Twisted History

When an article of mine looking at the role of Africa, Caribbean and South Asian troops in the British army during the two World Wars was published on Remembrance Sunday, some people criticised me for “re-writing history in favour of the BME community.

So I thought I’d see what the BNP had to say on the subject, by way of comparison. To be totally honest, I hoped to find ammunition for another article like my original “They’re taking our Spitfires!” After all, making your political opponents look ridiculous is often a good way to defeat them.

Of course I didn’t expect to find anything about non-white troops fighting for Britain in the two World Wars; but I was surprised to find nothing about the white British troops in those wars either. There’s a picture of Churchill on the home page, but no profile – though figures of legend such as Hereward the Wake get one – and he’s not one of the “British Giants”. The section on defending us from invasion has a Spitfire picture, but while there’s an article on Boudicca, there’s no Battle of Britain.

Potteries historians note there’s no RJ Mitchell, nor James Brindley and Josiah Wedgwood. I guess Wedgwood’s politics were wrong, as social and political reformers are notable by their absence. Whole political movements are missing too – nothing on the Chartists or Suffragettes, and for a party supposedly all for the working class, no mention of the Levellers, the Tolpuddle Martyrs or the Jarrow Marchers.

Art and literature are clearly for wimps – Shakespeare gets a mention but not Dickens, Jane Austen, George Eliot or the Bronte sisters; no Wordsworth or Tennyson, and no sign of Dr Johnson (another snub to Staffordshire!). There’s a serious lack of the “Christian heritage” the BNP claim to defend too, but lengthy articles full of glossy illustrations on the “Gods of the Ancient Britons” and Anglo-Saxon gods. No Quakers, no Methodists – all that social reform and concern for justice and the poor must be totally the wrong values for the BNP!

And I thought that was about it – a version of history ending with the British Empire at its height full of the sort of uplifting stories of powerful men taught when a quarter of the globe was coloured pink – a sort of “Boys Own Yarns” meets “1066 and all that”. The makings of a witty little item, perhaps.

But it’s not that simple, and not actually funny at all when you look a bit deeper.

On every page of this site, there’s a flyer for a book called “March of the Titans” by Arthur Kemp. If you click on this, you can buy the book via the BNP’s merchandising site, or you can read it on line. If you do so, you’ll find the whole of human history twisted to support the following:

“revealed in this work is the one true cause of the rise and fall of the world’s greatest empires – that all civilizations rise and fall according to their racial homogeneity and nothing else – a nation can survive wars, defeats, natural catastrophes, but not racial dissolution”.

Arthur Kemp moved to Britain from a murky past in South Africa in 1996 and is responsible for writing the BNP’s education and training manuals and the content of their website. He also runs the party’s merchandising arm, Excalibur.

If you are under any doubts at all about the ideology still at the heart of the BNP, you’ll find it within the pages of Kemp’s book, in all its ugliness. Note that this isn’t just a link among many other links – it’s an integral part of the BNP’s history section. Some items on the main site are lifted straight from it – “British Genius” is simply Kemp’s list of clever white folks with the non-Brits cut out.

Still, it might not have done the BNP’s reputation much good to include Kemp’s analysis of the Second World War, where sympathies seem to be very much with the Third Reich. He’s full of praise for Nazi science and medicine, and their banning of vivisection, but draws a discreet veil over the issue of how such “progress” was made with the frequent use of unwilling human “guinea pigs”. Here are a few extracts on what Kemp calls the “Second Great Brothers’ War”.

Dunkirk – HITLER LETS BRITISH ESCAPE

By 26 May – 16 days into the campaign – the Allied army in the north was trapped along a coastal enclave next to the town of Dunkirk. For reasons which have never been explained (the most common belief is that Hitler wanted to let the British escape so as to facilitate a peace with them at a later stage) the German panzers were deliberately stopped outside the town.

So it was that when Winston Churchill became prime minister of Britain on 10 May 1940, his first act the next day was to announce that German cities would be targeted for bombing attacks. The same month the first German cities were bombed by British aircraft. The German air force however avoided bombing British cities, concentrating on the strategically more important airfields and ports, launching the first of these major raids during August 1940.

