(Minor) Party Politics in Britain
Investigative reporting from the Guardian (UK) offers some insights into the strategy of the British National Party (BNP). A reporter joined the party and became a central London "organiser."The reporter's conclusion was, "Some BNP leaders believe the party is close to a seat in parliament, a presence in towns halls across the country and a greater degree of political legitimacy than at any stage in its 24-year history. 'But first,' [said one leader], 'people must stop seeing us as ogres.'
Exclusive: inside the secret and sinister world of the BNP
"[Party]Activists are being encouraged to adopt false names when engaged on BNP business...
"The BNP has also been instructing its activists in the use of encryption software to conceal the content of their email messages, and to protect the party's secret membership lists...
"BNP activists are also now discouraged from using any racist or anti-semitic language in public, in order to avoid possible prosecution... activists often shun such words as "black" or "white", even when talking at party meetings...
"During seven months inside the BNP, the newspaper also discovered that the party is planning a recruitment drive in some of the most affluent areas of the capital, largely in an attempt to broaden its support base... and aims to organise [the new members] into a branch which it hopes to use in its attempts to dispel the widely held view that it remains a party of thuggish, working-class racists... Many of its activists have accepted the need, in [BNP leader Nick] Griffin's [pictured above] words, to 'clean up our act, put the boots away and put on suits'."
posted by Ken Wedding @ 8:59 AM
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