Don't demonise members of the BNP

Don’t demonise members of the BNP

    

   

Let me make one thing clear upfront.  I believe that the BNP is a vile and despicable entity.  It certainly has some members who are nasty, vicious racists.  However, I do not believe that every person who is drawn to the BNP, because it strikes a chord in them, is necessarily vile and despicable.  I believe that many of them are probably quite nice people, who want to feel proud of this country, its values, heritage and culture.  But for various reasons, they feel that these are under threat. 

      

The BNP is a legal political party, and as such people have the right to join it without harassment or fear of intimidation and violence.  People also have the right to confidentiality in their political affiliation – unless they choose to disclose it willingly.  Without such rights, a healthy democracy cannot function.

  

The disclosure of the membership list of the BNP was morally wrong, and those who have been 'outed' in this way have every right to be angry. 

  

So, are we expected to be surprised that the BNP has so many 'ordinary' and respectable people as members?  This is certainly the focus of the media outrage: vicar on the outside, racist within!

  

But the real issue here is much more fundamental. Instead of demonising the members of the BNP, we should be asking: what it is that causes so many ordinary, polite and respectable people to be drawn to such an unpleasant entity?  Could it be that they have some perfectly reasonable concerns, which they feel aren’t being addressed by the main political parties? 

  

And could it be that the fault lies in more than one place? 

 

I’m proposing a combination of at least four broad root causes:

-          Unreasonable demands and primitive attitudes by certain members of certain groups (for example, some individuals identified as ‘Muslims’).

-          Runaway multiculturalism, crushing all concern and dissent with the label of ‘racism’.

-          Irresponsible media reporting, creating the maximum sensation out of distortion, exaggeration and downright misrepresentation. 

-     Some people actually are inherently racist, of course.

  

Looking at the ‘Muslim issue’ specifically – which currently gives the BNP such huge mileage – it’s some Muslims themselves who are responsible for the problems, as well as our embedded social policy of allowing runaway multiculturalism to entertain some ridiculous demands, and the media for giving these matters disproportionate significance.

  

As a civilised society, it is perfectly reasonable that we treat all people with respect, and give safe refuge to those in danger in their countries of origin.  But we don’t have to assume that all cultural and apparently religious beliefs and practices are equal – because they aren’t.  And we don’t have to accommodate them all, full stop.  Anything which seems primitive, repressive or just plain bizarre by objective standards of modern civilisation does not need to be tolerated, just because of multiculturalism and equal rights. 

     

For example, it isn’t okay for some so-called Muslims to demand that their female children be allowed to wear tents in school, or for classroom assistants and NHS workers to insist that they can veil their faces.  It isn’t necessary for councils to be obliged to print signs, instructions and leaflets in a multiplicity of foreign languages – otherwise where is the motivation for learning English?  The vast majority of ‘ordinary’ Muslims cringe at such issues, and wonder why these individuals are so intent on rocking the boat in a society which is far more just and tolerant than in any so-called Islamic country.  There are dark, sinister forces at work behind some of these people, and the trouble is that they get all of the attention.

  

We are dealing with hill-billies and (in some cases) savages who don't share our common values of tolerance and equal rights, but have no compunction in exploiting this commitment for their own miserable, mediaeval ends. 

   

When government departments, councils, schools and other bodies are seen to be acceding to such demands, it’s no wonder that some indigenous, white British people feel that they are losing their country.  I feel that way too, sometimes.  If I wanted to live under the Taliban, I wouldn’t be living in Britain. 

   

I have every sympathy for an indigenous person whose child is in a classroom where a significant proportion of the children don’t speak English.  Naturally, I would be concerned about the impact this would have on my own child’s progress.  I would certainly be upset if the council employed a classroom assistant who veiled her face (and demanded this as a right) and whose job was to translate for the non-English speaking children.  I would wonder why these children aren’t being compelled to learn English as a matter of priority, by immersing them in an English-only environment.  I would be angry to see a convicted drug dealer, out on parole, wearing an apparent suicide bomb belt to participate in a furious demonstration – showing complete disrespect for this country and the victims of 7/7 – protesting threateningly about cartoons which private individuals drew in another country altogether, completely independent of mine.  I would wonder how those protestors came to be in this country – which they apparently hate so much – and why they think my country, my people, my government are to blame for those cartoons.  I would wonder how entire areas have become segregated by ethnicity, effectively becoming ‘no-go’ areas for people from other groups.  I would be outraged at stories I hear about Muslims forcing councils to ‘ban Christmas’.  I would be angered by all these ridiculous demands and statements apparently made by newcomers, as conveyed by the media. 

