I, like a lot of the population of the UK, watched the BBC TV broadcast “Question Time” (Originally transmitted on 22 October 2009).

Unsurprisingly, not a big fan of the BNP.

I think Nick Griffin (jumped-up leader of the BNP) is an ill-educated, twisted, arsehole.

Going against my better judgement, I paid a visit to their website.
Their immigration section made for interesting reading:

“Given current demographic trends, we, the indigenous British people, will become an ethnic minority in our own country well within sixty years – and most likely sooner.

The vast majority of these foreign-born residents are of Third World extraction.
According to figures released by the Office for National Statistics, at least eleven percent of all people living in Britain today were born overseas.
This figure does not include their second or third generation children.

All these facts point inexorably to the overwhelming and extinguishing of Britain and British identity under a tsunami of immigration.

To ensure that this does not happen, and that the British people retain their homeland and identity, we call for an immediate halt to all further immigration, the immediate deportation of criminal and illegal immigrants, and the introduction of a system of voluntary resettlement whereby those immigrants who are legally here will be afforded the opportunity to return to their lands of ethnic origin assisted by a generous financial incentives both for individuals and for the countries in question.

We will abolish the ‘positive discrimination’ schemes that have made white Britons second-class citizens.
We will also clamp down on the flood of ‘asylum seekers’, all of whom are either bogus or can find refuge much nearer their home countries.

The BNP’s policy is to:
– Deport all the two million plus who are here illegally;
– Deport all those who commit crimes and whose original nationality was not British;
– Review all recent grants of residence or citizenship to ensure they are still appropriate;
– Offer generous grants to those of foreign descent resident here who wish to leave permanently;

– Stop all new immigration except for exceptional cases;
– Reject all asylum seekers who passed safe countries on their way to Britain
Immigration is out of control. Britain’s population is now over 60 million and rising, solely due to immigration. Not only is Britain increasingly overcrowded, but the fact is that a country is the product of its people and if you change the people you inevitably change the nature of the country.

We want Britain to remain – or return to – the way it has traditionally been. We accept that Britain always will have ethnic minorities and have no problem with this as long as they remain minorities and do not change nor seek to change the fundamental culture and identity of the indigenous peoples of the British Isles.

The current open-door policy and unrestricted, uncontrolled immigration is leading to higher crime rates, demand for more housing (driving prices out of the reach of young people), severe extra strain on the environment, traffic congestion, longer hospital waiting lists, lower educational standards, higher income taxes, lower wages, higher unemployment, loss of British identity, a breakdown in community spirit, more restrictive policing, higher council taxes, a shortage of council homes, higher levels of stress and unhappiness and a more atomised society.”

Hmmm.

“Offer generous grants to those of foreign descent resident here who wish to leave permanently?”

I was born in the UK, but I’m pretty sure that if the BNP somehow managed to worm their way into power, I’d somehow be shipped off to Jamaica, where my parents were born, where obviously I’d slot right in.

It is very easy to blame EVERYTHING on immigration, but this got me thinking about a conversation I’d had a while back with friends:

Is racism still widespread in Britain?

From my perspective, racism is still alive and kicking in this country.

It’s far more subtle than it used to be, and people who have never experienced racism often adopt the approach that if it hasn’t affected them personally, it clearly cannot exist.

I have lost count of the amount of times I’ve been stopped and searched by the police (and, yes I’ve heard the argument that the police are just doing their job – if people have to suffer the indignity of being searched for drugs or weapons, it all goes towards making the streets safer).

Interesting argument – but if it hasn’t happened to you consistently, you won’t know how this feels – and I’m not even going to go into the statistic that notes that young black males are 8 times more likely to be stopped and searched than their white counterparts.
Doesn’t feel like a very equal society to me.

When I got past my teenage years, a rather strange thing happened.
Often I’d be walking down the street and I’d notice some people who were walking towards me did one of two things: either they’d approach clutching their handbags or other belongings, or they would cross over the street and cross back again once they had passed me. My initial response was one of anger – after all, I’m not a criminal, had never robbed anyone, never carried a knife, never handled a gun.

After anger, I started getting a little philosophical.
I found myself adopting a neutral open expression.
Maybe if these misguided people saw the non-threatening nature of my walk, posture, and face, they wouldn’t feel so threatened.

Didn’t work. I was still black.

This experience still happens today.
Not every day – granted – but enough for me to notice.
I sigh to myself and tell myself that they have been conditioned to believe that I, as a young black male, am a potential mugger/rapist/murderer.
It’s not their fault, they are making judgments according to what they were told, what they have read in the newspaper.

Anyway, whilst I’m sure the vast majority of the British public are well-informed individuals who don’t hold these views, anyone who has been in a mixed relationship will tell you how some people will stare at them in the street.
Often, words are not spoken, but the overall thought is there.

Certain parts of the media like to dehumanize people.
The reason for this is once you give somebody a particular label, the public tends to pay less attention to how we treat them.
If you class someone as an “insurgent” in matters of “war”, doesn’t matter if you torture, humiliate or kill them. They deserved it anyway.

Similarly, if you brand someone a fundamental “Islamic Al-Qaeda sympathizer”, no one cares if you take away their civil liberties and detain them for years without access to legal representation.
Label someone as a “Yardie” and they are obviously a gun-toting, drug running Jamaican who should be taken off the street immediately.

Often, evidence is not required.
If the government says that person is a threat, they must be.

So you get to the point where if we are told something often enough we start to take it as fact:

“We are overrun with immigrants who are being allocated all available government housing”
“Crime is on the increase, and it’s all down to immigration”
“There is an impending terrorist threat any day now…”

Scaring the population into submission makes it easier for the government to bring in a whole range of new draconian laws.
You are told that these laws are being implemented for your own good, to keep YOU safe.
They are going to be used against the terrorists and other criminals.
If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear.

What people fail to realize is that these same laws being brought in could one day be used against YOU.

“But I’m not a criminal”, I hear you cry.

Tell that to some of the people detained at Guantanamo Bay…
Scooped up, detained without charge, (often for years) denied independent legal representation, and having your fate decided by the same people who are your captors.
Some justice.

All brought about because someone decided that this person was a terrorist, that person was a criminal.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I’ve no doubt that amongst the innocent incarcerated in Cuba, there are some who are not so innocent.
But locking up a huge number of people on this basis is just plain wrong.
Think it’s bad now?

Imagine what it would be like if we elected the BNP to government…

Copyright © Mark A. McPherson 2012.
All rights reserved.