a harmless eccentric.
To repeat your own account of your mental health concerns, and in particular you hypersexuality is not an unpleasant slur. My point was that – like Ron Davies ‘moment of madness’ – things to do with sex are funny and noteworthy.
Also, if you put pictures of your wife up on your blog, to promote a cabaret about bellydancing, which traded on your official role as Ambassador, you must expect a little ribbing.
David and Richard,
Good points. But I fear that those who did not vote may well contain a percentage of racists also.
Eddie – yes. However they seem to think extremists also includes everyone who does not support their positions and everyone who was against the Iraq War, including me. They don’t seem to admit the existence of honest and well motivated difference of opinion.
Is it really a surprise the electorate shifted right after the lies our media and politicians told us about who perpetrated the London Bombings?
Craig, bloggers like you need to start shouting loud and clear that July Seventh was a false flag operation otherwise your silence will push more voters towards the BNP.
Sorry, here is the cartoon from Abou Djah Djah’s organisation
http://hodja.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/hitler_frank_cartoon.jpg
Here is Corbyn speaking at Abou Djah Djah’s London meeting
http://www.aboujahjah.com/?p=175
Corbyn protested Abou Djah Djah’s exclusion from Britain.
This is the point I’m making about antifascism. You cannot have people who team up with fascists and racists leading an antifascist campaign.
Craig – some of your comments about Labour politicans and others have been really vicious, so it is a bit rich that you are now complaining about a bit of gentle ribbing. As David T says, it was you who posted the picture of your wife.
The problem, Craig, is that you undermine the important stuff you do by being silly.
People who are well disposed to your arguments, and want to rely on the evidence you provide of abuses of human rights, suddenly find themselves at the centre of surreal and paranoid conspiricy theorising…
It doesn’t help.
You can be a cabaret turn, like George Galloway. Or you can be a serious person. You can’t be both.
DavidT,
My own position is that I don’t want to see two states, which I think will cement conflict. I want to see one state which is entirely democratic and secular and has a constitution and laws which do not depend on or mention race or religion.
I certainly do not want to see anybody either killed or expelled. I think some Palestinians should be able to have land and homes returned to them. Others should be financially compensated. Some Jews would have to be moved within the country to return land to Palestinians. They should also be financially compensated. The problem is very similar to Cyprus.
I am against the use of violence in the Middle East by all sides – including us. I was against the war in Iraq. I have spoken for the Stop the War movement on a number of occasions. I have quite genuinely never heard the things you report. I don’t deny they may have happened, but not when I was around.
I went on a demonstration against the invasion of Southern Lebanon at which some pople had pro-Hizbollah placards. In among the Quakers, CND, Liberals, Trades Unionists, SWP and many others. In a demo of tens of thousands of people, I think you could almost always find someone with an angle you don’t agree with. I don’t on that basis not go on demonstrations.
Anyway, I think you broadly know where I stand. I agree that a two state solution may be better than the status quo, but I am sceptical about its long term prospects.
I can’t see we will ever get a normalisation of Palestinian society in a ghetto simply called a state, and so I think Israel would also then be always this militarised society, and not safe.
I know you won’t agree, but I don’t think I had ever fully set out where I stand before.
@leedspatsy – not wanting to agree with Toenails Robinson but their vote didn’t really increase – just Labour’s nose-dived.
I remember back in me skooling daze that me lecherer wen wibblin aboot full ermploymernt stated that anything above 3% counted as full because there were folks who will never work (minted, spouse sorted, lazy etc) – sooo, by that rationale – those who vote are definately the exception, rather than the norm – err.. I’m sure there was a thought in there but gawd knows what it was.
Go for a fag & a coffee.
“My own position is that I don’t want to see two states, which I think will cement conflict. I want to see one state which is entirely democratic and secular and has a constitution and laws which do not depend on or mention race or religion.”
My own position is that I would like to the region pooling sovereignty, in the manner of the European Union. Cyprus can be solved in this context, just as other conflicts involving regional minorities can be.
However, to suggest that Israel be absorbed into an Arab Nationalist or an Islamist state, is akin to suggesting that Kosovo or Bosnia be reabsorbed into Serbia.
You wouldn’t suggest that, I hope.
Quakers, CND, Brian Eno… they were on a platform with speakers whose politics are worse than that of the BNP. Read the Hamas Covenant, if you haven’t, and then ask yourself: is there anything in the BNP constitution as extreme as this?
http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/hamas.asp
Yet Hamas and Hezbollah speakers addressed this, and many other meetings. And the organisers then turned round and had the impudence to claim the leadership of the fight against fascism.
