First, the story - which reminds me of the 2007 post about Swedish postal authorities refusing to deliver the Sweden Democrats’ campaign materials.
Do Britain’s postal workers have a different set of rules than those in the US? Or is this a new trend? For the moment, I can say “it’s not happening here”, but who knows, maybe this new “freedom” the postmen have in the UK will begin to blossom in America, too:
Postal workers are refusing to deliver British National Party election leaflets because they object to its “right-wing rubbish”.
About 100 workers in the West Country have told union leaders that they will not carry the leaflets, which bear an anti-immigration message.
They have accused Royal Mail chiefs in Bristol and Somerset of “bullying”, with one office allegedly threatening workers with dismissal if they do not comply.
The Communication Workers Union says that Royal Mail is breaking a “conscience clause” agreed four years ago that allows staff to refuse to deliver literature they find offensive.
A “conscience clause”??? For the mail??? Are these people serious? So if I’m hired to deliver the mail and I don’t like the magazines you’ve subscribed to, I can just dump them in the nearest bin? Hmm…I can see the temptations. One could conveniently “lose” a great many solicitation letters from groups that didn’t meet one’s personal standards of the true and the good.
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Dave Wilshire, spokesman for the Bristol and District Branch of the CWU, said: “Over the past 48 hours I’ve had around 32 calls from individual members and those speaking on behalf of groups, saying they don’t want to deliver the material.
“That is fair enough. The clause says members don’t have to deliver material if they feel threatened or if it is against their personal beliefs.
“In Bristol we have the St Paul’s area which has a very high density of those from ethnic backgrounds. Anyone being expected to post BNP stuff through there is going to feel at risk.
What he’s saying is that Bristol has an area of Britain in which the rule of law has ceased to operate. That is pitiful.
“Managers in Bristol are effectively bullying people.”
He added that it was “outrageous” that some had been threatened with losing their jobs.
One postman working in the Fishponds area of Bristol, said that his route bordered two ethnic-minority areas and it was “concerning” to be made to deliver inflammatory material.
He told the Western Daily Press: “We are being forced by management to give out the BNP material even though it’s against my beliefs - everyone knows what they stand for.
I love this: indoctrination really works. “everyone knows”…this is not a democratic culture, this is being a bully, using the tactic of shunning. In this case, shunning the BNP, because “everyone knows what they stand for.”
This person has had the full re-education camp training:
“We are being made to dish out this rubbish. I’ve read the BNP literature and although there isn’t anything racist or fascist on it, it does say ‘No to immigration’.”
This is surreal. No racism, no fascism, but those awful BNP leaflets want to limit immigration to a country that is already overwhelmed with immigrants, thus they are “rubbish”.
Simon Darby, BNP spokesman, said: “We have a contract with the Royal Mail to deliver some 29 million BNP leaflets. Some will be binned by Labour-supporting postmen who want to corrupt the democratic process, but it is a question of cutting that down.
“People will make up their own minds about the Communication Workers Union telling people what to do. This is the sort of thing that is happening in Zimbabwe.”
So if they have a contract with the Royal Mail, can the British National Party sue them for breach of contract? If this conscience clause in the workers’ union allows for pick-and-choose mail delivery, then the Royal-Pain-in-the-Ass-Mail should have told the BNP that due to their workers’ “rights”, management could not guarantee delivery. Somehow I doubt they did that. In a world where reality was still on top, the BNP would be able to bring suit against these people.
Royal Mail said: “Where possible we will try to be flexible and sensitive to individual personal circumstances or beliefs.
“However, we need to balance this with Royal Mail’s legal obligations under the Representation of the People Act, to deliver election material.”
Good luck with reconciling those two principles, Jack.
But that’s not all The Times has on offer today about the BNP. Here’s a follow-up editorial on the party’s tactics to win over voters by putting the skinhead members in the closet:
British National party (BNP) skinheads are being urged to cover up their shaven scalps as the far-right group seeks to present a new, more respectable image, according to a leaked internal “war book”.