      

I would wonder how this strange state of affairs came about, and why it seems to be getting worse.  I might be afraid to speak out, because of the social stigma of being labeled racist.  I would look for like-minded people I could relate to – who shared my concerns, fears and values.  I might find them in the BNP. 

   

Looking at other causes: it is completely unacceptable for any individual living in this country to make provocative statements which jeopardise the safety of British forces serving overseas, to insult service personnel, or to provide any kind of support for those fighting against British forces.  Speaking out against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is a democratic right; undermining our service personnel is not.  Those Muslims who do this are a threat to national security, but so is anyone in the media who exaggerates and amplifies the extent of this.  When indigenous people perceive this kind of outrage taking place, no wonder they get angry.  No wonder they might be drawn to the BNP. 

   

Acts of murderous terrorism in this country – both successful and thwarted – apparently perpetrated by people of a certain ethnicity or apparent religious persuasion, place an unbearable strain on anyone’s ability to be tolerant or keep a sense of perspective.  It takes an incredibly spiritually advanced soul (of the standard of the Dalai Lama) not to feel tribal anger in such circumstances.  We all do it.

    

  

The media does have considerable responsibility for this state of affairs, particularly with respect to the ‘Muslim issue’.  Some newspapers have been incredibly reckless in creating a hysteria which makes me think of 1930s Germany.  The stereotypes are reinforced – there is no concept of Muslims being ordinary and human. 

 

Why is it that when that vile, raving lunatic Omar Bakri (who should never have been tolerated in this country) has something outrageous and provocative to say, he gets front page coverage, but an ‘ordinary’ Muslim like me, saying ‘ordinary’, possibly quite reasonable things, struggles to get any media outlet whatsoever?  I’ve been trying to get a newspaper column, but no-one is interested.

  

It’s not just the newspapers.  My narrative non-fiction book, Unimagined, about an ordinary Muslim boy growing up in London – who doesn’t become an Islamist or a terrorist – was rejected by all the major UK publishers for just that reason – my life wasn’t miserable enough, apparently.  They didn’t think there was any profit to be made from it. 

  

If you didn’t know any Muslims personally, and all that you heard about them came from the media, then it would hardly be surprising if you were a bit Islamophobic.  Or, if you only knew one Muslim, and that particular one was a complete idiot – that would only confirm your negative perception.

   

And all that fuss in some newspapers about Muslims wanting to ‘ban Christmas’ can be found, by any serious objective examination, to have no foundation in reality whatsoever – but didn’t it make a great story?   (I love Christmas, by the way.) 

  

In these circumstances, who can blame some people, attracted to the BNP, for their negative perception of Muslims and their fear of the apparent Islamic conquest of Britain?  As I said at the start: the real issue is why are so many ‘ordinary’ people being drawn to the BNP?

  

Dialogue, truth and understanding, not demonization, are the way forward.  Leave the BNP members alone – they are just human, like the rest of us.  We all have a lot of work to do to make this right.

  

  

  

www.unimagined.co.uk

  

www.unimagined.org

 

Comments

[Jack]

Where can i buy a copy of your book?

[V]

"if you only knew one Muslim, and that particular one was a complete idiot – that would only confirm your negative perception."

and so it follows that knowing one Muslim who is brilliant and kind, who demonstrated the compassion and goodwill of his religion rather than the militant, murderous, misogynistic side, will shore up rational belief.

[cosmos]

Just on one point in your post, there is a lot of research on bilingualism, and if a child has a strong grounding in their first language, they are more likely to acquire a second language. Why not encourage people to know and retain more than one language, in addition to English, it can economically and culturally benefit the U.K. Complete immersion is viewed as quite ineffective in many educational circles, as there are those who swim, but there are many more who sink. Bilingual learning, or multi-lingual learning, is not a bad thing if implemented correctly. In Luxembourg they learn in French and German, but speak Luxemburger (?) at home. I do get what you are saying, but I think that signs and information in many languages is an asset to the country. Australia does this. I am an English speaker and I live overseas, and I cannot tell you how grateful I am that so much signage is Romanised.