BNP election broadcast and free speech

Anti racist group Unite Against Fascism has protested against the
BBC broadcasting a party political broadcast by the BNP.
Mediasnoops loaths the BNP and it is well worth pointing out their
double standards when it comes to free speech but we believe that
simply trying to censor them is not the way to defeat them.

From Unite Against Fascism:

Pull the plug on fascist thugs – No BNP on the licence fee

Protest against the BNP’s party political broadcast
Monday 21 April, 5.30pm
BBC Broadcasting House, 2-22 Portland Place, London
Nearest tube: Oxford Circus

Called by Unite Against Fascism, supported by BECTU

Phone the BBC on 08700 100 222 to complain.

The British National Party’s (BNP) party political broadcast is
scheduled to take place on Monday 21 April at 6.55pm.

The BNP is standing candidates in the London Mayoral and Assembly
elections and will be standing 625 candidates in the local elections
in England and 29 in Wales. The party political broadcast will be
broadcast throughout England.

The BNP is a fascist organisation, not a legitimate political party,
with explicitly racist, sexist, homophobic policies. Only two weeks
ago the BNP were again exposed. Nick Erikson one of the BNP
candidates in London was forced to withdraw his candidacy, after he
was exposed for writing sexist, racist and offensive comments on a
blog in which he uses the name “Sir John Bull” visit
(www.uaf.org.uk) for quotes from his blog.

We believe the BNP should not be handed free broadcast opportunities
to spread their message of hate. There is no legal obligation on the
television and radio companies to broadcast the views of any
political party simply on the grounds it is fielding a certain
number of candidates. As the examples of what happened previously
shows, broadcasters can either choose not to show the election
broadcast or demand changes to them if they are likely to break the
Programme Code.

History shows that fascism threatens the democratic liberties of
every person in this country, and particularly those whom the
fascists choose to scapegoat: the black and Asian communities,
Jewish people, Muslims, lesbian and gay people, those with
disabilities, trade unionists, Roma people and many others. In 1999,
the bombings in Brixton, Brick Lane and Soho showed where the
politics of racism and hatred can lead.

There are precedents to pulling the plug on the BNP:

In 2004, Channel 5 refused to show BNP film in the form supplied and
finally showed a blanked out version of the broadcast. Some changes
were also required to be made to the version shown in Scotland.
Comprehensive editing was insisted on by S4C for the Welsh language
version. The BNP’s editing of their PEB for broadcast on S4C
rendered most of it incomprehensible.

· In 1997, parties needed to stand 50 candidates in the general
election for a broadcast. The BNP stood 57 candidates. The
broadcasters did not reach a unanimous view of the BNP broadcast and
two versions were transmitted; in addition, the BNP was unable to
make all the changes required by Channel 4 in the time available, so
it was not transmitted by C4.

We invite all those who uphold the principals of equality and oppose
the politics of race hate and fascism to call on: the BBC and
independent television companies not to give air-time to the racist
and fascist views of the British National Party (BNP) in the course
of the General Election and local elections this year.

Mediasnoops believes the reason why groups like UAF are protesting
against the BNP getting an election broadcast is because they fear
that people will agree with their views and vote for them.
Although the views of the BNP are odious surely people should be
given the chance to make up their own minds. This constant crusading
by UAF and their supporters to stop the BNP being able to say
anything so that nobody can hear it isn’t working or helping the
fight against racism and racists like the BNP.
Mediasnoops hopes and believes that people will see the BNP
broadcast and from that come to realise that they are a stinking
bunch of racists.
Mediasnoops also believes that the “threat” of the BNP is greatly
overegged and that they will be voted for only by a handful of
stinking racists who share their nasty views and attitudes to people
from ethnic minorities.
There does seems to be a fear amongst anti-racist groups like UAF of
an undercurrent of mass racism from the minority which can come
bursting to the service if the BNP are allowed to speek their views.
But there is no evidence of this and racism is relegated to a
minority of racists who still live in the 1970s when “foriegners”
were seen as a threat to the majority white population.
Sometimes groups like UAF give the BNP more publicity
(inadvertandtly of course) then they deserve.

On the issue of free speech one cannot deny the BNP’s hypocrisy.
They want free speech for themselves to spout hatred and racism
about Muslims and “foriegners” but they don’t want free speech for
others.
They were amongst those who protested against Jerry Springer: The
Opera alongside some Christian groups (although we must point out
that they rejected the assistance of the BNP) and have policies
which would deny freedom of choice to adults who wish to view
consensual sexual entertainment.
They want freedom for some (those who share their nasty views) and
not for others.