Who else is just waiting for the BNP mask to drop?

The BNP have proudly announced their imminent takeover of Barking and Dagenham council this week. Unfortunately, they may be correct in their prediction yet the question remains, will they be honest in their assertions or continue to hide behind the frame of political correctness they all toooften find themselves railing against.

Now, Mr Griffin is undoubtedly a highly intelligent man, as are the majority of far-right leaders. The intelligence is not demonstrated in the politics but in the insidious manner in which the politics spread. A vanguard of rumour spreads out from the source to reinforce the xenophobic fears that a disenchanted public loosely subscribe to. It is a question of myths and mythmaking; If members of the public look around and choose to blame the negative aspects of their situation on the presence of representatives from other cultures they look to the BNP as a reassuring voice of authority. These supporters are therefore mentally able to justify their own myths whilst the BNP are then able to claim that they have support. However, in truth – the supporters only rely on the party as the party legitimize their extremist viewpoints and vice-versa, the party (like all facist/ neo-facist organizations) only need the public support as long as they are the underdog. After that, choice and pleasantries dwindle whilst action and thuggery take centre stage.

And despite their assertions to the contrary, the BNP are not too far from a fascist organization. Andrew Brons, the MEP for Yorkshire and Humber was a previous NF member and before that a member of the National Socialist Movement, responsible for a series of 1960’s arson attacks against Jewish property. The BNP may shy away from actually defining themselves as fascists as fascism now is a dirty word, like ‘Communist’ in America and the BNP are alert enough to recognize this and stay clear away from such identification. However, a cursory glance over the political histories of their senior figures is enough to question their newfound apparent sense of Liberalism. Nick Griffin, the arch-leader has stated ‘I am not a fascist - that is a smear that comes from the far left." Perhaps it is when it comes from this blog however, the sentiment is shared by many far removed from the leftist school of thought. David Cameron for instance has stated, perhaps oversimplified, ‘If you vote for the BNP you are voting for a bunch of facists.’ Now I rarely agree with Cameron, in fact, to be honest, I find even his presence on screen a little irritating most of the time, however here he has hit the nail on the head. The supporters of the BNP are not necessarily facist, however they are naïve enough to simplify the issues regarding multiculturulism and accept the myths their leaders construct for them. This is not because the conclusions are logical, moreover it is because they are easier to believe. British people have for so many centuries dominated, exploited and eradicated foreign cultures. Now, several generations after the dissemination of the British Empire, many people are beginning to feel a threat to their own culture. However, the suggestion that British culture is under threat is a far leap from the BNP staple that it is potentially close to extinction. The fact is that the British have mercilessly dominated cultures both on their doorstep and on the other side of the world for so long. Capitalism by definition is exploitative, and the majority of immigrants in Britain come from countries whose resources or citizens were exploited by an imperial and uncompromising Empire. Griffin and his compadres may not like modern Britain, but they must realise that the manner in which Britain gained its wealth throughout history was not moral. Furthermore, the economic success of Britain was for many years bound up with its Imperial endevours. Britain owes its success to immigrants, the salt and spice workers of India, the slaves of the sugar plantations and the tens of thousands who became hooked on opium after the British illegally flooded Chinese markets with the drug.

Ultimately, if Nick Griffin wants to celebrate the ‘Britishness’ of Britain, then he must stop hearkening back to an age of exploitation and racial superiority, Instead he should invoke the values that serve to benefit Britain, multiculturalism, tolerance and gardening. Tea and crumpets on the lawn, cricket and 50p pieces, red phone boxes, Trafalgar Square and Big Ben, not a legitimisation of xenophobia that serves to only prevent citizens from thinking for themselves and figuring out that Griffin, like the politicians he claims to oppose is nothing but another shameless manipulator, a figure who is happy to use the democratic machine to gain credence, but whose ideals ultimately resemble nothing this country has seen since the display of religious fundamentalism offered by the sixteenth century Marian persecutions.

Once they have enough supporters the façade of civility will drop. How long will it be before the BNP have enough supporters and we once again see sales of brown shirts and leather belts sharply increase?