Since 2001 the BNP have made steady inroads into British politics, gradually building up a significant base in local councils, and expanding slowly but surely into other arenas – winning a seat on the Greater London Assembly and their highpoint last year, winning 2 seats in the European Parliament. It’s almost been a grudging acceptance by some people on the Left that the BNP’s growth could at best only be slowed in the short term, due to their high profile and the constant anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim sentiment in the British press. So it’s not surprising a lot of folk looked with dread to what was going to happen in Barking and Dagenham, the BNP’s stronghold.

It’s where the BNP’s leader Nick Griffin was standing against New Labour hack Margaret Hodge – who gave the BNP ammunition with her comments on housing – and it’s also where the BNP were the official opposition on the council. They had a real chance of both taking Hodge’s seat and taking control of the council – the BNP were throwing the kitchen sink at Barking, and telling their members and supporters they were on the verge of a breakthrough.

Instead they were annihilated – to the surprise of BNP supporters and antifascists alike. They lost all their council seats in Barking and Dagenham – Labour now hold all 51 council seats. Griffin’s vote was also down from 2005. He came nowhere close to challenging Hodge, and finished third behind the Tories. In his speech conceding defeat, Griffin said that they had lost the battle for Barking, and that the area was “colonised”

The BNP’s misfortunes weren’t limited to Barking and Dagenham – they lost councillors all across the country, and are down from 45 councillors to 19 (though English council elections don’t happen all at once, they have other councillors who weren’t up for election).

This result might seem surprising given the BNP got their best result, in terms of votes a couple of nights ago – over half a million. But we don’t know how much of this increase is due to the BNP’s ability to field many more candidates than they were able to in 2005. For example the BNP vote in Scotland in 2005 was only 1,590 but jumped up to almost 9000. On the face of it this looks like a fantastic boost for them, but in reality it is largely due to being able to increase the number of seats they can stand in. They only stood in 2 in 2005 (Glasgow Central and Glasgow North East), in 2010 they stood in 13.

The only direct comparison we can make then, is the vote in Glasgow Central and Glasgow North East – and in both seats, the BNP vote was down from 2005. It’s particularly surprising in the North East, where there’s a lot of concern about immigration and asylum seekers and the BNP nearly held on to their deposit in the by-election last year.

These results couldn’t come at a worse time for Griffin, who has already had to deal with internal difficulties in the BNP – like Mark Collet allegedly trying to kill him, mutiny in the Scottish BNP, their website owner walking off, as well as other discontent around Jim Dowson’s practical ownership of the party. The BNP’s electoral meltdown will inflame the anti-Griffin opposition in the BNP, who may now feel that Griffin’s holocaust denying past is baggage that the BNP can no longer carry, and a new leader more in line with the image of the “new” BNP must be found.

The smarter BNP activists will be asking why their vote collapsed. The reality is that across the UK people who were willing to vote BNP as a protest vote in elections were Labour were certain to win will no longer do so under threat of a Tory Government. From Glasgow North East, to Stoke, to Barking, traditional Labour areas are prepared to hold their nose and vote for Labour to defy the Tories.

Setbacks for the BNP of course aren’t solely attributable to the threat of a Tory Government – it’s likely that thousands of voters would have gone to the polls to vote in fear of what a BNP council would look like, and would have probably chosen Labour as the far lesser evil.

The setbacks for the BNP shouldn’t make us complacent though – the BNP’s ideas still have an an echo among hundreds of thousands of people, and relying on a Tory Government to scare people into voting Labour to keep the BNP out is no long term strategy. If people won’t cast protest votes for the BNP out of fear of the Tories, they won’t cast protest votes for the Left or the Greens. If Labour don’t stand up to the Tories the BNP could posture themselves as the real party against cuts, for British Jobs for British Workers etc.

This shouldn’t mean we don’t celebrate though – it’s squeaky bum time for Griffin and co, whose seats in the European Parliament now look a lot more fragile than before. If the Tories do take power, they may do to the BNP what Thatcher did to the NF – steal their rhetoric on immigration, and steal their votes. And in Scotland they will have a very interesting time upholding “British” identity if the union foists upon us a Tory Government we didn’t vote for.

"I just voted . . EVERYWHERE!"

