The BNP

Posted on 11. Dec, 2009 by fashwatch in The Guilty Parties

The British National Party (BNP) have come a long way since their formation following John Tyndalls split with the National Front in 1982. They’ve gone from an obscure, second rate white nationalist party preaching anti-semitism to a party that can now boast over 70 councillors, 2 MEP’s and around 14,000 members according to the latest leaked membership list.

The growth of the party has come about following a period of cosmetic modernisation under current  leader Nick Griffin who has abandoned a policy of open anti-semitism for anti-immigration and Muslim bashing.  He has also made the party more PR savvy with talk of “identity”, “heritage” and “freedom” preferred to overt racism. The reasons for this change were elucidated by Griffin himself in a talk in the US in which he shared a platform with former KKK member David Duke.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04QolIvfQEw

While the BNP poses as a radical alternative to the political establishment they are often the staunchest supporters of the existing order. In 2003 the party opposed the firefighters strike asserting that firefighters should not have the right to strike action regardless of any issues regarding pay or working conditions. Meanwhile in Broxbourne their councillor voted to block a motion to allow pensioners to have free bus passes. These kinds of actions show the BNP for what it really is, a party that cares no more for working class people than any of the mainstream parties do. Then again we shouldn’t expect anything less from a party run by a Cambridge educated landowner whose father was a prominent Tory Party member!

Looming large on the BNP’s hit-list of new folk devils  is Multiculturalism. However while the BNP position themselves as opponents of Multiculturalism they are really one of it’s main benefactors. The promotion of political Multiculturalism  has accentuated and created divides in communities where none previously existed (in the article How to Make a Riot Kenan Malik outlines the policy of Multiculturalism).  What the BNP is really against is a multi-racial society. The BNP’s claim that they represent “white” or “indigenous” Briton’s should leave most of us rolling on the floor in fits of laughter, indeed why would someone with pale skin have different interests to someone with darker skin? However the promotion of a political Multiculturalism which allocates resources and recognises people based on their ethnicity, nationality and religion gives such ridiculous claims as those made by the BNP greater credence and has given their racism a veneer of politically correct acceptability.

Despite their new found PC sugar coating the BNP retain most of their fascist ties. In 2007 Councillor Chris Beverley gave a speech to a gathering of the European National Front which brings together some of the most hard line fascist and anti-Semitic parties around Europe. More recently this year the party deputy leader Simon Darby attended a meeting of prominent fascist and neo-nazi groups from Europe in Milan. He was joined by convicted terrorist and close associate of Nick Griffin Roberto Fiore who was convicted of being part of a terrorist organisation which bombed Bologna train station in 1980 leaving 85 people dead. The party has also made links with the Hungarian anti-Semitic party known as Jobbik who can lay claim to have their own private army known as the Hungarian Guard. The family friendly face of the BNP is one that is very much used for the UK public market but not one that reflects any meaningful change in their politics.

The stated long term aim of the party is to repatriate non-indigenous (read non-white) Briton’s, reintroduce national service and bring in the death penalty for anyone involved in acts of “terrorism”. In the short term the only thing the party achieve is to divide working class communities along lines of race, religion and nationality, weakening community cohesion and diluting the fighting power of a fragmented working class.

With their election to the European Parliament giving them access to funding and publicity, the lingering recession, the continuing ineptitude of the mainstream political parties and the ongoing attacks on working class communities by the government we can expect the BNP to continue to slowly grow over the next couple of years.