BNP...

Ok no really - I was just wondering what's going on with the BNP from a news perspective. Everyone seems a bit wound up about it, but I am not sure what's going on?

Can anyone enlighten me?
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Comments

  • Welsh AlexWelsh Alex ✭✭✭

    They are almost certainly fascists who it is said support everything Hitler stood for so a lot of people get upset when people vote for them. I don't know this for certain as I have not conducted my own research but from what I read in the papers it is probably correct.

    There are also some other loonies (albeit maybe not quite as loony) about who think that they should not be able to enjoy a right of free speech in common with the rest of us. Apparently throwing eggs at them is a top wheeze.
  • CorinthianCorinthian ✭✭✭
    Waste of good eggs IMHO
  • What's this about them winning something in Europe?

    And do you think they are going to actually feature in the next UK elections?
  • Nick LNick L ✭✭✭

    Hi PO - I wouldnt vote for them....BUT, I was having my tea a couple of weeks back and a party political broadcast of theirs came on the beeb....and I thought oooh this might be interesting. So I watched it.

    To be totally honest I thought it was actually reasonably balanced and rational what was being said. They have no problem with legitimate immigration, integration of those who have already legitimately settled here - amongst other things. The way it was said though....and the imagery in the background was a little overly-nationalistic.

    HOWEVER, I suspect that the political rhetoric conflicts rather strongly with their true ideology, and filmings and reports that you see in the media might support this rather well.

    I do hope that people dont think me as some kind of neo-nazi now....as I think the Daily Mash summed it up rather well after the European Elections. http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/politics/politics-headlines/this-is-how-the-nazis-started%2c-says-everyone-200906081810/

    ...edit - essentially what I am saying is that I didnt think their broadcast was anywhere near as racist and bigotted as I expected it to be. I am trying to choose my words carefully here, as I appreciate this is a very sensitive issue.

  • It's tragic (and scary!) that people have lost so much faith in the other parties that people like the BNP even get a look in, suspect that a lot of people who voted BNP don't really know what they are voting for but just don't see an alternative.

    Bad times! image

  • I am not here to judge, Nick image

    Am just interested. I know they are kind of Nazi - but what if they portrayed themselves as slightly more in line with conventional wisdom and just said that "Britain for the British". Isn't that essentially what they what?

    Nothing wrong with that IMHO - drag all the ex-pats back to Britain and kick all the foreigners out...
  • Like Nick, I've seen the leaflets and political broadcasts, and seen interviews with Griffin on the news, and he seems to make some very good, well thought out points, which make logical sense.

    Luckily though, I still have the little voice in my head that says "Don't be so f**king stupid".

    I'd probably say a hefty percentage of the people who voted for the BNP aren't racists or bigots, they simply don't know that the media face and propoganda are fronts to what is a truly reprehensible bunch of bastards.

  • Nick LNick L ✭✭✭

    PO - its difficult to express yourself solely in word form sometimes though, no intonation of voice etc etc. Yes 'Britain for the British' was their broad approach I guess......and I believe they pitched their broadcast accordingly so that many people I believe, thought as Stuart suggested.

    They did also play on the expenses furore too, so suspect that gaining protest votes was an aim.

    Onyl reason I saw it was that I was about to eat at the time....I also happened to see a broadcast by English National/Independence Party, and the anti-Europe one with the funny name.

    edit - LIbertas

    Also this is worth looking at

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/bsp/hi/elections/euro/09/html/ukregion_999999.stm

    Nearly 1 million voted BNP

  • WilkieWilkie ✭✭✭

    Nick, I would expect them to tone down any over racism for the TV. 

    I didn't see it, but like all parties, they're going to want to make themselves look warm and cuddly.

    PO - the elections were for members of the European Parliament.  This doesn't get a big voter turnout at the best of times, and even less so after all the expenses scandals of late.

    This meant that people were'nt voting for OTHER parties, and the BNP gained a larger proportion of votes than they normally would.  I don't know how many British MEPs there are, but I doubt if two (the number of BNP seats won) will have a significant impact.  However, it is the thin end of the wedge.

    THey got over 943,000 votes - that;s a significant number of people voting for them.  The other parties need to sort themselves out.

  • CorinthianCorinthian ✭✭✭

    Point of order - The BNP have not increased their vote; it's roughly the same as it has been for many years - the reason why they won those seats is that other parties vote diminished and many more people stayed at home as a protest.

    The BNP have increased their membership and 'extra curricular' activities - beating up Asian kids; stirring up race hate etc.  BTW this is not BNP activity in the sense that the party officially organises it - but believe me; it's the same people

    Their membership has some very disturbing links with pan European far right paramilitary groups.

  • CorinthianCorinthian ✭✭✭

    Wot Wilkie said image

  • Ah ok. They did that over here as well "we don't like you, so we aren't voting". How does that help anything?

    Does this mean that the BNP has any active say in European Parliment? Or would they if they won more seats?

