May 04, 2011

Keep fascists out of Wales

This article was submitted by one of our readers, Daniel P. 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.

Elections to the National Assembly for Wales are due to take place on Thursday May 5th and the far-right British National Party will be seeking once again to gain a foothold in mainstream Welsh politics, as they have already done in English local councils and in the European Parliament. The party will attempt to exploit public anxieties in regards to the economic crisis caused by the failure of capitalism and the Coalition's cuts and privatisation agenda, to irrationally blame scapegoats such as asylum-seekers, migrants and Muslims for our problems.

The BNP's efforts to present a more respectable face in the search for electoral credibility have begun to pay off in Wales in recent years; the party aims to capitalise on the decline of industrial areas, as well as growing disenchantment with corrupt mainstream political parties. Whilst the BNP did not put up candidates in Wales in the 1997 elections, only one stood in 2001 and two in 2005, last year they stood nineteen candidates - averaging 1,215 votes per seat. This is not enough to win a seat in Parliament or in the National Assembly, but the Assembly has 20 regional 'top-up' seats, which aggregates votes over a large area and increases the chances of the BNP winning a seat.

At the previous Assembly elections in 2007, the BNP won 9,986 votes in the North Wales region, (5.1%) putting it within 2,580 votes (0.6%) of winning a seat. A fascist voice in Cardiff Bay would be a massively divisive blow to our multicultural society. There is an urgent need for everyone who is concerned about this threat, to join anti-fascist campaigns such as Hope Not Hate & Unite Against Fascism all-out to expose the rotten BNP for what they are, and stop them in our Assembly.

It is amazing that within three years of the end of the Second World War a fascist stood in London's East End although he was soundly defeated. But for a quarter of a century after the war a long economic boom, rising living standards and little unemployment gave no ground for any far-right revival.

The return of economic crises and higher unemployment in the 1970s encouraged several fascist splinter groups to unite to form the now notorious National Front; their racism was mainly aimed at immigrants from the West Indies and their children, but they also terrorised gay & lesbian people, the disabled & Jews. Some of these immigrants were ex-servicemen who stayed in Britain after the war - others had been encouraged to come and settle by ministers such as Enoch Powell in order to fill jobs in the 1950s. The NF had some initial success with 17,500 members at its peak but were defeated by the growth of a huge anti-fascist movement able to attract over 100,000 people to Rock against Racism gigs and counter-demonstrations organised by the Anti Nazi League, the precursor of today's UAF. The ANL exposed the violence of the NF skinheads and the Nazi past of the NF leadership; eventually due to public internal rifts & strong opposition, they were effectively disbanded.

One of the splinter groups that emerged out of the NF was the British National Party, founded in 1982 by John Tyndall, a well-known anti-semite and Holocaust denier. It made little headway until 1993 when a leading BNP member Derek Beacon won a council seat on the Isle Of Dogs in London's East End. This was the same year young student Stephen Lawrence was brutally murdered by cowardly racists in south-east London, the third such murder following the establishment of the BNP head office in the area.

A united campaign swept Beacon out of office in 1994 - the BNP continued to stagnate during the remainder of the decade. The party's next success was in May 2002, winning three council seats, and in May 2003 a further thirteen; Griffin claims that it was due to his taking over the BNP, but there is much more to it than this arrogant overblown claim. Griffin and other BNP leaders had realised that they could not escape from the extremist ghetto as long as their Nazi image persisted. He learned from the success of Front National in France to present a respectable image by distancing his party from the boot boys and Nazi paraphernalia. Cosmetic changes in policy were made - for example forced repatriation of non-whites were replaced by so-called 'voluntary' repatriation. Not that this means Griffin had changed his views from when he was a young NF organiser, of course. After all it was only in 1998 that he was convicted of inciting racial hatred and received a two-year suspended sentence for publishing anti-semitic & Holocaust denial literature.

In 1998 the media began whipping up anti-immigrant hysteria about asylum seekers being given luxury accommodation at public expense, and Britain being 'flooded' by migrants. This was of course all nonsense - in reality asylum seekers were not permitted to work & claimed minimal benefits. This racist media campaign won some 100,000 votes in the 1999 Euro elections regardless. Another set of events were to benefit the BNP even more. In January 2001 the Oldham Chronicle reported police claims that there had been a significant rise in race attacks on white men by Asians. The beating of a white pensioner was highlighted as a racist attack, although his son profusely denied that it was a race issue.False claims were made that white areas received less government money than Asian areas. As the racial tensions were whipped up, the BNP and NF began attempting marches - one of which was to spark the Oldham riots as Asian youths defended their communities.

