BNP MEPs

[bjj hero]

Give this a read 2 members of the BNP were elected in the recent elections [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8088381.stm]

If you dont know who the BNP are or what members of european paliament are then this thread doesn't apply to you.

This is a pretty sad event, although not completely surprising. You'll notice both candidates were elected in the north of the country.

My question is: Does this mean that the north of the country more racist than the south?

 

[Doug]

Deleted by author, already been replied to 4 times.

 

[fix-the-spade]

My question is: Does this mean that the north of the country more racist than the south?

Not really, it more of a reflection on the image of the major parties than it is on the popularity of the BNP.
In neither of the seats did they win the election or even gain a majority, they just had enough votes to gain a seat. A large part of that is because the turnout has been so low, the major parties being about as popular as syphilis at the moment and all.

The BNP's followers are nothing if not loyal so they will have turned out and voted like they always do whilst others will have either spread their vote across minor parties or not voted at all. This is what happens when people don't use their right to vote!

 

[ikyda1]

well 900 votes was the difference for them to have those 2 seats. Its disappointing that most Muslims didn't vote due to they all see MP's, MEP's etc has being hostile to Muslims that includes me has well being Muslim i didn't vote due to the islamphobia in parliament

plus people only voted BNP because they saw the expenses scandal showed that the "mainstream parties" were corrupt so its protest vote so it doesn't say the north is racist it just says there fed up with the BS they get from parliament.

 

[Kif]

I wouldn't be so sure that there's a bigot divide, I live pretty far south in Somerset and though I myself am not racist I have heard plenty of racist comments thrown about.

 

[fix-the-spade]

Probably - the Northerns have less contact with the foreigners than we Midlanders/Southerners. Add to that, their poorer, less likely to be educated, and have higher unemployment rates - i.e. spkectical of the government and more likely to believe extremist solution groups like the BNP when they spout their bigotted crap about how immigrants are the source of all Brittains problems.

I resent that a great deal, it's ignorant, assuming and it's also wrong.

Come and spend the day in any Northern city and then tell me people in the North have less contact with foreigners. You might also want to head to Liverpool and spend the day discussing the merits of Lowry with a street sweeper before you call northerners uneducated.

 

[UpcountryGecko]

The BNP (or as I like to call them the British Nazi Party) have been steadily gaining support in the Northern regions - particualr if i remember rightly around Stoke - so this isn't that much of a surprise. As to whether the North is more racist, thats a tough one. As has been said the vast majority of minority communities are in the larger cities so I wouldn't say that racism is a regional problem it is more to do with the more rural areas being easier to manipulate due to smaller contact with minorities and to many Sun/daily express readers.

 

[hypercube]

I think it's because in the North there have been more concentrated groups of migrant workers and, in a time where redundancies are coming thick and fast, seeing a group of people 'different' to you who appear to be doing better usually brings out the worst in people. The BNP are playing on people's fears of joblessness and finding an easily identifiable target.

I wouldn't say there's any particular region in the UK that is more racist than another - even in the liberal city of Brighton there's the usual percentage of racist and/or homophobic twunts.

I heard Nick Griffin on the radio saying that they aren't racists because they would have let the Ghurkas settle in Britain.
He failed to point out that they would not be allowed to join his party because of the colour of their skin. What a twunt.

 

[Same River New Water]

Racism: not just for Aussies!

(That's intended as black humour, by the way, not an insult. I speak as an Australian who's noticed what a bad reputation our country is getting lately. As with the UK, it's only partly deserved.)

If you haven't heard, the British National Party's Language & Concepts Discipline Manual [http://www.wikileaks.com/leak/bnp-language-discipline-2005.pdf] was recently leaked to wikileaks.com. Basically, it's a guide to members in how to say racist things without sounding too racist (although it still sounds very, very racist). Highlights include:

Rule #15. BNP activists and writers should never refer to ?black Britons? or ?Asian Britons? etc, for the simple reason that such persons do not exist. These people are ?black residents? of the UK etc, and are no more British than an Englishman living in Hong Kong is Chinese.

Rule #17. Britain does not have ?immigrants,? a term proper for use in settler societies like Canada, Argentina, and the USA. It has ?guest workers,? ?foreign workers,? or ?descendants of foreign workers.? They are, depending on who they are, ?racial foreigners,? ?religious foreigners? or ?persons of foreign religion,? or ?ethnic foreigners.? The last term is meant to apply to persons racially similar to Britons, but ethnically dissimilar, like Dutchmen.