Polling experts believe the antiimmigration party led by Nick Griffin has a chance of picking up its first seats in the European parliament in June by capitalising on recession-fuelled rows over “British jobs for British workers”.
A handbook distributed to activists discloses how the BNP, which has already won a string of council by-elections, plans to soften its extremist reputation and appeal to potential supporters as an “alternative extended family”.
The manual for activists includes: Orders to “make sure your team are tidily dressed and look presentable. No naked torsos in summer, unshaven scruffs or skinhead haircuts (put them in caps or hats)”. Suggestions for the use of internet blogs to attack opponents, including ostensibly independent local blogs that “help us to collect and disseminate material damaging to other parties”. Ideas for reviving St George’s Day traditions to combat the “growing power of Islam”.
Interesting. This sounds like the handbook any political party or community organizing group distributes to volunteers. As one commenter on this editorial put it:
“ Is this article serious?
As a steadfast Tory I look in on the BNP website from time to time to see what policies they are trying to steal this week. This handbook has been freely available for at least a year, probably longer.
My wife now votes BNP, this kind of journalism is partly why.
Ah, yes. But now that the elections draw nearer, the Times has to put the paranoid spin on the BNP, complete with hex signs:
The handbook urges activists to rebrand the BNP by always using its full name. “The initials BNP have to an extent been turned into a demonised tag by the media,” it says. “‘British National party’ sounds more reasonable and comfortable.”
Obviously, the writer doesn’t see the irony in choosing this quote from the handbook, since he is one of those very same demonisers.
The handbook adds: “Millions of people live very lonely and isolated lives. The decline of the family and the break-up of communities mean there is a big gap in [their] lives. Filling that gap, giving people an ‘alternative extended family’, is the most powerful recruiting tool.”
A spokesman for the campaign group Searchlight said: “This booklet exposes the reality behind the BNP mask of respectability. What other political party feels the need to ask its senior organisers to be careful not to get caught discussing their plans for violent behaviour on the internet?”
Simon Darby, deputy leader of the BNP, defended its tactics: “We switched to recruiting on the net because we do not get a fair crack from the traditional media.”
“Searchlight”, at least from reading its website, is hardly a campaign group unless you define as a “campaign” their apparent mission to harass the BNP out of existence.
I recommend looking at the comments sections on both of the Times articles. Here’s one representative response (and more than 90% of them are positive):
Surely the media should declare an interest in BNP bashing. If the BNP receive more votes and seats the media will be forced to report on them impartially and in a balanced fashion - something that does not happen at present. This balanced reporting would require reports from non NUJ members.
Britain is definitely living in interesting times. It will take great intestinal fortitude not to cut and run from this top-down mess.
Not that America is not in a similar pickle…
18 comments:
The trade unions and the governing Labour Party are one and the same.
The unions fund the Labour Party and campaign against Labour's opponents whilst crapping on their own members who a competing for jobs against lower-paid and state supported migrant workers.
In turn the governing Labour Party donates taxpayer's money to the unions (including the National Union of Journalists) via a 'Union Modernisation Fund' and other methods. Some of this money finds it's way to Searchlight and like organisations.
It's a joke. Democracy in Britain is dead and the Labour Party, the Unions and Searchlight wish to ensure that it stays dead.
The US is heading down the same road.
Welcome to hell.
Serachlight magazine, along with groups such as Antifa and Anti-Nazi League are low level terrorist organisations tacitly funded under the table by the Labour party and Trade Unions. This isn't denied by anyone.
The BNP are a terrible party, their economic, defence, agriculture policies are garbage. If our politicians were worth the money they defraud from us they would have no problem shredding the BNP's proposal to withdraw from NATO. But that is not the most important thing, the most important thing is their stance on immigration, ethnic identity, and the evil EU. That's why they are demonised, the only thing they get right. Make no mistake, they will be vindicated, and this mediocre party of ignoramuses will become folk heroes.
People in the traditional Labour heartlands are waking up to the fact that successive policies of demographic restructuring, loss of manufacturing industries and the natural instinct of ‘birds of a feather flocking together’ has resulted in the sorry mess our country is now in.
