Joseph Harker Writes About Racism- Who Would Have Guessed?

Joseph Harker is upset that racists are allowed to teach in schools, in particular members of the BNP. I'm also upset that members of the BNP are teaching- because they are largely illiterate. The number of BNP members in the teaching profession is so small that the fuss over the issue smacks of a moral panic anyway and besides people should only be sacked for their beliefs if they intrude into how they do their jobs.

Of course as Joseph Harker has previously stated that all white people are racist by definition he might not be the best person to make the case as presumably this means that white people should be automatically excluded from the teaching profession.

Government Doesn't Ban Something!

The government has for once decided not to ban something, in this case membership of the BNP for teachers, so congratulations to them.

If membership of the BNP doesn't interfere with their work in the class room there is no case to ban it. The NASUWT believes that it would interfere with the job:

"Maurice Smith seems to have focused, to a point of obsession, on the number of incidents," she said. "One incident is one too many. How many incidents would there have to be before Maurice Smith would be persuaded that further action is needed?

"The idea that a person who signs up to membership of the BNP can simply leave these beliefs at the school gate and behave as a 'professional' when they walk into school is risible.

"A principled stand was required. This is a matter of social justice, staff wellbeing and child protection."

Well if the NASUWT believes that it is impossible for teachers to leave their beliefs at the school gate, then fine but if they really believe that behaving professionally is an impossible task for teachers then there are other implications that flow from that. It would make it very difficult to argue that members of a religion could be science teachers or that politically active socialists could be trusted to take history lessons.

The logic of the NASUWT position means that teachers require a much greater degree of supervision and less autonomy. However I have more faith in the teaching profession than their union does though. I'm sure they can act professionally and if they can't and any teachers, BNP or not, start talking about the myth of the Holocaust during History lessons then they can be sacked for that.

In fairness there are some organisations with a track record of trying to disrupt the education of children and promoting political extremism however on balance I don't think I would ban membership of the teaching unions.

Not Another F***ing BNP Post!

Last week Gary Younge blamed Jack Straw for the rise of the BNP, in this he probably got the right suspect for the wrong reason. Younge blames Jack Straw's statement that he asks Burqa wearing constituents to remove them when they come to see him. This is palpable nonsense as can easily be demonstrated by simply looking up when the BNP started winning council seats on a regular basis. They began to gain councillors in 2002 a good four years before Straw's comments about the Burqa. So unless his comments rippled backwards through time, perhaps with the help of the Large Hadron Collider, his remarks about the Burqa had little to do with the BNP.

In fact 2002 was even before the big surge in immigration following EU enlargement, although immigration had gone up to some extent after 1997, and the BNP's successes at that time occurred in areas not greatly affected by the recent increases in immigration levels.

Where Straw is to blame though is in the kind of attitudes he was propagating as Home Secretary from 1997 to 2001. Not simply his role in producing the infamous MacPherson Report, but his repeatedly reaffirmed belief that there is something inherently shameful about English culture. See for example:

• Referring to the English "propensity to violence" and as being "potentially very aggressive, very violent"
• Blaming football hooliganism on Englishness and claiming that England is particularly xenophobic, "There is a particular problem with some people's view of Englishness. There is a distorted, incomplete idea of what it is to be patriotic for those in England, which is different from that in Wales or Scotland or Ireland. We've had all the global baggage of the empire and a lot of jingoism here."
• And when he bacame Foreign Secretary he immediately started blaming Britain for much of the world's conflicts.

In other words Jack Straw spent much of his time pouring scorn on the country and emphasising self loathing and he wonders why the White Working Class have deserted Labour. Most of them haven't gone to the BNP mind you, they have simply stayed at home on election day. Obviously I'm not saying that large numbers of voters were carefully listening to all of Jack Straw's speeches and finding them objectionable but if a government despises them then sooner or later that message will seep through and they won't like it.


