There is plenty of reaction in the papers and on the blogs on the appearance of Nick Griffin leader of the BNP and MEP on Question Time. I don't feel I need to cover this in-depth.
However I'm not going to say nothing here. It clearly went badly for Nick Griffin and I think the audience is only as bias as the general public after all most people know who the BNP really are. But I thought the questions were sometimes chaotic and unhelpful. It often seemed to be spiralling into arguments about who said what or what Nick Griffin had said which is more an interview format only with everybody asking the questions.
Most people argue for free speech something I hold dear, but the problem is some want it on their terms i.e. 'I want freedom to air my views but don’t want you to air your views if I find them offensive'. You either have freedom of speech or you don’t.
Also watching lots of angry people attacking someone like Nick Griffin (deserved it as he does) will not generate the right response and will actually create feelings of defensiveness from borderline supporters of the BNP. Question Time is supposed to be a political programme and I was hoping to hear views on policies and the Royal Mail strike , Afghan elections, UK population reports etc. The only other subject covered was the Daily Mail, Stephen Gately, Jan Moir affair. I guess this would of broken the BNP in so next time some actually policy questions can be asked.
But a few things need to be added to this debate and that is why do people vote BNP.
There is a big problem that never gets tackled. There is no one party standing up for the white working class and the BNP have identified this. They have lost their community and are hitting out, because Muslim do have a community as do other immigrant groups. People believe rightly or wrongly that they received more benefits etc. That's not true of course its just perception, Muslim will put there money together to build a mosque for example.
White working class or even unemployed working class have lost their respect and that is actually a very important thing. People need their respect. We need to help them get it back.
The middle class will say, 'There is no room in Britain for any more immigrants' where as the working class will say their taking our jobs, what about us! and why should they get any benefits from the state when we only get this benefit.
I think that's what really needs to be tackled as people need respect back they need jobs and they need to feel part of our society.
I think a well educated middle class person is more likely to vote UKIP then BNP which is not about race but about immigration. So if you want to reduce the BNP vote you need to look at the working class education systems. School exclusions, sink estates and poverty all need real change and real work put in. No more ignoring the people on these estates.
Something that would help is mobility of the workers. The EU workers coming to the Britain have shown us how to do it. Why is our working class not as mobile as say the United States working class. US citizens are more willing to move to different parts of the country to find work and yet our country is as big as some US states and yet we don't tend to move within our boarders only possibly aboard, why is this?
Have the Lib Dems address this in Burnley were Labour lost many council seat to the BNP and then the Liberal Democrats have taken many of these seat and control of the council from Labour I personally don't know but I hope they did this by address these social problems. http://www.burnleyexpress.net/burnleynews/Lib-Dems-take-total-control.4046170.jp
One thing we should also not forget is that some people are actually racist. Maybe because of upbringing or because of local culture, This need to die out as racism is just plain stupid and in the end holds yourself back through blame and hatred.
Links
Question time can be watched again on BBC Iplayer here. I was involved in MarkReckons Chat which can be viewed here by clicking replay on the Cover it live chat box.
Constantly Furious Give his own take on the Question Time Transcript here
Norfolk Blogger has a go at the left wing campaigners here
Mark Reckons gives his verdict here as does Iain Dale here and Jennie Rigg here
The local Blogger Oranjepan has a round up of Race and spitfires here. And a great video on how to tell people they sound racist
Also Bracknell blog reviewed a local BNP leaflet way back in May here
what are you talking about please shed some light . respect yes we all need respect and it is not a class thing it is as he said a race thing whilst standing with his minders saying he did not want to be in london on the grounds he wants to be in england where white people are . so the recession is the worst in 53 years and employment soring . is it eduacation that stops the working class from moving are they stuck i a post capitalist down the mill attitude and the domain is the pub the footie field or signning on or is there real hatred . social mobility is ther for all look at leicester and the wealth generated by non whites and up noerth the bnp are getting viotes its like the fils east is east and spo thre people he wants the english are poor and maybe unemployed and the duality is that we that came to england have moved on so is it jealousy . he is not a facist nor a nazi as that was a particular time in history . what will he do to makepolicey am how to build england out of the recession or postal strike . i feelthe bbc having taken our money and this is what it is all about money and provided a political platform and still is allowing him to asay what thw fuck he likes is really mind blowing and the auntie should wake up it is full of counter claims and no real arugemennt indeed on colour . ob AMA IS BLack and would not engage in the race debate . so much for muti this and that and equal ops and the true ugly face of england is in our face again. respect where fat kids poor social workers crap social engineering and now this . angland also now has in your face griffin fear or loathing and no leadership from brown in this and so brittannia plc is sinking and there id=s no right or wrong just how it is . sorry i am not very good at typing
ReplyDeleteI read some interesting interesting comment from Ali Miraj.
ReplyDelete"Who, in Parliament, speaks for the white working class?" - See
HERE
I have copied a bit of it, but the whole thing is well worth reading...
"When Jack Straw had finished reading his previously prepared script and was asked a direct question on whether the rise in BNP support was a corollary of Labour’s failure to address immigration effectively, he floundered. When pressed by Mr Dimbleby for a straight answer, he like a seasoned politician side-stepped the question"
...
"Not once was the marginalisation of white working class communities properly debated. The fact that the audience was from London, a bastion of diversity, was not representative of broader opinion or conducive to an insightful debate."
...
"Changing the entire format of the programme to focus on grilling one particular member of the panel is unprecedented, was unfair and will only lead to an increase in support for the BNP. If the BBC wanted to examine Mr Griffin’s views in detail, then it could have hosted a special one-off election style debate with just the BNP leader and the studio audience present."
Referenced in the above is also ThisArticle
We have a broken society that needs mending.
In the aforementioned Ali Miraj says:
"We have become so hooked in this country on bending over backwards for every ethnic minority - a community centre here, an acceptance of a reluctance to learn English there – that we have forgotten the group that is struggling the most – the white working class."
Anonymous - I think you miss my point, what im saying is that its a respect thing. Other communities get very involved in their issues and work together. Its about class in that large White estates dont do this.
ReplyDeleteAlvin - Thank you that was very interesting.