The Rise of Racism?

Last month the BBC went undercover to report on the inner goings-on at the British National party - a party traditionally known for its racist stance. The party claims to have cleaned up its act. But is it really true?

At present the partys policies are based upon the wish for immigrants to voluntarily leave the country and the BNP claims they will use financial incentives to encourage this. In the past, the stance was that all non-British people should be forced out of the country This change in policy is just one that Nick Griffin has worked on since taking over to make the partys front line stance more saleable. The stance of Griffin is that a mono-racial country is more stable and more peaceful, and that with the merging of races, British culture will disappear and tyranny will rule. Griffin admits this change in policy is intended to get more votes, but are they actually changes at all?

Nick Griffin has been involved in far-right politics for twenty-seven years. He was in the National Front for most of that time. He has also edited The Rune in the past, in which he referred to Holocaust as the Holohoax. He claimed that the Holocaust never happened, and believed that it was merely propaganda.

In June 1999, Griffin wrote another article, this time attacking homosexuals. He said: dozens of gay demonstrators flaunting their perversionsshowed just why so many ordinary people find these creatures so repulsive.

The party also still has links to Combat 18, an unashamedly racist group. (1 = A, 8 = H the initials for Adolf Hitler). Griffin knows that some members are linked to this group, but doesnt ban them. Instead he insists that the British National party is a way for these people to show how proud they are to be white.

The BNP has links to Combat 18

This past month, a BBC programme Panorama instigated the BNP. Jason Gwynne went undercover as a BNP member to secretly film the real attitudes of the party. The programme The Secret Agent records one prospective candidate repeatedly saying he just wants to kill Pakis. Another admits pushing dog excrement through an Asian business's letterbox. Griffin is filmed telling supporters that Islam is a wicked religion, whilst the Quran tells Muslims is it acceptable to rape white women and children.

He is filmed saying:

You have go to stand up and do something for the British National party because otherwise they [Muslims] will do for someone in your family, that is the truthI would get seven years [in prison] if I said that outside

John Tyndall, the founder of the BNP is also filmed stating that Asians and Africans have merely produced black magic, witchcraft, voodoo, cannibalism and AIDS.

Another BNP member is filmed admitting to assaulting an Asian man in the Bradford riots four years ago, one of the worst race riots Britain has ever seen. He says:

Ive hit him again and hes gone down, hes outIm kicking him, kicking awayHis arms are all fucking floppy, his head is down, blood coming out of his head. I looked down at my shoes and they were just covered in blood.

Gwynne was helped by another mole in the BNP Andy Sykes, who has since received death threats because of his involvement. In an interview with The Guardian Sykes claimed that Griffin spoke on the eve of the Bradford riots. He says that Griffin told the audience that they had to fight to protect their community from Asians coming into the area.

After the riots, Sykes said that other BNP members were delighted with what had happened. He then received a call from a BNP organiser in Leeds ordering him to attack a local fun day. He says:

It had been organised by Bradford TUC [Trades Union Congress] and the local community in an attempt to begin the healing process after the riots, and I got this call telling me to get as many lads together as I could and go and attack any TUC members or Labour people or lefties. I was horrified. I told him this was a fun day with women and children and he said that if woman wanted to support the TUC they deserved what they got

Sykes warned the Bradford TUC about what had been planned. He then began to work as a mole for anti-fascist campaigners.

After the screening of Panorama on the 15th July, Griffin refused to apologise for any of the comments made by himself or his members. Five men were arrested with a variety of offences given as the reason, and three men were expelled from the party. Barclays bank also closed around 20 of the BNPs bank accounts.

It seems that since September 11th 2001 the British National Party has been using the religion of Islam as a way of getting noticed. Since the event, the fear of the strange has risen, with no help from the governments of America and Britain. Jeremy Seabrook writes about this in more detail in an article for The Guardian. He writes how the BNP is furthering their power by tapping into an unspoken fear of the stranger, in this case Islam and Muslims. He writes that it is much easier to admit to Islamaphobia than racism due to it being a religion that seemingly represses women and homosexuals. It is also seen that religion is a choice, whereas race is not. Seabrook calls Islamaphobia the half-open door through which [racism] makes its triumphal re-entry into respectable society. It seems that tapping into this fear of the other is working for the BNP: it is estimated that the party received around 800, 000 votes in the European elections last May.

So, the BNP has found a way to connect religion with race, and despite its attempt at a fairer, more democratic party stance, is hiding racist intentions. The party is also using the fear brewed up by 9/11 to gain access to a wider support network of people people who foolishly believe that they arent really being racist. What we really need to fear is what happens if that support keeps on growing enough for the party to have enough power to enforce its manifestos. After being questioned by the BBC in 2001 about his principle of a voluntary return of immigrants to their home country, Griffin eventually admits that really he would like to see, at the end of the day, that there are none here at all.