* Most of Straw's expressions of contempt for England are rooted in baseless assertions. For example he blames football hooliganism of English nationalism, but the most violent fixture in the Football League is probably the Cardiff-Swansea match. And football violence is endemic in countries that have never had empires like Uruguay and various Eastern European states. Similarly the idea that the English are unusually xenophobic can be shown to be complete nonsense simply by looking through international comparisons such as the World Values Survey, we are considerably less hostile to foreigners than most countries. Jack Straw's beliefs are not shaped by evidence but are axioms he fitted into his political worldview as a student leader in the 1970s.

Who's The Daddy?

Over at ATW, David Vance points to his appearance on Northern Ireland's current affairs programme "Hearts & Minds" to debate the appearance of the BNP on Question Time, he and Guardian media columnist Roy Greenslade supported the BBC and a Paddy Meehan from a group called "Youth Against Racism" opposed the decision.

Is it me or does Paddy Meehan have an uncanny similarity in both looks and demeanor, not to mention politics, to the "Unite Against Fascism" leader Martin Smith, who was leading the mob trying to storm the BBC studio yesterday. Meehan is about 25 years younger than Smith. Could it possibly be that Martin Smith is the wild lothario of the self proclaimed anti-fascist movement and he has been spreading his seed far and wide for the last quarter of a century? Father and Son are pictured below:

So,

Did anyone don a brown shirt and start smashing up Jewish owned businesses after Nick Griffin's appearance on Question Time?

Personally I doubt that he won many converts but wasn't shown up either, the most interesting thing about it was the fact he is acknowledging that the BNP was a racist and antisemitic party in the past in order to defend the BNP of today. I don't how convincing voters will find that.

Peter Hain: Oppose/Support Fascists.

I mentioned Peter Hain as a supporter of the No Platform policy towards the BNP. Hain writes:

There the BBC will be showcasing the BNP on a panel alongside the mainstream parties as an equally legitimate, respectable, democratic political party, when it is nothing of the kind.

Which is true, but Hain himself has appeared on these things for years and everyone still thinks he is a sleazy crook so why it will be different for the BNP I don't know.

Hain is only in favour of boycotting some fascist groups, with others he is an ethusiastic supporter. In March 1996 the Independent's John Rentoul and Alan Murdoch reported:

Meanwhile, Tony Blair hit out yesterday at Labour MPs who expressed open support for Sinn Fein, the political wing of the IRA. The Labour leader described backbencher John Austin-Walker's attendance at the conference as "wrong and foolish". And he dissociated himself from a greetings message from five Labour MPs, including Peter Hain, who is an Opposition whip in the Commons.

This was whilst the IRA were still active, in fact only the previous month they had bombed London Docklands killing two people. Now I'm thinking that if Nick Griffin had sent a cheery message of greeting to an organsiation that had murdered an Asian shopkeeper the previous month we would never hear the end of it (and rightly so) but for Peter Hain this is acceptable.

Giving Them Rope To Hang Themselves.

Man Widdecombe has a clip of a BNP interview on Radio 2 which demonstrates exactly why "no platforming" the BNP is a bad idea if you want to curtail their influence. They aren't evil geniuses who will convert people en masse to racism unless they are prevented from speaking, they aren't going to impress sceptical people with their honesty and plain speaking either. They are in fact evasive and blustering in a way in which spokesmen from normal minor parties aren't.

Which is why it is not the end of the world that Nick Griffin is going to appear on Question Time next week. If the programme goes ahead and isn't disrupted by protesters there aren't suddenly going to be hordes of brownshirts marching through Bradford. The other panellists which probe him on the BNPs views on race and Griffin will either have to answer it or avoid it, neither of which will show him in a good light.

The calls for boycotting or silencing the BNP carry the underlying assumption that the BNP are correct in their opinion that they represent a silent majority of the British people and it isn't a huge surprise that the most prominent supporters of the No Platform movement tend to be slippery figures like Denis Macshane and Peter Hain.

Miliband Balls It Up.

After Ed Balls pledged to deal with the BNP members becoming teachers David Miliband helpfully shows why it is a bad idea, beyond the simple civil liberties issue.

