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The BNP in Horsham

October 1st, 2007 · Posted by Skuds in Politics · 6 Comments · Politics

Yesterday’s session in Horsham contained some highs and lows. We were in the town centre trying to raise awareness of the BNP activities there and of the existence now of a local UAF branch.

It was not just a matter trying to force leaflets on shoppers, but to try and talk to anyone who would spare the time to listen which is much more interesting and effective. That approach means that you can explain that you are not asking anyone to join anything (although it would be nice if they did) but just to vote whenever any election comes along instead of opting out of the whole thing.

I think I may be a bit liberal about the BNP. Not at all a hard-liner. As far as I am concerned they are welcome to have a page on Facebook as long as they don’t put up anything illegal which incites hatred and I recognise that there is no reason why they shouldn’t hold their opinions and put up candidates – as long as they are staying within the law of course. If I come across someone who supports them I wouldn’t deny them the right to vote how they want to, though I would see if I can persuade them of the dangers. Really I am more concerned that the vast majority of voters, who really do not agree with the BNP, do not let them in or increase their influence by simply not voting.

Its hard to do, but I tell those who say they intend not to vote that they would be better voting Conservative, Liberal or Labour than not voting. In Horsham such an appeal is unlikely to result in many, if any, votes for Labour, but its still worth saying and I have to remember which hat I am wearing at the time.

One low point was seeing how many people out in Horsham were either sympathetic to the BNP or, more often, just apathetic. “No thanks, I’m not interested” they say. If an equivalent of the UAF had been out in Germany in the 1930’s they probably would have got the same response. Worst of all were those who came out with some comments about how they couldn’t support the BNP but “it isn’t right that so many people come over here and take over.”

I’m not sure who they were talking about. In three hours there I saw a handful of non-white faces. I don’t have statistics to hand, but if Horsham turned out to be one of the whitest towns in Britain I would not be surprised at all. its proof that these opinions are not based on any sort of experience but probably on the rubbish the newspapers print. If anything it shows a fear of the unknown.

But that was a minority view, and the high points were when others took the time to listen or even to challenge our arguments constructively, and when a few people took the time to actually thank us for giving up our Saturday morning to try and do something.

I don’t think there has been much, if any, organised anti-Nazi activity in Horsham before, so what we found was not surprising. The BNP thrive in a vacuum with no organised opposition. Its a typical bully attitude really. The problem is that Labour and Conservatives nationally (or Conservatives and Liberal Democrats in Horsham) are not threatened by the BNP and so they do not often waste space in their campaign literature to tackle the BNP’s wildly inaccurate claims which could be used to attack each other. The effect is that while all the main parties are against the BNP they are not opposing them at all in many areas – which is where the UAF steps in.

Anyway, it was a different way to spend a birthday.

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6 Comments so far ↓

  • Lancaster UAF

    If you have the address of the new local branch of UAF, we’ll add them to our contact list. Also, if they have a website, we’ll happily link to it. The more the merrier.

  • nimrod

    so Skudders,you may as well as stayed at home and enjoyed a few beers watching yerself and listening to Pink Floyd on Redwatch, eh?

  • Sid

    Oh dear, so the least desensitised folk from the better areas of the UK didn’t want to know? Can’t say I blame them. Most people in places like Horsham are commuters, they probably return home from London every night thanking whoever it is up there that they live in a nice white neighbourhood. In fact I would wager many of them moved to Horsham from London to escape the multiracial crap hole it has become.

    So do continue wasting your time, you will never be allowed to waste ours. I’ll see you next time I fancy filming one of your stupid meetings, you grey haired old tosserr.

    14/88

  • Skuds

    How easily the mask slips. One of our aims is to put the opposite point of view and explain how the BNP’s claims to have put all that racism stuff behind them are just a smokescreen and that they are still motivated by racial hatred and delusions white supremacy so its good of you to help prove us right.

    ick Griffin must love it when the knuckledraggers who can’t even spell “tosser” break ranks and spoil his attempts to make the party appear civilised.

    I am sure the Horsham voters will be pleased to hear that that the BNP think they all share the BNP’s bitter, chip-on-the-shoulder view of life.

    The young people of Horsham obviously disagree – we saw very few of them as they all flock to places like London, Brighton and Crawley on a Saturday morning. They are obviously happy and relaxed about multi-culturalism.

  • skud's sister

    Just looked at the link on ‘Sid’ and you do him an injustice. He’s not BNP but BPP. It also, by the spelling and grammar on the site, appears that English is not his first language….