On 4 June this year, Britain elected two members of the far-right British National Party (BNP) to the European elections -- the first time fascists have been elected to such posts.
It's important to understand what these new Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) stand for. They're not simply hard-line Conservatives; they are out and out racists. One, Nick Griffin, railed that "international Jewry have declared war on the white man," while the other, Andrew Brons, is a former member of the National Socialist Movement in Britain, a party founded on Hitler's birthday.
There are deep underlying currents that have led us to this point. The absence of mainstream politicians -- from all of our parties -- in many communities, combined with a devastating economic crisis hitting the most vulnerable in our society, has laid a fertile ground for the BNP. The BNP has skilfully manipulated the economic crisis, which is devastating working class Britain. Playing on the fears of ordinary people, it has whipped up anger and exploited issues like housing shortages and insecurity to scapegoat minorities and immigrants.
Campaigners from across the parties have come together to launch a strong campaign -- telling the BNP "Not in my name."
During the election -- where the BNP failed to make the huge breakthrough they expected -- Hope Not Hate, a union-backed group, used new media and enthusiastic grassroots activists to launch an unprecedented campaign for Britain's future.
Outside the constraints of the main parties, supporters used email, website and tools like Twitter to build a movement of tens of thousands people in a couple of months. In one weekend blitz, they put out a million leaflets at transport hubs educating people about the BNP. That's probably more than the official campaigns were able to do.
Since the election, the campaign has grown even more. 80,000 people signed an anti-BNP message directed at the president of the European Parliament. To mark the opening of the Parliament tomorrow, Hope Not Hate has released a new video produced by its online team, Blue State Digital. The video is a powerful rebuff to the BNP -- and shows a united movement of modern Britain that sets itself against the hateful division of racists who would turn the clock back.
Campaigns like Hope Not Hate can't defeat the BNP alone -- but they are a vital part of the wider movement to counter this threat. Thanks to the efforts of grassroots activists who are proud of the modern, diverse, and progressive Britain, Hope Not Hate has given people cause for hope that we can kick the BNP back where they belong.
This means that the BNP's proportion of the vote went up even though the actual number of votes was the same as in the last EU elections.
So thankfully there has not been a massive upsurge in Racist/Nationalist support just a collapse in support for the traditional big 3 parties, labour especially.
I wish people would stop throwing the word fascist around so casually. Fascism is a political and economic philosophy. The Nazis were one of many groups (Spain, Italy, Argentina) who followed the ideas of fascism, and injected their own disturbed bias. You need to stop being blinded by the stereotype of swastikas and brownshirts. The allies beat the Nazis in WW2. They did not destroy fascism. If you educate yourself on what it really is, you will understand that fascism is alive and growing. Fascism is dangerous and has taken hold in a great many countries that people naively think of as democratic. People need to understand it so that can recognize it and stop it. Carelessly throwing the term around doesn't help.
Now since you elected them you have to own them. They are representing the people who elected them and unless you want to give up on the foundations of democracy you must admit them as part of your political process.
Working to have them defeated is a noble cause, claiming "not in our name" is rather a bit daft.
To the PC-race-baiters, any suggestion that the Third World's problems are DIRECTLY related to their egregious birth rates is met with shrill, clarion accusation of "racism"!
Oh dear! As if "masses" are capable of "re-evaluation". A very US-centric view of things to say the least! Don't think race relations are worse in the UK than in the US, and in some respects they are better - far less hostility to mixed race relationships for example.
This is more a problem of class and of globalism than of race - the creation of an underclass who have little hope of escape, who correctly perceive that they are powerless, and incorrectly believe that incomers are being given precedence.
Don't think the US model offers much hope; arguably the US economic model is the root of the problem.
Also note that in that Pew poll I pointed out Britain did have much lower rates of negative views of Jews and Muslims, and also I'm sure Indian, Blacks, whatever else, than mainland Europe but still slightly higher than US and Canada and at their worst after the London bombings.
I also made a point that its mostly southern and eastern Europe with the strongest facist parties in a previous post.
You were also right about me being too preachy- I'll just stick to the facts next time
It's about negative views about Jews and Muslims in Europe and the US. The US has half of the rate of almost any European nation studied. Maybe Germany gets the reputation but from what I hear fascist parties have been strong for years in places like Italy, Spain and all over Eastern Europe. Even the Netherlands, a country known around the world for its tolerance is having a xenophobic backlash (mostly against the Muslim community) and has revised its immigration policy to explicitly state that anybody finding Dutch laws offensive shouldn't even enter the country- (this was mostly due to murder of Dutch auter Theo van Gough by a Muslim for offending his faith.) Sarkozy is talking about banning an article of clothing.
Our winning of most of the cold war on the technical side was mostly due to our German scientists being better than the Russian's German scientists.
BTW many US troops were killed or imprisoned by Hitler's forces during WW II.
What should we call Americans who hired German scientists after WW II?
On a related note, this issue raisies some interesting points. One advantage of our two party system is it reduces the chances of extremists gaining power. As much as we dont like republicans, 99% of them arent as bad as the BNP guys. The two party system encourages and forces moderatism which is good.