Even if a ban on members of racist and neo-nazi organisations like the BNP was desirable, who could trust the government to apply it honestly when people like David Miliband are sufficiently unscrupulous to smear any opponents as racists and neo-nazis?

Incidentally does Balls know how many BNP members are currently teaching and whether they have brought their racial attitudes into their job? It certainly doesn't seem to be a particularly pressing problem though I stand to be corrected.

Law & Orde

January 2007- Chief of the Police Service of Northern Ireland, Hugh Orde, welcomes Sinn Fein's decision to participate in policing:

"I have always said that no ideology or individual should stand between the public and that service and that the community is entitled to have their public representatives hold this police service to account."

September 2009- Head of the Association of Chief Police Officers, Hugh Orde, condemns the idea of allowing people to elect police commissioners because of the dangers of extremists:

Asked whether he feared that a BNP or far-right candidate could seize upon this, Sir Hugh replied: "Yes, that is a risk. If you have a system whereby anyone can stand to be elected as the local police commissioner, you could have any Tom, Dick or Harriet standing. If they can muster enough support against a backdrop of public apathy, then of course it is a risk."

I guess some people aren't entitled to have their public representatives hold the police service to account after all.

Incidentally the chances of the BNP having a representative elected to be a police commissioner is trivial. As it is they gain seats in proportional representation systems because they only need 10% or so of the vote. The idea that they could win an election to a single office is absurd. They do very badly in council elections under FPTP because if voters can vote against the BNP they generally do. They could no more win an election in large constituency for one office than they could win a parliamentary constituency.

Then again ACPO is the Chief Constables' trade union so it is fairly obvious that they will oppose any move to diminish their power.

<via>

Hate Crime Hoaxes- A Question Of Incentives?

I missed this story when it first appeared, the story of a Muslim 'Community Leader' who was abducted by BNP members. Which is just as well as it appears to be a hate crime hoax.

Although if the police are still using the MacPherson rules in which a racist incident is one where the victim perceives it to be racist then I guess it is still a racist incident regardless of whether it actually happened or not.

Hate crime hoaxes have been common in the United States for years and have also occurred in France and elsewhere. I was going to say that they have spread over here from the US but that probably isn't quite true, because anyone who reads about fake hate crimes being discovered isn't likely to want to emulate them, knowing the possibility of being caught. If they had read about previous hoaxes then they would probably be more subtle about their own versions.

So if the idea of faking hate crimes hasn't spread but has evolved repeatedly in many countries over many years then this suggests that the same incentives to commit hate crimes exist in many countries so that many people independently come to the conclusion that faking a hate crime is a good idea.

I'm guessing those incentives are the cult of victimhood and hyper sensitivity over race and certain other identity groupings which makes it possibly to drown out opposition by falsely linking them to dangerous and violent groups. Plus of course the 'victim' instantly becomes a hero for resisting such hate filled bigots. There are probably other motivations too that haven't occrred to me yet.

{via Julia at Ambush Predator}

The BNP- The Excuse That Keeps On Giving.

On the subject of the BNP, one of the most irritating things about how the main parties have handled them is how they have used them as an excuse to maintain their own power and shut down discussion of uncomfortable topics, for example:

• We can't have elected policing boards because the BNP might win.
• We shouldn't go on about MPs' expenses because the BNP might benefit.
• We can't have electoral reform because the BNP might win seats.
• You shouldn't criticise the EU because the BNP might benefit.

I'm sure if I spent a bit longer I could find many more examples of things we mustn't do for fear of empowering the BNP.

Unite Against Free Speech.

I've just been watching on Newsnight a truly unimpressive spokesman for 'Unite Against Fascism' defend their attack on BNP leader Nick Griffin today. It should be fairly clear that the "No Platform" policy has failed to stop the BNP, it should also be clear that screaming 'fascist' or 'racist' at them isn't sufficient to stop them (partly because similar accusations have been made against people who clearly aren't either of those things).