The Blitz STARTS IN RESPONSE TO BRITISH AIR RAIDS

In the interim, British bombers had been raiding German cities for almost four months: finally, after a bombing raid on Berlin itself, Hitler authorized the Luftwaffe to start bombing British cities in return.

Nazi atrocities are given a sinister positive gloss: note the phrases “granted euthanasia” and “mercy killings” for the murder of disabled people.

In all, some 5,000 retarded and deformed children were granted euthanasia by the German government before the end of the war – with each case being individually reviewed by a specially appointed committee. The policy of administering euthanasia to retarded and deformed children was then also extended to incurably insane adults. Thanks to the German habit of keeping meticulous records, the exact number of incurably insane adults granted euthanasia is known: 70,273. Although the adult euthanasia project was conducted in secret, it was impossible to conceal such things from the German public, and by 1941, news of the mercy killings had been leaked. Growing public pressure on the Nazi government forced the abandonment of the program in that year.

The Concentration Camps

Nazi Germany is however most known for its concentration camps, and particularly those in which large numbers of emaciated and dead prisoners were discovered at the end of the war, and which have become synonymous with any image of that era. The first concentration camps were set up soon after the Nazis came to power, with the best known being Dachau, which is situated to the north of Munich.

These camps were in fact large prisons, and the prisoners were sentenced by civil courts to fixed terms of imprisonment which depended upon the crime committed. These crimes could be overtly political – membership or activism in the banned Communist Party was common – but was also extended to all other crimes, including conventional criminal activities such as theft or robbery. Eventually homosexuals were also interned: although this would only occur quite a while later.

All things said, to have been a Jew in Nazi Germany could not have been a pleasant experience: but, as the over 4.3 million claims against the post war German state from Jews who suffered as a result of this persecution, (by 1998 the German state had paid out over $50 billion in reparations), certainly far fewer died than what is most often claimed. Increasingly, all the evidence urges a complete revision of this aspect of the history of World War Two.

The effect of the Jewish factor was a primary reason for the outbreak of the war and lay behind much of the Allies’ double standards when reacting to German and Soviet aggression at the beginning of the war.

So much for Griffin’s claim to have left the bad old days of Holocaust denial and anti-Semitism behind him; this book so keenly promoted by the BNP also says:

The well known Jewish propensity for business and the ability to accumulate vast amounts of money – a phenomena well known to this day – was the source of much original anti-Jewish feeling.

Whether by deliberate plan or accident, the situation has arisen whereby Jews have ended up dominating the mass media forms of both the USA, and to a slightly smaller extent, of Western Europe. The ownership of the mass media by a small group of Jews is well documented and full details are easily obtainable on the Internet. Given the long association between Jews and assorted left-wing causes, varying from hard-core Communism to all manner of pro-Black activities, it is therefore not surprising that the mass media then also mirrors an uniformly pro-non-White message in its portrayal of current events and opinion. This Jewish domination of the mass media means that what is generally construed as ‘public opinion’ is in fact always presented in a way which is as sympathetic as possible to Jewish interests.

This Jewish domination of the media can, and does, have serious consequences, so vividly illustrated by the 11 September 2001 attacks on New York’s World Trade Centre and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C.. These events were triggered exclusively by the unflagging US support given to Israel against the Palestinians. The fact that the USA – and much of the West – continues to support Israel at any cost – including the deaths of thousands of its own citizens – is the surest evidence yet of the power of the Jewish lobby in both the mass media (which generates ‘public opinion’) and of the Jewish lobby’s famed control over the US government, and to a lesser extent, the governments of Western Europe.

Note particularly the claim that “These events were triggered exclusively by the unflagging US support given to Israel against the Palestinians”. Consider for a moment what our local BNP councillors might have to say if such a comment was made by, say, a Muslim student union officer…

And in case you think it’s just the Jews Kemp despises, here are a few words about Christianity, from the people who are telling us they are the true defenders of the faith:

The introduction of Christianity has to count as the single greatest ideological catastrophe to ever strike Europe.

So it was that Christianity came to be the dominant religion of Europe – the first religion to convert by mass murder. The original White religion had never tried to convert followers upon pain of death, and had never waged a war in its name – and as such it was psychologically unprepared to do battle with a Middle Eastern religion which engendered a genocidal fanaticism amongst its followers. Once the Christians had run out of pagans to kill, they turned upon themselves in a violent and bloody fratricidal conflict which saw the Church split and the various protagonists kill each other in a crazed blood lust.