The polls have closed. The votes are in. Now it’s time to bring us the results of Britain’s most important election that isn’t decided by phoning a premium rate number.

All the papers are projecting an SSP landslide in every seat we’re standing in, but we’re trying to keep our feet on the ground.

What does excite us more than Nick Clegg feels about having sex with his 31st woman is the fact that this will be the first ever UK general election to be LIVEBLOGGED in Leftfield. We’ve got two different teams bringing you live updates, one in the count in Glasgow with Socialist candidate and SSY member James Nesbitt, and one with the SSY blog newsroom bringing you updates from around the UK (as they come on the telly.)

Will David Cameron get to piss on the ashes of Broken Britain? Will Gordon Brown continue to do that weird thing with his jaw in the middle of sentences from 10 Downing Street? Or will Nick Clegg get to bring us his brand of “new” politics by returning the Whig party of Pitt the Elder to power?

Which particular colour will the bucket of shit we’re going to get served be? There’s only one way to find out, or one decent way at least, which is to keep refreshing this site obsessively all night. It begins . . .

Read the rest of this entry »

Yay! Election! Which shade of shite will you choose?

- Not the BNP, who were yesterday confronted by Asian constituents in east London.  The BNP candidate, Bill Bailey, was whisked away and avoided arrest after PUNCHING an 18 year old to the ground, and then kicking the boy as he lay on the ground.
Nick Griffin spoke on the incident, saying that the fight was the result of a “campaign of hatred and dehumanisation against any group of people, in this case us”.
Riiight. People in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones, Nick.

 - Not UKIP, whose former leader Nigel Farrage was yesterday injured after his private jet crashed in Northhamptonshire. Wait, did I say private jet? It was actually an oldskool biplane. Which just goes to show how outdated and oldfashioned UKIP are. Maybe the gods of wind and weather and airplane pilots were tryin to tell you something, Nigel…

Keep checking throughout the day – SSY will be bringing you all the news and gossip about the good guys AND the wanks, all day and night!

The Institute for Public Policy Research  have been analysing support for the BNP and trying to determine what causes communities to turn towards the far-right. You can see their findings here.

The BNP would have us believe they are supported by people whose communities are over-run with immigrants and asylum seekers. But they’re lying. The more immigrants living in your community, the less likely you are to vote BNP.

Our findings suggest that areas that have higher levels of recent immigration than others are not more likely to vote for the BNP. In fact, the more immigration an area has experienced, the lower its support for the far right. Rather, the evidence points to political and socio-economic exclusion as drivers of BNP support.

We therefore urge mainstream politicians to strongly resist the notion that people have been driven into the arms of the BNP by the harm immigration is causing to their communities. Instead, they must focus on building strong communities and strong education systems, and on rebuilding trust and confidence in democratic politics, so that marginalised people do not feeling so disconnected. This should allow them to both better serve the interests of these communities, and undercut support for the BNP.

We couldn’t agree more.

This just goes to show that anti-immigrant feeling is not rooted in reality, but is shaped by the racism of the policians and the media. People who actually live next to immigrants know that they are no more evil than any other part of society.

Following Labour candidate Anas Sarwar agreeing to boycott the BNP, the SNP candidate has also confirmed he will not share a platform with them either.

In response to my Letter to SNP and Labour candidates, Osama Saeed commented:

Thank you for your email. I have always refused to share a platform
with the BNP. Fro example, there was a proposed debate last year with
them that I was invited to, but I made clear I and the SNP would not
be represented and it was then cancelled.

Also today, I was invited to attend a PCS hustings event on Wednesday in the City Halls. I spoke to Cheryl Gedling, who is Parliamentary, Campaigns, Media and Research Officer for the civil servants’ union. When I stated that we had a policy of not sharing a platform with the BNP, I was reassured to hear that PCS would never invite a fascist onto their platform. Good to hear the anti-nazi spirit of the trade union movement is still alive and kicking.

Hopefully this is part of a new consensus across society that the BNP are not a legitimate political party. They are a threat to public safety for anyone who doesn’t fit their idea of ‘British’ and they are a  menace to democracy.

Allowing them access to the open debates which would not exist if they were in power is wrong. What we are witnessing now is positive actions to stop their growth, in stark contrast to the dangerous laissez-faire attitude adopted by some in civil society, e.g. the BBC’s error in allowing them a space on Question Time.

