Stop the Nazi BNP!
 The threat of fascism
- questions and answers about the Nazis in the 1930s and today
Tower Hamlets
- how the BNP were stopped in the 90s
Youth against Racism in Europe
Contents:
Introduction
How Hitler came to power
questions and answers about the Nazis in the 1930s and today
A brief history of the BNP
Tower Hamlets
how the BNP was stopped in the 1990s
Introduction
The local elections of May 2002 saw the best ever vote for the
neo-Nazi British National Party.
As well as winning three council seats
in Burnley they came close to winning over ten more: in Burnley, Oldham,
Stoke and other parts of the country.
At the same time, figures released by the police showed a 10% rise in
racist attacks in the last year, including an increase of 13% in the
number of racist assaults and woundings reported to the police.
Far-right gains across Europe . . .
Votes for far-right parties have increased in France, Denmark, the
Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland and other countries across Europe.
The neo-Nazi Vlaams Blok (Flemish Bloc) in Belgium won 9.9% of the
vote in national elections in 1999 and became the largest political
force on Anwerp Council in 2000.
Far-right parties have been in government coalitions in Austria since
February 2000 and Italy since 2001. In April 2002 the Front National got
through to the second round of the French presidential election with 17%
of the vote - their highest ever - in the first round of elections.
. . . provoke mass demonstrations
However these far-right successes have been met with big protests.
Mass demonstrations rocked Vienna after the FPO was invited to join the
Austrian government; the largest attracted 300,000. This year in France,
well over a million people demonstrated against the FN on May Day.
The FN was only able to mobilise 10,000 people on a demonstration in
their support – a tenth of what Le Pen had said they would get and
small by comparison to the mass demos against them – and their vote in
the parliamentary elections on 9th June dropped to 11% from 18% in the
second round of the presidential election in May. They didn’t win a
single seat in parliament.
Mass movement needed in Britain
Mass protests like these, combined with mass campaigns of education
to expose the far-right’s real agenda and linked to a strategy that
takes up social and economic problems (like unemployment, low pay, cuts
and privatisation in public services), can halt the rise of the
neo-Nazis and broader far-right movements.
This pamphlet shows why building a movement against the BNP is so
important today. It explains why neo-Nazi, or neo-fascist groups like
the BNP are a threat; how their heroes, the Nazi Party in Germany,
managed to seize power in the 1930s and what we can learn from that
today. The article about Tower Hamlets explains how the BNP were
defeated in Britain in the 1990s with a determined mass campaign.
The threat of fascism
Fascism (what today’s neo-Nazi groups aim to build) was a mass
movement, mainly based on the middle classes. It aimed at smashing
democratic rights, particularly working class organisations, and
protecting the power of big business. Fascist regimes came to power in
Italy in 1922, in Germany in 1933 and in other European countries
afterwards.
They built up support by a combination of radical (left-wing
sounding) rhetoric and playing on prejudices that were already
widespread in society. In Germany anti-Jewish (anti-Semitic) prejudice
was high before the Nazi Party ever came on the scene, whereas in Italy
it wasn’t nearly so strong.
Mussolini and his Fascist Party in Italy therefore didn’t use
anti-Semitism until very late, when they were relying on Hitler for
support during the second world war.
In contrast Hitler and the Nazis in Germany consciously promoted
anti-Semitism from the beginning, with tragic consequences.
Today the BNP are using racism and prejudice against Muslims and
against asylum-seekers to try to gain support because these prejudices
have been increasing amongst a layer of people in Britain. The
government, careerist politicians and the media bear much of the
responsibility for spreading and encouraging Islamophobia and prejudices
against asylum-seekers.
New Labour encourages racism
Just a week before the May local elections, Home Secretary David
Blunkett was still helping to legitimise racist ideas by saying that
asylum-seeker children were "swamping" local schools.
This was after years of inflammatory language against refugees and
the scapegoating of refugees and asylum-seekers by New Labour, the
Tories, the Liberal Democrats and the media. All of this helped open the
door to the BNP.
How do the BNP get support?
Most BNP voters cast their vote in despair, as a protest against the
main parties. There was undoubtedly a racist vote too in some areas.
However the main reason some people have started to look towards groups
like the BNP is because they feel betrayed by the mainstream parties,
who all act the same.
Hopes that Labour would improve public services and conditions for
working class people have been betrayed. New Labour have continued to
follow Tory policies to help their big business allies. They have
attacked public services more viciously than the Tories, signing
contracts to subsidise private companies’ profits in return for them
running parts of the NHS or education.