In the June general election Griffin had 16% of the vote in Oldham - the highest ever for a fascist party. In the 2002 May council elections this series of events enabled the BNP to win three seats in Burnley and over a fifth of the vote in nineteen other council seats. Over the next few years the BNP continued to pick up councillors in England, at one point reaching over 50. In Barking, east London, and in Stoke they reached double figures and had hopes of taking control; but the icing on the cake was winning two seats in the 2009 European Parliament elections, which coincided with the expenses scandal which disgraced all three mainstream parties. Griffin won in North West England and Andrew Brons, the one-time chair of the defunct NF, in Yorkshire and Humberside. Both scraped in on a low poll but nevertheless it gave them a great boost. It allowed sections of the media including the BBC to treat them as mainstream politicians. It also brought considerable financial prosperity in terms of salaries and expenses. Unfortunately for them though, it also brought them to their peak.

They did not stay long at the top. Wild claims were made that Griffin would win the Barking seat at the general election, that the BNP would take over Barking and Stoke councils. They put up a record 339 candidates spending £170,000 on deposits, nearly all of which were subsequently lost The election results were a disaster; there had been a brilliant campaign by anti-fascists to oppose them wherever they went, which contributed to this downfall. Thousands of Hope Not Hate and Unite Against Fascism attended the constituency every week. Griffin was humiliated in Barking and they lost every councillor up for election. At the same time he squandered tens of thousands of pounds more fighting the Equality and Human Rights Commission desperately attempting to maintain what amounted to a virulent 'whites-only' policy.

Unsurprisingly, much of the membership was upset - calls were made for Griffin's resignation but he only promised to step down in 2013. In theory the BNP constitution allows a challenge to the leader this year but fascists are hardly big on democracy. Ordinary BNP members do not automatically have a vote in internal elections - you have to become an activist then pass certain tests. Then if you want to stand, hundreds of signatures are needed from voting members. Not surprisingly, none of those who tried to stand against Griffin succeeded and all have now either been expelled or left. A series of BNP councillors have resigned recently in protest at Griffin's poor leadership.

So is it over for the British National Party? It could be - but let's make sure. In the last elections in Wales, they were able to enter paper candidates who did not work in the constituency but still pick up an average 1,215 votes per candidate. The BNP cannot possibly win any seats using this method, but if they stand on the regional list - which adds seven or eight constituencies together and uses a proportional representation system - they can come a lot closer; that is how the MEP seats were won in 2009.

Let's not allow the Assembly elections to give the BNP and their English/Welsh Defence League street thug allies a lifeline. We need to ensure that voters know what they really stand for and discuss this with anyone who is tempted to vote BNP in protest. Please use your vote to keep the fascists out of Wales; the future of democracy is in your hands.

17 comments:

Antifascist said...

Great article, Daniel, thank you.

As an aside and an addendum to this article, a prominent member of the BNP who is standing for the Welsh Assembly has been arrested for Actual Bodily Harm (ABH), arising from a violent drunken attack on his 13 year-old daughter.

Sadly, we are unable to name this piece of shit because the police have, for some reason, seen fit to delay charging him until after Thursday's elections, and I have been advised that if he was named by us and eventually not charged, we could leave ourselves open to litigation.

There really are times when the law is a bloody nuisance.

Anonymous said...

"As an aside and an addendum to this article, a prominent member of the BNP who is standing for the Welsh Assembly has been arrested for Actual Bodily Harm (ABH), arising from a violent drunken attack on his 13 year-old daughter."

I bet I know who that is. Are we allowed to guess? :)

Daniel pitt said...

Thank you for the positive comments regarding this article, it has really made my day! Keep on the lookout for my next column about the Welsh Defence league which will be appearing soon. :-)

Anonymous said...

The real face of the YBNP outside of Cllr Galloway's home last week. The silly young boy is shown who was arrested.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZl3fRfMvk4

Anonymous said...

a prominent member of the BNP who is standing for the Welsh Assembly has been arrested for Actual Bodily Harm (ABH)

That's not nattowing it down much. Don't most senior BNP people have ABH on their arrest sheet?

Anonymous said...

Nice to see another writer here. It's good to be reminded of the origins of the BNP. Has Andy disappeared along with Denise and Iliacus? It's a shame if thats so.

