aw. RE: The Nobel Prize for War 2009 goes to ...

[rich]

I agree with yr sentiments about Griffin (who wouldn't)--we had David
Duke here in the US becoming more mainstream for a bit, before
sleeking back into the slimeball he always was, the KKK racial nut

at least Griffin came across on that BBC program as an imbecile

i doubt we will ever be able to stamp out these nutters. as long as
they stay in this "early SA" stage so to speak--the drunken thug and
street brawler. In Britain and in the US these folks have a bit more
respectability, maybe in the US even more so, sadly

rich

On Sun, Dec 6, 2009 at 9:57 AM, John Carvill <johncarvill at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
> These are very frightening times. Probably the recent appearance, on
> [popular prime-time BBC TV panel discusssion programme] Question Time,
> of Nick Griffin, leader of the BNP (British Nationalist Party,
> successor to the National Front), did not make such a splash in the US
> as it did here in the UK. One of the most worrying aspects of the
> affair was the extent to which large sections of the populace
> subscribed to the 'freedom of speech' point of view, claiming that
> Griffin had every right to appear on Question Time, irrespective of
> how odious his views may be. This was, in my view, a huge mistake on
> the part of the programme makers (although we must allow the
> possibility that it was no mistake at all, and that they were
> deliberately fuelling sensationalism). An even more worrying aspect
> was the popular view that, oh well, Griffin and the BNP are a bit mad,
> and, well *I* don't agree with them, as such, but you can kind of see
> where they are coming from..... This dovetails nicely with the even
> more popular view that "mainstream politicians have abandoned the
> working class, who therefore feel disenfranchised and fearful, leading
> them to support extremists. We should engage with these people, and
> listen to their views, even though  these views may be fairly
> reactionary..." I cannot overstate how prevalent this view is here.
>
> The BNP have, as they will readily admit, been gifted by our 'New
> Labour' government, with the twin, related issues of immigration and
> 'the war on terror', the latter often translating as 'the war on
> Islam', terror and Islam having been conflated in the minds of huge
> swathes of the population, in a way that, say, Catholicism and the IRA
> never were.
>
> Islamophobia is rampant in this country, to an extent which is
> sufficient to suggest a very grim future. The current UK government
> have been happy to play the race card, and have been instrumental in
> helping the BNP achieve an unprecedented amount of power.  The
> imminent (and, at least for a generation or so, irreversible) return
> to power of the Conservative party - the party which propped up
> Apartheid and told us that Nelson Mandela was a terrorist - will alter
> this dynamic, but it would be a brave man who would be willing to
> predict exactly how this will pan out. Meanwhile, the 'wars' in Iraq
> and Afghanistan are deeply unpopular, but only because British troops
> keep coming home in body bags. Almost certainly, though, Britian's
> presence in, and attitudes to, the Middle East, will not undergo
> significant changes once the Blue Meanies return to power.
>