Seriously, I’d be interested in your position on this. We’re not talking about a loose coalition of Lefties – we’re talking about a coalition, led by revolutionary parties, that repeatedly showcases the most extreme of genocidal racists, and then denies that they are genocidal racists.
I am sorry that BNP members got into the European parliament, thanks to PR. I’m glad we don’t have PR in the UK, so that someone like him would not get into the Westminster Parliament.
I don’t accept that mainstream faith schools encourage hatred; I believe that extremist individuals do that.
I am sorry that BNP members got into the European parliament, thanks to PR. I’m glad we don’t have PR in the UK, so that such people would not get into the Westminster Parliament.
I don’t accept that mainstream faith schools encourage hatred; I believe that extremist individuals do that.
I don’t think the BNP are fascists… yet. Their racism is mostly reaction against ZanuLabour policies, as indicated by others. If it were not mere ‘reaction’ racism, then BNP would have already been as strong.
To be fascist you have to put the collective above the rights of the individual. Individuals prescribe to this when duped by fear and glory.
ZanuLabour are the only practising fascists at present; we should all be aware of their Draconian legislation, derived to counter the fear of terrorism. But let us not forget the ugly sisters of the waffen-feminazis, who glory in the rights of female indulgence whilst condemning male aspirations.
I put it to you Craig, that the mangyna who referred to your beautiful wife as a mere ‘sex worker’, has exposed the feminazi corruption of nature, by making heterosexuality a pejorative term.
The BNP is just the runny nose and a slight temperature; the disease is the viral infestation of feminazi ZanuLabour.
Eddie, I fear your wish won’t be granted – the Tories are as committed to Faith schools as New Labour are. Goodness knows why.
While mainstream Faith Schools may not encourage hatred – though they have done in Ulster – they do encourage separatism. Until the mainstream political parties tackle the crucial issue of how best to encourage a tolerant, integrationist, secular multiculturalism where tolerance is a two-way street the BNP will continue to attract disgruntled ex-Labour voters who feel abandoned by the party they have traditionally supported.
Faith Schools are part of the problem – not the answer. Unfortunately, with a government led first by a religious nutter who believes he can be Pope, Chief Rabbi and Mufti of Jerusalem all rolled into one Blair, and now by a dour Son of the Manse, and an opposition which pays at least lipservice to religious as opposed to secular values, much work needs to be done to bring about a saner approach.
Faith schools are fine in a non-sectarian culture. Unfortunately, our culture is becoming increasingly sectarian.
There is a prinicipled objection to the state establishing religion, however – and that’s pretty much where I stand.
You could, I suppose, square the circle by going down the ‘education vouchers’ route, but that is unpopular politically.
“I have not heard even one mention of that appalling fact in all the analysis of why the BNP is making progress.”
That the BNP have received vastly more media exposure (negative or not) than UKIP is undeniable. The purpose would appear to be to tie anyone opposing current immigration policy with these unapologetic racists, while marginalising an anti-immigration party happily running non-white candidates.
Meanwhile, our government – be it Labour or Tory will continue with any policy that helps level the economic standard Europe-wide.
@anticant – on faith schools, if they were all abandoned, we would be in a much better place. Indoctrination at school is no better for it being Christian than it being Islamic, Jewish or Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. I fully support religious education though, in a secular context. But given the stubbornness of the electorate to give up C of E or Catholic schools, it is difficult politically to oppose Islamic schools without justifiable accusations of racial or cultural bias.
On a slightly related note, I had a very interesting exchange with ISLAM4UK – a group with a potentially dicey background – in Birmingham on Saturday. Their aim is to replace British democracy and its various branches with Islamic Sharia law, and – bless them – they are running a roadshow to explain to the British people why they think it is a great idea (and, I suspect, why they think it is inevitable).
I shall be writing a review of the exchange for Indymedia UK. Since you’ve a lot of ideas on this topic, would you like me to send you a link to it?
The problem is not low turnout, or poor education, it is a system which legitimises arbitrarily placing some men over others.
Our ‘democracy’ plays the same role that the divine right of kings did in a more religious age – it justifies authority over others and the use and abuse of that authority in the name of ‘the people’, the state, the nation or whatever mythical entity you wish to use.
I have deleted a whole batch of comments which were much were not acceptable.
and one or two which were OK but didn’t make sense after the deletions
Craig.
I have to question your understanding of Zionism, if you don’t get why the pro-Zionists at Harry’s place are putting you in their sights and not the BNP.
Maybe the population density of this country rocketing up towards Bangladesh levels while maintaining an open door policy to the whole of Europe while also having millions unemployed and noone in parliament wanting to have any sensible discussion about it MIGHT have something to do with people voting BNP.