I ’m an agnostic, and my point here is not to defend Christianity, or for that matter Judaism or British strategy in World War Two; it’s to highlight the BNP’s hypocrisy. Their enthusiasm for our “Christian” heritage and sudden keenness to see it promoted in schools is surely exposed here as just another means to divide “us” from “them”.

Remember that this book was written by one of Nick Griffin’s right-hand men, who strongly influences party ideology. The new website might look pretty flashy, but it’s just a new set of sheep’s clothing for the same very dangerous wolf.

Pits'n'Pots - The Radical Press

Germany's far-right flops

Support for the National Democratic Party of Germany is sliding, and it's resorting to premium-rate phone lines to stay afloat

When the Berlin wall fell apart, back in November 1989, fears that Germany's forthcoming reunification would lead to the revival of violent nationalism and bitter revisionism were looming all over Europe. Were those anticipating the Third Reich spirit's renaissance right? Looking at the reunified Germany 20 years on, they surely were not.

Ever since the wall came down, Germany's political establishment has made efforts to ease the anxieties of its neighbours to the east, namely Poland and the Czech Republic. Critics of Germany's détente with both countries have been marginalised and deprived of any tangible influence on German politics.

Evidence of this tendency was visible this week, when foreign minister Guido Westerwelle intervened to stop a figure unpopular with Poles being appointment to a museum post. The Federation of Expellees (Bund der Vertriebenen) had been trying to place its chairwoman, Erika Steinbach, on the board of a planned museum about the ethnic Germans expelled from countries in central Europe after the second world war. Steinbach's candidature was unacceptable to many Poles, as back in 1991, she was one of the Bundestag members who voted against the recognition of the German-Polish border. By blocking her bid, Germany's incumbent government has once again proved its commitment to the reconciliation process.

Still, German nationalism is not quite dead, and if it has a face, it is that of the BNP's sister organisation, the NPD (National Democratic party of Germany). There was a time when the neo-Nazi party was on the ascendancy. In 2004, the NPD managed to break into Saxony's state parliament with a 9.2% share of the vote, followed by its success in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern two years later. Prior to 1989, both states were part of East Germany, and since the reunification they have suffered from soaring unemployment, deindustrialisation and migration to the west. The NPD has managed to spin political capital from the eastern Germans' dissatisfaction, just like the BNP has seduced a section of British society.

But the similarities end right there. While the BNP's leader rejoices in his Question Time debut, and his party benefits from two recently gained seats at the European parliament, his fellow travellers in Germany are making desperate attempts to save their own party from imminent bankruptcy. The NPD has found itself in financial dire straits owing to a series of accounting irregularities, for which it was fined a total of €2.5m in April. Last year the party's treasurer was arrested on suspicion of transferring €627,000 from the party's accounts to his own company. Perhaps the best measure of the NPD's desperation is that it launched a 0900 prefix phone line, mostly employed by German sex-line operators, through which its supporters can donate much-needed euros. "Every phone call counts!", encourages the NPD's website.

In the most recent Bundestag elections, the nationalists pulled a meagre 1.5% share of the vote, overtaken by the German Pirate party, who received 2%. In the light of all these setbacks, it seems that, after years of rising fortunes, the BNP's German allies have found themselves at the edge of a steep political slope. This rise-and-fall scenario could very well repeat itself in the UK.

UTV

EasyJet pulls in-flight magazine over Holocaust fashion shoot

EasyJet has apologised for using images of models posing at the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin

Airline apologises for poor taste of fashion spread that used Jewish Museum and Holocaust memorial as backdrop

The budget airline easyJet has been forced to withdraw almost 300,000 copies of its in-flight magazine because of protests over its use of Holocaust memorial sites as a backdrop for a fashion feature.

An eight-page spread in the November edition of the magazine, easyJet Traveller, depicted models posing at the Jewish Museum in Berlin and leaning against the pillars of the Holocaust memorial. The magazine has been removed from all flights after complaints from Jewish organisations in Europe and from passengers, particularly on flights to Tel Aviv, one of the airline's destinations.

