UK Decay

[D]

March to stop the BNP

by Martin Smith and Weyman Bennett, Love Music Hate Racism

The fascist British National Party (BNP) made an electoral breakthrough on 1 May when it won a seat on the London assembly and made a net gain of ten more council seats across England.

There are two possible responses to this. One is to bury our heads in our hands. The other is to fight back. [b]Love Music Hate Racism (LMHR)[/b] is committed to challenging the BNP. That is why it has called a national demonstration against the Nazis in London on Saturday 21 June. Our message is simple – stop the BNP now.

LMHR is calling on all other anti-racist groups, trade unionists and progressive political parties to support the protest.

We have to be clear the BNP is not a legitimate political party like any other. It is a Nazi organisation dedicated to the political tradition of Hitler and Mussolini.

The Nazi Holocaust saw the annihilation of six million Jews, as well as millions of eastern Europeans, trade unionists, socialists, lesbians, gays, disabled people and Gypsies.

Yet BNP leader Nick Griffin likes to pretend the Holocaust never took place. “The ‘extermination’ tale is a mixture of Allied wartime propaganda, extremely profitable lie, and latter-day witch hysteria,” he said in 1998.

Many BNP members and ex-members have been involved in racist attacks. But the BNP are not simply racist thugs. They are an organised party that wants to smash every last vestige of democracy and replace it with a totalitarian regime. Everyone who wants to see a better world has an interest in stopping them.

The demonstration on 21 June is crucial. We want to see tens of thousands of people on the streets. And we want we want to send a clear message to the BNP – you are not welcome in our multicultural and diverse society.

LMHR and Unite Against Fascism will be setting up rallies against the Nazis around the country. [b]LMHR will also be organising a series of anti-BNP gigs, culminating in a carnival in the north of England in May next year.[/b]

We also have to work to combat the BNP at a local level. We need to encourage trade union branches, schools, colleges and community groups to set up groups that expose the BNP’s lies.

We can’t sit back and allow the BNP to grow. We have to act now.

The following should be read alongside this article:
» United campaigning can defeat the BNP

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