1) When people, as did one of the Labour Council Leaders in Yorkshire after the Euro-election result, talk about the problems besetting the ‘white working-class’, they seem to forget that most of the black population of this country (and most of the population of this country and of every industrialised country) are also working-class and that the same problems are besetting them and have done for decades. These problems are largely the result of unbridled capitalism – the same pathology that has landed the world economy – and specifically the UK economy – in the latrine. Divide and rule is the maxim and the strategy. Let’s not be fooled again.
2) I am sickened by the sound of Yorkshire accents spouting racist or ignorant nonsense. I was born in Beverly, East Yorks. (yes, I know, where Philip Larkin of the ‘We Want Enoch!’ tendency lived) and was brought up for a good period in the north and east of England and in general I associate northern accents with good things. This is irrational, I know, but I have a very visceral reaction when I hear people with these particular accents talking hate-speak about people like me. It’s like your best pal is stabbing you in the back. My access to the living memory of Yorkshire goes back to the turn of the nineteenth century. The thought of these racists sitting in Brussels representing Yorkshire makes me want to vomit.
3) Most of the racism I faced was in Scotland, where I grew up later on. So it’s gratifying that in Scotland, the BNP are less than nothing.
4) Krishnan Gurumurthy of Channel Four News floundered uncharacteristically in an emotionally rattled state last night when he interviewed the BNP MEP. You have to be cool-headed and impersonal when you’re dealing with these people and you have to be cleverer and more polished than them. They are not the old National Front, Nazi-saluting obvious skinheads of old and so the old soft-liberal tactics and arguments will not suffice. He missed a sterling chance for taking the guy down right at the start of the interview. Did anyone notice this? When the BNP man said that there had been some positive aspects to immigration into Britain during the early C20th, he meant, of course, white European immigration in the pre-WWII period. That would have been the target for the epee, had Gurumurthy been thinking as opposed to feeling. The BNP man won that interview.
4) During the tenure of every Labour Government, the Far Right does well. During the tenure of every Democrat Administration in the USA, the Far Right does well. This is not a reason for complacency, merely an observation.
5) The absence of any mass popular front opposing the current failed transnational corporate capitalism which has led to the economic meltdown and massive rise in unemployment, etc., combined with the multifaceted betrayal of ordinary people – black, brown, yellow, red and white – by the New Labour Rampant Capitalists has led directly to this situation.
DavidT:
“This is the point I’m making about antifascism. You cannot have people who team up with fascists and racists leading an antifascist campaign. ”
But you can have leaders of Israel team up and describe Anti-semites as “friends of Israel” because they provide funds and support for Settlements and weapons to Israel.
These Anti-semites believe all Jewish people need to be in Israel before second coming of Jesus Christ when the Jewish people will have to convert to Christianity or perish.
But somehow these set of anti-semites do not register with DavidT nor does their warped reading of scripture which will result in no jewish people in the world.
‘Allying with Christian Zionists is bad for Israel’
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=971196&contrassID=2&subContrassID=1
An Evangelical at Armageddon
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1728510,00.html
Bibi: Christian Zionists our top friends
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull&cid=1207486208002
DavidT:
“Sorry, here is the cartoon from Abou Djah Djah’s organisation
http://hodja.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/hitler_frank_cartoon.jpg
Here is Corbyn speaking at Abou Djah Djah’s London meeting
http://www.aboujahjah.com/?p=175
Corbyn protested Abou Djah Djah’s exclusion from Britain.
This is the point I’m making about antifascism. You cannot have people who team up with fascists and racists leading an antifascist campaign.”
———The cartoon is offensive and insensitive as were the cartoons by the Iranian newspaper in response to some Western Media’s publishing of the Mohammed cartoons in support of the Danish newspaper and freedom of expression/speech.
The Iranian Newspaper insensitively was challenging the same Western media to publish the Holocaust cartoons to expose their hypocrisy and double standards but not one newspaper/media did.
Now DavidT where do you stand on Mohammed Cartoons or Holocaust cartoons ?
Freedom of speech/expression DavidT?
or do you notice the same inconsistencies /contradictions that you accused others of but also happen to suffer from?
If you explore the source material, you will discover that in many progressive, anti-secrecy quarters, the publication, ‘Searchlight’ is deemed an SS (MI5) front.
This is not to say that a certain amount of what it prints is not true – herein resides the pwoer of the front media organ – but that one ought always to be wary of the information which it provides and the emphases which it cultivates/ massages/manufactures.
Look up Gerry Gable and then look up MI5 and Special Branch and then look up all three, together – like the the butcher, the baker, the candlestick-maker, who all jumped out of a rotten potato.
It may or may not mean anything, but it’s interesting, nonetheless. Rub-a-dub-dub.