Cruddas is right about the BNP

Yesterday acquittal of the BNP’s Nick Griffin from charges of inciting racial hatred raises all sorts of questions about how progressive politics deals with the rise of the far-right in Britain. According to Gordon Brown we need to do “whatever we can to root it out (racial hatred) from whatever quarter it comes.” He is right of course. The question is how is this best achieved?
One way is to address some of the underlying causes that have resulted in many traditional Labour supporters taking refuge in the policies of the far-right. As people like Jon Cruddas have pointed out, one reason for the growing support for the BNP has been its ability to respond to and exploit genuine local grievances, such as the end of funding for a project in a white area in Mixenden, or the lack of affordable housing on the Isle of Dogs. Cruddas is right when he argues that the BNP is often successful in what he describes as the ‘forgotten’ white areas, areas where many traditional Labour supporters say that they feel alienated from modern political discourse and have long been of the view that no one in the Labour party is listening to them let alone concerned about them. I think it is true to argue that all too often there is a lack of what might be described as a “safe space” for ordinary working people to air their feelings – they often struggle to find the language to say what they want without being thought of or even accused of being a racist. It is also true to say that the BNP often finds support in a context of significant problems: high unemployment, deprivation, lack of educational achievement, high crime rates, drugs, and people of different ethnic backgrounds living apparently separate lives which encourages the growth of myths and rumour. One leaflet used in the May local elections in Dagenham asked voters, “Are you concerned about the growth of Islam in Britain? Make May 4th referendum day.” It added, “Defend Our Christian Culture.”

It is sobering to remember that at these local elections back in May the BNP gained 11 seats in east London, 3 seats in Stoke-on-Trent and picked up enough elsewhere to hold 46 council seats in England. This of course follows the dramatic 2002 local election successes in the North of England and a 4.9 per cent showing in the Euro elections in 2004. For the first time ever in this country, an openly racist party has sustained the support of more than one in 20 British voters over several contests.

I believe that the BNP is evidence of a new challenge in British politics. In the past the battle ground (sometimes literally) of left vs right politics centred on our inner-cities – this is no longer the case. The BNP has begun to develop a network of suburban supporters, people who are openly willing to admit not only to supporting a racist and bigoted political party but to doing so with pride and patriotic fervour.

So just exactly how should the progressive centre deal with the rise – however small and incremental – of the far right? Some areas, notably Oldham, have shown that a resolute and unrelenting local campaign led by the council, local MPs, religious and voluntary groups, businesses and the local media can help blunt the BNP’s message of despair and alienation. At the May local elections the BNP put up three candidates in Oldham. None was elected.

What is certain is that the advance of the BNP can be stopped — as the experience of some parts of the country has already shown — but it requires a united, cross-party, multi-racial, multi-faith effort, and most importantly an effective political strategy. The BNP is a fascist party and it is incumbent on any broad anti-fascist movement in this country to unite and lead the great majority of society who feel repulsed by the rise of such parties. The aim must be to defeat them before they come anywhere near influencing the national political agenda let alone achieving political power. This cannot be done without taking on, and defeating, their political arguments.

Last year’s general election and this year’s local election results have confirmed the continuing rise of the BNP. However it also remains the fact that they have yet to make the kind of breakthrough into mass politics achieved by the far right in much of the rest of the Europe. However, if present trends continue, they will make that breakthrough and it will then be far more difficult to reverse than to stop it before it occurs.

What Britain needs is a broad anti-fascist coalition, a new coalition of the willing. This broadest possible coalition against the BNP must be constructed nationally, regionally and locally. It needs to involve trade unions, black, Asian and minority ethnic communities, faith groups, lesbian and gay groups and every other community threatened by the rise of the far right.