Back in 2010 I listened as Nick Griffin, the leader of the British National Party (BNP) squirmed uncomfortably on BBC Question Time. The reason for his discomfort? A member of the audiance asked him whether he now accepted that the Final Solution (I.E. the mass extermination of the Jews, by the Nazis had, in fact taken place and, if so why he (Nick Griffin) had changed his mind on the holacaust. Mr Griffin vacilated and refused to give a straight answer.
It is the party of Mr Griffin which Andi Ali analyses in his book “Dead Paki Walking, a study of the British National Party”. Mr Ali is of mixed race with a father of Pakistani origin and a white mother. The book derives its title from a threat sent to the author, by the far-right in which they informed him that he was “a dead Paki walking”.
The author chooses to write his thesis on the BNP and almost from the moment he starts his researches the intimidation and threats begin. Ali receives threatening emails from an untraceable email account and his picture appears, many times on Redwatch (a site run by neo-nazis which publicises the details of anti-fascists including their names and addresses).
Ali is not subjected to mere threats. He is stabbed, near Downing Street while filming a demonstration by Northern Ireland Loyalists with connections to the extreme right.
This work shines a light on the murky world of the BNP and other far-right organisations, for example Combat 18 a violent neo-Nazi outfit who openly admire Hitler and who, Ali contends are involved in violent acts against anyone who dares to stand up to the extreme right.
Ali deals with the skinheads who are, tradicionally seen as the core of the BNP’s support. However, more chillingly he meets and interviews intelligent and articulate BNP members. These white collar supporters are not openly racist (unlike their skin head counterparts). In contrast they argue that African doctors should be sent back to Africa not because they are racialy inferior but due to the fact that Africa is crying out for doctors. It is these slick individuals who have been to the fore under the leadership of Griffin, however as Ali indicates Griffin has created a thin vineer of respectability, dig a little deeper and the old Nazi ideas of the superiority of the white race, forceable repatriation of non-whites etc will come out (the official line of the BNP is now that voluntary repatriation will be encouraged but no one will be forced to leave the UK).
You can find Ali’s book at http://www.amazon.co.uk/tag/biography/forum?cdThread=TxY6RU3E4CSZUD.
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What you say is also relevant to the far left who promote such issues as same-sex marriage.
Anyone who uses violence or the threat of vilence is to be condemned irrespective of which side of the political spectrum they eminate from. In his book Ali mentions his unwillingness to become embroiled with Anti-Fascist Action (a far-left group) because of their advocacy of violence as a means of countering the BNP.
As regards the issue of same sex marriage, there was a recent case here, in the UK in which a gay male couple had their request to stay together, in the same room in a hotel declined by a Christian couple. The hoteliers where taken to court and it was determined that they had breeched the Equalities Act which, among other matters makes it unlawful to discriminate against a person for reasons relating to their sexual orientation. Following that decision the hoteliers have received threatening phone calls and are considering closing their business. I support the decision of the judge to uphold the right of the two gay men to stay together in the hotel as it is wrong (both morally and legally to discriminate against a person because of their sexual orientation). However I utterly condemn those who have issued threats against the hotel owners. Let us hope that the police track down anyone who has threatened the hoteliers in any shape or form.
Kevin
Your argument is not watertight.
It is accepted that we discriminate [morally and legally] against pedophiles. That is their sexual orientation.
A further question for you: on what basis do our morals and laws stand – historically and presently?
Is this the same Andi Ali who was charged and convicted by his employer, Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) with holding extreme political views for heckling the BNP at a peaceful protest in Burnley, after BNP members and suporters at the Tax Credit Office in Preston, were Ali and they worked, used internal HMRC grievance procedures to complain he had extreme political views, after his details appeared on Redwatch?
Irrespective of the rights or wrong of Ali’s conduct heckling a political party can in no way be compared to the many documented cases of violence for which BNP supporters have been convicted. Just Google BNP violence and you will obtain a very high volume of results.
I notice that you don’t respond to Ali’s main argument that the BNP is a fundamentally racist party.
Kevin
Keith, thank you for your comments.
As regards paedophiles we rightly discriminate (if that is the correct word in this context) against them on the grounds that they subject children (who are to young to give consent to sexual activity) to inappropriate activity of a sexual nature. Young children (obviously) require to be protected against predators. In contrast gay adults, whether male or female are mature enough to make decisions about how they conduct their sex lives. Consequently the issue of paedophilia has, in my view no relevance to what consenting adults (whether gay or hetrosexual) do in private.
