British National Party
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==Origins of the current BNP== | ==Origins of the current BNP== | ||
| − | [[File:BNP_logo.svg|300px|left|thumb]] | + | [[File:BNP_logo.svg|300px|left|thumb|Not shitting on the Union Flag at all.]] |
| − | The current BNP was formed in 1982 from the ashes of previous right-wing political parties in 1970s Britain. John Tyndall, founder of the BNP, was a member of the openly racist [[National Front]],<ref>Which today [http://www.national-front.org.uk/bnpcavein.htm maintains it's whites-only policy.] </ref> which he led a splinter group from in 1980, founding the New National Front, which would become the BNP two years later. It has been widely observed that the BNP is a presentational rebranding from the National Front, dropping the violent street thuggery and substituting suits and ties for skinhead gear.<ref>[http://www.economist.com/node/13837354 The BNP's breakthrough: Booted and suited], ''The Economist'', 11 June 2009</ref> | + | The current BNP was formed in 1982 from the ashes of previous right-wing political parties in 1970s Britain. John Tyndall, founder of the BNP, was a member of the openly racist [[National Front]],<ref>Which today [http://www.national-front.org.uk/bnpcavein.htm maintains it's whites-only policy.] (caution: fucking horrible website.)</ref> which he led a splinter group from in 1980, founding the New National Front, which would become the BNP two years later. It has been widely observed that the BNP is a presentational rebranding from the National Front, dropping the violent street thuggery and substituting suits and ties for skinhead gear.<ref>[http://www.economist.com/node/13837354 The BNP's breakthrough: Booted and suited], ''The Economist'', 11 June 2009</ref> |
Early BNP leaders did not deny their racist connections. Tyndall is known to have remarked that "''[[Adolf Hitler|Mein Kampf]]'' is my bible."<ref>[http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2003/aug/24/uk.thefarright "Expelled BNP founder plans court battle"], Jamie Doward, ''The Observer'', August 24 2003.</ref> After the current wonky-eyed Chairman and Fat [[Hitler]] impersonator, Nick Griffin (no relation to Peter Griffin of ''Family Guy''), replaced Tyndall in 1999 and Tyndall was expelled from the party, the BNP has attempted to change its image by using [[spin]] and political [[euphemism]]s. For example, the BNP denies that it is a [[white supremacy|white supremacist]] organisation, claiming instead that it represents the interests of "the indigenous peoples of these islands in the North Atlantic which have been our homeland for millennia."<ref>BNP website: [http://www.bnp.org.uk/about-us/mission-statement/ Mission Statement]</ref> | Early BNP leaders did not deny their racist connections. Tyndall is known to have remarked that "''[[Adolf Hitler|Mein Kampf]]'' is my bible."<ref>[http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2003/aug/24/uk.thefarright "Expelled BNP founder plans court battle"], Jamie Doward, ''The Observer'', August 24 2003.</ref> After the current wonky-eyed Chairman and Fat [[Hitler]] impersonator, Nick Griffin (no relation to Peter Griffin of ''Family Guy''), replaced Tyndall in 1999 and Tyndall was expelled from the party, the BNP has attempted to change its image by using [[spin]] and political [[euphemism]]s. For example, the BNP denies that it is a [[white supremacy|white supremacist]] organisation, claiming instead that it represents the interests of "the indigenous peoples of these islands in the North Atlantic which have been our homeland for millennia."<ref>BNP website: [http://www.bnp.org.uk/about-us/mission-statement/ Mission Statement]</ref> | ||
Revision as of 22:33, 1 March 2013
| A guide to |
| God Save the Queen? |
“”We are pledged to stemming and reversing the immigration and migration of peoples into our British Homeland that has, without the express consent of the Indigenous British, taken place since 1948, and to restoring and maintaining, by legal changes, negotiation and consent, the Indigenous British as the overwhelming majority in the make up of the population of and expression of culture in each part of our British Homeland.
|
| —The British National Party's Constitution as of April 2010[1] |
The British Nazi National Party (or BNP) is the token extreme-right nationalist, racist and xenophobic political party in the United Kingdom. The batshit British Freedom Party (BFP) was formed in 2010 by members of the BNP.[2]
Contents |
Origins of the current BNP
The current BNP was formed in 1982 from the ashes of previous right-wing political parties in 1970s Britain. John Tyndall, founder of the BNP, was a member of the openly racist National Front,[3] which he led a splinter group from in 1980, founding the New National Front, which would become the BNP two years later. It has been widely observed that the BNP is a presentational rebranding from the National Front, dropping the violent street thuggery and substituting suits and ties for skinhead gear.[4]
Early BNP leaders did not deny their racist connections. Tyndall is known to have remarked that "Mein Kampf is my bible."[5] After the current wonky-eyed Chairman and Fat Hitler impersonator, Nick Griffin (no relation to Peter Griffin of Family Guy), replaced Tyndall in 1999 and Tyndall was expelled from the party, the BNP has attempted to change its image by using spin and political euphemisms. For example, the BNP denies that it is a white supremacist organisation, claiming instead that it represents the interests of "the indigenous peoples of these islands in the North Atlantic which have been our homeland for millennia."[6]
Until recently, membership was open to white citizens only[7] although a ruling in September 2009 found this policy to be in breach of the UK's Race Relations Act. Fighting such a ruling could cost the party enough money to prevent it running in an election (what a shame) or possibly bankrupting it (our hearts bleed, they really do). Eventually, unable to raise the funds to fight the hefty legal battle - which they'd have little chance of winning because, well, it's the law - they gave in and said that they would make "all reasonable endeavours" to change their constitution in order to accept non-white members.[8] In February 2010, members voted to abandon the whites-only rule.[9] The rules were later ruled to still be discriminatory by a judge, who said, "I hold that the BNP are likely to commit unlawful acts of discrimination within section 1b Race Relations Act 1976 in the terms on which they are prepared to admit persons to membership under the 12th addition of their constitution."[10] This remains a matter of legal compliance, and is unlikely to signify any change in the party's attitudes, policies and demographics.