An advertising agency contracted to produce the feature for easyJet received written permission to photograph its models outside the museum but not at the Holocaust memorial, a field of 2,700 concrete pillars with an underground information hub in the centre of the city.

Uwe Neumärer, a spokesman for the Foundation for the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, said: "We only give permission to projects that have a connection to the memorial, the Holocaust or some aspect of commemoration."

Samantha Day, an easyJet spokeswoman, said the magazine's contents had been brought to the airline's attention on Friday, three weeks after it had first gone into circulation. The magazine was produced by an external agency.

"We realised that to hold a fashion shoot in front of the memorial was inappropriate and insensitive, and we didn't wish to offend anyone. It's not quite clear why we didn't spot it earlier," she said. The airline had received a very few complaints about the magazine, "but it can take a few days for customer service complaints to come through and for them to be addressed".

In the publication's fashion feature, models pose in Berlin fashion designers' outfits and the specific locations are clearly identified in the text. Under the headline A Quick Guide to the Chic Side of Berlin, an accompanying article reads: "Ravaged by war and torn in two by conflicting ideologies, Berlin may not be a picture-perfect jewel … but it's a treasure trove for the culture vulture … no visit would be complete without exploring the testaments to the city's turbulent past, such as … the Jewish Museum and the Holocaust memorial."

INK, the publishing house responsible for the magazine, said the article was meant to encourage people to visit the memorial. "The shoot was intended to not only promote local design talent … but to raise awareness. From an educational perspective, it is of utmost importance that visitors to Berlin see the Jewish Museum … and Holocaust memorial," it said in a written statement.

Oliver Bloom, an artist from London, had written to the magazine's editor to complain after seeing the article during a flight between Venice and Gatwick this month. "As soon as I saw the images and recognised where they'd been shot, I just realised what a contradiction it was," he said. "The memorial is designed as a place to make you feel quite strange, full of monoliths, tombstones, and it's to help you meditate on the human life lost. To have a fashion shoot there with models, is a contradiction in terms, and shows complete insensitivity and a level of ignorance about the Holocaust."

Bloom also contacted the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust. "I told them how distasteful I thought it was. I'm still waiting for a reply from the editor."

easyJet said it "profusely" apologised to anyone offended by the "inappropriate fashion photo shoot … featured in this month's issue of the in-flight magazine", and said it was reviewing its co-operation with INK.

One person responding to the issue on the German news website thelocal.de wrote: "What next? A tourism photo shoot in Auschwitz?"

When the Holocaust memorial opened in 2005, its architect, Peter Eisenman, created a stir by suggesting that visitors to the site should be allowed to have picnics at the stones, and use the place as a thoroughfare, enabling it to be integrated into the city's infrastructure. But rules were soon introduced and security guards now monitor the memorial round the clock.

Guardian

Barry Gardiner MP hits out at BNP over Wembley video

A far-right group has described scenes of Wembley's diverse population as “horrific” in an online video

Members of the British National Party (BNP) from South Wales can be heard saying “it's not our country anymore” as they drive down High Road, in footage uploaded to video sharing website Youtube.

As residents from different the areas diverse community walk passed the camera voices can be heard in the background saying “how can anybody say immigration is a good thing”. One man says “you've got your pajamas on” as the camera, aimed out of a car window, passes a man wearing traditional clothing.

Barry Gardiner, MP for Brent North, hit out at the BNP in Parliament, describing the footage as “revolting” and challenging the party to contest his Brent North seat. He said: “My understanding is that if you are born here you are British. To say “Briton” means people who came here several hundred years ago is simply rubbish. You can apply for citizenship or you can be born here. Most of the people in Wembley were born here.”

Simon Darby, vice chairman of the BNP, said: “There may well be a case for putting up a candidate in Brent North, I don't know.”

He added: “This isn't integration it's colonisation. It's not a question of integrating it's replacing the local population. That area was predominantly indigenous, white and British. It's fallen down and down where we are on course for there being no, or a negligible amount of indigenous people.”

When asked what he meant by indigenous, he said: “Indigenous Britons are white. It's an inconvenient fact – indigenous Britons are white.”

Harrow Times

The Iliacometer - a November preview

This article was submitted by one of our readers, Iliacus. We welcome any contributions from our supporters (as long as those contributions conform to the law and are in reasonably good taste). Please send your articles to us via email.

