BNP vote threatens us all

Despite relative economic prosperity, the BNP recorded its highest share of the vote in a parliamentary election for 50 years. One in seven voters voted for the fascist party in Oldham West placing them in third place above the Liberal Democrats.

The combined vote for the BNP in the two seats in Oldham was larger than their entire vote for their numerous candidates in London. But even here in seats in the east of the capital, with very little activity on the ground, the BNP was able to muster enough votes to ensure they will be a real threat for the local elections next year. Amongst all of this it is important to remember that the fascists stand on a reactionary platform of racism and homophobia.

As well as supporting the deportation of all Black people in Britain, the BNP is also in favour of recriminalising homosexuality. Throughout all of the campaign, LAGCAR stressed the need for all politicians to speak out against racism and not to inflame tensions with provocative speeches. Some politicians in the mainstream however used the asylum issue as a means of rallying support for their right-wing agenda. In many constituencies, literature was produced which played on people’s fears. LAGCAR was one of several signatories to a letter from black community activists that appeared in the Independent before the campaign criticising the use of the race card during the election.

William Hague’s talk of a foreign land clearly did not help the anti-racist cause and only made voting for the BNP seem more legitimate. It is a sobering thought that only a few days after the Asian Deputy Mayor of Oldham Council was firebombed and his family lucky to escape with their lives, that so many people in his town thought it appropriate to vote for the BNP. When the nail bombs ripped through hearts and lives, the racist and homophobic violence illustrated how any minority can come under attack.

Some of us were already well acquainted with hatred. Some of us already knew what it feels like to be bullied at school, harassed in our homes and discriminated at work — because we’re lesbian, gay, Black, disabled or somehow different. For others it was the first time to see that prejudice doesn’t discriminate.

We face violence together. We can fight it together.
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