The BNP

If there’s one thing that we’re supposed to be good at in this country it’s discriminating against people on the basis of their class. Why is it then that we have got ourselves into a position where on June 4 we might be sending a new BNP MEP off to Europe? Thanks to proportional representation, if the BNP get 8.4% of the vote in the North West of England in the upcoming European elections then they will have a seat in Brussels. At best this will be colossally embarrassing; at worst it’s the first step on the road to full-blown Naziorrhoea.

The BNP is not representative of the working class. But the working class have more justifiable reasons to feel aggrieved about immigration than the middle class do. Table 1 shows that respondents to the 2006 British Social Attitudes survey who identified themselves as working class were less inclined than respondents who identified themselves as middle class to agree that people from abroad who settle in Britain have a right to call themselves British.

These data do not show a huge divergence between the two groups but I want to keep going with this blog post and it has no foundation other than the lazy generalisation that working class people are more likely than middle class people to be concerned about immigration and support the BNP. Moreover, I was quite taken with the opening sentence of this blog when it came to me; it is for the sake of its preservation that I proceed.

The experience of immigration for working class and middle class people is different. For middle class people immigration means North Indian Frontier Cuisine, great sushi and Slumdog Millionaire. For working class people it might mean increased competition for jobs and sending your children to a school where 40% of the pupils do not have English as a first language.* Some people will have more thoroughgoing reasons for being in favour of relatively open immigration but middle class people who approve of immigration for whatever reason must be aware that they are can scarcely help but be complacent given that it is unlikely that it will adversely affect their lives.

In the coming years I look to the Tory party who have behind them centuries' experience in ignoring and marginalising everyone other than the elite. If they bring any of that skill to bear then I'm sure they could crush the BNP. In the meantime we do not have a Tory government to rely on and we will have to find other ways of halting the BNP at the European election. Students that have moved away from home to go to university have an opportunity to vote in local elections where they go to university as well as back home. This has always seemed to me to be a appallingly undemocratic state of affairs and I have not previously taken advantage of this loophole. I could have voted for the congestion charge in Manchester but because I am unlikely to remain in this region after I graduate I felt that it would be unfair for me to express my will in the referendum. I might like to have a say in the presidential election in the US but it is right that I am not allowed to.

Incidentally, this was not a view shared by the Guardian who in 2004 launched Operation Clark County and encouraged readers to send letters to voters on Ohio advising them on who to vote for.

However, this might be just the time to put this undemocratic set up to good use. If we were able to mobilise tens of thousands of middle class students with no interest in the future of the North West to vote for anyone other than the BNP then it might be possible to stop the BNP gaining a European seat. Such an effort in indeed being organised by Hope Not Hate. It seems that in Britain today we still have a political set up that allows us to keep the marginalised disenfranchised if only we have the courage to use it.

I should add that I was inspired to write this BNP blog because an article about the BNP kept my article from getting the top spot on the Most Popular section of the Student Direct website. A far right forum called Stormfront encouraged BNP sympathisers to troll the message board for the BNP article to create the impression that the BNP is more popular and has more internet presence than it actually does. It is my opinion that it is their fault that my article was never on the top spot and it has nothing to do with the BNP article being better, more interesting and more thoroughly researched than mine. They're going to be sorry they crossed me, eh?

*These claims are not based on any real research; I made them up so you should take them with a pinch of salt. I recommend Maldon sea salt. The advice on how much a pinch of Maldon sea salt is is contradictory; you should keep your own counsel. The Maldon sea salt box says, "Its pronounced and distinctive 'salty' taste means less is required, an advantage for those who wish to reduce their salt intake." On the other hand, Nigella Lawson says that it is less salty than table salt and you should use more.