At the end of October I set out a number of 'performance indicators' by which the electoral progress of the BNP might be assessed.

By the end of the week, following a Knowsley by-election, I will be able to post the full details for November, with evidence of any trends in polling, but for the moment here is an update on indicators a and ai - which assess their ability to contest elections.

Here are the monthly figures since July for seats contested; by-elections which have taken place; and the percentage contested by the BNP - my indicator a):

July 8 - 23 - 35%
August 2 - 9 - 22%
September 8 - 24 - 33%
October 8 - 38 - 21%
November 2 - 17 - 12%

Yes, you read that correctly - in 17 by-elections across Britain the so-called British National Party managed to find just 2 candidates (Conservatives 15, Labour 11, Lib Dems 16! , Greens 4). That's 12% - less than one in eight! (In July and September they were contesting a third of seats, or more.)

On my indicator ai) which aims to smooth out monthly variations by taking a rolling figure across the previous two months the trend was:

End-August 31% September 30% October 26% November 18%

I see a trend there - and it cheers me more than it will please the BNP! Back in a few days with news of the other indicators on the Iliacometer! Not to be missed!

HOPE not hate leaflets help defeat BNP

A Hope not hate weekend of action helped ensure a derisory result for a BNP candidate at a local election last week. Dave Owen, who was contesting a Doncaster council by-election in Rossington ward on 19 November, received only 101 votes, coming fifth with 4.3%.

Local Methodists, supported by members of Doncaster Racial Equality Council, distributed anti-BNP leaflets in the ward as part of the national HOPE not hate weekend of activity on 7-8 November. Activists reported a good reception from residents, who had no time for the BNP. They also leafleted extensively in Doncaster town centre and Bentley.

Owen, 59, who lives in Stainforth, has contested local elections for the BNP on several occasions and last June stood for mayor of Doncaster, coming fifth with 10.9%. The mayoral election was won by Peter Davies standing for the English Democrats, which opposes immigration, the EU and “political correctness” and wants to “put England First”. The English Democrats came second (to Labour) in Rossington and undoubtedly captured potential BNP votes – though that is not to minimise the importance of HOPE not hate’s activity.

Hope not hate

Question Crime - Taxpayers' £143k bill to protect Nick Griffin at the Beeb

Nick Griffin's disastrous appearance on Question Time landed taxpayers with a £143,000 security bill for protecting the BNP leader. That's how much police spent dealing with angry protesters outside BBC Television Centre, closing roads and using a helicopter to keep the far-right boss safe.

Furious critics have demanded Beeb chiefs cough up the cash out of the £17.5million they pocketed in bonuses last year.

Labour MP Andy Slaughter, whose constituency covers TV Centre at White City, West London, said: "It was a decision by managers to put him on the programme so maybe they should put their money where their mouth is. People will be horrified to find out that so much public money has been spent giving a fascist party their best-ever publicity."

The decision to invite Griffin on to Question Time sparked a furious backlash. Police had to draft in thousands of officers after anti-fascist groups called a demonstration. Diverting cops who should have been fighting crime in other areas cost £109,000 alone. Another £13,000 was spent on overtime pay for extra officers. The helicopter, transport costs, barriers and sign posting road closures added a further £21,000 to the bill.

BBC heads refused to say how much it spent on extra security for Griffin, claiming freedom of information laws didn't apply because staff may be put in danger. But Mr Slaughter branded the notion "ludicrous".

He added: said: "If the police can tell you how much it cost why can't the BBC? They should come clean about how much money they have wasted."

Mr Slaughter had tried to persuade the BBC to film Question Time at another location where Griffin's appearance wouldn't cause as much disruption. And he argued that allowing the racist BNP a platform in such a diverse area of the country was an insult to locals.

Before the show Beeb staff went around removing signs so any protesters who did break in would not be able to find senior managers' offices.

Griffin was humiliated when the audience and fellow panellists exposed and ridiculed his vile views. But he later presented himself as a victim in a bid to win sympathy.