    Thanks for the answers!! image
  • http://www.hopenothate.org.uk/index.php?page=home that will give you some info about the real BNP party.

    a quote from Nick Griffin on Adolf Hitlers Mein Kampf-

    "The chapter I most enjoyed was the one on propaganda and organisation – there were some really useful ideas there"

    theres also links between him and Arthur Kemp, one of the guys who was active in South Africas apartheid regime....

    anyway the link goes into Nick Griffins history... makes scarey reading.

  • PloddingOn wrote (see)
    drag all the ex-pats back to Britain and kick all the foreigners out...
    Sounds like you're not that far from joining them image
  • 'Britain for the British' is a narrow-minded parochial view that pretends to be fair and reasonable while being only a step away from protectionism, bigotry and racial hatred.

    The BNP are a very nasty bunch indeed.  Sure, they've got a right to speak, but don't be fooled into thinking there's anything 'OK' about them.

  • IMO the BNP are run by a bunch of clever guys who know how to maximise the current political turmoil to their advantage. On the outside, they're fighting for "Britain" but on the inside just bunch of racists. Unfortunately, the longer that we have to tolerate the likes of new labour and the nanny state then the more that people will turn to the BNP. Wrong I know but some people will do it. (Not me BTWimage)

    As for the egg throwing incident, that really wound me up. Now, I have no time for the BNP but they do have a democratic right to make statements in public, it's called freedom of speech. Unfortunately, the people that thew the eggs fail to see that they are playing into the hands of the BNP...If a member of the BNP threw eggs at a rally being led by a Muslim  preacher then there would be hell to pay. Lots of arrests and chants of racist. When the boot is on the other foot though....doesn't seem to matter.

    TMM

  • JohnFolJohnFol ✭✭✭

    Chocolate Moose I agree that no matter how nasty a political party's view is, they should have the right to speak. Lets not forget people feel equally strongly about abortion, experimentation on animals, euthanasia but we allow the main parties to debate it as we have a free and democratic society.

    Just 1 thought springs to mind

    The current law allows for female only short lists, membership of organisations based on colour, and allows the church to discriminate against women and homosexuals in the work place. So, arn't we already in the place we fear getting to should people vote to the right?

    discuss.

  • Nick LNick L ✭✭✭

    Ironically there was a lot of war imagery in the BNP broadcast 'people fought for this country...etc died for this country...they would be turning in their graves'....'all of the names on the war memorials in the country'.

  • Chocolate Moose - don't suppose you have worked out that I was a South African living in Britain and left to come home? I don't think my opinion in this matter counts much!

    JF - the ironic thing is that everywhere I have been has an element of racism. There are so many tangents one can go down when it comes to racism and depending on who you actually talk to, everyone gets a different view of it.

    Now I don't condone racism or ANY -ism (bar sexism of course) but each country can elevate themselves by using OTHER countries of the "ideal reason not to do X and Y".

    I think the UK has been fortunate not to have really gone through something as massive as government condoned racism. The worst with that is the assumption made by the rest of the world that because you governmnet has passed a law, that the countrymen agree with it.

    Point in reference: What if the BNP did somehow win and the UK was sanctioned because they are now being seen as being collectively "racist"...
  • PO I wish you had taen your damn cricket team with you

  • Nick L wrote (see)

    Ironically there was a lot of war imagery in the BNP broadcast 'people fought for this country...etc died for this country...they would be turning in their graves'....'all of the names on the war memorials in the country'.

    Good point Nick, no doubt the BNP broadcasts neglected to mention why they were fighting for this country i.e. to protect it and others against the sort of rhetoric they're preaching! Similar point to Corinthian's previous moving thread on the subject.
  • DustinDustin ✭✭✭
    I don't in any way support the BNP, however what I hope the major parties note is that immigration (the free borders and lax regulation , not the legitimate migration of workers) is actually an issue that a significant percentage of the electorate wish to see addressed. Sure there will be some racists amongst the voters, but I also think that a number of them have used their (protest) vote to express an opinon.

    Incidentally the greens received a similar share of the vote yet about 1% of the coverage given to the BNP. I also saw the political broadcast by the BNP, and liked the English democrats one. The socialist labour one, with the fella out of the Royle Family, made excellent comedy viewing.
  • Britain for the British?

    That's most of us leaving then.

  • And what could you make of "South Africa for the South Africans"?
  • I see the BNP leader Nick Griffin wasn't too happy after pelted with eggs just the other day.

    He said "The bastards could have seperated the whites first........"

  • WilkieWilkie ✭✭✭

    Someone else pointed out on Corrie's thread - the WWII wasn't over facism.

    No-one was taking on Hitler until he started invading other countries.

  • Chocolate Moose - wind your neck back in. I was quoting something that I had heard about the BNP.

    Most countries are severely "undemocratic" (what is democracy really?) and war is happily avoided. I think mostly, people are happy living in their bubble until someone invades it
  • Any chance that Griffin set up the egg-throwing incident to get that press conference aired on every station in the land?

    Is Australia racist? I'm not an expert in these matters but they manage their borders a bit more closely. Or seem to.

  • Are you asking if EVERY SINGLE person living in Australia is racist?

    Because that's kind of a point I was trying to make about slight ignorance image
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