Chris ([info]randomchris) wrote,
@ 2009-06-08 10:46:00
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Brief comment on the European elections
Everyone's complaining about the BNP. And rightly so.

But on the other hand, look at the overall results.

As of 11am this morning, the BNP may have increased their vote share substantially, but the highest increase in percentage terms - at 2.5% more of the electorate than last year - has actually gone to the Green Party. Minor yay.

Still waiting for Scotland to declare. *twiddles thumbs*

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[info]lostknight
2009-06-08 04:21 pm UTC (link)
BNP?

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[info]randomchris
2009-06-08 07:11 pm UTC (link)
British National Party. Basically National Front / Nazi Party / KKK under another name. They try to pretend they're not, and some people appear to fall for it.

Not to be confused at all with the Scottish National Party, with whom they have nothing in common.

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[info]lostknight
2009-06-08 07:13 pm UTC (link)
Are they honestly the KKK, or is this hyperbole? (Ie, flaming crosses and lynchings?)

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[info]friend_of_tofu
2009-06-08 11:08 pm UTC (link)
No. But even the KKK don't get to do that kind of thing much anymore. People like Metzger and the White Aryan Resistance are much more intriguing - wonder which way they'll go...

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[info]randomchris
2009-06-09 09:04 am UTC (link)
Okay, that may have been hypberbole. But if they were any more racist I think they'd be banned as a political party. They live right on the edge of the line between borderline acceptability and encouraging criminal racism. Police and educational unions will not allow their members to be BNP members on pain of expulsion.

http://www.hopenothate.org.uk/the-real-bnp/ (admittedly somewhat biased)

Their leader has been found guilty of inciting racial hatred.

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[info]lostknight
2009-06-09 04:45 pm UTC (link)
I'm with you. I don't like these guys at all from what I have read. They seem to be the European equivalent of Ron Paul and Pat Buchanan.

But I also have a very strong instinctive "FAIL" reflex that kicks in whenever anyone compares anything to the KKK or to the Nazis.

There is evil, and then there is stupid. The line is usually blurred, but calling a political opponent that is usually meant (although not in this case) as a emotional device to keep anyone from actually analyzing positions.

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[info]friend_of_tofu
2009-06-08 11:03 pm UTC (link)
I'm with you entirely on the post.

However, I think it's a common mistake, and misleading, to assume all far-right nationalist parties are effectively interchangeable (which is a good thing or the fuckers'd be ruling the world by now! The fact they often hate each other's guts needs celebrating sometimes).

The BNP are NOT the KKK at all. Really. They're not the National Front either, and calling them "Nazis" does require qualification and explanation.

In the same way that there were huge differences between Italian Fascism and German National Socialism, thus here.

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[info]alextiefling
2009-06-08 06:30 pm UTC (link)
Good point. I think the hand-wringing obscures much that is noteworthy about this election - not least the progress made by the Greens.

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