The great writer Oscar Wilde was imprisoned in Reading Jail merely for being gay. I hope we never return to a day when individuals are imprisoned or otherwise discriminated against merely owing to their sexual proclivity provided (as I said above) that the acts take place between consenting adults.
Turning to the issue of morality, Western society has been based for centuries on Judo-Christian teaching and there is a great deal in that teaching to which agnostics, as well as Christians would subscribe. However Western culture has (and still is) also deeply influenced by the ancient Greeks and Romans who had a much more tolerant attitude towards homosexuality than did the Victorians or indeed some societies today.
Even if one subscribes to the view that homosexuality is wrong (which I don’t) I don’t think that Jesus Christ would have condemned gay people. Witness his remark to those about to stone an adulterer to death “let him who is without sin cast the first stone”.
Kevin
Actually, I do not think Ali did anything wrong in heckling the BNP, and it had nothing to do with his workplace anyway. As for Ali’s claim thatthe BNP is a fundamentally racist party, which he argues in his book, (very well written by the way) thats a nonsense. The BNP are simply against immigration and pouring money in to non british people, rather than our own.
Tommy, there are many examples of BNP racism, for instance the following article, by a former member of that party paints a picture of a party obsessed with race and in deep chaos (see http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2010/05/02/bnp-star-quits-to-expose-racist-party-115875-22227237/).
It isn’t just ethnic minorities the BNP dislikes, they also have a highly suspect attitude towards disabled people, for example Google the statement, by a BNP member regarding the tragic death of David Cameron’s son Ivon. The BNP member basically criticised the “sentimentality” (his words) regarding this tragic event and explained how, in his youth disabled children would often be allowed to die without too much of an issue being made of it. If you have difficulties finding the articles in question I’ll be happy to post links to them here. The statement, by this leading BNP member has echoes of the T4 programme, in Nazi Germany under which disabled people where either sterilised or exterminated. Even the far-right historian, David Irving admits that the Nazis murdered disabled people. Again I can provide links if you doubt me.
Kevin
Here is a link, to an article in The Observer in which the views of the BNP as regards disabled people are made clear. http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/may/31/bnp-european-elections-facebook-expose
Kevin
Kevin,
please do not believe what u read about us in the press…..the press are in the pay of the left…they hate us…….. what did you think of Ali’s book, good or bad. To be fair, i thought it was a good book, but ali is no friend of the BNP trust me.
Tommy, look in any mainstream newspaper (centre-left, Conservative or liberal) and you will find incontrovertable evidence of the true nature of the BNP. It isn’t just opinions, expressed in leading articles on which I base my assertions. There are, as a matter of hard cold facts a very high number of BNP members who have convictions for violence and racist behaviour.
Again I’ve heard BNP members in pubs expressing views on race which would not have been out of place in the Third Reich.
As regards Ali’s book, I think it is a good read and I’d certainly recommend it to people. Having said that anyone who read through the archives of the press could gain a very good understanding of the party irrespective of whether they had read Ali’s book.
Kevin
Kevin,
You don’t really answer my question.
What is the basis of morality?
It bears thinking through. Most people don’t, and so we have such a wide diversity that meaningful discussion has become almost impossible.
Keith, thank you for your comment.
As I said in my previous response western society is deeply influenced by Christian ideas on morality, however the ancient Greeks and Romans also have an impact. Utilitarianism (the concept of the greatest happiness of the greatest number) exerts a strong influence also. As expressed by Jeremy Bentham it is somewhat cold, however Utilitarians were instrumental in many valuable social reforms including the abolition of the slave trade (although Christians such as William Wilberforce played a pivital role here).
No doubt you will say that my conception of morality is a hotch potch. However any society which is civilised needs to have a flexible and humane definition of ethics. Treating gay people as second class citizens by denying them equality before the law is immoral. It entails a profound lack of respect for their humanity.