Couple this together with the fact that our geographical island status that has been our natural defnce line, has featured greatly in the evolution of our sense of national individuality, culture and heritage. Today this has been severely compromised by force-feeding us a diet of multicultural diktats which have created areas of social separation that are nothing better than ever expanding ‘colonies’ of alien lifestyles. Overt displays of primitive attitudes towards the post-enlightenment advancements that defines Western laws and values and attitude are openly challenged by established and prospective ‘British’ organisations and wealthy individuals.
There has been so much changed in such a short time it is little wonder that the BNP can cherry pick and stitch together all the negativities which are impinging real or imaginary, on the still majority and indigenous population in such a way that disguises their Nazi objectives.
Their Achillies heel is their inability to attract candidates equipped with sufficient charisma and intellectual ability to promote their dishonest policies. Allowing them to take the full glare of daylight will, like the cockroaches they are, send them scurrying back under the stones where they belong.
British patriots of a certain age are sick and tired by being (a) demeaned and sidelined by the multiculturalists and (b) regarded as willing fools, by the BNP.
The BNP grows because there is a vacuum in British politics, as all the established parties, including the so-called Conservatives, have abandoned the natives. They will continue to grow as long as there is no viable alternative. It's as simple as that. And you don't have to be a BNP supporter at all to be appalled by this Zimbabwe-style behavior. The Mugabization of Britain and the West continues apace.
The surrender monkey Sarkozy and his cronies continue their struggle to make France less French. Sarkozy has been beyond appalling so far. Millions of Frenchmen voted for him because they were concerned about the future of their nation. Sarkozy betrayed their trust. He is a symbol of the entire Western political class.
The clause says members don’t have to deliver material if they feel threatened or if it is against their personal beliefs.So Muslim employees can now dump Christian and Jewish mail in the trash?
If the BNP receive more votes and seats the media will be forced to report on them impartially and in a balanced fashionI hope the commenter doesn't actually believe this.
So throwing Korans in the dust bin would be okay for postal workers who found it offensive?
Sure.
Let's have that case.
(Wish I were a Brit mailman for a day.)
A recent survey showed that BNP policies were supported by significant numbers of Brits, but when they were told they were BNP policies the approval ratings dropped. It seems to me that every article I've read recently in the mainstream press about the BNP says absolutely nothing about any policies they have & rely only on childish name calling. ie. demonisation. It's been working up to now, but with the disgust people up and down the country feel right now about this expenses scandal, on top of everything else, maybe it won't work quite so well any more.
And yes, can you imagine the uproar if white Christian, or heaven forbid, atheist posties declared in a loud voice (so loud the national press deliver it all over the nation) that there was NO WAY they were delivering a lorryload of Korans to an Islamic bookshop? A Christian might say, correctly, that Islam teaches that Jesus is not the son of God, and therefore is against their beliefs. An atheist might say it's all superstious mumbo-jumbo and there's no way Mohammad flew around the sky on a horse. Because horses don't fly. The Koran is therefore against their beliefs as well. Yes, I can just see that story on its way through the MSM ...
@Kenny--
A recent survey showed that BNP policies were supported by significant numbers of Brits, but when they were told they were BNP policies the approval ratings dropped...
The same thing happened in the US campaign. Some reporters took the policies of the Republican Party and presented them to a number of urban blacks, in a series of set up questions -- e.g., "so Obama is opposed totally to any form of abortion. How do feel about that?"
If Obama was for it, so were they. They even approved Sarah Palin as his vice president, because "that's who Obama chose".
Never underestimate ignorance.
You can keep harping on and on about the imperfections of the BNP and complain all you want, but there is no other party in the UK with a solid intent and the resolve to deal with the three intertwined existential threats to British identity: mass immigration, Islamic invasion, and British membership in the EU. These problems didn't crop up over night and have long been known. Yet, what have all the urban sophisticates of the UK's Establishment parties, with their control over the apparatus of state, done about them all these years? What's so difficult about taking that first step to stop the problems from getting worse, i.e., pull the UK out of the EU and impose an immigration moratorium? It's so simple that even the BNP simpletons can do it. Right, dreadnaught?
