HOPE not hate blog

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Comment 1 | From: Alex | Date: 20 October 2009, 18:58

The BNP has never been allowed on serious shows before, true. But I disagree with the plan to protest this and try to stop it. The BNP will be up against serious oppositon, and it doesn'ttake much to expose them for what they really are. Let this happen in front of a wide audience, and lots of people who give them protest votes are unlikely to again.

Comment 2 | From: Usi Benn | Date: 20 October 2009, 19:02

Although I do not agree with the policies and views of the BNP. I do believe Mr Griffin should be allowed on QT. The 2 seats that the BNP won for Euro Parliament were towns in the country where people are not what would be so called as the middle or upper class states who read the broad sheets or the political magazines where the BNP may have been written about. I believe the working (or not working) class which is the country's majority do not actually know what the BNP truly stands for. Even though people were using the vote as a protest i believe the issue of immigration that the BNP (or the media) kept banging on about is quite an important one and something that the 2 main parties need to start to take seriously. If they do I believe the BNP's presence in our lives like it is currently will dissipate. Now, for the general public to understand who and what the BNP are about, the BBC need to allow Mr Griffin on to show his true colours. Although it will not be a fair (trial) it will however, allow people to make up their own mind and discover that the BNP are not and never will be a democratic and serious party. I for one am part of the working class majority and I WANT to hear what this gentleman has to say so I can understand further where he stands as a man, a human being and a British citizen. I personally do not want media propaganda always clouding or determining my point of views. A typical example of this is the issues with Zimbabwe (to be kept for another time). Britain has always been a push things under the carpet country instead of facing it head on. And actually dealing with the problem. The politicians for some reason do not give the voters any respect at all, a typical eg of this is the Lisbon Treaty. Will we actually get a vote? And if some get their way over this issue of Mr Griffin once again they have taken the hand of freedom, the right for free speech away from the voter. This I believe cannot be allowed to happen if Britain is to grow and carry on being a leader of democratic power. So in conclusion Mr Griffin = QT = allowing people the right to listen and make up their own minds = Democratic Britain = Good for the country in the long run.

Comment 3 | From: e | Date: 20 October 2009, 21:18

I have just put a complaint on the bbc complaints web site about the bnp appearing on question time and this is what I said. " If a peodophile party were to exist, then it got lots of support from a minority of people, and it stood at general elections and county council by elections and gained two mep's for the Euro parlimentary elections. Would you invite them on to your programme to talk about issues involving the uk and the rest of the world? Just because they seem to be a legit party doesn't makee it right. Just because the bnp seem to be a legitimate party but their views and policies come straight from hitlers nazi germany......They should change their name to the british nazi party."" I cannot believe they are giving them such a huge platform!

Comment 4 | From: Sarah from Devon | Date: 20 October 2009, 21:20

"The value of our shared reward will and must be measured by the joyful peace which will triumph, because the common humanity that bonds both black and white into one human race, will have said to each one of us that we shall all live like the children of paradise. Thus shall we live, because we will have created a society which recognises that all people are born equal, with each entitled in equal measure to life, liberty, prosperity, human rights and good governance.

Such a society should never allow again that there should be prisoners of conscience nor that any person's human rights should be violated. Neither should it ever happen that once more the avenues to peaceful change are blocked by usurpers who seek to take power away from the people, in pursuit of their own, ignoble purposes. We understand their call, that we devote what remains of our lives to the use of our country's unique and painful experience to demonstrate, in practice, that the normal condition for human existence is democracy, justice, peace, non-racism, non-sexism, prosperity for everybody, a healthy environment and equality and solidarity among the peoples. Moved by that appeal and inspired by the eminence you have thrust upon us, we undertake that we too will do what we can to contribute to the renewal of our world so that none should, in future, be described as the wretched of the earth. Let it never be said by future generations that indifference, cynicism or selfishness made us fail to live up to the ideals of humanism...

Let the strivings of us all, prove Martin Luther King Jr to have been correct, when he said that humanity can no longer be tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war. Let the efforts of us all, prove that he was not a mere dreamer when he spoke of the beauty of genuine brotherhood and peace being more precious than diamonds or silver or gold. Let a new age dawn!" Nelson Mandela's Nobel Peace Prize Address Let Peace and Sense prevail.....

Comment 5 | From: Stuart Bushell | Date: 20 October 2009, 22:35

Whilst any right minded person knows what the BNP stands for and the despicable policies they proport it is very dangerous to start banning democraticaly elected representatives. It is best, I believe, for the country to heat the right wing facist polices and realise what they stand for rather than ban them - in which case they become the 'hurt' party. In any case what would a facist party do but ban the opposition from the media and we must not fall into that trap. So for once I do not agree with the action of HopeNotHate.

Comment 6 | From: Andy Smithe | Date: 20 October 2009, 23:00

Whilst the views of the BNP are abhorent, surely as a democratically elected political party, surely they are as entitled to debate on Question Time as the rest of the parties? Whilst many will recoil in horror that such have been elected, the fact remains, that the BNP have been elected. Who are we to criticise that some members of the public have chosen these sick policies? We, the democratic voters, have all had our opportunity to vote for more liberal parties. What is somewhat more worrying than the lunatic skinheads, is the prolification of the muslim threat to traditional British life. The islam4uk.com website being a prime example. Full of hate, full of potentially criminal incitement, yet what is done about them? Where is the backlash? Are we too scared to clamp down on "minority" views, but because they are of the same skin colour as us, we are only to happy to put down the BNP? ALL hate should be stopped. Not just against the facist skinheads, but also against the theist crazies that wish for nothing more than to remove Nelson's column and stone women to death for the slightest indiscretion. It is time to argue for the removal of religion from the state and law of this land. Made up nonsense has no place in our learned time. Church of the spaghetti monster springs to mind, yet we take seriously those that wish to pray 5 times a day to a make-believe God (in the wrong direction), reject evolution, enslave their women and call for death to all infidels. What have we come to, when a self proclaimed "Jedi Knight" is forced to remove his hood when entering a supermarket, yet the Muslim woman walks freely amongst the aisles; her hood and veil but another feature of an invented, made up, "religion"? Time to wake up. Religion breeds hate. Remove religion from the state, remove hate.

Comment 7 | From: Jack | Date: 21 October 2009, 20:02

If done properly, couldn't Question Time be one of the most effective weapons to use against the BNP? If up against competent opponents, then the true nature of the BNP could be exposed on television, showing millions of people who they truly are.

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HOPE not hate is Searchlight's campaign to counter racism and fascism in elections and beyond. Over the past few years the British National Party has seriously contested council elections all over the country but still only has 57 councillors. The two BNP MEPs elected in June 2009 have brought the party financial benefit in the form of their salaries and staffing and expenses allowances, as well as an opportunity for Nick Griffin, the BNP leader, further to develop his links with other European fascist parties and strut around on an international stage. However without the HOPE not hate campaign, the BNP would undoubtedly have had more MEPs and many more local councillors elected. Now the BNP is threatening to gain a majority on Barking and Dagenham council, in east London, and Griffin is trying to become MP for Barking. The party is also faced with defending 30 of its council seats in 2010, which gives anti-fascists an opportunity to oust them. At Searchlight we want to make sure that people know the full story about who the BNP are and what they really stand for.
The HOPE not hate website aims to do just that, serving the anti-fascist movement and providing up to date news, good practice and analysis.

HOPE not hate/Searchlight PO Box 1576, Ilford IG5 0NG | Telephone 020 7681 8660 | Email