One of the biggest ironies in free speech principles allowing the BNP to have a seat on the BBC Question Time panel tonight is the simple fact that extreme right wing parties of the ilk of the BNP are the very parties who would, if they could, deny people those rights. So for those of us who believe in free speech, it is very much through gritted teeth that we support the BBC's principled stance in allowing the BNP to appear on the show.
Sadly though, there are those who have used the BNPs appearance on Question Time as a means of pursuing their own vested interests.
Looking at the the usual suspect waving socialist worker placards whilst attempting to attack and break in to the BBC, you realise that there is only a very subtle difference between the methods of the far left and the far right. The differences are that whilst the far right claim to speak for the "ordinary working person", the far left seek to claim the title of speaking for the rest of us, which of course they don't.
The truth is that the actions of the far left outside the BBC today will only give solice to the BNP and will add to the view of many of those people, ignorant enough to vote BNP, that the whole world is against them and that people don't want to hear the BNPs version of the truth.
The majority of people, those who are liberal both with a small and large "l" who vote for mainstream parties, abhor the views of the BNP and hope that people see them for what they are. But the is a clear division between those who choose to oppose violent thugs in suits by legitimate democratic means and those who seek to wave placards and deny those they do not like from exercising rights that the vast majority of this country hold dear.
The truth is, of course, that the far left oppose the BNP from exercising freedom of speech because just like the far right, the far left are not to be trusted with guarding our freedoms.
Whilst they may not be racists, they want a class war, they also show prejudice and would be as quick to remove the rights we all hold dear as quickly as the BNP, if they had the chance. Meanwhile they shame the rest of us who oppose the BNP and who are now cast by them as being part of the BNP opposition alongside them.
7 comments:
I think you're being very hard on them. I understand why people want to go there and protest. My father fought the Nazis in 44 and 45 and I hate the idea of them walking on my streets unopposed. I've protested in similar circumstances and while a few on the hard left are as daft as you imply, most are reasonable people who want to stop something they abhor.
the majority of people who vote for Labour and the Lib Dems (the Tories go without saying) have forgotten about the large number of working class people (of all colours and faiths)in the country and are offering them more of the same or worse. The void will be filled by militant Islam or facsism or nothing - just wasting away in a life of poverty, petty crime and drinking yourself to death at the weekend etc.
Politics has become the playground of the middle classes. The last 25 years has seen the politically active people of the 80s fade away, derided as dinosaurs etc. And look where we are. I doubt you'll find politicians coming up through the shop floor or similar these days. More like a politics degree, working for an MP and networking etc.
As a young man growing up in the north, politics gave me the chance to try and change my life and for a while in 84-85 and later during the poll tax fiasco it felt like something could be achieved. I'm not sure where my country is heading at the moment.
For all the poll tax protests, it was not the rioting that changed the government's mind. It was the pasting the Tories got at the ballot box in the local elections in 1990. In that year I remember labour winning seats in Broadland that they now come third in (or don't even field candidates). It put the fear of god in to Tory MPs.
'... you realise that there is only a very subtle difference between the methods of the far left and the far right.'
This is understating the matter, I think. The BNP is described as 'far right' by people on the left but, if you examine the policies it advocates on its web site, it looks awfully like a far left party with added racism (and even that is not far from the views of some of the far left, as can be seen from their attitudes to Israel).
I would say that the reason why the left describe the BNP as 'far right' is because the views of the BNP are a heresy of socialism, and the mainstream left, wanting to separate itself as far as possible from the heretics, does this by branding them as 'far right'.
Similarly, it is reasonable to view Nazism, which began as a simple copy of Marxism and only acquired its racist policies later in an attempt to make the product more saleable, as a heresy of Marxism.
Which means that the word 'fascist' becomes meaningless, except to describe a former political party in Italy. All these people are socialists of one kind or another, pinning labels on each other.
The real far right are a bunch of gents in tweeds who have nothing to do with any of the above.
Well said Nick. Also do you notice that most faces in that protesting crowd were white, probably Southerners and probably middle-class. When did people of ethnic minority ask them to protest on their behalf, smash up property and waste police time?
Whether someone is far left or far right seems totally immaterial. Who was the worst, Hitler or Stalin? Both were responsible for the deliberate killing of millions for their own reasons.
Yet always the protests in Britain are about so-called Nazis, nobody seems to mention that Stalinists are just as bad and that, to me, is what most of the violent anti-Nazi protesters are.
Amusingly I gather the extreme left winger Iain "Glenfarclas" Martin of the Dully Tele supports the SWP & whomever on this . .
No need to grit your teeth Norfie until you come to this:
In a Poll for the Dully Tele 4% say they would vote BNP tomorrow, while 6% actually did in June.
So the Dully highlights the declaration of 20% that they would consider voting BNP, AND THE BBC FOLLOWS THEIR HEADLINE!!!
Why should expat tax haven residents like the Barclays buy any more propaganda sheets or Tv channels when the supposedly "independent" ones do their bidding?
Norfie: You're absolutely right about the Poll Tax Protests not being as effective as fear of losing when it came to motivating the Tory MPs to defenestrate Mrs Thatcher.
When it comes to a class war the Lefties might point to David Chameleon ("second" cousin to HM Queen) and Geo "Mr Potato Head" Osborne Bart (a member of the OId Ascendancy in Ireland) and their fixed policies of returning fox hunting as a lawful 'sport' and increasing the lower limit at which Death Duties (IHT) operates to £1m per head.
Post a Comment