The privatisation rip-off
Since New Labour were elected in 1997 private companies have been
promised £96 billion tax-payers’ money by New Labour in return for
investing £16 billion in privatisation schemes. Where will the money
come from? No doubt, further cuts in services.
Just one of New Labour’s actions - cutting corporation tax to the
biggest companies when they were first elected in 1997 - has given
£10-14 billion from the government to big business every year.
New Labour’s anti-working class policies
At the same time New Labour have scrapped free university education,
set the minimum wage at poverty levels and excluded young people from
it. They are trying to force unemployed and disabled people off benefits
into insecure, low-paid jobs with virtually no rights.
They have done virtually nothing to stop the jobs haemorrhage from
previous industrial heartlands, or invest in new jobs to help give those
communities a chance.
Collapse in support for traditional parties
No wonder many people are looking for an alternative. However it
would be wrong to view the increased votes for the BNP as a general
shift to the right by voters in England. The votes of many socialist
organisations and candidates standing against cuts in services and
privatisation increased substantially in the local elections, showing
that many people are looking for a positive alternative to the
mainstream parties.
Police protect the Nazis
Despite the role that the BNP and neo-Nazi National Front (NF) play
in whipping up racism and encouraging tensions and violence in local
communities, the police on virtually every occasion act to protect the
BNP and NF and harass and threaten anti-racists protesting against them.
During the last year and a half the police have helped ban a number
of anti-racist events, particularly in Oldham and Burnley, attempting to
prevent a movement against the BNP from developing. The free run this
gave to the BNP was a major factor in allowing them to gain so many
votes this year.
We believe the neo-Nazi movement – in Britain the NF and the BNP
– should not be allowed to abuse our democratic rights in order to try
to destroy them. Rights such as freedom of speech, freedom of assembly,
trade union membership etc were won through struggle, not given to us by
the government.
To allow these rights to be used by neo-Nazis is giving them the
chance to take away the rights of the people that the BNP target - Black
and Asian communities, Jewish people, gay men and lesbians, disabled
people, trade unionists, socialists and others - to live and walk the
streets in peace.
Mass campaign needed
We believe neo-Nazi organisations must be driven out of our
communities and prevented from organising: not by relying on the police
or authorities but by mass movements against them involving local
people, trade unions, community groups and the anti-racist movement.
The main task the campaign against the BNP faces now is to prevent
them getting any more members elected to council seats in Burnley or
elsewhere, and to defend the communities under threat from them where
they have councillors or a local base.
Through this campaign, if it is properly organised, we can begin to
marginalise and isolate the BNP and do our best to prevent their
councillors from being re-elected.
The article about how the BNP were defeated during the 1990s in Tower
Hamlets explains how YRE has organised similar campaigns in the past and
the importance of:
-
Campaigns of education and explanation that can expose the BNP’s
real neo-Nazi agenda and roots.
-
Mass demonstrations, properly organised and stewarded, which can
play an enormous role in mobilising people against racism and the BNP,
boosting their confidence and beginning to marginalise and isolate the
BNP.
-
Linking the campaign against the BNP to campaigning against cuts
in services, privatisation and for better workplace rights can help win
people away from the dead-end of fascism the BNP put forward to a
positive and united alternative: jobs, homes & services – not
racism.
Jobs, homes & services – not racism
YRE knows that unity is strength. By uniting, against the neo-Nazis,
bosses and career politicians who are attacking our rights, young people
and trade unionists can secure a future free from racism, poverty and
exploitation.
Naomi Byron
YRE secretary, July 2002
Youth against Racism in Europe has:
-
co-organised the two main demonstrations that shut down the BNP’s
HQ in Welling (one of 8,000 in May 1993 and the other of 50,000 in
September 1993).
-
helped close down the BNP’s "paper sale" on Brick
Lane in Tower Hamlets, their only regular public activity in Britain.
-
produced the Anti-Racist Education Pack, used by schools, youth
clubs and trade unions (eg UNISON bought a copy for every branch).
-
helped set up Show Racism The Red Card, which uses the high
profile of footballers to bring an anti-racist message to young people.
-
worked with the trade unions against racism on a local, regional
and national level.
-
co-organised a conference on fighting racism in the North West in
Oldham last year with the North West Region Black Members’
Committee.
We are campaigning for:
-
the trade unions to immediately organise a national demonstration
against the BNP in the North West, calling for jobs, homes &
services – not racism.
-
support for any action by Burnley Council trade unions to isolate
& withdraw co-operation from the BNP councillors.
-
democratically-organised and accountable community defence
campaigns against racist attacks and fascist violence.
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