We will not be silenced

posted by: Nick Lowles | on: Monday, 11 May 2009, 23:25

It is ironic that supporters of a party that claims to be the champion of free speech were quick to move to silence our latest campaign video because it highlighted the racist and authoritarian views of BNP leader Nick Griffin. Our short video, hosted on YouTube and sent out as an email to our supporters, was temporarily taken down after complaints from BNP supporters.

The video mixes footage from the Nazi propaganda film Triumph of the Will with quotes from Griffin. It is now back up on YouTube and can be seen here:

We released the film today to coincide with the launch of the BNP manifesto – a totally surreal event according to several journalists I’ve spoken to this evening. I only caught a short clip of it on News 24 but that was enough to see why the BBC abruptly switched to what they claimed was a breaking news story but was clearly concern over libel. In an echo of previous ‘Big Lies’, such as the Africans for Essex myth, Griffin claimed that Labour councils were threatening to turn elderly people out of their homes if they voted for the BNP.

When a journalist from The Times later quizzed Griffin for proof of this claim he quickly changed tack and blamed the public sector union Unison. She pressed four times but Griffin was unable to provide any evidence. Let’s just hope that in the coming few weeks the media, especially the BBC, put him and his party under the same scrutiny that other parties are subjected to.