The rise of the BNP in Scotland: Record View race-hate 'war' must be broken

| Monday, 5 July 2004 | Click here for original article

TODAY the Daily Record has revealed the depths to which the British National Party are prepared to sink in order to get their message of hate across.

They have put on a show of being a democratic political party, but underneath there is still the boot-and-bovver-boy mentality.

Hard-line activists are openly boasting that Scotland is about to face a racist revolution and extremist thugs hiding in their ranks are spoiling for a fight.

They have tried to go down the democratic road but in the European elections last month less than 20,000 Scots voted for them.

It was total rejection at the ballot box but there was also a wake-up call to the rest of us.

The fact that 20,000 chose to back the vile racist propaganda of the BNP should serve as a warning to us all.

The BNP have made in-roads in English councils and have created some of the worst race riots ever seen in this country in communities such as Burnley, Halifax and Bradford.

We in Scotland have already seen how they will shamelessly exploit anything they believe can further their extremist cause.

Scottish leaders were quick to invite national BNP leader Nick Griffin north of the Border after the death of Glasgow teenager Kriss Donald.

They even tried to use the teenager's death in their election broadcast for the European polls, but were forced to drop it at the last minute.

Now they are stepping up their evil propaganda war in Scotland and are targeting leading Asians including Govan Labour MP Mohammad Sarwar in the next General Election campaign.

They claim 'White people should have a real choice to vote for', ignoring the fact Sarwar has twice won the seat with votes from across the whole constituency.

They have also taken to pushing leaflets airing their extremist views through letter boxes in key areas where they believe they can stir up most trouble or create the most fear among their targets Asian families and asylum seekers.

They take delight in frightening families who have fled terrorism or persecution at home to try to build a new life for their families here.

Anti-racism campaigners here have already branded the leaflets as 'racist lies' and warn that they are an incitement to racial hatred.

Tory leader Michael Howard branded the BNP a bunch of thugs dressed up as a political party.

Our revelations, after two months undercover within the organisation, come to a similar conclusion.

Normally, we would argue organisations like this should be starved of the oxygen of publicity.

But on this occasion, and given what has happened down south in the past, we believe it is in the public interest to expose these people for what they are.

History has shown that evil can prevail if good men do nothing. We cannot let that happen in Scotland today.