The “re-branding” of the BNP
At this year’s party conference, taking place in the Best Western Leicester Stage Hotel at Wigston Fields, Leicester, the British National Party is seeking to overhaul its image. In the wake of May’s devestating electoral failures, and the subsequent splits and acrimony faced by the party, it has decided that a new logo will make everything better
Thus, it has decided to plagiarise the Conservatives;
This, according to Nick Griffin, “will illustrate exactly what this party is about.” If, by that, he means
Hat tip to Political Scrapbook
nicking ideas from the Tories, then we couldn’t agree more. That’s where they got the most anti-working class policies of their 2010 manifesto – such as workfare, raising the retirement age, and youth national service – from, after all.
This follows on from the party plagiarising the design of Barack Obama’s website last year.
But it doesn’t end there. It seems the party will also stop using the acronym “BNP” in all official logos and literature. Presumably this is based on the advice in their activists’ handbook that using the party’s full name is a good way of getting around the negative perceptions that come with the acronym. However, it will also help them to use the pretence of a populist cause to trick people into supporting fascists – as they did with their “Bring Our Boys Home” campaign.
And then there was this;
The British National Party will become more militant in physically defending British troops against Islamic militant abuse and against mosque-building programs, party leader Nick Griffin has announced.
…
“We are going to start attending homecoming parades of British troops, and when the Islamic militants abuse our troops and threaten them, we are going to physically stand in their way,” Mr Griffin said to thunderous applause from the crowd.
He also said that the party would increasingly start demonstrations against mosque-building programmes in Britain, using the recent demonstration organised by the party’s branch in Milton Keynes as an example.
Anti-fascists will no doubt appreciate the irony here. This is Nick Griffin promising to operate a militant “no platform” strategy against Islamists, when he has dubbed those who use the same tactics against his party as “anti-democratic” and “thugs.” Which only goes to show that, by BNP logic, it is the political leaning of those performing an action – rather than the action itself – which determines how just or unjust it is.
As it is, the tactic of placing yourself as a physical barrier to somebody or something is a sound one, and one that Liverpool Antifascists have deployed to great effect in chasing the BNP out of the City Centre. But what is on paper a defensive tactic becomes something else entirely in the hands of those who have form for assault, racial hatred, and violent criminality
Whether this “increased militancy” materialises or not is something that remains to be seen. If it does, however, it is clear that militant anti-fascism will be the only effective response.
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