*A case of the shovel calling the spade a nigger?

(letter handed to Wakefield anti-fascists)

Should we be bothered by 'fascists'?

Are we to believe that the BNP and their like are a problem? Sure they have a handful of Councillors and gain a reasonable enough vote in elections but what does this mean? lsn't it the case that they merely occupy the arse end of politics adding a twist to the outpourings and actions of mainstream politics? At the end of the day these are the people with the say-so. For instance when so-called respectable mainstream politicians go on about the level of immigration or asylum seekers and pander to ideas of being overcrowded and under resourced, yet in the eyes of many do little about it, then the BNP hit home by giving a populist twist to the argument.
Let's not forget that it is state authorities that make the decisions to inter and deport people or even invade foreign countries.

White supremacist ideas may not be that strident anymore but appear in soft-core form under the guise of multiculturalism at home and humanitarianism abroad - 'we are different' still being the message. Though perhaps inverted here whereby any and every other 'culture' is promoted and home grown tradition is sanitised - though not at the request of immigrant groups.
These ideas are evolving under the pressures of globalisation yet in island Britain there is a smug remnant of complacent superiority.

The BNP's popularity is something of a myth - many decent people have voted this way purely out of anger at what they see as ineffectual politicians and not out of any support for what they stand for. Pretty much the way that most voting goes ie. loose affiliations that are acted upon every four or so years with no genuine commitment to 'the cause'. The BNP at best are seen as something that will do what they say and seemingly a logical response to problems posed by elements of the mainstream.

Perhaps we confuse the BNP with fascists from times past when these labels meant something and people had an active involvement with their political parties. Not so today - people on the whole have little faith in active involvement with politics and go along with the loose belief that voting an outfit into power can change things.

In effect the BNP are a pisspot* outfit and we do ourselves no good by campaigning against them. Surely their are bigger and better ways to operate than picking this seemingly easy target? lf we go around telling people not to have any associations with them then we only make the case that there is something remotely coherent about them.

What is good about the BNP is that they give ground level expression to ordinary every day anger and propose means to deal with problems that people perceive - however crap that may be. Most of us in our daily lives come across sentiments that the BNP echo ie, their 'ideas' are commonplace. We should relish the challenge that these arguments present as it is often here that we can make headway and build a true expression of ground level politics.

Sadly if we concentrate our fire on 'fascists' then we let the real culprits escape and they carry on reinforcing the shaky ground that the BNP occupy. Worse, if we adopt the slogan that even mainstream politicians are better than 'fascist scum' then we dig a hole for ourselves too.
Shouldn't we be a bit more daring and find ways to channel that muted anger into meaningful expression?

The left should seriously be just that little bit braver. The BNP may occasionally fight a bit dirty but they are good at it - and after a significant section of the same audience as us. They may be reactionary in some circumstances but they are at least brave enough to stick their necks out. And they do set a standard, of sorts. Can we say the same about ourselves?

"We' well outnumber 'them' yet concentrate too much effort in being scared. Turn all this around and hit the audience instead of leapfrogging it by thinking they can be won over to our cause by 'celebrity' figures. If we don't understand our arguments or at least work to principle then how do we think others can be convinced by celebrity?

l'd actually go further - we should attempt to win this lot over. Why? As mentioned before their arguments are commonplace - amongst our workmates, friends and family. If we say don't speak to the BNP then we deny their arguments can be countered - unless Sting or someone says so. If we can't counter these arguments and promote something our closest can believe in it's probably because we're not too sure of our arguments. We'll only find out by putting them to the test.

Recruit from the BNP!?!

Quite serious. Whatever their faults they do seem to believe in something and put in good effort. The days that they seem to hanker for are long gone, arguments incoherent and a just a bit hypocritical. Misguided Nazis? Hmm

If that is to be met with apoplexy the the left should at least defend - to the hilt - the BNP's right to free speech, not seek official sanction to quieten them, side step or simply deny their arguments.