Mirror

Prey for the BNP

The Sikhs who join in the hatred of Muslims are deluded if they expect to avoid racial exclusion

Rajinder Singh, a British Sikh with an extreme dislike of Muslims, is, according to the BNP, "the kind of immigrant you want if you're going to have them". And if, as expected, the party members vote to allow ethnic minorities to join, Singh will be the first to be conferred this "honour". Sikh organisations have dismissed him – and fellow BNP wannabe "Ammo Singh" (a pseudonym) – as unrepresentative, and it is easy to write them off as self-hating lunatics or pranksters. But to do so is to obscure the larger realities of how race, religion and hate operate.

What has been lost in the storm over Nick Griffin's BBC appearance and the debate over the freedom to voice hatred in the guise of "white rights" is that modern racism survives through a parasitical alliance of vicious groups and ideologies, each of which thinks it is superior to and more entitled to preservation and growth than the others. What they share is a commitment to delusions of absolute racial or religious grandeur and purity even as they compete for victim status.

The two Sikhs' hostility to Islam is strong enough for them to overlook the contempt in which the BNP ultimately holds all racial minorities. Communities in Britain with links to the Indian subcontinent have, over time, seceded from their rich shared heritage and the assertive "Asian" banner under which they fought successfully for their rights in the 1960s and 1970s. Dispersed into the sectarian religious identities of Sikh, Hindu and Muslim, they have all but forgotten how to mobilise together against the threat of an opportunistic ethnic majoritarianism that does not, ultimately, make fine distinctions among those it perceives as outsiders.

Generalising labels like "Asian" may have their drawbacks but, as Arun Kundnani of the Institute of Race Relations notes of Sunrise Radio's bizarre decision to drop "Asian" from its banner under sustained pressure from extremist groups like the World Hindu Council, the hope underlying such disaffiliation is that "racist whites could be persuaded to exclude Hindus and Sikhs from their hatred, and focus instead solely on Muslims". A 2006 Runnymede Trust survey claims that as many as 80% of Hindus and Sikhs in Britain wished to be seen as specifically distinct from Muslims. "Don't Freak, I'm a Sikh", urged T-shirts printed after the 7 July bombings.

Griffin's assertion that "many" Hindus and Sikhs support the BNP is a wild exaggeration. But we need to face up to the messy reality of a society where ethno-religious fragmentation and tensions between minority groups work to the advantage of majority chauvinism. Kundnani points out that as early as 2002 the BNP was able to persuade a tiny Sikh faction called the Shere-e-Punjab to participate in its anti-Muslim campaign. Even if such collaborators are a tiny fringe, minority communities need to be aware of the ways in which their participation in divisive categories and separatist communal warfare only strengthens the positions of the racists who seek to subordinate them entirely.

Anti-immigrant views among migrants are not new, but what extremisms also share is an exaggerated fear that other groups are numerically overwhelming theirs. When Sikh-Muslim gang fights broke out in Slough, the language used mimicked the defensive territorial language of the BNP. "Muslims run Slough," one gang member insisted at the time. "Why are Sikhs coming from outside?"

Ammo Singh told the BBC, which has made a habit of using fringe groups as representatives of entire communities, that Islam was planning to take over Britain through "a combination of immigration, high birth rate and conversion".

Rajinder Singh, like many Hindus and Sikhs, has invoked the 1947 partition of India, in which he lost his father, as the cause of his enmity towards Muslims. This selective emphasis conveniently obscures two facts. The first is that it was the British empire and its policies of divide and rule which culminated in the partition that was its last official act. The second is that all three communities are fully responsible for the horrific butchery, bloodletting and rape that followed. Rather than mourning the tragedy of partition, men like Rajinder Singh seek to re-enact it in Britain, once again under the aegis of British racial supremacism.

The time has come for us to recognise racial and religious hatred in all its manifestations for what it is and take a stand against it – alongside right-thinking whites – not only when it is directed at us, but also when it is undertaken in our name. The colour line hasn't disappeared yet, but the real struggle is between fascist hatreds and humane solidarity.

Comment is free

Spitfire is not BNP's to use, says Sikh pilot who fought the Nazis

One of the last surviving Indian Second World War fighter pilots has launched an attack on the BNP after it used images of a Spitfire in its campaign.