In an earlier comment you imply (forgive me if I misunderstand you) that gay people can be discriminated against because their way of life does not conform with your conception of Christian morality. On this basis is a Muslim restaurant owner justified in refusing entrance to an Assistance Dog owner (with his/her working dog) on the grounds that he believes the Muslim faith stipulates that dogs are unclean animals? The Equalities Act and case law clearly show that he/she is not justified in the practice of forbidding entrance to Assistance Dogs. Both the Muslim restaurant owner and the Christian hotelier are genuine in their conviction that allowing Assistance Dogs/gay people in to their establishment is irreligious, however the law does, in both cases rightly state that if they forbid entrance they are breaking the law.
In the real world of course there are a large number of Christians who have a tolerant attitude to gay people, while many Muslim restaurant owners are very happy (with or without the law to compel them) to admit Assistance Dogs to their premises.
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Kevin,
So far I have not argued for any position. I asked questions.
You have not given straight answers, but gone on an exercise in obfuscation.
I leave the questions with you and hope you will do some research of your own [not merely citing others!].
Keith
Keith, thank you for your comment. The discussion has moved completely off topic (I.E. it know longer relates to the BNP), can I therefore request that you please repost your latest comment at the following link https://kevinmorris101.wordpress.com/2011/02/09/what-is-the-basis-of-our-morality/ as this is the appropriate place for the discussion of this issue. Many thanks, Kevin
Kevin,
but what they would not have done is discover what ali himself felt when he was conducting his studies……which is why, and here i agree with you, it makes for a very good read. What’s you view on what he says took place at the Tax Credit Office in Preston where he worked…
Tommy, thank you for your comment. I don’t know the ins and outs of what happened at the Tax Credit Office so can not pass comment on that. You may be interested in my latest post on the attitude of the BNP and the NF towards people with disabilities. You can find this at https://kevinmorris101.wordpress.com/2011/02/19/british-national-party-and-national-front-advocate-killing-of-the-disabled/.
Kevin
A good book. Kevin two questions. Did he focus to much on the BNP’sracist past and not enough on its present day shape.
Sarah, thank you for your comment. The BNP does not just have a racist past, it is still a racist party although the presentation has become much slicker (E.G. books denying the holacaust have now disappeared from the BNP’s bookshop). However they are still not a mainstream party (witness how Nick Griffin squirmed, on Question Time when he was asked about his views on the holacaust and whether he still denied that the Final Solution had, in fact taken place). Again the party still remains obsessed with eugenics (see my post of today’s date which links to previous posts on this issue (https://kevinmorris101.wordpress.com/2011/02/21/fascist-attitudes-towards-the-disabled-follow-up-post/).
What I would have liked to see more of, in Ali’s book is a discussion of the BNP’s literature and what light it sheds on their policies.
Kevin
Kevin,
have u wrote a review of ali’s book on amazon uk…..would be intrested to read it.
Tommy, I haven’t written a review of Ali’s book on Amazon, however I did comment on another reviewer’s review of his work and, in addition provided a link to this post on my blog, (for the review and my response to it please visit the following link http://www.amazon.co.uk/review/RPU7HY7DX0K17/ref=cm_cr_pr_cmt?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B003YUCPZG&nodeID=&tag=&linkCode=#wasThisHelpful). Kevin
Its a good review. I have already left one there, why dont you leave yours there – more people will read it.
Tommy,
Thank you for your comment. Looking at Ali’s book, in the Kindle store I can see two reviews neither of which appears to have your name attached to it. Which review did you write? I may well take your advice and put my review on Amazon. Kevin
Kevin, quite right…i did…but amazon did not publish no idea why… I say the book was well written, very written, in fact, but ali’s anti BNP views somtimes distort the truth…..example his claim the BNP is a neo nazi party is absurd……..it is a party that represents whites…just like black groups represent blacks…… had a look on amazon….your reviews is not on amazon kindle….or amazon where the paperback can be brought.
Tommy, Thank you for your comment. Your claim that the BNP is not a neo-Nazi party is not supported by the facts. Indeed the evidence clearly points to the BNP being a neo-Nazi party. There are many examples of BNP members and/or supporters demonstrating neo-Nazi sympathies. To take just one instance please see the article about Councillor Steve Batkin (a bnp member) which can be found at http://www.nothingbritish.com/blog/. As previously mentioned there are a number of posts on my blog which show the BNP and other similar organisations as having neo-Nazi sympathies. These postings link to material on far-right websites so the proof is from the horse’s mouth (not merely reportage in the mainstream media). Kevin