Popularity (or lack thereof)
Despite being ostracised and condemned by mainstream politics and the media, the BNP currently hold two seats in the European Parliament and over 50 seats in local councils, largely in northern English cities such as Bradford, Burnley, Oldham and Leeds, which have a history of racial tensions between the white working class and Asian communities. Most BNP councilors have been too stupid and incompetent to understand the workings of local authorities, and the electorate soon saw through their ludicrous posturing.[11]
The party received a significant amount of media attention in the year preceding the 2010 general election in the United Kingdom after BNP leader Nick Griffin and former British National Socialist Movement member and National Front leader Andrew Brons[12] won seats in the 2009 European Parliament elections for North West England and Yorkshire and Humber respectively.[13][14] Following this, a controversial decision by the BBC saw party leader Nick Griffin allowed onto Question Time - a weekly show discussing politics and current events. Following the appearance, the party's popularity and prominence increased, with 3% of the UK electorate afterwards supporting the BNP and as many as 22% "seriously considering" voting for them.[15] Despite their surge in popularity, the BNP failed to gain any seats in the May election, though they garnered over half a million votes and 1.9% of the national vote.[16][17][18]
Policies
The British National Party advocates British withdrawal from the European Union, and, according to its constitution, "is wholly opposed to any form of racial integration between British and non-European peoples." Hence the party is "committed to stemming and reversing the tide of non-white immigration and to restoring, by legal changes, negotiation and consent, the overwhelmingly white makeup of the British population that existed in Britain prior to 1948."[19]
If enacted, this policy would involve deporting "back to their own country" not only recent immigrants, but all members of the sizeable Asian and West Indian communities that have grown in Britain over the past sixty years, Chinese communities that have been in Britain for over 200 years and African communities that have been in Britain for over 500 years, notwithstanding that most of the current generation of these ethnic minorities have lived their entire lives in Britain.
In a statement of the party's policies and intentions, Griffin repeatedly emphasised that the party is "not racist", while describing Britain as a "fundamentally white nation", condemning miscegenation as unnatural, and reiterating that he considers non-Caucasians, or white citizens who choose non-whites as sexual or marriage partners, are unsuitable for party membership. He stated that, once the BNP has removed the majority of immigrant groups from the country, "[t]hose non-Europeans who stay will have British passports and will be protected by our laws, but they will be regarded as permanent guests, and not as native English, Scots, Welsh or Irish, because such status springs from blood and not from printers’ ink."[20]
Antisemitism has also been a significant aspect of BNP ideology, and BNP leaders, including Nick Griffin, have made several statements of Holocaust denial. On Question Time, Nick Griffin was challenged on it but refused to comment on why he changed his views or why he originally denied it, muttering something about it being illegal and free speech or something, even after Justice Secretary Jack Straw pointed out that he could not, and would not be prosecuted for it (Holocaust denial is not actually a crime in the UK, as it is some European countries). However, in recent years the party has decided that its major enemy is Islam. A BNP statement during 2006 asserted that "[t]he real enemies of the British people are home grown Anglo-Saxon Celtic liberal-leftists who seek to destroy the family as the building blocks of society and impose multiculturalism on a reluctant indigenous population and the Crescent Horde - the endless wave of Islamics who are flocking to our shores to bring our island nations into the embrace of their barbaric desert religion."[21]
The BNP's attempts to disguise its racialist roots and pose itself as a legitimate political force are not at all convincing, especially as many of its prominent members have past convictions for violent offences and hate crimes. Its attempts to sound the alarm about the supposed Islamic "threat to all of us" also comes off as hollow in the wake of this quote from Mr Griffin: "We bang on about Islam. Why? Because to the ordinary public out there it's the thing they can understand. It's the thing the newspaper editors sell newspapers with. If we were to attack some other ethnic group—some people say we should attack the Jews... But ... we've got to get to power. And if that was an issue we chose to bang on about when the press don't talk about it ... the public would just think we were barking mad. They'd just think oh, you're attacking Jews just because you want to attack Jews. You're attacking this group of powerful Zionists just because you want to take poor Manny Cohen the tailor and shove him in a gas chamber. That's what the public would think. It wouldn't get us anywhere other than stepping backwards. It would lock us in a little box; the public would think "extremist crank lunatics, nothing to do with me." And we wouldn't get power."[22]
Predictably, their law and order policies follow the "hang um and flog um" line. But they mean it literally. They would: "Re-introduce corporal punishment for petty criminals and vandals"[23] and "Restore capital punishment for paedophiles, terrorists and murderers as an option for judges in cases where their guilt is proven beyond dispute."[24]
The party has also advocated the recognition of November as White History Month.[25][26]
WikiLeaks
In November 2008, a list of the BNP's members was released on the internet.[27] The list included many people from all walks of life across the entire country, including a policeman and a priest. Many were down as members, others down as "activists" and several were labelled that they would like their membership made discreet due to professional concerns. The party leader Nick Griffin claims that the list was outright stolen, rather than misplaced, possibly in reference to multiple blunders by the UK government during 2008 where data was lost or misplaced by (incompetent) civil servants.
