The BNP and Question Time

The BNP is a repugnant racist organisation, and I’m appalled that they will get an opportunity to spread their bilious vile ideology at licence payer’s expense on national television tonight. Yet, for me, the BBC is right not to exclude them from participation.

It is the problem for liberals. How does a philosophy that celebrates tolerance and diversity and the right to non conformity cope when it butts up against a philosophy that is diametrically opposed to all those values?

The answer for me is by adhering to your own principles. It may be hard, but that is the point. If you can’t stick to them when it is hard then they are not principles, simply populist buzzwords. Much as the BNP uses populist buzzwords itself, only in their case, those are words of intolerance and bigotry.

A true liberal should find everything the BNP stand for to be repulsive, and I do. But the ‘harm principle’ should mean that we accept their right to hold whatever views they wish and live their lives however they wish so long as they do no harm to others. Now admittedly, it can be argued that they *do* do harm to others. Where the BNP go so we do tend to see an increase in racial attacks, in part no doubt because they will flourish where there are already tensions. But can that link be made directly enough to justify censorship of the party?

I can’t accept that it does, and for several reasons. Firstly, it is a legitimate political party, and one which now, after the EU elections in May, holds national democratically elected seats. It is not for the BBC to choose to exclude a legitimate political party from its political programming. If the Govt want that then they should ban or proscribe the party. It would however, be a very dangerous precedent to have a government try to ban the free speech of elected opponents, albeit one that is not without antecedents. Moreover, as we saw when the Conservatives tried to silence Sinn Fein in the 80’s, it simply doesn’t work. (having Gerry Adams words spoken by an actor because of that nonsensical ban simply took the anger and hatred out of his words and made his thick Irish accent more understandable thereby having the perverse effect of making him seem more reasonable and rational than he deserved at the time)

The right way to tackle the BNP for me is in the open marketplace of ideas. I don’t believe that the British people are racist. Yes, there are tensions, and concerns over issues like immigration, and multi-culturalism. And yes, there is a lot of disaffection and dissatisfaction with politics in general and anger and resentment at the main parties which is looking for an outlet. For some, by concealing the most vile aspects of their world view, the BNP appeals, and that is why it is right to debate them, expose what they really stand for, and show them up for what they are.

Tolerant liberal ideas are better, and will defeat this obscenity, because most people, the overwhelming majority…. Even of those who voted for the BNP last time, are not bigots, they just have concerns that they don’t feel are being addressed by the main parties.

When the BNP win seats, it is almost always in elections with painfully low turnouts. They rarely if ever retain those seats because when next they come up, people, realising what they are and what they stand for come out in droves to express their repulsion at the BNP and state clearly that the party does not represent their views. The BNP do not represent what it means to be British, quite the reverse, and tonight is an opportunity to demonstrate that to a national audience.

Stand by..... Normal service will be resumed

It's been a while. Hopefully everyone has forgotten all about me by now.

This isn't a new blog. It's an old one that has been dormant for a depressingly long time. So long in fact, that the posts that remained on it gathering dust were so absurdly out of date, (and frankly embarrassing to re-visit) that I have deleted them and decided to go for a completely fresh start.

So, hello everybody.

Just so you know. I am a Lib Dem 'activist' living in the South East. Once upon a time I might have been described as a 'hyper-activist', but these days I've drifted away from the white heat of campaigning to be more of an armchair supporter, although still remain a Lib Dem. Albeit one with some reservations about the current arc of policy.

What sort of Liberal am I? Well, I'm not particularly green. I know I should be, and I'm not adverse to the idea.... It's just so much hard work, and honestly, I'm just too lazy to be good at it. I have no idea what Land Tax reform or whatever it's called, is. I'm not opposed to the Monarchy, nor to the established church.... although I'm an atheist. I actually like the House of Lords, for reasons that are too convoluted to explain in the short punchy format I'm looking for here. I'm pro Europe.... although I think the EU has expanded too fast to be able to fix it's fundamental flaws and so will never be rid of them. I am very much pro Constitutional reform, especially if, (unlikely as it seems) that results in power being passed down to its lowest practical level.

And I'm a bit of a civil liberties freak. I object to the idea of a surveillance state, oppose the surreptitious development of a universal National DNA database, object to detention without charge for unreasonable periods, and generally speaking start from a position of extreme scepticism whenever any curtailment of our liberties is suggested.

I'm also a Leeds United supporter, so don't be surprised to find LUFC, or other football related posts on here from time to time. Most of these posts will be heavy with emotion.... Sometimes elation, but, since this is Leeds we are talking about, more often depression and despair.... (a Leeds fan's lot is not a happy one.)

So thats me, just in case, as I hope, you've forgotten all about me. I hope you'll come to enjoy my slant on events from time to time.

More later.