Should The BNP Be Allowed To Appear On Question Time?
September 7, 2009 9 Comments
The announcement by the BBC that they might invite the BNP onto an episode of question time has caused widespread debate and arguments over the past few days between those who take the ‘no platform for fascists’ view and those who think Nick Griffin should be allowed to speak.
Personally, I fall into the latter category, I think the debate should go ahead and that the Labour party needs to alter its stance on not engaging with the BNP, a stance they are already revising in light of the BBC’s decision. I’m no racist, although I do have a few Enid Blyton books, and I abhor the BNP and everything that they stand for, I’ve happily marched in protests against them, but I don’t think refusing them a platform is the right thing to do and never have. I protest against what they say, not their right to say it.
Their views may disgust and appall many but unfortunately they are now a political party with elected representatives who do have a right to speak out like all other parties. Forcibly alienating them from mainstream politics could help them gain many more followers, especially in areas where people feel let-down and alienated by mainstream parties themselves. They will adopt a martyr like stance and use the alienation to their advantage. They do not need a platform to recruit followers, they can clearly do that without.
One argument I heard is that whenever the BNP do have a public platform, support for them increases in that area. No statistics or examples were given to back this up so I’m dubious to how accurate this claim actually is. Claims like this however seem to suggest that members of the public don’t trust other members of the public to see the BNP for what they really are and think that they will immediately get taken in by Griffin on Question Time and suddenly start supporting the BNP. It’s a grim view to take of society but people have a right to choose who they vote for based on the evidence and arguments presented to them. This is a democracy, for better or worse.
I really don’t think allowing the BNP on Question Time is going to lead to a second Holocaust or any form of racially motivated mass-murder, as some people are suggesting. You cannot really compare today’s Britain to pre-WW2 Germany. I trust enough people in this country to stand against the BNP and other fascist groups, we can see them for what they really are and Nick Griffin will show himself for what he really is on Question Time.
He will not get an easy time from the panel or audience. He cannot win an argument against a credible, heavyweight politician. He just doesn’t have it in him. Letting him speak on the BBC has the benefit of showing a wider audience the kind of person he really is and the kind of hateful ideals he supports. Not letting him speak will drive the BNP further underground and they seem like very bitter people who would take it to heart.
Take them on and publicly beat them. That’s my view.
I’m with you that they should be allowed on, and that they probably will be torn to shreds. Can’t see Griffin himself doing it, will probably throw the arrogance argument of “not unless it’s with another party leader”. I also agree that going on QT won’t win them any more supporters, at least on the night it’s aired, as the majority of people who may support the BNP in the future but haven’t done so already are not politically minded enough to watch. After the show has aired however I predict that their spin offices (or at the very least those of the unofficial supporters of the BNP) will release statements saying how their representative was victimised, and that the BBC edited the show unfairly against their representative which may lead to some more supporters (after all, the new BNP wouldn’t dare slight the beeb, and will of course publicly maintain that events shown were as they happened). Hopefully these statements will be utter bullshit, and hopefully the beeb will take extra precautions to prevent eggs, green custard, paint filled condoms and other matter from being thrown at the representative, as any of these would also lend the buggers credence in their “we’re victims” arguments.
I agree. I want to see them on Question Time so that I can see Griffin struggle under the questions, like you say they will not be given an easy time and it will definitely be interesting viewing in my opinion.
i’m in full agreement – whenever Griffin’s on TV they always seem to just ask him “are you a racist party?” over and over again. He’s not that clever but he’s had basic media training and also a full decade of practice at answering that one question on tv, he at least knows how to play it towards his potential support (commie BBC smears! etc). whenever he’s subjected to more specific questioning he tends to become very erratic (look at this fukken tantrum: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6X8QQwU00Jk). I’d also like to see, for a change, someone pin them on their non-immigration policies, which clearly aren’t quite as repellent but are completely moronic. Their proposed response to the credit crunch and how to stimulate the flagging economy, for example, was basically “print more pounds! more money! what do you mean it didn’t work for Robert Mugabe? Why should i care about some darkie?”. By pointing out their ineptitude, rather than refusing to engage with them, any halfway articulate MP from a mainstream party could kill even their openly racist support by making it clear how fucked their kid’s schools or their local hospital would be under the BNP.
The BNP should definitely be ‘allowed’ on Question Time, but whetehr they should be pro-actively asked is quite a different issue. However, I would argue, once again, that they should, should the BBC see this to be fit.
Then there is the third question: should politicians of the left share a platform with them?
I would argue they should not. The BNP do far better out of appearing on TV and from being allowed to debate mainstream parties than they do out of not, even if they are exposed as idiots. The fact is that they will be exposed to millions of other idiots, thousands of whom will take an interest in them that the did not before, and hundreds of whom will vote for them.
In their tens, they will join.
Whether we beat them in debate or not, is this really what we want? Why is it worth trading this for a sense of self-satisfaction over showing them up in debate?
And why would we debate them when they have used some of our own politicians (such as Margaret Hodge) as evidence that Labour agrees with their policies on, say, housing? Would anyone on the left really like to see Hodge/Griffin on question time, parrotting each other’s views on ‘the superior rights of the long-term settled’?…
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They have to be allowed, they are a legitimate party with two MEPs. Though I may despise their views, they have a democratic right to express them. The BBC has an obligation to show all political views (especially those which 6% voted for last EU elections!).
Read this to understand further why.
http://takeonpolitics.wordpress.com/2009/10/19/bnp-and-nick-griffin-a-right-to-be-heard/