Splinters
As with its predecessor the National Front, the BNP has spawned a good number of splinter groups. Generally, these were founded by people loyal to far-right politics but critical of Nick Griffin's leadership. Examples include the British Freedom Party, the British Democratic Party, Britain First and Patria.
People associated with the BNP
- John Tyndall: Founder; deceased
- Nick Griffin: Current leader
- Lee Barnes: Former legal officer, now a dissident after falling out with Griffin.
- Jonathan Bowden: Served as cultural officer before falling out with Griffin; deceased
- Andrew Brons: One of the BNP's two MEPs, until he left to start his own party after falling out with Griffin.
- Jim Dowson: Former fundraiser, later left the party.
- Sarah "Maid of Albion" Davies: Blogger
- Kenneth McKilliam Involved in the party in its early days; died in 1993.
- Alan O'Reilly: Activist and raving fundie
- Clive Potter: Former parliamentary candidate and leader of alleged BNP front Solidarity; now involved with English nationalism
- And a bloke in a rubber horse mask.
See also
External links
- Stop the BNP
- There is Nothing British about the BNP
- BNP says some members are oddballs and liars
- Cassetteboy remix of Nick Griffin on Question Time
- Visualisation of BNP membership vs non-white populations
Footnotes
- ↑ Constitution v12.2, Section 3, Clause 3.2.3, page 7, courtesy of Liverpool Antifascists
- ↑ Kevin Rawlinson & Paul Cahalan, "Far right unites in European initiative", The Independent, 27 February 2012
- ↑ Which today maintains it's whites-only policy. (caution: fucking horrible website.)
- ↑ The BNP's breakthrough: Booted and suited, The Economist, 11 June 2009
- ↑ "Expelled BNP founder plans court battle", Jamie Doward, The Observer, August 24 2003.
- ↑ BNP website: Mission Statement
- ↑ "Constitution of the British National Party", eighth edition, 2004, "Section 2: Membership"
- ↑ "BNP to consider non-white members", BBC News, 15 October 2009.
- ↑ "BNP votes to ditch whites-only membership rule", BBC News, 14 February 2010.
- ↑ "BNP membership rules still discriminatory, court rules", BBC News, 12 March 2010.
- ↑ "The sorry tale of the BNP councillors", Hope Not Hate's profile of BNP Councilors
- ↑ Duncan Campbell, "Andrew Brons: the genteel face of neo-fascism", The Guardian, 8 June 2009
- ↑ European Election 2009: North West, BBC News, 8 June, 2009
- ↑ "BNP wins Yorkshire Euro seat", Yorkshire Evening Post, 8 June 2009
- ↑ "BNP support in poll sparks anger", BBC News, 24 October 2009
- ↑ Election 2010 United Kingdom - National Results, BBC News
- ↑ BNP National Parliaments and General election performance at Wikipedia
- ↑ "BNP vote increases, but fails to win seat", BBC News, 7 May 2010
- ↑ Constitution of the British National Party, "Section 1: Political Objectives"
- ↑ Nick Griffin, "The BNP: Anti-asylum protest, racist sect or power-winning movement?", 2004, at the BNP website.
- ↑ BNP website: News archive, 28th July 2006.
- ↑ BNPtv films Nick Griffin Speaking at Burnley Branch Meeting March 2006, 22 March 2006
- ↑ Nothing tells a 15 year-old "don't spray paint that wall again" better than beating the crap out of them.
- ↑ Nothing stops paedophiles, terrorists and murders from molesting, terrorising and murdering better than killing them.
- ↑ Tim Lezard, "Anger over BNP's 'white history month'", New Statesman, 26 November 2008
- ↑ "BNP ‘White History Month’ whitewashes history", Harry's Place, November 12 2008
- ↑ "Leaked list 'exposes BNP members'", BBC News, 19 November 2008.