Mohinder Singh Pujji hit out at the far-Right party, and urged all British ethnic minorities not to shun the forces. The 92-year-old RAF Squadron Leader flew a Spitfire in the Battle of Britain and also met Sir Winston Churchill. He was one of only 18 Indian pilots in the RAF in the war, and the only Sikh to fly wearing his turban.

Sqn Ldr Pujji said he was outraged at the way the BNP has used imagery from the war: "The BNP are wrong to use the Spitfire as representative of their party. They forget people from different backgrounds helped in the Second World War. I am proof of this - I was flying a Spitfire. I also met Winston Churchill. Even in those days, there were ethnic minorities fighting for the British. I would recommend the armed forces for young people, regardless of race."

Sqn Ldr Pujji was born in Shimla, India, and volunteered for the RAF in 1940 after qualifying as a pilot in 1937.He was shot down twice and flew missions in North Africa and Burma, winning the Distinguished Flying Cross. After the war he flew commercial airlines, settling in Newham before moving to Gravesend. He was made a freeman of Newham in 2005.

Last week BNP leader Nick Griffin announced his intention to contest the Barking constituency, in Newham's neighbouring borough, at the election.

London Evening Standard

How racist is Barking?

East London borough Barking became the centre of a political battle when it was announced that British National Party (BNP) leader Nick Griffin is to stand against Labour MP Margaret Hodge at the next general election.

Voice reporters Janelle Oswald, Jack Wellby and Wendy Tuffour took to the streets of Barking to find out how locals feel about the area, the far-right BNP, and whether Griffin could be successful in the next general election.

Name: *James Shelly
Age: 65
Occupation: Former civil servant
Race/nationality: White English

“I’m originally from Newcastle-upon-Tyne but I have lived in London since I was nine. The main changes of London are that there are too many no-go areas for folks like myself.

“Immigrants move into an area, take over and refuse to mix, and Barking is a prime example. Barking has every single nationality walking on its streets talking different languages, yet nobody understands each other.

“Without a shadow of a doubt I feel like a minority in Barking, yet I am English. I have been living in a block of flats since 1995, yet I have never seen a white person move in. But every other country from the world comes and lives. I’m the only white on the block. I am not able to make friends with anybody because nobody speaks English.

“Another annoying thing about Barking and other neighbouring boroughs are that all the traditional spots such as pubs, bingo halls and private members clubs, including The British Legion, are closing and are being replaced with temples and mosques, which is outrageous. Where are we supposed to go?

“There are many ideas that Nick Griffin has suggested and promoted within his campaign that I agree with. England is no longer England...

“Islam is taking over the UK, which is why we now call Ilford Lane, Banga Lane, and let’s not forget the Africans that continue to come here by the dozens.

“England is not for the white people but for others to come and exploit. The immigrants that move in to our area also bring their criminal mentality. We have never had so many robberies and crime.”

Name: *Sheila Smith
Age: 55
Occupation: Former child minder
Race/nationality: White English

“I hate Barking! It is no longer an area to feel proud of but a haven for all foreigners, especially coloured people, to come and exploit, which is why I will vote for the BNP.

“Don’t get me wrong because I am not racially prejudiced, but I have to vote for those that represent me, and Nick does. When my daughter was pregnant with her fourth child, she was turned down for a larger property because she was not a priority, yet an African woman with no kids was given the premises.

“My son was fined more then £400 for allegedly calling a coloured man a racist name, which he didn’t. He’s not a racist because I have brought him up proper, plus he is used to people of all nationalities because I used to look after coloured children. However, he was taken to court and punished. Where is the justice?

Nick will definitely win in Barking because he represents us – the forgotten white folks. The Conservative and the Labour party are not addressing our needs but everybody else.

Name: Zakir Udiv
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Race/nationality: British Asian

“I enjoy living in Barking and have never experienced any racism. I will take the election next year seriously as I don’t want the BNP to come into this area. I don’t think they will win as I don’t believe that this is a racist borough.”

Name: Tracey Leacock
Age: 36
Occupation: Retail worker
Race/nationality: African-Caribbean

“Racism has never gone away since I was in school. The BNP have support because of the number of different people in Barking now. In the past it was predominantly English with some ethnic minorities, but now you’ve got everybody here.”

Name: Andrew Whitney
Age: 22
Occupation: Youth worker
Race/nationality: Guyanese

I have lived in Barking for 14 years and have had a lot of good experiences and made many close friends. Barking is not a bad area but there needs to be more support for young people.