The BNP’s campaign in Glasgow Central is now looking more and more shambolic, with them selecting a candidate who does not even live in Scotland!

Fingers crossed that with continued anti-fascist action, the BNP’s attempts to cause divisions in multi-ethnic, multi-cultural, multi-coloured Glasgow Central will be a miserable failure.

The people united will never be defeated!

Last night myself and half-a-dozen members of SSY were in Townhead to deliver leaflets, spreading the SSP’s message: Rage against unemployment, poverty and war. It’s the type of area where you can see the need for investment in jobs, pensions and services, not the cuts and austerity promised by New Labour.

While out and about we bumped into Labour candidate Anas Sarwar. Clearly impressed with the size and youthfulness of the SSP crew, he commented “now that’s a team”. He is astute like that. It was an ideal opportunity to dig him up about not replying to the email I sent him over a week ago, in which I challenged him to make a pledge to refuse to share a platform with the BNP.

To his credit, he categorically stated that he would not share a platform with a representative of a racist, neo-fascist organisation. Well done.

I sent the same email to Osama Saeed, the SNP candidate. Unfortunately he is yet to respond.

Feel free to get in touch with him to ask for a straight reply to a simple question. Email him at blog@osamasaeed.org

No platform for the nazi BNP!

After facing “treason” only a few weeks ago in Scotland, the BNP have had to carry out another purge within their own ranks. This time its against a far more senior member, making far more serious threats to the party leadership. The BNP have expelled 3 of their leading members, including their head of publicity, Mark Collett. Alongside Collett, two other leading BNP members have been given the heave – the party’s election organiser Eddy Butler and manager Emma Colgate. Collett is the best known of the 3 – he stood trial with Griffin a few years ago when both were charged with incitement to racial hatred, and was the subject of a documentary “Young, Nazi and Proud”.

Collett has not only been expelled, but been referred to the police for allegedly plotting to kill both Griffin and the party’s chief fundraiser and virtual owner Jim Dowson. Collett’s expulsion from the party could possibly generate discontent among some of the party’s members. Despite their electoral success there has always been a minority of BNP members in opposition to Griffin; for being a “zionist”, whitewashing any references to Nazism and his dictatorial control of the party. Despite these concerns Griffin’s expulsion of Collett is unlikely to do much damage to his standing. Collett’s appearance on the “Young, Nazi and Proud” documentary did damage to the BNP’s modernisation plans, as he was caught attacking the Jews, Churchill and the Royal Family. Griffin himself described Collett as a “pig ignorant man”, who he frequently had to berate.

More damaging to the BNP will be the expulsion of Eddy Butler. Despite not being as well known as Collett, Butler was far more valuable and useful to the party. It was Butler who began the process of turning the BNP away from street violence and on to campaigning for “Rights for Whites” in areas were there was division between white and asian residents over access to social housing. This modernisation succeeded with the BNP gaining its first councillor on the Isle of Dogs.

With the BNP at the height of its powers why are any of its members disenchanted with the party? Some might be disillusioned with the vote to accept non-white members, others may always have opposed Griffin’s modernisation plans, and wanted a return to street violence. More likely in my opinion, the discontent comes from how the party itself is run – as a virtual dictatorship of two individuals, Nick Griffin and Jim Dowson.

As party chairman Griffin has been able to enforce decisions on the party against sections of the memberships will – such as taking cash off other party regions to fund his election campaign. He has also claimed £200k in expenses from the European Parliament, despite standing on a platform of “Punish the Pigs”. These actions may have led Collett and others in the BNP to mobilise against their party’s leadership.

The other “co-owner” of the BNP is anti-abortion activist and loyalist Jim Dowson. Dowson came to prominence as the director of “Precious Life” an extreme anti-abortion group that was disowned by other anti-abortionists in the Catholic Church due to its sending of death threats to pro-choice MP’s. Dowson also has also been involved with loyalist flute bands, one of which was named after loyalist gunman Michael Stone.

Dowson joined the BNP in 2007 and since then has provided important resources into the party through a variety of companies he directs, such as election leaflets, offices and its infamous “Truth truck”. Dowson has also recruited staff to man the BNP’s call centre in Belfast. Northern Ireland is thought of a “sanctuary” by the BNP leadership, a base for them to open permanent facilites like call centres which they could not do in the UK.