Most people are not racist or sympathetic towards fascism, but most people also have a sense of fair play, and when they see a party being forcibly silenced by thugs or being subjected to dubious legal proceedings they will recoil.

The BNP should be interviewed by professional media outlets and asked questions and be given an opportunity to reply. What is more likely to harm them- being attacked by a group of badly dressed cliche spouting halfwits like UAF or asking Mr Brons (the BNP's newly elected Yorkshire MEP) questions about his former membership of the overtly pro-Nazi* "National Socialist Movement"?

The 'No Platform' policy was always the sort of immature policy that could only ever have been supported by former student politicians with no concept of free speech.

* Nick Griffin claims that the BNP want to deport people who are "not loyal to Britain" so presumably by sending Mr Brons to Brussels he is keeping his promises.

Partygoer Cancels.

BNP leader Nick Griffin has bowed out of attending a Buckingham Palace garden party - saying he had "no wish to embarrass the Queen"

Mr Griffin had been invited to the event by his colleague Richard Barnbrook who, as a London Assembly member, was nominated for two tickets by the Greater London Authority (GLA).

Look just because Mr Barnbrook directed gay porn, art films in the past doesn't make it okay to refer to him as "the queen".

BNP/ World Cup Bid Doomed.

Congratulations to the Prime Minister for his bold attempt to utilise the Brown 'Jonah' effect to combat the BNP, by appearing at the launch of the 2018 World Cup bid alongside Richard Barnbrook. I now feel confident in saying they won't win any MEPs next month.

Of course the Jonah effect does mean that the World Cup bid is doomed. At the launch it appears that Brown was as on the button as ever:

Launched in Wembley Stadium's evocative Bobby Moore room, and with many of the former England captain's fellow 1966 World Cup winning squad present, the temptation to trot out the old cry of how this country gave football to the world and why this gives it a divine right to stage the tournament, more so as by 2018 it will more than 50 years since it was last held here, must have been very strong.

Thankfully the urge was resisted..

Curiously, the only person not on message was Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who kept insisting football would be coming home.

Thanks Gord.

Compare & Contrast.

The unrestrained glee with which the media is reporting the leaking of the BNP membership list is interesting. I personally am uncomfortable with the leak as everyone has a right to keep their political views private. The justification appears to be that they deserve it and that people have a right to know whether someone is a supporter of a racist party.

This may be true, but why is that the same media outlets that sympathise with the outing of BNP members are often those the most voraciously opposed to the naming of convicted sex offenders?

Agent Harman, Your Work Is Done.

Harriet Harman's announcement of her new (In)Equality Bill yesterday, right before the Henley Bye-Election was surely designed to ensure that the BNP got more votes than Labour. This bolsters the 'Harriet Harman as a BNP mole' theory rather than as just a simpleton as I had previously assumed.

Why The BNP Is On The Rise.

I might as well make this "Kick Denis MacShane" day, everyday should be. MacShane's Conservative opponent at the last election, Lee Rotherham*, discusses an article in the Independent about the rise of the BNP in Rotherham:

Since they quote the local Labour MP (Denis MacShane) in depth - whom I fought during the last election - I'll allow myself a counter turn.

While quite fairly noting factors such as immigration, the rejection of taboo, and a perception of 'unfair play', they might also do well to consider the basics of local politics.

If you have streets where the Labour vote is weighed rather than counted, but where noone has seen a Labour politician bothering to campaign in twenty years...

If you have the self same MP expending his past effort chastising the Conservatives for 'allowing' the BNP to get a hold, despite the vote coming from his own historic supporters...

If local Labour councillors turn to blanking the lead BNP candidates rather than exposing the false veil of human decency behind their party bosses...

...Then why are we surprised that in a handful of areas some individuals on first name terms with the voter should be elected to look after the bins?

Not a huge surprise no.

* Yes that's right, Lee Rotherham was a candidate for Rotherham, you'd think with a name like that the voters would feel obliged to elect him, but no