HOPE NOT HATE

The campaign to defeat the fascist BNP is being spearheaded by Hope not Hate, convened by the Daily Mirror and Searchlight. Hope not Hate is supported by the TUC as a whole and individually by the GMB, Unison, Amicus and Unite, in other words almost all of the trade union movement. This shows just how serious an issue the BNP has become.

We must fight fascism. It is no good backing off in the hope that starving the BNP of publicity will make them go away. This is simply not true now and never has been. We have to work hard to get rid of the fascists who already exist in local and regional government and prevent any more arriving.

Make no mistake - they are fascists. The BNP leader Nick Griffin has said:

• "I am well aware that the orthodox opinion is that 6 million Jews were gassed and cremated or turned into lampshades. Orthodox opinion also once held that the earth is flat.........I have reached the conclusion that the 'extermination' tale is a mixture of allied wartime propaganda, extremely profitable lie and latter witch-hysteria." (On the holocaust)
• "Without the White race nothing matters [other right wing parties] believe that the answer to the race question is integration and a futile attempt to create "Black Britons", while we [the BNP] affirm that non-Whites have no place here at all and will not rest until every last one has left our land." (On race)
• Adolf Hitler went a bit too far. His legacy is the biggest problem that the British nationalist movement has to deal with. It just creates a bad image."
(On Nazi leader Adolf Hitler)

The GMB union recently spoke to the EPLP about the Hope not Hate campaign. It would be a disaster if the BNP made headway in next year's European elections. As well as a toehold in local government and the Greater London Assembly, they would then have a parliamentarian. We all have a duty to make sure than does not happen.