At present there is no evidence of a serious split in the BNP against Griffin and Dowson’s leadership. Most of the party supports the electoral focus and is resigned to accepting black and asian members of the party given the alternative is bankruptcy. What does remain however is a disproportionate amount of personal control of the party in Dowson’s hands, and of political control in Griffin’s. Despite the BNP’s success a minority of members on far-right forums and blogs have correctly identified Griffin as one of their limiting factors. Despite his efforts to modernise the party and his success in doing so Griffin cannot excise his own past in denying the Holocaust, attacking Jews and his conviction for racial hatred.

If the BNP are going to become a far-right party on the scale of the NF in France or the Lega Nord in Italy more baggage must be dumped – specifically the BNP’s image as a racist party with a neo-Nazi past. Griffin may have to be dumped to achieve that goal, and with the power he and Dowson have in the party, that could lead to a very vicious and bloody fight indeed.

Susan Ross, Aberdeen South BNP candidate

Last week, the BNP triumphantly announced that they’d put up their first ever billboard in Scotland, in Aberdeen. This was the first of three planned in the North East - the area of the country where they’re concentrating most of their resources, particularly following the fall-out which has fractured the party in Glasgow.
Their candidate in Aberdeen is Susan Ross, a nurse and grandmother – clearly someone they’re hoping will give their racist politics a veil of respectability. Although she stands no chance of election – and probably won’t even save her deposit – they’ve previously stated that their tactic is to build up localised support in the hope of gaining a regional list seat in Holyrood next year.
SSY is pleased to learn that local anti-fascists reacted quickly to the BNP advert, despite violent threats from the party of ’round the clock security’ to protect it – we’ve more than one report of attacks by BNP thugs on anti-fascists attempting to get near the billboard.
Well done Aberdeen – No Pasaran!

billboard photo: aberdeen anarchists

SSY member Ewan Robertson will be contesting the Aberdeen North seat in the upcoming general election – read more about the campaign here: www.aberdeenssp.org

As I explained in a recent blog post, I decided to write to Osama Saeed and Anas Sarwar, to encourage them to take a stand against the BNP’s freedom to stir up racial hatred. Below is the text of an emailed letter I sent to anas@sarwar4glasgow.com and blog@osamasaeed.org

Dear fellow candidate,

First of all, allow me to congratulate you on being selected by your party to run as a candidate in Glasgow Central. It is shaping up to be a hard-fought contest and I am ready to fight as hard as anyone in delivering my party’s distinctive message of peace, justice and socialism. This election is particularly important because of its context – the worst economic crisis in living memory, sharply rising unemployment and the threat of swingeing cuts to public services, wages and pensions alike.

My reason for writing is one of concern for the future. Throughout history, candidates of the extreme Right have sought to utilise economic downturn and the misery it causes the majority of people, in order to divide the people; focusing blame not on those in power nor the system they uphold, but on minorities, organised workers and all those who they consider ‘deviant’.

In past times, Britain has witnessed periods of growth for fascists such as Mosley’s blackshirts in the 1930s/40s and the National Front in the 70s/80s. Their role has been to terrorise minorities including Jews, Blacks and Irish. Today’s manifestation of this scummy tradition is the British National Party, whose main role is to act on the anti-Muslim climate whipped up by reactionary sections of the mainstream press. Without wishing to overstate their importance, they do represent a serious danger which cannot be ignored.

Despite their attempts to rebrand themselves as a non-violent electoralist party, you only have to scratch the surface to discover their true character. Many of their members have been convicted for racially aggravated assaults. The ranks of their organisation, all the way up to the top level, are full with Nazi sympathisers and white supremacists. It is no coincidence that some of the racist English Defence League’s biggest and most violent recent gatherings have occurred in areas of BNP growth, e.g. Stoke (recently abolished elected Mayor for fear that the BNP would win it) and Bolton (part of Nick Griffin’s North-West England euro constituency). Wherever they are able to gain a foothold, there is an inevitable subsequent rise in attacks on non-white people, religious minorities, homosexuals and radicals.