Anonymous said...

John Walker the cousin of Adam Walker is standing in wales he is another pervert

q said...

"There really are times when the law is a bloody nuisance."

I agree. Nick Griffin should have been banged up for fraud donkeys years ago.

John P said...

Anonymous said...

Nice to see another writer here. It's good to be reminded of the origins of the BNP. Has Andy disappeared along with Denise and Iliacus? It's a shame if thats so.

5:42 PM, May 04, 2011\
Iliacus I'm not sure about but if they are still around I'm looking forward to their election analysis.

Andy is snowed under with work, Denise is snowed under with various things, Ketlan is sipping cocktails in a hammock on a rather exclusive private island paid for by MI5, Mossad and the armed provisional wing of the W.I.

We welcome any contributions from our supporters (as long as those contributions conform to the law and are in reasonably good taste).
If you have something to say about the BNP, EDL or the other bits and bobs of the far right get in touch.

Anonymous said...

"As an aside and an addendum to this article, a prominent member of the BNP who is standing for the Welsh Assembly has been arrested for Actual Bodily Harm (ABH), arising from a violent drunken attack on his 13 year-old daughter.
Sadly, we are unable to name this piece of shit because the police have, for some reason, seen fit to delay charging him until after Thursday's elections, and I have been advised that if he was named by us and eventually not charged, we could leave ourselves open to litigation."

Well, yes, innocent until proven guilty is fair enough, I think. Also there are child protection issues which may demand anonymity to protect the child. If the matter got widespread publicity the child may be widely stigmatised having perhaps already gone through quite an ordeal. It's not all just about party politics.

iliacus's best (only) friend said...

Iliacus is busy with some elections!

He is, however, looking forward to analysing the BNP Accounts for 2010, which will be due in just 9 weeks or so .....

Unless they're late of course.

(Surely not!)

Anonymous said...

Iliacus I'm not sure about but if they are still around I'm looking forward to their election analysis.

A big fiction fan then are you?

John P said...

Anonymous said...

Iliacus I'm not sure about but if they are still around I'm looking forward to their election analysis.

A big fiction fan then are you?

10:53 PM, May 04, 2011

I am a big fiction fan.
Reading, music and annoying twats on the far right are amongst my favourite hobbies and I'm quite good at two of them.
I also like fact and how the fuck are you going to argue with electoral facts like these?

Tonight there are 22 or 23 proper councillors out of about 22500 ish.
2 MEP's out of 70 or 80. WOW
3 county councillors out of about 3000 ish,
0 MPs out of 650 ish (Greens have one)
0 town mayors (Eng dems have one)
A very small amount of the tens of thousands parish councillors in the country are BNP.
A total of less than 250 BNP council candidates around the country. (One third of the total 4 years ago)

I do hope Irish Tony still reads this blog.

Anonymous said...

Or should that read:

"Keep fascists out of whales?"

Just a thought!

Anonymous said...

am a big fiction fan.
Reading, music and annoying twats on the far right are amongst my favourite hobbies and I'm quite good at two of them.
I also like fact and how the fuck are you going to argue with electoral facts like these?

Tonight there are 22 or 23 proper councillors out of about 22500 ish.
2 MEP's out of 70 or 80. WOW
3 county councillors out of about 3000 ish,
0 MPs out of 650 ish (Greens have one)
0 town mayors (Eng dems have one)
A very small amount of the tens of thousands parish councillors in the country are BNP.
A total of less than 250 BNP council candidates around the country. (One third of the total 4 years ago)

The treat of the BNP is not how many councillors they have, its irrelevant if they have 20 or 200. The treat is their potential in exploiting the collapse of the economy and increasing inter communal strife. It doesnt really matter how many votes they achieve today, they are not going to sweep to power and they know it. The threat of groups like the BNP is a real one. Things can change dramatically very fast.Dont be fooled into a false sense of security

irishtony said...

Hey John P

Plagarism is a form of flattery!!

Your stats are right but we should not forget that there are in excess of 10,000 parish councillors, another area that the BNP try and lift morale with their gullible supporters.

One other thing....................Its good to be back

UK Fightback said...

Please post this story up on LU, it's very important -

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may/05/spanish-civil-war-bodies-removed-mass-grave

Most people in the UK are aware that 30,000 people "disappeared" (were tortured and murdered) under Argentine Fascism, few people seem to be aware that on our own continent things were far worse. The figure quoted by The Guardian is 120,000, and some of the killers are still alive