Charlie Brooker had some fun things to say about the BNP [http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/may/18/charlie-brooker-bnp-racism], too:

The other day, the BNP had a political broadcast on the box. I wasn't in my beloved homeland at the time, but I heard about it, via internet chuckles of derision. Fellow geeky types tweeting about the poor production values. I looked it up on YouTube. Sure enough, it was badly made. No surprise there. Extremist material of any kind always looks gaudy and cheap, like a bad pizza menu. Not because they can't afford decent computers - these days you can knock up a professional CD cover on a pay-as-you-go mobile - but because anyone who's good at graphic design is likely to be a thoughtful, inquisitive sort by nature. And thoughtful, inquisitive sorts tend to think fascism is a bit shit, to be honest. If the BNP really were the greatest British party, they'd have the greatest British designer working for them - Jonathan Ive, perhaps, the man who designed the iPod. But they don't. They've got someone who tries to stab your eyes out with primary colours.

 

[vBLADEv]

euro elections always hav low voter turnout you wont see that transfer over to general election right now it seems alot of people want to vote anythin other than the big 3 then again conservatives seemed to do well

 

[The Infamous Scamola]

It's 1930 all over again. Well, at least the extremists did poorly in my country.

 

[internutt]

BNP being elected shows that the voters for the major parties were either lazy and never voted, or people were protesting Labour by voting BNP.

I doubt its because people are actually racist.

 

[JanatUrlich]

I'm a Northerner, but I'm from a big city (Manchester) so we're pretty multicultural.

Plus, take into account that a lot of poor areas in the north are populated by foreigners

But yeah, I'd say that on the whole, the south is a lot better educated and better off than the north in many aspects, which may be a contributing factor to the DUMBASS DECISION TO ELECT THE BNP TO ANYTHING

 

[WrongSprite]

Probably - the Northerns have less contact with the foreigners than we Midlanders/Southerners. Add to that, their poorer, less likely to be educated, and have higher unemployment rates - i.e. spkectical of the government and more likely to believe extremist solution groups like the BNP when they spout their bigotted crap about how immigrants are the source of all Brittains problems.

I resent that a great deal, it's ignorant, assuming and it's also wrong.

Come and spend the day in any Northern city and then tell me people in the North have less contact with foreigners. You might also want to head to Liverpool and spend the day discussing the merits of Lowry with a street sweeper before you call northerners uneducated.

Its a generalisation. Overall, hes right.

 

[ILPPendant]

It's not so much racism. The BNP are very good at disguising their message. I was talking to a guy I know the other day about how he heard someone on the radio having a go at Labour and the government in general. It all sounded very reasonable to him until he heard it was Nick Griffin himself.

The BNP know how to target people. They know they won't get into power if they appear racist so they try instead to be reasonable. Folks who don't have the time to go read up on their racial policies will just assume it's negative propaganda and vote for them because they seem to actually represent them.

Don't forget an alarmingly high proportion of Britain does not accept evolution; clearly critical thinking is not our strong point.

 

[Doug]

The BNP (or as I like to call them the British Nazi Party) have been steadily gaining support in the Northern regions - particualr if i remember rightly around Stoke - so this isn't that much of a surprise. As to whether the North is more racist, thats a tough one. As has been said the vast majority of minority communities are in the larger cities so I wouldn't say that racism is a regional problem it is more to do with the more rural areas being easier to manipulate due to smaller contact with minorities and to many Sun/daily express readers.

I prefer the mocking title of 'Barely Nazi Party'. Partly because I hate the idea of sharing anything in common with these scumbags, especially my national identity.

 

[vBLADEv]

It's not so much racism. The BNP are very good at disguising their message. I was talking to a guy I know the other day about how he heard someone on the radio having a go at Labour and the government in general. It all sounded very reasonable to him until he heard it was Nick Griffin himself.

The BNP know how to target people. They know they won't get into power if they appear racist so they try instead to be reasonable. Folks who don't have the time to go read up on their racial policies will just assume it's negative propaganda and vote for them because they seem to actually represent them.

Don't forget an alarmingly high proportion of Britain does not accept evolution; clearly critical thinking is not our strong point.

yes they do know how to target people and they do raise legitimate policeys to immergration

 

[vBLADEv]

even if they are morally questionable

 

[SamB2604]

Its a sorry state of affairs that the BNP have got even one seat =(

One thing to remember also, is that it wasn't just nationalist parties in the UK that got seats. If I'm correct in saying there were at least 3 other countries that elected a nationalist representative. I think another country also elected some party called the 'Pirate Party', which was a pro-free music download group?!

 

[Daveman]

For the first time in my life, I am scared for the future.