I raise all this to support the idea that far from being a legitimate political outfit, they are a menace to any vestiges of democracy and a threat to the safety of many members of our society. It is not unreasonable to suggest that if they came to power, I could be discussing them with you within the confines of a concentration camp. The 1 million votes they received in May, alongside some crafty PR spin, has tricked some into allowing them access to public service broadcasting and a place in the official political sphere. This is a dangerous practice and one which we should not simply stand by and allow to happen.

In the coming campaign, we will likely be invited to participate in debates or forums where members of the public engage with the candidates. The BNP are yet to declare a candidate, but will probably do so as they will seek an opportunity to cause division in a multi-ethnic ward with 2 prominent Muslim candidates. They should not be allowed to exploit these opportunities to spread their bile. I am asking you to take a brave stand and pledge that you will not share a platform with a representative of the BNP. For those who are organising such events, the pledge that major parties are united in unwillingness to allow fascists to take part will deter them from inviting BNP representatives.

I would be grateful if you could reply, confirming your position on this matter.

Yours sincerely,
James Nesbitt
SSP Candidate, Glasgow Central
30/03/2010

UKIP are the most successful minor party in British electoral history. Despite having no MP’s, no official backing from any major newspaper, and only 70 councillors UKIP were able to beat the Lib Dems and come third in 2004’s European Elections. Last year they went further, coming second and beating the governing Labour Party. Today UKIP send as many MEP’s to Brussels as Labour do. This is a formiddable achievement for a party that was only founded in 1993.

Despite this fantastic growth, there has been very little discussion or criticism of UKIP on the Left. This is despite UKIP representing a “radical” right-wing constituency, with MEP’s further to the right than most Tory MP’s and who would attack the standard of living of working people quite dramatically if elected.

Most concern on the Left to radical right wing parties has been directed to the growth of the BNP, who picked up 2 MEP’s at the last European Election. UKIP is very obviously and clearly not the same kind of party as the BNP but there is definitely competition between both parties for the same anti-EU, anti-Immigration, nationalist vote. This vote isn’t homogeneous however and there are important differences. UKIP attract a wealthier, home counties right-wing vote, compared to the BNP who attract support from much poorer areas in English cities.

UKIP and the BNP also have differences in how they view society should be organised; UKIP are made up of Thatcherites who are too Eurosceptic for the Tory Party but still uphold the free market and libertarian values. The BNP in contrast support protectionism for British companies – this has led to some on the Tory nutter right to attack the BNP as “Left-wing”. Farage, UKIP’s former leader and best known public figure says the difference between them and the BNP is that they are the “do what you like party” and the BNP are the “hang em and flog em party”.

Parliament for the jocks you say? What ho, no, let them use the one behind me!

Of course the biggest and most fundamental difference between the two parties is that the BNP is still a neo-Nazi organisation pretending to be a populist right wing one, while UKIP is just a populist right-wing party. UKIP doesn’t believe in the racial supremacy fantasies of the BNP and has no problems with ethnic minorities as candidates or members. It’s for this reason that it would be unimaginable (and wrong) for UKIP to be no platformed the way the BNP is.

Despite these important differences however, UKIP deserves a lot more attention and criticism from the Left than it has got. It’s generally been ignored by the Left as it is not in any position to control the Government or Local councils and because its not a fascist organisation like the BNP. However UKIP may not always be the eccentric party of ex-Tory Daily Mail readers, able to attract a bit of a laugh now and again with some Bernard Manning style comments about women or attacking the EU President as a damp rag.

UKIP’s potential danger can be seen in the man they invited last week to the House of Lords – Geert Wilders. UKIP’s leader, Lord Pearson invited Wilders to broadcast his anti-Muslim film “Fitna”. Wilders was also welcomed to London by the English Defence Leage, producing an unholy trinity of football casuals, ex-Tory lords and Wilders. This display was another example of the EDL are acting as violent thugs for ideas which are circulated and promoted by well heeled members of the establishment who are far more “respectable” than they are.

I likesh a shmoke and a pancake, but I don't likesh the Mushlimsh

UKIP have tried to justify their love in with Wilders on the basis that we need to have a discussion about “radical Islam”. Time and time again however Wilders has made clear that his problem is with Islam, and sees no difference between moderate and radical Muslims. Wilders today is the most successful far-Right politician in Europe, and has a real chance of becoming the next Prime Minister of the Netherlands.

