By I read with interest Ellie Levenson’s article on LabourList regarding the BNP. I have been a long supporter of the policy of No Platform and in the past I have even chaired candidate questions as opposed to hustings to get around inviting the BNP. However I now believe that with MEP electoral success, the no-platform policy has failed.
I have written about my concerns in a blog post for Progress Online in March, which was followed up by the Guardian. Since then I have written about the threat of the BNP in the Independent and Daily Mail (of all places).
I am a democrat. A realisation of being a democrat is accepting that other people will not always agree with you and to combat them at the ballot box. Another realisation is that some within a democracy will have abhorrent views which need to be argued against and combated. I am no supporter of dangerous, radicalised political Islam, just as I am not a supporter of the isolationist and largely bigoted BNP - but they exist and they are competing factors in the UK’s political economy.
We have some fundamental problems with our democracy in the UK and the wider western world. These are questions we find difficult to answer without trawling through the writings of John Stuart Mill or other libertarians. One such problem is what happens when a party that appears to be opposed to democracy uses democratic channels to gather support? How do we work with competing political agents when everyone does not play by the accepted rules of the game? With radicalised clerics, such as Omar Bakri Muhammad, the warping of impressionable minds and incitement of violence is the means to acquire political support and power. With Nick Griffin, the BNP and the fascist elements of our democracy, it is now increasingly by the ballot box.
It is undeniable that Labour, the Lib Dems and the Tories play by similar rules and we accept each others' legitimacy. The BNP would say that the 'old guard' parties, the 'LibLabCons', have created a political class that is detached from ordinary people and has a whiff of arrogance about it. I tend to agree. You only have to look at the media to see the bad apples in each of our parties. This - coupled with recent scandals of the political class, a global recession and the no-platform policy - gives the BNP room and oxygen to grow.
The BNP put a leaflet out in my ward with a picture of Sara Payne on it and the words “your local Labour councillors support paedophiles”. Without stating the obvious that this is not true, the problem I encountered was how to deal with this situation. If you rebut these allegations you are giving the BNP credibility as a real democratic entity. If you ignore them you allow falsehoods to be propagated at your own expense. I sought advice from the national party and I was sensitively told to ignore them, which I did. I now believe this advice was wrong. I also believe there was no 'line' on this issue.
Political economy agents like the BNP are real and they are winning elections. I am not scaremongering or claiming they are on the verge of taking the country at the next general election as some of their deluded supporters believe; they only hold 6 seats out of 1,247 sitting Yorkshire and Humber councillors.
However, I am saying that since they won seats in the European Parliament they cannot be ignored. One of the reasons why they won was because we have ignored them for far too long; allowing them to propagate untruths.
We have to decide if the BNP are a legitimate force in our democratic system or not. If they are not, make them illegal. As a democrat I would have difficulty with this. If you don’t make them illegal then we have to accept their democratic legitimacy and combat them as we do any other political party.
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In Barking the battle has begun. We have a platform and are aiming to challenge and defeat them on it. Step by step, dorr after door we are addressing peoples concerns and giving them the chance to express, argue the issue. We are taking the points they are raising on and addressing them. We showing them the nature of the Global economy, that immigration is occuring everywhere and that all are involved. With regards to the neglect of previous and soon to be previous councillors and other politicians with SSS (safe seat syndrome, otherwise known as laziness amd arrogance) we are healing the wounds and showing the people here that once again they are in the driving seat of this democracy. The BNP are challenged on Council and soundly defeated in debate and on the streets.
We will reclaim democracy and I am confident that the new councillors in Barking will not take their seats for granted. The BNP were a mistake, a punishment for neglect by the Labour Party. We cannot ignore this we owe it to the electorate to clean up the act. Here we will do all that we can to do so on all political levels.
I am in dagenham , I hope we can get people out knocking on doors and listening to people we might make a difference.
ricki
Obviously there needs to be a reappraisal of Labour's refusal to share a platform to debate the BNP, because our tactics in fighting fascists must develop as the circumstances change, and circumstances have changed with the BNPs election to the European Parliament, London Assembly and a number of local councils. (I'm not suggesting that such a reappraisal should lead to a change in policy, just that it's appropriate to review it at this time)
But the context behind 'no platform' campaiging has not changed. It is still right to try and restrict the BNP from the oxygen of publicity, because their views are dangerous and because giving that publicity leads not just to votes for the BNP, but also to unrest, tensions within communities and often violence.
In a democratic nation with free speech, any may have the right to air their views, but those who hold a platform have an equal right to decide who does or does not get to use it. This is true for a church hall or a community centre just as it is for the Daily Mail or Fox News. And it follows that the public can campaign for those voices it deems unacceptable not to be given access to that platform.
It is entirely possible for anti-fascists to continue to support 'No Platform' campaigns, and then taking a view on sharing a platform where those campaigns are unsuccessful.
Having myself argued the no platform line locally in Camden when the Ham&High local paper (a) quoted a BNP source on a political issue without any other quote from any other party and (b) a year later ran paid-for election adverts (justified by freedom of speech) I think the time has now come to move on. In fact repeated attempt to force the BNP not from speaking are increasingly counter-productive, especially when some of the voices from the anti-fascist groupings don't back their arguments up properly when addressing the issue -
Glad to see someone in the Labour Party gets it.
...or you could refuse to share a platform with them?...
Brillant peice as was the one last week ( i forgot who wrote it help ?) I dont think banning them is right but debating with them will and it would give there voters to see what a nasty pice of work they are .
We ( all Parties ) should stand up and defeat through words not silence , We must not let them go unchallenged to peddle there lies , Thats why i think all parties should debate with them and not to get into a slanging match , buy shunning them we show that we fear them , We should not .
ricki
I live in east london the bnp are getting stronger , If we ( all Parties ) allow them to go unchallenged then there voters will not have a chance to hear the truth , If the main party leaders went on qt it would give a chance of showing how riduiclus there claims are and might just get there voters to think again .
The no platform policy has failed we have a bnp london assembliy member and 2 euro meps , we cant just hope that they will go away if we close our eyes .
ricki