I attended a very sobering meeting the other night, organised by the Hope not Hate campaign which is working to defeat the BNP at the forthcoming European elections on June 4th.
The extreme right party is putting forward a number of candidates, including its loathsome chairman Nick Griffin in the North West. Because the election is conducted under proportional representation – which favours smaller parties more than the first past the post system used in general elections – the party would only need to 8.5 per cent in some regions to secure seats. The apathy of most people towards elections in general – and particularly the European elections – could prove to be the party’s best friend.

As comedian Eddie Izzard said at Thursday’s meeting, a BNP MEP would be a disaster. A victory would bring the facists money and the political legitimacy they crave. The BBC, for example, has told the anti-nazi group Searchlight that Griffin would be given equal airtime on shows such as Newsnight and Question Time as the leaders of the mainstream parties if they were to win. More airtime would give them more ability to spread their poison and divide communities, as they have in so many areas over recent years.

“The BNP is a racist, Nazi party. It is not interested in fairness, but motivated only by hatred towards those it does not like. It thrives on conflict, mistrust and exploiting people’s genuine concerns. It is always looking for someone to blame, rather than getting on with the difficult job of sorting out complex problems.
“It is also a foul party. It is packed full of criminals, thugs and Nazis. It does not believe that a black person can ever be British and it would outlaw marriages between people of different ethnic backgrounds.” (Hope not Hate leaflet)

The only answer to this is for people to get out and vote. I am probably one of the only people I know who always votes, but this time people have got to make sure they are registered and actually get out and do it. The thought of Griffin being taken seriously by the mainstream media and given more public space in which to pedal his poison is frightening.
If you aren’t register, sort it out as soon as possible. There is information here about how to do so