Wilders has made it a demand for any coalition Government in which his Party for Freedom (PVV) takes part, that the hijab is banned from all public institutions; meaning any Muslim who wears the hijab will be banned from working in or using a library, swimming pool, school etc. Wilders does not even attempt to cover his attack on Muslims by saying its about secularism – he openly says Jewish skull caps and crucifixes will not be affected by this law, as they are a part of western culture.

People should remember that the hijab is not the burqa. Unlike the burqa, which is an extreme form of Islamic dress worn by a very small number of Muslims in Europe the Hijab is a far more modest headscarf little different from a nuns habit. The hijab is worn by a massive proportion of Muslim women – banning them from wearing it is a clear attack on their civil rights. There is no practical difference between someone who wears a hijab, a turban or skullcap in how they do their job or use public services. They have been singled out because they are Muslims.

Wilders has also called for the banning of the Koran, and for Guantanamo bay style facilities for Muslims in the Netherlands. He is also a staunch defender of Israel – Wilders PVV is in fact interested with fighting a war against the freedoms of the Netherlands’s Muslim minority.

How far UKIP will go down the PVV road remains to be seen, but it is clear that they are attempting to win support not just from attacking the EU but now from attacking Muslims. UKIP have become the first party in the UK to call for the banning of the Burka in all public places. This is further than even the BNP wants to go – they only want the burka banned in govt buildings. Whatever criticism can be made of the burka for it’s attacks on women’s rights it’s clear that if UKIP are cosying up with Wilders it is unlikely they are banning it to emancipate Muslim women.

UKIP also need to be dug up by the Left for their hypocrisy on the issues of democracy and accountability they claim to uphold. UKIP have won virtually all their support on their largely correct attacks on the European President and European Commission for being totally unaccountable and unelected – but they see no contradiction between these institutions and having an unelected Lord as leader! There is no attack on the House of Lords from UKIP on what it is, an undemocratic chamber which has the power to stop laws being made by a parliament with elected MP’s.

UKIP’s policy on Scotland also betrays their Tory roots – they call for the abolition of the Scottish Parliament, an act that would return Scotland to the bad old days of the 80’s where our votes were irrelevant, and the votes of middle England would decide who rules Scotland.

After all as bad as the EU parliament is, its done nothing like force the poll tax on Scotland using MP’s elected in England – but then again, that wouldn’t bother UKIP much seeing as they argue for a “flat tax”. A flat tax means that everyone pays the same amount of tax for their services regardless of their income, which was of course the exact same principle the poll tax used. They also call for a reduction in the rate of corporation tax, referring to Thatcher and Reagan’s UK and USA as a justification. This flat tax would also mean less funding for public services, cutting jobs and services in order to transfer even more wealth to the rich. This “freedom” for companies to do whatever they want is part of UKIP’s attack on the alleged “social democratic consensus” at Westminster.

Both this flat tax and reduction in corporation tax would be another salvo in a war which has been going on for 30 years, a war between the richest 1% of the population who have seen their wealth skyrocket whilst the working majority have seen their wealth stagnate or barely increase. Alongside their cosying up to someone who is determined to deny public services and jobs to Muslims in the Netherlands, it shows up UKIP as being a bit more dangerous than their charismatic and dotty English Toff MEP’s suggest.

Right now UKIP are unlikely to put into practice any of these policies. Both parties of the radical right in the UK, the BNP and UKIP have major barriers to growth. In the case of the BNP it’s their racism and neo-Nazi baggage. For UKIP its being identified as solely interested in Europe.

The PVV in the Netherlands shows that these barriers can be overcome however. If UKIP and the BNP dealt with these barriers by dumping Griffin and other neo-Nazis, paid more attention to domestic affairs and founded a new radical right party along the lines of the PVV there is little to stop them from emulating Wilders success. There is clearly a very large vote for opposing the EU, immigration, political correctness and for old school Tory values that Cameron has had to cede somewhat to take the centre ground.

Such a party of the radical right would pose a threat to Scotland’s democratic rights, working peoples status in the tax system, funding to public services and civil rights of Muslims in the UK. Remember that the next time you see Nigel Farage guffaw on Question Time and ask if anyone wants to go for a punt and a Pimms.