Stop the BNP marching

By Tom Miller

Many of us have had the experience of meeting people on the doorstep who plan to vote BNP, as laid out here previously by Dan McCurry. I’ve never really known what to say to these people, as often they have taken on a race-based approach to their particular problems. I find this incredibly hard to relate to this, though I know that complaints which come across as racist often have roots in material need. The BNP knows that in many areas this need exists, and seek to create a divisive perception of injustice between communities and ethnic barriers.

That said, I think fascists such as the BNP should have the right to free speech, insofar as the speech is not likely to incite hatred of violence, and that whether they get to speak is not someone else’s decision to take (for example, a Students’ Union belongs to students, who should have ultimate discretion over who speaks on their premises, or even enters them).

So, I suppose that when someone has the power to make decisions, for example a local authority, that decision has to take into account a whole bunch of things including but not limited to the fact that the BNP are actively fascist and racist.

Five or six emails have dropped into my inbox today, which seem to be the result of an email circular campaign on behalf of Searchlight, who run the ‘Hope not Hate’ campaign. Despite the apparent concentration on me, I’m sure they’re actually getting out quite a lot further.

Searchlight want to stop the BNP marching through Liverpool on March 14th. The power to make that particular decision lies with the police. The BNP have a strong history of violence themselves, and have links to other more violent groups. They are a party of strong convictions; mostly for violent offences. Some of these even include links with people who have convictions for terrorist acts.

Now, imagine thousands of them, all in one place. In a left wing city. With counter demonstrators.

Sign up to the campaign to stop them doing it here.