Interesting BBC article on the British National Party.

[white_wolf]

I just finished reading this article and I thought I would share it with you all. For anyone who doesn't know the Britiasn National Party is a far-right fascist party in the UK. According to Wikipedia it has 14,032 members. Anyone here is the link, let me know what you all think: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-15083475

[Odin2005]

1. I call them the British Nazi Paty.

[Nye Bevan]

2. I normally shy away from Nazi analogies

but I can see the parallels in this case. This guy is genuinely scary: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Griffin

[provis99]

3. Jews joining a neo-Nazi party.

Sigh. Well, there are Jewish neo-Nazis in Israel, too.
I wonder how the BNP gets along with the English Defence League, given that the EDL hate the Scots and Welsh as well as non-whites?

[pampango]

4. One irony is that many parties on the European far-right are pro-Israel.

The reasoning is that these "populist" conservative parties usually oppose immigration, particularly Islamic immigration, as one of their main policies. It must seem natural to them to support Israel in its conflicts with the Muslim countries surrounding it.

Europe's Right-Wing Populists Find Allies in Israel

http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,777175,00.html

Islamophobic parties in Europe have established a tight network, stretching from Italy to Finland. But recently, they have extended their feelers to Israeli conservatives, enjoying a warm reception from members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition. Some in Israel believe that the populists are Europe's future.

Anders Breivik's 1,500-page manifesto has, due to its myriad citations and significant borrowing from several anti-immigration, Islamophobic blogs, highlighted the deeply entwined network of right-wing populist groups and parties across Europe -- from the Front National in France to Vlaams Belang in Belgium to the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ).

But recently it has become clear that Europe's populist parties aren't merely content to establish a network on the Continent. They are also looking further east. And have begun establishing tight relations with several conservative politicians in Israel -- first and foremost with Ayoob Kara, a parliamentarian with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party who is also deputy minister for development of the Negev and Galilee districts.

The reason for the growing focus on Israel is not difficult to divine. "On the one hand," Strache told SPIEGEL ONLINE in a recent interview, "we are seeing great revolutions taking place in the Middle East. But one can't be totally sure that other interests aren't behind them and that, in the end, we might see Islamist theocracies surrounding Israel and in Europe's backyard."

In other words, in the battle against what right-wing populists see as the creeping Islamization of Europe, Israel is on the front line.

[T_i_B]

9. They pretend not to be linked...NOBODY believes it

The BNP and EDL pretend not to be linked but there is significant crossover between the two both in terms of agenda and membership. The EDL are more virulently anti-Islam and closely linked with football hooliganism. The one EDL member I know is a member of the Sheffield Un*t*d hooligan firm and a bit on the thick side.

[Spider Jerusalem]

5. What I think is that...

if the major political parties don't address certain concerns of voters, or brush them away as though they don't matter, then they open the door for extremist parties to gain because those are the only ones who'll address them. In most cases those concerns are things like continued outsourcing and immigration, both of which leave working-class voters scared and frustrated, because they see their jobs going away, and see an influx of immigrants, whether Muslims and Poles in the UK or Mexicans and Asians in the US, radically changing the demographics of their neighbourhoods, putting increased strain on local services, and competing for the jobs that are available, with a perception that it's at lower wages (whether this is true or not doesn't matter; perception matters). It's easy to dismiss these people as ignorant and racist and their concerns as baseless and unfounded. And the major political parties on both sides of the Atlantic generally do; outsourcing and the decline in manufacturing are good things because it'll enable a shift to a knowledge-based service economy! Competition in the labour market is healthy, and if you can't find work, well, maybe you should move somewhere you can (never mind that's easier said than done with stated unemployment at 10% and real unemployment higher)!

This is worrying especially because the present economic climate provides fertile ground for these sorts of extremist parties to attract votes by addressing issues seen by mainstream politics as toxic, for the most part. Which (Godwin alert) is what got millions of otherwise ordinary Germans voting for the National Socialists, upon a time (including not a few Jews until it became obvious that Hitler's anti-Semitism was all too real and not vote-getting populism).

[a la izquierda]

6. Wow, that's really interesting and disturbing.

[goforit]

7. It shows how easily swept up these can be. And easy for Hitler.

[socialshockwave]

8. I worry about Islam too. Does that make me a Nazi fascist?

I guess worrying about a religion that openly calls for death to non-Muslims and treats women and minorities with open contempt is too far in today's politically correct environment, eh?

[white_wolf]

10. You're not actually trying to defend the BNP are you?

They are Nazis, pretty much. They are a fascist party. As to fearing Islam, if you can't tell the difference between a religion of a billion people and misguided fanatics then yes you do have a problem in that regard. I don't like Islam anymore than I like Christianity, but the vast majority of Muslims are just people trying to live their lives as best they can.

[socialshockwave]

11. God no. The BNP are -way- too extreme for my liking. n/t