NICK GRIFFIN, THE BNP, AND HOLOCAUST DENIAL

We had an interesting discussion here at this blog last week about whether the British National Party (BNP) is a racist party or not. I made a guilt-by-association argument that they were in fact, racist because they accept advertising for White Power books and records on their website. Reliapundit made the argument that, instead, the BNP is simply a party which is interested in keeping Britain ethnically British.

I stated that I am sypathetic to such an argument, but I don't buy it, because of the aforementioned guilt by association. My point was, admittedly, weakly supported. So, I've decided to dig a bit deeper into the history of Nick Griffin and the BNP. It ain't pretty:

Even by the standards of the extreme Right, he's (Nick Griffin) something of an extremist. He raged at David Irving when the fascist historian admitted that the Nazis had killed a few Jews (although not, for I wouldn't wish to offend the litigious Irving, in the mythical gas chambers of Auschwitz). The modest concession was a shameful betrayal of Holocaust denial, said Griffin. 'True Revisionists will not be fooled by this new twist to the sorry tale of the Hoax of the Twentieth Century.'

Griffin's mentors are from the terrorist wing of Italian fascism. He's a supporter of Colonel Gadaffi. In the 1990s, after transient success in the East End of London, he defined the party's alleged appeal and philosophy thus: 'The electors of Millwall did not back a Post-Modernist Rightist Party, but what they perceived to be a strong, disciplined organisation with the ability to back up its slogan "Defend Rights for Whites" with well-directed boots and fists. When the crunch comes, power is the product of force and will, not of rational debate.'

Rationality certainly has no place in the BNP's account books. The party's treasurer, Michael Newland, resigned in disgust after Griffin used party funds to add an extension to his house. West Midlands fascists who complained that calling in interior designers was not the most effective way to create a new fatherland were purged. Yet for all his hard words about boots and fists, Griffin has become a touch post-modern. He saw the gains made by Haider in Austria and the Armani-clad 'post-fascists' in Italy and decided to rebrand the party.

The policy of expelling blacks and Asians from Britain and the Hitler-worship were hidden from public view and Griffin tried to become a semi-respectable politician with broad appeal. The partial realisation of his dream tells you all you need to know about the state of British politics.

Yes, it sure does. Brits who join the BNP simply because they agree with their perceived position vis a vis Muslim immigration need to know they are throwing their lot in with a Jew-hating, Ghaddafi-supporting party of proud fascists.The kinder, gentler BNP is only a ruse. The mask will come off when they attain real power, and then, Britain will find that they have elected their version of Hitler.

Reliapundit adds: I do not know enough about this BNP to have a good opinion one way or another. I do know that the OBSERVER is very LEFT-WING, and I would no more take what they say about the BNP to be true, then I would what the DU - or Reid & Pelosi or Dean or Franks or McKinney - say about our president.

And I VERY strongly believe that unless and until either Labor or the Tories take a REAL hard-line against islamicization, that the BNP will grow in popularity REGARDLESS of any unsavory or even racist views they hold on ancillary matters. IOW: if you really want to prevent either the Muslims or the BNP from taking over the UK, then you have to agitate for a much more robust anti-islamicization/pro-British policy from either Labor or the Tories. The current PC/ostriche path of both of the "mainstream" parties will not halt their slide into Eurabia.

******* UPDATE - from PASTORIUS:

From the Anti-Defamation League:

UPDATE
Over three hundred white supremacists gathered in New Orleans for the "2005 European American Conference," convened May 20 - 22 by David Duke. The theme of the conference was the unification of Europeans and Americans in opposition to Jews, who were demonized as blood suckers and parasites who dominate media and government around the world.

A significant number of politically affiliated European racists addressed the crowd, including Nick Griffin and Simon Darby from the far-right British National Party, Karl Richter and Marcus Haverkamp from Germany's far-right National Democratic Party (NPD), Vavra Suk and Lennart Berg of Sweden, Jean-Michel Girard of France's far-right National Front, and Deirdre Fields of South Africa.

It remains unclear whether these disparate American and international white supremacist groups will be able coordinate their anti-Jewish rhetoric and cooperate in their activities, but the simple fact of their participation in Duke's New Orleans meeting is a significant development in the world of white supremacy and anti-Semitism.

Go read the whole thing.

Reliapundit adds: You make a much better case for the racism of Griffin and his BNP, but I stand by my final comment (above): Both Labor and the Tories have abdicated and are not adequately preventing the islamicization of the UK. Neither is as tough as the Danish are under Rasmussen. As long as both the mainstream parties in the UK fail to adequately defend the UK, then people will gravitate to the BNP. This may very well end up the same way as it did in Weimar Germany - where anti-Bolshevism trumped fear of Nazism. All the more reason we should be pressuring both Labor and the Tories to get tough, (and not harp on the BNP, which is after all not a major factor. Yet.)