I got a letter from the leader of the British National Party, Nick Griffin: I have found it last Saturday morning, along with the party’s magazine “Hope & Glory” and a standing order form (just in the case I would like to subscribe to the party).
I do not think they have now started targeting people like me – I have clearly a name that reveals I am not a member of “this island race” (to put it in their own words) not to mention a red and yellow “Vote Labour” poster on the window. All the material was anonymously put in my letterbox.
If this is a personal relief (I wouldn’t like to be on the BNP database, of course), it raises however more general concerns about their campaign: feeeling the victory more close, and possibly having collected some money, the BNP is not just focusing on its core electorate. They are instead trying to take advantage of the current situation of political disaffection in order to widen their appeal and gain their first ever member elected in a nationwide election (they already have few councilors in England and, since 2008, a member of the Greater London Assembly).
The letter is a mixture of exaltation of alleged traditional values, old fashioned rethoric, and appeal to the pride of a party that claims to be the only true defence of British interest. It very carefully does not mention anything that can be read as an openly racist comment, even if the nuance of some words and the continuous use of military metaphors is not certainly causal and when one finish to read the message is left with a feeling of fear about the future (and the present), the impression that something terrible is going to happen to our society, that external threat menaces our way of life and that it must be stopped, with any mean, violence not excluded.
As it clearly appears by their words: “It is really now or never, my friend and fellow British patriot. Will you come once more with me to the battlefront? Will you give all to free our nation from the traitors’ iron grip? Will you once again sacrifice for your vountry and our people? I need you to be strong to win this fight” or “A BNP victory on June 4th will lead to a massive awakening amongst the British public, which will enwure that our nation is pulled back from the brink of destruction and wipe the smile off the facew of the traitors and corrupt political elite”
Even if they have clearly decided not to show their fascist face any longer, the BNP is a party promoting violence and a devided society, a party deeply involved in a politic of hate and discrimination, a party that under a new moderate suit covers the same old fascist face.
In the letter there is only one sentence that I can agree with: at the end of a long annoying tirade about “the proud history of our people and nation”, the “sterile, politically correct, inclusive society where evrybody else’s rights are protected” and the declaration that “We are now second class citizens in our own country”, Nick Griffin invites to vote BNP, underlining that “the future of our children and our children’s children depends on what we do now!”
It is undoubtedly true: it depends on our choice on the 4th of June if we will create a more democratic, open, respectful, equal, and inclusive society for the future generations.
To put the BNP out of mainstream politics, by denying them the honour to sit in the European Parliament, will be a good starting point.
