The Road to Brussels (a Rather Unfortunate Sequel...)

THE ROAD TO BRUSSELS
(a Rather Unfortunate Sequel)

On Friday, November 21st, 2008 I published an article for Love Music Hate Racism, a popular music campaign set up to combat the alarming rise in support for the far-right British National Party (BNP). It was a considered piece - written feverishly over three evenings in Manchester - it lacked any real purpose, and there was no intention for it ever to be printed anywhere. The only reason I wrote it at all was because the previous weekend I had attended a protest march in Blackpool to voice discontent at the New Kimberley Hotel’s staging of the BNP conference.

When finally I put down my pen (or, rather less poetically, hit CTRL and S for the final time) I felt certain – more certain than ever before – that the so-called ‘politics’ of Nick Griffin’s so-called ‘British’ National Party were divisive, ignorant, ugly and dangerous. Simply by writing those words, by delving into the history of the party, and by anticipating the European Elections in 2009 I was able to clarify exactly what it was I despised about the BNP. It can be argued, of course, that I have should have been able to articulate my own personal opposition to them before I went on the march.

Well, yes, you’re right. All I can say in my defence is that I felt like I had to attend the protest. Unfortunately, what I feel and what I can rationally explain are often two very different things, and I find that one’s political persuasion should either be greatly considered or – perhaps more charmingly – hardly considered at all. Confusion breeds contempt and so, for better or for worse (and it’s usually the latter) I have to write things down before I know what I’m talking about. Put simply, I had to know intricately what the BNP stood for – and why I stood so passionately against them.

It is with great sadness but, thankfully, a renewed faith in all of those opposed to fascism that I return to the laptop this evening. We are more than six months on from the Blackpool protest but it seems that, rather than fade from the national consciousness, the acronym which goes some way in disguising the race-hate politics of the BNP has only gained in popularity. Whether this increased familiarity will help or hinder Griffin and co. in the elections to the European Parliament on June 4th remains to be seen. Tonight I am sure of only one thing: we must ALL use our vote on Thursday to stop the BNP from securing any kind of foothold in Brussels.

I wouldn’t be here tonight, held up in sunny Coventry at twenty to eleven on a Friday evening, writing to you (whoever among you has had the misfortune of finding this over-zealous, deeply evangelical essay – bleurgh) if it wasn’t for the events of this afternoon. Because, you see, today - out of a wonderfully blue sky - a work colleague of mine spoke the following words:

‘I’m thinking of voting BNP, you know…’

Bollocks. Fuck. What to do? What to say?

I gave that most English of replies: ‘You’re joking… aren’t you?’
‘I’m not.’
‘But why would you vote for them?’
‘They’re the only ones who the other politicians are scared of. I think it’s disgusting how the government have cheated us over these expenses…’

Double bollocks. Double fuck. You mean it, don’t you? You’re thinking of voting for them. And it’s not because you’re racist, it’s because you’re disillusioned. I know it is. Tell me it’s a wind up. There’s still time… But there wasn’t still time. Her mind, as many an awful person has said, was made up.

Thus, we argued all afternoon. I won’t go into details because my typing speed isn’t able to keep up with my anger, upset and frustration. For half an hour, five of us openly debated what it means to vote for the BNP on June 4th. Two out of those five turned out in favour of the BNP. Huge leaps were leapt; terrible conclusions were jumped to.

‘This is what I don’t understand,’ I said, finally, voice full of venom and bile and self-righteousness. ‘How do you get from “those politicians are bastards for cheating their expenses” to “it’s the fault of every non-white and non-British person (whatever that means) that those politicians are expenses-cheating bastards?”’
Further confused conversation ensued. A sickening while later I tried one last thing to appeal especially to the prospective BNP supporters:

‘Think about the people you work with – people from Slovakia, from Russia, from Jamaica, from Pakistan, Poland, or British people whose families moved here at some point in history … They’re your friends and colleagues. Do they not belong here?’

No answer.

But the room did not grow silent because something had finally sunk in. No, it was because, as too many an awful person has said, their minds were already made up: voting for the BNP will send a message to expenses-hungry politicians from the Labour and Conservative parties. They had no more to offer on the subject, and debate was nearly impossible.

‘Why not vote Green? Or Socialist Labour? Or anyone? Why BNP? Why the National Front in shirts and ties?’ I asked.

The heartbreaking reply: ‘Why worry?’

There are two things that strike me about this kind of an attitude.

1. I believe the female colleague I have been referring to throughout is not a bad person. She is not, contrary to how she might appear here, a racist. Certainly, she has been raised in a specific kind of northern working class manner - which may, in this instance, make her more susceptible to tabloid misinformation and hearsay than, for example, me (who has been lucky enough to experience a politically-awakening University education) - but until now, a year and a half after meeting her, she has never said anything to align herself with the extreme right. Which, perhaps naively, leads me to believe that hers is entirely a –

2. Protest Vote. And it is protest voting that has the potential to boost support for the BNP in this election. We cannot, cannot, cannot allow this to happen. Yes, there have been let-downs from the Labour and shadow governments but let us not pretend that voting for a racist party who thrive on this kind of public fear and disappointment will resolve this. Expenses row or no expenses row, the BNP are manipulators of the democratic process. If we are to vote in protest against the three main parties then we need to consider anything apart from the BNP.

Clever PR and spin have gone some way in making a Nazi party appear legitimate. It cannot be stressed enough: the BNP do not belong in mainstream politics.

I suppose one cannot commit an indecency quite so vulgar as to quote oneself, but I fear I must break with etiquette here for I still believe the following to be undeniably true:

The BNP is an ugly organisation. Its website, campaign literature and beliefs are ugly. The violent attacks on people carried out in defence of its arrogant lies are ugly. Its exploitation of people living all across Britain is ugly. And, most harrowingly, the threat it poses to equality, democracy, peace and harmony as a result of divisive, racist, white supremacist policies is ugly.

Dearest Reader, the old dilemma never is resolved. They say it is easy to know what we are against; it is another thing entirely to know what we are for. Indeed, on June 4th, many people across Britain will want to punish and send a message to the politicians they feel have let them down. So, yes, it may be easy to know that you are against rising unemployment, MP expense claims and the recession but – please - ask yourself: are you really for the BNP? Are you really willing to align yourself with an organisation whose extreme politics promise ‘answers’, and yet whose beliefs disqualify all those who believe in peace and equality?

Let it be known: the BNP have no answers, and supporting them on Thursday is the political equivalent of (please forgive the cliché) ‘cutting off one’s nose to spite one’s face.’ The BNP argue enthusiastically against Britain’s EU membership whilst stooping to the lowest levels in order to secure a Member of the European Parliament. They are contradictory and hypocritical because racism is contradictory and hypocritical. They have nothing to offer European or National politics and we must seek to stop them now. And the way to do it? Make your vote count on June 4th.

Tim Woodall
(May 30th, 2009)