| The BNP as racists | The BNP as Nazi | The BNP as Holocaust deniers |
The politics of the BNP
The only difference between the BNP of today and the BNP of old is presentation. The BNP knew that to be electorally successful it had to improve its image. It is the image, rather than the fundamental politics, that has changed.
Too often we hear the BNP being described as "anti-immigration" or "nationalist" or even simply "rightwing". Nothing could be further from the truth.
The BNP leaders might wear snappy suits and tone down their public message but their real politics are the same as they have always been.
The BNP is racist and nazi and must be exposed as such.
The BNP as racists
Racism in the context of the BNP is more than just colour prejudice. The BNP's racism is more fundamental, predicated on the belief that there is a racial hierarchy and that the white race is superior.
The BNP has publicly toned down its message on repatriation but it still wants an all-white Britain. The BNP constitution says that anyone who cannot prove a link to Britain before 1948 can never be considered British.
BNP constitution
The BNP makes much of its policy of voluntary repatriation but if you read the small print it states clearly that the option of compulsory repatriation would be open to any BNP government.
The BNP constitution and successive articles by its leaders clearly show its opposition to any form of racial integration. Not only can ethnic minorities never be British, even if they are now third-generation citizens, but the BNP believes that any form of mixed-race relationship would lead to the "dilution of the white race".
All the BNP's politics and beliefs are based on viewing society through the lens of race. The BNP's booklist reveal its true politics. It includes titles from the racial eugenicists Roger Pearson (pictured), Henry Garrett, J Philippe Rushton and Jared Taylor, whose books claim that members of the "white race" have a higher IQ than other people. Roger Pearson now runs the Pioneer Fund, which supported eugenics and Nazism in the 1930s, and in the 1960s and 1970s combated integration and civil rights and supported apartheid. BNP publications regularly carry articles promoting racial eugenics.
South Africa under apartheid was a state in which racism was enshrined in law. Unsurprisingly the BNP supported apartheid and continues to do so today. The BNP would like to introduce a similar system in Britain. Its 2005 general election manifesto called for white British people to be given preference in jobs, housing and education. Ethnic minorities would become second-class citizens under the law.
The BNP as a Nazi party
Nazism combined extreme nationalism, racial superiority, state authoritarianism and a conspiracy theory which blamed all of the world's ills on a single racial group, namely the Jews. The BNP might have toned down its political tone but the core beliefs of its leaders, especially Nick Griffin, remain hardline.
The BNP's antisemitism goes right to the top of the party. In 1997 Griffin produced a pamphlet entitled Who are the Mind-benders? in which he claimed that Jews controlled the British media in order to brainwash white British people into accepting non-white immigration.
Nick Griffin 1997
David Duke, former KKK leader (left), Nick Griffin (right)
The BNP has links to several openly nazi organisations around the world, including the National Alliance and David Duke, a former KKK leader, in the United States. The leader of the National Alliance attended the 2003 BNP summer festival.
In 2007 a BNP councillor addressed a meeting of outright fascist European National Front (ENF) in Germany which blows the mask of respectability off the BNP once and for all.
The BNP has links with fascists in France, Germany and Italy. To read more about the international nazi friends of the BNP click here.
The BNP as Holocaust deniers
Many people get confused when anti-nazis bring up the issue of Holocaust denial. On the face of it the claims that the Holocaust did not happen are so ridiculous that nobody would give them credence.
Yet Holocaust denial has always been a central plank of BNP ideology. The BNP's leaders realise that the Holocaust is clearly the worst possible advert for nazi policies and because they cannot justify it they have to deny it happened.
Nick Griffin is one of the biggest deniers of the Holocaust, describing it as the "hoax of the 20th century". He has even criticised the far-right writer and Holocaust denier David Irving for daring to suggest that some people might have been killed.
The BNP produced a newspaper called Holocaust News which constantly denied the existence of the Holocaust and referred to it as the "holohoax".
Lady Renoulf and Richard Edmonds
Photo: David Hoffman
The BNP continues to host meetings with some of the world's leading Holocaust deniers. Robert Faurisson, one of the world's foremost Holocaust deniers, was a star witness at Griffin's trial for inciting racial hatred in 1998, at which Griffin was found guilty. The German Günter Deckert, who has been in prison for denying the Holocaust, spoke at a London BNP meeting in 2001. Even the British Holocaust denier and antisemite David Irving has addressed BNP meetings and his recent imprisonment in Austria sparked protests by BNP members in London.
Holocaust denial, belief in racial hierarchy and antisemitism are the benchmarks of nazism and the BNP continues to believe in them all. We must not allow people to believe the BNP is a normal respectable political party.
