The Anti-BNP

In the recent European Parliament elections, the BNP regrettably won 2 seats, one of which went to their leader Nick Griffin. It certainly is shameful for Britain that 6.5% of people gave their vote to a party which supports zero immigration, protectionism, and a white only view of what it means to be British.
However, yesterday Nick Griffin was attacked by the Anti-BNP, one of which threw an egg at him. This isn’t the first time the Anti-BNP (I think their official title is ‘Unite against Fascism’) have made an emergence at BNP public appearances. Their tag line is something like this, “Nazi scum! Off our street! Nazi scum! Off our street!”
After the egging of Nick Griffin, a man from Unite against Fascism was interviewed on Newsnight. His style was appalling but as far as I could make out, his three reasons for running anti-BNP marches were as follows:

1. The BNP are anti-democratic
2. BNP members are violent against ethnic minorities
3. The BNP incite violence and hatred

The first point is simply not true. There is no evidence whatsoever that, should the BNP gain power, that they would in any way restrict democracy. If that was the case, then there would be an argument for opposing the BNP and indeed banning them. But they are democratic just as Labour, the Conservatives and the Lib Dems are. They should be allowed to stand in democratic elections just like everybody else
That BNP members might be violent against ethnic minorities is a possibility; I don’t know. It seems likely. However, how is appearing at BNP public events going to change that? Furthermore, is it the BNP party who are violent, or is it the BNP members? The answer is clearly the latter. If there were a spate of murders and it turned out that all the men involved went to a certain café for their tea, should we go and smash up that café? No. We should bring the individuals to justice – and that is the job of the police. The BNP party are not violent (unlike the Nazi party, who as a party organised violence)
There is a likelihood that the BNP do incite violence and hatred. It was this point which the man on Newsnight mostly pushed. He went well over the top, saying that the BNP want to “kill millions of innocent ethnic minorities”, which, as far as I’m aware, is completely unfounded. However, we have a law against incitement of hatred and violence – why does the anti-BNP think they need to take the law into their own hands? If the anti-BNP perceive that the BNP are inciting hatred, then they should inform the relevant authorities, not egg Nick Griffin. They do not serve any function which should not be served by the police.

Above all, when the anti-BNP turn up and cause a fuss, they just attract attention. The offending egg was thrown at a news conference which Griffin was holding in front of the Houses of Parliament. It probably wouldn’t have made any considerable impact on the news, but now because the anti-BNP insisted on showing up, it has made the front pages of the papers and got considerably more air time on the news. Of course, the news wants to get the story from the other side – so they interview the BNP. Result? More air time for the BNP. Congratulations ‘Unite against Fascism’ – you have helped the progression of fascism!

On a side note, apparently Nick Griffin is lodging a complaint against the anti-BNP for being egged, which I think is completely fair, and also hilarious.