Article #4: BNP

I am extremely angered by The BNP and the fact that they have chosen a time of national crisis to prey on those who are politically naïve, but fed up with the current situation. They are full of sound bites that they believe people want to hear and I find their policies shallow, their ideals offensive and the execution of their campaign unconvincing. When you view their website you are smacked in the face with the slogan ‘Punish the Pigs’ and pictures of Labour and Tory MP’s. I find this infantile: Where is the skill in politics that focus on the negatives of the other parties and not the positives of their own?

The main focus in most of their policies is the belief that most Britons are now second class citizens in their own country. They believe in giving ‘native Britons’ a monopoly on trade, and giving them preference when it comes to the job market. First of all, what is a native Briton? No-one is truly native, bar perhaps the few small aboriginal tribes scattered about the globe. Britain has evolved from the bringing together of many nationalities: We have mixed European origins and many people have distant roots from every continent. Traditionally, British rulers married the Kings and Queens of other countries and we have a colourful history of settlers, worldwide exploration and the embracing of other cultures. As a demonstration of this, most of the popular food in the UK originated elsewhere: Kebabs from Turkey, Pasta from Italy, Hot Dogs from America, Curry from India and Chow Mein from China. Not to mention Sushi, French Fries and Starbucks Coffee. Although I sometimes despair at the ‘McDonalds’ invasion,in many ways our country is all the better for it.

We are an educated and diverse nation and we have a strong, high culture that people all over the world appreciate. Globalisation does have a lot to answer for, and it is a crying shame that local businesses are getting ever weaker. Unfortunately, that is how the world works and becoming insular in trade would be hugely detrimental to our economy and quality of life: We could not survive on the little resources we now have on this tiny island. With Global trade having such a long history, I do not believe you can just become independent. Not without unpleasant and far-reaching consequences. It seems that The BNP know this as their phrase ‘selective exclusion of foreign-made goods’ can include as much or as little as they feel like at the time.

They refer to immigration and talk of the ‘flood of asylum seekers who are all bogus’. It is undeniable that there has been an influx of immigrants in recent years but we need some perspective here… The population of those living in Britain, but that were born abroad is approximately 7.53%. That is tiny. Especially if you break it down: Most of those are Irish, a large percentage American, South African, Italian and German. Now is it them that The BNP are targeting or does white-foreign not count. The spreading of this propaganda is everywhere. It is a primitive ‘get off my land’ way of thinking that is illogical and ignorant of the facts. I think it is frightening how widespread this racism really is.

Another of the heavily focussed upon issues in The BNP’s policies, is the effect that immigration has on the job market. Something along the line of ‘they are stealing our jobs’, or as the BNP put it: they are either taking the jobs that us hard-working Brits should have, or taking taxpayers money by living off the ‘generous financial incentives’ they move here for. Of course, in the current climate, this issue is even more sensitive. I do think that when we are struggling as a country, in the many ways that we are, perhaps we should be more careful about increasing the population by allowing more people to move here. Let’s face it; we can’t help anyone else if we can’t help ourselves. But the point is, these anti-immigrant worker arguments are rubbish! Nearly 5 times the percentage of the African male population work in the health sector, compared to those born in the UK. It takes hard-work and commitment to get jobs like that. Also, a lot of hard labour is done by migrant workers; most British people would refuse to work in those conditions and for that pay. Although it is not right to take advantage of labour like this, our economy would collapse without it.

As for benefits, it has become clear in recent years that the social security system is open to abuse and flawed in many ways. Any system like that has the potential to be taken advantage of and I doubt that percentage wise, there are more migrants who scam the system than ‘British natives’. We should be holding individuals accountable for this. It is sad but true that you will always get those who will take advantage: It is their actions and not their origins that we should be focussing on.

There are many people in this world who have too much, but many more who have too little and the statistics on world poverty are sickening. The BNP’s response: Why should we help them? The BNP are against foreign aid and believe the already relatively small amount we give to other countries, should be stopped altogether. It is astonishing that people think like this in the 21st Century: We are not talking about helping people to afford Sky Plus. We are talking about stopping people dying of starvation or simply providing them with water.

These kind of pretend politicians simply spread hate and although I know that there are many things wrong with how things in this country are going at the moment, I still believe in the power of ideals and the need to stand up against prejudice. People should be being taught to challenge more, not to fall for the cheap tricks of the spin doctor. This kind of bigotry stems from the comfort we feel when we can blame someone else and the disillusionment people have felt with politics in recent years. My only comfort is the fact that The BNP are viewed as a joke among many. A joke indeed, but in my opinion a very dangerous one.