Robert Bonnett's Blog

On Fascism

‘It’s a shameful stain on Britain that we now have racists and fascists representing our country. It is vital that everyone now isolates and confronts the BNP and works with United Against Fascism to defeat them.’

So said Peter Hain, the newly-appointed Welsh Secretary, after the British National Party scored two of the country’s 72 seats in the European Parliament elections. Is he serious? Whilst I wouldn’t accuse the current government, of which he’s a part, of implementing racist policies, they are nonetheless guilty of possessing the most fascist attitude of any elected party in the last hundred years.

I appreciate that ‘fascism’ means different things to different people, but regardless of its exact definition, which is frequently subject to heated debate, authoritarianism and anti-liberalism are at its core. The inclusion of excessive nationalism, racism, xenophobia, etc are a matter of opinion. Regardless, the ruling government’s ban on people whose views they dislike from coming to the UK, together with their attempts to play on the public’s fears, intimidate people, remove their civil liberties, monitor them for dissent, restrict their right to protest, hold them for extended periods without charge, ad infinitum, are the very traits of fascism that any good dictatorship would be proud of.

The British National Party

So, to the BNP, who according to their pre-election campaign ‘say what you think’ – but who, as the relatively small number of people who voted for them suggests, evidently don’t. Now, I’m as annoyed as the next person that they managed to get two of their candidates into the European Parliament, not least because one of those is going to be an MEP for the constituency I live in, but that’s democracy in action whether we like the result or not.

Criticism of the BNP is both hate-filled and vocal, often coming from sources who would normally keep out of politics. I’m not suggesting, you understand, that the scores of anti-BNP celebrities out there are merely serving their own interests by showing fans how cool they are, as that would just be cynical. Cough.

Nazism

But the BNP are Nazis, you say. They are? I don’t doubt that the BNP have more than their fair share of Nazi sympathisers in amongst their supporters and members, nor that there are a good few links to neo-Nazi organisations in the histories – and sometimes present lives – of those same people, but the Nazi branding is one that doesn’t stand up to scrutiny. I wish it did, as it would make opposing them an easier task.

Similarities may exist between the BNP’s ideology and that of the Nazi’s, but nowhere near enough for the Nazi label to be appropriate, however abhorrent the BNP’s views may appear. Although such stigmatising may well seem justified, the implications of it are destined to failure. When Mr & Mrs Potential-Voters answer the door to their local BNP candidate, imagine their surprise when a polite young man dressed in a suit greets them with a handshake instead of a Seig Heil, and then, over a cup of tea, explains how he’s there to serve their interests above those of non-natives. Far from the skinhead in bomber jacket and jackboots who they expected to goosestep up their drive demanding that they put an X next to the swastika on polling day, they meet the respectable (if such a thing is possible) side of the BNP. The outcome?

‘What do you think, darling? That nice young man did say that the media kept lying about his party. Maybe the press have just been smearing them all along. Should we vote for them?’

‘Yes dear, we should. How about another cup of tea to celebrate?’

Right-Wingers

On a similar note, the BNP are regularly referred to as a ‘far-right’ or ‘extreme-right’ party, as though right=fascist and left=liberal. As with the Nazi badge that many want to pin on them, the concept of them being right-wing, even moderately yet alone extremely, doesn’t stand up to scrutiny:

http://www.politicalcompass.org/extremeright

Whilst neither the traditional left nor the traditional right seem to want to claim ownership of the BNP – and who can blame them – the majority of BNP voters do, whether some people like it or not, stem from the left. No wonder Labour are so keen to stoke the anti-BNP brigade. The BNP are taking away their votes.

Voter Intelligence

They’re just stupid idiots as are their supporters! Really? That’s a dangerous generalisation if ever I heard one. There may well be plenty of fools who are willing to vote for them, but the same could be said of any political party. Attempting to undermine the BNP by criticising the intelligence level of its members and supporters when they’re lead by a man with an Oxbridge education is not only childish it’s counterproductive. Most of their supporters know exactly what the BNP stand for, and are well aware that the party is, despite protestations to the contrary, racist. Their consciences are able to live with that – their conscience, their choice. The assumption that people vote for the BNP because they – said voters – are stupid and/or uneducated not only displays an exceptional level of intellectual snobbery, it’s also wrong. There are, unfortunately, now plenty of perfectly well-educated people who’ve made an informed decision to support the BNP. That’s their decision to support the BNP.

On Anti-Fascism

‘The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.’ Edmund Burke

If I had a pound for every time I’d heard this quote mentioned in discussions about the BNP, I’d have enough money to buy a duck pond, some ducks to fill it, a floating duck island, and a pavilion to house the waddling blighters in. If you listen to some people, Hitler’s climb to power was a relatively unhindered walk in the park (nothing could be further from the truth), with little in the way of ‘good men’ opposing him – ergo to avoid the same happening with the BNP they should just be banned outright.

The anti-fascist mobs who seek such a banning are every bit of guilty of fascism as the BNP. Perhaps more so. Their vile intimidation, bullying, and hypocritical attempts to disrupt the legitimate democratic process and restrict people’s right to freely express opinions that differ from their own is nothing short of dictatorial, and an insult to the long fought for concept of free speech. For all of their talk of tolerance and open-mindedness they’re nothing more than narrow-minded bigots, whose direct actions have done more to help the BNP gain support than any advertising campaign ever could.

The media attention generated by the countless attempts by anti-fascist groups to try and limit the BNP’s platform has turned the party into victims. Denying them the right to air their views, calling for them to be banned, and the arrogant belief that their opinion is so contemptible that it should be zipped up has achieved nothing other than to do the their recruiting for them.

Democracy

So how should they be tackled? The answer is in the same way as with any other political party. For a start, a frank and open debate is needed in this country on the subject of. . . (sshhh, don’t let anyone hear this). . . immigration – there, I said it. I won’t add to this already lengthy post with my opinions on that subject (that’s the subject I just mentioned, which I can’t refer to again, as twice in one paragraph would just make me racist) but a superb article on Ed West’s Telegraph blog sums up my views entirely:

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/edwest/blog/2009/06/08/the_only_way_to_beat_the_bnp_is_an_open_debate_about_immigration

There’s resentment and prejudice fermenting away under the skin of a growing chunk of British society. Corking it off with political correctness (an overused term, I agree, but hey-ho, if the cap fits) won’t make those sentiments go away – we all know what happens when things are bottled up with no way of getting out.

Yours faithfully,

A disgruntled indigenous Briton.

Oh, no, hang on a minute, the Bonnetts were immigrants to the British Isles – asylum seekers (gasp) some three hundred odd years ago. Perhaps I should rephrase it to ‘A disgruntled racial foreigner’ then to avoid upsetting the
BNP’s social profiling guidelines . . . .

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