Other BNP news of note: First, latest Twitter message from Simon Darby, Deputy Chairman and official spokesman of the BNP: "Call centres barely able to cope with BNP enquiries from all over the country on a massive scale". Second, according to the official BNP web site, the BNP's Internet server is already overloaded by the record number of visitors despite several recent upgrades and will be upgraded again shortly. Third and last, according to a comment by "Teninthebed", the BNP has an average support of 17.5%, calculated from 37 recent local council by-elections. With the latest scandal about MPs' expenses, that support is going to shoot up.
It's interesting how well ... feminine the attacks on the BNP are. "Nor our sort" is the message, with the presentation that BNP is "beyond the pale" of social acceptability. Mean Girls politics 101.
What's interesting is how NONE of the criticisms of the BNP take policy to task. Which means that the policies are well supported. Something that should give unease to the British establishment. Should a crisis occur, like oh I dunno Pakistani origin Jihadis nuking half of London out of existence for Jihad.
Isn't UKIP also a valid third-party party? Or are they only running in the MEP and not domestically? They seem to be running a bit of a middle ground between the Tories and BNP - unless I've been reading the wrong articles.
Isn't UKIP also a valid third-party party? Or are they only running in the MEP and not domestically? They seem to be running a bit of a middle ground between the Tories and BNP - unless I've been reading the wrong articles.AFAIK UKIP are a middle-class party and the BNP are a working-class party. Or at least that is the public perception. A succesful British political party needs cross-class appeal which neither of those parties have. They're splitting the vote, unfortunately.
It seems to me (I'm not British so this is just my impression from afar) that conservatism in Britain has basically fragmented into three elements:
1) The marginalised right-wing of the Conservative party - Thatcherites like Norman Tebbit, various anti-EU hanger-ons and genuine libertarians like David Davis. David Cameron has hijacked their party and turned it into a left-liberal tool of the EU Commission.
2) UKIP - the well to do tea-and-crumpets set who represent a traditional patriotic British middle-class who want to return the country to how it was run independently pre-EU interference.
3) BNP - generally Old Labour supporters who are disillusioned with mulitculturalism and race replacement (and Islamic supremacism) who despise Thatcher for destroying the old British working-class in the cause of economic recovery. Also anti-EU.
If Britain had not been absorbed into the EU in 1972 then I imagine today's UKIPpers would be traditional Tories and the BNPers would make up the right-wing of the Labour Party.
Lord (Norman) Tebbit has appealed to Tory voters not to vote Conservative in the upcoming European Parliament elections as related here.
Unfortunately UKIP has a few, ah, problems with accounts irregularities and the like. Farage makes good speeches but the party itself has been turned into little more than a vehicle for promoting him. Go ask richard north at EU Referendum what he thinks of them.
However, given the choice I'd rather vote UKIP than tory in the Euros and the locals. Policy reasons prevent me voting BNP.
@Homophobic Horse:
I very much doubt that you have had the time and resources to meet personally with every BNP member, in order for you to conclude that they are all igmoramuses.
I've been a member of the party for several years and have met with less than 1% of its membership. However, amongst those I have met are people with first degrees, higher degrees and PhDs. There are company directors, war veterans, linguists, teachers, martial arts experts and high ranking ex-police officers.
There are also over 100 elected representatives - i.e. people who have managed to persuade the voting public to put their faith in them. Some of those representatives have even performed sufficiently well in the eyes of the public to have been re-elected for a second term.
I have two degrees and for many years have been able to earn an above average salary in the private sector.
I suggest that in future you keep your sweeping generalisations to yourself, lest you be described as an ignoramus too. Furthermore you have described several BNP policies as garbage without explaining why.
I'd never vote for the BNP but...
ask yourself 2 questions -
What would UK be like 10 years after the BNP took power ?
Answer - bad but not really sure how bad
What would UK be like 10 years after the Muslims took power ?
Answer - hell on earth
If our politicians don't get their fingers out , maybe a lot of people will start to ask themselves these 2 questions
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