“When I was younger I had a lot of problems with racism but now I think it takes on subtler forms because the area is populated with so many different cultures. I have mixed feelings about taking part in the elections, but people should probably vote to prevent the BNP from winning in Barking.

Name: Michael Houdoire
Age: 28
Occupation: Recruitment consultant
Race/nationality: White British

“I have lived in Barking all my life and I don’t like it. All you have to do is look around and you can see the high level of deprived families in the area. White families feel disenfranchised and the council are not doing very much for these people.

“Working-class people are losing their jobs and they feel polarised and want to connect with people. Some see Nick Griffin as a working-class guy who shares their views. I don’t think most people know fully about his beliefs.

“I will be examining all the candidates and I’ll have to decide on election day, but I definitely won’t vote for the BNP.”

Name: Terry Rampling
Age: 22
Occupation: Charity worker
Race/nationality: White British

“My work takes me to lots of different areas of London and I can see no noticeable difference between Barking and other areas. The people seem friendly. I have no idea why Nick Griffin has chosen Barking. Griffin’s views are counterproductive and I don’t align with anything he believes in.”

Name: Dami Soneye
Age: 23
Occupation: Housing officer
Race/nationality: Black Nigerian

“When we first moved into the area 10 years ago it was very racist. We suffered abuse, had tyres slashed, bricks through our windows and I was bullied at school. Over the years things have got better because a lot of ethnic minorities have moved into the area.

“Nick Griffin knows that some white people in Barking want ethnic minorities out. However, I don’t think the BNP will win as there are a lot more black people around now who want to have a voice in Barking. I’ve always voted for Labour after my mum told me to when I was 18!”

* Names have been changed

The Voice

Journalists conflict over whether to keep fascists out of the media

Reporters and broadcast journalists engaged in a fierce debate at the weekend on whether to allow the views of fascist BNP members to appear in print.

A motion at media union NUJ conference, calling for "no platform" for fascists attempting to pose as respectable politicians, sparked claims of "censorship" from some journalists, but other delegates urged the union to back "any journalist who refuses to work with the BNP." The NUJ's press and public relations workers' branch collectively demanded that conference especially supports "black union members who refuse to allow BNP members to use their publication or TV or radio channel as a platform."

The sharp exchanges took place as a photograph of delegates arriving at the conference was revealed to have been posted on the Redwatch internet site, which fascists have used to target union and anti-nazi activists. As some delegates urged an immediate ban on all photography at the conference, student journalist Elizabeth Houghton insisted that the union should not be cowed by the fascists.

"If you say that photography must be banned because nazis may use any photo to intimidate journalists, photographers might as well grab their cameras now and throw them on the funeral pyre of freedom of expression," she declared.

Although a motion calling on the union to work to protect reporters and their families from BNP threats because of their coverage was passed, conference voted against the "no platform" call and, instead, "advised journalists to report the BNP responsibly." But Norfolk delegate David Peel insisted that the decision should not stop journalists standing up to the fascist party.

"I fought the National Front in the 1970s and it breaks my heart that I'm still in this fight, but I will refuse to work with the BNP," he asserted.

Conference also responded to the "deliberate media distortions" of the construction strikes earlier this year, when a fight over national union agreements was portrayed in the press as demands for "British jobs for British workers." Delegates urged the union to campaign "to remind journalists covering industrial disputes of the importance of reporting fairly all sides."

Morning Star

Four arrests after Wrexham protest

Four people were arrested as Welsh Defence League (WDL) protestors were met with a strong police presence in Wrexham yesterday.

Around 50 members of the anti-Islam group gathered in the Wetherspoon’s pub in the town centre from 11am. The WDL said they were protesting against the proposed new mosque in Wrexham and Muslim extremists.

Regent Street was closed by police as they dealt with the protestors who left the pub. Police said the day passed without “significant incident” thanks to the large-scale force presence. Temporary Deputy Chief Constable Ian Shannon, said: “I am pleased with the success of the police operation.

Jeff Hurford, of Unite Against Fascism who held a counter protest, said: “People from Wrexham were very supportive of us and it was good that so many people turned out to show the WDL they are not welcome.”

Wales Online